May already

School is almost out for the boys and little league ends next week, too. Ry will be able to go to kindergarten at Jack's school next year. Jackson had a very successful year at school and appears to know just about everyone there, adults and children alike. Cub Scouts has ended except for a graduation this weekend, where Jackson will move up to Bears. There's camp possibilities for the summer, and there was some talk of a trail clean-up project and a fishing trip with his den. There's also talk of Jackson on swim team this summer at the gym. (I'd love to get Rylee involved, too, but he's too young. Maybe the solution is to take both boys to the daily early morning workouts and me and Ry will swim and watch while Jackson works out and then see how that goes.) Rylee is excited about his birthday coming up and has very modest ideas about how to celebrate and what he wants. We are planning to go to Durango for Father's Day weekend (I wonder if Dad & Mom would want to join us there somehow.) And Ry thinks that's for his birthday even though it's about two weeks afterwards.

Father's Day in Durango involves camping at a very comfortable campground just north of Durango. Campsites are on grass, very cheap, and the grounds include showers and a pool. A walk to the Animas River and maybe some fishing. A short drive into town. We've done it a few times before with Elley & Don & Nicholas & Lauren, who bring their pop-up to an adjoining site. And we go into town for Thomas the Train at the old depot and a lunch usually. This year Dorie & Pete & Brendon & Jordan may join us in Papa's small RV. Maybe two nights. We have our big tent and all the camping gear, which fills up the Dodge Durango. I just pulled out the tent Ariel and I used to use for backpacking and we'll bring that along, too, for the boys and their cousins. Set up chairs under the shade to watch the narrow gauge trains go by and wave to the passengers. Set up a kitchen outside. Maybe grill something good in the evening and make big breakfasts in the morning. I'm sure we'll bring bicycles, too, and maybe some baseball stuff to play in the grass. I'm looking forward to it.

Jackson has been playing on the Rockies at the machine pitch II level. All of a sudden, the boys are looking like real ballplayers. Jackson's skills are right there and he really enjoys it. He makes the big plays under pressure, although I don't see him pressured at all. Ry wants to practice and play all the time. He's on the Dodgers, playing TBall. Even though he will only be 5 next season, he's decided he doesn't want to play TBall again and wants to move up to the machine pitch I level, which is for 6 and 7 year olds. His skills are good, though, and he probably will belong in the next level. He is amazing to watch. He is able to cross his glove in all directions. At the last game, the league double-booked the Saturday morning TBall game and we ended up playing in the "sandlot". Ry loved it. From the pitcher's position, he fielded hit after hit, turned, took the ball out of his glove and threw without hesitation directly to first base. Not wild throws, either, each was thrown to be caught. When he didn't scoop a fast-hit ball in his glove, he managed to block it, juggle it, and still make a quick play. He really wants to play catcher next year.

Jackson is so bright. He recently downloaded Sketchup so he can design 3D renderings of his ideal homes. We looked a lot at a professional architecture software program online, ran through all the tutorials, that he really really wanted, but of course we're talking about a pretty sophisticated program that's a few thousand dollars. Sketchup seems tame to him, but I don't think he's really learned how to use it yet or explore all of its possibilities. Architecture seems like a real interest for him.

Ry is learning to read and write a little on his own and spends a lot of time building things out of legos and then playing, whenever he's not playing baseball. Often he'll just throw the ball against a building so he can play catch with himself. He loves to tell jokes and he has a new friend, Anna, next door, he likes to visit.