matching tracksuits

fun in threes, sometimes fours

the boy

Scouts

Thursday 08 October 2020 | 0 Comments

Coming home from scouts tonight, the Boy and I had a conversation about friendship. He talked to me a bit about what happened to Malfoy in the third book of the Harry Potter series, which K is currently reading to him. Apparently he got mauled by some creature.

"Oh, that's not good," I said.

Practicing his two half-hitches

"But Malfoy is bad!" E clarified.

"Yes, but that's no reason to wish ill of him. Besides, he might not turn out that bad by the end of it all." I knew this from conversations I'd had with L about the series, but I didn't want to give anything away to the boy.

"Yeah, L told me that he and Harry become friends in the end."

Learning how to use a handsaw

So much for not giving it away.

"That's sort of like T and me," the Boy continued. "We didn't use to like each other. Well, we really didn't know each other, but then we got to know each other and decided to become friends."

I thought about that for a moment, pondering the choice of words: "decided" to become friends. I imagined this conversation between the two boys, a negotiation of sorts.

It's hard to imagine, isn't it?

T might not even be aware that in E's eyes, they "decided" to become friends. For all I know, T might not even consider E his friend but merely an acquaintance.

Sawing

Kids and adults see friendship differently, I think. I feel I'm more jaded than I can imagine him ever being. That's the magic of childhood, I guess.

Down at the Trampoline

Friday 02 October 2020 | 0 Comments

The Boy Writes

Monday 28 September 2020 | 0 Comments

"Daddy, can we make a web site?" the Boy asked today. Granted, I think he was just looking for an excuse to spend more time on the computer, but there was only one way to find out.

"Sure. We already have one," I reminded him.

"Oh yeah, the family web site." He knows it from looking at pictures from the past. "Hey, E, come look at this picture!" "Hey, L, come watch this old video." But I don't think he realized it was something he could contribute to.

"You want to learn how post things there?" I asked.

"Yes!"

And so I created an account for him, showed him the basics of adding media and text, and turned him loose.

We'll see how long it lasts.

science work#boring

Monday 28 September 2020 | 0 Comments

science work is so boring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is a school and all kids know that all school is boring. well but Ravi loves it from bunkt. Ravi is from bunkt.Bunkt is a comedy and if you don't know what bunkt you need to watch it unless you are like 5 it can get scary.

Together

Sunday 27 September 2020 | 0 Comments

It used to happen more often: the kids and I would play something together and for a while, everything else disappeared. It's been a long time since that's happened. This afternoon, we had a little reminder of what that was like.

As the Girl gets older, she's less and less interested in the things the Boy loves. He can't handle the ever-decreasing attention and resorts to the old tried-and-true method of getting attention: he pesters her.

"That just makes her want to spend even less time with you, buddy," I've explained more times than I can recall.

"Okay," he grudgingly admits. And then heads off to pester her again.

Today, though, we went down to the trampoline/swing/hammock area and managed to play like we were all five years old again. There was laugher. There was silliness.

And then we came up to get dinner ready, and it all disappeared.

"E!" cried L, stretching his name into a three-second yell. "Leave me alone!" He was at it again.

Volleyball Tuesday

Tuesday 22 September 2020 | 0 Comments

The girls had another game today. It was the same as previous games: complete slaughter. At one point, the girls were up in the first set something like 18-3. The coach, being an individual of character, always starts pulling out his big hitters when it's obvious where the game is going, but at the same time, he wants to give them court time. (Still, when the poor opponents can't even return an underhand serve after the coach pulled our best server while she was serving, what's the quality of play they get?)

This was a private school, the private school in the area. Eighth-grade tuition is $21,510. The team in Spartanburg we beat mercilessly was also from a private school, but its tuition was only something like $17k a year. For whatever reason, one would think they would have better teams. And they probably do: it turns out that in most of these private schools that also include a high school, the eighth graders get shuttled up to the high school JV or even varsity team, so our girls are playing sixth and seventh graders.

Today was only a scrimmage game, though. It doesn't count toward anyone's record. Still, if it was only a scrimmage, why couldn't we scrimmage with the JV or even varsity team?

Neighbors’ Signs and Our Swings

Monday 21 September 2020 | 0 Comments

We went for our typical walk this evening -- a route that wanders primarily through the neighborhood on the other side of the main-ish street off of which several neighborhoods spiral. As we walked by a house, a man came up to us saying that he'd been meaning to meet us several times he's seen us go by. It seems he's quite the border collie fan and has noticed our cute pup as we walk by. We got to talking and talk turned to corona. He pointed to a sign in his yard -- not quite like the sign at right but the same general idea -- and said, "I guess it's obvious where I stand."

I glanced over at the sign in his neighbor's yard. I found myself wondering how they get along. I know for a fact that my views are more liberal than our neighbors' views, but I tend not to talk about politics with them. When the topic does come up, I might make a non-committal comment every now and then, but by and large, I keep my views to myself.

It's not that I think they'll be angered that I have different views than they hold. It's not that I fear damaging the relationship we have (though I wonder if they might not think less of me were they to know what I think of our president). I just don't see the point in adding politics into a relationship like that.

It reminds me of Frost's line, "Good fences make good neighbors," and while I don't necessarily agree with the sentiment, I would say good fences make great backyards. As do swings, hammocks, trampolines, dogs, and tennis balls.

A Walk and First Bonfire

Sunday 20 September 2020 | 0 Comments

In the afternoon, we took the dog to the dog park. It's not that we felt she needed the exercise; rather, we felt she needed some canine socialization. We couldn't go to our favorite park without a walk, though, so after the dog had had enough (or rather, we'd had enough), we headed out for a short jaunt.

We likely would have made a bit longer walk of it had our favorite park not recently banned pets and bikes from the unpaved areas. K emailed the park administration about it, and they explained that it was due to a number of complaints about off-leash dogs and crazed cyclists who put others at risk and damage the flora. But the thing is, K pointed out on our walk today, we rarely saw others on the off-road trails. There were a couple of more-popular trails that had more traffic, but by and large, we were the only ones we ever saw there.

There is a certain temptation to say, "Forget it -- we don't damage anything, and we wouldn't dream of letting Clover off-leash, so we're going to walk the trails anyway." But we follow rules even when we don't like them. (Insert political comment here.)

After the walk, we let the kids play on the playground a bit. The biggest kid got a kick out of trying to do the same tricks the middle kid did.

To top off the weekend, we had the first bonfire of the autumn 2020 season.

The Boy

Saturday 19 September 2020 | 0 Comments

At the Swing

Wednesday 16 September 2020 | 0 Comments

For a few years there, you could count on pictures down at the swing and hammocks. It was such a regular occurrence that I pretty much stopped taking pictures down there. How many pictures of your kids swinging do you really need?

Today, we all went down to the swings for a while before dinner. I took some pictures, then gave the camera to the Boy.

He's got a good eye, that little fellow.