The boys have been distance learning for a year or so now. But with the advent of the vaccinations, it feels like things are taking a turn for the better (finally!), and all the teachers at Yu Ying (the boys' school) have been vaccinated. That means that the boys will be back on campus for a week every three weeks! It's something!
Maceo's a little down on going back to campus because it means less time at one of the pod™houses where there lives a sweet dog named Zoe. But overall, they're excited in part because of the playground opportunities!
As 100% distance learning winds down, there were a few memories to hold on to. One is our recent spate of "snow storms." Nowadays, in the DC area, a prediction of snow is enough to warrant school delays. BUT WHEN I WAS A KID...
Sorry, I got distracted there.
So, the boys had some snow last week, but with the power of Zoom, they continued apace with lessons. Here they are, trudging off over the tundra, uphill both ways, to Zoe's house for a day of school.
They have become much more comfortable wandering the neighborhood, visiting friends and family. In fact, the other week, we needed dinner for Grandpa and Grandma Sue, so I sent the boys to the nearby Yes Market, and gave them a $20. "You guys can use the rest of the money to buy something for yourselves at the CVS," I told them. The CVS is about 4 blocks past the Yes which is about 6 blocks from our house. They came back, gave me a carton of vanilla ice cream and 75 cents, very pleased with their haul.
Another day, we had freezing rain. On a walk to Grandpa and Grandma Sue's, the boys discovered the fun of peeling ice off the leaves to have an ice leaf to munch on.
When we arrived, it was time to slip and slide over the frozen snow.
Saturday, I came down from my traditional nap to find this lovely scene. Normally, when it gets quiet in a different room, I get nervous. But this was one time when it was really nice.
Finally, last night, it was Cassius's turn to make dinner for the family. He chose a rather limited menu, to Maceo's disappointment: cacio é pepe (pasta with cheese and pepper) and chocolate pudding cakes in mugs. He was very satisfied with it.
Because both the boys and I had Inauguration Day as a holiday, and with the hope that folks would not travel mid-week, Maceo and Cassius and I drove off to far western Maryland to try some winter sports. We left Tuesday afternoon to break the drive up and have a fun night at a B and B. It was a picturesque old stone cottage on a working farm, and the boys had fun in the afternoon exploring, trying to get the cows to come see them, and nearly falling in the brook that ran past the building.
You might think it's not cold, but that's just Cassius refusing to wear a coat.
Luckily, the boys are early risers, so we were up at 6:10, and at 6:30, we jumped in the car and drove off to Wisp Resort in Western Maryland. There was a 75% chance of snow, according to the weather report, and boy, did we hit it! There were whiteouts as we drove, I did some skidding around to excite the boys, and we went more slowly than the travel app had predicted, but we were on pace to arrive at 9:30, giving us enough time to make the 10 o'clock lesson from a professional snowboarder/instructor! However, 9 minutes from the resort, we ground to a halt. It was difficult to see what had happened in front of us, but it seemed like a truck had slid and blocked the entire road. We backtracked and got to the resort about 20 minutes later, but that meant we had missed the first lesson.
We got our lift tickets (which nowadays are basically keycards like at a hotel!), got our rental equipment, and made our way to the bunny slope. The boys had all of one run under their belt when it was time for their lesson! So exciting! I dropped them off with Steve, a crotchety old man from Missouri, and I went off for a few runs on my own. I made it back after about an hour and a half to get the boys and have lunch.
They were chattery and excited and didn't really want lunch. I asked them if they liked their teacher. "Yes!" said Cassius. "I do, but he's pretty stern," said Maceo. "What's his name?" I asked Maceo. "I have no idea," he answered. I forced pb and j sandwiches on them with some hot chocolate and pieces of cheese pizza and then, bam! They were back out on the slopes. In the afternoon, the snowstorm stopped and the sun came out. The boys grew confident enough to insist we try some "real slopes", so we headed over to the chair lift. They managed the getting on and off pretty well (I had to life Cassius on and carry him off and Maceo fell on dismounting), but then we were on the grown up slopes! The only trails down where we were were blue squares, though! And those are (dum dum DUM!) Intermediate! I didn't tell the boys until later what they were going down, and though they both had moments of anger and frustration, by the time we were on the last third of the descent, Maceo was cruising along ahead of us, and Cassius was consistently looking for "jumps" and places where he could "drop in." (He's got all the lingo.)
Now, Maceo has told me three times, "Next time, I want to try skiing" and Cassius has insisted we invite friends to come next time we go.
This year, what with the COVID and the social distancing, the boys ended up having four (4) Christmases. They are quite spoiled. We began with Christmas on the 23rd at Mamy and Maurice's house. We came for lunch and opened presents and it was lovely. It was warm and the food was yummy and the boys and I had a great time. Maceo and Cassius were gifted Secret Coder books and read them all during lunch. More books are on their way, but the slowdown of the mail has messed with a number of different package deliveries.
On Christmas Eve, we had thought to have breakfast with Grandpa and Grandma Sue, but the weather was terrible. So, we ended up opening presents on Christmas morning, and then we walked over the 13th PL to have Christmas breakfast with them. It was lovely, too! And the opening of presents was terrific, too. One of the best presents was a croquet set which the boys have already played in the yard at least two times. Also, Grandpa gave both boys framed art about the Mennonite ideals of how to be. I put one up, in Maceo's room, and he was super excited when he saw where I'd placed it.
One of Maceo's presents from me was a cookbook of dumpling recipes and a set of molds to make dumplings. So, January 3rd, we decided to make gyoza, a chicken dumpling. We got out the pasta making machine, the dumpling making kit, and got to work.
Then we sat down on the couch and finished watching a Harry Potter movie.
Tomorrow, the boys go back to school, but I have a week off still!!! To do chores, of course.
As I posted before, the boys are now interested in BMX bikes and doing jumps. A friend alerted me to a website with all the relatively local bike trails and places to do off road bike adventures. One is a bike park up in South Germantown, MD, about 45 minutes away. So, last weekend, off we went.
The park has one part called a pump course where a rider can keep their momentum going by pumping their arms down on the handlebars as they descend small declines. The other part of the park is three parallel trails with a series of bigger and bigger jumps. It took both boys a little while to warm up to the jumps part, but eventually, they tried both courses and loved both.
Here's the pump course:
Cassius was the first to brave the jumps, but eventually, Maceo did, too, and in fact, Maceo got pretty good at taking the jumps. I am sure we'll be back here relatively often and soon.
(After I stopped filming, Cassius hollered from the ground, "I'm ok!")
While the boys were off at their mom's, I decided to build another ramp for them. This one has a little curve to it, so it gives a bit of lift when they ride off it. In the BMX lingo, it's called a "kicker." We (by we, I mean I) took it across the street to the Divinity School to set up a two jump trail.
Cassius did get a little frustrated with his jumps off the kicker, but he's into it, and his persistent personality means he'll keep trying. My next goal is to have them create a whole circuit around the school, and then I can just have them cross the street and spend hours at a time being little racer daredevils.
We now moved from scooters to skateboards to bikes. I don't know where their interests will end, but it's getting expensive. Both boys want to do BMX tracks now, although when I suggest actually going to one, they get nervous and say they don't actually want to go.
But they are willing to work on jumps in front of the house just like I used to do when I was their age!
Maceo and Cassius have gone pretty far in on skateboarding thanks to gifts of skateboards from Mamy and Maurice. We've now visited five (5) different skateboard parks in the DC area, and we've ranked them, too.
1) Walker Mills out in District Heights, MD. A really big skatepark with "street" elements like curbs to jump off and hand railings to slide along. It also has swimming pool-type bowls à la the 70s California skateboard culture. The best of both worlds.
2) Shaw Skatepark. This is the biggest skatepark in DC and it's not far from our house. This is mostly street type stuff--lots of ramps and benches/platforms to jump on and off.
3) The Langdon Skate bowl--This is a pile of old tires sprayed with cement to form what looks like a big empty swimming pool. It's nearly always deserted, and the boys like it. I like it because it's DIY and because it's close to home.
5) Melrose Skatepark in Hyattsville--This one is also quite close to our house, but it's rather small and sometimes rather crowded. When it's empty, though, it's great! This is the first one we ever went to, so it has some sentimental value, too.
