Holes - by Louis Sachar

Right now I am reading the book Holes. This book is about a boy name Stanley and he gets blamed for stealing a pair of shoes. The shoes were Clyde Livingston's shoes. He went to court and the court gave him a choice to either go to Camp Greenlake or jail. He chose Camp Greenlake. They tried to ask more about it but the judge said "Make a choice quickly."

I am enjoying this book very much. When I finish it I will post more about the book.

Adultish Child (Harper)

Dreher Island State Park

Today we visited Dreher Island State Park. We did a relatively flat 2.2 mile hike. I was amazed to see how autumn is taking over the woods. There were a lot of fallen leaves of all colors. I didn't think Fall would visit South Carolina until later in October or early November.

Muluken is a fast hiker! He and I were planning a backpacking trip together as we marched out the final half mile together. He thinks we should try for four days in the woods. I don't know. That might be a bit long for a first trip - but we'll see.

Childish Adult (Dad)

Beach

I hate the beach.

My friend Brooke says it’s her favorite place because she gets to relax and to read and to let the world just peel away from her like bark from a birch tree. There was a time I would agree, looking out over the horizon and feeling the wind sweep across my face and listening to the cadence of the sea coming in to greet me. Everything about it makes you want to stay forever.

Almost everything.

Going to the beach starts out well enough. The first weekend of every June we squeeze everything into the van – towels and blankets and pails and shovels and chairs and snacks and sunscreen. Four kids. Tricia and I. Two-and-a-half hours away is a county park on Isle of Palms that has the softest sand. It never burns your feet no matter how hot it gets outside. I don’t know how this works - it just does. Muluken says it’s because we’re boys and we’re tough but I remind him that his mother and sisters are girls and they’re tough too. He doesn’t look convinced and flexes his tiny brown muscles in protest.

Ty reacts to the beach like a June bug reacts to light. He runs around, wildly bouncing off things. Off people. We try our best to reel him in but our arms are full of bags and coolers so for this one moment – this one day – he gets to act like a child. After a year of time-outs he probably deserves at least as much.

We find a spot to drop our stuff. It has to be close enough to the waterline so that we can see it from the surf yet not so close that we will have to retreat from the rising tide. Tricia says I obsess over the spot too much. She says I’m like an old man circling the mall parking lot in search of the perfect spot by the door. I couldn’t really say, but it is important to me. I do take it seriously.

The first thing Harper does is to grab her boogie board and head off toward the water. The board has a big picture of Dora on it and it’s really too babyish for an eight year old but she doesn’t seem to mind. It’s functional and she knows how hard it is to find money to replace the things that aren’t broken. She bounds through the waves trying to get past the breakers but her frame is small and she has the legs of a reader. She’s knocked to the ground numerous times before she finally wrestles her way to calmer waters. Despite the effort, a smile as wide as a Wal-Mart parking lot spreads across her face and she squeals uncontrollably. She has been waiting for this exact moment all year long.

Tricia and I make our way down to the water to take this all in. By this point Muluken and Ty have joined their big sister while Ainlsey – sweet, little Ainsley – dances around us begging to search for seashells. Not liking to get her face wet, she prefers to stay on dry land. Tricia takes her hand and together they head off toward the pier in search of half-buried treasures.

I breathe in all that salty air and sunshine and then I run out to join the kids. And that’s how the beach starts.

Not a bad start.

But not long after the morning shadows disappear everything changes. My heart somehow knows before my eyes do. I look out at the water. And I look out across the beach. And I count three heads. Just three heads. When there should be four.

And now, I hate the beach.

I hate the beach because when I yell for Tricia I can see that she’s already noticed. She’s looking around and every ounce of blood has drained from her cheeks and her knuckles are bone white as she clenches the sides of her swimsuit. She looks at me and says something I can’t hear. Suddenly I’m very aware of all the noise. And all the people.

I run down to the water as Tricia makes her way across the sand. I glance back over my shoulder hoping to see her signal to me that everything’s okay – that she has found what, at this moment in time, I need to see more than anything else in the entire world. But she hasn’t. I can see that she’s screaming now, moving from towel to towel, person to person, pleading with them to help. But no one does because they don’t understand. No one understands. No one but us. And among all these people I suddenly feel alone.

I turn back to the water and there are so many bodies and the sun is so bright that I can barely make sense of what I’m seeing. I move out further to get a better view. The waves crash down on me so as to make me turn away -but I refuse to. The saltwater stings my eyes and my feet betray me as I fall back and I’m surrounded now by nothing but muddled sounds and murky water and more than at any other point in my life I feel completely out of control.

Tricia gathers up the other three kids and asks them if they’ve seen anything. They laugh at her because they think this is some kind of trick or joke and they don’t understand the seriousness of the situation. They don’t understand what’s at stake. She orders them back to our blanket because she doesn’t have the time to make them understand. Or the heart.

She tells me to go get the lifeguard.

The lifeguard smiles at me and calmly climbs down from her chair. She looks to be all of about nineteen years old and flips her hair from her face as she reaches back to grab a radio. I want to scream: How can you be so calm? She asks a few questions of which I try to answer but I can’t concentrate. My mind is racing. I’m scared and angry and the lifeguard is still acting casually as if this type of thing happens every day. Every day to some kid. But this isn’t just some kid. It’s mine.

She gets on her walkie and begins talking to someone else. I look down the beach to see if one of the other lifeguards is beginning to move or to look toward us. Finally, I see one of them signal to her. She tells me that she has put out an alert and that I need to backtrack through all the places we’ve been. I’m happy to have been given an instruction. Happy to have someone else who knows.

I turn to go find Tricia and see immediately that she is standing at the water’s edge - tears streaming down her face, her heart beating through the purple diamonds that line her swimsuit.

Her entire face is swollen.

She drops to her knees. And she screams.

A numbness falls over me like I’ve never felt before and my heart is pounding and pounding and pounding and I hate the beach.

But then… I see her reach out. Out toward the sea and a wide smile washes over her face, erasing the terror. I realize now that the screams were not of pain, but of joy.

She wraps her arms around a confused set of shoulders that have waded in through the pools of water left from the tide. She pulls those shoulders in to her tightly and squeezes them with all the strength she has left.

I run over and I grab hold of both of them and we sit that way for a very long time.

Afraid to let go.

I look out over their heads at the vast blue ocean and see something I had never noticed before and I wonder: What if…?

And now, I hate the beach.

Roughing It

We camped out in the backyard with the kids this weekend. Is it really camping when it's in your backyard? With an airbed? And a laptop? And waffles in the morning? This seems to me to be like walking around the block and calling it a hike.

We essentially made the RVers that you constantly find yourself passing in and around Florida look like Survivor Man.

You'll notice a picture of a beautiful yellow garden spider above. This is just to show that there is at least a little wildlife still around the suburbs of Lake Carolina.

Childish Adult (Dad)

Conversation with the Athlete

Dad: So Harper, you have a triathlon coming up on Saturday how are you feeling about that?

Harper: Well...hurray!!!!! So are you going to run with Ainsley this year like you did with me and Ainsley in other years.

Dad: I don't know. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how Ainsley does. If she's looking tuckered out then I'll run with her. How are you feeling about the swim? It's 100 meters this year and you haven't been swimming at the pool as much this summer as in past years.

Harper: I don't know. Although I can do it. I've done it before so I know I can do it because I can swim 200 meters or more. Are Mama and Papa going to come?

Dad: They will be driving in from St. Louis Friday night and I'm sure they'll be excited to come see the race. I'll bet they've never been to a triathlon before. They'll be so excited to see you and Muluken and Ty and Ainsley finish! Which do you think will be the hardest - the swim, bike, or run?

Harper: I like finishing and geting maetle .I wonder what my metele will look like this time . I'm not saying I do go for the prize. I go to have fun. Like most pepole do. Did you do iny tryathalons when you where a kid??????????

Dad: Absolutely not! I didn't do my first triathlon until I was about 24 or 25 and, even then, it was really, really scary. I knew I could finish the whole race but I was worried about coming in last or embarrassing myself in front of everyone. I can see now how silly it was to be so worried about that. I had a lot of fun in my first triathlon. I could barely finish the swim, did okay on the bike, and then did really well on the run. This is pretty much how all my triathlons have gone. I'm a much better runner than anything else. I'm not that fast but I seem to be able to run hard for a long amount of time even when my body is telling me its tired and that I should slow down. But the reason I enjoy triathlons isn't to do well in any part of it. It's to have fun. I love how all the athletes cheer each other on and encourage one another to keep going. I'm glad you're enjoying it. I love YOU!

Harper: I love you to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Browsing in Books-a-Million tonight, I was amazed to see how many magazines there are in circulation. There are literally hundreds of them. And for every Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone, or Newsweek there are dozens of others named Hear the World, True Confessions, or Table Tennis. Who reads all these magazines? Can there actually be enough people out there reading Modern Ferrett to keep it in business?

DOG TROUBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There once was a dog named Pillow. The dog liked to ride in the car. Like most dogs don't Whenever the car door opened, pillow would go running for it and he always liked to stick his head out the window and bark on and on. Once the window was open and he stuck his head out the window he was barking away and there was a lot of cars honking.
Thay were getting annoyed with the dog. Jack thought, "thay like my dog Pillow barking" so he went driving along and... all the cars where honking. Then a police car pulled up behind him and the police pulled him over ... and said" the pepo.le are honking because they are annoyed with your dog.
"Oh I didin't know that!" "Now close your window." said the police.
" Okay" said Jake.
But when he drove off he opened the window and got some fresh air. But when he saw the police he closed it. He did not want to get a ticket. That would be bad.
But... when he closed it this time he closed it on his dogs neck and the dog yelped and barked and did more yelping. The people inside the cars were strating to wave. He thought they were being nice and he was waving back nicely. Again the police pulled him over and said "Do you know hwy there are waving at you?"
"I do not know why."
And the police said "I will tell you after I check your eyes and ears. Is that okay with you?"
"That is okay with me."
"Ok then I will. I the police will do that."
And then the police saw it and said "Oh my GOSH I SEE A BIG HOLE IN YOUR EYE!"
"My dog bites me in the eye a lot."
"I will call an ambulance right now" said the police.
"I will tell them to bring you to a hospital called We Like to Help You. You will need surger."
Well so the ambulance came to get him and the police gave him a note that said something on it. I do not know what. The ambulance came to a stop at the hospital. It brought the guy on a little bed. He had to stay there two weeks. When he got home...
he taught his dog some commands. Not fun ones.

Adultish Child (Harper - from 2nd grade)