Just like years ago…
Nap
the girl
End of the Break
The break is over: the kids go back tomorrow, with E starting his second semester in middle school and L beginning her last semester as a junior. Two facts that are hard to comprehend: the Boy is 11; the Girl just turned 17. One more hard-to-believe fact: the school year is half over now.
I went back to school today for a teacher’s workday. Walking down the halls this morning I had the realization that we only have a matter of months before the end-of-year testing kicks in, and few of my on-level kids are ready for it. Granted, they’ve made progress this first semester, but there’s still so much more to do. One of the frustrations I have with all this testing is that it’s heartlessly uniform in its expectations: growth doesn’t matter; improvement doesn’t register — everyone has to reach the same place at the same time. The kids who go from struggling to write a paragraph with more than three sentences to writing fully-formed Schaffer paragraphs that make a claim, provide evidence, and explain that evidence will still get a “Not Met” score at the end of the year even though they’ve grown more than the English Honors kids who will score “Exceeds Expectations.” The kids who had so many emotional issues that sitting in a class and focusing for more than a few moments who grow to the point that they can remain focused for ten minutes at a time and work collaboratively with their peers without getting off-topic for a full five minutes — they’ll still “fail” despite all the evidence I could provide to the contrary.
First Day 2024
Hilton Head Day 2
We’ve had that model plane for — I don’t even know how long. Over a year. Maybe more.
“At some point, we’ll put it together,” I assured E, and myself.
And so as we were packing for this end-of-the-year trip, we had the idea that we could take the model and put it together here, in Hilton Head. Most of it, though, the Boy did himself. I wanted to be involved, but I also wanted him to have the experience of assembling it alone. I helped when he requested it.
This morning, he finished it.
In the afternoon, a stop at Piggly Wiggly — they still exist!
And in the evening, a walk on the beach,
some time in the hot tub,
and games in the condo.
Hilton Head Day 1, Redux
K’s pictures
Hilton Head Day 1
We started the day with a long sleep — not a single alarm clock set in the entire condominium. None. Not a FitBit set to gently jingle one awake; not a phone set to start chirping, screaming, or whatever alarms various family members use to drag themselves out of bed. Nothing.
First up, a walk on the beach just beside our complex. It’s technically not on the ocean but rather on the sound that separates Hilton Head from St. Helena Island and Parris Island just to the northeast of us.
The plan was to have an afternoon walk on Hilton Head’s main beach in the afternoon after exploring the downtown area, but K so fell in love with the marshy beach that she wanted to return after a short walk on the main tourist beach.
But we’ll get to that later.
One of the things Hilton Head is famous for is its wealth, and there’s no lack of that around us. The house just to the south of our complex is a 10,000 square foot beast that is valued, according to Zillow, at $4.5 million. Probably someone’s second home at that.
This kind of conspicuous wealth — I just don’t understand it. It screams lack of confidence in one’s own being. The only way I can feel great about myself is by showing off how much wealth I have. That’s how I’ve already seen it.
But that was neither here nor there as the Boy explored the shoreline (with the Girl still asleep in the condo), discovering at least a dozen horseshoe crab shells.
The place we’re renting is in a somewhat-dated but still lovely complex that, according to one resident we spoke with, is 50% owned and 50% rented. There are tennis courts (used, as far as we can tell, primarily for pickleball), an outdoor pool, an indoor pool, a jacuzzi, a sauna — a regular spa.
There’s even an odd, enclosed but unheated porch area. Not sure how comfortable that might be in the heat of the summer, but in the winter, all one needs is a blanket or jacket and it’s fine out there.
After our post-walk coffee and cake, we went downtown to do a little shopping. Not what I love doing, but I made it through the whole afternoon without even a peep of protest at the suggestion, “Let’s go into this store!”
The Girl was shopping for a birthday present for one of her friends; K was shopping for a dress for the Girl.
In the end, they both walked away happy, and I even got something: a bottle of Ghost Pepper and garlic hot sauce, locally made.
“Is it hot?” the Boy asked after I sampled a bit in the store.
“It’s definitely warm.”
After shopping, it was time for lunch: Babcia’s first time having sushi. The meal came with miso soup — another first — which Babcia liked but suggested: “it could use some potatoes.”
After lunch, we headed to the main beach. At first, K was in love with it: “The changing rooms, the showers — so charming!” But the beach itself — nothing much, she proclaimed.
So in the end, we just headed back to our little beach to see the sunset colors.
Making Cookies
Watching the Semis
Washington Return
D. C. Sightseeing
Washington Arrival
Backlog
Spent some time here and there over this long weekend adding old pictures from years ago to this site so it’s less of a blog and more of a general chronicle.
Isle of Palms 2023
Game Night
Family game nights are rare these days. They hit a peak during the Covid lockdown, I think, and then as everything slowly returned to a semblance of normalcy, our evenings filled back up with obligations and promises.
Tonight, though, we played a game.
One evening, it will be the last time we play a family game with everyone at home. Will we know it’s the last?
Side-note: My most recent musical discovery
Coming Home
The Girl was heading out to Target.
“I want to go, too!” the Boy exclaimed.
What was going to be the reaction? She’s often reticent to take him anywhere, but surprisingly she simply said, “Well, you can come with me.”
So our children went clothes shopping alone.
Hits
Some the the Girl’s hits at a recent game — never published it.
Playoffs, Game 2: The End of the Season
The Girl’s volleyball team played in the second round of the division playoffs tonight, facing River Bluff just as they had last year. Last year, the girls won in straight sets, but each set was by the closest margin.
This year, River Bluff jumped out to a 1-8 lead in the first set, and I was afraid it might be one of those nights. However, they fought back and eventually tied it at 13. That means they went on a 12-5 streak. And what did they do after that? They gave up 7 consecutive points, ending up at 13-20 in a heartbeat. This has been the story of this team this year: they pull back and tie a set or they roar ahead and dominate a set, only to give the points back. So they lost the first set 19-25.
The second set they jumped into the lead and held a two-point lead for a long time before River Bluff tied it up at 18. At one point, they were down again, 22-23, but they tied it on a big hit from L. They went on to with the second set 25-23, which is the same score they won their final set against River Bluff last year.
In the third set, it happened: they fell apart and could not pull themselves back together. It was 3-3, and suddenly that transformed into 4-10. Then it was 9-17. They just never managed to keep it together and ended up getting trounced 13-25.
I don’t mind so much when the Girl’s team loses when they just get out-played. I don’t like to see them beat themselves so badly.
Down two sets to one, the girls had to pull it out in the fourth set to send it to a final fifth set. They were doing fine, trading point for point until it was 5-5. But just as happened in the third set, they began playing uncoordinated ball and soon it was 7-13: a 2-8 run. They fought back to make it 18-19, but then they gave back three more points to make it 18-22. In the end, they lost the fourth set 20-25, thus bring their 2023 season to a close.
And in the end, tears. Tears because it was the end of the season, and seven seniors will be leaving this year. Tears because it was the end of the season after a state championship that they were all convinced they could repeat. Tears because of the stress of a whole season and the release when it all comes to an end.
There is a sliver of a silver lining in all this: the Girl desperately needs a break for her ankle to heal some. At least now she’ll get some rest before club season starts. But that’s little consolation when you see your daughter in tears.
But we have a 3-0 sweep and a subsequent state championship from last year to keep in the bank…
Reworking Pictures from 2013
Playoffs, Game 1
The girls took Blythewood (I think — I’d never heard of them) in straight sets tonight. Monday, we face River Bluff. We took them in straight sets last year, but we won each set by the barest margin, so we’ll see how things go Monday.
Practice
When the Girl decided she wanted to play volleyball, when she tried out for the team as a sixth grader and didn’t make it, when she became really determined, she’d come ask me, “Padre” (She’d started calling me that by then) “can we go out to the front yard and practice volleyball?” I’d toss her balls, simulate spikes, help her practice running for balls — all the basic skills someone of my eager volleyball means could help with given our lack of a net.
At some point, she asked me for the last time to go help her practice. I didn’t realize it was the last time she would ask me, and to be honest, I don’t know if I even agreed to it. She might have asked, and I might have made some kind of excuse. Or maybe we went and practiced one last time.
She hasn’t asked me to do that in years now. She probably never will again. The last time, passed without knowing, fully past with complete knowledge.
So when the Boy asked if, instead of swimming tonight, we could practice basketball, I agreed. I didn’t really want to: I wanted to get some serious exercise in the pool. But he’s that age: how many more times will he ask? When will be the last time?