Clarke Family News

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Best Wedding Idea Ever

We recently attended a wedding. Actually it was the reception, not the wedding itself. But we did buy a gift and get dressed up. It's usually a pain to do that. Either the kids (mainly Quinn here) don't want to get ready on time, or don't want to wear something presentable (again mostly Quinn) or they don't want to behave or sit quietly or any of those things. Getting a sitter isn't always easy. They usual suspects on this night were busy themselves (at other weddings) so we were stuck, and frankly, near declining.

That was, until we were told by the bride to be, that this was a kid friendly wedding. Actually, this bride was pretty insistent that this be a good time for the kids. That doesn't seem to be the norm. She had a table in the reception hall with nothing but toys and games on it. Glow sticks, silly string, play dough, coloring books. Knowing Quinn was coming, she even had some dietetic candy.


They also had a caricature artist on hand. Check this out! Quinn's eyes aren't exactly right, but it's pretty good. Josie's is right on.

If you find yourself getting married anytime soon, have a heart and find something fun for the kids to do.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

End of Days?



The last day of Kindergarten came and went last week. On Wednesday I went to have lunch with Quinn and his class and observed as they suffered thruogh their final exam, write a sentence without copying it off the board. Quinn liked one of the sentences on the board, and tried to angle to copy, but was cut off and had to re-do his work after unch. I think he ended up with "I like my dog." or something like that.




Hot lunch, the second treat of the day, was pizza dippers, green beans, pineapple chunks, milk and a cookie. The tables in the gymnasium are small, but we made it work. After lunch we had recess, and I did my best to learn the ins and outs of kick and catch. It's sort of a cross between kick-ball (with lots more balls and no base running) dodge ball (with all the catching and less throwing the ball in the opponent's face) and red rover (without the physical contact). Scoring is kept in a vague way that lets everyone claim victory. Anyway, two mobs of kids occupy either side of a field, each armed with a variety of balls. The object seems to be to kick the ball to the other team in a way that they cannot catch it on the fly...either by kicking it over their heads or by kicking it so high that it cannot be caught. I'm not sure who keeps track of scores, or how much each catch is worth, but I was told that my kicking the ball over the heads of the 1st and 2nd graders we were up against propelled us to victory, something that I'm sure doesn't happen all that much for the lowly kindergarteners.

Thursday was the last day of school (only a half day) and it ended with an all school picnic, complete with an ice cream truck. Dee, Josie and I met Quinn and the rest of his class for the picnic. We were going to Mom's for Frank's birthday (including ice cream cake) so we skipped the ice cream truck, but still managed to have a good time.

Quinn now has six weeks of half day summer school, and then the rest of the summer off before starting 1st grade in the fall.

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Josie's First Woodchucks Game

NTC Night represented our first chance this year to get out and see a Woodchucks (baseball) game. It was their third of the season, and they won, 1-0, bringing them to 2-1 on the season. It was a nice night to be out (Dee might have been a bit cold near the end) and we managed to stay until the end.



Josie was perfectly behaved as usual, and Quinn even managed to keep control of himself for the most part. There were some kids there that he knew, that always helps. He got Woody Woodchuck to sign his shirt, adding to his collection of Woody signed memorabilia.



Quinn and I played in some casino's give away involving a small swimming pool and a pair of hoola-hoops placed near 2nd base. The trick is to throw the tennis ball into the pool, and if you do you split the winnings with the charity represented that night. Each ball costs a dollar, so depending on how many balls are sold you could win quite a bundle. I landed one ball in the hoola-hoop, which was good for four tickets to an upcomming game. Not a bad deal.