the boy
Last Couple of Days
Memorial Day Walk
We decided today to visit Greenville's newest park: Unity Park. According to the website,
Greenville’s newest park features four state-of-the-art playgrounds, including a 4,100-square-foot splash pad, two expansive green spaces, covered picnic tables and a 10,000-square-foot welcome center with restrooms, a first-aid station and flexible event space. The 60-acre park also features basketball courts and a historic baseball field located on the site of the former Mayberry Park, which was built in 1925.
Unity Park Site
E and I rode our bikes by it on our last trip on the Swamp Rabbit trail, but it was still under construction at that point.
After exploring the new park for a while, we walked downtown to the tried and true Reedy River Park.
An overall lovely day.
Crossing Over 2022
Tenth Party
Preparing
The Boy’s birthday party is tomorrow: he wanted to have a backyard campout with his best friends, so there will be seven boys having a pre-campfire Nerf war and six boys (one can’t stay over) sleeping in our backyard. At least in theory.
Sleepovers are always a bit touchy: I remember having problems with sleepovers, and once I left at about eleven at night to go back home to sleep. It was only across the street, so it was no inconvenience for anyone, but still — it was only across the street. One would have thought I could manage it one night a few hundred feet away from my parents. I guess I was about seven or eight when that happened.
We’ll see tomorrow. “It will be fine,” K assures me, and I’m certain she’s right. But who knows: one of us might be driving a tired little boy home tomorrow, or waiting with him while a tired mom comes to pick him up.
Role Change
10
The Boy -- 10 years old today. A decade of the Boy. Double digits.
In the morning, we had his breakfast of choice: bacon, eggs, and cinnamon rolls. Healthy choices. In the evening, dinner too was his choice: crab legs and shrimp.
After cheese cake and ice cream, he and I went to the local guitar store to spend all his present money in one shot:
A third guitar -- a bass.
The Girl and I spent the afternoon at a tournament only half an hour away -- quite a change.
She'd probably rather not talk about that, though. Let's just say it didn't go as well as the team was hoping.
Previous Years
Happy Mess Day
Second Time Around
Third Party
Celebration Day
Birthday
Fifth Birthday Party
Sports and Ice Cream
Seventh Birthday
Day 60: Eighth Birthday
Nine
Wednesday Afternoon Bike Ride
The Boy and I decided yesterday that we'd go mountain biking today after school. He wanted to go to a bike park in a town about half an hour from here, but I said it was too far and suggested Lakeside Park, where L had her sand volleyball practices. He agreed, somewhat reluctantly, but seemed eager about the afternoon when I left this morning.
This afternoon, just as I was finishing up with the bikes and bike rack, he came out to tell me he wasn't ready.
"Well, get ready," I laughed.
"No, I'm not mentally ready. I don't really want to go now."
This is what I was waiting for, almost expecting. It happens more times than I care to experience, and sometimes, K and I take a more gentle approach, trying to get him to see the positives of it, reminding him why he wanted to do it in the first place. Not today. Today, I didn't have the time for that.
"Stinks to be you. We're leaving in a few minutes. Change your shirt and get your shoes on."
I went go get his bike to complete the whole packing process (his goes on last) and saw that his back tire was flat. Again. I'd just replaced the innertube before our last adventure only to have it rupture about a mile from the car. I'd simply taken the older one, which had the slow leak, and patched the leak. It had worked fine for a while.
This put a new crimp in the plan. He was already reluctant to go. Getting a flat in the middle of a ride might turn him off of riding for a while. There might be even more fussing the next time. I decided just to take the chance. I pumped up his tire, saw that it was holding, and packed the bike. When we arrived at the park, it was still holding. About midway through the first part of the ride, though, E noticed it was getting squishy. We went back to the car, pumped it back up, and rode another few miles.
"That was fun," was his verdict.
Mother’s Day 2022
Morning was for relaxing.
Afternoon was for relaxing, too. And a bit of spray painting.
Evening, our first fire in the new firepit.
