One of the High Costs of Having a Teenager

So R1 turns 16 in a few short weeks. Today I called the car insurance company to see how much it would cost for us to him to our insurance. 

I have two words for you, Oh my! I think my head might have exploded just a tad bit when the very nice woman told me how much my car insurance would go up each month. I even asked her to double to check that I received my child minor discount since I have been with them for over five years. Not only did I receive that discount but because R1 has a better than "B" average in school I received another discount. See kids, good grades do pay off, in the amount of car insurance your parents have to pay in order for you to be able to drive a car.

I called Hubs and gave him the bad news. And right after those few words came out of my mouth my head began to pound. 

I immediately began to think about all of the kids out there who R1 is friends with whose parents car insurance will also go up but those parents who purchased brand cars for those kids. So now you are talking about a car note as well. 

I would love to give my kids everything their hearts desire along with what my heart desires for them to have. But that is just not going to happen. I refuse to go into that kind of debt at this stage in the game. 

Hubs and I talked about maybe buying him a brand new one when he graduates from high school that way it will last him all four years of college and few years beyond that and then he can purchase his next new car but that is a few years away. Right now I'm trying to absorb the shock of the increase to my car insurance. 


Well I'm off to find some Advil or a big glass of wine or both. Anything to help with the pounding that is going on inside my head.


 

Summer Ball

Ahhh, my happy place. 

Yep I like the sound of a baseball hitting the bat just right and you know it's going deep. I like the sound of metal spikes from baseball cleats hitting the cement. I also like to listen to all the smack talk from guys sitting in the dugout. 

My love for the game of baseball is a deep one. It goes back to when I was a kid and my dad used to take my brother and I to watch the Houston Astros play in the Dome. I have vivid memories of those times that I still cherish today. 
 
While I have enjoyed our break for a few weeks I'm glad to be back watching the kid I love doing the thing he loves. 

Astros Weekend Fun

During the 2015 post season of Houston Astros several photographers captures the moment Colby Rasmus came out with his sweaty messy long hair, no shirt, a ski mask, and full champagne bottle that he proceeded to spay on anyone that was standing around him. It was an awesome moment and a pretty gross moment at the same time. 

The Astros organization decided to turn that moment into a never ending one with a free bobble head doll give away. The only difference was the bobble head was required to have a shirt. Once that give away date was announced and R1 found out about it he kept reminding us how he would love to get one of those and how we needed to go to the game. 

Hubs and I talked about it and decided that we get tickets as soon as they went on sale and we would keep it a surprise from the boys. So back in March Hubs purchased tickets to the June 4 game, Oakland Athletics vs. Houston Astros. We went three months of saying nothing. When R1 asked if we got tickets to the game we told him no, sorry they sold out so fast. He even brought up purchasing the tickets on StubHub. We just told him over and over they were unavailable. 

The plan was to tell them we had a birthday party to go in Houston and that it was outside so wear comfortable clothes. So the night before the game, I loaded up the back of the car with the boys' baseball gloves and Astros t-shirts. 

On the morning of June 4th we drove to Houston for the "birthday party". As we got closer to Minute Maid Park, R2 said can't we just skip the party and go watch the Astros play?  Then R1 chimes in with I would have liked to have gone to the game yesterday, it was the Colby Rasmus bobble head giveaway. Hubs said no that give away is today. R1 said no it was the 4th. Hubs replies, today is the 4th. And with that I said guess what we are not going to a birthday party, WE ARE GOING TO THE ASTROS GAME and then took the exit to get to the ballpark. 

The boys were both so stunned. R1 just kept saying, really we're going? R2 just sat in complete silence. I have to say it was an awesome moment. I'm glad Hubs and I kept it a secret.

Here are two happy boys!

 

Here is R1 with his Colby Rasmus bobble head doll. See I told you, awesome and gross at the same time. 

 

Our seats for this game were right behind the bullpen. It was great to see the most of the pitchers and catchers hanging out and interacting with the fans.

 I snapped this of Collin McHugh warming up before the game. 

And this one of Jason Castro taking a break after warming up.  

Here are all three of my boys having a little fun while going into extra innings. This seems to happen pretty much any time I ask them to take a picture, shenanigans!

And the best part, the Astros beat the A's 6-5! Way to play boys!