date: Sun 16 Aug 2026 02:03:12 PM PDT subj: a walk to the park ---------------------------------------------- A walk to the park is starting to become a part of our routine. The pediatrician told my wife, our children should only have one nap a day, and go to bed by 7:30 PM at night. Lately my goal is about 10:30 AM, its time to go to the park on the days I'm off with the kids. With a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs, oatmeal with half and half and a pinch of pink salt, topped off with so blueberries, just as the fuel starts to slow down a bit, a stroll in the sun down 1st street, onto the pier, then up the hill to the park staves off their natural tendencies of falling asleep, to bringing them back to action. At the pier the tide was high so the slope down the plank was easy. The water was calm and two older boys spotted a couple of jelly fish for us to look at during our routine route to the park. Today at the park another adventure of into wood chips and the iron dome. Being a weekend, we never know if we are going to see others at the park. Today a father with his three boys, each almost a few years apart, the oldest being about seven. Wild little people. One of them caught sight of us, and decided to come over and play on the dome. My son was finding another taste test of the wood chips today. He turns to me with a mouth full of wood chips. As I help him, my daughter moves to the edge of the dome to look at the wood chips near where her brother was moments before. I tell my son, "No eating wood chips. Yuck." As I helped him remove them from his mouth. Yuck had a humorous effect, my son sticks his tongue out as I pull wood chips off, he starts to laugh. His mouth opened wide, I say again "Yuck" and remove more chips, and he giggles and laughs. We are becoming interesting here. My children were on the edge, my daughter with her soccer ball. A three or four year old boy comes to the dome. My daughter lets the soccer ball go as he approaches and the little boy grabs it. He throws it at my son. My boy doesn't understand much of how to play catch, but the ball bounces off him and I retrieve it then hand it to him since my daughter let it go. She watches the little boy in the dome climb around. My son with the small soccer ball, and my daughter observing the young five year old trying to hang from apex of the inside of the dome. He didn't want to do it alone so he called out to is dad, to help him. His dad protested for a time on the bench on the blond grass just outside the wood chips, but he gave in and assisted his son. His entrance into the dome was the full invitation for everyone to join in. When the boys saw my son sitting inside on the edge of the dome with his ball, he was a spectacle to them. They goo gooed and gaw gaawed at him, picked up wood chips dropped them, the five year old threw the wood chips in the air. His father told them no throwing wood chips, with a threat of having to leave the dome, or not ride in the bus. They tested and tested, all the while making more dust with variations of scattering wood chips. Kicking wood chips, digging wood chips, dropping wood chips. The father threatened but with each threat a new variation from the three boys was crafted. They were doing all they could to illicit a reaction from my stoic children. My son and daughter mesmerized by the boys playing on the dome and in the wood chips, acting like little babies at them. The youngest boy threw wood chips in the direction of my boy, and I spoke up and said "No No, no doing that!" With a moderate effect, the boy's excitement of interacting with a baby was slightly curtailed, as his father pulled him back, and told him he was going to leave the dome. The three year old told he he didn't want to leave the dome, so he settled for a moment. As my daughter and I watched the children dynamics, I was ready to step in and push back anyone who would breach my boundary thereby causing harm to my children, I thought what untamed wildness amongst little people and how it feeds of each individual seeking its investigative goal of what will happen. Not one of those boys felt the urge to restrain themselves. At one point the boys amused my daughter and she let out a scream of excitement at them, and had a big smile on her face. The seven year old boy was making faces at her sticking out his tongue, just the thing my daughter understand, and she smiled a wide smile and stuck her tongue out back at him. They oldest boy and her seemed to have a connection for a moment as he mimicked her expressions. --- When I was young, probably in seventh grade, our entire school class went to the local zoo. What a zoo we were. At the actual zoo, I remember hearing the girls screaming and the boys yelling off in the distance. I had been to the local zoo many times, but not in a couple years at this point in my life. I knew the exhibits well. Ahead was the lions, and the Chimpanzees. A friend and I ran over to the ruckus to see what was causing all the commotion. When we got to the primates, what a spectacle it was. Young people with little empathy for the caged primates who's DNA is 2% off from our own, are heckled and antagonized for some reaction, any reaction. Many of the hecklers got a fist fling of poo on their continuous egocentricity. Some with poop on their face, girls with poop on their hair, young boys with poop on their fancy jackets. Oh the yuck of it. Did those chimps detect the insecurity of their onlookers knowing poo face would be the ultimate blow to the hecklers fragile egos? As I watched the young boys, be boys, without egos, fun focused amusing themselves, it all took me back to feeling like my little ones were the spectacle in the zoo. It also took me to a time when I was exiting my teens, and into my early twenties running with some wild friends. When they encountered such behavior would emulate with increased amplitude and intensity the people who started it all would quickly leave the area. I hope my two little ones never have to compete so much their empathy falls off for attention. One can hope, but can one model? The lions spared no mercy on the excitement that day at the zoo. The antagonized male lions urinated at the hecklers. I was lucky not to be in with the main crowed at this outing. --- Their wood chip actions well observed by my son and daughter, spread to my son, as he decided to become wild with the wood chips. Using his hand digging in then quickly with an arching motion spread the chips out to the side, up with wood dust into the air, then picking up the chips and attempting to toss them into the air, only to get them onto his head. As he wiped the chips dust from his eyes, he spread the fine dust onto his face and cheeks, but he was happy to be part of the wildness. The father outside of the dome of the boys pulled out his phone for a moment. His youngest boy on the outside of the dome climbed all the way to the apex. He decided to put his feet through the iron bars, and hang there. As he hung there with two and a half of his hanging length from the ground, found he did not have the strength to pull himself back up. He called out to his father. His father told his boy to "hang on hang on, don't let go!" The father squeezed through the bars quickly has he could, to assist his boy, the boy hung there, until his father helped him to the ground. The boys still being wild at my children, all wondered about their mother. I too wondered when these wild boys will settle, but their energy sustained, and like nothing I've for forty years now, would not relent. Then their father moved out of the dome, and walked out of the wood chips, towards the water fountain. The boys saw, and like that they all left, and as they walked off my son watch them as they gathered around the water fountain. The water fountain is my children's favorite spot in the park. My son decided he would get out of the dome and head walk out of the bark, up the small ledge, and make his way to in the direction of the boys and the fountain. My daughter also observing her brother seemed to think this was the thing to do. Keep in mind at one year and three months of life, walking in shoes over the most uneven of terrain you've experienced in all those fifteen months of life, to keep up with the wild boys, is not possible, like humans watching deer spring about as they jump over the fences, and across the yards, my children do their best, but their best is slow. I have time to collect one of them, and entice them to stay near me. I grab my son and take him too the slid where a couple days before they enjoyed banging on the beautiful shinny steal slide. They banged the slide and it was like a drum, they watched it activate the wood chips in march towards the end of the slide. Today did not have the same effect. As I tried to keep my son interested int he slide, my daughter is still heading to the water fountain. My ears her her cries, I turn to look to see her face down the slope of the dry grass. She fell trying to walk down the steepest part of the dried grass. I ran back to scoop up my daughter, investigate her face, and dust her off, then encourage her to be OK, "You're OK." I say, and she quickly calms down as I dust her off. I place her next to the slide, and bang on it. I banged on the slide they smiled, and they joined in, but today is not yesterday, and yesterday the water fountain has seemed to remain in my children's minds. My son loses interest in the slide, returns to his adventure out of the wood chips, over the ledge, and too the fountain. He is determined to get to where he had so much fun splashing in the water, and trying to discover how the giant buttons work for each fountain. So I start walk towards the fountain so I could insure he doesn't go past the fountain onto the gravel road. I'm half way between the slide and the fountain and my son has no interest in anything but the fountain right now. I turn back and my daughter has been captured by fear of the sloping grass before her evident by her crying, and her paralysis. I turn back to help my frozen daughter. I take her hand and tell her "Its OK, we'll walk together. Come on." In a cheerful voice. My daughter and I walk down the slopping grass to meet her brother at the fountain. For my children the fountain isn't what it once was the last time they played here. No water is flowing from the fountain, because I decided I didn't want to deal with the mess today. They played at the fountain almost as if it was working, putting small rocks in the bowl of the fountain, tasting a few of the rocks before dropping into the bowl 'tink tink.' sound again and again the little rocks dropped into the bowl. My son attempts to operate the fountain push buttons but he doesn't understand what buttons control which fountain, nor does he know the proper pressure to apply. With the water not flowing, the interest is waning, so the bike rack next to the fountain looking like something to climb on, my boy decides to try out the structure. His sister attempts to follow, and as she gets up doesn't realize one of the fountain bowls is above her head, as she gets up her head is stopped by the fountain, she responds as anyone should with crying. I pick her up and console her, within that time her brother has decided to adventure towards the road. I put down my daughter run to pick up my son, and run him back to the wood chips, then gather my daughter. At the wood chips we play for a bit, I swing with my daughter, as her brother laughs at my feet scraping the pad under the swing. He is in adventure mode today and decides go on walk about to the park tables for all to eat at. Someone prepared for a picnic spread a table cloth onto the table has left their things about. My son walks off to see the stuff. His sister sees and starts to follow after awhile, but stops at the slope, scared. I call out to her brother, as sister and I walk together through the steep spots, until we meet up with her brother on the verge of collecting someones tumbler cup. We wander a bit, then I scoop up my children, walk back to the stroller, buckle the kids in and stroll back down the path towards the pier gathering rosemary for our bread recipe. Near the library the kids are starting to fall asleep. Their lethargy finally caught up with them, with milks in their dreams, they sleep all the way back to the house. At home like floppy little dolls I brush them off, and put them in the house. They wake up cranky crying, but nothing a milk doesn't fix until nap time. :)