Monthly Archives: June 2015

Home Run

Education, Parenting, Sign Language, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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I played a lot of sports as a kid, but baseball was the very first team sport I joined. There was a keen dad in our kindergarten class, and somehow he rounded up enough girls that summer to make a team. Looking back, I’m pretty sure it was pure comedy for the parents to watch a dozen 5-year-olds learn how to throw a ball, use a mitt, and (sort of) run around the bases at practices. I remember a lot of horsing around. We were very young and very silly, and it was probably sheer chaos to our adult spectators, but I remember so many fun summer nights spent at the baseball diamond. I played every summer with that same team until we moved away when I was twelve.

Flash forward a few (ahem) years, and now I’m the parent sitting in the bleachers watching my little guy go up to bat and take some swings. Well, a lot of swings, actually. All the kids are swinging and hitting and throwing their hearts out. And boy are they having fun! My guy is thrilled to learn a new sport and join a team with his school-mates and other kids from around town. Sitting there watching his first practice, I realized I had completely forgotten how much I loved playing baseball as a kid, too. Like, really loved it!
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The next day I picked up an adult glove for me from the used sporting goods store, and started throwing the ball around with my new little leaguer that night. Talk about feeding the soul –tossing a baseball back and forth on a warm sunny evening together felt so good.

Last weekend his team played their final game at playoffs and then the league hosted a huge family fair to end the season. I made cookies for snack after our last game, but soon after munching those down the kids made a bee-line over to the other side of the field where hot dogs, cotton candy, popcorn, a dunk tank, and a bouncy castle awaited all the teams on this last day of the season. Super fun.
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This former baseball player mommy got to experience the fun of the game through new eyes, and touch back to my own childhood.

Do you play any sports or activities now that you also played as a kid?

Think about it, you might be like me and remember a whole other side to your childhood that can feed the soul again.

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How to Sign BASEBALL in ASL. www.growingsigns.com

To sign BASEBALL in American Sign Language, pretend you are holding a baseball bat with both hands up, then swing hands forward like swinging the bat to hit a ball.

Hammock Time

Parenting, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , ,

For Father’s Day, my husband asked if he could just chill in his hammock. No gifts. He’s been keeping long hours at work for a big project these days and he didn’t want anything fancy, he just wanted some quiet time with us. The kids and I readily agreed that we could all use a lazy day after a lot of end-of-the-school-year events lately. So we quickly packed up the picnic basket and headed to local Whytecliff Park in West Vancouver for the afternoon.

It was time to break out the hammocks for summer!

A few years ago, my hubby scouted these cool camping hammocks by Kammok that attach to trees with nylon straps, adjustable to wherever you may go, as long as there are two sturdy trees. He bought two of these new Kammok hammocks a while back when Kammok first brought them out as a kickstarter project, and we love them. They fold up into a pouch about the size of a grapefruit, and we take them whenever we head out into nature.

For our last-minute, very casual family celebration for dad, we set up our blanket and picnic lunch on the seaside grass.
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Then Scott got the hammock set up and climbed in. He had a few minutes alone before the kids climbed in, too.
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We also went exploring down at the beach –it’s such a pretty park and beach.
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Ian found this cool critter that we called a sea-centipede. It probably has a real name, I’d love to know what it is!
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We spent the afternoon at a leisurely pace with everyone lounging, reading, and relaxing.
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Happy Father’s Day to all the hard-working dads.

Happy Father’s Day

Education, Parenting, Sign Language, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Daddy

Happy Father’s Day

I’m not celebrating Father’s Day with my dad today, but I’m celebrating. My dad died of cancer when I was 10, but he lived his life before getting sick with an easy-going conviction to enjoy every minute and really notice and celebrate the good stuff. He laughed big laughs and loved to poke fun at himself. He was always the life of the party, but he also took time to find quiet moments to just sit and think and look out the window.

I still have very vivid, wonderful memories of him slow dancing with me with my feet on top of his feet, and watering the garden together on summer evenings talking about the day. We used to make up words like “squg”, which was a cross between a squeeze and a hug, because that’s how we embraced every day. I still do it with my kids, too. I named my boy after my dad, Ian, and my daughter has our family name as her middle name. We are connected, we all squg.

Big or small, we all need squeeze-hugs.

I know you’re celebrating the fathers in your life and your kids’ lives today with me. My husband is an incredible father and we are celebrating and cherishing him today. Last June we were on top of the Eiffel Tower on an incredible trip he planned to Europe for us. He wanted us to leave our usual day-to-day and explore new places together, something he learned early from his father and mother. So much to remember and celebrate with these dads!
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DADDY in American Sign Language by signingbabies.ca

To sign DADDY in American Sign Language, tap the thumb of your open hand to your forehead.


Don’t forget to sign DADDY, and give your kids a squg from me!