fun with the kids

To round out an otherwise lazy Spring Break week, the kids and I went to the Toledo Zoo on Friday. It was a fun day for us ... both kids love animals! We spent about four hours there--with a little more than a half hour just with the orangutans--they are the kids' favorites! (During our visit last Fall, the kids named the orangutan family: the adult male--who is absolutely huge--had a runny nose when we were there, so he was named "Snots", the Mama of the bunch was named "Boobs" as that is a prominent feature on her body, the baby--who will be a year old next month--has wild hair that sticks up all over his body which led to the name "Hair", and the 3-ish year old male who is a busybody (like some other boy I know) was named "Climb-it" because that's what he did most of the time.) The weather was chilly initially, but the sun came out and it warmed up to a balmy 45 by mid-afternoon when we were leaving.

As we were driving away from the zoo, Austin said that he'd like to go golfing--real golfing. He got his own set of kids' clubs about 2 years ago. We've been to the driving range a variety of times and he and Maya often hit wiffle balls in the back yard for fun ... but we haven't taken the kids out to golf yet. So, we decided that Saturday afternoon would be a good first time to go. The weather was supposed to be similar to Friday's (key words: supposed to be) which meant cool, but enjoyable. Well, that didn't actually work out to be the case, but it was tolerable ... for a while .... by most of us. We took the kids to a local par 3 course. We started with stretching and a quick review of safety rules--don't stand next to someone swinging a club, always check around you before you swing your club, never stand ahead of the person swinging, etc. Austin teed off first. Decent shot, went about 20 yards. Maya was next. It took 3 swings before she connected with the ball. It went about 2 feet. We told her to pick it up and put it back on the tee. After about 10 tries to get the ball to balance on the tee, I helped her with that. A swing, a hit and about 10 feet. Yeah!! My turn, hit a tree. Oops. Tim's shot went mostly up the fairway. Yeah! Maya hit her ball again ... about 5 more feet. Then about 3 feet. Then a few yards. Then a foot, and another. Tim picked it up and tossed it up the fairway for her. Yippee!

We all improved over the next few holes. On the third hole, we all seemed to hit our stride. Maya had a great shot that went about 20 yards, then Austin had a great shot that went about 30 yards. I was next and nearly made the green, then Tim did put his shot on the green. Woohoo!! We all love golfing!!!

Except for the part that we all were cold with watering eyes from the wind. Runny noses, chilly fingers. Little Maya was "freeeeeezing". We all had played through the first four holes. Maya just walked with us on the 5th. After Tim, Austin and I finished putting the 5th, I suggested that I take Maya back to the van so she could warm up while the boys finished the last four holes. Good plan. So she and I walked back. Tim and Austin played on. After the drive on the 9th hole, Austin decided that he was too cold and was ready to be done. No problem. So the boys came back to the van.

It was a fun first time out ... even though we were cold. Actually, I think the cold weather ended up being a good thing. No one else was out, so we didn't have to worry about people waiting on us or feeling like we needed to rush the kids. We were able to let them take all 20 shots (or so) that they needed to finish the hole. They had fun and felt proud that, regardless of how many strokes it took, they were able to hit their ball from the tee and eventually putt it into the cup (with the exception of Tim "helping" Maya by tossing her ball up the fairway on the first and second holes). We're already looking forward to some warmer weather so we can head back to the course.

Fore!!