Cayman '07 Post 4

"Seven steps and to the ocean" "Set, hut, HUT"...Ahh, Peyton Manning himself has probably never called a play that brought him more excitement than this one brought me. I promised I'd snap a photo of the magic football (if you're in the dark, then get with the program and read back a few posts, would ya!?!?), so here 'tis. Um, yeah...that's the Caribbean Sea in the background...and, yeah, that's the world's most perfect football in the foreground. I wouldn't trade this ball for a Manning autographed official Roger Goodell N.F.L. pigskin, 10 of 'em, in fact. Yep, today had us out on the sandy gridiron once again, and yep, it was a blast. But, I'm gettin' ahead of myself, so let me get back to keeping with the chronology.

We got up this morning, and after a healthy breakfast that I'm sure included Oreo's and Skittles (among other, more nutritious things...though I can't recall their names right now) we headed out and played shuffleboard. Oh, my...if you think it's a sport reserved for old farts on cruises, you've got another thing comin'! It takes some serious skill and athleticism to push the two-pronged three mile long stick into the edge of the hockey puck on steroids apparatus across a scalding hot, green concrete rectangle with painted triangles of nonsensical number combinations and not mess up previously struck apparatuses. I had to surf the www just to find the rules for the fool game, but once I did and taught it to my boys, they saw it as just another sports challenge, and well, let's just say the apples haven't fallen far from the tree with these two. You should see the pics I snapped of them playing the game. You'd think they WERE Peyton Manning leading a closing-minutes-of-the-Super-Bowl-drive with his team down by 5...just...gotta...score...one...more...time. Yeah, it was fun, even for me...but the best part was watchin' them get so involved. Nothing makes me as a dad any prouder than seeing them give 110%, whether it's the basketball court (hang on, I'll get to THAT in a bit), the baseball diamond, the soccer pitch, and now, the shuffleboard ?, whatever it's called.

After that we hit the room for a snack or three and then headed out to play some big time football by the sea side once again. It was quite hot by this time so the game only lasted about 20 minutes, then it was time for the pools.

While we were at the pool some dude shook down a coconut and used his machete (yeah, I'm certain he shaves with it) to cut it open for some folks across the way. They must've saw the skin and bones on me and my yahoo's b/c they sent over a nice young lady ;) and she offered us a few bites. I was not impressed with the coconut.

It's been windy as all get out around here this week. I mean, Kansas tornado windy. We spent most of the day in the pools, and the cool thing is you almost don't even need a towel when you get out. I mean you're almost dry by the time you get from the water's edge to your towel, so the towel is just a formality (seriously, how totally UNCOOL would you be going to the pool without a towel? c'mon, now). Anyway, we swam, they swam more, and I read and listened to music all day (mainly Rascal Flatts...they're unbelievable).

Until about sunset, that is. I gathered up my fellers and volunteered them for a walk down the beach at sunset. I told them that it was one of my most favorite things in all the world to do, and they were totally wearing a look of "yeah, whatever dad, uh-huh, that's nice" on their faces. Somewhere about paragraph three of my beautifully poetic discourse on how pleasant it is to walk on that part of the beach where footprints disappear in the surf, it happened. With no less excitement than a pig in poop (thanks, Michael Pollan), my boys saw a basketball goal. About 100 feet from the water is a fenced-in turfed area with a hoop! "Can we go see it, daddy, please please please?" "Are you kiddin' me, we're Hoosiers for crying out loud, of COURSE we can go see it. If you're nice and quiet and reverent, perhaps you can even touch it...go ahead, it's okay..." Yeah, we walked up to it, and yeah, we found ourselves in a little 3 on 3 in just a matter of seconds. At this point I need to mention that my team went 3 and 0. Never lost a game. Nope, not one. I even played barefoot (with a cut on my left big toe to bring home and brag about like a war wound), and we still won. My outside shot was non-existant (because of the wind, of course), but my drive to the bucket and lay-in was on, big time. 3 & 0...woo-hoo! Okay, those of you who know me are wondering what's up, since I'm not really this bragadocious about anything. You're right, you saw right through me. What I failed to mention is that the court on which we were playing was the sea-side end of the infamous tennis court where I suffered two of the most crushing tennis defeats of my life the last time I was here. Three years ago I got to talkin' to some high school kids from Chicago, they found out I played in High School, and one thing led to another. I bet a kid named Jimmy a drink that I could beat him, and well, just to rub it in he beat me twice. I think I won 4 games in the two matches (I really do know how you feel, Jabel), so the hurt has been with me for these three years. I lost a piece of my pride then, but tonight, I got it back. B-A-C-K! So what if it was a basketball game against 1) my brother (skills? well, Kobe he's not, but a worthy adversary nonetheless) 2) my oldest son (skills? yeah, but he's almost 2 feet shorter) & Tim (skills? definitely, but he's 13). It still felt good to win on that court, for once. But as I walked off the court I could've sworn a Jimmy in apparition form whispered: "loser". Perhaps it was just the wind.

So went our day...tomorrow is pirates, pirates, pirates and Thursday is stingrays, so we'll be away from the athletics for a while and learn that there is more to life than sports. But when all that other stuff is out of the way, I'm sure one of us will pick up a ball and suggest to the others it's time to get back to bidness!