Mid Summer Thoughts

We bought our school supplies the other day (I know, it's too early to do that, but you've got to get there before they sell out of yellow folders.) so I thought I'd look at where we are at the mid summer mark....

We went to Six Flags for my birthday earlier this month.  (I turned somewhere between 15 and 101, depending on the day.)  I'm not sure why my kids like going there so much.  They don't especially like any of the rides.  Although we got them on more this time than last year...they'd just as soon spend the whole time on the merry-go-round.

Soccer season came and went.  My daughter is so much better now that we ever thought she would be after her first season.  She spent that first summer looking at bugs and picking flowers and occasionally running away from the ball.  Now she is honest to goodness good at playing defense.  Way Cool.  

My son loves to play too but isn't so much interested in being involved in any actual soccer.  He has developed quite a knack for running parallel to the action.  Or circling around the other players, sort of patrolling the perimeter in case a stray ball shoots out to him.  But he has fun, which is what it's about at his age.

He also played baseball again this year.  Last summer he did not enjoy baseball and was not at all disappointed to have his season cut short by a broken arm.  This year he is playing in a YMCA league where the games are more like two team practices.  Everybody bats, everybody plays the field, there are no strike outs.  He is having a lot more fun this year.  

Bought a new car last week, daughter did not take it well.  (as I've written in this space before, she get emotionally attached to things....gummy worms anybody?)  She cried, and cried, and cried.  She wanted to keep a part of it, so we let her keep the little plastic black thing that held the owner's manual.  She got upset when when my wife suggested we pick out a name for the new van because "we never named the old car, why should we treat the new one so special?"  I think we're over it.....but we'll see what happens the next time we see a dark blue Dodge Grand Caravan on the road.

My son had Ninja camp at the YMCA for a week.  I don't know for sure what they did, but how cool is it to tell people you went to Ninja Camp?  Way cool!

We've also been busy with percussion lessons, Nature Nuts class, and a couple of triathlons.

My family is way cool!

At the kids triathlon

 My birthday at Six Flags

Having trouble letting go.

July 4th: Then and Now

I grew up in Clear Lake, Iowa....well at least I lived there from 2nd grade through 10th grade (some very important years) but I'm not sure when/if I ever "grew up"....and Clear Lake knows how to celebrate Independence Day.  There is a week long carnival, parade, fireworks over the lake.  It's a great time.  I haven't been back for a July 4th since my family moved away back when I was in High School.  This year, almost entirely due to facebook, I am wishing I could go back.   Lots of people I know either still live in the area or are going back to town for the holiday.  All the talk about it all made me long for the old days.  So I started thinking....maybe next year we'll go back.  I'll take the kids to the carnival.  We'll watch the parade.  We'll play at the beach.  We'll watch the fireworks from one of the docks out on the lake....just like when I was a kid.  It'll be great!

But then I thought some more.  We live in Kaukauna, Wisconsin now.  And there is a 5k race every year on July 4th.  Every year we volunteer....we make an apple pie to hand out to the finishers, the kids hand out american flags at the finish line.  There is music, fireworks, skydivers, and lots of food and fun.  And maybe some day me kids will be telling their kids about the cool Independence Days in Kaukauna.

So I guess I won't force my childhood on my kids....I'll let them have their own.