matching tracksuits

fun in threes, sometimes fours

the girl

Final Game

Thursday 21 June 2018 | 0 Comments

The Girl had her last volleyball game this evening. She's come a long way since she began some weeks ago. She couldn't even pass a volleyball; in games, she was somewhat intimidated by the ball. Her serve was non-existent. She was, in short, a complete beginner.

By the end of the season, she's got a decent underhand serve and is working on an overhand serve. She's starting to chase down balls rather than shy away from them. And she's still in love with the game, so next week, it's volleyball camp.

First Ride

Wednesday 13 June 2018 | 0 Comments

Every time E and I go on a bike ride, he’s always asking the same question: “When can we go on a family bike ride?”

Today, we got our chance. We took the girls on the same ride we completed yesterday, with E in the lead again.

“Okay, girls, here’s a really tricky part coming up,” he would announce from time to time.

We did 10.31 km in just over an hour, with an average speed of approximately 8.7 kph.

There were times when L showed a resilience that impressed me. We did a fair amount of trail riding, including a couple of relatively steep climbs. The Boy had to get off and push; once, K did so, too; the Girl soldiered on with me.

Ice Cream Downtown

Sunday 10 June 2018 | 0 Comments

Graduation

Tuesday 05 June 2018 | 0 Comments

As of tomorrow, L will officially be done with elementary school, but it was all over and done with today for all intents and purposes: tomorrow is a half-day, and today was graduation.

How in the world did six years go by so quickly? How did she jump from kindergarten -- that first Meet the Teacher evening when she was enthralled with the reading pit in the library -- to the end of her fifth-grade year when she looks more like a teenager than a kindergartener?

She's no longer dependent on us for every little thing. She no longer seeks reassurance for every little thing. She no longer plays with toys or watches cartoons, except when she's watching something the Boy has selected.

She has a sense of things that embarrass her when she once was, like most young children, virtually shameless. (And that sense of embarrassment is sometimes skewed in a distinctly teenage fashion -- things that would never embarrass an adult, like taking a change of clothes in a small bag. "They won't even notice," I insisted. "They notice everything," she insisted. I doubt it, but in that case, her perception is all that counted.)

It's the end of a long chapter in her life, the end of elementary school, the end of childhood in many ways.

Party

Saturday 02 June 2018 | 0 Comments

Summer Nearing

Thursday 31 May 2018 | 0 Comments

Sunday

Sunday 27 May 2018 | 0 Comments

Playing in the Creek

Thursday 24 May 2018 | 0 Comments

Playing in the Creek

Wednesday 23 May 2018 | 0 Comments

Sports and Ice Cream

Saturday 19 May 2018 | 0 Comments

The Girl had her first volleyball game today. It was as one might expect when the majority of the girls playing haven't had much experience on the court. Most volleys were one of three types:

  1. A serve that doesn't make it over the net or lands outside.
  2. A serve that plops in front of a player who, through a lack of experience and a bit of accompanying fear, made a slight effort to go for it.
  3. A serve that is returned and then plops in front of a player on the serving team, through a lack of experience and a bit of accompanying fear, made a slight effort to go for it.

Not a lot of action. But a lot of excitement: the girls were all thrilled when they managed to make a serve (which actually happened quite frequently); they were shouting encouragement and joy when they managed to return a serve; they encouraged each other when someone messed up.

It was a beautiful thing to watch.

While the Girl was playing, the Boy was having soccer practice on the other half of the court due to the unpredictability of the weather this week. He finished his hour-long practice drench in sweat and as eager as ever to play more soccer.

It was a beautiful thing to see.

The afternoon brought the Boy's birthday party. We had an old-school, kids playing in the yard party. There were water balloons, brownies, sprinker antics, chips, volleyball over the sprinker, soda, soccer in the sprinker's mist, ice cream cake, trampoline flights, pizza, and endless laughs.

It was a beautiful day to experience.