Funny Boys.

I typed this yesterday, but blogger was done when I went to load it.

Well, today & yesterday was summer program with my boys. I do have a girl in the program, but she didn't start until the last month, so I still think of the group as the boys.

On Monday, we had a small group and decided to take them to the nature center. There is something about this group of boys -- THEY LOVE PLAYING IN WATER. These are the kind of boys that if they haven't returned to class in a while and are out on a pass to the bathroom, are actually in there playing in the water.

Now, they only love playing in the water when they are not supposed to. Ask them to shower and bathe before coming to school and you swear you were speaking a different language. Ask them to wash their hands before a cooking class and you are sure that they thought you told them they had one more day to live. But give them a river, a pond, or a lake and they think it is the best. The dirtier the water the better, but it better be warm. The slightest bit of chill and they turn into the biggest pussies.

So, we are at the nature center and they are begging to go in the turtle pond (which is pretty deep, mucky, and covered in green stuff). We manage to leave without one of them hurling themselves in there just to piss us off. But they only leave because of the promise to be able to walk in the water at the river at Alexander Park.

I guess I learned that day that I need to specify that they should stop walking in when they reach their clothing, because they just started walking in right up to their necks and then started swimming around. And it's not like they weren't going to get to go swimming because we were taking them to the Aquatic Center right after that. Of course, there the water is clean and clorinated and they spent half the time hanging around us.

Then there is today - we went to Lake Francis today. What a nice beach they have there. So, this was a lake and they went running on in as soon as they were changed. And they were scavengeing around for ANYTHING. One kid found a pair of sandals that were left there and they fit him -- good thing too, because he came without any shoes today. What kid goes anywhere without shoes? Well, apparently our boy and the one who left these there.

And then they found another pair of sandals, but this time they were probably left there from a 6 year old girl. But of course they had to fight over who got them and wear them around. And then there was the ratty towel, the frisbee, and broken goggles. There was a dirty old sock there too, but they didn't want to touch that. Sure - they can run around in tiny sandals with a ratty towel as a cape and broken goggles in a dirty lake that they probably peed in, but they draw the line at someone's old sock.

After that, we went mini-golfing. Last year I was the champion, so I fueled a little competetion in the boys by challenging them to see if they could beat me. One actually had gone mini-golfing this summer to practice. I don't know how good he was to begin with, but it didn't hurt, because he tied me for first place. I think that made him feel pretty good and he asked if I would post that scorecard up all year like I did with the one from last year. I told him I would. Kids like it when they can beat you, or at least be equal to you.

I sure hope something changes with the situation at the high school so that I don't have to change positions. I really like working with these kids. They are funny boys.