31 May, 2012

The Kids of Indianapolis Have a New Hero

Sorry for the delay, those of you expecting this yesterday: My wi-fi died. It has been resurrected.

If you read through Brett's most recent post and comments (here), you might have noticed a tiny little response (or two) in the comment section where Brett mentioned that we spent Memorial Day together in Indianapolis.

Yep. And it was awesome. End of story.

Haha! Just kidding. I wouldn't tease you like that. I mean it was awesome, but that's not the end of the story. I'll share. ('cause I'm a giver like that.)

What happens when two bloggers get together? The ears of the entire blogosphere should be burning. Yesirree dudes, you were under discussion. Because we love you.
Hard to believe it's Indianapolis?


Brett and I are pretty comfortable together by now, so walking along the canal - beautified for the Superbowl, so a pretty nice walk - was comfortable.
People-watching near the museums and zoo was a riot, as you can imagine.

Believe me, Brett's the one making the jokes, and I am the one trying to keep my sides from splitting. (My friends in Delaware find me amusing, but I can't hold a candle to Brett for flat-out funny.)

We went to a baseball game in the evening. Victory Field in Indianapolis doesn't do bleachers in the outfield: they have sloping lawns instead. We had a blanket and a picnic, and set up under the sole tree (above the slope), because I was already pinking up from all the sun. Because we were near-ish to an entrance and concession stand, there were many families walking past us the whole time, and the occasional father-son or father-daughter pair playing catch behind us.

Dudes, I couldn't believe I was watching this phenomenon in person!

An abundance of random children.
...and in near proximity to Brett, the Transformed Non-conformist!

If you've read the post of Brett's that I highlighted above, you've heard his side of what happens when he is around young children.

Allow me to illuminate you! That's right. I was an eye-witness.

1. He's correct. It's not like he's trying to play with the kids. But if they stare - as kids tend to do - Brett will point at them in return. Sometimes this would cause them to laugh, sometimes to wave, sometimes to hide behind their parent. I tried to pull his hand down, but you know, "old dog...new tricks."

He was just trying to teach them what "rude" is!

2. Kids just walk in his direction. Really, we were just sitting there! In addition to the 8-9 year-old girls who seemed fascinated by us, and the parents playing catch with their kids, at one point a dad was walking his 2 or 3 year-old daughter near us. 
The dad & daughter. (It's a bit far away...)

When the dad was distracted by the game, Brett waved the girl over. She freely walked toward us, at which point Brett joked with the Dad about her opennness with strangers.  

He was just trying to teach a lesson in safety!

We had grapes sitting out on the cooler, so I suggested that she was walking toward food. (Everyone knows kids and animals are drawn to food.) I asked the girl if she wanted a couple grapes (not that she understood the question), and her dad quickly said, "Sure. She can have a grape."

I started  to reach into the ziploc and get out the grapes. The girl suddenly saw me - I think she was mesmerized by Brett until then - and started to back slowly away from our blanket.

Conclusion: Brett looks safe and I look scary.

3. The same little girl and her dad - after probably one or two more beers. He had apparently won her a prize: A small beachball designed to look like a baseball. They were again walking around near us. This time, Brett reached out as if to catch the ball. Without question, she tossed it to him.

The little girl who snubbed me.
 They played catch for a few minutes, while her Dad was shooting the breeze with us and another dad meandering the grassy area. Then they continued walking away.

She never once threw the ball to me.

Conclusion: Brett exudes a "fun" vibe that I obviously lack.

4. After the game, on our way out of town, Brett pulled into a gas station to fill up for the drive home. Now, he had been apologizing for the bird poop on my side of the windshield (like it was his fault), and intended to take care of it. Then I saw the minivan across from us seemed to have commandeered several of the squeegees for the one adult and two kids to tackle all the windows on their vehicle.

I heard the girl (about 9yo?) complain to her big brother (maybe 11?) that it was HER turn to do THAT side of the van.

...next thing you know, Brett found two young windshield washers to attack our bird-poop.

The big brother started on Brett's side...
The girl was too short to effectively reach the windshield, so Brett gave her some help:
Yes, she's standing on the hood.
He was just trying to solve the sibling dispute!

It was a delightful day by every standard. And it was especially fun to be able to verify what precisely happens in these scenarios. Believe me, dudes: Brett is NOT making it up!

24 comments:

  1. The adventures of Red and Brett continues...

    Good to see you had a good long weekend while those of us else where in the world didn't :p

    Enjoy the sunshine, and prepare for the gossiping to continue.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's always an adventure.

      Well I'm not gonna take your bait. You guys get holidays we don't get.

      Delete
  2. Hm... maybe it's just me - but when a dude is cute with kids, it makes my uterus skip a beat ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not me. Brett and I are well-matched in that regard. I'm just glad that they're someone else's kids and therefore will eventually go away.

      ...cute though the situation may be!

      Delete
  3. Ohhhhhh lovely post! So much fun to get all these details! My very favourite part was how you would try and pull his hand down lol... something very cute about that and it just jumped out at me! I also love the whole picnic scene - it sounds so comfortable and relaxed.

    Great to have you there to verify kids' fascination with Brett. (Emphasize the words great, you and brett in the previous sentence.)

    Thanks for being a giver ;-)... I really enjoyed this!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are welcome!

      At the moment that the little girl backed away from us when I started getting involved - after coming over with a wave of Brett's hand - I realized this was blogging material. Ya'll need to know!

      ...As soon as I'd pull down one pointing hand, his other would go up. It was a full time job between innings! Then he bought me a beer and I stopped.

      Delete
    2. Lol! You guys are too cute :)

      Delete
  4. Hee hee! I don't think you're scary, maybe she had a crush and saw you as the competition!

    Sounds like you had a lovely time!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like that! Mom's always accuse their little boys of "flirting" if they play peekaboo with me. Maybe it was just the fact that this was a baseball game and the boys were actually watching the game. (sounds like a stereotype, but it's true.)

      Delete
  5. Oh wow. I wonder why he is a child magnet? Children dislike me and me them, I have no idea how to interact with anyone younger then eight. However, having the mystical ability to make children wash my car seems like it would be pretty sweet- dude- DUDE, it would be like if the Pied Piper was less evil and really lazy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm with you. I relate much better with the pre-teens.

      It must be a superpower. Brett has many superpowers, I'm discovering. Did you read his post about the Chaos Butterfly Powers? Yeah, that's just one. The Pied Piper Power is another! (I like that. I'm going to use it.)

      Delete
  6. Wow. PROOF! Proof that he is a child whisperer!! Thank goodness you were there to document this phenomenon.

    So, who were you talking about. Hmmm???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, you of course. Only, because we didn't remember to be photo-ninjas early enough, it became more a question of whether WE were going to feature in another blogger's version of Weekly Whacked...or if maybe one of these people walking the canal were readers of yours!

      There were others who featured in our converstions, too, but with the weekly homework from Mistyslaws, you're omnipresent, my dear!

      Delete
  7. Maybe it's a man thing? I tend to have kids trust me as soon as they meet me. But then again I'm so short and immature that they probably think I'm one of them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, Brett's definitely not short...

      Maybe it is a man thing, but I'd venture a guess that you actually ARE trustworthy.

      Delete
    2. Hahaha that's good to hear, but I'd say if you're willing to travel across the country to be with someone you met on the internet, then to you, everyone's trustworthy :)

      Delete
    3. Oh, you joined after the decision was made.

      I moved to be with my family. (see http://doesntspeakklingon.blogspot.com/2012/02/asking-cosmose-is-it-bad-to-boomerang.html ) Brett's living nearish is truly a happy coincidence.

      Delete
  8. Just thought you'd like to know you've been nominated as the recipient of the coveted Kreativ Blogger award...

    http://michaeldagostino.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/id-like-to-thank-academy.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dude! Ken just awarded that to me! You were on my list to give it to! (I just haven't posted yet.)
      Thanks!

      Delete
    2. Hey, I'll still take it! Two awards in two days would be pretty rad!

      Delete
  9. It was a great day. I can't help it with the kids. Children are so gullible the temptation to not mess with them is just too strong.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I realize it truly is your joking personality. It's hilarious to watch. Clearly I was having fun with it too.

      Delete
  10. Kids seem to love me, even if I don't love them. Like, if they look at me, I'll look away, because I don't want them to acknowledge me. Instead, they come and try to talk to me because they think I'm so much fun. I guess I can be fun with kids, but how do they know this when I'm trying my best to be a grump and ignore them?

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  11. Looks like it was an awesome day of fun. :)

    ReplyDelete

I enjoy a good debate. Feel free to shake things up. Tell me I'm wrong. Ask me why I have such a weird opinion. ...or, just laugh and tell how this relates to you and your life.