Another Tri-Guy

Just like his dad, Jonathan is passionate about his three sports. So come spring, we are racing between the lacrosse fields, baseball diamonds and soccer complex, six days a week. Jonathan's favorite sport is lacrosse. He picked up this East Coast sport as a second grader, with enthusiasm that soon turned into hesitation. I remember after one of the first practices him coming home unhappy because someone had hit him with their lacrosse stick. "Well did you tell the coach?!" was my response. Steve clarified to both of us that this was part of the game. I remember walking him to the field for the next practice, wiping the tears off of his cheeks under his helmet. I drove away not sure if making him stick with the game for the rest of the season was the best parenting move. I arrived a couple of hours later to find Jonathan grinning from cheek to cheek. "Practice was great!" he said, and he has never looked back since. The lacrosse program in our town is outstanding, with the high school always ranked at the top in the state.

Next in line is baseball. Jonathan pitches like a pro, is the designated first baseman when not on the mound, and can always be counted on when up to bat. When Jonathan was only three, I remember he would throw baseballs in the air and hit them with his plastic bat. When he was four I took him to his first T-ball game at Dillworth Elementary School. The coaches' main focus for their pee wees was simply to explain which base to run to first and how to hold a bat. Most players tapped the ball lightly and gingerly ran to first base with their fathers coaching them in which direction to go. But when Jonathan got to bat, he hit the ball far and slid into second, despite the fact that there were no fielders who knew what to do or where to throw the ball. Jonathan still plays with the same enthusiasm and flair for the game as he did as a four year old and I am the lucky mom who gets to watch him. This is the sport in which Steve coaches him, which adds to the fun.

Jonathan is equally fun to watch on the soccer fields. He could be the most aggressive player out there, which results in plenty of ball time, collisions with the opposing players and a whole lot of cheering from the sidelines. Jonathan is also a great goalie, rarely letting a ball through and fittingly has been known as "The Wall".

Although there are benefits to learning to throw the perfect pitch and battling fellow nine year olds for a lacrosse ball is exciting, my favorite part of Jonathan's sports world is the opportunity he has to be part of a team. This means supporting each other and working together for the win. Just like his dad, Jonathan is a great friend, so this comes naturally. When his teammates score, Jonathan is the first on the field to congratulate them. This is one of Jonathan's best characteristics. His success is everyone's success and everyone's success is his success.

In all of the different roles that Jonathan plays on the fields, I am proud of him. He is a true sportsman and our family is lucky to share this with him.

Welcome Spring

My favorite trucks used to be steam rollers. They are just so cool, smashing asphalt and gravel into one huge slab of freeway. But as soon as I was introduced to the Sudbury sand trucks, I fell in love. They are gritty and loud, but I love them none the less. During the winter months loads of sand are trucked in and sprayed on our roads, leaving, I am sure, some huge beautiful beach bare, in the name of green living and eco-friendliness. This unwelcome sand is picked up by the tires of our SUVs and wheeled into our garage. It sticks to the bottom of our shoes and shakes off inside my kitchen. Or worse, it clings to my bare feet as I retrieve one more gallon of milk from the refrigerator in the garage. From November to late April, my battle is with the sand, brushing it out of the house by what seems to be the bucketful. In the winter months, my admonition to take your shoes off outside is said with more firmness, with a stern eye on the offender. But each year in late April, I hear the sand trucks rumbling through the neighborhood, scooping up entire dump trucks of grit. This day is always a good one. Not only does it mean that I have conquered another year with the sand, but it also means that Spring has officially made it's way up the eastern seaboard and has finally arrived in our town. My confidence in the sand truck drivers is huge. If they think that Winter has dumped its last storm and iced it's last road, that is good enough for me. Welcome, welcome Spring!

Five Down, One To Go

Congratulations to Ezra!

(And to me too.)

Man Made Fun

When we first moved to New England, we came with no biases. New England was New England, we thought. However, the longer we have lived here the more we have come to understand the different cultures in the different regions. We saw first hand how the culture changed from charming Vermont to fairly kitschy New Hampshire as soon as we crossed over the New Hampshire line on our way home from our spring break in Vermont. New Hampshire is definitely beautiful. It has, of course Lake Winnipesaukee and Squam Lake where On Golden Pond was filmed. Families send their children for the summer to camps tucked in the New Hampshire mountains, where they experience nature at its finest. However, if you open a travel book, New Hampshire is overloaded with places like Santa Land and Water World, which to me evoke images of huge sweaty crowds, places I generally avoid. However, with a family of six children, there is certainly a place for some good time spent in New Hampshire. We took the long way home and looped through the Granite State. We happened to pass by the most interesting little sugar shack. I drove right past it and then, out of curiosity, backed up and parked the car. No one was inside their little shop, but the most inviting sign was left for customers. I picked up the creamiest maple sugar candies and passed them around the car for everyone to share. This stop was actually just over the New Hampshire border, so it still had the same quaintness that we fell in love with in Vermont.

Our first planned stop of the day was the Polar Caves, which consisted of a maze of eight caves in the side of a granite mountain. We squeezed through such crevices as the Lemon Squeeze, the Needle's Eye, Orange Crush and Fat Man's Misery. Supposedly the underground railroad used the caves as a hideout and Native Americans stashed their supplies, women and children in the side of this mountain.

At the end of their spelunking, the kids mined for treasures. They were each given a bag of gems that they dumped into pans and then sloshed around in the water, separating the good stones from the bad. This was a true highlight for the kids. There definitely is a place in my children's hearts for man made fun.

Continuing on with this theme, we headed to Lake Winnipesaukee. I know that there are gorgeous villages along the lake, but we ended up on Weirs Beach, known for it's cheep thrills in the form of miniature golf parks, bumper cars and arcades.

With a little research, I was able to locate the second largest arcade in the country, right on the banks of this grand lake. We pulled up to Funspot, ready for pizza and loads of fun. I had always heard of candlestick bowling, a sport unique to New England, and we found that this was the day to try it. We turned in our tennis shoes for bowling shoes and entered our score card. In candlestick bowling the pins are shaped like candles and you throw six small balls per turn, one right after another. We all decided that each form of bowling is equally fun, but candlestick bowling moved faster.

After enjoying pizza and rootbeer, we unfortunately had to leave the video games for the next time we were at Funspot. Jonathan had his first baseball practice of the season back in Sudbury in just a few hours. Jerseys were to be handed out and our mission was to get Jonathan home so that he could choose his coveted number for the season.