Sweet Eats and Drenched Cheeks

Elliott’s reading has been greatly stunted with this year’s summer break. I don’t expect him to intensely hit the books, but in keeping with my theory that kids need structure, I do ask him to complete around 20 minutes of reading most days while his brother is napping. He’s been going down to his room during said reading time, but typically comes up with a Star Wars drawing or newly created spy gadget made from paper clips and twisty ties (a real MacGyver, this kid…)

I decided it was time for incentive. If he could finish his King Arthur book by sun down on Friday, then he was going to experience his first trip to Valley Fair (a mini version of a 6-Flags ride park). Finish it he did. As lame as they are, he’s seen the commercials and was extremely pumped. We thought it would be fun to bring some buddies, so we called up my sister-in-law and niece to join us. Naturally, rides that involved getting drenched were a hit with the kids. I think the food came in second; we ate everything from cotton candy to root-beer floats (I drool just thinking about it…) I learned that (a) Elliott is a thrill-seeker through and through, (b) my niece goes pale and makes fish-faces while riding the most intense roller-coaster in the park; (c) never ask somebody to hold your ice cream while you go on a ride; and (d) men with curly mullets comb their hair frequently.

((I can’t wait to go again!))

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Oh, in the way of an update, I did get a hold of Casey’s mom Friday afternoon; she’s a very nice and down-to-earth kind of gal who was upset to hear about what had occurred that morning. She thanked me for candor and said that she would be calling neighbor kid’s folks as well. That evening there was a knock at the door. There stood a very remorseful Casey (and family). They biked over to see that their eldest provided a face-to-face apology for the morning’s events. For some reason, I have a hard time with obligatory apologies (this is probably an issue for a separate post…) but it didn’t seem as if he was saying it to simply appease mom and dad – from what I could tell, he was truly sorry. He’s a great kid and it was just a dumb kid kinda thing. His parents handled it like rock stars, which reaffirmed my original notion that Elliott’s got himself a great buddy. As to my earlier sentiment regarding apologies, I really am not looking forward to how this is going to play out with neighbor kid or his folks. I’m sure I have nothing to worry about, but I don’t know them aside from the brief pick-ups. Wish me luck and grace.