While most of the nation is gripped in a deep freeze they apparently forgot to tell Texas since one of our past weekends it was in the 60′s. And what better thing than to do in January than go camping? Camping season in Texas is very short. Well, comfortable, camping season that is. It’s about 2 weeks in our “spring” and 2 weeks in our “fall.” The rest of the time the daily highs are around 90-100 and the night it barely goes to 80.
So, while I’m looking forward to taking the kids camping this spring I figure a fun way to spend the weekend and do a “test-run” of the event was to do a little backyard camping. That way I could see what they thought of the
"Roughing It"
whole thing, check out my gear and see if there was anything I should get for the “real” camping trip later. Once I told the kids what we were going to do I swear just about every other sentence was about going camping. I made sure to explain to them we weren’t actually going anywhere but as true children they didn’t really care. They specifically wanted to know if we’d have a fire to roast marshmallows to which I replied “duh,” (not really).
I setup the tent before the kids got home from school and organized the tiny grill as our campfire. Since most of the grass was completely dry I made sure that the grill was standing on some solid patio tiles to avoid it getting tipped over or spreading burning embers. I also kept a fire extinguisher and garden hose nearby, “just in case.”
Once I got them home I told them we needed to get our beds ready. They both went to their rooms, grabbed their favorite blankets and pillows and then staked out a corner of the tent. After that they started playing around in the backyard and on the swings. They wanted to play soccer but I vetoed that since the chances of a high-velocity, youth-size soccer ball hitting the small 12″ grill containing a pile of white-hot charcoal was about 100%.
Once the fire was going it was time for hot dogs. They loved getting to cook their own and we were quite successful in that PD was able to only steal one of them.
Fire!
As we ate the hot dogs Katie remembered that she needed to look good for her fans and that when you’re cool the sun never really sets.
Fashion Plate
After we ate the hot dogs I then showed the kids a strange clue that I found in the backyard that was part of a mystery we needed to solve (but that’s post for another time).
Good Times
After going on an adventure and solving the mystery it was time for the smores.
Mmmmmmmm....
Delicious!
After enjoying the smores I brought out Katie’s awesome telescope and we looked at the moon and a few stars. It was a perfect night of fun but it was finally it was time to get in the PJ’s and climb into the tent. They wanted to play their Nintendo DS’s, which I allowed even though they weren’t standard issue camping gear. They’ve been having so much fun and behaving so well I didn’t see a problem with it and couldn’t tell them no. They played their games for a little while and I read my book by lantern light.
PD really enjoyed the tent and blankets as well and was resting near all of us. The wind wasn’t too bad and was just enough to keep a good breeze going through the tent. My cedar allergies started bothering me a bit but it wasn’t anything unbearable and was definitely worth the trip. The night passed uneventfully and while we woke up entirely too early the next day it was a great time. I’m already looking forward to the next trip.
One of the things Santa brought the kids were new bikes. Both of them desperately needed upgrades and Katie received a stylin’ new bike with 18″ tires and training wheels while William got a flashy red bike with 20″ tires.
The New Rides
Well, turns out that the 20″ tires are just a shade too tall for him right now. He’ll grow into it in a few weeks or months but for right now it’s a tad, er, uncomfortable, when he tries to get on the bike. He can touch the ground with his feet but other parts of him are in contact with the bike. We had to have a couple practice sessions on how to get on the bike and I knew the next major problem was going to occur once we got started even though it hadn’t occurred to William yet. How to dismount when you come to a stop.
No Photos, Please
In my opinion there are few practical exercises in life like riding a bike that if you stop to consider it, it’s window into what you can expect from life in general. Sometimes you’re going to fall, it’s going to hurt and that’s OK. You could crash in front a bunch of your friends while trying to take your bike off some sweet jumps and look like a complete fool or knock the wind out of yourself so badly that you can’t help but cry. These things happen. It’s about understanding that sometimes things don’t turn out how you want but you don’t give up and you keep trying. I wanted to have this discussion with William but kept it at his level.
Me: “You know William, when you ride a bike sometimes you fall and get hurt, right?”
William: “Right.”
Me: “And if you do, is it OK to stop and cry?”
William: “Yes.”
Me: “What’s the important thing that we don’t want to do?”
William: “Give up.”
Me: “Right. That doesn’t mean you can’t stop and take a break if you need to or even try another day. But we don’t want to give up. Just keep trying.”
William: “Right.”
Me: “And what’s the reason we’re doing this anyway?”
William: “To have fun.”
William is an amazing young boy who is very bright, observant, and sensitive. We’ve had discussions like the one above a time or two before and he really does get it for being almost 7. I just know that being almost 7 we’re going to have a couple of bumps today on the way to the park. With the parenting talk out of the way it’s time to go have fun. During this discussion Katie has been packing her front bike pouch with the essentials for any bike ride, Hello Kitty, Strawberry Shortcake and 2 bottles of nail polish and she’s ready to get going.
I load up a small bag with some water, band-aids, camera and jackets in case they get cold and we’re off. Since Katie has training wheels she has the lecture that she’s allowed to go out ahead of us as long as she stays in sight and on the sidewalk. She listens extremely well which is good since I’m paying closer attention to William.
Shannon already taught William how to ride his bike a long time ago and he does it very well. It’s the new bike with the new height that’s an issue. We work together to get him mounted and he’s off. Knowing that the first stop is going to be somewhat painful depending on how he dismounts I literally run next to him the entire time. We break the trip to the park in small parts that allow Katie to go far ahead while staying in sight but let’s William practice riding.
Mounting The Bike
Each time he rides well but when he tries to dismount but doesn’t do it as well as he’d like. He’s harder on himself than anyone and several times when I give him honest (not parentally-baised) praise he’s not listening. At one point when he came to a stop he landed on both feet and I said how great he did he was upset. I just let him have his feelings and we move onto the park.
So at the park they immediately head to the monkey-bars and some kind of spinning circle device. I have no idea how it’s supposed to be used but they figure out that if one starts and drifts to the bottom then the other can jump on and they can spin. The bearings of this thing squeak badly and I make a mental note to pack WD-40 for next time so they can really get some velocity out of this thing.
Yin and Yang
After this they move to the monkey-bars. They both easily handle the side-to-side method but I ask them if they can do the harder way of swinging with your arms in front of you. Both tell me “No” but I tell them, “I bet you can. “ I show them by trying myself but don’t do that well. Just seeing me try seems to inspire them but in an uncommon but not unheard turn of events William decides to try first. Katie didn’t want to do it and firmly tells me so.
Me: “Katie, do you want to try and go across the monkey-bars the new way?”
Katie: “No, I can’t do it.”
Me: “Katie, we’re not supposed to say “can’t.” You haven’t tried it yet.”
Katie: “No, I don’t want to do it.”
Me: “OK, but I know that you can do it if you tried.”
Now while William was having some problems finding his confidence on his new bike none of that was present here. I stayed next to him in case he needed to drop but he didn’t. The first time through he made it and then I was able to get a video of his second time through.
Once Katie sees this she wants to try. She insisted that I had to hold her waist as she went through, which I did. She made it halfway and needed to drop down into my arms. She took about 20 seconds and then said, “I’m ready.” She then completed the other half of the monkey-bars.
At this point I think she’s done but then she immediately wants to go again and this time insists I don’t hold her. I think she’ll be able to do it so I get down at the other end and get the camera ready. I end up getting some great video of a girl who just turned 5 in August going through the monkey-bars.
So now William has conquered the monkey-bars and is ready to play a game. He wants to make up some kind of game and we come up with a game together. We end up calling it “Treasure Hunter” but that’s a post for another time.
It’s getting close to 5 and we need to head back because it’s going to get cold rapidly, they’re already tired and I need to get dinner going. So we head back and I stay close to William as he tries his bike again. The break has given him time to build up his confidence and when we leave the park via a twisty road I ask him if he wants to walk it out or ride it out. He says, “Ride it out.” (that’s my boy!) and so off he goes. Of course the poor boy doesn’t have luck on his side and he hits the only thing possible in the entire path.
What Are The Odds?
The park department has this post here because the cement path is pretty wide and some moron in a 4×4 could go tearing through there. But also they need to make sure that young boys on bikes can hit it and then knock the wind out of themselves and possible damage the family jewels as they come to an abrupt stop.
Well, he handles this setback better than I thought he would and we spend just a few minutes setting on Daddy’s lap as we let the pain ease. He was a little mad at me because when I saw this coming and tried to stop him he thought I was laughing at him. I tried to explain I wasn’t laughing but was warning him. Oh well. We get one more ride in and then most of the way back is me pushing the bike and him walking next to me talking about the multiple injuries he’s sustained and how this is the worse day ever. I just agree with him and don’t dispute it. “Yes, that does sound like it hurt.” “Yes, I can see how that would bother you.”
He’s eventually worked through his feelings enough that when we turn the last corner and can see our house I ask him, “Do you want to walk it home or ride it home?”
William: “I want to ride it home.”
Me: “That sounds like a good idea. You know you might make it home OK or you might fall down and get hurt again.”
William: “I know.”
Me: “What are you going to do if you get hurt?”
William: “I’ll be sad again.”
Me: “Well, it’s OK to feel sad and if you get hurt I’ll pick you up. So let’s go.”
And we make it home with him earning a 5.5 score on the dismount in the front yard. He was sad for a little bit but it wasn’t anything major. All in all it was a good time.
Katie isn’t to the point yet where she can write down her feelings in a card to her Daddy to express her undying love for him. She, however, is very good at drawing the things she loves. We’re working on the writing part… but, hey! She’s not even in Kindergarten yet.
She’s got copying (or “coffeeing” as she calls it) down pat. I wrote “Happy Fathers Day!” on a post-it note for her so she could make her Daddy a card. This is what she came up with:
Where’d the “W” come from? Is she so used to William writing things that end with his signature that she started to write it too? What I really don’t know about is the random string of letters at the bottom left. I searched high and low to figure out what she was coffeeing to get that. I believe the drawing is a self-portrait.
One, however, was not enough. Daddy is ULTRA special, dontchya know!!
We have gone through several versions of her spelling her own name. From KA♥, to Kade, to Kate, to Katie. I’m guessing she wants a Nintendo DS now?? Any thoughts on her drawings? My translation of the drawing on the right is a rocket ship that blasts up to a bubblegum machine topped by the American Flag. It is, after all, in her eyes, Daddy’s flag.
I had ACL surgery yesterday and after a night in the hospital I wasn’t looking forward to my breakfast.
I take the lid off the plate and could swear I could hear the faint sound of a nearby church choir singing “ahhhhh.”
I’m letting the aroma fill the room while I type this. I’ll be noting this on the patient survey during checkout today and I’m looking for information on charitable donations to the hospital.
As most everyone knows (I think), we’re at the hospital today. Chris hurt his knee playing dodgeball on our last cruise. He’s having surgery to repair the ACL in his right knee with harvested tendon from his patella. (That’s why I’ve had time to catch-up on blogging! What better way to keep my mind occupied? Well… I tried to work, but the wireless here is sketchy. Having WordPress on my iPhone makes it easy to update our website though!) But back to the subject in the title…
As we were waiting for them to take him back for his operation, I noticed the second band on his arm. Chris thought I was kidding when I exclaimed, “How on earth is that band going to prevent you from falling???”
ROFLMAO! Gullable? Naive? Whatever you want to call it, I crack myself up sometimes.
Anyone who knows me knows that I like to cook. And movies with things that explode. If you had to describe me as succinctly as possible, the word that would work best is “paradox.”
I like target shooting but can (and have) sewn my daughter’s torn stuffed animal. I could burn an afternoon playing a computer game but could do the same organizing the closet to make it more efficient. I can be sweet and lovable and in the next breath invoke The Look that causes fear in most land-based mammals (so I’ve been told).
Where I’m going with this “I like long walks on the beach” talk is how it relates to a completely forgettable and common event that happened a few weeks ago that got me to thinking.
One Saturday Shannon was getting her hair done and I was home with the kids. Since I had already built everything possible with the boy’s Legos and the kids were bored I figured I’d take them to the grocery store. So I load them up and head off.
While I’m there I run into a neighbor who’s there with her kid. She stops by and says “Hi” and we chat for a few minutes. I think nothing of it and go about my business.
A few weeks later the neighbor sees my wife and comments that she saw me in the grocery and was “impressed” that I was there with two kids. Really.
Superdad at the store with the kid (note the cape)
I started thinking about that and realized how that’s just a little off. Now don’t get me wrong. She didn’t say or do anything wrong and I’m certainly not put off at the compliment she gave me. But a few things popped in my mind.
Guys, could you see if you’re at the office and this new team member who happens to be a woman completes the weekly status report? She does a great job and you stop by to tell her what a good job she did, I mean, because she’s a woman?
Besides the threatened mommy-types worried that a guy can take care of crumbsnatchers, the dudes have to share the blame too. They act incompetent on purpose to avoid work. They’ll argue with some guy who spills their beer or craps on their favorite sports team, but if it’s a toddler all bets are off. They’re just kids. Pul-leeze. I’ve seen guys standing around with blank stares when their kids are crying. I mean, seriously. And from some guys I’ve witnessed their thought patterns and reasoning ability are closer than they think. They should be able to relate.
Dudes – two things you need to have at all times. Band-aids and candy. You should put Band-aids in your wallet equal to your kids x 2. Times two because as soon as one of the kids sees the other one with a band-aid, they’ll do a header off the end of the shopping cart so they can have one too. And it’s x2 because when you get home that night and have a beer you’ll forget all about that you used up some band-aids that day.
When it comes to band-aids it could be a microscopic scratch or a compound fracture but a band-aid makes it all better. No amount of reasoning will help that kid understand that the red line they think is a major injury and “blooding!” is actually a pen mark, but you slap a band-aid on them with Spiderman or Hello Kitty staring up at them, all in the world is right again. And if that doesn’t work you go to your backup. Candy.
In your car you need a bag of individually wrapped Life-Savers. They don’t melt, spoil or stink up the leather. They don’t want to leave Chuck-E-Cheese? Candy. You want quiet on the way home? Candy. You ran out of band-aids? Candy. You don’t feel like getting the remote? Candy. If something happens and you’re not sure how to calm them down, just grab those Life-Savers. You didn’t think they got that name because of how they’re shaped, did you?
Well, now I’m out of time for today’s rant. I have to get the arts and crafts ready for the kids tomorrow. We’re making a Salt Clay Dough that we’ll paint when they’re cool. And then I’m going target shooting.
I’m sure everyone has heard that saying before. Maybe even experienced it personally. Well, I did. And while most times that saying has a negative connotation, I couldn’t be happier.
Axis and Allies: War at Sea
Anyone who knows me knows I love to play games. Strategy games in particular and military history is bit a of side hobby for me. A few years back a game called Axis & Allies: War at Sea was released. It’s a table-top game that has miniature boats you move around the board and roll dice to see if you hit and sink your opponent’s ships. If you glance at the ship description and stat card below you can see the various information you need to know like speed, armor, range and damage. Not a bad game and you can play a session in about 30 minutes.
Sample Stat Card
Thing is with gaming it’s hard to find players. Especially players who are willing to play me in strategy games. While I might be slightly above average, I’m not the best. Just about everyone I ask to play says “No way man, you’ll wipe me out!” Of course I try to explain to them that stomping the crap out of them once is no fun for me. I’d rather take my time and let them learn and enjoy the game. Once they learn the ropes then we can really go at it. Even then, people still rarely play me.
William is turning 6 in February I won’t deny it that I’ve been carefully grooming him to be a gamer since he could talk. When he was four I made up a game called “Dinosaurs and Army Men” for us to play. It was fun since the object was to move your figures to the center of the board and steal the treasure chest. You rolled a die to move and then another to attack each other. It was especially cool because you got to wear either a set of horns or dogtags depending on who you played. That was an especial attraction for him and he still asks about the game from time to time.
We’ve been playing a lot of games the past couple of days and we’ve both enjoyed it immensely. Katie has been “getting” to stay home and watch TV and eat ice cream because of her tonsillectomy. Even while you try to explain it he doesn’t quite understand while he can’t too. So I took him out to eat, just the two of us and let him pick. He picked Plucker’s (with no coaching from me) and we had a great time. I brought Trouble, one of his favorite games. So we played Trouble while eating wings and fries and glancing at the BCS Championship pre-game that was playing.
I suggested to him on the way home we play one of my games and that he might like it. So on Friday we ate dinner, did our chores and setup a game of Axis and Allies. I let him pick his 3 ships and then based on his choices I constructed a similar strength fleet. He played Japan and took the battleship Yamato, the cruiser Tone and the destroyer Yukikaze. I took German (yes, I know they were allies) that consisted of the battleship Bismark, battleship Scharnhorst, and destroyer Koln. His fleet strength was rated at 105 compared to my 102. Perfect layout.
Williams Ships, the Yamato, Tone and Yukikaze
Daddy's Ships, the Bismark, Scharnhorst and Koln
We setup the map displayed below and he put the Yamato on the top left. I then placed my destroyer on the bottom left and grouped my battleships on the bottom right. My goal was to close with his cruiser and destroyer with my battleships on the right while screening the destroyer from the Yamato with the islands. Needless to say, it didn’t quite work. He did move the Yamato down to the destroyer, but the islands didn’t provide enough cover and he destroyed it with one salvo. I didn’t think much of it since it was just a 12 point destroyer.
Map Layout
As for his cruiser and destroyer he never took my bait. He was smart enough to keep them hidden by the islands on the far right and moved the Yamato back into play. He was able to move within a range of 2 and close with the battleship Schamhorst. I was able to attack first but rolled horribly while he returned fire and scored 17 hits, enough to destroy the Scharnhorst outright. Right about now I realized that the game was over.
I pulled the Bismark to the far right in the hopes of taking some of his ships with me (I hadn’t sunk anything at this point) and again he didn’t bite. He knew to hide his smaller ships behind the large island while he moved the Yamato into position. Skipping to the exciting ending, I was able to sink his cruiser and destroyer and actually scored a few hits on the Yamato, but at this point the Bismark had sustained 3 hits and wasn’t looking too good. The game ended when the Yamato scored another massive attack with enough damage to immediately sink the Bismark.
William Learning All Too Quickly
So he won, and quite well. I was honestly impressed. While he didn’t know about the range of his ships or their special abilities he displayed an intuitive grasp of tactics. We’ll play more I’m sure (he’s already asked again) and I’ll see if it was a fluke or he really has a knack for it. I specifically didn’t let him win and I committed one of the more egregious errors in strategy, under estimating your opponent. He deserved to win and did a great job. And while I lost this game, I’m going to be the ultimate winner with a great friend and game player for years to come.
I think not. It’s funny how a tedious task to a parent seems like the ultimate fun to a child.
Chris was getting ready to go target shooting with a buddy. He uses paper plates with bright orange target stickers placed (almost) in the middle. Who would want to spend time placing a hundred or few hundred stickers on paper plates? Our kids!
They thorougly enjoy helping daddy with this task. And as long as he doesn’t mind a few being slightly out of place… I say go for it. Work hard kids!!
I’m out grocery shopping, dodging frazzled mothers who are dragging their sugar crazed hellions behind them when what do I see out of the corner of my eye? That’s right folks, Christmas candy. They didn’t waste any time this year. Halloween is barely gone and St. Nick stops by your local grocery store to vomit up every conceivable item that you’ll never want in either red or green.
What Happened To All the Orange Candy?
I have a feeling this is going to become an annual post for me. Everyone always comments that holiday sales/decorations/annoyances start earlier and earlier every year. Well, I’m going to start tracking them. I already did it with Halloween so that will be the start. I’ll include all of the important holidays like St. Patrick’s Day (green beer), Easter (Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs), System Administrator Appreciation Day (nothing, we’re always ignored), and the ever popular International Bacon Day (bacon!)
Imagine. You’re considered by many to be beautiful. Even by the standards of most of society you’re attractive. Perhaps a little oddly proportioned, but you never claimed to be perfect. You’re wearing a wonderful pink dress and hoping that guy you saw the other day will ask you out. He’s new in town and happens to be soldier. You’re daydreaming about him, a nice little house, two kids, Hayden James and Brittany Alexis, and then you hear a rumble.. like footsteps…. big ones…
Next thing you know you’re a chew toy.
Harbinger of Doom
In our house the kids have plenty of toys. They’ve learned the hard way that you need to keep them picked up. And it’s not the parents that are the enforcers, its our little fuzzball of happiness, PD. If you leave anything on the floor that is valuable or you even remotely care about, it’s gone. Well, not gone but in a new shape (or shapes).
Does he chew on the toys we’ve gotten him? Nope. You just bought some new shoes? Yum! How about that DVD player you just got? Well, I’m sure it doesn’t need a power cable. Let me just gnaw on that while your back is turned (no, it wasn’t plugged in).
Well, our kids do pretty well at picking up most of the time. But as anyone knows, the price of non-slobbery possessions is eternal vigilance. Katie left Barbie in range of the mobile garbage disposal and she ended up a little worse for wear.
It Hurts...
As you’ll note she lost her arm at first the elbow and then the shoulder, followed by her legs starting at the ankles and then knees. I’m sure that Mattel never prepared her for this. You think you’re headed for tea parties, dream houses and corvettes, next thing you know you’re “Stupid Blonde #4” in a horror movie.
Alert readers or “CSI” fans will note there is a missing right foot with a blue 4″ heel. The forensics team did a through search at the murder site and could not locate it. They fully expect it to turn up in 12-36 hours, probably in the backyard.
And of course it wasn’t me that found her. It was that nice soldier who was coming by to ask her out. Life is hard.
