Gulfport, Florida – Gone are the day when we prioritized travel over school. When the twins were younger, I had no qualms about taking them out of school on a whim, whether for a Covid precaution or a canceled flight. Now that the twin-agers are in high school, we can’t get away with that. Therefore, we took a very quick trip to Florida this year. The main purpose was to celebrate a grandparent’s significant birthday (90!), but we managed to squeeze in a few Florida essentials.
Pickleball
Pickleball is one of the few things that our family does together that everybody enjoys. It’s something I can propose – even in the morning during school vacation – and everybody is up for it. Plus, the twins associate Florida with pickleball, since this is where they learned to play. So we always bring our rackets and find some courts (which is not hard to do).
But wow, it has really been tough the last several times we played. The twins are so competitive with each other. One loves to heckle and the other gets rattled, and the match descends into bitterness. Sometimes Daddio and I force them to team up against us, which helps – if they win. If they don’t win they just get angry and blame each other. Today we quit early and we were too cranky to take pictures, so here is a pickleball photo from years past (from PKL Boston).
I reprimanded them in the car on the way home, telling them they both need to lighten up. Twin S said I don’t understand because I don’t have a sibling, which is not true.
But it is true that my brother and I were never very competitive with each other, because we went to different schools, and we had different friends and different interests. Also, we are not twins.
Anyway, I hope this was not the last time we play pickleball together. We shall see.
Spring Training
On a happier note, we also managed to catch the Red Sox during their spring training. In past years, we have seen the Sox play in Sarasota and at their home training field in Fort Myers. This year, we went with a crew of aunts and cousins up to TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Florida to see the Sox take on the Toronto Blue Jays.
Unfortunately, most of the players that we know and love are off getting ready for the World Baseball Classic. And in fact, if we could stay just a few days longer, we could see the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua face off in Miami. (But alas… school…) Instead, we enjoyed checking out the prospects for the upcoming season. Keep your eye on Johan Oviedo (pitcher) and Justin Gonzales (slugger)!