Opening Day

Sunday was opening day both for church and for the NFL (I'm going to overlook that Thursday night game for purposes of the poetic parallel.)

Now that we live on the east coast, the tragic conflict between church and watching the Eagles play is mostly behind us, but with an hour-long drive home from church, I am sad to say we missed kick-off. We parked the car in front of the house, frantically threw off church clothes and replaced them with, in my case, a shirt that says "Eagles" in rhinestones, and after Wuggie Norple grabbed his travel-pack of Pokemon necessities we were off. Unfortunately, the Eagles are STILL not our local team, so this week we headed to the local sports bar to watch. Fortunately, Uncle Joe's is less than a block from our house. (The parking lot was so packed, that I think our house may have been the closest parking available!)

Joe's was filled with excitement inside. I don't think I've ever seen so many different jerseys in one place. Eagles, Bills, Pats, Steelers seemed to make up the largest groups, but Wuggie's Dad said he even saw a Titans Jersey. Joe's makes the best wings in town, and has $3 Bombers. (Sadly, a 16 oz soda costs the same as a 30 oz beer. Part of the unique reality paradigm that exists only in sports bar.) We grabbed the last booth in the place, Wuggie settled in to his Pokemon deck and cheese pizza, and we strained our eyes to see the nearest TV showing the Eagles game. (Now we know- this is no spontaneous outing. Come early and camp to be close to your game.)

The last time we watched Eagles games at a Sports Bar on a regular basis was at Jersey's Cheese Steaks in California with Wuggie's Aunt and Uncle. Ah, those were the days - Eagles jerseys as far as the eye could see. In this new inter-team environment, a cheer goes up and you have no idea which of 16 TVs has the touchdown on it. Thank goodness the Steelers fans brought their towels. We always knew when the Steelers were doing well.

All that really matters is this; our first ingathering service at our new church was warm and full of energy. And our first Eagles game of the season went 38-3.

Go Eagles!

Back to School

With great trepidation we have put summer behind us and are now back-to-school. After long summer days at camp trading Pokemon cards and whatever it was he did to get so muddy, camp ended last Friday with a genuine camp-fire and s'mores. Wuggie and his friends agreed it was the best day of camp ever. Fortunately this weekend we had cousins in from out of town to distract us and to play with. Then Tuesday we went to visit the new "big kids" building Wuggie is now attending. Over the summer parent volunteers had installed a huge fancy (and very fun) new playground, which seemed to mitigate Wuggie's trepidation somewhat. We we toured the whole building (upstairs and down- it's the first time he's gone to a school with more than one floor!) met his teacher and saw that some familiar faces (Mom was impressed with the small class size and all the cool looking djembes in the music room)and we both felt a little better about things. I just dropped Wuggie off for the last day of his first week. He tried to explain that the situation has unexpected upside. Something about being at the big-kid school...

Primative Pursuits Pinecone

I forgot to tell you...

Back in July Wuggie went to a camp called Primative Pursuits, to learn how to make camp and be a scout in the woods. When he and his dad picked me up from work after the first day, Wuggie was silent and slumped in the back seat.

"How was it?" I asked with trepidation

"Awesome" he said without opening his eyes.

I am so glad he got a chance to be out in the "wilderness" with such a cool program. It could be a UU program; it is very value-centered, and the values are so deeply in line with my own! (Except I don't know anything cool about wilderness survival). Wuggie's been to nature camps before, but apparently what he needed was a chance to learn something real, to take it seriously and be taken seriously.

The rest of the summer has been spent at Coddington, a traditional day-camp experience with great counselors where campers mostly choose how they will spend their day (like summer used to be). This is his first year, and he likes it very much; he asked if he could go back next year. We were worried that he would be outside all day long (which is not where he usually spends his time I must confess), but it doesn't seem to bother him at all. He comes home covered in dirt most days, as a young camper should, but also seems to spend plenty of time trading Pokemon cards (I know he didn't learn that at Primative Pursuits...)

Half Time

Now that Wuggie Norple and I are both half-time (him at camp, me at work) we are having to make our own adventures.

Last week we completed the Summer Reading Club for the local library, Applebees and Barnes and Noble. Then yesterday we got a call explaining that Nick had won a prize in the library drawing! "Do you want to go now to pick it up?" I asked. He was out the door and on his bike before I even got my shoes on. He got his pick of books and chose a volume from the Jedi Apprentice Series.


Most importantly, we finally lived out a year-long dream of walking the Carl Sagan Planet Walk that runs from the Science Center all the way to the commons. We had Dad drive us to the science center, our backpack loaded with a variety of snacks suitable for travelers. The walk happily wanders by many of my favorite parks and streams and gardens, and has many benches and steps where we could sit and rest. It was like a mom's dream come true to be sitting on a park bench with Wuggie sharing a dish of blueberries between Neptune and Uranus. He even agreed to let me take his picture at each planet! We walked the whole way home, arriving weary and triumphant. It was a proud day.

Today we didn't have any special plans, and it was cold and rainy off and on. Poor Dog was out of biscuits, and moved by her plight, we made her some ourselves. (They are Cheese Biscuits in case your dog is feeling left out.) Wuggie Norple is getting to be quite a cook. Dog seems to agree.

The Lodge

It's done! Last week Wuggie's dad installed the slide and the climbing wall, and Wuggie Norple installed the sign that has his own name. Then they tricked it out with a pulley system and other cool gear. We held the grand opening with new friends on Friday night. I told Wuggie Norple that we had to come up with something funner than "the playstructure" to call it. He said "how about 'The Lodge.'"

Camp

Wuggie Norple just started his first week of camp. Dad reports that when he went to get Wuggie he was covered in mud and involved in a massive sand box construction covering an area larger then the footprint of our house. So far so good.

Early Fireworks

Wuggie and I heard the booms from the city-wide July 2 Fireworks display up on the hill where Ithaca College is. We ran barefoot out into the middle of our street, and were amazed to see fireworks between the leaves of nearby trees. Wuggie's thoughts on the event follow:

It was so cool you know why?

I actually got to see fireworks on my own street

Sometimes a really big one can change the color of the whole sky