"City House" Camp Day 10

"Hump Day" of week two and all is going well. Thompson is enjoying "I Spy" camp at the Children's Museum and William is hanging with Mamere during the day. Today Mamere took William to the $1 movie "Happy Feet 2". Papere took the boys this afternoon after camp got finished to Guilford College before meeting up with Mamere for an late afternoon Grasshoppers game, which concluded with beach music from "Band of Oz".  Countdown is on for their return to the mountains (and while I know they'll be glad to be home, I think T is going to be sad to leave the "big city".)

"City House" Camp Day 7

Week one must have worn William out as he didn't wake up Sunday morning until 8!  (I can't think of when that last happened at Che Jones?!)  Thompson got up and watched the 2012 Chick-fil-A Bowl on ESPNU.  (Our family sports authority!).  Breakfast at the "coffee cup place" (aka Smith Street Diner) complete with pancakes, crispy bacon and fresh-squeezed OJ.  Next stop, St. Francis Episcopal Church.

Lunch at Panera Bread with the Stubbs and Beamans.

And on tap for the evening...MUSEP (Music for a Sunday evening in the Park) at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park.

Tag football aftermath 

and the sweaty aftermath!

"City House" Camp Day 6 (addendum)

As I sit down tonight, after checking facebook, email and text messages, I've discovered Thompson and William had one exciting Saturday!

It began with Papere taking the boys to see Ed at The Hair Shop of Lawndale.  (They left Mamere in bed at the "city house" in bed.)  Evidently, William insisted he get his haircut first, followed by Thompson and then Papere.  I still have fond memories of Ed cutting my hair and getting super-bubble bubble gum afterwards.  And some things don't change!  Y got gum afterwards and W remembering 4-years old is the magic age for gum settled for a lollipop.

I'm guessing Ed is taking care of T's personal fuzz.

Next stop...Krispy Kreme for donughts!

Then off to the NC Zoo in Asheboro.

The day concludes with dinner (yummy sliders) at Grey's Tavern.

And what do you do when you hear a train whistle during dinner?  Run outside of course and watch the trains cross!

Then, ice cream at Fincastles

However, I think they we're rockin' a little too much on their way back to the "city house"...BUSTED! by the GPS in Center City Park.

As for us, a relatively quiet day. Bobby and Herb went road bike shopping while Kristine and I ran some errands.  I spent time on some much needed gardening and Bobby and Herb worked on installing our new mailbox.  However, Greensborowasn't  too far away...check out my glass!

"City House" Camp Day 6

"City House" Camp Day 5

Without a doubt, week 1 has been a great! (look back one post for new pictures from Arigato)

William's last day at Pirate Camp

special yogurt treat for afternoon snack at Frozato's to celebrate the end of "camp week"

with General Nathanael Greene 1742-1786

tour of skyscrapers after Arigato leftovers

and veggies at home for dinner

then home to write a few thank-you notes

"City House" Camp Day 4

Looks like camp is wearing the boys out!  This is WY before waking up Thursday morning.

And I believe the highlight from the day was the boys dinner at Arigato with Mamere, Papere, Sister and Sam.

"City House" Camp Day 3

as retold by Papere

The boys were tossing in imaginary coins that I would give them into the fountain at Europa last night.  "Why are we tossing the coins, Papere?" quipped WY?  "Well, you have to make a wish that ONLY you know for each coin to toss!"  So, we have dinner, finish-up and then take our compulsory walk amongst the Greensboro Skyscrapers ;-)  On the way, Mamere made mention that Saturday looked to be free and might go to the Zoo if they wanted?  Simply a passing comment by Mamere and then about the time we reached Elm & Market, Thompson got me aside and whispered, "My wish came true, Papere!"  I asked for a bit more information and he noted . . . "Sounds like we are going to the Zoo and that was my wish!"

"City House" Camp Day 2

East-West all-star game at the UNC-G soccer stadium this evening...and I hear Yum-Yum hot dogs (and I'm sure ice cream) were part of the pre-game plan. 

"City House" Camp Day 1

Appears day 1 of Camp "City House" is a success!  Thompson is attending Kitchen Chemistry in the morning and Lego Brick Engineering in the afternoon at the Greensboro Science Center this week while William is enjoying St. Francis Episcopal Church Day School's summer camp Pirates & Princesses.  With the evening outing being a trip to a Greensboro Grasshopper baseball game.

(and to note, our ever-observant William whose adrenaline kept him awake the whole car-ride to Greensboro inquired of Papere, " Why is your car so small?  Mamere's is so big!")

Weekend of Racing (+ lots of pics)

The title says it all...it's been a busy weekend of racing for the Joneses.  Thompson participated in a swim meet Saturday morning then raced in the Asheville Kid's Splash N' Dash race in the evening (the second race in the Carolina Kids Multisport Series).  Sunday morning Bobby competed in the Asheville Triathlon, and while he was there, the boys and I cheered on Herbie at the French Broad Cycling Classic Criterum race at Biltmore Park and watched the youth (10-18 year olds) compete.  And if that wasn't enough...Thompson and William participated in the FBCC's Youth Race that afternoon.

T's swim team the Asheville Racquet Club Wildcats won their meet against the Schmidt Swimming Stars and West Asheville Waves.  His personal stats were:
25-yard back 6th place, 29.93

25-yard breast 7th place, 51.29

25-yard free 6th place, 26.29

100-yard free relay 3rd place 2:19:29

The Splash N' Dash intermediate race featured a 200-meter pool swim (his longest swim yet) and a 1.3 mile run.  Thompson started off with freestyle, but relied heavily on his backstroke.  He made up 4 spaces in transition and on the run finishing 5th out of the 10 overall and 2nd place in the boys category.  However, he is currently the only participant to complete both races in the CKMS, so I think he's in 1st.  The final CKMS race is in August.

(note the swim team marking still on his forearm)

50 meters is long!

backstroking it

finishing strong

(Bobby ran alongside T, but wasn't prepared for T's speed!)

Bobby achieved his personal goal of placing top 3 in his division (male 35-39) with a total time of 1:11:46.  He placed 4th; however, the overall 1st place finisher was in Bobby's age division, which moved Bobby to 3rd.  His stats:  Swim 9:58 - T1 0:53 - Bike 38:18 - T2 0:38 - Run 22:01 (Overall: 32nd out of 140)

As for the kids race, William rocked the 50-yard-ish ride to the finish line.  Thompson competed with youth aged 7-9 completing one lap.  Two-thirds of the way through the race, he was in first place but lost position in the final turn and uphill sprint to the line.  In his recap, he proudly said "I did my best, I just couldn't sprint anymore.  I ran out of sprint juice."  Awesome job boys!