Monday, May 13, 2013

Boys vs. Girls--Future Plans

Before I had kids, I thought that each child was an individual, and didn't believe much in gender stereotypes in children. Little boys ran and jumped a lot because that's the kind of games they were taught. Little girls played with dolls because that was the kind of toys they were given. I thought that if all kids, regardless of gender, were exposed to the same things, they would have the same tendencies. Then I spent some time in the real world of kids and figured out that I was wrong. Possibly there were some differences between boys and girls. From time to time, I'm going to share some of my experiences that led me to this conclusion. However, so as to not bias you, I'm going to let you guess, who are the boys in the stories and who are the girls.Today's StoryTheo was playing Nintendo with his best friend from kindergarten, Julia. Here is the conversation Julia's mother and I overheard."You know that some day we are going to get married and we'll play this game with our little  boy or girl.""We can't play this game with our kids.""Why not?""It only has two controllers."
You decide: Which was Theo and which was Julia?_____________________________________________________________________________In case you're wondering--Julia had future plans for marriage, and Theo had future plans for the video game. (Is anyone else having problems with Blogger's formatting? It's driving me crazy. This post was going to look a lot different, but I can't seem to make it happen.)     

Brighton Dam Azalea Gardens--week two

Last week, Ward and I visited the Brighton Dam Azalea Garden. I hoped that we could go back in a week because I thought the azaleas would be at their peak then. Well, mission accomplished. Yesterday, Ward, Wally, Theo, and I went back for a picnic and another walk among the azaleas. I was wrong about the flowers being at their peak. Many of the bushes had faded, but there was still plenty to marvel at.

We grilled hot dogs, watched geese, checked out the dam, and walked in the azalea garden. It was a beautiful day and Mother's Day on top of that, so there were plenty of people who joined us at the park. It was fun to watch multi-generations enjoying kids, dogs, and the scenery. However, did I mention it was a windy day? Theo said that it was so windy, that the hot dogs were being moved on the grill. I do know that it was so windy that I had four layers on including Ward's sweatshirt and jacket that he brought along.

Here are a few scenes from our visit.