By 7 a.m. we were in the Honda, headed southbound, on a cookie drop-off run to Vancouver.
Tentatively, Annabelle tries it ...
And she likes it!!
When we hit I-5, yesterday I put an audio book the kids had checked out a week or so ago. We've never listened to an audio chapter book before, so it was a bit of an experiment. (Previously, we've just listened to shorter picture books read aloud.)
The book was "Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key" by Jack Gantos. I had no idea what it was about, but it didn't take long to figure out it was the story of a boy with ADHD who lived with his grandma since his dad ran off and his mom ran off after his dad. We learned his grandma was addled with ADHD in her own way, and the two of them were kind of a mess. A chapter or two in, his mom returned, and that brought more chaos. It was pretty mature subject matter, in some regards. I think, perhaps based on the title, CJ and Annabelle were expecting comedy. :) We got to Chapter 4 before the kids wanted to take a "break." I have a feeling their break might be permanent. I, on the other hand, would have liked to keep on listening. Instead, we switched to Elvis, and then Fitz and the Tantrums. Eclectic, we are.
When we got to Vancouver we stopped at Winco. Ooh, how I wish there was a Winco within a half hour of my house. The groceries there seem like they cost half of what we're used to paying up here. CJ spied an oversized Mountain Dew. I went ahead and let them get it to share. After all, what's a long road trip without a caffeinated beverage, right? Look, he's practically glowing green with delight!
Once we got to Grandma and Grandpa's. I spent about three hours looking through 70-plus years worth of photos, gleaning some for projects related to their upcoming 50th wedding anniversary party. CJ and Annabelle flittled about the house. A lot of the time was spent ogling a porcelain doll Grandma had recently purchased. Once CJ heard it had real human hair and eyelashes, he was sufficiently horrified to spend the rest of our visit (and beyond) obsessing about it. In his mind, it morphed into an evil creature with zombie and homicidal tendencies. He's still talking about it today.
After our visit with G&G, we took a bit of a detour before hitting Interstate 5 back northbound. First, we popped in on Ridgefield, USA, the birthplace of U-Haul (now there's some trivia you can use!). We wanted to take a look at the venue where G&G's party will be, but it was all shuttered up at the time. Bummer. So, since it was just a couple blocks away, I asked the kids if they wanted to see the park where their brothers Rick and Ken spent many, many hours playing Little League baseball.
We rolled into Abrams Park, and it was like stepping back into history for me. I could practically see the kids in their uniforms on the fields and in the dugouts. And myself working the concession stand!
CJ and Annabelle played around on the really nice, large play structure in the park (a marked improvement from R&K's days!).
As we were leaving Abrams Park, I told CJ and Annabelle I spent some really great times there, and some really bad times there. CJ immediately wanted to know about the bad times, and so I shared the story of the Park Nazi (a label I gave him and one that stuck and became widely known and used, because of his behavior). The man was supposed to be the park caretaker. I get that. But the major problem I (and many other people) had with him, was that he treated the park like it was his personal yard. And he was cut from the mean old "Get off my lawn!" man cloth. Lordy, how he vexed us all too many times. He quite simply did NOT seem to want kids playing baseball in "his" park. Like EVER. I can't even tell you how many times we'd show up at the park, kids in unis, only to have the Park Nazi tell us the fields were closed due to "weather" - with the "weather" barometer being some completely arbitrary and made up condition by the Park Nazi. Rain two days ago? Field's too wet to play on. Might rain in a few hours? Field will be too wet to play on. And so it went for weeks and seasons and years. Until ...
It was one of the final games in a season where the Park Nazi had mostly managed to wash out about half the schedule. It was a mostly sunny afternoon and I was down there early with Rick and Ken's coach, to get foul lines drawn, etc. in preparation for the game. Well, turns out the Park Nazi thought otherwise, and showed up to tell us that there would be no baseball played that day. Finally, both the coach and I had had enough.
We calmly told the "caretaker" that this was OUR park, too, and that he'd taken enough baseball away from the kids and if he wanted us out of OUR PUBLIC PARK, well, he was going to have to call the police and have us HAULED off, in front of the players. And, we proceeded to throw our shovels and wheelbarrow over the fence, hope the fence, and get the field ready.
Eventually, the man unlocked the gate to the field so the players could actually enter it, too.
Looking back, it's clear we should have called his bluff a LOT sooner.
But I digress.
On the way home, we listened to Schoolhouse Rock Rocks! (a bunch of 90s alternative bands doing covers of the educational cartoon classics), as well as Grammar Rocks!
SCHOOLY STUFF - SORTA: Yes, we're still doing (Singapore Math), and readin' and writin' activities on summer "break." Today, I asked the kids to write a story about the Super Guppy from an airplane's perspective. Annabelle offered up this:
One day, I was just flying somewhere above Seatac, and it was very busy. I saw other planes moving into a line, so I did too. Then came this plane that looked like a HUGE flying beluga whale. The other planes said it was the Super guppy. I swear, it did look like a whale with it's massive nose. It was also a little bit louder than the rest of us. The Super guppy passed by us preety slowly, and I decided to follow the super guppy to wherever it was going, to be its escort plane.
It was a long flight, we passed lots of cars, and I bet the people in the cars were thinking what I did when the Guppy passed; "Is that a giant flying beluga whale?" while we flew, we exchanged flying tips with each other. Once we flew for awhile, we were above a place called "The Museum of Flight" and I thought "this must be dedicated to EVERYTHING that flies!" Then we flew by it, turned around VERY slowly, then, Guppy landed.
I said goodbye, then flew back to Seatac. That ended my amazing flight with the Super guppy.
CJ's missive took me by surprise. I knew I was in trouble when the subject line (he submitted it to me via email) said: m3h sup4p gp3. Here's what the body of it looked like:
m3h sup4p gp3 r p4n3 |)3v3p3nt. i st4rt bult in nint3n siy t00. nint3n siy t00 w4z ip0r4nt y3r f0r m3h. w3n m3h w4z bult m3h w4z h4p3h. n4ys4y s0wc4s3hd m3h 4t t3h nus3un 0 fiht. m3h fihd in nuseun 0 fiht in t3h s4tl3 s4ns3 f3svsil t00 t0ws3nd f0r. 4l0t ppll w4ct3d m3h fihd 0n t3h nus3un 0 fiht. m3h f0w p4s m3n3h p4c3z, incuding sum riv3hz. m3h c3m f0m ct4c 4wyrp0rt. t3r w3r m4ne3h 0dd3r p4n3z t3n jus m3h. t3r w4z sum s4ll w0nz, t3r w4z sum hug w0nz. but m3h 4int c4r b3hcuz m3h wuz t3h s4r 0 s0w. 0v4r4ll 4 f3w d4ez w4z t3h hug m0m3n 0 m3h lif3.Quite naturally, I asked CJ how the HELL I was supposed to read it and why he wrote it that way. He said he wrote it that way "because it's a freaking plane and where are they supposed to hold their pencil?" LOL. CJ did offer up this translation: Me the Super Guppy are plane development. I start built in 1962. Nineteen sixty two was imporant year for me. When me was built, me was happy. Naysay (NASA) showcased me at the Museum of Flight. Me flied in Museum of Flight the Seattle Science Festival 2004. (The plane doesn't know the date, either.) A lot of people watched me fly on the Museum of Flight. Me flow psat many places including some rivahs. Me come from Seatac airport (which is not true, BTW). There was many other planes just than me. There was small ones, some big ones, but me didn't care because me was the star of the show. Over all, a few days was the hugest moment of my life. I have to admit, as CJ translated, I started to be able to understand the Super Guppy's 'language.' |
Ii remember you getting worked up about the Park NAZI.
ReplyDeleteThere were some great games at Abram's.