Spring Break! Wahoo!

Up! Up! Down! Down!

Ben has spring break this week, so no school for him.  Sadly, Bubba's break is next week.   We might have tried camping or something if they'd aligned.  Fortunately, the weather's been nice, so we've been taking the dog for walkabouts.

Our favorite place is up in the foothills.  Some biking enthusiasts have constructed a fairly elaborate BMX arena.  There are lots of ramps and steep drops and banked turns -- it's a most awesome place for tiring out a high energy kid (in the middle of a weekday when the bikers are not there).

Pretend you're a bike!

Ben and Tucker spent the better part of an hour powering up and down some steep hills and are both wiped out now (Ben is asleep across my lap).

This reminds me of when we were on vacation in Albuquerque in the 80's.  Dad and I decided to play some tennis and we found a court.  He and I were having a friendly game when a couple of oldsters came up and challenged us to some doubles.




My dad and I were both pretty fit and both tall (6'3").  These guys were in their 60's and not in the best of health.  One of them had a glass eye, and the other had a heavy brace on his knee.  We decided to go easy on them.

Much to our surprise, they started beating the tar out of us.  I'd like to blame it on the altitude and the extra bounciness of the balls, but in truth, they were just playing better than us.  After a couple of games, Dad and I were pretty embarrassed.  I have to hand it to my Dad though -- he didn't give in.  He pulled me aside and, with a gleam in his eye, said, "Hit it to his blind spot and run the other guy around."

Sure enough, we didn't lose another game.