Thursday, August 2, 2012

Favorite part of summer

Mamakat's Totally Awesome World Famous PromptAsk your child what their favorite part of Summer has been and then blog about it.

 
I asked my son to tell me about his favorite part of summer. Easy blog post, I figured! We are traveling about and having 'adventures', after all.  How many kids get to put their hand into a dinosaur's footprint? He got to dig for fossils, and climb big rocks, and clamber over rocks in a river, and climb steep hills.  Surely that will be my child's favorite part of summer. 

I've scheduled play dates for my son this summer. Never mind that my parents never scheduled play dates for me.  Never mind that I spent years ridiculing parents who "scheduled" time to play for their children instead of just letting them be free range children as God intended. Never mind that most of the people that I know have children about to graduate from high school. Never mind that the last time I went on a "play date" with my son, he ended up taking off his shoes, socks and pants in the middle of the tunnel in the play area.   I scheduled THREE play dates for my boy, just so he could have fun playing with someone else. 

Surely that will be my child's favorite part of the summer.

I've sat on the floor for over an hour, playing "The Skylanders Invade The Batcave and Give the Joker Such a Smack While the Hulk Eats Chicken".  (And yes, that game completely made me think of Leeroy Jenkins of WoW legend.)  My knees screamed as though they were facing a chainsaw, and I lost circulation in my ankles, but Superman defeated WamShell so that all would be well with the world.  It took me about twenty minutes to get back up from the floor, but that wasn't the point.

Surely that will be my child's favorite part of the summer.

I bribed my mother to use her id card so we could get on the base and Zane could see the Taj Mahal and look at all the jets that regularly fly over our house. 
 
Surely that will be my child's favorite part of summer.  

We went to a Scorpions game, where Zane saw fireworks on the Fourth of July.  One of the Scorpions players gave Zane a new soccer ball.  He got to dance with the drum corps that performed at half time.  He got to attend two soccer clinics and practice soccer with two of his friends. (Does that count as a play date?  I think that I totally should get to count that!) 

Surely that will be my child's favorite part of the summer.

We took Zane to a British Soccer camp, where a real live British person coached him and didn't yell at him a single time.  He got personalized attention, which is the very bestest kind, I am told.  He learned to kick the ball using the correct part of the foot.  He got to keep 'alligators' from eating the soccer ball. He got to run around the soccer fields to his hearts content. 

Surely that will be my child's favorite part of the summer.


We are going to the Lego Discovery Center.  We are going to take in a Major league soccer game.  We are going to a birthday party on the Comal River. We will probably hit Sea World.  Surely one of these will be my child's favorite part of summer. 

"Son, what is your favorite part of summer?"

No answer...because my child was playing Where's My Water? on my phone. I had to say his name three times before he looked up. 

"What is your favorite part of summer?"

I'll give him credit, the boy actually appeared to be thinking about it.  The wheels did appear to be turning and there were no visible signs of stress. 

"Turtleman."   Zane had finally spoken.

"Turtleman?"  I was speechless.

"Yes. Turtleman."  

"We took you to see an entire park full of dinosaurs and a river bed full of dinosaur tracks...and Call of the Wildman is your favorite thing about summer?"

"Yes."

I think that I should have face palmed at that point, but Larry says that would only have encouraged him










12 comments:

  1. lol I think we've all been there. It's still frustrating though. My kids went to Disney World last year. We spent the Fourth of July at the base of the fort at St. Augustine in FL. This year, we spent it in my sister's backyard. My son tells me that this was absolutely one of the most amazing days ever. Go figure :) Bridget @ Le. Rheims stopping by from Mama Kat's.

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  2. Is turtleman the guy with no front teeth?? He enjoyed all the other stuff too, i'm sure.

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    1. Yes, Turtleman is the one with only seven teeth in his head. He's kind of scary in his enthusiasm, but kids sure do love him!

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  3. heheh i love this. and i especially love that you all seem like big time soccer fans.

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    1. If we're not fans of soccer, we certainly are getting there!

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  4. Hee... kids. I'm sure if I asked my daughter what her favorite part of summer has been she would say eating popsicles in the backyard. Not having her Nana and Papi visit or the playdates or jumpy houses.
    But you know what my favorite part of summer is? Watching my daughter enjoy her popsicle... pure happiness.
    BTW, can I send my kids to YOU next summer?

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  5. Lol, isn't it typical that you can take your kids to all kinds of fun places and their favorite is something off the TV? I think my son would say the same thing about Larry the Cucumber.

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    1. It can be frustrating, because I'm actually trying to do the whole 'enrichment' thing. But it's about what he likes, and not what I think he should like, and I know that.

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  6. I am learning what my kids remember through the years...that stuff that didn't seem to jazz them at the time? It sure did stick in their memories! (Maybe the 1000's of photos help?)

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    1. I got a new camera for my birthday JUST so I could take lots and lots of pictures. It's pretty exciting to have a new toy!

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