Category: Family

Almost 14 years ago, my hairy brother (Andy, if you must know his name), and his beautiful wife begat a son. I was present the moment he came into the world and I knew he was special from the moment I laid eyes on him. Mostly because he shared a large part of my DNA. No, but seriously, Andrew Michael Brads, or Drew as we like to call him, is a great kid. As are all my nieces and nephews! And for the past few years, Drew has been pretty relentless in pursuing one of his passions – cubing. As in Rubik’s Cubing!

He’s reallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreally good at the Rubik’s Cube. So good that this past weekend he competed in the Rubik’s Cube WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS for team USA! And guess what I learned from Drew’s interest? There is more than one kind of cube. There’s the original (3×3), a 2×2, 4×4, 5×5, 6×6, 7×7, and a pyramid version called the Pyraminx. (And also, you can compete doing the Rubik’s Cube one-handed or even WITH YOUR FEET! What??)

The Pyraminx is actually Drew’s best event.

He’s reallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyREALLY good at the Pyraminx! So good, in fact, that back in November he solved it in just 2.33 seconds, setting a North American record that still stands. And so good, that this past weekend, Drew won the Pyraminx event at the World Championships. That’s right, he’s the Pyraminx World Champion!!!  His average of his five solves of the Pyraminx was a world-championship-winning 3.16 seconds. Go Drew! Go USA!! And he finished 7th in the world on the 3×3 “regular” Rubik’s Cube with an average of 9.85 seconds per solve. Did I mention he’s still 13 (for another couple weeks)???

Our family is all really proud of Drew’s dedication and hard work. And as much as we’ve teased him about how nerdy cubing is, I have to admit that watching him in the finals – and all his competitors – online via live stream was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen or done. Check out this video of Drew solving the Pyraminx in one of the early rounds of the competion. He set a new North American Record average here, which he broke the next day at the Pyraminx final. Two North American Records and a World Championship in two days. NOT BAD! 🙂

Congratulations, Drew! (Should I tell the blogosphere that I used to call you Drewbie? Drewbear? No?) I’m so proud of you! Thanks for skyrocketing the Brads family to World-Class nerdy fame!

Want more Drew? Check out his cubing videos on YouTube or his official stats page at the World Cubing Association.

Or come to my house to see what a cute, chubby baby he was in my wedding pictures. Congrats Drew!!

Andy turned 40 yesterday, and the whole event was way less depressing than the second half of the movie I titled this post after. (I couldn’t think of anything better, and have you ever googled ‘quotes about turning 40’? Don’t. They must have all been written when the average life expectancy was 32.8 years.)

Don’t mind me, I haven’t had my coffee yet.

Anyway, we celebrated yesterday in Northern Michigan, where we’ve been vacationing all week with dear friends.

We started the day playing on the beach and jet skiing.

The kids and I took Andy out for lunch at a local hole-in-the-wall restaurant, the best kind.

We came back and Andy and I read books on the beach while Kate and two of her friends made paid homage to our trip and the memories we’ve made this week.

Later, we had a steak dinner, cheesecake, and wine, and we talked and laughed with our friends until way past my bedtime.

It was one of the best days I can remember in a long, long time.

Happy birthday to my favorite.

So, the week before last, we were on vacation. And it took me so long to recover from said “vacation” that I am just now blogging about it!

Remember when I asked your advice about planning this vacation?  Well, I don’t know how much of it I took, but…it was pretty much the weirdest vacation ever. And it truly convinced me that a trip with children is NOT a “vacation” for the parents,  but would be more aptly titled a “family trip”.  A vacation, I declare, is when adults go on a trip by themselves.

Nevertheless, despite the lack of actual rest, we DID have some fun! Which, after I look back at our schedule, seems like a miracle! Let me break down our itinerary for you.

Sunday: Bobby and Joshua return from a music festival/camping trip in Illinois (4 hour drive) (where Joshua was sick the entire time and puked all over the tent in the middle of the night), pick the rest of us up, and we head to my parents’ house in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia (7 hour drive).

Monday: Bobby leaves for Baltimore (another 4 hour drive) for his uncle’s funeral. 🙁 The kids and I hang out with my parents, and go to our favorite local park, Boxerwood Gardens.

Then, my mountain-man father took the big kids on a ride on his new toy, the 4-wheeler. They L-O-V-E-D it! We could hear Sophie “woo-hoo”ing when we were way down the mountain!

Tuesday: My parents and I and the kids set off for a rented beach cottage in the Outer Banks, NC (Kill Devil Hills to be exact!). Bobby sets out for the beach to meet us from Baltimore. Five hour drive for him, six hour drive for us.

We arrive in the late afternoon and hit the beach!!!
Jonah was super-impressed by his first view of the ocean.

The big kids had a ball. It was Joshua’s first time to the beach since he was two. Sophie had seen the ocean before, but never gotten to play in it in warm weather. They loved every second!

We stayed at the beach until Thursday afternoon. We loved every minute that we were at the beach. But unfortunately…that great deal my folks got on a beach cottage was too good to be true! I won’t elaborate too much, but it was bad enough that none of the adults could stand to stay there more than two nights!  (And the owner gave my folks their money back!) So, we soaked up as many hours as we could on the gorgeous beach and then…

Thursday: My parents left in the morning, and we left late afternoon to go back to Virginia to the mountain. Should’ve been a six-hour drive, but it took us 8.5 hours. It was TORTURE! A bad traffic jam of over an hour, during which Sophie puked in her first-ever bout with car sickness set us back. Then, very late at night in the dark, dark, mountains, we encountered an awful thunderstorm that soon became a terrifying driving situation, and we had to pull off the road for a good while. It was close to midnight by the time we got to my folks! (All this with a two-year-old, need I say more?)

Friday: Fun and relaxation in Virginia! I was so wiped out from the rough journey and not sleeping while we were at the Outer Banks that I slept almost ALL DAY while Bobby and my folks took care of the kiddos. Whoops! They did venture out to one of our favorite sites, Indian Rocks.

Saturday: More Virginia mountain fun. The kids really wanted to go fishing so my dad took us to one of his favorite places. Everyone caught crawfish but Sophie was the only one who caught a REAL fish!

 

Bobby took several turns driving the 4-wheeler and the kids loved riding with him. We just relaxed and Bobby and I even got to go out on a date!

 

Sunday: We packed up and hit the road about 10 a.m. to get back to real life in Dayton. We were all sad to have our family trip end. I think Bobby and I could’ve used a little more R&R! But, we were pretty happy to get back to our own beds (at least I was)!

Despite all the hours logged in the car, we did have a great time. I can’t wait to visit the Outer Banks with my family again (and just stay in a nicer place). The area was not overly-touristy and seemed really family-friendly. And we had perfect weather!

I’m glad we got to go to the beach, but I don’t think we’ll do a road-trip-within-a-road-trip vacation again soon.

Where did you go on vacation this year?