St. Batman's Day

After grinding hard last 2 weeks, I discovered I completed my obligation for Q1 a day early. Excellent!

It's my kid's spring break and they are out of school. My plans came to fruition and I took Friday off (with my boss' blessing).

Backstory

Now not long ago, my kids and I were hitting up a Goodwill and discovered a few Batman costumes. They begged for them and I relented. Then, they begged weekly to wear them. Today was the day they got to don the mantle of the Dark Knight. Todat was Batman Day!

It was also St. Patrick's Day but that's another story.

Stop 1 : Skate Park?

Our first destination Friday was a local skate park.

But why? Great Question!

Batman Parkour!

Think of all those ramps, step, and slides! It's a perfect place to hone crime fighting parkour skills. My two Batmen ran up and jumped ramps. They also slid down them on their padded Batman bums. I even pulled out the Go Pro for some extreme Batman First Person action!

I haven't seen the footage but I bet it'll be awesome. After an hour of fighting virtual crime, the skaters started to arrive. My Batmen were ready for a break, a drink, and the beach.

Stop 2 : Buc-ee's

If you never heard of Buc-ee's it's an over the top experience. They are huge with a ton of  beaver swagged items, clean restrooms, and jerky. That's just scratching the surface.

There are rows and rows of canned, pickled everything. Columns of chocolate covered bagged everything. I could go on and on for a while.

Anyway, after the kids declared they wanted everything, one at a time.

"I want this... No I want this... Can I have this too?"

The kids ended up agreeing they wanted Icees. Blue Rasberry, Watermelon, Dr. Pepper Icees.

Yeah, I got weird kids.

Stop 3 : East Beach

To my surprise, even though it was Spring break, East Beach wasn't crowded. It was also pretty early and on a Friday.

Still, It was a great day with a ton on beach sports. Beach hockey, beach soccer, beach animal ball... We got some serious cardio in on the beach.

We even splashed a bit in the water!

One of the coolest parts was a company of horse riders passed us on the beach. John's jaw dropped! He stares with laser eyes at the horse until they were out of sight, then asked each minute where they went. That guy.

Stop 4 : Merand Park

After a few hours, we were ready for some shade so we packed up and hit the stand. I knew the kids would soon be asking about lunch so I was seeking out budget friendly food opportunities. Lunch prices can rack up quick on the island.

During the search, we came across a local park  near the pleasure pier. Thank goodness too because the kids were talking about Bubba Gumps. I wasn't interested in spending $50 of some food they weren't even going to eat.

"Hey look! A park!"

It was enough to distract them.

Our thing is playing at new parks. Our game of choice is tag.

It amazes me how good my kids are at tag.  Watching them move, I discovered new and better ways to express movement. What's cool is my new movements in turn inspire them to learn new movements too.

One in particular was in ascending a spiral slide. I learned how to twist just right and without effort move up it or stop in the center, just out of reach of tagging arms.

Another movement I'm getting better at is an assisted front lever. I pull up on a bar and go horizontal, toes braces against something else, supporting my hold.

The taller kids, they still can jump and tag me, but that;s okay. Itt's when the smaller kids just gape at me, seeing some random dad levitating.. That's cool. It's also so cool hearing my kids brag on me.

Stop 5 : Little Ceaser's

After an hour there, the kids were wiped and ready for lunch. The two older wanted pizza and John wanted hot dogs. I wanted cheap. We got pizza, wings, and root beer at Little Ceaser's

$14 feed 4 people.

Not every meal needs to be organic.  Sometime the healthiest food is the junk food. We reviewed the day as the kids dug in. I ate my part too but made sure to eat slow.

It's funny. 2 years ago, that meal which fed 4 would have just fed me.

Stop 6 : Schrieber Park

With the kids recharged and ready, I knew the right place to go.

Last week when I took John to the Lone Star Flight Museum, we passed a park I was quite interested in. The thing was, it was raining. This Friday was nice and sunny.

As I arrived I saw I wasn't the only one with that great idea. Crowds of kids dominated the play structures, running this way and that.  The main play structure was 3 levels high and packed with kids. I let the 2 older loose on the horde and took John to the calmer splash pad area.

It only took John 30 minutes to touch the water. He's a riot. My two older are too brave but John is still hard to warm up to new experiences. Still, they all had a great time.

After an hour, they were ready to read home. It was less than 5 minutes in the drive before all 3 where passed out.

Point dad!