Sabado Gigante

 So D1 dropped off her boys and Lemon, the skittish Spaniel, and D2 and Jonathan dropped off Betsy, the enormous dog, and they were off to Alyssa and Fredy's for young Axel (love his name)'s "Bloodless Bris," a term I may copywrite.

They all had a blast, and Wifey and I had the boys swim - the Baby Man is a better swimmer than Little Man, which Little Man refuses to acknowledge -- saying it's only so at OUR pool.

The dog and human parents returned, and I twisted Jonathan's arm for a Stoli and some fresh squeezed (by my hand) OJ.

We tricked Baby Man into thinking that his brother was going home with his Tio and Tia -- he wants to stay over, but potty training is a prerequisite. He seems close, though there was a pee accident, and a near pool pooping incident -- for some reason that literally brings it out in him. Hopefully the carrot of staying over here works.

Little Man told us the teacher gave the kids on the first day of Kindergarten "Jitter Juice," to calm the first day jitters of any fearful ones. I decided to give him "Night Jitters Juice," since he tends to wake up several times. This consisted of a splash of blue Gatorade and "Aqua con gas," or seltzer.

Damn. It worked. Kid slept nearly 10 hours -- I beat him awake this am, and we took care of the dogs as the clock crept closer to 6 am, opening time for House of Bagels. We went, discussing the merits of black and white cookies versus happy faced yellow ones, and got the provisions.

Now he's on his IPAD, chilling. We leave in a few hours for home -- his prima Layla's birthday party. What a weekend!

And tomorrow, first full week of kindergarten, and back to regular preschool for Baby Man.

Also, two weeks from today -- Canes begin! Biggest opening day in memory -- hated Notre Dame. And a few weeks later, the hated Gators. What a season -- as I noted on our Canes chat -- a great time to be alive.

National politics has been largely evicted from the mental real estate I was giving it rent free. Yes, I disagree with Trump ordering a take over of D.C. and forcing the residents to live with far less crime and homeless encampments than they've had in decades.

My focus is on matters closer to home. Savoring the days, savoring the family, savoring our dear friends.

This week our designer friend is coming over to pick the color for our new roof -- going metal instead of the clay tiles that have been there since the house was built in 1997. It costs about the same to replace the clay tiles, but metal will definitely outlive me -- clay tiles may or may not. I'm told my choice changes the house from Mediterranean to Island. That's ok -- last I checked, I wasn't on any list of historic properties. 

Hopefully we get through storm season without a mess here, and I can get the new roof, and then at least get a fire policy again.

Yep -- local concerns -- like planning more Sabado gigantes...