Picture perfect

I am through with overambitious projects.

I made it through cooking a Shavuot dinner for fifty that was okay, but not great. The Tex-Mex theme was wonderful in theory, but not spectacular in practice. Nobody said anything negative to me, but neither would they. I just had the feeling that it was too different, exotic, or even weird for this particular crowd. I walked home that night in the pouring rain, exhausted, disappointed, and relieved it was over. The best thing, however, was that I got the itch to cook for dozens out of my system. It will be a long, long time before I take on that kind of challenge again.

But don't hold me to it.

On the other hand, my other overambitious endeavor was a spectacular success. Yesterday was field day at my elementary school. I planned a three-hour extravaganza of activities for my 400 girls, and most everyone went home happy. For once I could go home, not with a tepid sense of relief, but with a smile of satisfaction.

Field day is an American elementary school tradition. A few hours, half a day, or a full day are dedicated to fun and games. Field day is almost always planned by the physical education teacher, and is indubitably the bane of all teachers who are forced to trudge around in the hot sun keeping their kids from going completely bonkers. That's half the fun for us P.E. teachers.

My field day was a half-day affair consisting of 17 different events ranging from the traditional tug-of-war, sack races, three-legged races, egg and spoon relays, and bean tosses to some more unusual events like a chopstick and bean race, a relay race in matronly outfits, and a race to remove marbles with one's toes from a baby pool full of water. There were some cooperative games like a race to build a tower of painted cardboard boxes and a relay race where girls paired up to hold a tennis ball between two racquets while running around a cone.

We had scooter board races, hula hoops contests, jumping rope contests, beach ball volleyball, and a race to pop balloons by sitting on them. In addition, my principal brought a couple of moon bounces to give the girls an opportunity to literally bounce off the walls.

We finished off with frozen treats and a good old-fashioned water balloon toss for the seventh grade girls who set up and ran the event. Everyone went home wet, exhausted, and smiling. I couldn't ask for more. Even the weather was cooperative with a perfect, sunny 75 degrees smiling down on us all.

Yay me!

It helped, immeasurably, that expectations were really low. My girls had never had a field day, and had no idea what to expect. My principal was nervous enough to request I not ask parents to help, lest they witness pure chaos.

It felt so good to finish my first year on a high note. The girls cheered for me and sang my praises, and little third graders timidly asked, "are you coming back next year?" and smiled broadly when I said yes.

Now all that's left is to wrap up the semester. I get to clean up my equipment, order my new supplies for next year, and maybe sit through a meeting or two.

But then it's summer! I haven't looked so forward to summer break since I was a college kid anticipating a wild road trip. My kids will all be in camp, my husband will be working, and I will be relaxing, exercising, writing, sleeping, shopping, dreaming, swimming, reading, sunbathing, and absolutely, completely, and utterly refusing to stress out about ANYTHING.

My son enjoyed a tremendous taste of his own success this past week when he performed in his second piano recital. He looked so handsome in his blue button down shirt and khaki pants, and he played beautifully. We were all beaming at the end of the day, but none greater than my son.

I took the day off today to spend a little time with my kids before they start camp. We picked up a dear young friend from San Antonio who is one of our beloved babysitters and not-frequent-enough guests at our Shabbat table and dragged her along on what we billed as a "family adventure". We started off at the kid's favorite restaurant, and then headed straight downtown to the law school parking lot. We walked the Michigan Mile to Millennium Park, stopping to touch a stone from the Alamo cemented into the Tribune Tower as an homage to our home. Our adventure continued at the Target Family Pavilion at Millennium Park where my daughters made art projects, including works inspired by Alexander Calder. We then went to the play area where I was challenged to a hula hoop contest by a seven year old boy. I won.

Meanwhile, my son skulked in the corner, not wanting to waste his time at this "baby place". He didn't lose the frown when we took our friend to see the bean for her first time. The girls, however, where thrilled to give her the tour.

My son finally pulled out of his blue funk at the Crown Fountain. It's hard to stay miserable when you have the perfect troika of sun, water, and art. My children were soaked from splashing around the water, but we didn't care. The sun would dry out their attire in no time. Our friend got a kick out of the spitting faces of the fountains and the smiling faces of my kids who kept running back to her to show her how wet they were, before dashing back into the fray.

From there we debated whether to walk or take a trolley to Navy Pier. We ended up walking past Buckingham Fountain, along a couple of yacht clubs, over the Wacker bridge, to the river walk by Navy Pier. I tried desperately not to be a nervous wreck watching my toddler running on her chubby little legs precariously close to the waterfront. I occasionally called out, I don't want to jump in after you! But I needn't have been such a worry wart. She was surrounded by loved ones watching her like a hawk, including her big brother. We arrived at Navy Pier safely, and I treated the kids to some ice cream and myself to a coffee before heading off to our next adventure.

At this point we split up. The girls and I went up on the giant ferris wheel, while my son and our friend played miniature golf down below. The girls enjoyed the gentle, slow ride up into the cloudless blue sky to see the city spread out below us. My son loved playing putt-putt with his babysitter. Everyone had a huge smile on his or her face.

We topped off the adventure with a water taxi ride back to Michigan Avenue and our car. We dropped off our young friend, headed home, ate a quick and easy supper, and the kids went to bed without too much of a fight.

Our friend seemed to marvel at our scoffing at plans, schedules, or maps. We winged it from the moment we picked her up. It was a bit more spontaneity than she was used to, but for us it was a typical family adventure. How adventurous is a mapped out, minute-by-minute schedule? It was exhilarating and draining, but we survived it. More than that, we thoroughly, completely, and entirely enjoyed a wonderful day together.

If only I had remembered the camera...