Show Skiing

Do you know what Show Skiing is? Well first of all it is water skiing done with clubs all over America. Usually there are no tryouts and the older skiers train the younger ones. There is jumping over a ramp, barefoot, pyramids, doubles, triples and more. There is a theme determined by the show director to make it more interesting to watch. Teams perform free all over the US then also compete in their respective states and some go to Nationals.

Our grandson skis for the Plum Lake Ski-ters in Saynor Wisconsin. This year they placed fifth at State which qualified them for Nationals which was today. We will hear soon how they placed. I watched the show in Saynor, State and Nationals. Today I was thinking of all the different events I had watched our children in and now i am watching yet another sporting event. I'm proud of these kids, not only are they competing but also performing a community service with their local shows. They spend their summers rehearsing and performing, developing skills which will aid them all thru life and having fun doing it all.

Reading

Yes I am back to talking about Reading. Are people still doing it? I just finished ordering books from my library. Love doing that. It's so easy. I read the Washington Post Book reviews and order the ones they recommend. Seems their taste and mine is right on the money. If they say it's good, I like it too. I have a big, fat file of all I want to read. Right now I am way behind but one can only read so fast [and I am a fast reader!] Right now I am reading T. C. Boyles's WHEN THE KILLING IS DONE, not quite as good as his TOTILLA CURTAIN but very thought provoking. My favorite thing is laying in the hammock, reading, with the backdrop of the waves lappjing the shore. That's after I have applied insect repellent, of course. Anyhow I hope you're reading----make time for that----one of the really great examples to set for your children and their nannies.

Reading

Broadway

Seems I got very lax with this blog again and it takes someone reminding me to write to get me going again. Sorry

My daughter and I took her son, my grandson , to his first Broadway production. We picked Phamtom of the Opera for his first big stage appearance. The first act hadn't grabbed him BUT by the end of the play he was hooked. He clapped harder than I had ever seen. I think we converted him to live theater. Anyone out there have this experience?

We tried to do this with the kids also. Tried to take them individually if possible. Took our youngest daughter to the Kennedy Center in Washington D. C. to see a play about Lincoln. Made her a President Lincoln fan from them on. It starred Eva Marie Saint as Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln. We were flying somewhere the next day and ran into Ms. Saint at the airport. I gathered up courage and spoke to her, telling her we had taken our 6 year old daughter to the play the previous evening. She liked that and said they try to do that same thing with their children.

We all need to support the Arts and live theater is a wonderful way to support the performing arts.

Texting

Do you feel like I do about texting at the dinner table? I don't like it. It seems lots of parents don't mind it judging from what I see in restaurants. Boy it's a different world out there. What happened to the family that eats together stays together, eating being conversing and eating. Oh well, we don't permit it when with our grandkids and that's about all we can do, I guess. It doesn't go over too well glaring aat kids in restaurants

Leashes

Are they still putting children on leashes? I haven't seen it for awhile but I used to not like it when I saw it, I know it's done so you do't lose your child. Can I tell you how we did it "back in the day".

We were on a car trip across the country and put all 4 kids in bright red hoodies. We really weren't as brilliant as I later thought when it became a great tool for keeping track of them. I remember that when we were at the Grand Canyon how easy it was to see them. A minor benefit was how cute all the pictures were with them in their matching hoodies. So mothers and Nannies out there, give it a try and make your job a whole lot easier.

Bankys

I blogged about pacifiers a while back. Did anyone see The View today? They talked about this for awhile. Many different opinions all prompted by a picture of Tom Cruises's daughter with Katie Holmes sporting a Banky. She is about to turn five. They seemed to want to focus on how strong the sucking instinct is with an infant and if you take the banky away too soon, they will turn to something else to satisfy this, usually the finger.

I know this didn't happen with mine. Now the one that never took to the pacifier but started immediately in with her finger was a different story as the finger IS attached. This went on for some time so I guess with her she really needed that but I didn't see any ill effects with the others and they gave up the pacifier at 4 months.