The Brown's Family Journal

Friday, May 13, 2022

My Boy is Wicked Smart

Each of the children have there own talents and it is great to see them step into their own.

Grant has participated all year in Science Olympiad - a competitive junior science fair - in Wake county. Every Thursday afternoon Grant has stayed after school with his team to prepare. Grant can be scant on the details but they would set up small experiments, test theories, and prepare for the big competition. He joined with a bunch of his buddies, also very smart, so he found a place where he fits in.

The competition was held up near North Carolina State University at a magnet Middle School. We were all impressed how the school looked like a junior college inside. There were bold posters and branding supporting science and technology and how kids fit into it. The facility was new and accommodating and didn't feel old and worn like the Middle School in our town. Grant isn't one to be transparent with his feelings but you could see him projecting himself into the school.

We are gently pushing Grant towards a magnet school for science and math. We can see him thriving academically in a place like a magnet school but possibly at the cost of becoming estranged from his posse. Grant spent many years as "TJ's brother" and went where TJ went. Grant was indistinguishable from the rest of TJ's friends until about two years ago. About two years ago, TJ started to hit puberty and Grant started to make his own friends in the neighborhood. These days, the boys will play together in the house at the end of the day but during the day Grant will get on his bike and take off to one of three houses to play. If we move him to a magnet school it is very likely that those connections will wither and be replaced by new friendships, but friendships that will not likely be in our neighborhood.

In my Freshman year of High School my parents sent me to a private school. They wanted me to achieve more academically at the cost of being an absolute stranger in this new school. I still remember it clearly; I sat in the from office of John S. Burke Catholic High School I wailed and begged for them not to send me there. I was thirteen years old (maybe twelve) and bawling my eyes out. I lost. However, my parents were right. I did achieve more academically like they wanted. As a bonus I made friends there that I am still friends with today. Some of the best formative times of my life were in those years. Looking back, I would not trade them.

It was such a pleasure to see Grant in his element. He looked truly happy and engaged. While his water rocket wasn't the best in the competition, he did take First Place and Third Place in two separate events! In the county! For a kid that has spent the last year in the shadow of track star brother I know Grant was really proud of his accomplishment. And so are we.

Monday, May 02, 2022

Unplugged

It is that time of the year again. We have passed through the season of the yellow death - our annual pollen hell - and entered the season of afternoon pop up storms. For the last few nights the skies become ominous somewhere between 4:00pm and 7:00pm. An unnatural darkness seems to suck all of the light from outside and inside the house. The skies turn a shade of deep navy blue with the occasional illumination of lightning. Once the wind pick up and begins to blow leaves and lawn furniture over then it is only a matter of time before the bottom drops out and the rain pours and the lightning and thunder follow. The lightning can truly light up the inside of the house, seeming to reach around corners into dark, windowless rooms. The thunder sounds as if something incredibly and unnaturally huge fell - with echoes rolling for long moments afterwards. The rain begins with big, fat drops against the windows or on the driveway and give over to a downpour as if the whole cloud above was being emptied.

The storm the other night hit close by. A huge bolt of lightning was followed by a huge clap of thunder followed by the distinct sound of a transformer shorting out and then the lights flickered and went out. They came back on for half a moment and then went went out again. Time passed and it became clear that the power was not coming back on soon. Once the storm passed I went outside and was greeted by quiet. No AC units running, no cars outside, no manmade noise to be heard.

I went back inside and went into "dad mode" as the boys call it. I pulled down the flashlights, lit candles, and made sure everything was prepared in case it would be a long outage. All of that sits in a tote in the closet for just such a moment. I called Betty to make sure she was okay. Then I went over to check on her smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. By the time I got back the kids were inside with a flashlight and Magic The Gathering cards playing. They were completely unfazed by the lack of available technology. Amazingly, they can survive without iPhones or Netflix!

I was treated to the usual rainbow (double rainbow!) that is always at the end of our street (but never over our house). In the fading light of the day the sky was an unusual shade of pink and the rainbow looked like it was leaking into the sky. In the other direction the sky was a deep orange, lit by the setting sun.

The twilight was rewarding after a hard storm and I quietly regretted the power coming back after an hour and a half.

Just another day in the life of the Brown Family.

Monday, April 25, 2022

Spring Break 2022: A Historic Trip

Spring Break is becoming a bigger affair as the Brown Family is now old enough and mature enough to visit places that are not Disney, the beach, or staycations. Covid 2020 was the Outdoor, Day Trip Spring Break; the beach, kites, kayaks on the pond and lots of home projects. Last year we went to Utah and visited Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks - as well as a disastrous evening stroll along Las Vegas Boulevard. This year we decided to add something educational and visited Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown in Virginia. For balance, we added a trip to Busch Gardens so the boys couldn't say "we didn't do anything fun."

The Jamestown Museum is one of the best museums that I have been to in recent years. Modern and interactive, it kept the kids engaged just enough for the two hours we were there. The interactive, living museum section demonstrated what the colony probably looked like. See full size replicas of the ships that the Jamestown colonists used was sobering. I don't think the ships looked safe enough to take out on the James River, let alone cross the Atlantic with.

Consider is this; we, in present day, are closer to the American Civil War than the first Jamestown colonists are to the Civil War...by 100 years. Almost everything they laid their eyes on was being seen by White men for the first time. America wasn't even a notion - not for another 170 years. Europe's foothold in the New World was a tenuous speck.

Time and history amaze me. If we were to project the number of years from Jamestown until today into the future then we would be addressing the year 2437. I joke with the boys that they, or their children will likely see the first people to land on Mars; perhaps in the next 50 years. If that proves to be true then it is likely to see the colonization of Mars (and the moon) over the span of 400+ years. Just consider that we have only been in flight for 100+ years and space flight for 60 years. The promise of the future is in the intrepid spirit of the those who braved the unknown centuries ago.

Yorktown proved to be another great part of the visit. The Battle of Yorktown occurred in 1781 and marked the last major engagement between Britain and the Americans and is date recognized as the moment American independence was secured. Yorktown is also a song in the musical "Hamilton" because Hamilton led troop into combat there. The American Revolutionary War Museum at Yorktown was even better that Jamestown. Without kids Lisa and I could have spent hours inside. Instead we spent about 90 minutes but the boys discovered their own points of interest - including replaying the Battle of Cowpens on an interactive computer.

Yorktown has its own living museum, with a military camp and active farm. Role players work their stations - clearly there is a market in the region for people who want to dress up in period clothing and demonstrate their knowledge. However, the web app, self guided, driving tour of the actual site was even better because you got an appreciation for the space between the British and Americans. The British fortifications are still marked off. Redoubt 10, the fortification that Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton charged, has been rebuilt. The Surrender Field, where the British laid down their weapons and sword is vast and empty. "The world upside down," indeed.

Colonial Williamsburg was the highlight of the trip. It is a living reenactment of life in the late 1700s, just prior to American independence. The book binding shop, blacksmith, furniture maker, baker and others give an authentic feel for LBG (Life Before Google) or even before electricity. Unlike Jamestown and Yorktown, you step out of the 21st century in the 18th century by merely crossing the street. Park you car, go watch a drum and fife team and tour the Governor's mansion in the morning and eat street tacos and play video games at a brewpub for lunch.

All three sites made a noticeable mention to the life, conditions, treatment, and contributions of enslaved people in the New World. It was side by side with the hard work and contributions to those not in bondage. Lisa and I both noted how this topic was present.

And yes, we took the boys to Busch Gardens, Williamsburg. We got there just before they opened and rode the Pantheon - the newest fastest rollercoaster on the East Coast. We then rode The Griffon so many times that TJ eventually stopped riding coasters for a while. We dragged Lisa on a couple, including The Griffon, The Loch Ness Monster, and VerBolten, until she admitted that she has out grown mind jarring rides. Grant and I rode Alpinegeist, a rollercoaster that "hangs" from the track above it, not on top of it. In our opinion it was the best coaster of the day. We rode eight or nine rollercoasters in about six hours and called it a day. it turns out that the resort we stayed at had a FREE game room and kids wanted to play air hockey and shoot aliens.

On the day wew headed home we walked the campus of the College of William and Mary. We toured the oldest, active academic building in the US, the Wren Building and gave the boys their first taste of "college tours. You have to a appreciate a campus that sticks to its ascetic roots and avoids big, ostentatious modern structures.

A successful trip in the books...any ideas for 2023? How about the islands?