the boy | matching tracksuits

The Boys in the Creek

Monday 13 June 2022

E’s best friend came over for the afternoon today. At first, they did what boys these days do: play video games. However, we have no gaming console in our house at all. No Xbox, no Play Station, no Nintendo Switch. In fact, I only know those things exist because I hear students and teachers talking about them at school. And of course, E brings them up occasionally.

And it’s a little surprising, to be honest, how many adults with no children or with grown children still invest time and money into gaming systems. To each his own, I suppose, but I always thought there was a time when people outgrew video games.

Not having a gaming system has several advantages, not the least of which is the simple fact that since we don’t buy games for our PC either, E’s gaming options are severely curtailed. Which means he and his friend grow tired of them eventually and head outside to find other things to do.

Like catching minnows in the creek behind our house.

As for the Girl today, she was out of the house for most of the day: physical therapy, volleyball strength training, and driving instruction took almost all her day.

Berries and Corn

Sunday 12 June 2022

First, there’s this — always this. We’re closing in on the two-weeks-to-go mark.

Messing and Swimming

Friday 10 June 2022

Oh, and this

End of the 2021/22 School Year — Countdown Begins

Monday 6 June 2022

Today was the final day of school for me. The kids didn’t have school, but teachers have to go in for at least one more day to get things squared away for the summer: materials returned, documents completed, papers signed, report cards mailed. During my first year at Hughes, I was overwhelmed with the amount of stuff we had to do. Since then, teachers’ “To Do” list has been drastically simplified. One whole task, which often took hours, has been assigned to others. I use the passive voice there because, quite honestly, I don’t know who made that change, but I am grateful nonetheless.

Getting this last day out of the way is such a relief because I reach a point where I can finally stop thinking about school for a while — I’m not even planning on doing any prep work this summer. For one thing, I have too much to do this summer:

Trim the Leyland cypresses (a two-day job in and of itself)
Clean the outside of the house
Pressure-wash the deck
Apply ample coats of water-proofing to the deck
Pressure-wash the concrete portion of the drive
Complete the furniture assembly for the remodeled basement

Then there’s all the travel:

L’s final tournament in Orlando
L’s job
L’s physical therapy
L’s volleyball conditioning
L’s individual volleyball lessons
E’s play dates

Still, this is a fairly short list for the summer, but this is all in the next three weeks, for in just 23 days, we’ll be heading to Poland as a family of four for the first time since 2017. Five years. Five years. It’s the longest period of time I’ve not visited Poland since I first went in 1996. K and E went last summer; L went on her own in the summer of 2019. (Or was it 2018?) But it’s been five long years since we all went.

That means L was E’s age the last time we were there. And L has gone from being a pre-teen to an almost-licensed (driver-permitted?) employed teen with all that entails.

The Boy has one from a little five-year-old thrilled with everything new to an increasingly cynical (but still fascinated by many things) ten-year-old.

We’ll probably take the same walk we always do on the day we arrive, and we’ll definitely enjoy Babcia’s rosół the day we arrive, but everything will be just a little different. And that’s probably good.

More Yard Work

Sunday 5 June 2022

Today we headed out for a bit more yardwork. One portion of our fence had become so overgrown with weeds and vines that it was basically invisible.

In the process of clearing everything away, we found the wreath of artificial flowers L created a couple of years ago when we made our bamboo fortress. It was an unexpected flash of bright color in an overwhelmingly monochromatic (green being the color) morning.

Once we were done, we were shocked at the difference. We’d really let things get out of hand.

Once the girls were back, E was eager to spend some time with K. Boys’ weekends are fun, but the reunion afterward is better. Especially when it involves building a couch fort.

A Bit of Our Day

Saturday 4 June 2022

Last Couple of Days

Friday 3 June 2022

Memorial Day Walk

Monday 30 May 2022

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

Saturday 21 May 2022

Tenth Party

Friday 20 May 2022

Preparing

Thursday 19 May 2022

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

Monday 16 May 2022

10

Saturday 14 May 2022

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

Wednesday 11 May 2022

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

Sunday 8 May 2022

Morning was for relaxing.

Afternoon was for relaxing, too. And a bit of spray painting.

Evening, our first fire in the new firepit.

Recital

Saturday 7 May 2022

The Boy had his first recital today. He’s been fretting about it on and off since he decided he wanted to participate in his music school’s annual recital, and he was particularly worried about it once we arrived at the venue — it was all too real then. But once he got in the warm-up room, he seemed fine.

“Do you want me to stay here with you?” I asked. He glanced up at his teacher.

“No, I’ll be fine.”

I went into the auditorium and found the girls. It wasn’t hard: there weren’t more than fifteen to twenty people in the audience.

Once he and his teacher worked out a little cord issue, he began, and though he later said his hands were shaking, you can’t really hear it in his playing.