Confession
I am abundantly bored by many kid-oriented activities. Places with names like "Fun Center" and anything smacking of a water park make me go cold. Even the zoo bores me out of my mind. Of course, you necessarily have to do things like this from time to time, but anyone who offers to take The Child to such places without me are permanently enshrined in my Hall O' Heroes.
The track, however, is another story. Especially when you take a couple of young tweeners. The kids sat near us, but not with us. (Where The Child endeared herself to a couple of older women, who followed her advice & won a couple of races). They went to the arcade. They watched the races down by the track, far from us but still within sight. Uncle D (who is permanently enshrined in aforementioned hall) took them down to the paddock. They were capable of getting their own beverages. Thus saved from having to entertain them, I could just sit with The Neighbor, drink Mike's and make bad $2 bets. This was a very good thing and not the least bit boring.
I was surrounded by winners. The Neighbor picked a horse in the second that netted her $12. Which she promptly spent on a couple of bottles of Mike's. The kids were asking me to place bets for them. (Yes, contributing to the deliquency of minors. Guilty). The Child's friend is a math savant and that frackin' kid picked 3 winners out of 4. Including one horse that pulled ahead of mine in the final stretch. I wanted to smack him but, you know, he's not mine. I, on the other hand, lost in every race.
But no matter. I got to place my bets, which I've decided is the best part of going to the track. "In the 4th, $2 to win on 6". I love doing that. I would like to create a job for myself wherein all I do is go to the window for other people. In one race I placed 3 bets. I wrote everything down in the exact order and read from the form when I laid down my money. Then I leaned in to the woman and whispered, "Did I do that alright?"
She beamed and said, "You did that exactly right. You can now consider yourself a pro". Doesn't take much to make me happy, does it?
It was a beautiful day, we saw friends and the kids didn't drive us nuts. Gotta like that.
The track, however, is another story. Especially when you take a couple of young tweeners. The kids sat near us, but not with us. (Where The Child endeared herself to a couple of older women, who followed her advice & won a couple of races). They went to the arcade. They watched the races down by the track, far from us but still within sight. Uncle D (who is permanently enshrined in aforementioned hall) took them down to the paddock. They were capable of getting their own beverages. Thus saved from having to entertain them, I could just sit with The Neighbor, drink Mike's and make bad $2 bets. This was a very good thing and not the least bit boring.
I was surrounded by winners. The Neighbor picked a horse in the second that netted her $12. Which she promptly spent on a couple of bottles of Mike's. The kids were asking me to place bets for them. (Yes, contributing to the deliquency of minors. Guilty). The Child's friend is a math savant and that frackin' kid picked 3 winners out of 4. Including one horse that pulled ahead of mine in the final stretch. I wanted to smack him but, you know, he's not mine. I, on the other hand, lost in every race.
But no matter. I got to place my bets, which I've decided is the best part of going to the track. "In the 4th, $2 to win on 6". I love doing that. I would like to create a job for myself wherein all I do is go to the window for other people. In one race I placed 3 bets. I wrote everything down in the exact order and read from the form when I laid down my money. Then I leaned in to the woman and whispered, "Did I do that alright?"
She beamed and said, "You did that exactly right. You can now consider yourself a pro". Doesn't take much to make me happy, does it?
It was a beautiful day, we saw friends and the kids didn't drive us nuts. Gotta like that.
cobbled together by Moi at 8:42 PM
5 Comments:
Glad you had a good time!
Make a bet for me next time you go.:) hehe
These are the best kinds of days!
Sounds like fun.
But . . . how can you not like the zoo? Paul Simon wrote a song about going there and everything. (Okay, it's a thinly-veiled metaphor for the human condition, but still.)
We practically live there. You know it's bad when your three-year-old notices that only thirteen of the usual fourteen penguins are outside.
Pat, I knew I'd take some heat for my less-than-pro-zoo attitude. I like parts of the zoo. We have a very beautiful zoo here. The savannah is nice, as is the Thai elephant house. Penguins are my favorite and who doesn't love standing in front of the kukabura singing that ridiculous song over and over and over and over...
The zoo is great. I've been there. But once you've pet one pygmy goat, you've pet them all. But I think you're a frackin' hero for going so often that your children know the animals by name. You are a very good daddy.
I like Paul Simon, very much.
Having recently spent some time in hell, aka Chuck E. Cheese, I can related to the lack of enthusiasm for kid activities. DramaQueen won enough tickets to get a whoopee cushion.
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