Date with Katie

New idea for the King Street Elementary school this year, a Father-Daughter dance. Family dances have been regular events (Back to School, Halloween) but this was the first limited to fathers and daughters. Simple and kind of brilliant. When I first told Kate about it (and to be fair, this is what happens the first time we tell her about a lot of new things), she said, "No!!!" But when I said, well, OK, I'll just go alone and dance with a bunch of other daughters, she said "No!!!" even louder, so we made our plans. Got her a lovely new outfit, found a tie for myself, and we were off.

I decided I'd make it as much like a date as possible, holding her door and carefully helping her into the car. We parked and I tried to hold her hand as we walked in. She said her hands were cold and she wanted them in her pockets, "but you can hold my arm." So I did that.

Inside, we got a little wrist corsage for her and a boutonniere for me. She loved the corsage but didn't much care for wearing it, repeatedly giving it to me to hold, then taking it back, then giving it back. Eventually, naturally, it broke, so we had to get another one. "But I want to keep the broken one, too," she said.

After putting our coats down I asked if she wanted to dance, but she was immediately hungry. So we stood in line and got macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets. Kate, after getting a big plate of food, said, "I don't like this macaroni and cheese Daddy." I know, Kate. She basically only likes the macaroni and cheese we make at home, because there's always some small difference with what we get in the outside world.

After eating, we sat for a formal picture, then went out onto the dance floor. It was sort of a jumping, arm-swinging kind of dance style, which is typical for me and her preferred choice as well. She had little interest in doing any sort of waltz, until I convinced her to stand on my feet. Then we did that a little bit while she laughed.

She was lukewarm on a lot of the music, but Gangnam Style came on. For the uninitiated (that's you, Mom and Dad), it was a popular song, video, and dance I guess a couple of years ago now. The basic routine involves moves that suggest riding a galloping horse, sidestepping with hands on hips, and swinging a lariat. It's pretty hilarious seeing a bunch of people do it, equally hilarious seeing a bunch of kids do it, and seeing a bunch of little girls and their Dads doing it? Well you can't put a price on that. Uh, I'm pretty sure a bunch of Dad were out there doing it, too, because otherwise I might have looked pretty foolish. Whew, no WAY was it just me and a bunch of little girls. Kate had a huge grin on her face as she did all the various moves and I tried to keep up. The highlight of the night.

That was followed by another of our favorite songs, so we danced to that too. Then she climbed up on my feet again and we shuffled around to something else. And she took the wrist corsage off.

At some point we checked out the dessert table. I must have looked away for a minute because we ended up with a plate of about a dozen cupcakes and cookies and brownies. For the two of us. Can't let that go to waste. Plus, red velvet cupcakes!

All the Dads were dressed up, and although there was plenty of standing around talking (at times the girls just wanted to line up and dance together, as they did for the Macarana, another choreographed dance routine to a popular song from a few years back), mostly it was Dads dancing with their daughters. Waltzes, twists, and holding and tossing little girls up in the air. Lots of happy faces.

Perhaps there will be a mother-son dance in the future? No doubt it was/will be considered, but as previous dances have proved, it can be a little harder to keep a herd of 6 to 11-year-old boys in the gym at dances. They invariably end up running around the hallways together, searching for a football to throw around or a wall to climb. Happens all the time. As one Dad said to me during the dance, This is a lot quieter than the ones with all the boys here. In a good way.

The dance ended, and we bundled back into our clothes and got back in the car. Remarkably, we heard Rihanna's "love in a Hopeless Place," on the radio, which was the first song I can remember having a Kate memory of. When it was popular a few years back, it would come on the car radio, or the kitchen radio, and she would pump her fists to it, and we'd laugh. In the kitchen, we'd dance.

Back in our driveway, we got out of the car. As I was closing the door, Kate said, a little quietly, "I love you, Daddy." I love you too, Kate. We say it plenty. But the ones that come at random, unexpected times are the best.

Birthday sleepover

Hosted a sleepover for seven of Jack's friends to celebrate his 10th birthday. Now, I don't know a lot of other kids of this age, just his friends really, so maybe we're just lucky. And I realize that some of them will go on to be sullen teens and whatnot. But for now, today, what a happy, nice, generally respectful group of kids. Yeah some call me Andy and some forget things like Thank You -- but most are really good about it. Maybe it's great parents, maybe it's the positive influence of youth sports, maybe it's a combination of that and their teachers and a generally comfortable lifestyle. We're probably just lucky, and I know stuff can and will change. But Jack's pretty lucky to have these friends.

They all showed up in the evening and immediately started playing Madden '15 on the XBox. And they went outside and played football in freezing cold temperatures. In the dark. I said, 5 minutes, I bet. But they were out there for more like 20, which was impressive. Then they came in and played Madden. And talked and argued and laughed and talked and snacked. And didn't eat enough of the pizza and chips and soda we bought. And ran through the house playing some sort of War game, throwing paper Ninja stars at each other (Jack makes them, he's really into Origami), and played a little table tennis, and went back to Madden. Finally, around the time we'd normally go to bed, and long after they'd normally go to bed, they popped in the Guardians of the Galaxy DVD and were up late laughing, and giggling, and talking, and watching that. And a couple of kids were snoring, but the rest were up past 1 a.m.

They tried sleeping in the living room, then moved to Jack's room (the ones that weren't already snoring). As the talking continued, I went in, once or twice, and said, OK, time to sleep. Jack, one of two kids who chattered away endlessly, said, "We're trying." I said, Well, it will be easier if you Stop Talking. And that worked, and they all slept.

In the morning, or 5-6 hours later, there was more giggling, more Madden, more playing football outside in the freezing cold. And then they opened presents and laughed some more, and Jack got a couple of great handmade cards with nice things said. And then parents arrived, kids filtered out, and soon it was Jack and one friend left playing a game trying to bounce a ping pong ball down the stairs into a plastic cup.

And I said to myself, So in some respects, things shouldn't change that much until after they graduate from college.

Christmas wrap

I wish I could say I remember everything from the Christmas season, but I forget things.

I always remember Christmas Eve. We go to church, and the highlight for the kids is holding the lit candles for Silent Night. We go home, they get into their pajamas, then come back downstairs and leave a plate of cookies and notes for Santa.

Kate made a picture of Donner, our Elf on the Shelf, so that Santa and Donner would have it. She also drew a picture of Santa. In her note, she asked Santa to hug Mrs. Claus for her.

Jack drew a picture of Santa and Rudolph, and wished Santa luck on the rest of his trip.

I sat down with them and read them 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, as we do every year. They were still pretty wound up afterward, excited about Christmas. Jack did push-ups. Kate yelled or sang or something.

Emily and I watched the end of It's a Wonderful Life, I got something in my eye, and we went to bed.

Tenth Day of December

On the 10th day of December, we have a reservation to go to the North Pole to see Santa. It was this seasonal thing at an outdoors mall in Yonkers that we'd heard about and decided to give it a try. We like to do some sort of family Christmas thing each year, and have done the Rockettes and other various things in previous years. This sounded OK so we piled into the car on a cold and blustery December afternoon to go.

In the car the kids asked questions. What is it? What will it be like? Where are we going? Etc. We only had a vague sense ourselves so we gave vague answers. But it will be fun, we said. Hopefully.

We parked in a parking garage and walked over to where it was. The kids saw a LegoLand sign which I think they were more excited about. But we got the Christmas village, waited in line, went inside. Emily and I noticed how small the whole structure was and said to each other, well, this could be quick.

But it ended up being great. Most notably, it included a 3-D, Disney-type ride where we felt like we were on a magical sleigh traveling at high speeds through the sky on our way to the North Pole. Escorted by Shrek and Donkey, no less! So that was cool, fun for the kids and a reminder for us of our great Disneyworld trip at the beginning of the year.

Once there (it's possible we didn't actually travel to the North Pole, but it seemed like it!), we got to go in as a family to see Santa. He was sitting on a comfortable couch in a room packed with letters from kids and toys and books and things. He had kindly eyes and a great beard, and though I can't be sure it really might have been Santa. The kids sat down on either side of him, Kate on his lap and Jack next to him. Jack, maybe, didn't think it was really Santa, but was polite and respectful. When Santa asked what he wanted, he said an XBox, whew! Kate was shy, when Santa asked her what she wanted, she drew a blank, just sort of smiled in a daze. She believed. Santa said her present would be a surprise, which works well for us.

They smiled nicely for pictures, I shook Santa's hand and wished him a Merry Christmas, and we were whisked back to Yonkers. (After buying the pictures in the gift shop, naturally, that's how they get you!) Happy and full of good cheer, we had a nice dinner at a burger/comfort food place. Kate and I played Tic Tac Toe and did a crossword. We all filled up on food and drink. And then happily skipped over to LegoLand to spend too much not enough just the right amount of money.

We drove home, listening to Christmas music. Heard a James Taylor song, about which Kate asked, "Why is he singing like he's dying?" We laughed much of the way home, and went to bed with visions of sugar plums and Lego Santas in our heads. Nice night.

Fifth Day of December

On the fifth day of December, I had volunteered to chaperone Kate's class trip to see The Grinch in New York City. I did the same with Jack's class two years ago.

Kate was very excited about both the trip and me being a chaperone. The night before she wrote me a note. "I can't wait to see the Grinch tomorrow!" She wrote. "With you!"

I showed up at school and collected Kate and her three little friends. She was all smiles and held my hand. "Can I sit next to you on the bus?" she asked. I said, well, we'll see, we'll all be close to each other. On the way down, she and her friends ended up sitting in the row right in front of me. They chattered away and occasionally she leaned around the edge of the seat to look back at me, but was fine.

We arrived, and clambered out of the bus to stand on the sidewalk. It was mildly nerve-wracking, so many people and little kids milling about. I did head counts over and over -- 1, 2, 3, 4, yup, got 'em all -- to make sure we had them.

We headed inside and all sat in our row. Kate wanted to be next to me; I made sure I was. We pulled out our peanut butter sandwiches (yum!) and ate lunch. It was only 10:30, but it felt later and everyone was hungry. One girl said she had to go to the bathroom, the others didn't, so I took her. Got back 10 minutes later, the other three had to go. Of course. We trundled off again. 1, 2, 3, 4, yup, got 'em all.

During the show, I was a little bit sympathetic to The Grinch. I mean, those Whos were kind of loud. Kate got a little scared at the scene of the Grinch riding his sleigh, because the lights were lowered and the music was roaring and the wind and fake snow were whipping around. Kind of cool! But Kate was nervous so I hugged her and reminded her of the cartoon version where the dog was riding the sleigh and stuff. She cheered up.

Kids and adults alike sang along to "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch." We all made it back to the bus, and this time Kate grabbed a seat and saved me a spot next to her. Tallest person on the bus, me, ended up sitting over the wheel. Sigh. But it was OK, and we talked about the show all the way home.

As we got off the bus, she hugged me and held my hand as we said goodbye. Christmas Day is in our grasp, as long as we have hands to clasp.

Fourth day of December

On the fourth day of December, Kate had gymnastics in the afternoon. I brought Jack with me; he hasn't had to go much lately because Kate has a friend in the class whose older brother is friends with Jack, so we trade off hosting playdates and giving the kids rides. That friend was away, so Jack came, not too thrilled about it. Yes, he conveniently overlooks how many of his baseball games and swim meets Kate has had to go to.

Anyway. We dropped Kate off and I had brought along the Nerf football so we could throw it around a nearby park together. The park also had a baseball field which Jack refers to as Magic Field, because he's had a couple of the best games of his young career (it sounds weird to say that) at that field.

So we got there with the Nerf football, but there was a basketball court. And a few basketballs left behind. No one was there, we had the place to ourselves. We played Around the World and Horse and Jack beat me when I said I had to make all my shots as hook shots. I can't make hook shots. He showed me different dribbles he had learned in an afterschool basketballs skills class/program he'd done. We tried half court shots, talked about possible versus impossible shots, passed the ball back and forth. One of us might even have made a hook shot.

After a while, cold but refreshed and happy, we picked up the football from the side of the court, got back in the car, went to collect Kate at gymnastics.

First Day of December

On the first day of December, the kids set up their Lego advent calendars, gifts from Nana and Baba. Jack cleared off all the stuff on his nightstand and laid out a nice, open space for the calendar to sit. He knelt there taking care to have plenty of room for it to open up, and for all the little Lego pieces to go.

Kate did the same in her room, clearing off the top of her dresser for the Lego Friends calendar to sit. She opened up the front door and seemed pleased with her work.

After opening each door, they brought the Legos down to show us. Jack showed how he had turned his little Mailbox into something else, already; a snowplow. Kate showed us the little girl she'd received.

What do you like best about your calendar, Jack? I asked. "That it gives us Legos every day," he said. "And it's fun." Kate? "Playing with them!" she said.

That was the first day.

Been a while

It is hard to maintain a regular blog. Regular anything, really. You get new things you have to do, and other stuff gets pushed aside. Push anything aside for long enough, and it is hard to bring it back.

Halloween was great. Jack was a zombie football player, and most of his friends were also zombie athletes. I don't know why or who started it, might have been Jack. But they all looked fantastic and were in character for all pictures.

Kate was a monkey. She walked, acted, and looked very monkey like throughout th holiday. Many of her friends were princesses or Devils or Angels or I don't know. But she was a monkey and she owned it.

Probably the most recurring thing over the past month are the evening dog walks, with Jack, Kate, and Riley. I do most of the walking, but Kate and Jack each take a turn. And they bring Kate's scooter, and take turns on that, too. They have a whole system worked out where he does a half block, followed by her, etc. sometimes the system breaks down and I look up and they are half a block behind me, arguing about whose turn it is. But eventually it gets worked out.

The schedule was kind of insane in October. Baseball, an after school basketball thing, gymnastics and swimming for Kate, and 2-3 times a week swimming for Jack. It was probably too much. So right now, sitting on the couch on a Saturday evening, fire going, kids watching TV and perusing holiday catalogs, and writing my blog, is kind of nice. Hasn't been enough of it lately. Will try to have it more often. All of it.

October

Went to Sam Bridge Greenhouse last week with the kids. We go on the eve of October every year, and have since I think 2009. There is a big pumpkin patch, hay stacks to jump around on, scarecrows resembling movie and Disney characters, and all sorts of classic Halloween fare.

We park, get a red wagon, and head through the various scarecrow exhibits to the pumpkin patch. We stop for pictures at all of them. Jack pulls Kate in the wagon, as he did three years ago. I pull them both, for a few seconds, until we stop, because Jack says he's going to fall out. He is too big, they're too big.

But they're laughing, and we continue on. At each exhibit, they pose, and I'm impressed by their ideas. At the Curious George scarecrow, they strike thoughtful, inquisitive poses. At the Frozen display, they make goofy faces like the reindeer, happy ones like Olaf. They mimic the sisters. On and on, until we finally reach the pumpkin patch.

I choose the pumpkins, walking around and around until I find good ones. They climb on the tractor, the hay bale maze, the various cutout displays where you poke your head through a cutout. We do this for a good half hour before heading back, our wagon loaded with pumpkins.

We pick out small pumpkins, gourds, Halloween decorations and toys. Spend way too much money. Kate is determined to find a small enough pumpkin to be the student in some classroom play she has invented in her mind. Jack looks for scary things, but not too scary.

We pay, load up the car, and are about to leave, but then they see the swings they went on years ago. And go on again. I watch them, look at my pictures, think how much I love the place.

Am I already nostalgic for stuff I can still do with them? Maybe. I know there will be years when maybe we don't make it, or they don't care as much, or it's not the same. But I hope those are far in the future.

Tonight we unpacked all the Halloween stuff. Lots of oohs and Aahs, mostly from Kate, but one or two from Jack. Kate is thrilled to see Halloween stuffed toys and books. Jack likes the decorations, and enjoys the Halloween music I put on. (Sort of; I mean, some of it is pushing it. Thriller sure, but Abracadabra? The song from Beetlejuice?)

Anyway. It's October again, Halloween again. I hope to celebrate until we are all too old. But that we never are.

Goodbye Summer

It was kind of a crazy summer. It started late, and quickly zoomed into baseball season. We blinked, and July was over. Various family members were sick. Every evening and weekend seemed to be spoken for. Didn't play golf, didn't get up to Vermont, didn't go camping.

Sometimes I think about the things I didn't do, because I wish I had. I know why they didn't happen and I know there wasn't much we could have done differently, but I still think about them.

I guess I come to grips with it by thinking about the things we did do, and feeling better.

- Jack got started learning to play the trombone and made up his own tune.
- Kate mastered riding her bike, starting on her own and riding on streets and steep hills
- We got a dog, and there were plenty of challenges but also some nice family moments with her
- Kate got a scooter and man did she rock that thing
- Jack caught his first couple of fly balls in the outfield, caught some games, and pitched 3 innings of 1-run ball
- They did some indoor rock climbing
- Aunt Robin visited and got to see Jack play baseball
- Kate became a really good reader; lots of chapter books
- Jack became an origami whiz, making dinosaurs, monkeys and Star Wars characters
- Jack played baseball and had a great time at Rehoboth, including getting a key hit, despite a nasty flu
- Kate went down the slide at the pool for the first (and four hundredth by the end of the summer) time
- then Kate jumped off the diving board, a lot, and basically learned to tread water on her own
- we went to Playland, as a family and with friends for birthday parties, and went on Dragon Coasters and other fun and harrowing rides
- we went to Cape Cod and went on a whale watch, well OK they did, I was sick in bed that day
- we hosted a small dinner party with friends and their kids and everyone had fun
- we went to Muscoot Farm and saw some crazy chickens
- we went to a Mets game and both Jack and Kate got to run the bases afterward.
- Jack and I went to see a great movie. Kate and I and Jack saw some movie which they enjoyed and I can't even remember the name, probably something with a 2 or 3 at the end of it.
- we went to the pool, and Kate played with Kelly and Jack played with Hinzes and Pascales, and then we did it all over again a few days later
- we went to famous Mystic Pizza and had the best pizza ever, maybe
- we had a blackout and the kids used a flashlight to make shadows on the wall. Then we ordered pizza and got root beer with it.
- Jack and I went to a Transformer movie and it was really violent and I kind of regretted it, but Jack had fun.
- at the Cape we went to the beach and spent 8 hours there. Then we went to another beach and spent 6 hours there.
- we built sand castles and rode waves and buried each other in the sand.
- we played more whiffle ball than I would have ever thought possible.
- we rode bikes around the neighborhood and to the park, and the kids set aside their bikes in order to climb trees.
- Jack and Kate drew some awesome pictures, capped today by Jack drawing a cover for the new issue of Fantasy Index Weekly. Just awesome.
- today we did probably our last beach trip of the summer, and played in the warm water and let the waves rock us gently to shore. I asked Kate what her favorite part was and she said, "chasing the seagulls," which I tried to stop them from doing but realize now, eh, whatever, harmless and they had fun.
- we ate good steaks and burgers, drank good juice boxes and chocolate milk, and ate a lot of ice cream.
- then we ate more ice cream.

See, George, you really had a wonderful Summer.

Rehoboth

The Rehoboth Mass baseball tournament was coming up, so we were all trying to get ready. We had a great time at this tournament a year ago. But the morning we were supposed to leave, Jack felt like crap. There had been some flu and stuff going around, and as he was huddled in the car with fever and chills, we figured he had it.

But for everyone else it had been a 24 hours thing, and we had a hotel reservation. So Emily and I won Parents of the Year by packing Jack into the car and heading out on the 4 hour drive.

An hour in, Emily climbed into the back seat so Jack could put his head in her lap.

Two hours in, Jack tried eating some applesauce. And threw up. We got off the highway and pulled into a park and ride. Jack sat on the curb with his head in his hands while we cleaned up the car, and him.

After that, he was much better! He found a penny on the ground, which he happily called his lucky penny. He actually started singing in the car, I don't recall what.

We arrived, checked into our hotel, the rest of us ate, Jack seemed OK, we gave him some medicine. Suited up and headed to the game. It was clear, though, during warmups, that there was no chance. H tried to throw and chad no strength. Tried to move and looked pained. Approached us and one of the other coaches shook his head. He looks green, he said. Yeah.

After, at the hotel pool, his whole team was playing, and we were going to keep him out, but geez, he seemed OK and we just couldn't do it to him, make him sit and watch. Go get changed, I said, and he ran off, ran back, and had fun for the next couple hours. That's a large part of what Rehoboth is, and you know, he was fine.

Shared a bed that night, though, and he was awake a lot. Fever. Hot. So I kicked myself some.

But he got through the night, took more medicine the next day, and got through a game. First ball of the game hit to him in left, he didn't catch it, 2 runs ended up scoring. But then his first at-bat, down 3-0 with 2 on and 2 outs, he had a base hit that scored 2 runs and sparked us to tying it up. We won that game, won the next in dramatic fashion, ended up having a great tournament. And Jack was fine.

And slept a lot in the car on the way home.

Vacation

On Day 1 we drove 7 hours, with everyone grumpy because of the slowness and the traffic non stop, and then we stopped at McDonalds, ate and gassed up, and were relatively merry the final 3 hours, arriving just 10 minutes before the office where we had to pick up our rental keys closed for the day. Ten minutes later and we'd have had to find a hotel.

Day 2 the beach was just awesome. I got a little work done in the morning, felt a little better (have been battling something), and hit the beach. It was high tide, so there was very little beach, and the water was chilly. But we stuck it out, the water went down and got warmer, there was more beach. After lunch, suddenly, it was beautiful and we played in the water, found shells and rocks, and Kate spent I believe an hour and a half digging a hole in the beach so she would have a little pond to sit in. It was her thing, and I let her have it. Helped her some,,but I can only dig a pond next to the ocean for so long. She didn't mind. We ate fish tacos at Guapos and they were great. Jack ate a taco, Kate had some quesadilla. We got ice cream.

Day 3 we went to a bigger beach, arrived earlier, stayed much later, and had a great time. Jack met up with some other boys and a massive game of whiffle ball broke out. It was 2 on 2 when I left for lunch. It was probably 8 on 8 a couple hours later. When I pulled Jack away to eat his lunch, and we went out and rode some waves for a while, just bobbing like tops, I realized fully that all Jack needs to be happy is playing a game with a group of kids -- it's one of the things that makes him go.

"Wasn't that great, Dad? We were playing ball, and then they invited us over, and we were all playing ball!" I was still happy from the bobbing up and down in the waves, where it's just so peaceful,,and the waves so massive, that it was like we were alone in the world for those 5-10 minutes. But I said yeah, Jack, I know.

When Jack went back to finish his game, Kate and I took her boogie board out. I held it and she clambered on, then rode the waves out and back again, over and over. She's a little water bug; Jack likes the ocean but is plenty happy playing on the beach. Kate liked running back and forth into the waves, laughing and shrieking at the big ones.

We made a big sandcastle. They both helped, Kate amusingly bringing water even though every fifth wave reached us anyway. At one point she was about to pour the bucket when a wave washed over everything. We laughed and built again.

We met up with a college friend of Emily's and his kids, all 3 who were there were close in age. Kate happily played with one, digging holes together. Jack fidgeted until he could rejoin his game, but once that ended, he returned to make these new friends. They played in the frigid water together and ran around. After 7 hours on the beach we staggered home, ordered a pizza, and it was fantastic.

Birthday blog

Woke up at a reasonable hour, which was nice. Had coffee and pie for breakfast accompanied by great homemade cards.

Jack and I spent half an hour playing with his Snap Circuits electronics set. Saw something I'd written earlier about how much he liked that gift and wanted to get it back in rotation. Satisfying and fun.

Took the kids for a bike ride; I walked Riley alongside. It was nice; Kate has finally sort of mastered it, perhaps since she's so good riding her scooter these days, and Jack is very smooth. We went to the little playground and they rode around the tennis court while Riley ran around the baseball field. I watched, relaxed.

We came back, had lunch, turned on AC, watched a silly baseball movie. Kate at first wanted to watch something else, then got hooked. Our dog slept, we drank water and stayed cool on a hot day.

Dinner was eggs and toast, followed by a baseball game. Playoffs! Last year on my birthday, we lost our first playoff game. This was better. We won 7-3, Jack had a hit and a walk, there was little drama.

Afterward we got pizza and drank beer (not the kids), watched the Mets, ate ice cream. Kids sand happy birthday, hugged me good night. Wrote this blog. A nice day.

Baseball and Playland

Putting Jack to bed last night, he just wanted to talk, which is always fun. Sometimes he wants to name favorite things, which for him is typically "family, baseball, (and whatever he happens to be into at that specific time, so, baseball cards, rainbow loom bracelets, Skylanders, whatever)." This time he said, "What are your three favorite things about baseball?"

So I said, memories of going to games with my Dad as a kid, going to games with my family now, and coaching you and watching you play. That seemed to satisfy him, and he went to sleep.

Today we had a morning practice, which was kind of low key and fun. He hit OK, played some infield, smiled a lot. Always nice to see.

The family went to Playland in the afternoon. I think what I like most about Playland is that it's old, it's simple, it's a little hokey, and you don't have to make a ton of decisions once you're inside. This ride or this ride? Both? Ok. This one again? Ok. We go up high on the Ferris Wheel, get wet on the Log Plume ride (our first time -- it was awesome! I don't know how hwe hadn't previously noticed it). Jack took me on a ride that typically makes me feel sick. Kate takes me on a ride that destroys my back. They both love them so it's worth it.

Kate babbled along through and to and from her favorite rides. Jack ran from ride to ride. Kate got cotton candy as large as her torso. Jack took me on the Sky Skater and laughed and told me what to do while I grimaced.

We all laughed through the Log Plume ride a second time, again getting soaked. Then we weaved over to the Pier Restaurant and Tiki Bar, ate fish and chips, and a weary Kate slept in Emily's lap. Jack ate most of Emily's shrimp instead of his own fish, and I carried Kate back to the car.

At home, Emily said Jack talked to her at bedtime. Said he actually doesn't like the roller coasters that much, he prefers the centrifugal force ones (don't think he actually said centrifugal force) but went on them because we enjoyed them. Kid is 9 years old.

Riley

So we got a new dog. Riley is a year-old mix of hound and lab and pointer, I guess, or a pointer is a hound? Whatever. Anyway. She's really sweet and a little shy and mostly gentle,,though there is some rambunctious puppy there too. And three weeks in, it's pretty much love all the way around.

Jack has wanted a dog for years, lamenting the fact that numerous friends have dogs and that we don't have one largely because Kate is afraid of dogs. Not entirely true, but whatever. Anyway, he loves hugging and petting and playing with her. He's pretty much thrilled to have a dog, wanting all his friends to meet her and so forth.

Kate, in the space of a day, went from being afraid of dogs to being a dominant dog trainer. Maybe she likes having someone in the house lower on the totem pole of authority than her? Anyway, she hugs and plays with Riley but also feeds her, lets her in and out of her crate, tells her what to do, and takes her by the collar to lead her where she wants her to go. She's not the Dog Whisperer as much as the Dog Bosser.

In the mornings Riley wants to greet us all in our beds. (We put a gate at the bottom of the stairs now.) Then she runs big Figure 8s in the backyard at high speeds. Her tail doesn't wag as much as it turns in circles like a crank.

She's a happy dog and we are too.

Game ball

Jack's not the best player on his summer travel team. But every once in a while, he plays the best. This was one of those times.

On Saturday, we played a home game in pretty high heat. Jack caught three innings, a position he only just started playing a week or so ago. He loves it; the thing is, he typically plays in the outfield, where he might get 2 balls hit his way all game. As catcher, he handles up to 20 pitches an inning, throws them all back to the pitcher, and takes a shot at throwing out a base runner every few batters. One day he'll throw somebody out, although it's worth noting that the stolen base success rate with 9 year olds is probably about 90 percent. One day! Anyway, he did a nice job catching some off-target throws and fielding the position, and after the game got a game ball for his efforts.

Afterward he said to me, "you know, Harrison would have probably got it if he hadn't just got one the other day." I said -- and I'm sensitive to this because I tend to shrug off or downplay praise -- Jack, don't ever think like that. You got it because you deserved it. You did a nice job. Be proud of yourself.

On Sunday, we played a doubleheader. I kind of had an idea that Jack would make his pitching debut, since the head coach had done some extra work with him in practice last week, and said to me he'd try to get Jack an inning this weekend. So after the starter had worked his 3 innings (the most 9 year olds can pitch), and we had a big lead, Coach said Jack would pitch next.

Pitching is something special, because the ball starts with you on every play. It's basically quarterback in baseball, moreso I think at this level, and it's a far cry from outfield.

Jack had pitched an inning on two occasions last year, at least one of which I think was a favor to me because we had worked hard at practicing it. Both outings he kind of survived, gave up 2-3 runs, got through them. But he's improved. He threw a lot of strikes, struck out 3-4 in three innings of work (he remembered it at 6 Ks), threw fairly hard and was around the plate. Little fist pumps after strikeouts. Moreover, he fielded the position very well, jumping off the mound on a slow roller out in front and nearly getting the guy at first, and finishing his outing and the game by catching a popup off to the third-base side. How great was that? It was pretty great.

His teammates and coaches rooted for him throughout, calling him Jackster and whatnot, and when he finished up he flipped the ball to the coach. Who gave it back to him a few minutes later, his second straight game ball. Didn't matter that he'd just got one.

Good as it gets, right? Well, in the first inning of Game 2, he was in left field with two outs and a runner at 2nd. Guy at the plate had a base hit to left, Coach yelled "Home!" And Jack fielded the ball and threw a one-hop rainbow to the catcher to nail the runner. I'll tell you how often that happens with 9 year olds, or at least I would if I'd ever seen it before. As he jogged off the field with a big grin, teammates and coaches surrounded him and clapped him on the back like he'd hit a home run. Usually stoic coaches gave big smiles, one saying, Jack, that was a GREAT throw.

Jack also hit pretty well over the weekend, an important point because he'd been struggling, and we had been working in the backyard a lot with a tee, trying to iron out flaws. So we made progress. And that was something rewarding to see. Though in a weekend where he pitched 3 innings and threw a guy out at the plate from left field, well, it was still secondary.

Jack sometimes talks like he doesn't care about game balls, and I try to say they're not a huge deal. It's a team game, and everyone contributes. But it was pretty cool that on getting home, Jack wrote the date on his game balls, and built a little trophy case in his room, with game balls, tournament trophies from last year, and other awards and mementos. It's important to him, even if he doesn't always say it.

I remember the bad moments. Striking out a couple times one game last year and coming into the dugout saying, "I stink at baseball!" Lamenting that one of his friends did better than him "and he doesn't even care that much about baseball...I do!" Getting caught stealing in a playoff game and blaming himself for the loss.

And it really is those moments that make the good ones all the sweeter.

Like I said. Jack's not the best player on the team. It's not always this good. But this weekend, it was. It's rewarding to see the hard work pay off. It's rewarding to see the respect and happiness from his coaches, teammates, and other parents. Almost, but not quite, as rewarding as the big grin in his face when he came off the field.

Aunt Robin

It's always nice when Aunt Robin visits. The kids might only see her once or twice a year, but it's immediately like she's never been away. We got home from the airport, they flitted around her telling stories of their days and their summers and their favorite toys and books. And then she brought out the new toys and books she always brings and they oohed and aahed over those. She read them both stories before bed, much to their delight.

First day there was a baseball game, and Robin got to see Jack hit the ball well a couple of times, single and an error, and his team get a win. After the game, Jack ran around with his friends and teammates, Kate ran around with her friends (little siblings of teammates). Next morning, we got Dunkin Donuts, so the pictures of kids posing with donuts and grinning sugary, powdery donut grins abounded.

After a visit to Vermont, she was back in town for a dinner at MaryAnn's, where the kids of course ate too many chips, too little actual dinner, and sat on either side of her. We got home and had big bowls of ice cream, and she cracked them up by telling stories about her dogs, including Bruce, who apparently is not the brightest bulb on the tree.

Next morning, we sat around having coffee and cereal, with Jack and Kate again falling all over her, enjoying stories about her dogs and their cousins. Kate sat on her lap, and then Jack sat on her lap, hard, and she made him laugh by saying she thought she wet herself a little.

We said our goodbyes and I drove Robin down to the airport, talking about kids, parents, life. I saw her off to her plane and we started thinking about the next time we'd all see Aunt Robin, hopefully soon.

Swimming Pool

Took the kids swimming yesterday. Sometimes we have plans afterward, sometimes Jack is looking around for friends who might be there or making new ones, sometimes somebody is too tired or whatever, and it's more of a scattered experience.

But this time, it was a really hot day, there was nowhere we had to be afterward, and nobody else we knew was there. And so we jumped in the pool and swam. Kids tried to dunk me, we tossed a squishy ball around, we all went down the slide. The kids did little races swimming across the pool, and then we went into the deep end and they jumped off the edge of the pool as I tossed them the ball and they tried to catch them in midair. And THEN, they practiced leaps into the pool for each other, saying, "Kate, look, this is the Zombie dive," and "No, Jack, watch THIS one!" They did this for about 20 minutes, over and over.

And then we got ice cream. And they played shuffleboard. And hopscotch. And we swam more. And then it was time to go home. In the car, Jack said, "I think that was the best pool trip ever." And I was thinking, you guys swam, you played together the whole time, you jumped in the water over and over again. It may have been the best, after all.

Summer day

Kate and I went to the pool again today. It was really hot and after hauling our air conditioner out of the attic I really needed to cool off. Jack went swimming to a friend's house.

Kate went from slide to diving board to slide to ice cream man.

Bought Jack a tee today. He hasn't been hitting well of late and the extra swings should help. On his first swing he ripped a line drive that screamed across our yard and hit our dog in the foot. She was confused and alarmed, I was dumbfounded, Jack felt terrible. Fortunately she seems to be OK, but it was rough for a moment. Once she'd been relocated we hit a few more until he caught one and it cleared our back fence by a wide margin. And that was that.

Kate wrote a nice letter to her teacher, mr. hickey, who had written her from summer camp. She talked about swimming and Arts Camp.

The kids did the songs they are learning at camp. That was fun. It's no "Somewhere," but they were pretty cute anyway.

Jack had his first trombone lesson, from the 16-year-old son of a friend. Seemed a nice kid and Jack was very serious and respectful. Plans to practice every day, which would be impressive. Also already plans to save his money for a new trombone, he is currently using the school's. I have no idea how much they are, but said, Sounds great Jack.

Made what appears to be their favorite pasta for dinner and put them to bed. My turn now.

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.