Spring Break I

At last, flowers are blooming, buds are opening, trees are greening and it’s finally possible to go without a coat. At least for the next few days. We’re not sure how long this will last and neither is Sam Champion, our local New York weather hero (advertisement: ‘He is our Champion...’ to the Queen song, believe it or not, it’s true), but we’re making the most of it.

On Sunday we went downstairs and made use of the tennis courts out the back. Turns out I’m a fairly ordinary tennis player, which was no surprise to me considering my fitness level, but I have had the benefit of coaching when younger. My darling spouse however, learned in the wilds of a Saudi condominium where tennis coaches are few and far between, and boys will be boys. In all fairness to him, he was hardly playing a professional, and we’re both undoubtedly a little rusty (as in the seven years we’ve been together we’ve never played tennis), but I almost fell over laughing when I saw his technique. Now I know that is very unfair and a totally mean thing to do, and completely undermines my position as ‘supportive spouse’, but it was really funny. A few tips from me and we got a rough game of hit going. He was capable of hitting the ball once he got motivated enough to move his feet.

We both took turns at helping Yasmin have a hit, but she’s not quite there yet. A few more goes at it and she just might manage to hit a ball by herself. She soon got bored and did sterling duty as ballgirl for a while, then decided to go off exploring in the garden and find bugs to squish. The outing in the sun ended when she, for some inexplicable reason, decided to pick up two giant rocks and smack them together over her head, squishing her thumb in the process. A few tears, a cuddle and we went inside (coz heaven knows we were exhausted and needed very little excuse to call it quits for the day).

After a light lunch we decided to go for a swim. We both agree that apartment living has it’s downside, but the facilities provided onsite help to make up for the deficiencies. A few hours splashing about knackered us all, but it was a great family day out, and we didn’t even have to go out.