<p>Ok- so the torpedo calls us last week to let us know that his roomate fractured his femur playing ice hockey-one of the school's best players- with parents rushing in from california, the kid was shipped off to the OR and had a 12 inch rod put into his leg- but has to move out of the room to a first-floor that will accomodate a wheelchair. He gets back to the school yesterday.</p>
<p>So what does our son do today? On Friday the 13th no less? He puts on a pair of skates and is over playing hockey with the other usual suspects at this very minute! He barely knows how to ice skate!!! His BGO told him over the christmas break not to go skiing- so what does he do- he goes snowboarding! "It's not like I'm on skiis mom!" he tells me! As for hockey- I ask him, "why do you have to take up another sport now- isn't 3 like enough?" To wit "I have nothing to do." What ever happened to homework???!!! Can't they give him more papers to write???!!!</p>
<p>And we still have to get through lax season, that starts in 4 weeks! This is torture! Why couldn't he take up swimming???? WHY CAN'T HE CURL UP WITH A GOOD BOOK I WANT TO KNOW!!!! Or at least wait 'till the 14th for goodness sake!!! :/</p>
<p>Eh gad, Navy 2010. I think you'd better get on over there. This doesn't sound good.... You have to be freaking out. I have left over bubble tape & can send you my extra. That really is crazy. Oh silly boyz! Whatcha gonna do with 'em. Girls have much better sense. I want one. I'm taking one of Momoftwins. She has two, she'll never miss one.</p>
<p>well i have one of those too- only she's down in miami training with the crew team- so what does she do today? she gets hot after 3 hours of rowing in 85 degree weather and decides to jump into the indian creek river- which has ALLIGATORS!!! These kids are driving me nuts today! AND THEY AREN'T EVEN HERE!!!! I thought this empty nest thing was supposed to be quiet and boring- instead i am getting peptic ulcer disease! And no merlot to be found in the house anywhere- this is a crisis!! </p>
<p>MOT: you have no idea how close you are to the truth! Wait till I get my hands on him!</p>
<p>At this rate it will be a miracle if we get to Gate 1 in one piece!</p>
<p>Bubble wrap needed here too--dd is headed skiing again tomorrow. At least her big sister is leaving, so she'll not have the hotshot to ski with--have to stay off the double blacks with her other friend...</p>
<p>A girl we know had already accepted her appointment to USNA, and 3 weeks before I-day, slides into base playing softball, and fractures her ankle. Needless to say, she was DQ.</p>
<p>She went on to her local college, (she had already turned down the others and given up scholarships), and started the application process to USNA again. She was wait-listed on the second attempt, and received an offer of appointment 5 days prior to report day. She scrambled and is a mid today.</p>
<p>Bubble wrap doesn't work. One reason these candidates are being considered is precisely for their energy and reasonable risk-taking. (I don't think a bubble-wrapped student would make a good SEAL, for example). The best we can do is hope and pray that if they are injured, that it is not serious, and there is enough time to heal.</p>
<p>So, what ya'll are telling me is that girls are truly just as rough & tumble as boys are. No easier having them looks like. Nuts. Guess I don't have to be so crushed that I didn't get one. </p>
<p>CM - We'd heard a few of those horror stories about kids getting DQd right before I-day as well. Scary! But what guts of steel to end up at their academies the following year. Hats off to them for going after what they truly wanted.</p>
<p>I'm taking the other daughter back to school today. Yup, I cried last night while she was packing. It's been so nice having her home for a month that I'm really going to miss her. So, I can't let you have this daughter. And my cadet would eat your chocolate cache, so you can't have her either.</p>
<p>The non-cadet daughter jokes that she has "chopped liver syndrome". She saw her high school friends and former teammates and they all asked how her sister is doing at West Point. All the relatives ask her if she wishes she had gone to WP so that she could go to the White House too. (The answer is a resounding no - even if WP introduces jewelry design or ceramics classes. :) ) Her friends' parents all ask how her sister is doing. And everybody wants details. Good thing there is never any sibling rivalry in my house. ;)</p>
<p>CM: Thanks for reminding me that nothing is in our control- I really do know that- just as I know that nothing I say will keep him from doing his thing- however sometimes I just wish he wouldn't aways have to spit in the wind- at least not for the next 165 days!!! I know it will never happen- not with lax starting in the next few weeks!</p>
<p>Just venting a little frustration 'cause I know nothing will keep this kid down- even when he was sick with mono and on dorm restriction back in september he still found a way to "sneak" out to shoot some goals.....(with the teachers telling me he did "great" no less!!!) ...go figure....they are all in cohoots!!! </p>
<p>Kids- they age us fast! PS...the hockey seems to have gone fine- </p>
<p>Reminds me of something I read at USMMA- a parent's guide, written by a mother, entitled "What Do You Mean He Can't Come to the Phone? This is his Mother!"</p>
<p>Just another reminder that they are not ours to keep!</p>
<p>My not so favorite line from USMMA Superintendent Stewart on I-day - "your sons and daughters are mine, now." A reminder that both our kids grow up and we have to let them. It's so hard after 18 or so years. Reminds me to call my Dad - he always said dropping his dd at college freshman year at dorm filled with guitar-playing hippies was the hardest thing he ever did!</p>
<p>Don't worry -- girls are perfectly capable of finding creative ways of bruising and breaking things. This fall, my cadet chose flag football for intramural and joined the women's rugby club. She took glee in telling me about all her black and blue spots...</p>
<p>Then she broke her toe in December, on a pull-up assist machine -- she found out the hard way what happens when the big toe occupies the space between a rising platform and stationary weight. And when the toe heals, she plans to re-join rugby, and go skiing.</p>
<p>Kid's fine, mom's a basket case, what's new??</p>
<p>If my daughter had chosen USAFA over USNA, she would have joined the double black diamond snowboarding club. I told her to leave her snowboard home because there are no REAL mountains east of the Rockies! :) She's gonna' be real happy if she gets stationed in the Pacific Northwest someday.</p>
<p>So he practiced lax today with a few of his buds. One good check broke his stick in half. It's a titanium shaft. I told him he was lucky it was not an arm. Bones are a lot softer than titanium. He said "mom!" and that was it...just "mom"...just another day!</p>
<p>Some of you may remember that my daughter was injured during Beast. Running on the hills just killed her legs and she had pretty severe shin splints. Rehab was good, she was able to do the marchback and pass the APFT. But her legs were hurting for a long time. I guess she's feeling all better. This week she informed me that she joined a marathon training team. </p>
<p>Me: "Let me get this straight. You want to train in a sport that you don't really love and it's the only sport that where you had an injury."
Her: "Yeah, it'll be fun and I've always thought that I'd like to run a marathon someday."
Me: "Keep away from the hills and don't forget to stretch."
Her: "Oh, that hill today was a killer. But I feel fine. Don't worry."</p>
<p>Already got the wardrobe started, and the stickers on the car- so just have to deliver him in one piece! </p>
<p>MOT: just make sure she invests in the best running shoes possible- lots of support and cushioning- and change them out frequently, like every 3 months if she is doing that much running! As for those hills at WP, they look more like mountains to me! :eek:</p>
<p>navy2010, thanks for the tip. We bought her a great shoe before Beast. She broke the shoes in, then the hills (you're right, for a Chicago girl they are mountains) kept her from using them much. We'll get her another pair when she comes home next month.</p>
<p>usna09mom, are we starting up with hot guys again? I'm game.</p>
<p>from what I hear several Navy games will be televised on CSTV as well as some leadings documentaries re: Navy Lax training, etc (they actually go through marines training to prep for lax season!) </p>
<p>The bad news is that we don't get CSTV on cable in our area- which is killing me! So I am in the process of exploring direct TV- but we are in a "valley" (yes, some do exist on long island!) and too many trees around to get a beam from the satalite- the next step is to petition cablevision- which is on the agenda for today!</p>
<p>As for lax- he can't wait....and he is still trying to put on the last 15lbs that Navy wants....gym 5 days a week- I have about 50 extra that I could give him! :o</p>