Opinions and the Soap Box

So life... it's just crazy! I'm so behind on so many things, but eh, they'll eventually get done... Maybe??

We've spent some time running around and hanging with our awesome friends at Pinchot. Side note: Our GPS couldn't pronounce the park name. We got a good chuckle when she said "Now pulling into Pin Cot Park." It was a much needed break from the mundane everyday tasks! The kids definitely had a blast playing on the playground. Kris is a little monkey. I couldn't believe how much she was climbing all over the equipment.

She was really pleased with herself!

Megs and I knitted and chatted with Andy while he made some awesome burgers, hot dogs, and chicken (he's such a great cook) on the grill. There were many other families with their children there as well. Speaking of (yes, I'm about to get my soap box for a minute, hence the title) other families/children... There was a boy who was probably about 10. He was down in the children's play area throwing sand at our kids and just all around wasn't the nicest. The parents were no where to be found until it was time for the boy to leave. All of sudden, the dad comes over with his dog (mind you, this dog and its sibling had just run away from him not even 10 minutes earlier. Andy and Megs rounded them up for him.) and yells at the boy to get his shoes because they were leaving. Yelling doesn't usually phase me much because I understand that being a parent can be frustrating at times and sometimes you just snap at your kids. It doesn't make it right but I can say with honesty that it happens. Well, the boy decided to disobey his father and not get his shoes. Now, before I go on, I'm going to warn you that nothing I say going forward is meant to start an argument or anything of the sort. This is strictly my opinion and thoughts and I just needed to vent them because it really upset me. Moving on... The dad tied the dog to a post on the play equipment and climbed up it to get his kid. He roughly grabbed his child's arm and drug him down. The child then went over to get his shoes. The dad untied the dog and proceeded to smack the child's butt all the while screaming at him (and I'm not exaggerating when I say screaming). The kid of course was upset. After he got his shoes on, the dad then drug his kid back to the car while continuing to scream at him and then smacked him again...for no reason! The child's mom (or grandma??) came down at this point and said something along the lines of "...that's why everyone hates him [talking about the child]--because he doesn't listen!" Okay.. Really? Was that honestly necessary? My heart absolutely broke for this child. I agree that he needed to be disciplined, but the manner in which this family chose to do so is not right in my opinion. I believe in physically disciplining a child; however, it should always, and I repeat ALWAYS be done out of love and never in public. Disciplining a child is a very serious and private thing. Doing it in public undermines that seriousness and privacy. What amazed me (not in a good way) is that if that father displayed that much of a lack of self-control in public, what is he willing to do behind closed doors? I actually had tears swimming in my eyes after that display. Alright, I'm stepping down from my soap box now.

On a more upbeat note, Kristi had her first soccer game the day before (4/28).

Warming up before the game and pictures

It started out really well--we got 2 goals pretty quickly--but then went downhill, fast. I think the final score was 7-3? I lost count of the other teams goals. It was freezing out (and no, that's not the reason I lost count)! Speaking of...

What is up with this weather?! I would really appreciate if Mother Nature would make up her mind. I'm all about winter but going back and forth is really getting old. Now back to your regularly scheduled programing...

So Kris did pretty well for her first time out on the field in a competitive setting. She was kind of a party pooper after she got hit with the ball and sat out but we had a good time for the most part. Her second game went about as well as the first. She's scared of the ball (as is most of the team it seems) so she won't go up and steal it or block it. She was right next to a kid who was about to kick the ball into our net and had a great opportunity to block/steal it but she wouldn't take it. I'm not really sure how to get her over that.

After her soccer game, we went down to Shari's and had a great time hanging out. Kristi and Sophie played outside on the trampoline and in the sprinkler. It was so funny watching them run and jump around on it. We then went to downtown Frederick. They have a thing the first Saturday of every month where all the shops are open and there's all kinds of activities going on. It's really neat. At the art gallery, there was a troop of hula-hoopers doing an exhibit of awesome tricks. They had only been doing them for about a month and a half. I was really impressed! Kristi got to show off her moves after the exhibition and she was ecstatic! We found out that the company offers birthday parties and all kinds of fun activities so we're doing that for her party this year.

Well that about all I have for today so until next time, much love and many blessings!


♥Courtney♥