Blackout!

Day 1

We lost power Monday evening. It was expected, and we had the flashlights and lanterns ready. We ate dinner by candlelight - leftover lasagna for us, yogurt and bread and peapods for Jack and Kate.

In the living room, unable to find the book I wanted to read to the kids by candlelight/lantern, I settled on Grimm's Fairy Tales. Kind of dark stuff, and might I note that the authors of these things must not have liked their wives very much. Most of the stories involved wives making their husbands do things they didn't want to do. ("Grimm! When you are going to finish those stories you keep promising to write? Grimm!")

After that, we made hand shadows on the wall. Somewhere along the line I must have inadvertently said "hand puppets," because that was what Jack went on to call them for the next day. So the next morning when he said, "Kate and I made some great hand puppets!" I went into his room looking for them, and there was nothing there. I made a dog, a moose, a bird, a snake, the old standards. Jack seemed ambitious, contorting his hands into wild shapes, looking at what was produced, then trying again. Kate made a bunny, remembering how she'd seen me make it. One of us guessed it, and she pointed happily and yelled "YES!" Then she made another one. Which was also a bunny. One of us guessed it. "YES!"

Jack made a dog, then when we guessed that he did one more. He rolled his arms really fast. Uh, a cotton gin? A lottery wheel? We couldn't guess it. "HURRICANE SANDY!" he yelled.

We laughed for a while, then went to bed. We'd moved Kate's bed into Jack's room (high winds, and there were more trees near her windows), so she slept in there. They slept quickly.

Day 2

We used the camping coffee pot to make bad coffee in our powerless home. (The gas burners on top of the stove worked.) We walked to Cathy's and spent some time over there (they still had power). Surveyed the damage from overnight, which included a pretty tree in our backyard having been snapped off; it rested against our fence and the neighbor's deck. Had to have it removed, which was kind of sad.

Played some games, left the kids there, went home to get some stuff done around the house while it was still light, and hoped power would come back on. It didn't. Had dinner over at Cathy's, and when the kids asked if they could sleep over -- their first ever -- we said sure. So they did. We went home, sat in the dark for a bit, went to bed early. Uh, it was kind of cold.

Day 3

Still no power. It was Halloween. Emily went back to work, and the kids and I walked up and down the street, taking a few pictures of trees and lines down. For Jack and Kate it was all a big adventure, really; there was no school, they could play all day with their cousins, we went to McDonald's for lunch...not so bad.

After lunch we went home, I got them dressed up in their costumes, and we went trick or treating around the neighborhood. Regular nighttime trick or treating was essentially cancelled on our street -- nobody had any power, there were no street lights, it would be really dark. So we went during the day. They happily ran to the houses next door, across the street, got their candy, and plenty of it (because the people handing it out knew there wouldn't be many other visitors). A friend who had power hosted an indoor trick or treating event, with adults standing in rooms handing out candy at doors. Kids got more candy, showed off their awesome costumes, were happy. They're probably both young enough -- especially Kate -- that they didn't remember how much more extravagant Halloween was a year ago. They left with people having enjoyed seeing them in their costumes and with them having got big buckets of candy. That's Halloween.

Day 4

We got power back. It was a huge relief. Told the kids they had to come home from Aunt Cathy's now. They did a nice job of not seeming overly disappointed.

It was sunny and warm, so we went biking. We brought their bikes down to Recreation Park. (Lyon's Park, the bigger one nearest us, was closed because of all the trees and wires down....too dangerous.) Rec Park also had trees down, several huge ones. It was crazy; like an angry giant had walked around the neighborhood pushing down everything in his way.

What was funny was that to Jack and Kate, the mammoth fallen trees were just another part of the park scenery. This huge tree had crushed the fence around the tennis courts and now lay across the courts themselves, and they just happily rode their bikes in circles, playing games, pretending to see monsters, pretending to go home. I sat on a bench a little way away, snapped pictures with my phone, and they went around and around and around.

Pumpkin Patch

So we needed to get one more pumpkin to carve, and my first thought was to go to Stop and Shop. And then I thought, NO! We're going to Sam Bridge Nursery, which has an actual pumpkin patch and stuff the kids can do. So I picked them up after school and we went right there.

It was awesome. We parked, grabbed a wagon, and I pulled them down to the patch. They jumped out to say hi to the big inflatable Frankenstein monster, and the three little pigs and big bad wolf, and the ghosts, and the scarecrows. And then they ran around in the middle of the pumpkins, and in the hay maze. They jumped from bale to bale and frankly I was a little nervous but Kate can jump further than you would think. Or than I thought. They did this for about half an hour, while I carefully and meticulously selected a couple of pumpkins. There was a tractor, which they climbed on, and off, and on, over and over again. I'm not sure they'd have left if I hadn't finally said it was time to go.

In the car on the way home, they happily sang pumpkin songs.

Kate:

"Mr. Pumpkin
Mr. Pumpkin
he's so orange
he's so orange"


Jack:

"When the ghost went out,
on Halloween night,
he screamed.......!
and he dropped his head right onto his toe!"

There were others, but those are the only words I can remember.

At home, they had a Halloween party. Kate wore a pumpkin cat mask she'd made at school. Jack quickly made a colorful skeleton mask. They made a sign; Jack wrote the words, Kate drew pictures of the pumpkins, hay bales, and tractor. It was pretty great. Then Kate came to me and asked me how to spell "pumpkin patch" so she could finish the writing. She did.

At the party, Jack read Halloween stories, and also Lost and Found, aloud, while Kate listened in rapt attention.

During the time they were running wildly around the pumpkin patch, Jack paused for a moment and said to me, "I feel bad for the kids who have to go to after school program!" Then he ran off.

I can't tell many people that, but it was pretty cool.

school trouble

It was a rough week for Jack, and us, hearing that he supposedly called another boy a name (he says he didn't, and we pretty much believe him), then getting in trouble for, I guess, telling knock knock jokes while lining up for recess with a friend and using a word he shouldn't have. That incident got him a "warning" because apparently there was another occurrence, totally accidental, where he brought a dot to dot book to school, and a pencil, and accidentally poked a friend with the pencil. He told me about that one and was kind of confused it was an issue. "I turned to talk to Peter and was holding the pencil and Jenna got poked."

He's a 7-year-old boy; I kind of figured I had a few years before I'd need to be worried about him getting in trouble in school. So we gave him the lecture about not wanting to hear any more of this kind of thing, and punished him, and said, you know, you could get suspended. And he was in tears, lamenting he was going to have to get through the whole year without doing anything wrong. And it's sort of like, well, yeah, I guess that's true. So I guess I won't be letting him bring a dot to dot book to school, and he'd better not be laughing at or repeating jokes that are pretty much created with 7-year-old boys in mind.

The funny thing is that -- while conceding I have a bias here -- I don't know any better kids than him. Happy, funny, likes everyone, gets along with everyone. (Near as I can tell, I'm not actually there at recess.) Every day do I need to worry about him getting in trouble for something or other? Again, I just figured it was a ways in the future, if ever.

He was in tears at the idea that somebody thought he'd called them a name ("If people think I said that they won't want to be friends with me!") and at the thought he might get suspended. Scared. Which makes sense; he likes school, likes reading, likes the work, likes his friends and teachers.

I feel bad for Jack, and I wonder what's true and what isn't, and what needs to change. I wonder what the next thing I'm going to hear is. And I hope -- that it will stop, that it's nothing, that he'll feel better in the morning. And when I can relax and not worry about stuff like this, and realize as I write this that the answer is probably, uh, never, or at least not for very long.

Bedtime songs

I put Kate to bed tonight and offered her a song. She chose Edelweiss, then said, "No -- ballgame." So I sang Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Then she said, my turn. This was her song, as best I can remember it.

"Bears like to sleep,
they sleep in the night.
They wake in the day,
and they like to eat salmon.

Cats sleep too,
and cats eat fish.
Dogs sleep in the night,
and they eat dog food.

People eat everything,
except food for animals.

People
like
to
sleeeeep."

Mommy away

Emily had to go to Chicago, so I handled the kids solo tonight. Here was how it went.

Picked them up at school. Kate ran around with some boys her age. Only took two weeks for her not to be running around with jack and his friends. Jack ran around with Nick, as always.

Went to grocery store to smash bottles and buy hotdogs. Fun was had by all.

Watched an Avengers with Jack. He picks up on subtle things. "Look how now Stark tower is in the sun," he said. "So everything is Ok." That's right, Jack.

They helped make their beds. Well, they put on pillowcases. Kate cleaned Jack's room. Did a good job, too.

FaceTime with Mommy. They had fun making faces. Uh, just like me when I FaceTime with Robin. Hmmm.

Ate hotdogs, chips, corn. Eating in the kitchen, which we tend to do with three of us, is a big treat. I don't really know why.

While I cleaned up, we played music. Titanium a favorite these days, so I found it on YouTube and we listened. They danced.

Bath and shower. Jack helped Kate brush her teeth and comb her hair. Thanking her for cleaning his room. I don't have words for that.

Read Room on the Broom. At the end, Kate likes pointing out all the different features on the new broom. "He has a pool, and he has a book, and he has...."

Gotta go make my own bed, now....

Day off

Today the kids were off. I had to work. There were ups and downs.

In the morning, while I worked, they played a game called wanderers. They put together backpacks and filled them with play food, books, blankets, and sleeping toys. Then they spread everything out and ate, read, and slept. We might call it camping without the tent.

We went to Burger King for lunch. They looked around for the toys they would get, which weren't on display. We got our food, relaxed in a booth, ate. The burgers are better than McDonalds, the fries aren't as good. They ate everything, and we heard We Are Young on the way home.

We played in the backyard. They briefly climbed into the treehouse to play with the BK toys, then Jack and I played football. We have been working on our timing on pass routes - shed, bush, swing set, tree. I think that in a movie, one day we would need these skills to defuse a bomb or something. "Jack, shed!" I would say, and he would run the correct route. Anyway. We have been practicing.

They drew colorful pumpkins on printouts Kate had brought home. They were similar and I am not sure who copied whom, or if it was just coincidence. Kate also drew a family of cats.

Jack and I watched an Avengers cartoon. To my surprise, he got out his ukulele and played it for the first time in months.

We went out for pizza.

Kate cut her thumb on something. Jack ran to tell me about it "gushing blood." There was a drop, yes. Emily told me at bedtime Kate lamented having not cut her other thumb instead, because the bandaged one is the one she sucks when she goes to sleep. Sad but also funny.

I wrote this blog, and went to bed.

Birthday girl

Putting Kate to bed last night, I said goodnight, my four-year-old daughter. She said, "daddy, I'm 5!" and I said, no, you will be, and this is the last night I can call you that.

She said, "tomorrow, you all need to hide and then jump out and say, Happy Birthday!"  and I said, well, maybe. She came downstairs before me, of course.

She had Fruit loops, cause it was her birthday. Went to school with ice pops for her class. I ran around getting balloons and presents. Picked her up, and she was happy.

At home she saw the balloons, a big 5 and a princess castle with 5 Disney princesses. And she loved it. Her eyes got wide and she pulled at the strings. And then she clobbered me at "playground" and "walk the Plank", a couple of board games she plays not entirely correctly.

We had pizza, opened her presents, she oohed and aahed. Loved her cards, delighted to get the princess and the pea game,mwhich I am sure she will crush me at tomorrow.

Highlight was her opening the card jack made for her. On the front was a carriage like Cinderella's .. "Is that for us going to the ball?" she asked Jack. Then she opened it up and saw the picture inside. "is that ME? As a princess? And is that YOU? You're a knight? jack, I LOVE it!" jack was pretty proud I think.

It was an awesome card. And a happy 5th birthday.

First week of school

Kids started school this week. Some stuff:

- Kate had her first day of school on Wednesday. We sat in the auditorium with her, just as we did with Jack two years ago, and then she got called to join Mrs. Glockenberg. She hugged Emily goodbye and walked off to join her teacher. Brief tension, afraid she would turn back, but she kept on. Emily said she saw her smiling.

- at pickup, she waved happily, smiled, hugged her teacher, ran to us. Happy.

- Jack, an old pro at this, was fine. But at pickup, he wanted to look for his friends, all of whom ended up in a different second grade class. He's funny, he speaks about it philosophically, saying he talked to them too much anyway. But then I see he wrote in his journal, "got Miss Bernstein. None of my friends in my class." And I know he is sad about it. So today we signed him up for soccer each Saturday morning. With all of his friends.

They did great in Week 1. Probably better than we did worrying about them.

Summer belonged to us

Last full week of summer vacation, so we tried to pack a lot of excitement into it.

On Monday, I worked and the kids bickered. Then it rained. Not such a good day. But the day ended well: we made a list of things we wanted to do the rest of the week, then constructed a calendar where we added the appropriate requests at appropriate times for the next four days. Some fell by the wayside, for example "Go to Great Wolf Lodge....please please please can we?" Most of the rest made it on, although I decided we would not go to McDonald's AND Burger King, but rather just one of them. That's right, I'm no soft touch.

On Tuesday, we went to the pool. We hadn't been in a couple of weeks, and it felt like even longer, but it was nice. Attendance was low ("Dad! Can we get a picnic table?" OK. "YEAH!!!"), so we could have lots of fun with lots of room to play. We swam and tossed the ball around at our leisure, and Kate jumped off the edge and did her little steamboat swim, and Jack went down the slide. I think Kate grew an inch since we last went because she could now basically stand on her toes on the bottom of the pool with her head easily out of the water. At 3 p.m., we lined up for ice cream. By 3:15, it was clear no ice cream man was coming. So we went to the vending machines and were able to get the exact ice cream bars they normally chose anyway. It was kind of funny.

We hit the grocery store on the way home; there was a racecar-like cart available and they excitedly clambered into it. That's an appropriate word for Jack, who is clearly too big for such a cart these days; his legs and arms were kind of accordioned into it. We cruised around the supermarket and I tried not to bang his elbows too much. Sometimes they sang and yelled, and I had to tell them to keep it down...although I cut them some slack every now and then. 

On Wednesday, we went to have lunch with Mommy at her office. Her coworkers oohed and aahed appropriately and the kids were dutifully polite if shy. Said how old they were, when they were going back to school, accepted praise of their hair and clothes and watches and whatnot. And gobbled down candy that seemed to be within ready access of most desks. And donuts! Ah, office life. Kids ate their barbecue lunches even though the hotdogs had specks of black on them, maybe their standards are easing somewhat.

After lunch, we went to Bruce Park. This is a favorite because it's new and different, and I watched as Jack made a new friend and Kate recklessly climbed things I figured she'd be afraid of...kids surprise you. I pushed her on a swing and helped them both on a couple of things where kids sit and cheer and adults get a workout pushing and pulling on various pulley contraptions. Didn't need to go to the gym today, score!

Rested at home for a bit, then rode their bikes to Lyons Park.The fun parts were pushing them on the big donut swing and when they stopped to climb a tree. The less fun parts were when Kate, who couldn't ride as fast as Jack, yelled and cried after him as she pedaled furiously to catch up. And when I had to run after her yelling for her to stop. For half a block through our neighborhood. That wasn't so much fun. Kate, stop! I yelled. "It's my bike!" she yelled back. Hoo boy. When I caught up to her, stopped her, told her she couldn't ride her bike anymore if she didn't listen, she nodded seriously, lips pursed like she was about to cry, and then cried. Still just a little girl.

Today, Thursday, we went to the beach. It was high tide and we splashed in the water, threw a ball around, snapped the new profile picture of three of us. The sun was warm, the water was cool, and we sat in the sand and ate chips. And when we left we said, Goodbye, beach.

We blinked, and just like that, the summer was over. I can't wait for the next one.

Camp Week

Jack had a morning baseball camp this week, Kate had an afternoon princess dance camp. Yes, that's actually what it was called. They dance and, uh, made paper crowns and wands and such.

Every day Kate and I dropped Jack off at baseball camp in the morning. We pick him up at lunch time, go home and have lunch, and then Jack and I dropped Kate off at her camp. And picked her up three hours later. It is kind of crazy.

I don't know what exactly they do at either of these things for three hours, to be honest. They're not the most reliable witnesses. Jack seems to hit a lot more home runs than it seems likely, for instance. But I know they practiced hitting and sliding and throwing and catching, and he always seemed happy at the end, like after a baseball practice. So that's good.

Kate made a new friend every day, who she announced as I picked her up that she wanted to have a playdate with. First day it was "Summer," next day it was some other girl. I really can't keep them straight in my mind. But she was also always happy at pickup.

Camps remind me that kids need more than parents alone during those summer months. Me trying to work and entertain is not effective, they get bored playing on their own or with their toys and books. So, it's good to remind them what school is like -- running around in the company of other kids their age -- before they go back to school.

Still, today I picked up Jack from camp and took him to a baseball game. The Mets lost, shocker, but we had fun anyway. Ate a hotdog, inhaled ice cream as it melted ("I like it more when it's melted," Jack announced, face dripping ice cream), cheered the occasional exciting moments (the Mets didn't score, so this time it was Mr. Met shooting T-shirts into the stands, one of which I nearly caught, that was about as exciting as it got).

But it was a nice day, and it was baseball, and it was a reminder that even if summer is coming to an end, it needs to be enjoyed while you have it. And it can also be looked forward to, like Kate's playdate with Summer, since it should happen at some point in the future, too.

McArdles visit

Robin and the cousins were here this week. As always, they're all beautiful and charming and the kids love them. Jack and Mikey have reached closeness enough in age that they are basically into the same things and pretty much from Sunday evening's dinner through this morning they maintained a steady and largely exclusive conversation about superheroes, Wii games, baseball, and other sports and popular culture things that are the realm of boys aged 7-10. I think at dinner I basically just spent 10 minutes watching them babble away to each other as if they were the only ones in the room. Clearly they're both just ecstatic to have a boy relative to see. I would like to say Jack talked with other people the last few days but I am not certain he did.

Kate is drawn to Abbey because she is youngest (and evidently Abbey is thrilled not to be THE youngest); but really, it seemed Kate loved all of them to pieces and was ecstatic to spend time with any of them for as long as they were willing. She read books with them let them carry her, walked around clutching great pictures Niamh had drawn of her favorite stuffed toys, played dolls with each at various points...and today, went around desperate to get hugs goodbye from each of them, including Mikey, who stood obligingly as she hugged his waist.

Among the other highlights:

- Coffee in the mornings and beer in the evenings on the deck with my sister

- Laura and Niamh loving Times Square, taking great pictures (including an hilarious Laura-Naked Cowboy shot that just struck me as a classic). Both spoke glowingly about the time they had, which made me happy.

- Abbey making bracelets for everyone. Jack and Kate beaming at theirs

- Kate singing all the way into the City on the train. And according to Emily sleeping most of the way out.

- Seeing the big Lego lions at the library with Jack. "I would buy one of those!" he proclaimed.

- The old school King kong posters at the Empire State building and the original movie playing on a screen as we waited in line. It's the little things.

- Being hustled through the line BUT stopped long enough for a picture of the whole group. Bribing Kate to smile with the promise of future candy. Despite just one take and barely stopping moving, picture turned out great with all 9 of us smiling. Impressive.

- Going en masse to the Pool on Monday, and seeing Jack jump off the diving board into 12 feet of water without hesitation. Swimming to me and saying excitedly, "I did it, I did it! That was one of my goals for the summer, and I did it!" Pretty cool.

- Niamh jumping in like a cork. Laura looking like she wanted to dive, then changing her mind and jumping. Me following with the ugliest looking dive ever. But not getting hurt.

- Kate swimming like a fish, without water wings, without fear. Jack jumping off so many times he wore himself out.

- Laura and Niamh delighting Kate (and all of us) with a duet of My Favorite Things, complete with hand gestures, falsettos and wild eyes. Hilarious.

- Pitching to Mikey and Jack in the backyard. Nice to have a fielder sometimes.

- Both kids tonight being so tired they were almost slurring their words. And going to bed really happy.

Not just them.

Day with Kate

Kate is done with camp, but Jack's lasts two more weeks. So Kate and I are doing our own thing; here was today.

- - Drop Jack off at camp. Kate wore a ballerina skirt and slippers and the leggings part of her Olivia dress-up outfit, so it is just as well that she doesn't have to get out of the car. "Bye Jack!" she yells.


- - We drive home and Kate goes off to find the stuffed monkey she and Jack are calling "dark chocolate." I don't ask.  I hear her playing with her dolls, which is pretty cute: she speaks for them in this high, airy voice. The stories usually involve somebody being put in jail and then rescued or whatnot. I am not sure how the monkey figures into it but I like to think she is reenacting King Kong or something.


- - We go to the grocery store. Kate has certain staples of these trips. We go to the deli for meat where she wants to try slices of ham or turkey, and then chooses peanut butter and jelly anyway when we get home. She likes to say hi to the lobsters, who for all she knows are grocery store pets I suppose. She likes to pick out her yogurt, and usually wants eight different kinds of cereal which I honestly believe she picks based on either the color of the box or how cute the animal is. So if you ever wonder why cereal doesn't come in brown boxes with cartoon warthogs on them, now you know.


- - We visit with the neighbors' kids who are slightly younger. The three of them ride tricycles and scooters in circles around the driveway. Golf clubs come out eventually and I get Kate home before someone gets brained.


- - We have lunch. Kate eats a sandwich, yogurt, chips, grapes, juice box, milk, water, cheese stick, and some pea pods. Lunch is Kate's big meal, especially since we cut out second breakfast.


- - We ride Kate's bike, well, she does, and I run or walk fast behind her. Sometime she sings, sometimes not. Today she didn't sing but did ring her new bell. A lot.


- - Read a book, "Backyardigans: A Merry Fair." The TV show is better, but she is learning to read and we are going with "ready to read" books for her. She does pretty well, and when we finish a page, I congratulate her, and she cackles with pride. She really does kind of cackle.


- - We pick up Jack and I try to ask about his day while Kate babbles away about her day. Our day.

Kate and Jack plan the future

When Kate and Jack get along well, they really get along well; they happily play with each other, and plan a future where they are always together. We explained how they can't get married, but that hasn't stopped them from planning some sort of roommate situation anyway. They discussed this yesterday.

Kate: "We'll have a pool. And our own beach! And we'll have a candy hotdog slide! AND a candy pizza!"

Jack: "And we'll live at Great Wolf Lodge! And we'll have BUNK BEDS!" Kate: "No, Jack, we can sleep in Mommy and Daddy's bed!" I explained to Jack that when he's older he might not want to be at the Great Wolf Lodge doing water slides every day. "Well, then I can play the wand game!" he countered, which was this game for kids where you went on quests and such.

Kate: "And when I'm older and Mommy and Daddy aren't our Mommy and Daddy anymore..." Well, we'll still be your Mommy and Daddy, Kate. "Oh," she said. "OK."

Jack: "And I don't want to be kind of bald like Daddy." Thanks, Jack.

Kate: "And we'll be our OWN Mommy and Daddy. And I'm going to marry Joshy!"(Kid in her preschool who she'll most likely never see again.)

Jack: "And I'm going to have a son named Jack Junior!"

Funny stuff

The stuff they say, the stuff they do. It is better than anything I could come up with on my own.

Jack won or was given a red and green wristband at camp this week. He was very happy xwith it, as he conveyed to me in a theatrical fashion before bed the other night: "It's a VEry SPECIAL wristband. Very. Special." He smiled mysteriously.

Jack was explaining something the other night. "Sometimes when I laugh I snort," he said. Then he proceeded to laugh. And snort. And laugh harder.

We cleaned his room earlier this week. His first reaction upon surveying it: "Now that I can see my floor, I want a robot rug." He thought for another minute. "Or dinosaurs."

Kate is not the most adventurous eater. She typically asks what's for dinner DURING dinner the previous night. "What's for dinner?" Spaghetti and salad. "I like tomatoes," she said brightly. "Only, not the squishy ones."

We had a picnic today. With all of her dollies, whose hair she had me put in pony tails. I might be getting good at it. In her room.

"Come with me," she said, after I agreed to the picnic. "I have Cinderella. And Belle, and Sleeping Beauty. And I have my baby. My old baby and my new baby. And I have a piano." She pointed out the keyboard. "AND," she said, "I have a humpback whale." She indicated a circular toy that did not look much like a whale. "Well, actually this is baby's toy. But she doesn't really play with it."

She had one more toy to bring out. "AND," Kate finished, showing me one more animal toy, "I have a penguin."

Then I poured the tea and we had a picnic.

Cape wrap up

Last night in the Cape. Some random thoughts.

- It was nice seeing Kate swim, and want to swim. The week started with her just wanting to jump in and out of the pool, over and over again. Her only swimming was from where she landed in the water to the ladder. But at the end of the week she wanted to put her face in the water and swim, either in the ocean (without the water wings she wore in the pool) or the pool. "Daddy, watch!" She would grab her nose, take a deep breath, and swim...we used to call it the Steamboat back when I was learning, I think. Awfully glad her being sick only lasted a day. Lucky.

- Jack was happy basically the entire vacation. He lost his tooth the first morning (and another a few days later) which really started things off nice for him. He did a great on his bike, riding probably some 20 miles altogether, taking trips Tuesday, Wedenesday, Thursday and Friday. On Thursday we rented bikes (trailer for Kate) and rode to a little pond, having a beach day at a quiet little spot with fish and frogs and a deep drop off as you walked out into the water. Anyway, he was really comfortable on his bike, which is a huge improvement from where he was as recently as a month ago.

- The kids aren't adventurous eaters. But at least Kate ate hotdogs from a variety of places. And Jack ate some fried shrimp. Yeah that's all I got. Emily and I ate well.

- Kate took naps where she could get them. In the bike trailer after our pond trip. In a chair at the pool, briefly, once. Any midday car trips. It probably helped her mood, which was mostly awesome.

- They ate all their ice cream tonight. The seven days of ice cream are complete!

Cape vacation, days 3-4

Day 3

Kate woke up too early, but better - she was talking to her stuffed dog, which she has named Carl.

Jack woke up too early, thanks in part to Kate, but was still giddy about his lost tooth, and the $5 he found under his pillow. He wanted to find his wallet to make sure he put it there.

We spent most of the day at the beach. Threw a soft, fabric ball in the ocean with Jack for hours, it seemed. Might have been that long. Over and over, with brief breaks for snacks, swimming, and rest. Got lunch at the beachside stand -- best chicken tenders ever -- followed by ice cream.

Kate and I made sand castles, jack and I made sand patterns (sharks, dinosaurs), we all made pits to bury each other. Kate walked circles around the sand castles, singing all the way. She made a "sand castle cake" which she was very pleased with.

Played frisbee with Jack. Pushed Kate on a swing. At home, later, played pixie sticks with Jack and read Backyardigans stories to Kate. That was the day.

Day 4

Rented bikes. It was tough for Kate, more riding than she is used to, and there were some mild expressions of discomfort on her part. After about half an hour we made our way back to the rental place (Emily and Jack were miles ahead) and I rented a carrier to tow Kate behind my bike.

She liked this development quite a bit.

Jack was awesome on his bike, he and Emily made about a 4 mile trip, then did it again with Kate and me. Went to a nice little pond. Both kids waded right in and would have gone swimming if we had our suits on.

Later, pool. Kate swam a lot. Jack and I jumped in together in the 9 feet deep area. I should note we had to talk Jack into going because we had bought him the new How to Train Your Dragon book and he almost literally couldn't put it down. Jack, don't read while you're walking up stairs. He finished it in a day.

If the mark of a good vacation is the kids not making a peep after lights out and being really tired writing a blog, well, mission accomplished.

Cape vacation, days 1-2

Day 1

Driving day. We hit the road at 9:30 and Kate was asleep before 10. Jack did not sleep, so he talked Emmy into playing Mad Libs. Over and over again. Since he's 7, favorite adjectives included stinky, smelly, ugly, poopy. It made for some interesting reads, especially since it was a Star Wars Mad Libs and most of the pages were about the Death Star.

We were late crossing the Bourne Bridge, so there was some traffic, and when we stopped at a rest area for Kate, they only had port o potties. Emily started thinking it would be the bizarro version of last year's Cape trip, which Kate being sick the next morning only added to. But we got there and checked in and went straight to the pool, which was a hit as always. Ate seafood and drank beer (us not the kids, though they had some shrimp) and turned in.

Day 2

Kate was sick, high fever. Slept all morning. Jack, shortly after breakfast, lost his awkwardly twisted hillbilly front tooth when he knocked it against the back of Kate's chair. I honestly don't think I have ever seen him so happy; just giddy with joy and glee. He threw his hands in the air and said YES so excitedly it was like a spoof of someone being happy. He didn't even mind the blood. In retrospect we gave him too much grief about getting that thing out (as he pointed out in a note to the Tooth Fairy) and I kind of felt bad about it. But we were celebrating right along with him. In the car on the way to the beach we heard a song that had a line about it being a great day, and he said "it is a great day now that I got my tooth out!" Probably I am overstating this but it came up a lot during the day.

So Jack and I went alone to the beach. We played together for a bit and then Jack saw some boys playing baseball and he said "I'm going to see if I can play with them." I didn't see much of him over the next two hours. They played baseball, then Jack ran to get his shovel and pail and ran back to the boys and they made castles while I exchanged pleasantries with the parents. (the boys were a grade or two older) At one point Jack and the younger boy hung out on body boards, hoping to catch a wave and chatting like much older kids. I oversaw them from afar until the impromptu play date ended. Later Jack drew a picture of them playing baseball, writing, "I made a new friend." Emily said to Jack, that's impressive, making friends like that. Jack said, "it's easy. Just walk up to somebody playing and say, 'can I play with you?'"

Other stuff we did at the beach: eat lunch, find snails and shells (jack: "if you see a snail, draw an s in the air so I know"), and get a couple of rocks for Kate. I brought Kate her rock and she was duly appreciative. "I will add it to my rock collection. Well, it's at home."

She told me she felt a little better (next day, she was) and liked the grape medicine I got her.

Jack played catch in the yard with Emmy to end the day.

Summer vacation, day 2

Started the day with Dunkin Donuts. It gives me an excuse to get iced coffee, plus they love it.

Then we went to Bruce Park playground. Funny today because Kate saw a preschool friend, leaving Jack feeling left out. I say funny because it is almost always the other way, with Kate forlornly chasing jack and some friend around. Jack, however, was a good sport, at one point pushing both girls on swings. He is a great big brother.

Both of them climbed things I didn't know they could climb. Kate climbed a rope tower thing that I was impressed when jack climbed. At 6. She then yelled for her friend to see her. "Look how high I am! Look, Georgia!"

Lunch, library (where Jack took out eight books), playing in the yard. Kate also did her summer workbook and asked if she could take the trophy stickers "because I did so well." I said sure.

I also saw her read a sentence she hadn't seen before (so I knew it wasn't something she had memorized). She is getting there.

Near the end of the day she played with her dollies, "because it was on my list of summer things to do."

Summer vacation, day 1

Summer is here, and the living is easy. Except for the kids being home all the time and this being the one week where we had no definite camp or travel plans. Emily was home yesterday, but we were still recovering from camping and basically moved in slow motion. Today Emily went back to work and summer began.

Decided to open with the Aquarium. It was on the list (yup, I had them make summer activity lists) and I had heard there was a new tank where you could touch a shark, so I dragged them along.

We had been there a few times before (we were actually members one year), but I'd don't think it had ever been this good. An albino alligator! That actually moved and swam and walked along the bottom of the tank, with his head resting on the surface of the water and his eyes blinking at us. He had really cool teeth, all craggy and jagged. And apparently they don't live long in the wild because of their color, due to both predators and sunburn! Really! Oh, the kids enjoyed it too.

Then we touched sharks and rays. Jack did, too, making him 36 years younger when he first touched a shark than I was. Kate didn't much want to and also couldn't reach unless I held her by her legs over the tank, which I feel would have been frowned upon.

Then we went to another touch tank, with starfish and horseshoe crabs and hermit crabs. We were lucky on the timing; the guy actually got to talk to us at length. He talked about how hermit crabs change their shells when they outgrow them, how horseshoe crabs use their tails to flip over (don't pick them up that way, their tails break). Jack told the guy he once scared birds away from a helpless crab; I am not entirely certain if it is true or not. Plus Kate touched a crab!

Then we saw the seal show. I don't think I had ever actually seen the whole thing (and didn't this time either because Kate got hungry and started whining about a snack), but it was pretty cool. Then we went to the play area and realized how long it had been since we had been there, because it was only for 5 and under and Jack couldn't go in. Kate played for 2 minutes and we left.

The day wrapped up with lunch, quiet time, workbook activities, baseball in the back yard, chasing balls over the fence into the neighbors' yards, frisbee, and helping them on the monkey bars. Jack made it to the fourth monkey bar, so just one away from the end. Kate did well as long as I held her legs from start to finish. We're working on it.

Funny Kate: she likes to draw pictures but (like me to Emily when I am writing a blog) she puts her hands over her work and says "don't look! You can't see!" then when it's finished she brings it out and says "close your eyes" before proudly displaying it. It's cute.

Oh yeah Jack also wrote a journal entry on camping, probably better than my blog, and concluded it by writing in bold and capital letters, I LOVE CAMPING. So we are going again in a few weeks.

Camping

Took the kids camping for the first time this past week. Time really does move slower at a campsite; we were there barely 24 hours but it seemed like a week's worth of stuff happened. Best to do the blog fairly stream of consciousness I think.

- On our drive to the campground, we stopped one of those upstate New York delis that appear every mile or so for sandwiches. First deli sandwiches for the kids. They ate them!

- Beautiful drive, perfect day. We arrived at the campground and as we were checking in the attendant mentioned the high winds. That would be an omen because literally just as we were parking the car in the lot near our campsite, we felt a drop of rain. I said to Emily, uh, that wasn't actually a drop of rain, was it? I was just starting to set up the tent when we heard thunder. To play it safe, we put everything back in the car. Good thing, because the skies opened up and it was a torrential downpour for almost the next hour. Some discussion about going to a hotel. Another hour of rain, or less, and we would have.

Sitting in the car in the parking lot, starting at the tree-filled woods, buckets of rain coming down, Emily and I shook our heads in disbelief and kind of laughed. I thought of Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin in a canoe with his father while sheets of rain came down. Dad: "It isn't very buggy, is it?" Calvin: "You're really reaching, Dad." We decided to play "I Spy," with Kate going first. Kate: "I spy with my little eye something....green." We all laughed, since we're looking at the forest. Jack gamely tried to answer. "Ooh! Those leaves?" Laughter. "THOSE leaves? What about THAT leaf? These leaves?...."

More rain. Emily: Jack, are you reading? Jack: "How else should we pass the time until we can camp?"

The rain mercifully stopped and we set up the tent. Walked around a little bit, decided which campsite we'd get next time (one directly on the water, where we'd later see fish swimming about).

As the sun was sinking in the sky, Jack said, "Can we go see the water? The sun looks really cool over it." We did. 

Kate walked around the campsite singing and having conversations with herself. She and Jack were totally comfortable playing around the site as we set it up. I thought about Scott and me playing with Fisher-Price adventure people while Dad and Mom set up the campsite, way way back when.

Started fire, started camp stove, made hotdogs and beans. Jack: "This is the best hotdog ever. Outdoor food is best." Kate also ate well.

Made smores. I made the first one, roasting marshmallow on stick. Kate ate the marshmallow, strangely uninterested in the chocolate and the graham crackers. Jack wanted to try roasting a marshmallow, and did. He also set his on fire. A brief look of stunned disappointment. I showed him how it was really tasty anyway. He ended up enjoying his smores. I am sure we also set marshmallows on fire as kids, I assured him.

We told ghost stories, me telling a revised one of Bill Murray's from "Meatballs," Jack telling one about "a ghost scaring Kate and she said I'm not scared....and then the ghost ate a smores." For Jack's story, he held a flashlight under his chin for a scary glowing effect.

Emily read Ladybug girl stories to both kids in the tent, and then we left. Most nights (including our practice camping night) they're awake for a while, saying they're cold, or warm, or thirsty, or can't sleep). This night, we didn't hear a peep -- both were asleep almost before we'd zipped the tent closed.

During the night I woke up at one point and heard Jack or Emily whispering. I felt for Jack, who was sleeping next to me, and couldn't find them. Apparently we were sleeping on enough of an angle that Kate was somewhere down around Emily's knees and Jack was basically on top of her, all three of them in the opposite corner of the tent from me.

Heard an owl around 4:30 a.m. Thought of Twin Peaks.

Morning, I woke and saw Jack sleeping, his stuffed monkey sitting against him, seemingly protecting him, smiling happily. (He always smiles, he's stuffed.)

Jack crawled into my sleeping bag at some point and we snuggled. His fuzzy crewcut kind of itched me.

In the morning Emily and Jack walked down to the water again. Jack came running back, excited. He'd seen a fish. He named it "Dorsal."

Breakfast was coffee, eggs, toast, bacon. Kate ate all of her eggs, which never happens at home.

We went for a brief hike, Kate singing happily in the same way she does sometimes when riding her bike. About nothing in particular to no one in particular.

Emily took Kate to a little playground near the beach, while I took Jack fishing. We had borrowed rods and tackle gear. I showed him how to cast and I was stunned to see him pick it up immediately; I expected the first hook to catch either me or him in the head. Nope. I fished too, at one point seeing a fish actually put the lure in its mouth, then let it go. I was either too stunned to jerk on it or didn't want to deal with trying to remove the hook without hurting him. But, it was pretty cool.

We fished for almost an hour without catching a thing and not only was Jack NOT bored or disappointed, he wanted to fish more. Pretty amazing.

We went to the beach and rented a rowboat. After some incompetent circling, I got the hang of it and we went over near our campsite. Then Emily rowed. Then JACK rowed, and did a credible job; he was so thrilled. He had his back to me but Emily said he had that proud look he gets when he does something new; the "I DID it" look. He rowed for a while and wanted to keep on doing it. A natural fisherman, natural boater, natural camper? Mebbe. Or I'm just a proud father, whichever.

Kate also wanted to row and we let her try. The end of the paddle caught her in the lip and she cried. Sorry, Kate. But she rallied anyway and sat on my lap while I rowed, her hands on my wrists. Happy again.

The boating was the best, because it was just the family, out on the water on a beautiful day, like there was nothing else in the world. It felt like we could do it forever.

We played on the beach, Kate and Jack completely unfazed by muddy pond/lake water, just like us as kids. They rolled around in the sand, jumped in the water, rolled around some more.

Time to leave, drive home, eat dinner at a diner, and stumble into our own beds exhausted. I put Jack to bed and as I said goodnight I said, Jack, I had a great weekend, I'll remember it always.

Jack: "Me too. I'll remember it at least until I'm 70."

Graduation

Kate graduated from preschool yesterday; she'll start kindergarten in the fall. For 7 years we've been dropping a child off at daycare in the morning and picking him or her up in the afternoon; now they'll both be in school.

The teachers there have been part of first Jack's and then Kate's life for most of their lives; it's crazy to think we won't see them anymore.

We sent Kate off to school in the morning in a beautifully colorful dress. Took some pictures on our front lawn; she looked tall and confident.

Showed up that afternoon, with cameras and flowers. Took our seats for the ceremony, and the graduates marched in. I think a year ago she would have run over and clung to us or something, but today she just smiled proudly and took her seat. They sang songs they'd been practicing (she's been singing them around the house -- skinaramink, Mr. Sun, Gonna build me a house, etc.), did all the hand motions for the sun going up and Mr. Spider going down and all that.

When they called Kate's name to get her diploma she got a big smile on her face, stood up, and took it from Mr. Brendan. Held it up to show us, then ran over, hugged us, and looked beyond us for one of her friends. "Georgia! Look!!!"

We had cake and said goodbye to her teachers, goodbye to the Greenwich Y childcare center. I am excited and happy for Kate, and I already miss the little girl who went to daycare.

Father's Day

I slept until about 615, maybe 630, which was ok. The kids knew to let me sleep in, which meant I was awakened by theatrical whispering ("Is Daddy still sleeping?") rather than talking. They disappeared, then came in a few minutes later to determine that I was awake or asleep.

Once I was clearly awake, they jumped up onto the bed with cards and gifts. Jack had seen a card in a store he liked, which he also decorated with pirate stickers, pictures of superheroes, and word balloon conversations between them all. Typical 7 year old boy stuff I expect. "Arr! I will shoot you!" "No! aaaaaaahhhhhh!" He and Kate drew me a card together...I think Jack did the lettering. I also got a picture of me Jack made at school, and a note saying he wanted to have another outdoor athletics day. Kate gave me a laminated paper tie which I will need to try to wear at some point. Maybe.

Jack thought it very important that I not do anything. "mommy should do it...it's father's day."

Kate wished me a Happy father's day about eight times. She also danced around the living room in her new clothes making up songs and band names. 

Jack and I played catch. We got lunch out and went to the L.L. Bean store to prep for next week's camping trip. We played "Plants vs. Zombies" on my new iPad.

I talked on the phone with, and then got a nice email from, my own Dad.

Good day.

We toured a zoo

Volunteered to chaperone Jack's class trip to the Bronx Zoo today. In the first place I wanted to help out on some class trip, and in the second place, I love animals. So I loaded up the backpack with water and snacks and sunblock, and hopped on the bus with the kids.

I was in charge of three kids: Jack, Kevin, Peter. Both were his friends, he'd mentioned them before. I shared a seat with Peter and Jack on the way there. Five minutes into the trip, Peter said to me, "Did you see the movie 'Speed'?" Uh...yes. Did you?

Jack was pretty happy that his Dad was one of the chaperones. A decent amount of parents went (1 for every 3 or 4 kids, plus some teachers, so I guess about 15ish parents), but a lot of those parents go on most class outings. So it was a big deal to him that I was there, and that was pretty cool. Everyone was pretty happy on the bus on the way down, the kids around us singing goofy songs like, uh, Wheels on the Bus.

One of the guidelines we were given was to stay with another group, so there'd be multiple adults if there was a problem. At the front gate, though, was sheer chaos of different class groups from schools and what have you across the New York Metropolitan area, I imagine, and we'd been standing around for 10 minutes when Mrs. Huhne (Jack's teacher) indicated we could go if we got in. Minutes later we'd ditched the rest of the class and were gazing at lemurs and lizards.

Kids like to run, so we did a lot of zipping about from exhibit to exhibit. What was funny to me was when they'd be fascinated by one of the information boards or signs, while a huge grizzly bear or giraffe was just across the way. Hey guys, look! A tiger! "Look Dad, if I stand next to this cardboard tiger we can see how big it is compared to us...."

We saw lots of animals...sleeping...because it was the middle of the day and it was hot. But the polar bear played with a big beach ball thingy while swimming around his watery home, that was cool. And the grizzly bears apparently fought a little bit, according to somebody else, but we only saw them walking around. The Lions lifted their heads and gazed at us as if to say, What are YOU looking at? The baboons put their faces up against the glass. Somebody said, "Rafiki!" which is the name of the baboon in Lion King I guess.

I doled out water and raisin snacks, then we met up with the other groups for lunch. I don't know if I've ever seen kids have so much fun eating lunch. I think they were just having a blast being at the zoo and out and about with their friends.

We saw more animals, blew some money at the gift shop, and I bought them ice cream. We took the bus home all intact and together, and then Jack and I came home, me to the work I'd been away from, and him to write a journal entry (""Me, daddy, and my class went on a field trip to the Bronx Zoo. Here is the story. I was in a group with Kevin and Peter. Here is our favorite places. Madagascar. Bears. World of Reptiles. Mouse House. Baboon Reserve." He also drew a picture of a baboon.)

Just before we went to pick up Kate today, Jack came over and hugged me. He said, "I can't tell you how much fun I had with you."

I'm not sure it gets much better than that.

Backyard camping

We got a tent and will be going camping for the first time this year. I did it a lot growing up, and then a little more as an adult, and want to do it with the kids too.

They're hearteningly game; the sleeping bags came from L.L. Bean and they immediately stretched them out in the living room and climbed in with their sleeping toys and books. They asked if they could sleep in them right away, and have sleepovers in each other's rooms, and so forth.

Yesterday, after the previous several days of rain had finally stopped, we set the thing up in the backyard. They spent the next several hours going in and out through the various entrances, bringing in toys and books and play food and the like. And of course their sleeping bags and camp chairs.

We said we could all sleep there at night, thinking naturally they'd give up after about an hour and we'd all end up sleeping in our beds.

We were wrong. Right after dinner they raced upstairs, washed themselves up and brushed teeth, and got into their pajamas. They climbed into their sleeping bags, Emily read them stories, and we prepared for the hour or so of fooling around followed by going inside and sleeping in beds.

But after the fooling around and talking and saying they weren't tired and whatnot, they fell asleep. Emily and I, seeing as the ground is really hard and the kids immediately traded out their camping pillows for our actual pillows, did not. Emily ended up stumbling inside around 2 or so. I remained, sleeping for half an hour here and there, waking up, sleeping some more, waking up.

The moon was really cool to see in the middle of the night. It got really cold at around 4 a.m. I heard birds by 4:30.

Jack had encroached on my area and I needed to slide him over. At the time he was sleeping on his back. He gave a little start, his eyes fluttering and his hands going up in the air, as I moved him over. It was like when he was a baby. 

Jack woke up  around 4. Snuggled against me, held my hand. Gave me a little smile and wave, then fell back asleep.

Kate woke up around 5. Sat up, asked where Mommy was. Lay back down, and went back to sleep. Neither asked to go in.

I woke up for good around 6, 'cause it was getting kind of light out there. They woke up around 7, and we all came inside. I made a lot of coffee, and gave the kids high-fives for their first campout.

Am already preparing for the questions to come:

"Can we sleep in the tent tonight?"

Good kid

I am not always as good a person as I want to be. Sometimes I don't put others before me and wish I did, sometimes I forget something thoughtful that I wish I had done. I think I'm better than when I was younger, but it's still something I want and try to be better at.

So it makes me glad when I see my children being better about it than I; makes me optimistic for the future and hopeful that whatever I and we have done wrong with them, we are doing some things right.

- Jack and Kate argue and bicker like any siblings, I imagine, but on several occasions recently I have seen Jack (who's older and should be better, Kate's only 4, I understand) be the bigger person (since he is). At the Great Strides CF Walk yesterday, she liked his sticker more than hers and was crying about it (she was very behind on sleep). He immediately traded with her, and I think he clearly liked the one he gave up better.

- On Saturday, at the Baseball League All-Star Day, his best friend Nick (at least it's his favorite friend, I think he might be closer with Brian, but Nick is the boy everyone loves...natural athlete, that's how it goes) was on the semifinal Tug of War team, and Jack wanted to stay around to watch. Nick's team lost in the championship, and I saw Jack go over and pat him on the back and say he was sorry or something. It's just not the kind of thing you automatically expect from a 7-year-old boy, and it was pretty cool.

- At the conclusion of the Great Strides Walk, eating our lunch, Jack noticed a big posterboard where people could write on it "Why they walked." He pointed it out to me, and I said, Oh, that's nice. I wasn't necessarily going to go any further with it myself, but Jack knelt down, grabbed the marker, and carefully wrote out, "I walked for my Dad's brother, Scott." Put the marker down, got up, and we all headed home. Feeling pretty great.

Mets game

Jack's first pro baseball game was in Colorado, and he was about 6 or 7 months old at most. We arrived in the 2nd inning, quickly moved from our crowded seats to an open spot way in back, and hung out with him for about 4 innings before clearing out. His second was Sunday, with us taking him to see the Mets against the team the Rockies may well have been playing 6 years ago, Arizona. So possibly it was his second Diamondbacks game.

This time we arrived an hour early, since I had no idea that you could park and walk up to their new Stadium from about 100 yards away like you were going to a movie. Whereas last time Jack was wearing, I believe, a sleeper, this time he was wearing a Mets jacket -- and not just any Mets jacket. Emily's, from when she was about 14 years old, which we had in our attic (and for some reason I knew this). It was a little big on him, but I don't think we'll ever be able to get him to wear another jacket, at least for a while; he's been wearing it every day and seems ridiculously happy (and Emily ridiculously proud).

We parked and headed in, Jack leaving his Little League ballcap in the car because he was determined to get a Mets hat. Right inside the gates, we bought an official program and grabbed a couple of pencils, just like Dad and I used to do every time we went. I wonder how many people do today? Anyway, we got the program, grabbed a couple of pencils, and went to the first Souvenir stand to buy Jack's Mets hat. And a stuffed Mr. Met for Kate. Uh, and one for Jack. (That evening they had a stuffed mascot party, with Wally, Molly, the Mr. Mets, and the Bridgeport Bluefish mascots...I don't know what their names are.)

Since it was lunch time, Jack also wanted to get food. Right away. But since we entered the opposite side of the stadium from our seats, I impressed upon him the need to get to our seats, first. "OK," he said. "Let's go now." Uh, don't you want to walk down close to the field? We finally convinced him to do that, which was kind of cool. I think we were more into it than he was. Citi Field doesn't have the presence or charisma of Fenway Park (uh, Obviously!) but it sure is shiny and new.

We found our way to our seats, sat down, and I immediately got up to get hotdogs and beer and lemonade. Came back, Jack ate the thing in 2 seconds, and I got up to get more. Finally we were full and only had to wait another 20 minutes or so for the game to start. We all stood for the National Anthem, removed our hats ("Why?" asked Jack. Sign of respect, I said.), so on and so forth. Emily helped Jack write the names of both starting lineups into the program, and when the game started, we took turns showing him how to keep score. It was awesome and we scored it for about three innings, which is probably how long Dad and I did it most games.

David Wright is the Mets' best player, and he wears the same No. 5 that Jack does for Little League, so he's now Jack's favorite player. And he got a hit his first time up, so he's officially now Jack's version of Jim Rice. Second favorite is the pitcher, knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, and he might be my favorite Met after reading a story about him in Sports Illustrated a couple of weeks ago; he's a literate guy. (And baseball's only knuckleballer, apparently, after Tim Wakefield retired.) Was throwing a no-hitter until a fourth-inning bloop that I thought was foul, ended up throwing a shutout until the 9th, at which point he and the bullpen nearly blew it and two of the three outs were warning track shots, including the final one, a would-be tying 2-run homer that was caught with the outfielder's back against the wall. Emily and I breathed a huge sigh of relief, not wanting Jack's first remembered game to end as badly as it nearly did.

(I tried to remember my first baseball game. I think it was Chuck Rainey and the Sox winning by a 4-3 or 3-2 score. Yes, Dad? My best memory was us going to see the first game of a day-night doubleheader, the Sox losing badly, and us being depressed and not wanting the game to end that way, so we bought tickets to the night game outside the park and the Sox won a 4-3 thriller. If memory serves.)


After the game Jack got to run the bases with Mr. Met. Seriously! At Sunday afternoon home games they let kids 12 and under line up with their parents outside the park, enter through the bullpen, and the kids run the bases. Emily and I snapped pictures but were too far and they were too small. But I suspect none of us will ever forget anyway.

We got home with enough time for me to pitch to Jack in the backyard a little bit. I don't know if he pretended to be David Wright or not.

Catching up

Jack had his first baseball game of the season Saturday. It was on the "big" field where there are adult softball and (for all I know) baseball games; I guess the idea is to give the "Rookie" ball kids, which is what Jack plays, a chance to play on a real field (practices and the rest of his games are at a small field at his elementary school). This one had baselines, manicured grass, dugout-like areas, and an announcer calling out each player's name and number. Pretty cool. As we walked onto the field one of the kids was like, "We play HERE? Wow!" I was saying it too, to myself.

The game before ours ran late, so for 20 minutes the kids ran around and tossed baseballs in the air. There really wasn't enough room to have a practice and it was kind of chaotic with people walking around and wanting to get hotdogs and so forth. But it finally started, and it was great. The announcer (sounded like about an 8-year-old girl) called the names, the kids hit the pitches and ran to first, the fielding was generally poor. It's funny how kids field the ball the right way in practice but have no idea how to get the glove down in an actual game. It's different. I gather that's why in Little League I swung the bat fine in practice and didn't take it off my shoulder in a game the entire season.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun and we even got Jack's bat back, which somebody else had brought home after his first practice. Afterward Jack posed for a picture and he and Kate got to eat ring pops. Forgot to mention, Kate was apparently in great spirits watching the game; on several occasions I heard her calling through the fence. "HI....DADDY.....Hi.....DADDDY....."

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Took Jack out on his bike today. He started up on his own each time, not needing my hand on the seat or his back to get him started. A big step for him. He's still not totally there yet -- easily starting up immediately -- but he gradually gets going and then can cruise along in complete control. Uses the hand brake to stop like a pro, too, which is a big improvement from a few weeks ago, when he was still using his face, knees, and the neighbors' lawns.

At dinner we talked about our favorite parts of the day. Jack said immediately, "Riding my bike!" That made me glad, since I can't see his face when he's riding (I'm running along behind) and wasn't sure if he was smiling happily with the wind in his hair or with teeth clenched in abject terror. I'm guessing it was the former.

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Jack has been calling us Mom and Dad lately. I'm not ready for it. 

Sick Katie

Sunday morning Kate got into bed with us, too early as per usual, and I noticed her feet were burning up. Turned out she had a high fever, which meant a day of staying home. It was lower by evening, but still enough that we planned to keep her home. Monday afternoon she was still under the weather so I took her to the doctor. They checked her ears nose and throat and couldn't find anything specific; "just viral" was the guess. So we went home again. But a day later, her fever was up again and she was wailing that her ear was hurting her. So I called to leave a message for her doctor (long story short: give me an antibiotics prescription!), who called me back and nixed phoning in the antibiotics but said I could bring her in again. Super. So off we went at 6:30 in the evening, Kate already in her pajamas, to get the last open slot of the day with her doctor...who looked in Kate's ear and said, You were right. She has an ear infection.

Kate's kind of funny at the doctor. At first she basically stood very close to me, almost hiding behind me, in the room. But then she sat happily on the exam table, drawing pictures with crayons. "What's THAT? And what's THAT?" She giggled when her ears were checked (the first time) and did a big "AH" when the doctor checked her throat. Going back the next day, it was a little different. She had been wailing for the past hour so her eyes were puffy and her face was red. She was in pajamas and teary so she looked like she'd just woken up. And she wanted no part of being there, but just sort of woodenly went through the motions of opening her mouth and gazing at the wall while the doctor checked her ear. It was almost like she was thinking, What am I doing back here? I was here YESTERDAY, and I TOLD you I was sick.

 I picked up the medicine and was home with it before Kate went to bed. She looked at it doubtfully, especially since it wasn't "pink medicine." I'll never forget giving Kate an antibiotic once -- a year ago, I think -- and having her spit the entire thing out down the front of her shirt as I started in disbelief. So you could say I'm wary of giving her new medicine. I smelled it and says, it smells like banana...no. I think, pineapple? Yummy. She took it doubtfully, but it stayed in. "Pineapple," she said, cheerfully.

Today she was home sick, again, but the medicine seemed to be doing its job. We went to the library (she took out two Ladybug Girl books) and the post office, and she felt pretty good. And I knew she was better because at home, when I gave her a sandwich and chips for lunch, she sang.

Great Wolf

Putting Jack to bed tonight, after our vacation to Great Wolf Lodge and Water Park, I mentioned that maybe he should do a journal entry or draw a picture of one of his favorite things from the weekend. And Jack said, "A journal entry; I like writing more than drawing." Which was mildly surprising, but OK. And I started to think, if Jack were writing this blog tonight, it might go something like this.

We ate breakfast and got into the car to go to Great Wolf Lodge. I was going to miss playing Wii, but the water slides looked pretty cool in the pictures Daddy showed me. Plus we ate lunch at McDonald's! They had a big play area there where me and Kate ran around. Daddy joked that we would just skip the waterpark and stay overnight at McDonald's. Silly Daddy.

Arrived at Great Wolf Lodge. Busy. Wooden animal carvings everywhere. They had this game called MagiQuest. You got your wand in a store, then ran around the lodge waving it at paintings and treasure chests of gold. It was awesome. Kate and I waved our wands and collected gold and ran around for about an hour before Mommy and Daddy reminded us there were a bunch of water slides.

We all got in our bathing suits and went into the water park. It was like being in an indoor baseball stadium or something. I was so excited I ran off on my own and scared my parents, who were still trying to find some place to put our towels down, half to death. After that, we started out in this little wading area with small slides. I thought Kate would be scared, but she went down a couple of decent-sized slides all by herself, throwing her arms up as she went and laughing happily as she splashed into the water at the bottom of the slide. "I did it!" she yelled to us, proudly. My sister is only 4. Later, Daddy told us that he and Kate went to a pretty high slide which he thought he could do with Kate, but found out at the top they had to go separately. He thought about walking down the stairs, but instead asked Kate if she wanted to do it, and she, her little mouth tight, nodded. And she went down on her own, and though I know she was really scared, liked it so much she wanted to do it again. And smiled proudly.

Daddy and I went up a long staircase to do a pretty big slide. We carried up a two-person raft to zip down on. As we put it in the water, I wasn't sure I wanted to do it. "Uh," I said "I'm not sure...." Daddy said, Jack, I'm right here with you, it will be fine. And then there were people behind us and we had to go. First I yelled, then I yelled some more. Then I laughed and laughed, and as we crashed into the water at the bottom, the first thing I said was, "That was GREAT. Let's go again."

There was a big wave pool, which was like being at the ocean, except the water was even warmer. I kept swimming out, letting the waves bring me back in, and swimming out again. Laughing and laughing. Floating on inner tubes, getting capsized, crashing into the water again and again. And going back for more. There was another pool where Daddy and I played basketball, and another where we just floated downstream while buckets of water dumped on our heads every so often. It almost looked like Daddy tried to get hit by the water because he knew it'd be funny for us, but probably not. It was funny.

At night, there was storytime, where we all wore pajamas and gathered in the lobby and somebody dressed as Violet the Wolf and another girl read bedtime stories. Incredibly, I worked my way through about 200 kids to get into the front row. Daddy and Mommy were way in the back with Kate up on their shoulders. Kate had her stuffed Violet the Wolf doll with her, and badly wanted to show the big Violet her toy that looked like her. When she couldn't get close, she cried. A lot. She was a little overtired from staying up late, waking up early, and not napping for a few days. (I wasn't at all tired, although in pictures on the last day my eyes were about 3/4 of the way shut.)

Before storytime one night, there was a lady making balloon animals. I made it up to the front while Daddy waited. When she asked me what I wanted, I asked for a dragon. She said she couldn't make that. I told her to ask somebody else. When it was my turn again, I told her, "I'm still thinking." Daddy seemed to groan. I ended up stepping out of line without getting an animal. Jack, what's up? Daddy asked. "I've moved on," I said.

There was a "Story Adventure" thing where you got your picture taken in a variety of poses and they put you in a book with Wiley or Violet the wolf. Daddy talked about how Kate did huge smiles and threw her arms up into the air to show excitement and all that. Sometimes she can be shy so it was pretty impressive.

I've got to say the thing I'll remember most about the trip was actually NOT the water slides, even though I went around and around and jumped in and out of the water again and again. The thing I liked most was the MagiQuest game. At one point I had to open a chest on one side of the hotel, then get to the other side in 30 seconds to open another one. Daddy laughed that there was a sign that said, NO RUNNING. I completed a whole bunch of quests and at the end there was a video that told me I'd earned Master Magi. Mommy said I beamed with pride. As I said to Daddy, "I can't believe I can do all this with just a wand and a computer! And I made MASTER MAGI!!!!"

At the end, I did an adventure, where I had to fight a dragon. I tried to kill him twice but couldn't. Very hard. Next time!

I don't know if that's exactly what Jack would have written. But I think something like that is about right. I took a picture of him after he completed one of his wand quests. This is about typical of his smile, part happiness, part awe, part accomplishment, for most of the vacation.

Baseball

It was Opening Day for the Red Sox, and Jack, to his credit, put on his red Kevin Youkilis Red Sox T-shirt and his Red Sox hat. As far as I know he's about the only non-Yankee fan in his class. In the afternoon I asked him if he got any grief about it. He said no. Any comments? He said, "Yes -- Mrs. Murphy." (Assistant teacher.) I said, really? He said she said to him, "'You're a Red Sox fan?' And I said, Yes, my parents got married in Boston." And I said, Jack, good for you.

After school we watched the Red Sox lose their opener, but at least they tied it up with two outs in the ninth, so they showed some heart.

When the game was over, wanting to kill an hour before baseball practice but not do anything too strenuous, we went on a Secret Spy Mission. Jack got out his spy folder, which is a manila folder he's drawn pictures and written a bunch of code words in, and gave us secret code names; he was Eagle and I was Tiger. I think. Then we skulked about the house and the yard pretending to kill and eat bears and find treasure and such. Jack drew a picture of the "Egyptian Bear," which hibernates in the summer, and which made good eatin' after we cooked him up on our invisible stove. Jack asked me if I wanted the tail or a foot, neither of which sounded too appetizing, so I asked for a leg. It was a little gamey. Then we found treasure and drew a picture of that, too.

Then it was off to baseball practice. There are 10 other kids and almost all of them are Yankee fans who wear Yankee hats and their favorite player is Derek Jeter. But other than that, they all seem like pretty good kids. Some can't throw and some can't catch and some can't hit, but they were all pretty game and all of them seemed better at the end of practice than at the start. We finished with a drill where each kid got three throws from behind the pitcher's mound to a bucket at home plate, with closest throw winning. A couple of kids hit it and a couple who couldn't throw 20 feet at the beginning of practice were close, and practice ended with every kid having a smile on his face, which was pretty awesome.

In the car on the way home, since it was 7:30 and Jack hadn't had dinner yet, I asked Jack if he was really hungry. And he said, "No, I don't feel hungry when I'm having fun." Then we got home, he had two hotdogs and a bunch of chips and a yogurt and some red pepper and a piece of Easter candy and showered and went to bed. So it was a good day.