Basketball and horseshoes

While we were visiting my mom last month little Eric went to basketball camp. He was in heaven- basketball is his favorite sport in the world. He learned a ton and was just so excited to get to play all day everyday for a whole week. Each day when he got home we would drill him for specifics on what he had done, who he'd played with, etc., which is how we first got drawn into the saga of the androgynous camper....

When Eric came home the first afternoon, he told us there was a boy on his team named Katie. I thought that was interesting, and figured that maybe the child's name was K.D. The next morning when I dropped him off I went in to watch for a while. Eric started shooting around with this very cute, sort of tomboyish little girl. He turned to me and mouthed that this was "Katie". I nodded my head and thought about whispering in his ear that this was DEFINITELY a little girl, and a very cute, if tomboyish one at that. She had shoulder-length blond hair and I reasoned that if you were going to name your little boy what is typically a girl's name, you definitely would not let him have long hair- right? But when Eric got home that afternoon he insisted that Katie was a boy. He said that on the first day the coach made everyone on the team say their names and whether they were a boy or a girl. Ahhhhh....so the coach had been confused as to Katie's gender as well and that had been his clever way of figuring it out. So it must be K.D. and he must indeed be a boy. Also, Eric said K.D. had a brother on another team who referred to K.D. as "my brother". That pretty much settled it. Until the last afternoon of camp. We sat in the bleachers with the other parents, watching our kids show off their newly acquired skills. While the other moms were exclaiming over Michael Jackson's death and chatting about playdates, I was alternately watching Eric and the tall middle-aged man in front of me- K.D.'s father. I could have sworn I'd just heard him turn to the lady beside him and refer to K.D. as "she"! Later on, when K.D. had won just about every prize there was, I definitely heard him tell someone, "She'll be back next year." As we were leaving, I caught a glimpse of the certificate he was holding: Katie was written in the name field. !?!?!?!?!?

Anyway, as I said, Eric had lots of fun and even got the good attitude award on one of the days. On the last day there was a tournament and his team won his division, so he got a trophy, which he slept with for at least a week. Never mind that there were only two teams in his division! The kid just loves basketball- so cute.






While his brother was at basketball camp, we got the chance to take Brigham out to see Sugar the horse, who belongs to my mom's friend Julie. Luckily for us, our visit coincided with that of the farrier- the man who shoes the horses. It was so fascinating to watch him! We learned that being a farrier is a backbreaking and dangerous job. He told us that farriers almost never retire- they either become disabled or are killed on the job.

First, the horse gets a pedicure...



Then the farrier uses the old shoe to help him shape a new one...


Then he puts the new shoe into this little toaster-oven-on-steroids...


And then he puts the shoe on the horse, which sears the hoof and smells like burning hair...


This particular farrier was incredibly kind and friendly and even gave Brigham a horseshoe to take home, which he promptly lost (so much for good luck). I thought he looked exactly like Matthew McConaughey, but thought better of mentioning that to Eric. Not that I think Matthew McConaughey is attractive. I simply noticed the resemblance. But then he mentioned it to me, so I don't mind pointing it out...don't you agree?



Oh, and check this out: this horse was once a racehorse, so he has his jockey's name tattoed inside his lip!


The best part was that the barn was an amazing place to take pictures...