Church Friends!

No school! Hooray for MLKJ!

My day started with horse chores and a trip to the orthopedist. Shane came to look at my x-rays and give Carrie some space. 

Nothing was broken! We celebrated with haircuts. 

The second half of our hay for the year was being delivered when we got back home.

At least I hope it's for the rest of the year. Carrie's talked about ways to cut costs for next winter already.

The real fun for Shane didn't start until after lunch. We took Loki to the park.

We met Shane's friends from Sunday school there for a play day!

Half the time, Shane's the only kid at our church. The other half the time, the Cartwrights show up. It turns out two of the kids go to Shane's school, too.

Logan and Shane ran around with Nerf guns. Claire tried to skateboard. Julia and the baby dragged Loki around by his leash!

Loki was a really good boy. His neck was probably sore by the end of it.

Julia went back and forth from Loki to trying to mess with the boys. There were lots of shenanigans and some conflicts, but nothing that wasn't resolved easily enough.

I was surprised to find out how much I had in common with the parents. The mom was from NOVA and went to Thomas Jefferson HS until her family moved to the middle of WV (culture shock!). She was a twin and they'd lived in Houston for a while and actually knew where Beaumont was. To top it off, there kids went to Venable at one point and she used to walk them past my old school! She knew Mr. Brown from him walking out to say hello!

The dad wasn't there, but he'd gone to Charlottesville high school and wrestled for Coach Romanac. Coach Romanac's wife, Connie, was my good friend the secretary at LMA! Go figure!

If the oddly warm winter holds up, we'll have to have another playground meetup. All the kids are too wild to have around the horses. Especially with the nervous wreck that showed up today.....but that's another post!

See Ya at School Sam

Shane and I had a drizzly-day play date with Sam. Shane climbed up a tree to wait when we arrived.

Too bad I drove to the wrong park.....and it was on the wrong side of town! Shane scrambled down and we raced over to meet Sam, Toby, and Paul at Riverview Park. We took a walk along the trail to get out of the drizzle.

Shane was ready to throw sand and jump in the river. There were people getting out of the river with inner tubes and all the boys wanted in on the action.

We made a short loop and then it was playground time. Little boys are physical. Sam was blocking Shane at the bottom of the slide with his leg. Shane grabbed his leg and started to run when he pushed through! They seemed to enjoy it.

We took a short break to play King of Tokyo. I didn't want to get the cards out in the rain, so it was more rolling for fun than playing (Toby had his own game with the monster cut outs). The boys were all asking/begging for water and ice cream by this point. We were waiting for Kate to meet up with us.

We were going to go to Kilwyn's, but Paul mentioned his family really liked the Mexican ice cream parlor next to Tonsler.

"We've never been there! I drive by all the time and keep meaning to drop in."

Paul called an audible. We were off to La Flor Michoacana!

It was a great call. There was ice cream and a ton of custom popsicles. I didn't recognize all the fruit names. There was even a Tequilla flavored one.

I went with a scoop of mint chocolate chip since Shane went for cookies and cream.

We walked all of the kids over to Tonsler Park for some after ice cream play.

There was some sort of event going on with a microphone and games behind the rec center. Shane and I didn't stay long enough to find out what it was. He was happy on the playground and Carrie recalled us to help with barn chores (You'll hear about those in tomorrow's post!).

SC Full Day #2

Carrie swept the floors with Shane after his morning cartoons and pop tarts.

I collected the change that tumbled out!

You wouldn't have thought a dine and a penny would cause such a consternation.

Pop told a story about them. Shane found two dimes and two pennies at the playground. Cole wanted him to split the find, so Shane gave Cole two pennies and tried to keep the two dimes! Pop evened the odds which explained why Shane was 11 cents richer when Carrie dragged him.

Nana and Pop took Shane to the children's museum and Carrie and I had another morning off! Happy days! This time, Carrie spent over an hour and a half on hold for a business call. We played WoW together to pass the time. Indy makes a better photo op, though. I took her outside during one of the periods Carrie got to talk to a human.

Shane came back with an awesome little machine.

Their was an exhibit where he got to use an electric toothbrush to make a 'writing robot.'

There was a pen attached to a decorated, Styrofoam body.

When you turned on the toothbrush it vibrated the pen all over. Viola! A writing robot. That's an amazing program for a kid's museum.

Nap time hit all over the house around 2 PM. Carrie hadn't meant to nap (But I meant to cover her with pillows).

Shane (reluctantly) sat down to do his writing practice. He wanted to earn his electronics time. I wanted him to earn it, as well, because it's easier to keep him quiet while everyone naps!

After nap, I took Shane out to Legacy Park to meet Kathleen and her kids. Shane got his climbing out before they arrived.

We moved into the park proper when the cousins arrived.

Nana had wanted to come, but I told her to stay home. VBS was due to start the next day and I knew Pop wanted to plan.

The tot lot was impressive.

There were even chimes.

But the playground proper was even more remarkable.

Kathleen had said, "It reminds me of Orange Hunt's playground as a kid." She was right.

It was a climbing maze for kids.

The group mostly stuck together in the beginning (with a few climbing exceptions).

Sneaking up on the kids is my own little game in between taking pictures.

I'm trying to get Shane to realize how important perspective is. I snuck up on him by keeping the slide between us once and then told him how I did it. Not that he listened. He was already whirling on to the next thing. Overstimulated and hyper as can be.

Other kids started to come into the fray when Shane set up a trap on the slide.

Then he set up another trap.

Then he was a monster playing chase with a group of boys. They ran all over the playground and Cole had trouble keeping up. Which may not have been a horrible thing, because the boys were borderline too physical the whole time. My eyes kept scanning to see if any parents were getting upset by the semi-wrestling and running.

Ka and I took all of the kids to explore another side of the playground for a mini-reset. It helped Cole get back into the mix.

Shane's new wild crew eventually came looking for 'the monster.'

The group had shrunk down and now it was Shane, Cole, and Unnamed Kid #3. They hung out on a tire swing and worked to survive and defeat zombies together (I liked that they were co-operating! I told Shane so, too).

The playground population seemed to be thinning out for dinner time.

It really was an amazing playground. I enjoyed the shade from the big tree in the middle of it.

The girls moved in on the tire swing once the boys left. We'd spent a couple of hours at the park and it was time to head home, though.

It started to plop drops of rain on us as we were trying to get the kids to go. The timing was perfect. The rain threatened enough to lend urgency to leaving, but waited until we'd gotten drinks of water and made it back to the cars.

Sunday in the Park

Rah asked Shane to ask me to go to the park Sunday. Shane was happy to parrot the question. They rode bikes while I walked/jogged with my book.

At first, we were the only people in the park. The boys ran to the swings. Rah asked me to take a video, so he could see how he could jump out of the swing from.

Kids draw other kids. After a little bit, two young boys, Jeremiah and Cameron, came running through the fence with a basketball.

Their older sister showed up shortly thereafter and a basketball game commenced.

Shane played for a little bit. He talked real big, but when one of the little guys whipped the ball behind his back and kept dribbling it was clear Shane was outclassed. Shane didn't do badly, but he switched off to trying to ride his bike around the court and then yell, "I'm the referee! Everybody! I'm the referee!"

I like to let the kids sort things out, but at that point I spoke up. I told Shane not to ride through their game and that they didn't need a referee. He could play or get off the court.

Shane chose to go lay on the seesaw. At one point he started to yell, "Can you guys be more quiet?"

The basketball game ignored him. He called out a few more times and eventually I called back, "You stop yelling. They're playing a game. It's a park. Play on your own or join the game."

Basketball continued the whole time we were at the park. An older boy emerged, Omar. He was a cut above and not shy to show it. "4 on 1! All of you versus me!"

The younger boys played some. Then they went to the playground where Shane was. Rah and the older sister teamed up to play Omar (and lost. Rah was walking instead of running and acting disinterested but the game went on.).

The little guys all started running around the playground. Shane started to try and throw mulch while Jeremiah and Cameron swung. Then they all started running around and chasing each other with sticks. They were all smiling and laughing. I kept an eye out, because I didn't want an accidental whack to turn into a fight. I spoke up on a few close calls, "Shane, have fun, but you'd better not hit anyone!"

They looked like they had a blast.

I think I earned the kids trust earlier when Shane had found a fidget spinner. He picked it up and said, "Ha ha! It's mine! I found it!" Cameron claimed it and Shane hopped on his bike and rode away cackling.

Jeremiah was on the other side of the court and described it to me ("It's yellow."), so I made Shane fork it over.

So somehow I became base during the stick fight. The kids would tear around, hit each others sticks, dodge close calls, and then Jeremiah or Cameron would run over to where I was. I told Shane, "If I get hit with a stick because you swing it near me there will be trouble," and then no one swung anything near me.

My one complaint: The little guys ran around saying, "Shit! Shit! Shit!" as Shane tailed them. Their big sister would sometimes yell, "Quit cussing!" but it never really slowed. I'd prefer Shane didn't learn too many of those words too early, but he needs to learn how to react in all situation. Shane seems to understand that while I don't correct every kid I meet, I will correct him in a heartbeat (We had a talk when he came home from school yelling, "God!").

The stick fighting seemed to end as some wrestling began between Shane and Cameron. Shane ended up on top laughing. I made my way over.  I told Shane to "Let him up if you all are going to wrestle."

This turned out to be key.

One of the ways I get kids to accept my authority is I set guidelines. I don't yell, "No!" and set up a power struggle (Unless they're danger). Shane's the first one I say something to. He has no choice but to listen to me. Other kids normally follow suit.

The boys hopped up (Cameron tried to kick a little, but whiffed), laughed, and then tried to wrestle again. Cameron ended up on top of Shane this time.

Shane tried to kick when they stood up and I said, "No kicking! If you're going to wrestle, wrestle!"

At that point, I was in charge. I would have preferred a game I didn't need to referee, but it was already underway. Most boys need physical play. They also need guidance (especially with kids who I don't know the parents of!).

Shane and Cameron hopped up and went at it again, smiling and laughing. They tussled and got near the playground's border. "Go to the grass! I don't want anyone hitting the concrete." They obeyed.

The game continued in the grass. Hopefully, it was good wrestling practice for Shane. I called out a point whenever someone got knocked over. Jeremiah watched at first. When he jumped in, he knocked Shane and Cameron over while they struggled against each other. "Whoops! Jeremiah got both of you that time! 2 points!"

Lots of smiles, lots of laughs. I called it quits after a while. It's good to end on a positive note and everybody's happy.

I told Shane to "make sure you know your friends' names," as we left. "It shows you care."

Turns out they were both older than him (2nd and 3rd grade). From their size, I would have guessed they were 1st or younger.

We got energy out.

Monkey Bars

These were easier when I was Shane's size. He's getting really good at them.

Sledding

Shane woke up from his nap "full of Mike" (as Carrie calls it). Carrie told me to take him somewhere to get it out of his system!

Luckily, it was in the 40s. That felt balmy after becoming adjusted to single digits. Shane and I went to explore the school behind our townhouse.

There were multiple playgrounds. Everything a little boy needed to burn some Mike out.

Shane said the snow tasted great, too.

The elementary school looked really nice. I contemplated Shane going there while we practiced our swinging.

Another group of neighborhood kids showed up after a while. The hills were perfect for sledding. There were already a ton of wakes from the previous day's runs.

We don't have a sled down south, but we found something serviceable.

Someone else left it behind. You can see why.

It served our purpose well!

The sled didn't hold up to all the fun Shane had with it!

It shrank after successive runs!

I brought Shane home soaked, but much calmer. He took a shower to heat back up. Mission accomplished!