Ontario 2014 -- The "Ultimate" Visit

Greta loves me, so there was pizza on the day of our arrival. One with meat (boo!) and three vegetarian options (yaa!). Like our family, they like to eat outside nearly exclusively in the summer. They have a wonderful, sheltered deck with burgeoning grape vines and a peach tree surrounding it with vibrant leaves.

Max knows how to get attention and is incredibly full of energy. The first thing he wanted to show me was his room. At this point, he was called "Super Bat." He was only too happy to continue throwing himself off his dresser until I got the perfect shot with my camera.

Darwyn was pretty shy of me at first. Her reluctance to smile, despite my strategic sulking, was heartbreaking (if typical). I'm used to this response from my work at the library and managed to persevere in short order.
Success!!! I got to tell them a bedtime story. We made up a lengthy story about Super Bat Max and Fairy Princess Darwyn. We also sang to guitar: Pete the Cat Loves His White Shoes and Pete the Cat and his 4 Groovy Buttons.

Leora and Anwyn have both put endless amounts of energy into Max and Darwyn, who are ridiculously cute and relentless in their pursuit of playmates.

When left to ourselves, we have been pretty relaxed; Enjoying the nature trails and reading a lot has been high on our priority list. Anwyn and I have had a chance to play some basketball and Greta and Gus invited me to play Ultimate with them. I've never had a chance before and was quite excited.

We played both rain AND shine. The reward... a radiant rainbow

Like most sports, Ultimate basics are simple, but there is a high level of skill required to play competitively. Also, I'm pretty sure I was 7-10 years older than the next oldest player and I suspect 2 decades older than some. When you are 20, this is a huge advantage. When you are 42, it is less of an advantage.

Gus had a little thing called intensity

It was a pretty intense game and I had to work hard to be accepted as a functioning member of the team. It is hard to want to take a chance on the "new guy" when you are down 3 points right from the get go. Things got better when I completed my first pass and I fit right in once I helped score my first point.

All I had were legs used to running upstairs for an hour :) 

I woke up VERY SORE :(
Apparently, playing a new and agressive sport (including a spectacular diving catch followed by an "emergency eject" backwards roll) can lead to neck stiffness. Who knew?

The continuing photo set of Ontario 2014 as well as my evening of Ultimate