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.
Why are bowling shoes so ugly? You would think some new fashion craze would take over the industry so we don’t feel like complete and utter dorkuses when we have to put on those shoes.
Maybe it’s the nostalgia factor. It’s one thing that has remained true through the years. Like you’re transported to the movie “Grease,” or you’re living with Cunninghams in “Happy Days.” Or maybe there’s some evil monopoly on bowling shoe manufacturing.
Either way, kids sure look cute in them. (Sorry for the blurry pic, it’s so dark in a bowling alley and my iPhone doesn’t have a flash.)
What is it about statues? Is it just an American thing? A tourist thing? I’m not sure, but I don’t think it’s a learned thing. We seem to be born with it. “Hey. Check out those stone-carved people. Let’s go take a picture with them.” Maybe it is that they are so agreeable. No fussing about not wanting to pose or complaining about the heat or cold…
We took the kids to get their hair cut with Amanda. She has opened her own salon at a new location. The kids said they’d be good if I would promise to take their picture out front afterwards.
You know how certain things can happen and a song will just pop into your head? A social situation, a scenic setting, a conversation… maybe it’s just me. I pay attention to lyrics almost to a fault. Chris can enjoy a song simply for its melody or beat. I invariably pay attention to the lyrics. “Ya, I guess I like the song, but do you know what they just SAID??? That ruined it for me.”
OK, so that’s not really what this is about.
I love, love, love looking through photos. I am a photo-aholic. It’s theraputic to me to take a brain break at work and flip through my photos on my iPhone. Everytime I see this picture, I hear the song “Reunited”:
William had been in Santa Fe, NM with my parents since the first weekend in June when school let out. We enjoyed giving Katie the “only-child-treatment” for 3 weeks, but we all missed William very much. When Katie and I finally went out to Santa Fe for vacation, Katie was like white on rice with William. This picture was taken the first morning we were there. Aaaah. They were so happy. Maybe instead of calling them “The Girl” and “The Boy,” I will start calling them “Peaches” and “Herb.” HA!
In years past we always seemed to miss the deadlines for signing the kids up for swim lessons. Not this year! It was forefront on our minds to make this happen. Katie is such a little dare devil & so independent & self-confident, it really has become a must.
She did very well in her first 2-week session. They advanced her to “Dolphin 2″ for the next session. When I told her this, she squeeled squealed (thanks, Annie… if it weren’t for you, my blog posts would be filled with spelling and grammar errors) with glee and exclaimed, “Mommy! I’m so excited for you!” Ha!
William started off the summer in Santa Fe with Shannon’s parents. They made sure he got a few private lessons too. Looks to me like he really enjoyed his female teacher’s one-on-one attention.
You may recall the Kids’ Busy Boxes that William & Katie got from their Aunt, Uncle & Cousins for Christmas. We did another project from them one weekend. We made faux stained glass “windows.” They came out really cute & were super fun to make. I seriously need to order a bunch of these boxes as birthday presents for the early elementary school aged kid birthday parties we go to.
Here are the pics of our crafting time. Katie was very methodical about the placement of her colored tissue paper. William wanted his more random though. Katie thought hers looked like a seatbelt. Mommy loved them both!
William was sitting on Grandma’s lap, watching TV. I believe a game show was on & they had a chance to win half a million dollars. William thought that was amazing & then proceeded to do something we all have done at some point in our lives.
If you had $500,000 what would you do with it?
Our thoughtful child declared he would buy Mommy & Daddy a new house.
Then he thought harder.
“Or a new phone just for me!”
Wow. I think iPhones are expensive, but geesh! He really loves playing on an iPhone. And he really hates sharing it with his sister.
So, many of you know that William has been in Santa Fe with my parents since school let out. Katie and I drove out here a week ago to vacation with them. We are all heading back home tomorrow. My mother just showed me something William wrote to her one day when he was apparently quite frustrated with her.
Letter to Grandma
Translation: “I am going back to TEXAS! Sorry Grandma!”
HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! Oh my… I can’t quit laughing. I love how he put Texas in all caps. LOL!
The kids are watching Mommy’s favorite show with me tonight, “So You Think You Can Dance.” Before I know it, Katie has gone into my closet & retrieved my old tap shoes. I remembered I had a flat pair too. I let William use those. Here they are tapping away in our bathroom. Hehehe
