Yesterday my boy graduated from Pre-K. They had a whole ceremony and everything. The kids all filed in and stood in a line across the front of the room while we parents sat in the preschool-sized blue plastic chairs (some of which I could almost hear groaning). They (the kids, not the chairs) sang several songs, did the alphabet in sign language and Spanish and then walked up as their name was called to shake hands with the assistant teacher and recieve their diploma from the class teacher. They all did really well except for 1 kid who was suddenly petrified and wouldn't move from his spot. No problem though, he came around later finished up the whole deal. I know I was feeling the same way when I had to get up in front of people as a kid. Still do, actually.
Afterward, I took Korben to Moonlight Golf at a "nearby" mall so we could play minigolf under blacklight. He's been wanting to do that for quite a while and we never had the time, so it was really a great surprise for him. We played all 36 holes and by the end, I had nearly gotten him to stop chasing the ball around and smacking it like a hockey puck. On the upside, he seems to putt as well left handed as he does right. Not saying much just yet, but...cool. The girl running the place gave us 2 glow-in-the-dark necklaces, neither of which would fit over my big 'ol noggin, so he wore them both for the rest of the day.
After a long session on the links you know you gotta go to the 19th hole, so we went over to the Chili's, Too they have in the food court and split a molten chocolate cake with a couple of sweet teas. I let him pick from the dessert menu and that's what he wanted. Attaboy!! I'm all about some chocolate, I'll tell ya. We did have one errand to run while we were there, too, so it was off to the Bass Pro Shop at the other end for a campfire sandwich cooker for Joy. He had a ball running around looking at the boats and the giant fish tank, and getting his picture made with his head in a shark's mouth. Not to forget the laser "target range" where you get 25 shots for 50 cents to try and hit little red bull's eyes around an area set up to look like a swamp with an old shack in it. You know the "hit one target and the hat spins, another and the dogs ears go up..." kind of thing. We need to work on aiming and letting off the trigger a bit, but in his defense the rifle is bigger than he is.
He was asleep before we got out of the parking lot of the mall. Which was good because traffic on the Interstate was backed up for 20 miles. From right where we were to right where we were going. Lovely. He missed all that though, and woke up in time to see the driveway coming up. A couple of hours on his Vsmile game and a light dinner finished out his day. I think he'll remember that one. The whole day just him and his daddy. He told me at the Chili's "Daddy, this is the best day of my life."
Any dads out there know you'll do about anything for that one sentence. Good time.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
As long as I'm here...
We're going back to our lake house for Memorial Day weekend. School's out and I'm taking off a couple of days so we can spend some time up there and not feel rushed. My kids seem to like the place as much as I always have I'm glad to see. When I was little it was kind of an adventurous place surrounded by dark woods, tall hills, briars, snakes and God knows what unearthly creatures. The wampas cat was a favorite story of my uncle Jack's - a cat with a head at both ends and no anus, so it was really mean.
Nowadays, I like the quiet and sense of removal from the rest of the world. Even though it's a lot more crowded up there now than it was 25 years ago, it's still not crowded. There are more houses lining the banks but you can still only see a few of them from our place, and those only dimly through the trees. When we're up there we have no schedule and don't care what time it is. There are 3 channels on the tv, 2 of which don't come in very well, and a few radio stations that can be received.
When we get up in the morning the kids are usually out on the screened-in back deck playing quietly. The only sounds are birds, tree frogs and the occasional whine of a boat engine going past out in the channel. We'll leave the sliding door open to let in the cool morning air while Joy and I cook some breakfast, then call the kids in to sit around the old table and eat. We may go walking along the dirt road after we eat - Joy and I just enjoying being out and the kids seeing what interesting rocks they can find - then go swimming in the afternoon off of the dock below our house in the cove. At night we may let the kids roast marshmallows over a small fire in the back yard after dinner, then put them down when it starts getting dark. Joy and I will sit up for another hour or so on the deck watching the dark, listening to the cicadas and just being together.
There's something indescribable about that place that I wish I could convey to someone reading this. Even though the road is paved over halfway in now and graded the rest of the way, there;s still that feeling of being AWAY. It's like a pocket in time where the rest of the world is there, but on the other side of some kind of membrane that isolates it from you. I can think of few better places for decompression.
We're going back to our lake house for Memorial Day weekend. School's out and I'm taking off a couple of days so we can spend some time up there and not feel rushed. My kids seem to like the place as much as I always have I'm glad to see. When I was little it was kind of an adventurous place surrounded by dark woods, tall hills, briars, snakes and God knows what unearthly creatures. The wampas cat was a favorite story of my uncle Jack's - a cat with a head at both ends and no anus, so it was really mean.
Nowadays, I like the quiet and sense of removal from the rest of the world. Even though it's a lot more crowded up there now than it was 25 years ago, it's still not crowded. There are more houses lining the banks but you can still only see a few of them from our place, and those only dimly through the trees. When we're up there we have no schedule and don't care what time it is. There are 3 channels on the tv, 2 of which don't come in very well, and a few radio stations that can be received.
When we get up in the morning the kids are usually out on the screened-in back deck playing quietly. The only sounds are birds, tree frogs and the occasional whine of a boat engine going past out in the channel. We'll leave the sliding door open to let in the cool morning air while Joy and I cook some breakfast, then call the kids in to sit around the old table and eat. We may go walking along the dirt road after we eat - Joy and I just enjoying being out and the kids seeing what interesting rocks they can find - then go swimming in the afternoon off of the dock below our house in the cove. At night we may let the kids roast marshmallows over a small fire in the back yard after dinner, then put them down when it starts getting dark. Joy and I will sit up for another hour or so on the deck watching the dark, listening to the cicadas and just being together.
There's something indescribable about that place that I wish I could convey to someone reading this. Even though the road is paved over halfway in now and graded the rest of the way, there;s still that feeling of being AWAY. It's like a pocket in time where the rest of the world is there, but on the other side of some kind of membrane that isolates it from you. I can think of few better places for decompression.
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