Away Camp and Home Camp

The end of June and beginning of July have been a whirlwind of activities with travel, home renovations, and Alex excursions. It is no wonder I have fallen way behind in my blogging. It has taken me over two years but now I am finally beginning to know what to tell people now when they ask, "What do you do all day when you are retired?"

                       June15-19                  SoCal visit (6/28/17, 7/4/17, 7/6/17, posts) 
                       June 21-25                 Alex to camp (this post)                          
                       June 22                       Board games afternoon (this post)        
                       June 24                      Altar Boyz (this post)                              
                       June 26-27                 Lighting installed
                       June 30, July1&3       Painting
                       July 2                         Alameda County Fair (follow-on post)  
                       July 4                         Livermore Fireworks (follow-on post)   
                       July 6-14                    Oklahoma City visit
                       July 15-19                  North Carolina visit

So what is my catchup strategy? This post will touch on the Alex activities of his away camp and our home camp. A following post will show fun at the fair and fireworks. Later there will be a post looking back on our kitchen and family room updates –  which were stressfully interspersed with Alex-centric activities. Last, I will catch up with our travels to middle and eastern USA. I better get busy. I've got some bloggin' to do.

We were two days back from our SoCal visit to Dan, Carrie, Vivian and Lillian and it was time to transport Alex off to camp for his five days each summer. The caregivers at his home pack him so all we have to do is get him there and pick him up (any private pay the camp tuition of course). The camp is in Los Altos, about 50 miles southwest of us at the the base of the San Francisco peninsula in the foothills between Stanford and San Jose. It takes us about 90 minutes with no traffic (which there always is) so a drop up or pick up takes us about three-four hours roundtrip. Alex has been going there for years and enjoys it.  He loves the pool.

He does crafts, an activity he typically shows no interest in for us.  But he is making out like a regular Picasso here.

A field trip was to the A's baseball game. I do not know how interested Alex is in the game but he does like people and activity. The reflection in his sunglasses shows he had a good view of the field. I was glad to see that he was nestled in a shady spot next to a cool cement wall.

Apparently there was a visit by the A's elephant mascot Stomper. I am glad I was not wearing such a furry get-up on such a warm  summer day.

While Alex was at camp, Frank and I had Thursday afternoon game get together with some good friends John and Marita. We realize we all get tired early so we play in the afternoon and call it an early evening. We started alternating homes on a somewhat monthly basis and promise each other that carefree munchies are the only permitted fare - no muss, no fuss, no special prep. Over the course of our get togethers, we have played such games as Splendor, Forbidden Desert, Qwirkle, Martian Dice, Labyrinth, Mexican Train Dominoes, Sequence, Farkle, and Martian Dice. Some are new to Frank and me and some are new to John and Marita but we are all "game" (groan) to try any of them. Forbidden Desert is a cooperative rather than competitive game. The players work as a team to survive a plane crash in the desert: searching for oases, finding scattered plane parts, conserving water, enduring sand storms. Splendor is a current favorite of mine and Frank's. Players trade jewels and build up gem mines for points. Martian Dice travels well and was a hit in the July trips to Oklahoma and North Carolina.

Saturday, July 24th, Frank and I attended a local production of Altar Boyz at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. It is a humorous musical about a boy band group whose members are Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan, and Abraham. A machine on stage, the Soul Sensor DX-12, counts the number of burdened souls in the theatre, the goal being to reduce that number to zero by the end of the concert. The music was lively, the actors extremely energetic and the show was a lot of fun. With 20-20 hindsight we could have scheduled to take Alex, the show was fast paced (and loud) enough. For those Catholic audience members, the jokes were particularly on point.  I recommend catching it when it plays near you.

Within the Lesher Center for the Arts are two theaters and a small art gallery with rotating exhibits. Art gallery admission is free with a theater ticket so Frank and I went in. The exhibit was titled Sweet n Low; an international show of cute. Those participating artists' perception of cute is certainly different from mine.

I took these two photo of a my Liitl Pony showere curtian becasue my granddaughter Autumn would like them. "Why would you want a shower curtain of My Little Ponies?" you ask. "Because you Can!

The exhibit overflowed out into the lobby. Nestled centrally within the spiral staircase was a crocheted strawberry iced donut, complete with multi-colored 3-D sprinkles. Hmm must have been a bit warm; the frosting appears to be melting.

Art is everywhere if you look. On our way to our car in the parking garage I noted this mural on the wall. What does it mean? "Life is ever evolving?" "This is a green belt?" "The signs are passing you by?" "What direction is your life taking?" "man and nature must coexist?" Perhaps it is merely an ad for sod. Any guesses? What is it saying to you?

Sunday, June 25th we rushed home from Alex's camp pickup (as much as one can rush in San Jose Sunday evening traffic) to prep the house for some lighting updates we had contracted to have done in the kitchen, nook, and family room areas starting the very next day (a future post topic). The first week in July we had other holiday activities planned with Alex.