it hasn't quite hit yet. We did have warm enough weather to start pulling out the capris and sandals, but in typical Cruel Alberta Spring fashion, we're again looking at snow and freezing rain. How to stay amused, meantime?
it was warm enough a few weeks ago to have a few beer on the back porch, and to teach Theo the important life skill of how to open mom's beer with his new camping knife. We are very proud parents, as you can see.
the boy's First Knife was a birthday present, acquired in the unlikely location of the West Edmonton Mall, where we spent his birthday weekend due to a judo tournament. It was my first bus trip in decades. Within the first 15 minutes of pulling out of the dojo parking lot, I remembered why.
The kids enjoyed it quite a bit, though, well armed with electronic gadgets. The parents and other adults similarly came well arrayed with technologica, from iPods to DVD players to cameras. I'm sure there was a good $15,000 worth of electronic equipment on that bus! I'm not sure whether to bemoan or celebrate the lack of singing. Isn't that what we used to do on bus trips? Yet there was no-one there to lead us in a round of "The Quartermaster Store" or "Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall". Do kids even know the words to those songs anymore?
The raison d'etre for our trip:
Silver medal for the boy! Out of eight in his category, that's pretty good. The tournament as a big one, and drew competitors in the senior categories from Wales, England, Japan, etc. The downside is that it was held at the West Edmonton Mall. Such horror! Compared to the dronelike crowds of shoppers the most peaceful place to hang out was the ice palace where the tournament was being held, and once we'd acquired a few birthday presents for the boy and made a few dashes to the food fair, we retreated to the refuge of the tournament, which relatively speaking, was the shiny happy place to be.
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