Safety and Community

When I picked Kevin up at noon, he wanted to play on the playground again. At first, this group of boys were playing on the spiderweb thing. A photographer from "The Daily Chautauquan" came along and asked each of the parents if it was OK to photograph the children. Once she had permission, they moved to this merry-go-round pyramid and were being pretty crazy with parents trying to protect the younger ones. I mentioned to a parent, "That thing is not safe!" He said, "Anything at Chautauqua is safe!"

You have to know Chautauqua to know what he meant. It is a gated/fenced community. You have to pay big bucks to be on the property except Sundays. It truly is a safe place to let your children play, roam, ride their bikes anywhere. No harm is going to befall them. From the restored old homes and cottages, to the camaraderie of the community, to the no personal vehicles allowed, to the lush ancient trees and gorgeous gardens, to the all important porch life of Chautauqua, you step back in time to when it was safe for children to play anywhere.

By the time the photographer was positioned to begin shooting, all the kids left except Kevin, so she took a couple of shots of him alone! These are probably for fillers to be used at any time the rest of the summer. I probably should go to their office and buy a print!

On the way home for lunch, Kevin asked me why I didn't come to see him when all the other mothers came. I told him I didn't know what he was talking about. He said the parents came to watch them. "No one told me." He said no one told him either. Later, I learned that a newsletter had gone home with the children yesterday -- when Kevin wanted to spend the morning with me! It was one of only two performances they do for parents the entire summer! So we fell through the cracks.
While walking to our condo from dropping Kevin at the lakeshore, I noted this tree between the Athenaeum and the Amphitheater and thought it was picture worthy.

After dinner, we had more bike practice. One day makes a big difference! He wasn't as whiny with an "I can't do it" attitude. I also showed him on the training wheels keep him from tipping and to lean to the left to make that wheel go down and the right one go up to start learning how to feel balance with no wheel down. He did tip it each way. More practice...

It was his idea to go out for dinner. So we went to The Watermark in Mayville on the lake. The children's menu options were not great, so I looked at the appetizers. We ordered Three-cheese Chicken Quesadillas and Crabby Balls to split. He didn't think he would like the Crabby Balls. ha! He loved them! I ate maybe one and a half.

The program tonight was "Ballroom with a Twist." I didn't know what that meant until we saw them practicing this afternoon as we passed the Amp. Great music and great dancing! Something like Dancing With the Stars. Kristi Yamaguchi was the star. It was very hot and he wanted water. We only saw someone selling on the other side of the Amp and he wanted to go alone! He is in this picture somewhere! He made it over there and back again without a problem. Of course, I could see him the whole way, but he couldn't pick me out. I had to wave to him on the final stretch for him to find me. 5000 people pack this auditorium.

We stayed until Intermission. We had seen enough by then and went home to have some of the Breyer's Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream we bought while grocery shopping today!