Pumpkin Patch! (week 243)

One of the best parts of being a kid is going to the Pumpkin Patch. In Long Beach, the Pumpkin Patch not only comes with thousands of pumpkins, but also goats, baby chicks, slides, a train, and all kinds of games. Last year, Christopher was not yet one and couldn't get a whole lot out of the Pumpkin Patch given that he was still in the stroller and not walking. But this year--along with his friends Maddie and Emma--Christopher was a pumpkin picking, train-riding, goat-kissing fool. Yes, Christopher loves to kiss farm animals.

One of the problems with growing-up is something called money. When you are little (3 years-old or less), there is no mention or requirement for money. Christopher doesn't have to deal with this yer--he is still very innocent--but stuff costs money. You can get money in lots of different ways. For instance, I get money in the mail from Grandma Dubby on a regular basis. Granted it is about $2 at a time but it certainly adds-up. You can also get money by doing jobs around the house: putting away groceries, picking-up the leaves, collecting cans, or sweeping. The best way to get money is to take the change from Daddy's car, bag, or drawer.

In any case, the good thing about money is that you can use it to buy stuff. In the old days (when I was just a kid), we would go bowling, golfing, or take a ride on the train at the Pumpkin Patch. For all I knew, everything was free. But there came a day when both my parents told me the big secret about the world: things cost money; and that I would have to start earning and saving my money if I wanted new and different things. In any case, it's just something that Chris is going to have to learn about the world if he wants to keep doing fun stuff. This week, I earned money for a number of different things and got to go to the Pumpkin Patch for the second time this year; went golfing with Daddy; and we are going to take all our bottles and cans to the College to see if we can get enough money to buy new soccer goals.

Speaking of goals, the Silver Sharks played their best game of the year this Saturday moving to 4-1 on the season. The big difference has been our defense. We have been practicing our marking and clearing on Wednesdays and it has clearly paid off. We beat the Jets--yes the Sharks and the Jets played at Heartwell Park this week but there were no dance-offs or knife-fights--four to nothing, which was our first shut-out of the season. I have taken the position of Sweeper to heart, and to everyone's surprise prefer defending the goal, clearing the ball on break-aways, and bossing everyone else around on my team. In any case, we are on a solid win streak and looking forward to playing the team with the giant kid that we saw on another field after our game. See you next week.