Kid Tracks Column: A day on the green... sort of

Most people go to the driving range to improve their golf game. Since my family has never played a game of golf other than that of the miniature variety, what excuse would we have to go there? My husband's explanation for why he goes with his friends even though he doesn't golf worked well enough for all of us: "I like to whack the golf balls and see how far they can go."

No lines, no waiting and a space to call our own for as long as the golf ball supply lasted attracted us to the driving range. I wasn't interested in learning technique. I just wanted to hit some golf balls with the kids without all of the waiting around that comes with the miniature golf territory.

Once at the driving range, I realized that there was no general instruction available. "Just whack the ball," came my husband's reply to my concern.

I pushed aside my doubts and moved on to getting our equipment. An attendant doled out appropriate-sized drivers for each of us based on our height, an empty plastic basket and a token for the golf ball machine to spit out the number of golf balls we paid for.

We chose a place far away from the other patrons. No need to knock off someone else with a stray golf ball, which I thought was entirely likely with my two kids. Stranger accidents have happened without flying balls. So we headed to a couple of empty stalls at the farthest end of the range.

Everyone grabbed their driver and a golf ball to balance on the tee. This took the girls a few tries to do without the ball falling right off. And I admit, it took me a couple of tries as well. I should have know right then it wasn't going to be as easy as it seemed.

The first to take a swing was my 7-year-old. It was a big swing and ... a big miss. My 9-year-old gave it a whirl next with the same lack of results. Surely, I'd have an easier time. I had played Little League and high school softball and could swing a bat. Swinging a driver couldn't be much different, right? Even better, the balls weren't being thrown at me at high speed.

Sure, we weren't playing softball, but I still managed to strike out.

After my 9-year-old gave it a few more tries, she started looking for answers.

"OK mommy, why can't I hit the ball?"

"I have no idea, honey. I can't hit it either."

My husband, known in our house now as the king whacker, was on his fourth drive and averaging over 175 yards.

After several more tries and a couple of swing correction suggestions from king whacker, we were all making contact with the golf balls. My 9-year-old's biggest mistake was standing too close to the ball. My 7-year-old's hands kept slipping below the grip and she needed to be reminded to hold the driver more firmly. For my part, my biggest mistakes were misjudging the distance of the golf ball from the ground (I hit the ground long before the ball on the tee) and not following through on my swing.

Although he admits he has very limited knowledge of the sport, king whacker's suggestions turned out to be helpful. Our golf balls weren't traveling great distances, but they at least made it out of the stall and onto the grass.

My 7-year-old developed her own strategy for driving: Every time she put a new ball on her tee she would tap her driver several times - next to the tee, on the green, on the rocks next to the green - before taking her swing.

"What's the driver tapping for?" I asked.

"It's for luck," she said.

As I continued to struggle to hit the ball, I thought she might be on to something.

For all the swinging and missing the girls and I did, we had a really good time. There was a lot of laughing at our "form" in the style of swings and misses. And the errant balls hitting the stall's side panels or trees next to us continued to keep us giggling.

My husband quietly, and quite seriously, kept increasing his range to over 225 yards with every drive. And this, the girls and I decided, was quite amusing. We enjoyed teasing him about his serious attitude between drives.

The 100 balls we started off with were gone in about 20 minutes so we decided to go for another round. We were all really getting into the spirit of whacking by that point. Another 100 balls later, the girls' driving distance increased to about 60 yards. My husband consistently reached 275 yards. I think maybe I made it to 125 yards at the end, confirming that my talents lie elsewhere.

I realized that even if you're not very good at it, driving balls can be a great stress-reliever. My husband agreed since the focus of the activity is on whacking the golf ball as hard as you can. Plus, all the swinging and missing translated to some great exercise for all of us. And the antics, laughing and my husband's new nickname won't be forgotten by anyone in the family anytime soon.

The driving range isn't for very young children but elementary school-aged children can have some fun there with their family. Just pick a corner, stand clear of the pros and bring your sense of humor. 

Trip: Driving Range
For a listing of driving ranges in Maine, check out: www.neteetimes.com OR www.golfingnewengland.com

Originally published in the Maine Sunday Telegram, July 31, 2005

Douglas Mtn not so family-friendly anymore

Late in the afternoon a day earlier this week, we decided to take the short 1/4 mile hike to the top of Douglas Mountain. We haven't been there this year and the stone tower is a favorite spot. And the kids are hosting a new Flat Stanley so they wanted to show the flat character the sights from the top of the mountain.

Once we turned onto Douglas Mountain Road to get to the trail head, we found a ton of signs (it felt a bit like NYC without the lights) directing us to a new parking lot. It seems the town has decided to move the parking area and trail head. But, they haven't completed a portion of the trail so hikers have to park in the new, gated lot and walk up the steep, narrow road to the old trail head. OK, change takes a while. I can understand that. But what was really upsetting was that the new parking lot is locked at 6 p.m.! And there are barriers, tape and signs everywhere - and I mean that literally - that there is no parking anywhere else on the road or within a mile of the old trail head.

It's summertime. The sun doesn't set until after 8 p.m. Why close the parking lot that early? Why not close at dusk instead to maximize the hours hikers can enjoy the trail? Does the Town of Sebago not understand that even if the kids are in camp this summer, families might still want to take a late-afternoon hike to enjoy a picnic dinner on Douglas Mountain?

I used to really like the trails in Sebago but the new "hours" are really disappointing and inconvenient. It's a real bummer. I guess we'll have to go back to Rattlesnake Mountain. There are great views of Sebago Lake there without the gates and regulations and rules to follow. Nor all the sign-age litter.

Honey bees steal the show

My daughters' 4-H group attended an orienteering class at Pineland Farms today. And you won't hear me complaining about the weather -- Mother nature cooperated nicely with comfortable temps and no humidity. Even the bugs weren't too bad on the trail. A shocking, but welcome surprise.

Orienteering combines map-reading skills with the reward of finding control stations. It never fails to keep my children engaged during their hike on the orienteering course.


The orienteering class covered map-reading skills before hitting the actual course. Kids mapped the "Land of Phil" to learn about following nature's landmarks and orientating the map to their current position.

As much fun as orienteering is, it's the honey bees at the Visitor's Center that always steal the show.


G. took this picture, along with several others, of the bees in full honey-making mode.

Chickens are everywhere

Big news in the Almeida chicken coop this week - two new baby chicks hatched!

The kids are thrilled with the new additions to our flock and telling everyone they know about the hatching. And I think they have spent more time in the coop than our house for the past few days.

I had never seen a live hatching before and I have to say, it was pretty cool.

At least it's warm and the baby chicks can be out in the coop with the mother chicken. This past June, the chicks Fino and the girls ordered from the feed store took up residence in our basement bathroom for two weeks because it was too cold outside in the coop for them. Let's just say that farm animals should not live in the house. Nothing is cute about them until they move out.

60 degree water is balmy for lots of Maine kids

Today's How's the water? story offered some interesting insight into why ocean temperatures in Maine are so cold.

Some were quick to blame the warm Gulf Stream for missing the Maine coast. That's part of the story. Georges Bank, an underwater plateau the size of Massachusetts, does block that warm-water current from entering the Gulf of Maine. But even without a warm current, scientists say, the summer sun is so powerful now that the surface water here should be a lot warmer than it is. For a full explanation of Maine's cold water, swimmers should look skyward. At the moon.

My kids never pass on an opportunity to swim in the ocean even when the air is chilly, let alone care about the temperature of the water.

When you live in Maine you expect your skin to change colors as it freezes and goes numb while swimming in the ocean. The difference about swimming in the summer is that it happens a little slower than the rest of the year.

Kids and air conditioner inseparable this past week

The kids spent the past week at a theater arts camp and sweated their little behinds off. They had a great time but it seemed that watching a movie in front of the air conditioner at home after camp was their only relief. They didn't even have the energy to go swimming at the lake in the afternoon. So needless to say, we haven't done much in the way of our usual outdoor activities. And to be honest, the thought of hiking in 90 degree temperatures with high humidity isn't my idea of fun at the moment either.

Next week however, we hope to get back to our outdoor activities. The kids are taking another class in orienteering at Pineland Farms with their 4-H club. The kids are looking forward orienteering with their friends who have never tried the sport.

Now if the warm temperatures continue without the high humidity, and the bugs can be managed with only one application of bug spray, we'll be one happy family.

A bitter sweet map lesson

My kids have a busy camp schedule in July but we've purposely not scheduled any formal camp programs for August. We have a few day trips planned and wanted some flexibility to check out some new places or take a few workshop classes that we could do together.

After discussing possible destinations with the kids yesterday, I checked out the Maine Audubon's website for family programs. There are a lots to choose from.

And if it's any surprise to anyone, our August day trip plans are quite diverse. But we checked one off our list when we took an impromptu visit to the kids' favorite ice cream store yesterday. And I'm beginning to rethink how great it is that G. and L. can read the GPS and have developed a good sense of direction.

While sitting at the picnic table eating our ice cream, G. said something to L. about their favorite candy store. The girls chit-chatted about it for a few minutes while I kept quiet. And between the two of them, they had figured out exactly where the place was -- and that it was only a few miles from where we were.

So for any doubters that think teaching their young children about maps and GPSs is too advanced a concept for them to grasp, think again. Kids can figure anything out when it serves their purposes :-)

Talking maps today in the car

My family is involved in a group that exchanges Flat Stanleys. He's a character from a book that travels through the mail to meet new people. It's been a great geography lesson for the kids to map out where each Flat Stanley we host is from and where he's been. And the whole family has had fun taking goofy pictures with the flat friends too.

L.'s Flat Stanley in Deering Oaks Park

We just received a new flat friend from Texas and opened the envelope in the car. L. was trying to figure out where Texas actually was. We didn't have a US map at the time so I was trying to describe it. I'm not sure which clue I offered prompted her to remember (bottom of the US map, it's big, it's between New Mexico and Louisiana) but suddenly she remembered.

Ooooh mommy I know now. It's the state shaped like underwear!

OK, hadn't thought about it that way but I guess there's a couple of leg holes there.

Urban hike was fun

We just returned from our week-long trip to New York City. We spent an entire day in Central Park and only saw half of it. The kids did their homework to decide what parts of the park they wanted to explore. They settled on the area between 59th and 79th streets where the Belvedere Castle and Balto statue were (they wanted to see a "real" castle and they love the Balto story).

We also tried out the "Ramble" hiking trail in the park. It was hard to believe we were in the middle of a major city; it was a nice trail and we saw tons of birds there. We even had a nice picnic lunch near the pond.

And of course we had downloaded the coordinates for a virtual geocache in the park, which we had to find (and did) near 79th Street.

After walking more than 4 hours through the park and back to Grand Central Station, I was glad that the family was in such good shape from all the hiking we do here at home. We just have to get a little better at people-dodging. The kids have a habit of walking into people and/or poles on the sidewalk. At least this time neither of the kids were cussed-out by a semi-crazed, in-need-of-medication guy as L. was last year when we were there.

Now we're back to enjoy the less-traveled and mostly smog-free trails of Maine.

"King Wacker" at the driving range

After some discussion about what new outdoor adventure we should try for my next Outdoors with Children column, my crew decided to hit the driving range. There's one close to our house and with a busy camp schedule and upcoming vacation (we'll be in NYC next week visiting our cousins) it seemed a good time to try it.

I know nothing about golf. I've never been on a fairway unless you count the winter sledding I did once in high school at a course. Fino doesn't golf either but he loves to go to the driving range. Why? "Because you get to wack the balls really hard."

And it turned out Fino was the king "wacker." His golf balls fell between the 175-250 marker range while the kids barely made the 50 marker. No matter though. We laughed a lot at my ineptness and the many swings -- and misses -- that went on through the 100+ golf balls we had.

And of course the kids found many new ways to use the golfing equipment after we ran out of golf balls.

There were the driver club jumps by G.

And the new fashion wear by L.

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And for the record, I do not coach these photos. It's all them.....