Resolve Failure

I’m back in the Man Cave after a prolonged sojourn with my son’s remarkable family. One of my last posts recounted the time spent at their beach house along with my daughter. Last Wednesday we returned to the beach to hang out with the NH bunch again in preparation for my son’s actual birthday on Saturday. We brought with us the infamous cake #1 along with Bonecrusher. It was an idyllic few days enjoying their company as well as the ABFA’s parents. The granddaughters were their usual bundle of joy and exasperation (the exasperation part being mostly for their parents at bedtime).

My Son, Keene Freind and I on the Beach

The ABFA got to burnish her newly acquired paddleboard abilities but rarely by herself. Both of the granddaughters felt the only reason mom would go out on the paddleboard was to give them taxi rides along the beach. One of the true highlights of the week was the arrival Thursday morning of Keene Friend. My son had been exerting an immense amount of peer pressure on his favorite uncle to join us at the beach, lamenting that he would only turn 40 once and Keene Friend should be on hand to celebrate. It was very cool hanging out on the beach with these two characters, punctuated liberally with Keene Friend’s trademark dry sense of humor. We had a flyover of a small plane with a marriage proposal for Johanna which led to lively discussion of the possible outcomes. Whenever the plane flew over for the rest of the week, we predicted it would be Johanna’s answer. Both granddaughters have raised crab hunting to impressive levels of competency. They spent most of their time scouring the rock field for their elusive prey.

ABFA and her Paddleboard Crew

When the rest of the gang headed down the beach for ice cream, Keene Friend and I placed a call to the PCR, who still hasn’t resolved his recent health issue. He was very funny in describing his very unfunny situation, especially in a chemically altered voice. It was good hearing his voice, whatever shape it was in. Now, as to the title above; after the severe damage to my diet the prior weekend had done (compounded by the whole Czech chocolate chip cookie episode), I entered this new visit with an iron resolve to behave better. That resolve lasted until Keene Friend’s arrival when he unveiled two boxer of whoopie pies that I was literally incapable of resisting (that’s my story etc. etc.). He claims I approved this delicacy during my most recent visit to Keene. I probably did but, in my defense, beer was involved. The diet was irrevocably destroyed. I’m hoping to get back on track this week, but it comes with challenges.

Almost got the Johanna Banner

Keene Friend shocked us all by not only bowing to additional peer pressure to stay overnight with us but also not leaving at the crack of dawn before anyone else arose (his usual M.O.). He spent another morning on the beach Friday before departing for home. He was followed in short order by the arrival of two families of my son and the ABFA’s friends and their kids. Both the BRS and BR3 were in their elements charging around the beach and the house with the gang of friends. The ABFA had arranged the visit so we could continue to celebrate my son’s birthday. The friends were great company, and I could see why they form such a close knit group. One of life’s greatest pleasures is having good friends and I am so happy my son is liberally blessed.

Bonecrusher Approaches Cake #1

Cake Cleaved with Assistance of BRS and BR3

The Awesome Friday Crew

After a pizza dinner we unveiled cake #1 which my Favorite Panamanian had cast such aspersions against. She decided to go with cake #2 last week because she had doubts about this first cake she had created. We remembered to unsheathe Bonecrusher this time and with assistance of his daughters, my son expertly cleaved the cake. The cake, if anything, tasted even better than cake #2, which left my shattered resolved once again in tatters. It was an epic last full day on the beach.

BRS Minus her 2 Front Teeth

Saturday, my son’s actual birthday, was spent with a frenetic packing up of the beach house after two weeks of occupancy in order to meet the 10am departure time. It’s amazing how much “stuff” gets acquired when two young kids are involved. One of (actually two) things remaining behind were the BRS’ two front teeth, both of which fell out during the beach stay. She remains profoundly cute. BR3 stayed still long enough for her abuela to braid her hair as well. We made the 10am departure but only after some serious stair climbing, especially for the birthday boy. After the short drive to their home we had to do it all over again in reverse; a fairly tiring morning.

The "Angelic" BR3

The birthday celebration was rescued Saturday afternoon when we followed what has become my son’s birthday tradition. He chooses two movies in the theater and his mother and I take him to the movies. This arose because he’s a serious cinephile (don’t know where he gets it from) but, with two young girls, his movie going experience usually involves Disney or some other animated fare. We’ve always enjoying watching movies together and there were two massive summer hits available (see below). It was a great afternoon in the very posh cinema. My Favorite Panamanian slept for a good portion of the second movie because of those awesome reclining seats. We returned to their home where the ABFA had survived the afternoon with the granddaughters, although she commented that everything went fine except for an almost uncontrollable urge to murder BR3. It’s an eloquent comment on how challenging that little imp must have been when the ABFA, one of the gentlest souls I’ve ever met, would make that comment. We came home Sunday through some rain which emptied Maine out early enough to make the drive particularly offensive. Still, I had those past few days to fall back upon to assuage the frustration.

The new Superman movie is just flat awesome. There have been so many versions that I was skeptical about this one. I was totally blown away by the sheer entertainment this new sally forth of the man of steel. The cast delivers, especially the central couple of the title character and Lois Lane. I loved Mrs. Meisel so I wasn’t surprised she was so good in this, but David Corenswet is a revelation as Superman. He was everything you could hope for, injecting more personality than I’ve seen since Reeves. Nicholas Hoult, likewise, was the best Lex Luther ever. He played evil effortlessly along with a ferocious drive to best Superman. James Gunn injected a lot of his signature humor (most of it at the expense of the Green Lantern) which made this a very fun ride. There was a little too much at times, like saving a squirrel when buildings are falling all around but the levity was needed with the earth-endangered plot spinning along. A true summer epic and one of the best movies of the year.

They finally got the Fantastic Four right. Although I liked the Jessica Alba version, this newest outing was, well, fantastic. They set up the four in one of Marvels’ endless alternate earths with a 1960’s flavor which didn’t distract but added to to the story. The extremely strong cast was tone perfect; they faced a seemingly impossible task of beating a world eating alien bent on devouring earth. Pedro Pascal can do anything and Vanessa Kirby is more than his match as his wife. The other two of the four were both excellent as well. Marvel seems to have gotten back on track with this latest outing, once again creating characters we can invest in. Another great summer epic.

Three movies fell in the A-Z watch, all keepers: (Note – I know the last few have been out of alphabetical order – we’re into the shelves my granddaughters can reach and they take an absurd amount of pleasure at rearranging my library) Road to Perdition – Hanks in one of his few dark roles but he carries it off; Robocop (1987 version) – one of my favorite movies to watch with my son when he was young; Robocop  (2014 version) – doesn’t hold a candle to original but still a serviceable action flick.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete – my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn; Czech Connection – Czech couple who’ve become good friends along with their daughter (the Czech Shadow); Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Seis Amigos - two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather – my brother-in-law (whom I miss more than I can ever explain); Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course