Epic Day Trip

Shane and I had a full Saturday scheduled. Then he went and did something unexpected: He volunteered to play Goalie.

Jonas is our Keeper, but he was out of town. Shane's never played Goalie before. He likes to play defense and feels competent about it, but he's been so opposed to playing offense I didn't expect him to leave his niche.

He left the position, but stayed defensive, I guess. I was really proud of him for stepping up. I was also a bit worried, because goalies have a lot of pressure put on them. Shane has not always reacted well to the pressure or jeering or criticism.

I thought he did fantastic for a first time out. He's not a natural keeper. He flinches when the ball comes at him and doesn't always pay attention from long distance. He tried to use mainly his feet and seemed nervous about picking up the ball. He got excited whenever he got to do a goal kick, but hasn't really learned how to boot it. He'd pause and dance around making a show of faking this way and that. I think he really loved having all eyes on the field on him!

He may have been stalling some towards the end of the game, too. The other team was really, really good. There were three kids I was really impressed with. A taller boy named Gibson, a fast, ball-handler named Pablo, and the opposing goalie was a little guy who made some great stops.

They beat us 6-1.

Shane was a little deflated, but I let him know I was so proud of him. Especially because it was purely his idea. He paid attention for most of the game, made a few saves, and never threw a pity party when something went wrong. We talked about how much pressure there is on goalies and how they have to keep playing no matter what happens. I asked Shane if he'd developed some new respect for what Jonas does, and he said "Yes!"

We listened to Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire on the ride up to NoVA. It's due back, so we really need to finish it before an angry librarian I'm not friends with comes after me.

Shane and I caught the tail end of John's "May the 4th be with you" Star Wars program! John showed Shane how to make a lightsaber.

I made one to fence around with Shane for a bit before I suggested he make another one for B.

John took us back to his desk where one of the new part time workers, Carly, is in the middle of a practical joke war with him. It thrilled me to see it.

John gave Shane a 3D printed Bulbasaur pot to hold a baby basil plant. He knows my kid!

We helped John set up for the afternoon movie (Solo if you're curious) before we moved on to let him finish his work day.

Shane didn't squawk much about missing the movie. He was eager to get to our next stop.

B was in the bathroom, but that didn't stop Shane from charging in and over the couch.

Sammy wasn't as happy to see us.

It may have started with Megan "abandoning" him to be with B for a moment. It kicked into high gear when I walked over. He started wailing at the top of his lungs and managed to kick into an extra gear when I picked him up! I thought I'd calm him down by taking him to where he could see Megan better, but he's in the middle of a stranger-danger phase!

Megan and B weren't too far away. The crying stopped once Megan arrived and the lightsaber battle began once Shane and B were both armed!

It ended with Shane saying, "Snuggle!" and attacking Megan while B smacked him.

Next thing you know it, B was shouting, "Snuggle!"

Shane helped himself to the Switch while Megan and I talked. Big B talked for a little bit before he went on an errand to the bike shop. He returned later during the 'construction phase.'

I kicked Shane off the electronics when the neighbor boys showed up. Megan has a dream set-up: Two little boys next door with fun parents and a fenced in back yard. The boys were all running around, climbing, and throwing rocks in no-time flat.

When the boys went back inside, Megan enlisted me for one of her schemes.

Megan wanted to have a zipline in her backyard. She had looked up kits online. When she saw there were $200, she decided to go the DIY route and ordered parts piecemeal for much less.

Kits come with instructions, though.

Big B wasn't sure that he wanted a zipline in the back yard, so he wasn't helping. He wasn't actively hindering the process either, so Megan outsourced the labor.

AKA: Me.

"Aren't you an engineer?" I asked.

"Not a mechanical one!" Megan laughed.

I was game. Ziplines are awesome and I like fixing problems. I read the site she'd bookmarked and started putting things together. We ran into some snags (Megan had ordered four clamps instead of six and one of the nuts fell off a clamp!), but I was mostly done before the kids discovered what I was up to.

Their help wasn't very helpful, but we finished!

I wasn't sure how secure everything was, so I left it lame enough to be 99.9% safe and Big B approved.

Megan hadn't bought materials for a brake, so I kept it very low to the ground, a little loose, and mostly level.

The only things accidents caused were laughs.

The little kids loved it. Megan instituted a turn order when there were problems sharing.

Shane rode the initial hype wave and then decided it was too tame for him. He went to climb a tree instead.

The zip line would have stayed slightly lame but mostly safe if Megan hadn't taught the kids teamwork!

She showed them how to pull someone up to the end secured higher up and then turn them lose.

They picked up on the concept quickly.

The glider Megan ordered move super smoothly.

I sat in a chair as a 'tree-guard."

I'm so happy that Megan brought me in on the project. It made for a special memory for the kids and myself.

I left a yoga ball to keep an eye on things when I abandoned my post.

I learned a lot in the process. I texted Carrie to let her know I'd be willing to install a zipline from our house to the barn for quick access. She wasn't a fan of the idea even when I offered to have it dump the rider into the hay. She didn't think any better of reversing the direction so that we could zipline from the barn to the front door, either.

Megan and B had a babysitter coming over at 5 PM (after their original sitter cancelled and left Megan scrambling while I was there!). We said, "Hi" to the sitter and left while Big B and Megan were showing her the ropes (Shane would have preferred to stay!).

We drove down to Huntsman Square to wait for John to be available again. After all, we'd driven up to help celebrate his birthday!

By a stroke of fortune, it was also Free Comic Book Day. We saw a cosplayer walk out dressed as Spiderman, so Shane and I went in to check things out while John showered and changed post-work.

There was a comic book/retro-toy shop I'd never been to. Shane got to play Duck Hunt.

Shane and I took a break to get dinner from Subway and then went back when John joined us.

"You're the most flamboyant Duck Hunt player I know," John told Shane.

"What's flamboyant?" Shane asked as he danced and twirled around.

"You see what you're doing?" John asked. "That's flamboyant."

"Just watch out for the cord!" I chipped in.

John and I looked at all the retro toys. He'd had some when he was in Japan as a kid that I'd never seen. I knew most of the toys and had played with many of them. Either my friends had hat them, or we owned them but in various states of disrepair picked up from Nana's garage sale hunts (Go, Nana!).

I wasn't too keen on Shane trying to read all of the comic material, so I bought a couple card packs to say, "Thanks for entertaining us for free for so long."

Then we went to get ice cream. "It's John's birthday, so how come you're the one getting treated to all this?" I asked Shane!

We let Shane open up his and my cards and then John started to show him miniatures on his phone.

It was half past eight, but that felt really late after a full day. I caught John yawning and I'm tempted to caption this picture.

Shane and I said our goodbyes and then hopped on the road home. Shane fell asleep somewhere in Madison when we were going through a storm. The road conditions made it take longer to get home, but Carrie was waiting up for us and Shane was in bed by 10:45 PM.

These are the kind of days I live for. Lots of adventure, family, friends, and fun.