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Jordie is too old to do Easter Egg hunts now, he had told his mom as much when she had been looking at the First Christian Church notice board on the way to the skate park. It was a bit annoying how she was surprised, but he was nearly in middle school, he didn't need that stuff anymore. He wasn't a little kid.
It looked like there were already some kids trying to search for Easter eggs early in the church pool, kind of embarrassing if you ask him. They looked like they were Sophie's age. Maybe they hadn't gotten into the arts programme and needed something to do over Easter, not everyone was as talented as his sister.
They walked on, and Jordie tried to ask his mum about work, but it was really boring, so he was happy when she started asking him about the skateboard tricks he was trying to learn.
Jordie had to spend a bit of time explaining what an Ollie was (again) but his mom said it sounded cool, and they can show it to Sophie when they collect her from her art day at the community center. It's kind of a shame it's just for middle school students, but Jordie supposes he gets to practice skateboarding so, it's not all bad. He's excited to have something new to show Sophie when she gets home.
There were some older kids at the skate park and one of them helps him practice his Ollie until it's basically perfect! He is getting it right 4 out of 5 times attempts by the time his mom says they need to leave so they can pick up Sophie, but she does let him skate along beside her (if he keeps his helmet and pads on) so he is pretty sure he'll get it 100% by the time they meet Sophie.
"Mom, Jordie!" Sophie's enthusiasm is infectious as she runs out of the community center, her fairy wings flapping in the wind. She had paint on her hands and even a little bit on her forehead somehow. Jordie waves until she gets up to them and gives their mom a hug, and then Jordie.
"How did your skateboard practice go Jordie?" Sophie asks, grinning. She had been worried about him feeling left out for not being able to go to the art classes, so was glad that he looked like he had a nice day too.
"I'm getting really good now! I can do an Ollie, and next I'm going to learn how to do a front 180, I'll show it to you when we get home, it's really cool."
"Jordie's really doing well with his skating now, I think he was doing better than a lot of the older boys at the park today. Next time we can all go together, there were some nice places to sit and watch the skating for us to use Sophie." Diane was happy to see both her kids smiling so much, and was glad that today had been a success. Jordie always seems so much happier when Sophie is around, so Diane's pleased they would be able to spend the rest of the day together, even if it meant she was going to become one step closer to being a Rainbow Spirit Fairy expert by proximity. It wasn't such a bad thing to learn about really.
"Sophie, what did you make at your art class?" Jordie asked, seeing at last the rolled up paper, shedding glitter, that Sophie was carrying.
"It's Jaina! The teacher worked with us on how shading and light sources work, and then we got to draw whatever we wanted with their help so I drew Jaina flying in the moonlight. Mom, can you help me put her up in my room when we get home please?"
"I'll look for the blu-tack as soon as we are back, and we can find a good place for her. Now, would anyone want to head to Zaharakos, or are we all too tired out? Jordie did a lot of exercise earlier, and art can be very hard work. Maybe we should just go home." Diane said, tapping her chin, as her children both argued that they had enough energy for ice cream, Sophie grabbing her hand and pulling, and Jordie pushing her along, towards the Ice Cream shop, where they would spend a lovely afternoon eating ice cream and taking turns talking about what they had gotten up to.
It wasn't easy raising two kids alone but, Diane thought that she probably had the best kids in the world, and their joy kept her going. It would be nice if they could keep coming back here, eating ice cream and talking about art and skateboarding and Rainbow Fairies for a long time yet. Maybe they can visit again at Christmas, and try the hot chocolate, make it a little family day out. She brings it up, and Jordie and Sophie both agree, and they make plans to come back during the winter break from school, Jordie is going to try to consume his body weight in hot chocolate and ice cream, and Sophie is going to try as many of the flavors as she can. Diane might have to step in if their plans get too detailed, but for now, she just sits back and lets them discuss logistics and how heavy one hot chocolate is in comparison to Jordie, and how many he'll have to drink.