Robin and the Irish cousins visited last week. As always, it was too hot and too short. But we had a lovely outdoor meal at a new train station restaurant, with beer and burgers and giant pretzel appetizers, then home for ice cream. The kids played ball in the yard and video games in air conditioned comfort. We tried to have them sleep in the yard in a tent. Worked for the jet lagged Mikey and Abbey, Jack and Kate soon moved inside.
The next morning I got them Dunkin' Donuts (check), and we went to our pool. Kate was glued to Abbey and they went down the slide, Jack was glued to Mikey and they went off the diving board. Then Jack's friends/teammates showed up and they all tossed a ball around. Just another boy for the gang.
We tried to go to Playland, only to find it closed. So we went home and got some much needed sleep, with the four kids in Jacks room sleeping all crisscross on sleeping bags, under air conditioning. Abbey read stories to Kate, and Kate to her.
We went to Playland the next day. (Well, Emily took Laura and Niamh into New York City, kind of their Playland.) we all did all the rides, including The log Flume where you got splashed and cooled off three times. It was pretty hot. Kids had a blast and so did Robin and I. Mikey did rides with Jack, and with Kate; great big cousin. Abbey did a ton of rides with Kate, including I suspect carrying her around at some point. Another great big cousin.
We went to Jack's baseball game at night. I think he struck out swinging and grounded out,,but he caught a fly ball in left field that looked almost professional the way he tracked it while ranging to the foul line and hauled it in. All smiles afterward.
Last day of their visit, we ate lunch at MaryAnn's. Because we always eat at MaryAnn's when the Irish cousins visit.
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Jack had one of the best baseball games of his career the other night. Made a diving catch in right field that I didn't think he had a chance to get to. Caught another screaming line drive. Laced a double to left and hit the ball hard to third two other times. Team won in extra innings, no small part played by Jack. We were happy about that game for days afterward. I figure, if we are going to feel bad when he doesn't have a good game, we had sure better enjoy the great ones.
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For the Talent Show next year, Kate needs to sit on the stage with The Day the Crayons Quit book and read it aloud. Because her reading, her delivery, her voices....high comedy. It is awesome. Tonight we sat down to read it, with me starting. But by page 3 she was saying, "I want to read this one!" And so she read most of it.
She is way better at it than I am.
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Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Summer day
On Thursday both kids slept in. Kate came down at 7:30 for breakfast. Jack surfaced closer to 8:15. I gave them scrambled eggs and cantaloupe and got them to arts camp on time, still wiping sleepy seeds out of their eyes.
I picked them up 3 hours later. Kate anyway; Jack was invited over to a friend's pool for the afternoon. A year ago I might have thought "You have a baseball game tonight! Take it easy!" But that was dumb, he's a 10-year-old and it's summer. Off he went.
Kate and I had lunch at home, and then I brought her and a friend to our pool. They played a game where one of them threw a toy in the water, the other jumped in and retrieved it, then she gave the goggles to the first one and threw it in for her to jump in and get the toy. They did this over and over and over again. Then got ice cream. And went down the slide. And lay on their towels and talked about the candy vending machine. And jumped in the pool again. Three hours later, it was time to go.
Dropped Kate's friend off, picked up Jack. We went around to their backyard and he and a bunch of his friends were still jumping in and out of the pool, tossing a ball around. For all I knew they had been doing it for the last four hours; probably. Got him out and toweled off, thanked parents and friends, headed home.
Kids showered while I fired up the grill and made hotdogs. We've been having kind of a lot of them lately. But they're, uh, a somewhat healthy kind. Maybe? I don't know. Sometimes there's time to make burgers or chicken breasts. More often than not between a pool day and a travel baseball game, it's hotdogs.
Dressed in our coach and player uniforms and drove to the game, stopping along the way to pick up a couple of his teammates. They talked about music and the All-Star Game and baseball bats and the pool. At one point they were all talking in English accents for some reason, cracking each other up.
Really good game for Jack. A line-drive base hit to center in his first at-bat, his best hit in a couple of weeks. Even the balls he'd hit hard of late at found gloves. I looked over to first to give him a little thumbs up and he had a big grin. Still had it after the inning ended and he came into the dugout for his glove. Had a nice inning at second base where he fielded a low throw for the third out and backed up every throw back to the pitcher, jogging back to his spot at second after each one. How I know when he's really into the game; when he's doing everything right. In the last inning, in right center field, he ranged to his right and made a great, impressive shoestring catch of a sinking fly ball with the bases loaded. If he doesn't make that catch, at least 2 runs score. Emily's Dad in a text later: "saved game." It did. He got lots of high fives and congratulations after the catch and after the game, from coaches who are normally reserved. We won 6-5, I snapped a picture of him and one of his buddies, big smiles.
Players messed around on the playground near the field after the game. Jack asked if a friend could sleep over, and we were in a good mood and said sure. Picked up a pizza on the way home, Jack still happy in the back seat the whole way. At home the kids stayed up watching some Nickelodeon Kids Choice Sports Awards show, then Kate went to bed and Jack and his friend stayed up even later playing XBox. Sent them to bed around 11:30. Washing up myself, I could hear them talking in the dark quietly for a little while longer.
A nice Summer day that started early, ended late, and had the best of Summer in between.
I picked them up 3 hours later. Kate anyway; Jack was invited over to a friend's pool for the afternoon. A year ago I might have thought "You have a baseball game tonight! Take it easy!" But that was dumb, he's a 10-year-old and it's summer. Off he went.
Kate and I had lunch at home, and then I brought her and a friend to our pool. They played a game where one of them threw a toy in the water, the other jumped in and retrieved it, then she gave the goggles to the first one and threw it in for her to jump in and get the toy. They did this over and over and over again. Then got ice cream. And went down the slide. And lay on their towels and talked about the candy vending machine. And jumped in the pool again. Three hours later, it was time to go.
Dropped Kate's friend off, picked up Jack. We went around to their backyard and he and a bunch of his friends were still jumping in and out of the pool, tossing a ball around. For all I knew they had been doing it for the last four hours; probably. Got him out and toweled off, thanked parents and friends, headed home.
Kids showered while I fired up the grill and made hotdogs. We've been having kind of a lot of them lately. But they're, uh, a somewhat healthy kind. Maybe? I don't know. Sometimes there's time to make burgers or chicken breasts. More often than not between a pool day and a travel baseball game, it's hotdogs.
Dressed in our coach and player uniforms and drove to the game, stopping along the way to pick up a couple of his teammates. They talked about music and the All-Star Game and baseball bats and the pool. At one point they were all talking in English accents for some reason, cracking each other up.
Really good game for Jack. A line-drive base hit to center in his first at-bat, his best hit in a couple of weeks. Even the balls he'd hit hard of late at found gloves. I looked over to first to give him a little thumbs up and he had a big grin. Still had it after the inning ended and he came into the dugout for his glove. Had a nice inning at second base where he fielded a low throw for the third out and backed up every throw back to the pitcher, jogging back to his spot at second after each one. How I know when he's really into the game; when he's doing everything right. In the last inning, in right center field, he ranged to his right and made a great, impressive shoestring catch of a sinking fly ball with the bases loaded. If he doesn't make that catch, at least 2 runs score. Emily's Dad in a text later: "saved game." It did. He got lots of high fives and congratulations after the catch and after the game, from coaches who are normally reserved. We won 6-5, I snapped a picture of him and one of his buddies, big smiles.
Players messed around on the playground near the field after the game. Jack asked if a friend could sleep over, and we were in a good mood and said sure. Picked up a pizza on the way home, Jack still happy in the back seat the whole way. At home the kids stayed up watching some Nickelodeon Kids Choice Sports Awards show, then Kate went to bed and Jack and his friend stayed up even later playing XBox. Sent them to bed around 11:30. Washing up myself, I could hear them talking in the dark quietly for a little while longer.
A nice Summer day that started early, ended late, and had the best of Summer in between.
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Camping
We went camping on Saturday. Tough to squeeze a getaway in between Summer baseball games, but we found 48 hours and made it happen. Jack's team had lost a tough, extra-inning game right before we left and I thought Jack might be down, but in fact the kids were cheerful, singing a funny "Black socks, they never get dirty..." song they'd learned in camp that week.
Given the late start and several stops to try and find hot dog rolls (trickier than you might think), it was a little late when we checked in and started setting up the tent. And having not done it in two years and impeded by our confused dog (yes we brought Riley) walking across things and pulling her tie around our legs, it took a while. But the kids gamely helped, with Jack in particular taking it as a challenge and puzzle to be solved, and we got the tent up. I went out to get firewood (during which Riley escaped for the first time on the trip, but not the last). Coming back to the site I saw a black dog loping around. That looks like Riley, I mused. Suddenly Kate, out of nowhere, caught up to her and tackled her. Hold on, I said. She did, getting slightly dragged down an embankment but not letting go. We snapped her leash on and stared in something akin to awe at Cowgirl Kate.
Before long we were eating hotdogs (Kate: "These are the best hotdogs ever!") and drinking beer/juice boxes. Then we made s'mores, stumbled around in the dark some, and sort of fell asleep listening to the neighboring religious commune/campsite sing timeless classics like Puff the Magic Dragon and I don't know what else. I was trying to sleep.
Jack, flat on his back with his arms over his head like a traffic cop, slept the best. Kate would sleep, wake up complaining of being cold or having a nosebleed or somesuch, and go back to sleep. Emily and I, uh, didn't sleep so well. It took Riley a long time to settle down, but finally she slept. At one point, not sleeping, I went outside the tent for bathroom/ opening/closing one of the zippered windows on the tent flap. There were so many bright stars in the dark night sky.
In the morning, us tired, kids rested, we made breakfast -- pancakes (blueberry!) and bacon. Our breakfasts at home are seldom as complicated. Coffee! While we prepared things, the kids hiked around the back of the campsite, where there were lots of big rocks to climb and jump on. And, as it turned out, name. As they later explained, one of the rocks had the name "Mike" written on it. So they called that rock Mike, and another one Mary, and so on and so forth. Kate would introduce me to all of them later. The morning we left, the two of them went around taking pictures of all of them, producing some funny shots by Kate of rocks with Jack and by Jack of rocks with Kate. This is the stuff they came up with out there.
Jack helped me fix the tent, which was missing a key component from the structure. He figured it out before I did.
We went for a hike, which to those of us walking an excited, energetic Riley was more like a drag. It was a short one, but the kids made it longer by climbing up a sheer rock face near a cool waterfall. Emily and I might have looked away for a moment, and then they were at the top of a rock. We fretted quietly while they climbed around, acted like kids, came down. Kate had a little notebook with her and she took notes of things she saw: Rock, Mud, Stiks, Frog. We didn't actually see a frog, but she said, "I wrote it down because I want to see one."
After the hike we had a light lunch (hot dogs, peanut butter sandwiches) and I took the kids to the beach. It wasn't much of a beach and we couldn't go as a family because dogs weren't welcome, but it felt like something we should do. Kate dove into the water and swam and turned somersaults over and over again. Jack was more like me: "Uh, this is kind of cold. Brr." We threw a ball around a little bit, cooled off, and then went back to the campsite.
I went out for more ice and bought a cheesy little dartboard with magnetic darts. Because we always had a dartboard camping. It was a ridiculously chintzy thing and the darts didn't stick if you threw them more than 10 feet, but naturally the kids loved it and it occupied them for the next hour or so. When they didn't take breaks to visit the rocks behind the campsite.
Determined to get an earlier start on dinner and the like, we made a fire. Eventually. Didn't start quite as easily as the previous night and I was thisclose to going out for lighter fluid, but it finally caught. Emily made a hamburger and potato hash and corn on the cob over the fire which was to be totally honest absolutely fantastic. Beer not bad either. Kids even ate everything, particularly Jack, while Kate didn't eat as much of the hash because she was saving her room for her favorite summer meal, corn on the cob.
I taught Jack how to play pyramid solitaire. We played Uno, since we always played cards on camping trips, too. We played darts. We played categories, a game the kids taught us where you froze yourself in a pose of something from a category one person named, and tried not to get spotted changing position. Pretty funny. We played charades, which the kids took to splendidly. Riley, who normally naps most of the day and was thus exhausted, flopped on her side like she was half-dead and merely groaned every 15 minutes or so. (Are we going home soon? I miss my couch.)
Stating the obvious here. But there was no XBox, Facebook, TV, or iPad. No phones, no Internet, no electricity. Candles, lanterns, fire, cards, imagination games, darts, books. Nary a complaint, a gripe, a lament. Kate didn't mention being cold or warm. Jack didn't mention the bugs. We just ate and talk and played and laughed.
That night we went to bed earlier, slept better. I still woke up first, it was light, but everyone was sleeping. At some point Riley woke up and peed in the corner of the tent and on my sleeping bag, thanks dog.
On an elbow, I could see all three of my family's faces, sleeping. Just watched them for a little bit. Then lay back down and went to sleep for a little more. Until Riley got up and stepped on my head and I stumbled out of the tent with her.
We thought about just hustling out of Dodge, but instead stuck around for coffee, eggs, and toast, and also so Riley could get free one more time, slipping her collar and disappearing into the campground. She came back; I did the tackling this time.
Kids took pictures of rocks. And we said our goodbyes, and drove back to civilization, electricity, and all of its comforts (Dunkin' Donuts).
The experience wasn't perfect. We didn't sleep great, I don't need to eat another hotdog for a while, and I seriously doubt we'll take Riley again. But it was just us and the activities and events we planned, made up, and spontaneously engaged in on our own, rather than something we saw on online or heard about somebody else doing or had to do because of a commitment we'd made a month earlier. Just the family and how we are with each other, together.
Pretty soon we'll try to find another 48 hours to do it all again.
Given the late start and several stops to try and find hot dog rolls (trickier than you might think), it was a little late when we checked in and started setting up the tent. And having not done it in two years and impeded by our confused dog (yes we brought Riley) walking across things and pulling her tie around our legs, it took a while. But the kids gamely helped, with Jack in particular taking it as a challenge and puzzle to be solved, and we got the tent up. I went out to get firewood (during which Riley escaped for the first time on the trip, but not the last). Coming back to the site I saw a black dog loping around. That looks like Riley, I mused. Suddenly Kate, out of nowhere, caught up to her and tackled her. Hold on, I said. She did, getting slightly dragged down an embankment but not letting go. We snapped her leash on and stared in something akin to awe at Cowgirl Kate.
Before long we were eating hotdogs (Kate: "These are the best hotdogs ever!") and drinking beer/juice boxes. Then we made s'mores, stumbled around in the dark some, and sort of fell asleep listening to the neighboring religious commune/campsite sing timeless classics like Puff the Magic Dragon and I don't know what else. I was trying to sleep.
Jack, flat on his back with his arms over his head like a traffic cop, slept the best. Kate would sleep, wake up complaining of being cold or having a nosebleed or somesuch, and go back to sleep. Emily and I, uh, didn't sleep so well. It took Riley a long time to settle down, but finally she slept. At one point, not sleeping, I went outside the tent for bathroom/ opening/closing one of the zippered windows on the tent flap. There were so many bright stars in the dark night sky.
In the morning, us tired, kids rested, we made breakfast -- pancakes (blueberry!) and bacon. Our breakfasts at home are seldom as complicated. Coffee! While we prepared things, the kids hiked around the back of the campsite, where there were lots of big rocks to climb and jump on. And, as it turned out, name. As they later explained, one of the rocks had the name "Mike" written on it. So they called that rock Mike, and another one Mary, and so on and so forth. Kate would introduce me to all of them later. The morning we left, the two of them went around taking pictures of all of them, producing some funny shots by Kate of rocks with Jack and by Jack of rocks with Kate. This is the stuff they came up with out there.
Jack helped me fix the tent, which was missing a key component from the structure. He figured it out before I did.
We went for a hike, which to those of us walking an excited, energetic Riley was more like a drag. It was a short one, but the kids made it longer by climbing up a sheer rock face near a cool waterfall. Emily and I might have looked away for a moment, and then they were at the top of a rock. We fretted quietly while they climbed around, acted like kids, came down. Kate had a little notebook with her and she took notes of things she saw: Rock, Mud, Stiks, Frog. We didn't actually see a frog, but she said, "I wrote it down because I want to see one."
After the hike we had a light lunch (hot dogs, peanut butter sandwiches) and I took the kids to the beach. It wasn't much of a beach and we couldn't go as a family because dogs weren't welcome, but it felt like something we should do. Kate dove into the water and swam and turned somersaults over and over again. Jack was more like me: "Uh, this is kind of cold. Brr." We threw a ball around a little bit, cooled off, and then went back to the campsite.
I went out for more ice and bought a cheesy little dartboard with magnetic darts. Because we always had a dartboard camping. It was a ridiculously chintzy thing and the darts didn't stick if you threw them more than 10 feet, but naturally the kids loved it and it occupied them for the next hour or so. When they didn't take breaks to visit the rocks behind the campsite.
Determined to get an earlier start on dinner and the like, we made a fire. Eventually. Didn't start quite as easily as the previous night and I was thisclose to going out for lighter fluid, but it finally caught. Emily made a hamburger and potato hash and corn on the cob over the fire which was to be totally honest absolutely fantastic. Beer not bad either. Kids even ate everything, particularly Jack, while Kate didn't eat as much of the hash because she was saving her room for her favorite summer meal, corn on the cob.
I taught Jack how to play pyramid solitaire. We played Uno, since we always played cards on camping trips, too. We played darts. We played categories, a game the kids taught us where you froze yourself in a pose of something from a category one person named, and tried not to get spotted changing position. Pretty funny. We played charades, which the kids took to splendidly. Riley, who normally naps most of the day and was thus exhausted, flopped on her side like she was half-dead and merely groaned every 15 minutes or so. (Are we going home soon? I miss my couch.)
Stating the obvious here. But there was no XBox, Facebook, TV, or iPad. No phones, no Internet, no electricity. Candles, lanterns, fire, cards, imagination games, darts, books. Nary a complaint, a gripe, a lament. Kate didn't mention being cold or warm. Jack didn't mention the bugs. We just ate and talk and played and laughed.
That night we went to bed earlier, slept better. I still woke up first, it was light, but everyone was sleeping. At some point Riley woke up and peed in the corner of the tent and on my sleeping bag, thanks dog.
On an elbow, I could see all three of my family's faces, sleeping. Just watched them for a little bit. Then lay back down and went to sleep for a little more. Until Riley got up and stepped on my head and I stumbled out of the tent with her.
We thought about just hustling out of Dodge, but instead stuck around for coffee, eggs, and toast, and also so Riley could get free one more time, slipping her collar and disappearing into the campground. She came back; I did the tackling this time.
Kids took pictures of rocks. And we said our goodbyes, and drove back to civilization, electricity, and all of its comforts (Dunkin' Donuts).
The experience wasn't perfect. We didn't sleep great, I don't need to eat another hotdog for a while, and I seriously doubt we'll take Riley again. But it was just us and the activities and events we planned, made up, and spontaneously engaged in on our own, rather than something we saw on online or heard about somebody else doing or had to do because of a commitment we'd made a month earlier. Just the family and how we are with each other, together.
Pretty soon we'll try to find another 48 hours to do it all again.
Tuesday, July 07, 2015
We were in the pool
Kate loves the pool. Oh, Jack loves it too, but for him it's more the whole deal: throwing the ball around, playing table tennis, getting ice cream, seeing his friends if they happen to be there (or making new ones, he does that too).
With Kate, she likes that stuff too, but she also goes in the water and doesn't want to come out. She goes back and forth from the diving board (let's call it a jumping board, that's what she does), to the water slide, to the shallow end where she does flips and somersaults in the water, over and over again. When her head is above water, there's a running commentary: "Watch, Daddy!" And "Say Encore!" I said that once, explained it to her, and now she can't get enough of it.
She likes to "teleport," i.e. swim underwater to make it seem like she changed positions rapidly, she added a move where at the end of it she bounds out of the water with her hands on my shoulders. "Stay there! Stay right there!" And then teleports from 10 feet away onto my shoulders. And then she is off again, doing one-handed cartwheels in the water, flips, somersaults.
Sometimes I will get out before her, hit the bathroom, pack up some stuff, get a water. I come back 5 minutes later and she is still doing her flips, completely happy and entertained. I am not sure if she knew I had stepped away for a minute. She's just happy being in the water.
We did it all today, we will do it all again another day soon. If she could, I think she might do it forever.
With Kate, she likes that stuff too, but she also goes in the water and doesn't want to come out. She goes back and forth from the diving board (let's call it a jumping board, that's what she does), to the water slide, to the shallow end where she does flips and somersaults in the water, over and over again. When her head is above water, there's a running commentary: "Watch, Daddy!" And "Say Encore!" I said that once, explained it to her, and now she can't get enough of it.
She likes to "teleport," i.e. swim underwater to make it seem like she changed positions rapidly, she added a move where at the end of it she bounds out of the water with her hands on my shoulders. "Stay there! Stay right there!" And then teleports from 10 feet away onto my shoulders. And then she is off again, doing one-handed cartwheels in the water, flips, somersaults.
Sometimes I will get out before her, hit the bathroom, pack up some stuff, get a water. I come back 5 minutes later and she is still doing her flips, completely happy and entertained. I am not sure if she knew I had stepped away for a minute. She's just happy being in the water.
We did it all today, we will do it all again another day soon. If she could, I think she might do it forever.
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