Future Golf Pro?

Collin has been taking weekly golf lessons for about 6 months now.  It started because a buddy of his, Jake, was going and Collin was interested.  Remember how much he loves to play putt-putt golf?  He wanted to play it daily when we were on vacation a few years ago and asks to play fairly regularly still.  He has been doing really well with his lessons and even practices in the front or the backyard several days a week.  I cannot say that about anything else he does like baseball or even drums.  The next step would be for him to enter junior tournaments to see if he wants to continue the sport and to take it outside since right now, his lessons are all inside at the Golf Smart place.


Now that baseball has started, his golf swing has been affected some...especially his stance and twisting his foot at the end of the swing which he is not supposed to do in golf but is supposed to "squish the bug" in baseball with his back foot.


Because he has been asking for several months now, we finally had a night available to go to a local golf place to practice his golf drives (I really have not idea what it's called or the lingo but I am sure you get the point).  We went with two other friends that were available.  It was clear that Collin has swung a golf club before....so much so that the guy in the bay next to us commented about Collin's swing.  He then asked if Collin would mind if he showed him a few pointers.  Collin paid attention and did not mind the guy taking the time to show him some tweaks with his stance and how he holds the club.  The next several hits were even further than he hit before.  Wow!


Maybe if Collin is not a lefty baseball pitcher when he grows up, he will be a golf pro or at least hang in there with the best of them when he is golfing as part of a business deal.  ;)

Here are some videos of him swinging.  The music is from the golf place which made it fun for the audience and the boys while they were waiting their turn.

1 - 3 = Record for the Week

Collin's baseball team played four games in the last six days.  Some of the games were late in the evening (8pm start) after the boys had a full day of school and homework.  In addition, for the first game, the time of the game changed a few times which was confusing for us all.  At one point, we thought the game was in the afternoon on a Saturday.  Several boys spent the night with a friend and stayed up late, including Collin.  That morning, we found out the game was back to 10:30am and we had to be there at 9:30am.  We could tell the boys were tired.  Therefore, it was not too much of a surprise that the boys made several mistakes and did not play well for the first game.  They lost that one 1 - 7.  Ouch!  Because we had three games in the next few days, the coach did not make the boys practice the next day.  Monday night's game was much of the same, unfortunately, and the boys ended up losing again 4 - 9.  Much closer game but still a loss.  Wednesday was more mistakes and another loss of 2 -7.  Finally, the boys turned it around during the late Friday night game and eeked out a win of 7 - 6.  Yeah!  They played well together, most of the boys hit and got on base which made the difference.  Collin hit both times at bat and made 2 home runs after as a result of stealing bases or running when his team mate hit the ball.  Yeah!!  They finally had another win.  They have two more games (Monday and Friday) until the playoffs.  Let's see if they can keep the momentum going.

School Field Day

The kids look forward to Field Day every year.  I was excited that I was able to get away from work to volunteer for the 3rd grade group and get to see Collin.
The stations this year were:

• Tug of war
• Clown race - put on clown clothes, run to the cone, take off the clothes and then run back to tag the next person in line
• Sack race - traditional 3-legged race
• Obstacle course
• Sanding distance jump

I signed up for the sack race but was requested to work the standing jump....which turned out to be a lot of fun.  The kids stood at the white line, swung their arms to help propel them forward in their jump.  The farthest jump for a boy and a girl from each grade was written on the board which made for some fun competition.  In between the grades, I tried it out and jumped 5' 3"....and without pulling a muscle!  Ha!  Collin liked seeing me when it was his class's turn. He ended up jumping 4' 10" which was about average for the boys in his grade.  The farthest boy jump was 6".  Wow!

The water and popsicle station was a hit because, although it was a nice day, it was getting hot outside.

I stayed for lunch to talk to Collin's "crew" and asked them what was their favorite from the day.  Most of them liked the jumping, were confused by the Clown Race and wanted seconds of the popsicles.  Sounded like they had a great time though. 







Boy Scouts - Tug of War and Capture the Flag

The local Cub Scout pack had a great time playing tug of war and capture the flag.  At first, the boys competed with each other - the Bears would be on one side and the Tigers on the other.  The Bears, Collin's Den, won most of the time because most of their Den showed up so the other side was outnumbered.  Later, the parents got involved....and pulled those Bears down!  They all loved it.


Next, they played Capture the Flag.  If they did not know it already, they quickly found out how fast Collin can run.  Most of the time, the other boys did not get to him because he took the flag from one circle to the other.

Pappy - The Tutor

Pappy found out that Collin was having trouble with reading which also is affecting other subjects. Before he retired early, Pappy was a teacher for 35 years.  He said he wanted to come over and help Collin during the week. 
This week, he stopped by Tuesday and Wednesday to work with Collin.  On Tuesday, Collin was not excited at all and even cried a little knowing he would have to do homework AND work with Pappy.  It's not that he did not like Pappy, I think he was tired and did not want to do homework at all.  They worked on reading and math for 1 1/2 hours straight.  That's a long time but that's how long it took to get through it.  Unlike when he does homework with one of us, Collin was very respectful to Pappy and followed his instructions. Pappy left when we were having dinner.  Later after resting outside in the backyard, Collin went in and did not come back out.  I later found out that he was working on his homework and following the instructions Pappy had left for him...to write out the sentences they discussed after reading the passage.  Not only did Collin do it, he wrote out sentences on an entire page that also included a conclusion.  I was so shocked but said nothing because I did not want to draw too much attention to this.
On Wednesday, it was much of the same.  The surprise was Collin's response to knowing that Pappy was coming over.  He did not throw a fit at all.  When Pappy arrived, Collin sat down at the table and showed him his homework pages for the day.  They worked on reading and math again.  This time, Collin read with more expression than he has before.  He did start to read the "old way" but read with expression again after Pappy reminded him.  They worked for about an hour before we needed to eat dinner and Pappy had to leave.  Before leaving, he said that he would be back next Tuesday and Thursday.  Collin seemed to be fine with that and did not respond negatively.
Later that night, Pappy called me to give me his assessment.  He said that Collin IS smart.  He does lack confidence when he gives his answers...which we have heard before.  He also said that Collin has a lot of trouble processing what he reads and then write responses to questions.  When he has to do that, he has trouble 1) thinking about what he wants to write, 2) write legibly, 3) spell the words correctly, and 4) punctuate the sentence correctly.  However, when Pappy asked what the answer or response was to each of the questions, Collin verbalized the correct response without much hesitation.  Pappy went on to say that he guessed Collin's handwriting had gotten worse of the years which it had.  Collin used to have really nice handwriting so much so that the teacher for each grade he was in would comment that it was so perfect and very legible for someone his age and especially for a boy.  I can read what he writes now, but it's not as nice looking at all and looks like most of the other kid's writing in his class.  It's not that he is not taking his time, because he is purposeful when he writes.  Maybe Pappy solved the mystery of his declining penmanship. Pappy also said he would not be surprised if Collin was getting marks for talking in class...because he is bored.  That's all true too.  He had actually gotten a mark the first three days of this week.  It's usually one or none and has not been three in several weeks.
We are all looking forward to Pappy coming back next week.  We have a meeting with the teacher, counselor and assistant principal next Wednesday.  Including Pappy's observations will be really helpful.

Easter Weekend

We had a great time this past weekend.  I started Saturday morning with a local10K race.  Dad and Collin were to meet me at the finish line but, I was running at faster pace (finished in 1:02 hr which is fast for me these days), that they missed me by 5 minutes.  It was nice to see them so soon after the race though.  Collin especially liked that he got a bagel egg sandwich while on the way to see me.

After relaxing a little, Collin and I took the silver bullet convertible out for a ride and to run some errands.  I let him pick lunch and he choose CiCi's pizza.  That kid can put away some cinnamon rolls.  He did have some pizza in between the rolls but I was not sure he was going to stop.  Knowing he would work it off later in the day, I was not too worried about him over doing it.  We then walked to the book store next door to look for a few books on my list.  One was Wonder by AJ Palacio which is about August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid--but his new classmates can't get past Auggie's extraordinary face.  I thought Collin might like this book, especially if I read it to him, because the boy is 10 years old has a best friend with the same name as Collin's Dad and August is Collin's birth month.  (Later that day, I did sit outside with him and read 17 pages...he wanted me to keep reading because he was enjoying the book).  Collin helped me find some of the other books by looking for them in alphabetical order. 


Later that day, we had our annual Easter Egg hunt and block party.  There were 25 kids this time, the most we ever have had, hunting for eggs in 4 of our yards.  I was surprised Collin wanted to hunt eggs still but it was because 20 of the eggs had money in them.  He was only focused on finding these and did end up finding eggs with a total of $6 in them.  He was really excited about that.  After the hunt, for over 3 hours, the kids played kickball, jumped on the trampoline or played outside while the parents talked and had the potluck dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs and sides.  It was a really good time getting to know some of the neighbors around the corner from our street better and be outside to enjoy the weather.  I love that we have such great neighbors and live on a cul-de-sac so we are able to do this.

My favorite picture of the day.  He is getting old too fast!  He loves his hair long because he likes the way it looks on his fast.

Hanging out after the egg hunt

He is not happy here because he has not found any money yet

Collin in action looking for the money eggs

The kids ready to start looking for some eggs

 

Sunday, Dad and Collin went riding on the trails with friends while I worked a little (tax deadline coming up).  We then met my side of the family for lunch before going back to the cousins house to play for several hours.  The kids had a great time playing outside in the front yard with the plastic baseball and bat or riding bikes before heading to the backyard to dig and play on the dirt pile for over 2 hours.  It was a really nice day to be outside so several of the adults sat outside to watch the kids and visit.

Great family picture in the front yard

Notice Pappy helping to keep Ty in the picture?

 I knew this boy would not make it awake long in the car ride home.  He actually fell asleep on the way there too.

Astros - 2-1 Record So Far

Yes, the 'Stros lost their first game last night with a final score of 4 - 7.  The other team had a FANTASTIC pitcher that pitched for 3 innings striking out all but 3 of our batters during that time.  Towards the end of the 3rd inning, he was getting tired and throwing some wild pitches.  Our boys were able to hit and get on the base scoring 2 runs.  It was 2 - 6 at the top of the 4th inning.  Possibly the Astros had a chance to win because the next pitcher was not that great.  The boys where able to hit and get on base.  Collin did strike out because he did not keep the eye on the ball when swinging.  Because of some fielding errors during the last two innings, they gave up 3-4 runs that did end up costing them the game.  Collin's "game" was off like several of the other kids.  Maybe a long weekend and the first day back to school made for some tired 3rd graders?  Not sure what was going on.  I could tell the coach was frustrated but he did not loose his cool.


Here is the coach telling the boys they did play hard but, because of those errors, it cost them the game.  Good to get a loss in at the beginning of the season.  Maybe the boys will wake up and realize they have to play their best for EVERY game.

Mountain Biking Boys

Friday, school was out in the afternoon so the teachers could have parent/teacher conferences.  Instead of playing with friends, Collin and Dad had a great time on the mountain bike trails Friday after school.  Instead of the usual trails, they stepped it up and went on the more technical trails closer to the bayou.  These trails are technical because they have more tree roots, rolling bumps and steep inclines.  Collin did really well!  They were gone over 2 hours and came back sweaty messes....but smiling because of how much fund they had.  When they were barely back in the house, Collin asked when they could go again. 

State Odyssey of the Mind Tournament - 3rd Grade Team

Yesterday was the day!  The 3rd grade team was finally attending the State Odyssey of the Mind tournament.  Lucky for us, the venue (a high school) was only 45 minutes away.  Other teams drove over 3 hours to get to the competition.  Each team hast to have two volunteers, one for a judge and one as a general volunteer.  Our judge for the Regional competition was out of the country so we had to find a new judge.  No one else could do it, so I stepped up so our team could compete.  That meant I would work the competition for about 10 hours and possibly not get to see the team compete. Because they were last on the schedule for the Problem 1 Long-Term problem, I thought there might be a chance for me to see them.






The Team's first presentation was the Spontaneous at 11am and then they had to wait until 3:20pm for the Long-Term Problem presentation.  After the Spontaneous presentation, there was some crying from two team members which lead the coach to believe that it did not go well.  The eventual story was that one member questioned the other member's answer and then another time, a member said the same answer as someone else and another member pointed that out.  Well, that's not good because they will get a lot of points deducted for not working well together.  During lunch, I was able to find them to catch up a little.  I missed Collin because the boys went "off campus" for lunch and the girls stayed behind.  I at least got to catch up with the team and find out how they were doing so far.  Plus, one mom had some great snacks that she shared with me.  Yeah!!


I went back to my judging station to work the rest of the afternoon.  About an hour later, one of the parents from our team sent me a text saying that Eli, one of our team member's, was headed to the ER for a peanut allergy.  What?!?  He must have touch some nuts somewhere.  I hoped that he was OK but that also meant we were 1) down a team member and 2) had to figure out how to replace his part in the presentation.  The team eventually figured out that one of the other team member's would wear both costumes and remove one of them when it came time to pretend to be Eli. 


Seeing that the Long-Term Problem I was judging was on time and that our team's Problem was behind, I was excited that I would be able to see them perform.  Eventually, there were further delays including them having to wait for about 20 minutes while sitting in the gym while the judges discussed the prior performance, the team eventually performed an hour late at 4:20pm.  That meant they were tired and antsy.  They did well together but, two of the three vehicles did not work again and, the team members did not work as well together causing the presentation to not flow like it did before.  I could tell they were tired and happy to be finished. 

I stayed an hour later to get the scores.  They received about 50 less points than they did at the Regional tournament which means they will likely not advance to World's.  I was still very proud of them for going to State and having that experience.  They were the only team from their school to go!

Sleepover Shenanigans

Collin enjoys having friends come over to play at his house but he especially love it when he has a friend spend the night.  We know every weekend, he is going to ask if "so-and-so" can spend the night going down his list even if we say "no".  He was excited when we said that his friend, Jake, could spend the night Friday night.  Jake is a really good kid and he and Collin get along really well. 


The boys played for about 1 1/2 hours before we all started to get hungry.  Collin wanted pizza, Jake did not, Chris wanted a shake and I did not have a preference other than not a hamburger place.  Jake had the great idea of writing a few places down on paper, folding the paper and then drawing from the pile.  Sweet Tomatoes won which was Jake's suggestion.  We had not been there in YEARS so we thought this was a good idea and piled into the car.  On the way, we could hear Jake telling Collin the strategy about eating there.  "You can go back and get food as many times as you want."  I heard this and thought that Collin does not tend to eat too much so I assumed he would get 2 plates of food, maybe 3 plates at most.  When we finally got there, Collin's eyes widen with excitement looking at all of the food choices. We made him get a little from the salad bar before turning him loose in the hot section which is where he could find the pizza.  He and Jake loaded their plates and began eating when they sat down.  I was barely halfway through my plate of food when the boys were ready for seconds....and off they went.  It continued like this until Collin ate 4 plates of food and Jake had 5 - 6 plates.  Those boys were hungry!  Not only was the food really good, the idea of the boys getting to eat what they want and how much was really appealing.


Once we got home, Jake asked if we had washable markers.  I said we did and told him where he could find them....and then did not think any more of it.  Then, they asked for tape. I asked what it was for and they said they wanted to build a fort in Collin's room.  I gave them some blue painter's tape thinking this would be easy for them to cut and then also easy for me to remove....always thinking ahead.  I did not think though that they would use the ENTIRE roll of tape...which they did.  They used 4 blankets and taped them on Collin's bed, wall and armoire to create a little sleeping den at the end of his bed.  No, sorry, I did not take pictures.  They then wanted m to crawl in there with them to read a book to them before they went to bed.  Collin selected the joke book which was fun to read.  I left after about 20 minutes.  The boys stayed awake for over an hour before finally passing out around midnight.


Around 6:30am, I heard their voices and knew they were getting up.  I just assumed they would go into the other room and either watch some TV or play on the computer.  I listened a little more and could hear them coming in our room (ahem!  No one wakes up mamma on the weekend!).  I felt a little tap on my back, some giggling and then could hear them run off.  They came back one more time but nothing happened.  Well, something did happen but not to me.  The boys did find and use the washable markers to mark each other up during the night while the other one slept.  What I felt on my back was one of them trying to mark on me but they got my shirt instead.  They were so proud of what they did to each other....and we thought it was funny too.

After breakfast, the boys played outside because we knew it was supposed to rain most of the day.  We wanted them to get outside while the weather was nice.  They played in the bird sanctuary across the street and rode their bikes coming back sweaty, stinky, muddy and wet.  Perfect!  That means they probably had a good time.  Later after baseball practice, Collin showed me where they went the in the bird sanctuary and what they did.  They found a spot where they could cross the creek water to the other side (from the bird sanctuary to the neighborhood side) so they could play on someone's trampoline.  No, the did not get permission.  The people were not home at the time and probably have no idea the boys did this.  They really should have a fence around the trampoline but probably thought it was not necessary because their yard backs up to the creek.


I have a video I will post when I can cut it short enough to do so.