Paul has been volunteering as a helper at the karate day camp for little kids, working 9-3 each weekday, and coming home wiped out from all the activity. We expect him to read each day and practice his flute, but otherwise pretty much let him decide how to use his time. We invite him along whenever we go out, but most of the time he likes to hang out texting his friends, watching videos on his phone, and playing Minecraft.
We did not make Paul go along with us on our hike yesterday. It was a very hot day with temps in the mid-90's so I googled "shady hikes Boulder" and found there was a two-mile round trip hike about 30 minutes up Boulder Canyon that led to a small waterfall and a lake. It looked promising, so Ben and I went off to explore. The scenery was beautiful....
...but we walked right by the trail head and instead found ourselves on a hot forest road.
We followed it for a while and then turned back and as we neared our car saw the trail head. Yes, here was the shady hike we had been promised. Too bad we were out of time and couldn't do the whole hike, but at least we know now how to get there.
We also didn't make Paul go to the concert by the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra that Ben and I attended with our friends Paula and Lotus last night, nor did we make him eat any of the wonderful salmon and scallops we grilled for those friends or eat the yummy cherry cobbler Paula brought for dessert using cherries that Lotus had given her.
But we did make him go with us to see the Acro-cats show Saturday night! I just knew he would enjoy it and overruled his objections. When we first talked about it he said he didn't want to go. Later I texted him:
Me: Please be ready to leave at 6:15 to get pizza and gelato and see the Acrocats.
Paul: Huh
Me: Yes, we are all going out together. Tomorrow nite you will be home for several hours while Dad and I go to a concert.
Paul: No I'm not going to c the show
Me: Check it out at www.circuscats.com Very fun
Paul: Still not going
In the end we pretty much forced him to go. At first he was mad, saying we were making him do something he didn't want to do, which was certainly true. But we hadn't done anything as a family in a few days and he'd had plenty of time to watch TV and play Minecraft.
He warmed back up to us during dinner --who can stay mad eating chocolate gelato?-- and when he realized that the show featured real cats doing tricks he was all smiles. For some reason he thought it was going to be people dressed up like cats; clearly he did not pay any attention to my description of the show or look at the link to the Acro-cats web site that I had sent him.
In the end we all enjoyed the evening and loved seeing the cute cats doing silly things like skateboarding and playing in a rock band. What can I say? We three are just suckers for cats.
In the end we pretty much forced him to go. At first he was mad, saying we were making him do something he didn't want to do, which was certainly true. But we hadn't done anything as a family in a few days and he'd had plenty of time to watch TV and play Minecraft.
He warmed back up to us during dinner --who can stay mad eating chocolate gelato?-- and when he realized that the show featured real cats doing tricks he was all smiles. For some reason he thought it was going to be people dressed up like cats; clearly he did not pay any attention to my description of the show or look at the link to the Acro-cats web site that I had sent him.
In the end we all enjoyed the evening and loved seeing the cute cats doing silly things like skateboarding and playing in a rock band. What can I say? We three are just suckers for cats.
Sometimes Mother does know best.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I'd love to hear from you!