First Summer Weekend

Thursday was the last day of school. So on Friday, we made our lists of what we wanted to do this summer, and then went to the pool. Jack seemingly made five new friends (apparently he knew one boy from a camp he attended for 2 weeks last summer...I can't remember people I met last week) and they threw a ball around the pool for two hours. Kate swam and jumped and turned somersaults in the water, like a little fish. I bought them both ice cream.

Saturday, Jack had a baseball game. He made a great catch of a fly ball in left field, potentially saving two runs. Jogging off the field he got a fist bump from the pitcher and a high five or back pat from the coach...I don't remember, I was too happy about the catch. Truth is you don't see a ton of fly balls to the outfield at this level, and not many of those get caught. I wrote a big F-7 in the score book and congratulated him as he came into the dugout. He was actually pretty cool about the whole thing. Later he put a couple of balls in play (one hit and one an error) that drove in four runs in an 8-1 win. We walked home happy, him talking about driving in four runs (which were really less impressive than the catch, but whatever, as long as he's happy).

Afterward, Kate wanted to go back to the pool while Jack wanted to hang out and watch the soccer, so she and I went to the pool for a couple of hours, she again a little fish, us again getting ice cream. Back home that evening, we grilled a steak and played soccer in the backyard with our new dog.

Sunday, Jack had a baseball practice, Emily and Kate went to the pool AGAIN, and Jack had a video game birthday party at a classmate's house in the afternoon. We cooked out, played running bases in the backyard with our dog, and at night I caught a firefly, which Jack and I analyzed and I thought of his great third grade teacher, talking about his enthusiasm for learning.

Good start to the summer.

Last day of school

It's a tough competition with the teacher they both had in kindergarten, but Jack and Kate had probably their teachers we most liked this year, two awesome ladies who were admittedly smitten with our kids. Kate's teacher, at our first parent-teacher conference, I recall her pausing, taking a breath, and saying, "I LOVE Kate. She is so sweet and helpful, both to me and the other students, and she's very encouraging." It was a great year and I think Kate became happier, friendlier, and a better person this year. Plus she learned to read and did this ridiculous new math that I barely understood myself. But it was a great year, and today, after saying goodbye to basically every teacher she recognized, she went to a play date at a friends house and ate pizza and ice cream.

Jack, meanwhile, had probably the best teacher I've ever even heard of this year. Ms Gullotta was a wonderful teacher who was both sweet and kind and old school, the only one who kept the kids until 3:00 p.m. before opening her door. And most of them still didn't leave.

Some of the stuff she said to me today she had told us before, but it still really hit home. She said Jack was an extraordinary student, smart and talented and always eager and anxious to learn. "He inspired me...he inspired the other kids, I think to be better students. He inspired me to be a better teacher. He is an amazing kid." What do you say to that? I think I sputtered something about how great she was and how much he loved having her, all true, but I didn't put it into words as well. He had been in a reading group with her class the previous year -- he's currently reading at a sixth-grade level -- and she said she hoped she would get him in her class, and when she got the list, she immediately went down it to see if his name was there. I hugged her and she said "I've got my fingers crossed for Kate," and I said we do, too.

Then Jack and I went home and bought tickets for the New York Comic Convention in October, went out to a bar, er, restaurant, to have wings and watch the World Cup, and got some swings in at the batting cages, since some bad habits have crept into his swing. And then came home and played with our new dog. What's that, I haven't blogged about her yet? Ok, next time.

Happy

It's almost summer, and the kids are feeling it. Today, Jack had a baseball practice, and then we came home and made a steak on the grill. I don't even know exactly what started them off, but they started singing a commercial for goldfish crackers and just, uh, cracking each other up. They took turns singing and posing, posing and singing. And laughing at each other's poses and songs.

And then we all played the running bases game in our backyard, laughed, and went to bed.

Best Father's Day ever

Woke up to coffee, plus a smiling Jack proudly bringing me toast and a hard boiled egg he had made (well, the toast, anyway). Kate was very sad she had slept in, but I said I really needed orange juice. So she was happy.

Kids brought me cards they had made. In Jacks's, he and I wore our Port Chester Pirates gear, him his uniform and glove, me my coaches' shirt. In Kate's, we were smiling, and birds and butterflies flew about our heads. Their cards said really sweet things, too.

We went to the Mets game, and a Met led off the first with a long home run. We ate burgers and hotdogs, then finished with ice cream for all. Jack kept score for the first time. The kids posed cheerily for pictures. After the game they ran the bases. In most of the pictures, one of them gave the other rabbit ears, a goofy tradition that some days I would expect them to be too tired or cranky to do. (Late night last night.) And they were tired, but not cranky. Sweet and funny all day.

Way too long drive home, pizza, a catch with Jack in the backyard, kiss goodnight for Kate. Finally bed and not a peep from either kid. Great day.

Lot of random

Jack has been really into playing catch lately. Every night. Sometimes we play catch, sometimes he pitches to me. This afternoon we played half an hour of wiffle ball. This morning, he walked into the backyard on his own with his glove and ball to toss it up into the air a bit. To be honest he's kind of wearing me out. But I'll take it.

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Kate loves this scooter we got her. It was her present for Jack making the Summer Travel team. If she has to go to the park all the time for his games, she may as well have a scooter. She's pretty impressive on it, zipping all over the place like she's the Silver Surfer or something.

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Emily went out with friends tonight, so it was just me and the kids. I made a pizza which Jack inhaled and Kate half ate, half picked around the edges, because at some point recently she decided she didn't like tomato sauce. Kind of cuts down on the dinner options. But she ate some, and they both had watermelon for dessert.

They got into their pajamas, and we watched an episode of Gilligan's Island, me sitting between them on the couch. I brushed teeth and washed faces, then read a Magic Kitten chapter with Kate and some Calvin and Hobbes strips with Jack. Turned out lights, told them I loved them, hugged them, put them to bed. Then I came downstairs and wrote this quick blog.

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Summer travel

Jack had a baseball tournament in New Jersey over Memorial Day weekend. Expectations were relatively modest, I think partly because of the way our players got clobbered in the Spring Travel season. But we showed up ready t o play the first day, and indeed it felt a little like Spring -- rainy and cold.

Our first game was against a pretty decent team, but we played OK and ended up scoring 4 runs in the final inning to tie it up. Jack, who struck out, I think, his first time up, and had a slow roller ground single his 2nd, drew a walk during the rally and made it all the way around to third on a couple of steals with what would have been the winning run. But we didn't get the hit and it ended in a tie.

It was muddy and wet, and the kids were a mess, but they were pretty happy after a loss turned into a tie. We had a second game to play, and that one was ruder -- they clobbered our pitching, we didn't play well in the field, I am pretty sure Jack was too far from the plate and didn't get any hits. Didn't handle a catchable fly ball, either. We all left in a sour, tired, and wet and muddy mood, what with being rained on for half the night.

And after Jack's second strikeout, I said to him, you weren't too far from the plate that time...your feet might have been too far apart. And he gave me a pained, frustrated look and said, "It's always something."

In the car going back to the hotel (team dinner cancelled due to muddieness) we were all pretty glum. Well, not Kate, who had run around playing with other little sisters. We thought, is this what the travel season will be like? Is there a point to this if Jack's not having fun? How can I help get him back on track?

But then we had dinner out with the other coaches and their kids and a couple of wives, and for the most part the game was forgotten -- especially by the kids, who laughed and joked and ate chicken fingers and ice cream. We rolled back to the hotel, went to bed, and would wake up into a new day.

And on Sunday, I said to Jack, I am not going to give you any more advice during the game. I know it's hard getting 5 different people telling you what to do. Get comfortable at the plate and do your best. In the field, be ready. Have fun.

Before the game, they had a batting practice. Jack came back from his turn in the cages and said, "Coach said I did everything perfect!" I said, Great! Bring that to the game.

In Jack's first at-bat, a couple of pitches in, there was a loud crack (metal bats, but crack is all I can think of) as he hit a line drive single up the middle that was as hard and as well as he's ever hit the ball. It started a rally that took us from 3-2 down to 8-2 ahead. In his next at bat, another crack, as he roped the ball to left field for a double. Probably his 2nd best hit. Knocked in a run. We ended up winning 15-5, and the kid was all smiles, happy as I've seen him in a baseball game since last year. Relieved, probably, too.

First, it was great to see him happy. Smiling on the bases, a little fist pump after he made a nice play to get an out while filling in one inning at second base.

He played the whole spring without getting any moments like that (we didn't play many games and lost all of them). So this was a big change.

Second, it was great to see him do well, and hear the talk from coaches and teammates. Way to go, Jack! Stay hot, Jack! Teammates clapping him on the helmet and back when he came in. Just a couple of beautiful, glorious hits. Talking to the coach later, admitting I was afraid he'd be dropped in the lineup after the rough game, saying, I almost said to you, I know Jack is struggling right now, but don't give up on him. So I'm glad you didn't.

And third, it was nice after the game, with one coach kind of absently giving him a smile and a pat on the head, and the other, in post game comments, saying, "I want to mention Jack Richardson, who really swung the bat well. Nice job, Jack." Sometimes Jack might make a goofball face, but this time he just kind of smiled proudly, quietly. Kids: "Jack-ie!"

Afterward, I spoke to the coach who had praised him after the game, just saying, thanks. And he said, "Well, I know how hard he's working."

I realized then that that's what made me happiest, too. I know how hard he's been working. I know how much advice he's had to take in, how much frustration he's had a times, and how tough it probably was in the spring. How he wasn't having much fun playing something he actually loves to do.

I know how hard he'd been working, and it's always pretty great when that pays off.

All-Stars

Today was All-Star Day for Jack and Kate. It's an annual thing for their baseball leagues where all the teams gather at Lyons Park and get their individual and team pictures taken, compete in tug of war and sack races, eat hotdogs and ice cream, participate in skills competitions, and play an All-Star Game. In the past it was just the competing and the eating, but now Jack is in Minors Division, and he was an All-Star. So he got to eat free food all day, get a special All-Star jersey, and then play in the game with all the other All-Stars.

Kate did the tug of war and sack races. And she was really into it. It was kind of crazy. Before it started she said, "I don't want to do the sack race." We told her she had to, and she did and did it well. Then she not only did the tug of war, which her size-challenged team actually won somehow, but she joined in on a bunch of other teams short a player or two and helped them out.

And then she got ice cream and sat near the baseball field with a few other little girls and played with Barbies for two hours.

Jack finished 2nd in the pitching competition. It was this thing in the batting cages where you had to hit a target I presume some 45 feet away. He advanced through to the finals losing only at the very end, according to him after about 6 rounds. I don't know if that's correct, but I do know they called his name at the awards ceremony and he got this cool little trophy. Pretty awesome.

They had pregame warmups, introduced each player, lined them up on the baselines. They stood silently while somebody sung the National Anthem. It was crazy, like watching a real All-Star Game. Just one of those moments you feel lucky, not to have an All-Star Game but the whole baseball league. Another coach commented to me on how respectful the kids were. Pretty cool.

Jack went 2 for 3, handled his one infield chance cleanly and got a putout at second, couldn't make a play on a well hit ball to the outfield. His team lost 15-13 but it's an All-Star Game and it doesn't matter. They're all winners.

After the game we walked home -- another great thing, we can walk home after a day at the ballpark -- and Jack asked if I wanted to throw the football around. The football? I said. He said, yeah. So we put his pitching trophy inside and went out in the backyard with a ratty old Nerf football and had a catch.

Field trip

Kate's first grade class went to the Aquarium today, and I offered to chaperone. This was a huge treat for Kate, which is kind of cool; I don't always think about how much kids enjoy having their parents chaperone. She was excited about it all week and talked about it all last night. She was happy.

My charges were Kate, Her friend Hannah, and a couple of quiet, well-behaved boys. Miss Naselli assured me they wouldn't give me any trouble; indeed, Kate was the only one inclined to run off ahead.

The Aquarium was the Aquarium. We saw seals and sharks, the latter of which scared Kate a little. We saw jellyfish ("Where's the jelly?" Kate asked), Finding Nemo types of fish, sting rays and sea turtles. We took pictures of smiling kids with sharks and turtles in the background. We touched rays, saw Meerkats, and watched an IMAX movie about baby elephants and orangutans being raised by people after their Moms were poached, then returned to the wild. Sad and touching and cute. Kate loved it, loves baby animals.

Strangely, I think I most enjoyed eating lunch with my little group of smiling girls and peaceable boys. Hannah's Mom wrote her a note on her napkin; that was really sweet. She and Kate had two of the same snacks. The boys had deli sandwiches. I dunno. I guess I like seeing what other parents do, how kids interact with each other when they're just sitting together (as opposed to looking at a shark or a movie).

End of the day, we got on the bus, and I cracked the kids up with a goofy dance to a song the bus driver was playing. Kate gave me a big smile. Me going on her class trip was the favorite part of her day. Mine too.

Baseball

Today was the opening Saturday of the baseball season, with Jack playing at 9 and Kate playing at 11:30. Just last night, and indeed when we woke up this morning and it was raining, we didn't think it would happen. But the rain stopped, the tarp came off the field, and Jack and I headed over at 8:45 for his 9:30 game. On the way we saw a bunny on a neighbor's side lawn. We stopped and watched it for a few minutes.

Jack's game was against A team coached and well represented by his travel team coaches. Didn't expect to win, but in fact it was very competitive, with us trailing 7-4 entering the final inning. Jack hit the ball pretty well and was solid in the field, making a couple of plays at shortstop and playing a solid inning behind the plate. This was impressive because he was shakier in his first game, the previous night, and it was nice to see him step it up. Turned a nice putout with a school friend and nearly a great one with another teammate. We lost the game, but he and the team had every reason to feel proud of their effort. For my part, even though I at one point sent Jack into an out on the basepaths, it was nice to be coaching...in the summer, I mostly just kept score and assisted at practices.

It was like Jack himself said later, when I asked him if he was enjoying Minors. He said he was, enthusiastically; that, "you know, I had fun doing Summer Travel, but now I'm getting to DO more." (E.g., playing shortstop, leading off the batting order, etc.) On the travel team he wasn't one of the best players; now he is.

Kate's T Ball game was a nice little interlude, three innings of little kids knocking the ball off a tee, converging on it in the field, maybe throwing it to first. The games are kind of a hoot, but the kids had fun and most of the same coaches and friends from Jack's game were there -- one guy wore three different shirts while coaching three different teams in the space of four hours. Kate played with a smile on her face, which is about all you want to see.

Afterward we got lunch at the fields, chatted with other kids and parents from other teams, said hi to former players and teammates ("Hey weren't you my coach on Perrone Bros.?" Yup, hi Joseph). Just a really nice day.

For a couple hours or so, I talked to other coaches and watched other games. Jack played running bases, this baseballish game that all the kids play. Jack describing it later: "running bases is great because you never get tired of it. Until maybe after an hour, when you get bored. But then you take about half an hour off, and come back to it, and there are new catchers, and it's fun again."

We ate dinner out, watched Gilligan's Island, put the kids to bed early. Then I sat down to write about a great day of baseball.

Random stuff

- yesterday, while waiting for Jack to get back from a field trip, Kate walked into the classroom next door to his. She's friendly with the teacher, I think maybe partly because he used to have her cousins in his class. She spent the next 15 minutes creating art on his overhead projector/smart board/whatever thingy. Big smiles. The teacher didn't mind; Kate is very charming and cute. Loves teachers and they love her.

- picked up Jack from a play date at his friend's house today. I talked with the friend's Dad while Jack and the friend drew and Kate got the tour of the house from the younger brother, plus they all talked Skylanders. Nice family, pleasant time.

- Jack hadn't been swinging the bat well in practice, so a friend (and one of his summer coaches) said a e could come over and he'd give him some tips. So we did that for like an hour after dinner. The guy has four kids of his own and it was pretty cool he was willing to take some time to help Jack out. After the hitting session, Jack pitched a little off a makeshift mound he built recently. At the end he just messed around, using an exaggerated, Fernando Valenzuela delivery. Funny.

- Jack and I walked home and it was cold but pretty out. Kate and I read her Magic Kitten book before bed, the book she was allowed to take out as a second one because she couldn't choose between two series -- one she reads with Emily, one with me. So her teacher signed out the second one for her.

People are OK sometimes.

Spring Vacation, Day 4

The day began with an hour and a half worth of dentist appointments. This is the worlds best kids dentist office, since it has video games, a popcorn box shaped movie theatre showing "Frozen," and a life size suit of Iron Man armor. Anyway, the kids were great and I got some great selfies with Iron Man, and then we zipped home so Kate could go do gymnastics for 3 hours and I could host a couple of Kate's friends' brothers. It was 4 p.m. before it was just Jack and Kate again.

Kate and I played baseball in the yard. The girl can throw! She hit some too. Jack came out and we discovered he was a fiercer taskmaster than I was, giving Kate all the tips I give him...hmm, maybe I am a fierce taskmaster. Anyway. We had fun, and then I took Jack to his two-hour baseball practice. And I am really tired now, so, good night.

Spring Vacation, Day 3

A play date plan fell through, so I pulled out a Plan B. We hopped in the car and went to the Science Museum and Planetarium in Bridgeport, Connecticut. I remembered going there with Jack a few years back and not being overly impressed, but I wanted to try something different from staples like the Aquarium or Stepping Stones which frankly we've kind of worn out over the years.

And it was awesome. The kids were fascinated by the microscope and magnetic exhibits, thrilled by the energy show where the teacher showed us experiments with flame, liquid nitrogen, and electricity. When she asked for possible answers to "what would happen if..." Both Jack and Kate raised their hands enthusiastically. After Kate gave her answer, she smiled at me proudly. When the racquetball immersed in liquid nitrogen no longer bounced but shattered on the floor with a bang,,Jack turned to look at me with a huge,,wide-eyed grin. Yes, science is pretty cool.

We took in the planetarium show about the moon, shot hoops at the basketball exhibit, used solar, wind, and hydroelectric energy to move things. It was really a pretty great couple of hours, in part perhaps because my expectations were kind of low going in.

We literally closed the place down; they had to kick us out at 5. We walked back to the car talking about all the different things we'd seen and done. It's funny; we've been watching the show Cosmos on TV, so I thought of this place because of the Planetarium. And that was probably the least interesting part of the trip; it was the more traditional science exhibits they most enjoyed. Anyway, good day.

Spring Vacation, Day 2

Rained all day,,so good thing we went outside a lot yesterday. Got some work done in the morning, while the kids had another stuffed animal rodeo, made birthday cards for cousins and Babas, and built things with long forgotten construction toys. Jack made some kind of great bird/TRex character. Kate made a birdhouse thing.

Afternoon we ran errands. Orthodontist for Jack. Library for both; Kate got a bunch of Rainbow Fairy books, Jack got a variety of different books that I'm sure he will fly through. Kate finished one of hers this afternoon. Voracious readers, it's nice.

Went to the grocery store and post office, came home to read, make a fire (cold and rainy out), and watched a couple of Gilligan's Islands. Basically all the humor involving Ginger goes well over their heads, which is fortunate.

At dinner I made Jack laugh by theorizing an Easter Bunny that threw eggs at people, conking them in the head. This totally cracked him up, which I don't often do; very satisfying. Ate cake for dessert and watched Cosmos, which I have to say kind of went over Emily's and my heads but Jack termed one of his favorites. OK then.

Put Kate to bed, reading one of her kitten books. She sang me a song about the little black bug that was pretty cute. We listened to the rain as she fell asleep.

Spring Vacation, Day 1

It's Spring Break, so I'm going to try to blog every day. Today was a good day. Weather indicated this would be the nicest day of the week, so I knew the plan would be to be outside.

First thing in the morning, I had both kids make a list of everything they wanted to do this week. They collaborated on it, which was nice; no need to read "McDonald's" and "Dunkin' Donuts" on multiple lists. Their list was pretty good, including the expected (TV) and unexpected (Easter projects). Looked good; I am sure we will end up doing many of them.

While I did some work, they played together quite nicely. This morning's game was "Stuffed Animal Rodeo," during which their various stuffed toys were timed riding on Zoomer, the battery-operated robot dog. No, I am not making this up. The monkey won. Of course.

Today we started at Bruce Park. It's a nice playground in Greenwich which we used to go to semi-regularly (when we lived in Connecticut) and I think have gone to every spring break since Jack started school. It's a tradition, and we like those around here. They immediately climbed the rock wall, and the climbing tower, and the hoopy thing -- I believe that is the official name -- and stuff that was difficult for Jack a year ago wasn't, and stuff that Kate couldn't do a year ago she did with effort. Stuff she didn't try then, she managed to do now. They had a blast on the swing chairs, and the slides, and the rock walls, smiling genuine proud,happy smiles for the camera.

When they tired of that, or couldn't put off their McDonald's craving any longer, we went there. We sat and ate their unhealthy food with lots of ketchup. Some little girl stood up and shouted instructions to her Dad across the restaurant. I evidently cringed because Kate looked at me and said, "She must have never been in a restaurant before!"

Jack had an afternoon play date at a friend's house,,so Kate and I took her bike out for a spin, which ended at yet another playground. Pushed her on the swing, helped her ride, watched her climb trees. Just a nice sunny afternoon.

Back at home, Emmy came back from work and we/they played baseball in the yard. Kate is working on her skills, Jack just likes to play. And that was our day.

Having a catch

So Jack's team got clobbered this evening, and Jack was pretty morose afterward. It was bad enough -- pretty much the worst pounding I'd ever seen -- that the game ended after 3 innings, and Jack got only one inning in the field and no at-bats.

We trudged home from the field and I (after telling Jack at the field to keep his cool) told Jack to go ahead and say anything he wanted to say. I said, you know, losses like that happen every once in a while.

And he said, exasperatedly, "It's not that we lost, it's that I didn't get to DO anything about it. I didn't bat, and I only played one inning!" And I said, yeah, well, it's tough, there are 15 kids on the team, and most of them are older than you, and we only played 3 innings, etc. And he continued: "And (friend who got yelled at by coach for goofing around on bench) doesn't even care! It's optional for him. And I actually DO care!"

So I told him I understood. And that we are going to have a great time in Minors this season (new season starting, as his Spring Travel season is ending), since the kids are all his age (true) and he's one of the best players on the team (also true). And he'd get to hit plenty, field plenty, and have some fun. Win or lose.

By this time we had reached home, and I said, Jack, you want to go play catch in the back yard? And to my relief, he nodded.

So we had a catch, and it only took a handful of throws before he was grinning again. Me too.

Artwork

I have a real fondness for the art the kids created when they were younger. Jack drew pictures of monkeys with big eyes, goofy grins and gangly fingers and toes, and his "Rainbow Man" -- pictures of happy people where every line was a different color -- still make me smile. Kate drew pictures of people that were basically big circles with stick figure arms and legs, with dots for eyes and noses and big smiles. She drew them over and over and labeled them "Mommy" "Daddy" "Jack" and "Kate," the females usually distinguishable from the males because they had a piece of hair over each ear, while the males had just one squiggly hair on top.

At one point she'd made four such pictures, one for each family member, and we framed them in four separate plastic frames and hung them together in the playroom. I probably walked by them every day without noticing them, until I noticed that while the kids were cleaning up and redesigning their house area yesterday, they'd removed three of the pictures in favor of different ones they'd made. Two I found scrunched up in the trash, the third was on the floor.

I brought the kids down to the playroom and gave them the riot act, about how the frames are ours and they're not supposed to touch them or change them, and that I was sad Kate's old pictures were damaged, because they gave me a lot of great memories. Both were sad and apologetic, genuinely, and I felt bad and all that.

After that I saw Kate going back and forth from one art area to another. Turned out she was trying to re-create the same pictures that had been crumpled, with the same-colored marker and her same choppy, charming style. She didn't quite get them, but it was pretty sweet.

Jack created a drawing of his own, a note that said "I'm Sorry!" and then this cartoon character he created recently, Marty Mushroom, making a joke about it.

I thanked Kate for her pictures and took them, but I later found her huddled in my desk chair crying. What's wrong, I asked. She was sad because I hadn't immediately put the pictures into the frames. I explained that I was trying to flatten out the original ones and use them again, which cheered her right up.

I get nostalgic, Kate is very sensitive, and Jack is kind of a mixture of both -- not quite as sensitive, but thoughtful and anxious to make amends, as is Kate. Basically they're both great kids. And, I think I'll need to get more frames soon.

Family TV

Today was our first nice day in a while, and we went to the playground. Kate rode her bike around the tennis court, did a good job riding, got frustrated when she couldn't start on her own, got excited when she got going. Jack met a friend and his brother and they played basketball, then all four of them played on the slide and the rings. Kate is a little monkey on the rings. On the slide, they did this treasure hunt game they invented where they went slowly down head first to collect wood chips. Silly but fun, clever.

But what I'm going to write about instead is family TV, because with all the rain and cold, there's been a decent amount of that lately. Whereas in the past we'd send them off to watch their kids shows, we've been doing more family things in evenings.

The first, which started at Disney, is Gilligan's Island. TV land has started airing them in blocks, and they've become our regular weekend evening viewing. They both love it, probably as much as I did as a kid, watching it with Robin, some, and Scott. I feel like we might have done skits, too, though I am not sure. I know we loved it, and I suspect I enjoy it now for both the humor and the nostalgia, and watching it as a family. Uh, I am not watching them on my own.

The second is Cosmos, a science series that's fascinating and incredible and lots of it is tough for even me to keep up with, so I am sure it loses Jack and Kate here and there. But Jack is fascinated and Kate is entertained, and so we snuggle up together on the couch and watch it with rapt attention.

It's weird, because I have always wanted to be careful that they don't watch too much TV, and I forgot how good it can be when it's, you know, good. We watch it and talk about it during, and after, and the next day, and look forward to the next one. Will Gilligan get off the island? Will we get off Planet Earth?

It's not the playground, but it's a lot of fun sometimes.

Disney World, Day 7

On Friday, the one place we hadn't been, ironically, was Animal Kingdom, where our lodge was. So we took the shuttle over to the park area. My notes are thin and this was a few weeks ago now, so I will do my best to recall what we did. (Emily reminds me I already missed one of our favorite rides from the previous day, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, a roller coaster that Kate did NOT want to go on, but at the end was like, Wheeeeeeeee!!!!" This also reminds me of the DoleWhip, which was a pineapple flavored ice cream snack that was fantastic. But I digress.)

Perhaps the coolest thing about it was this massive Tree of Life, a huge structure which looked real but had all these animals etched/carved into its trunk. Really cool. Then it was off to DinoLand, USA, where we did a couple of rides and blew some money on Carnival games. Eh.

But the day really picked up with the animal safari, where we rode a bus through a whole bunch of different animal areas, and lunch at Flametree Barbecue, where I ate some fantastic ribs (sorry, animals!) and had one of the week's better lunches. Then we did "Everest," a ride which was supposed to be scary and I figured, no big deal if Kate can't do it, I will let Emily go with Jack. Instead we both did it, and good thing because it was one of the best rides of the vacation. You felt a chilling wind in your, uh, hair, and seemed to be attacked by a Yeti that destroyed the track in front of you, forcing you to go backward. Great fun.

The safari was cool for the gorilla, and the climbing monkeys, and the elephants, and the giraffe that walked up about 5 feet away from us. And then we finished up there and went BACK to Hollywood Studios, so we could do the Toy Story and Star Wars rides again. And finally, done with all that, we had dinner at the 50s prime time cafe, where all the tables were like being in your grandmas kitchen or an old TV show, the waitress called you hon and cracked wise to you and your kids (Jack didn't know what to make of her; couldn't tell if she was serious or kidding when she took away his toy at the table and lectured him about his elbows). The menu, of course, had meatloaf, fried chicken, and chicken pot pie, or a sampler with some of each -- my choice.

We enjoyed colorful drinks, huge desserts which you ordered from a menu on slides in a old time Viewfinder, and the kitschy decor, which felt entirely authentic. I don't remember if we squeezed in one more ride...think we thought about Toy Story, but the wait was too long, and bed was calling. What do you know, I remember more about that last full day at Disney than I thought.

Swim!

Drove to Ithaca, New York this past weekend for the State swimming championships. Jack had qualified in one event, the breast stroke, and so we drove four hours, stayed in a hotel, and fought through the masses of people at Ithaca College to watch our son swim for 25 seconds, after which we'd get back in the car and drive another 4 hours back home.

The first day felt like a huge waste of time. Directions were poor and our 4-hour drive ended up being 5 hours. We got to the college to watch Jack's team finish up its Saturday events, only to find they'd already ended and there was a 2-hour break before the next session. Skipped the team dinner because it was going to be late and we didn't want to keep Jack up. (Plus there was a Pizza Hut directly across the parking lot from our hotel!) We ate pizza, watched a TV Land Gilligan's Island marathon, and wondered why we were there. Throw in a really bad night's sleep (Jack and Kate, who had shared a Queen bed without so much as a cross look for a week at Disney World, bickered over who got to sleep on which side, fought over the middle pillow, and tossed and turned for enough of the night that we finally gave up and separated them around 3 a.m., with me moving over to Jack's bed and Kate moving into ours.

(They slept better after that, but we didn't. At one point I woke up to find Jack sleeping on top of my HEAD -- yes, he was using my skull as a pillow. C'mon, man!)

But the next morning we were starting to feel the enthusiasm, which continued and increased when we arrived at the college. We watched Jack do warm-up laps and dives with his team, both of which were shaky -- his dives are always shaky, and on the laps he seemed to have trouble staying in a lane, frequently drifting over to collide with people coming back the other way.

Half an hour before he was scheduled to swim, he was calling to us from across the pool, so I went to meet him, only to find he'd made his way up to where we were sitting. He was hungry, and had to go to the bathroom, and evidently didn't want to wait on one and couldn't find his way to take care of the other. We gave him a handful of Fritos, I took him to the bathroom, and said oh by the way Jack, good luck, you're swimming in 20 minutes!

As his event approached, Emily was getting more nervous. Me too, worrying about him missing it entirely by getting stuck in a bathroom or falling off the block and being disqualified or somesuch. But no; when it came time, he was there on the block, and started at the right time and everything. We were just hoping he wouldn't finish last...

And he won!

Afterward, we caught his eye across the pool. He raised both arms in the air in excitement and triumph. He ended up finishing 7th overall (he won his heat; there were three in total) out of 30 swimmers; safe to say dramatically better than we dared hope.

We drove home with an extra energy; the four hours seemed like a lot less. We were still excited about his performance; he I think was still excited about the cool new-fangled Soda machine at the restaurant we stopped at for dinner. I got 3 hours of great classic and alternative rock on upstate New York radio. Jack and Kate got a couple of hours of sleep. And we had a state champion (well, 7th) swimmer.

Disney World, Day 6

You wouldn't think we could top the Universal day, but Day 6 was pretty great, too. I woke up to the sound of Jack cracking up from the balcony, because he and Emily had just seen an ostrich poop outside our window. High comedy!

We had breakfast at "Cinderella's Table," which meant we dined at Cinderella's castle at Magic Kingdom, and were treated to visits from all the different princesses. Kate had a blast and it was fun for me, too! They were all pretty awesome and friendly, I guess that's probably more important when hiring than being the spitting image or anything, although that doesn't hurt. Jack didn't want to get his picture taken with any of the princesses, understandably, but he ate OK.

Edit: OK, Emily has requested more color from the breakfast. Well, the truth is that one of the Princesses, Ariel, was kind of flirting with me! Oh, she hid it in her innocent questions about my t-shirt, which had a bizarre dodge ball logo on it, but clearly she liked the Richardsons a little more than everyone else in the room. But eventually we had to leave and she had to return to the ocean, so this Disney fairy tale would not have a storybook ending.

Spent the day doing rides, mostly ones we'd done on our first trip to Magic Kingdom. Nothing made the notes but I'm pretty sure we had fun.

We powered through the day but stuck it out even when we got tired, because this was the day we were going to take in the parade and fireworks that happen at Magic Kingdom every night. We lined up on the street at a good spot (Emily had researched it) to see everything, then chose another spot when about 200 cheerleaders (there was a competition in town) crowded up against us. But apart from the jostling and crowding, it was by and large a happy, excited atmosphere. A Disney character skit was going on on the castle steps. Fun.

And then as it got dark, the parade began. Slow moving vehicles covered with lights, marching soldiers and dancers, characters - Captain Hook, Tinkerbell, Mickey, Minnie. Then a light show on the castle itself, and fireworks above it. Awesome. Kids loved it, we loved it.

Late night, long day, but a good one. We took the shuttle home with kids sleeping in our laps. It was a day of princesses, rides, parade floats, light shows, and fireworks.

And ostrich poop.