A Skate Park Story

Lately I've been skating Lafayette Colorado's skatepark because it is less than a mile from my bro's house. It's a fun one.
Last Wednesday night a little 12 year old asked me if I was sponsored. I said no. He said I am. Let me give you a couple of tips in this bowl. He was a little cocky. He proceeded to show me his favorite lines which I humbly appreciated. An hour later he approached me to challenge me to a game of "Skate". You basically have to match each others trick, and if you fail you get a letter.
I'm usually never in the mood to play the game, and It felt like he wanted to show off in front of all of his friends. Aka: Let's beat the old school dude. For whatever reason I said fine and decided to have some fun. He was sure he would win. He tried to get technical. I kept it simple. He quit at SKAT. I had SK.

After our game his little friend came up to me and asked me if I could drop into the deep end of the 12 foot bowl. I said yes, but I don't feel like it right now.
He replied, "Do it Fool! Do it! Do it Fool! Come on Fool! Do it!"

I thought to myself holy shit, should I kick this little kids ass or throw him into the deep end?
Of course not. I stayed as mature as I could and said. "First of all I don't have to do anything for anybody. Second of all, you don't call your elders Fool! You Little SHIT! But if you're kidding, then give me knuckles. He put up his fist and I put my fist to his and said, Ok then. Now lets have fun and skated away.

I skated to my car and had a quick conversation with myself on wether or not to go back and drop into the bowl. I didn't have my helmet, didn't want to make a mistake and crack my head open, or have to prove myself to a little wise ass. I went back anyway, yelled "Hey little man." and dropped into the bowl. He came up to me and said, "I'm sorry man, I just watch a little too much fluff on tv."

It was 9pm and I went to my brothers Ice Cream/Sandwhich/baked goods shop called Eats and Sweets in Lafayette to help him close up shop and cut strawberries for strawberry rhubarb pie to be baked by his rad wife at 4am the next morning.

The latest

My wife Marisa and I went to Italy for 10 days.
It was the best trip I've ever taken in my life yet to date.
Never ate such good food for that many days consecutively.
The thousand year old plus urban designs blew my mind.
The architecture! Finding a friend in Rome and eating dinner with him at Piazza Navona.
Venice, Florence, Rome, Sorrento/Positano.
A lot of red wine seasoned my tongue.

My wife made for a great travel partner.

She even spent time and drew with me.
I took my most favorite picture of her in all my life at Piazza Santa Croce in Florence.
We were in Florence for 3 days and rode bikes every day.

My older brother, his wife, and younger sister in Colorado watched my son for the duration of our trip.
Couldn't have done it without family.
We came back to Colorado and my mom, dad and sister from Jersey were there to celebrate fathers day.
It was one big happy family with 3 dads.
After a night of margaritas with everyone from Gramps, Aunts, to the 3 kids, and a walk through Pearl Street in Boulder we returned to the parking garage with a red brick bank in front of our vehicle.
I had to try something on it since I make a habit of bringing my skateboard with me as much as possible.
I had one chance to do something with Grandma, 2 aunts, 3 kids waiting in the  van, another sister filming. Bro spectating, and Dad/Grandpa filming as well.
This is what I did.