Living Dangerously

OMG!: This was the look on the kids' faces this a.m. when I told them it was Friday the 13th.

It's so funny - they don't know why they are afraid of the day, they just know they should be. ... Yeah, well, I decided we'd turn that all on its head today!

I asked them if they knew why Friday the 13th is supposedly so big and bad. They both shrugged. So I asked them to sit down and use their imaginations and write a story about why Friday the 13th is to be feared. I played theme music from the "Friday the 13th" movie, which I knew they were both familiar with, and Stevie Wonder's "Superstition."

CJ came up with this: "Why Friday the 13th is bad luck: The first reason is that person that's named Jason will try to kill you every once in awhile. And the sun is so bright that you can't see where you are going. Also, you will always get papercuts whenever your useing paper."

Bee's take: "My theroy of Fri. 13th is a bad day first of all ... Jason. The kids no. 1 enemy. He's weak against fire ( just like grass leaf Pokemon, now we're not talking about Pokemon). No. 2, the crasy stuff you don't want to do (like walking under a ladder etc.)."

So there you have it, Friday the 13th as explained by 6 and 8 year olds. As explained by Wikipedia, the dubious date originates in The Norse mythology. Friday is named for Frigga, the free-spirited goddess of love and fertility, and when Norse and Germanic tribes converted to Christianity, Frigga was banished in shame to a mountaintop and labeled a witch. Supposedly every Friday, the spiteful goddess convened a meeting with the devil and eleven other witches (a gathering of thirteen) and they plotted the upcoming week's bad deeds.

The other most popular origin bandied about for Friday the 13th dating back to October 13, 1307 when King Philip IV of France carried out a witch hunt of sorts, resulting in mass arrests of several thousand Templars — knights, sergeants, priests, and serving brethren. Hundreds of Templars were tortured and forced to confess (a recurring theme throughout history).

Did you know that in the Gregorian calendar, Friday the 13th occurs at least once, but at most three times a year, and that if the month starts on a Sunday, it will have a Friday the 13th?

All this said, I thought the bottom line I had to explain to the kids was that Friday the 13th is a superstition. And I rattled off all sorts of other superstitions that hold no water - and I told them we'd be flying in the face of them all today, just for fun! They were all over that! And so, we (gasp!) broke a mirror! And we spilled salt!!!
We walked under ladders ...
We even opened an umbrella in the house!
And after dinner, we FINALLY had a black cat cross our path! I can't tell you how much fun the kids had breaking all these rules - but just look at their faces in these photos and you can tell. :)

ADVENTUROUS: This morning was gloriously sunny. We simply HAD to get out in it. Feeling ambitious, we did something I'd never attempted with the kids on bikes and dog alone before: A run down to Terminal 91, Smith Cove Park.

Mercifully, we made it there ... Annabelle found a rock she thought would make a great TV remote for the Flintstones.
In the midst of their rock unit at school, the kids (on their own) took the time to check out the beach's rocks, and collected several (which I had to lug on the jog home).

The cruise ships are back in town. That means it's almost summer, right? Right?!?!?

Our biking/jogging efforts were rewarded by an offshore visit by a sea lion (crappy YouTube video here). It was watching us and we were watching it. Too cool!

Times like this I really appreciate where and how we live. While other kids are sitting in a traditional classroom following a traditional approach, we were out soaking up vitamin D, conducting a science class along the shoreline.

I was really proud of the kids on the way back. CJ rode his bike all the way to the top of a really long, steep hill and Annabelle, all by herself, pushed her bike up that same hill. Bravo!