The End Is Near

Our last month of summer vacation is always our last chance to actually relax. We purposely under-schedule August in the hopes of spending quiet family time together. But since nature abhors a vacuum, any space left open in the day automatically gets filled up with an event of some sort. This summer, to try something new, Lady Di took the kids up north to Grampa's lake to stay a few weeks. I, of course, would stay home and work which meant that at least one person in the family would have peace and quiet for a couple weeks.

But things don't move too fast at Gramma and Grampa's either. Most mornings found Sweet Pea sitting on Grampa's dock fishing. She would take a baggie of corn to use for bait and catch and re-catch sunfish. She always throws them back so I'm sure some of those sunnies are getting pretty fat and getting sore lips. SP has two fishing rods she is quite proud of. SP's cousin works at the local bait shop and gave her a good deal on a bright pink rod. It also has a reel that lights up when you spin it. When Grampa Ray saw all the fish she was catching with her new rod, he decided that she also needed a trolling rod for the boat. Somehow, he found a pink one of those to match. So now she has two really nice new pink fishing rods and is really getting some use out of them.

She also has discovered a passion for gardening. Grampa let's one of his neighbors use a spot on his land for a vegetable garden. So whenever Gene comes over to tend his plants, SP is tagging along at his heals and jibber-jabbering the whole time. She calls Gene her pea-pickin' buddy.

Here's SP's egg pealin' buddy.

Her brother is less interested in fishing or gardening or being outside. He will sit with her on the dock and help her with the net and getting the fish off the hook, but his patience doesn't last long. His idea of fun at Grampa's is watching the Twins play baseball while eating a bowl of ice cream. He also uses his time to play games on his 3DS and showing Grampa how to navigate his own computer.

Knowing N1S's interests, Lady Di broke her August scheduling rule and scheduled a Show Choir camp up by Gramma's house. So that makes three shows for N1S this summer. The camp in Bemidji had over 100 kids participating and they practiced three hours every morning for 1 week. This was something brand new for N1S and he didn't know anyone at the camp. Lady Di was a little apprehensive about dropping him off on the first day. "What if he gets lost? What if he doesn't make a friend? What if the kids are mean?"

We needn't have worried. He was excited after his first practice and said he had an awesome time.

LD asked, "Did you meet any new friends?"

"Yeah, but I don't know their names.", was his reply.

This is pretty standard procedure for N1S. He has learned a lot of friend social skills but he still has to work on remembering them at the time. We prompted him to remember by telling him to exchange email addresses with someone. He can usually recall anything related to computers.

At midweek the camp held a talent show for anyone who wanted to perform. With some encouragement from us, N1S consented to play a song on the piano. He said he did OK. There was one other piano player. He said the funny thing was that three entries performed Katy Perry's song Firework. He said by the time the third one came around everyone was pretty tired of Firework. On Thursday he found out that he and three others got picked to perform on Friday between their Show Choir songs.

I wasn't able to attend the show but LD, SP and both sets of grandparents were cheering him on. The talent show winners performed their songs for the first forty five minutes of the show. And even though there were four talent show 'winners' I know who was ranked as 'first winner'.

Then the entire show choir camp performed three songs. LD said that for around 1oo kids the choreography was pretty clean and everyone gave a sharp show. Of course we all know who was the sharpest and cleanest.

That night I called N1S to ask how the show went and to congratulate him. He said he had a lot of fun. I asked if he made any friends. He said not really. "I was just too busy practicing and I forgot." But apparently he did make one acquaintance. After the show one of the high school directors came over to him to congratulate him and they discussed something about N1S's Nintendo 3DS game. N1S then said, "Maybe I'll see you next summer." So I guess that means he wants to come back. It'll give him another chance to 'remember' to make a friend or two. And hopefully, they will be closer to his age.

We've reached the middle of August. The cicadas are buzzing the trees. School can't be that far away. In fact, I think I can see it on the horizon if I squint. Can we squeeze in anymore fun before Labor Day! We better hurry!

Summer Memories

I am greatly sorry for the long gaps between posts. I'm sure both of the readers I have left are staging a boycott as I type. However, since I have time to write and my kids have had time to pile up a barn full of summer activities, you will listen to every word I have to say!

Well, that just cut my readership in half.

I'll just start summer with Sweet Pea's birthday. Why would I start there? Because that's where my pictures start on the computer.

As you can tell by the picture, 'A good time was had by all'. Actually, I think SP was already dressed for bed judging by her clothes and hair. The black Muppet on her shoulder is Ruby helping her blow out her candles. I'm pretty sure Ruby probably just chewed SP's hair while she was huffing and puffing.

Next we headed west to South Dakota to attend my Grandma Peg's funeral. She was my pie baking grandma and our family was fortunate enough to enjoy 96+ wonderful fulfilling years. Funerals involve much sadness but they are also great chances to remember a life and reconnect with family members that you haven't seen in a long time by relating all the unforgettable memories we all shared.

Here are Number One Son and Sweet Pea enjoying time with their far away cousins. At least I think N1S is enjoying being with all of his girl cousins.

When we go to SD to stay with Gramma and Grampa we usually have to find a little time to golf. The kids are now old enough to swing a club and actually see the ball fly above the grass. Here N1S hammers one! Pay no attention to the small yellow dot in front of him.

SP's swing shows a lot of 'potential'. I'm pretty sure she connected on this one for a heckuva shot.

While we enjoyed our golf game we also took time to take in the beautiful surroundings. Just across the out of bounds fence on the second hole we had our own private gallery cheering us on. People from SD know that this is not an uncommon sight. We made sure to take some time to try to lure the calves over to us and feed them some grass but their mothers kept them pretty close.

After a long morning of golfing, we went to Gramma's house to relax. As you can see some of us were quite exhausted.

SP used her time to climb Gramma's big maple tree. It doesn't look too high but her feet are actually about seven feet from the ground which is pretty high for SP.

We are grateful to have family that we can visit and have fun with. Thank you Gramma and Grampa Bell for living close to a golf course next to a farm and for having big trees to climb.

And a big thank you to my Grandma Peg for her wisdom, guidance, support and love. And especially her pies.

We will always remember you.

Well that only brings us to early June. We have more summer to come. Tune in next week.

It's A Sunshine Day

So far, I can't complain about our summer. The weather has been close to perfect almost every day. The kids have been having fun with various outside activities. And I have been mowing the lawn. In Minnesota, we complain all winter long about the weather. So when summer finally comes, we don't want to miss a day because we know snow and ice will eventually return and we will be wishing for those past warm summer nights.

But it seems that every summer I reach a point where I am tired of all the nice weather. I know it sounds illogical since we only have three months of warmth to savor each year. In June, we get to experience the outdoors without coats for the first time and everyone is excited to start swimming, fishing and camping.

In July, we are into summer full force with outside activities planned for every day off. And every day at work is spent anticipating getting outside when work is over.

Which brings me to mid-July. At this time of the year, I start to grow weary of warm sunny weather. I enjoy the comfort of wearing shorts but am tired of making sure I take full advantage of a clear summer day. It's a 'too much of a good thing' scenario. Because of our short summer season, I feel guilty if I do anything inside. If I am inside the house, I am not enjoying the nice weather enough. But sometimes I just want to watch television. Is that so wrong? This morning I woke up to overcast skies with a threat of rain. I was overjoyed. Now I had an excuse to stay in. I didn't have any nice weather to feel guilty about not enjoying.

Well, the 'rain out' was short lived. A few sprinkles in the morning were chased away by Mr. Happy Sunshine by mid morning and I was forced to go outside once again. Groan! Not another perfect day!

I know where these feelings come from too. My mother. I'm sure your mothers did this to you too and we are conditioning our kids in the same way. When the day is nice, it's instinct to tell the kids, "Don't waste this beautiful day inside. Go outside and play."

Here's a few of our 'sunshine day' activities that we have enjoyed so far this year thanks to our mothers.

Swimming at the beach.

Playing soccer.

Girl Scout camp.

Golf camp.

And here's an update on the pumpkin patch. Still no blooms, but the plants are starting to crawl around their pen. We've certainly had enough sunshine for them.

So enjoy the summer everyone. But if you want to stay in today and watch television, I will understand.

Hot Fun in the Summertime

Now that school has come to a close for an unbelievable fifth year for Number One Son and an equally unfathomable second year for Sweet Pea, we are challenged to come up with 'things to do' to fill our summer vacation days.

First on the list was to empty the kids' backpacks. The end of the year brought home all kinds of relics and artifacts from the first days of school last fall. For SP we got to see the progress she made in her writing and spelling. And about forty different works of 'art' which were all rolled and folded and origami-ed together into one bale. We 'oooh'd and aaaah'd' for each one before secretly putting them in the special summer file in the garage.

Number One Son had a few old homework pages and map he made and that was about all. His accordion style folder limped it's way to end of the school year with it's bottom falling completely out on the last day.

They each had daily planners to write down assignments and notes. In the margins of the pages were little trivia questions and games to write in. N1S's planner had assignments written for each day and that was it. No extra nothing.

SP's planner had assignments, every trivia question answered, spelling lists, stars, hearts, animal drawings and anything else she could squeeze into any available white spot on the page.

So with the backpacks retired for three months, what do we do now? Well, one thing we are doing is saying 'No' to playing video games a lot more.

To combat the video games, Number One Son is going to basketball camp this week. It's nice that he is able to reconnect with some friends from school and have something aerobic to do for an hour and a half every morning. Later this summer, he will attend a golf camp and an acting camp for a week each. N1S doesn't have too many friends his age in the neighborhood so we enroll him in these short camps spread throughout the summer.

Here's a shot of his shooting form. It looks a bit awkward because it is impossible for me to get an action shot of someone shooting a basket. I tried a dozen times to take his picture but I could never get the ball in the shot.

So I settled for this shot of him drinking water. As you can see I got most of the bottle in the picture. The angle of the picture also makes him look like he's in high school.

Sweet Pea could fill her summer with a different neighborhood play date every three days without duplication, but if her brother has camps to attend, so will she. This week she attended her Girl Scout day camp from 8:30am to 4:00pm everyday. Each fun filled day ranged in temperature from 85 to 95 degrees with about 200% humidity. That's a long day for a seven year old. It's also a long day for a thirty-something year old. Lady Di volunteered to conduct a class each day which consisted of keeping the attention of three groups of 12 or so seven year olds for fifty minutes. If it were me, I would have conducted fifty minute water balloon fights until lunchtime and then teach the benefits of lying still on a mat for afternoon naps.

SP was part of the pink shirt group with red scarves in their hair. I don't think the scarf stayed in her hair long though.
SP also has a basketball camp coming up in July and then both kids participate in golf camp in August to round out the summer.
Some may think we over-schedule the kids but I don't think three one-week long camps takes up too much of their summer fun. We have a few trips planned to the beach and we will probably visit each set of grandparents at least once this summer. Plus, family fun can be enjoyed at home with outside picnic suppers, running through a sprinkler or taking family bike rides to the Dairy Queen. The trick is to fill in the gaps between camps with simple family moments wherever you happen to find yourself.

And right now I find myself lying very still on the couch with the kids in bed recharging for another day. This is my kind of summer camp.

The Great Outdoors

In an effort to fill our last days of summer with memories, we went tent camping as a family for the first time last night. We packed our smores and hot dogs, borrowed a tent from our friends and set up camp at the 'Cheapskate Park' located ten feet behind our house.

In the picture you'll notice the circle of dead grass where the park's above ground pool was this summer. Our park even had wild animals walking about as you can see the small black bear (Liberty) snooping around the deck.

I know we didn't travel far, but we saved a lot on gas. Even though we were in the backyard, we still had trees, a bonfire and sleeping bags. I even lit some tiki torches for some 'Survivor' ambiance. Lady Di and I were hoping it would cool off a little since our tent was sitting in the sun and quite warm. The kids had their own two person tent and were excited to start camping.

I got the bonfire going and we started to roast hot dogs. When that was done Lady Di and kids asked, "What's next?"

"I don't know. I guess we just sit around the fire until dark. Camping, right?"

We watched the fire until dark and then headed inside our tent to watch a movie on the portable DVD player. Just like our pioneer ancestors.

When the movie ended, the kids got into their tent and we went to sleep in ours. I woke up about an hour later with frozen ears and nose. The temp had dipped down around sixty degrees and we only had one blanket because it was so warm before. As I went into the house for another blanket, I checked on the kids. Their little pup tent was toasty and both were snoring in their sleeping bags. When I stumbled back into our tent, Lady Di said that our dog, Liberty, was shivering in her bed so she snuggled between us under the covers.

Let's just say the rest of the night went better for the kids than for Lady Di and me. Inflatable mattresses are not very helpful to my back. Thankfully, around six AM, Sweet Pea woke up and said she had to use the bathroom. So I walked her into the house, making sure to carry my pillow with me. When she was done I asked her (tried to convince her) if she wanted to sleep in her room until breakfast time. She looked at me with a bewildered (what are you talking about) look and said, "No. I want to go back to the tent."

Groan.

I went back upstairs to get my pillow to follow her out, but on my way to the back door, Number One Son and Lady Di were coming in the house to announce that camping was done. Both kids whined a little but didn't fight too much and got into their beds for another hour. Aside from the sleeping arrangements, I did have some fun. The campfire was nice and I got to see stars in the night sky at 1am. The kids had fun sleeping outside and actually did some playing and reading in their tent most of the afternoon.

Even though we didn't really rough it too much, it was enough for Lady Di and myself. I'm sure we could have prepared a little better, but we didn't think we had to in our own yard. Lesson learned I guess. We know that we need a little more room in the tent for all of us and we need to pack warmer clothes, even in August. I think we will probably try this again but we will definitely include a few more comfort items next time. (blankets, TV, fridge, X-Box)

Ollie, Ollie Oxenfree!

With summer racing to an end and school looming on the horizon, we have been trying to squeeze all of our summer fun into the last few days. I have a few days off from work, so I want to have fun with the kids.

We have already been up north and out west. We went to the Science Museum a couple times and to the beach multiple times. So what is left to do this summer?

Play hide and seek.

The evenings have been cool and surprisingly humidity and bug free. Perfect for a real, outside hide and seek game. We usually aren't too active with the kids in the evenings because behavior seems to drastically plummet the later the kids are up. But the last few evenings have been too perfect to sleep through.

The kids, of course, hid first. Sweet Pea hid behind a tree right next to where I was counting. I may have pretended not to see her in the past, but she is six years old now. She has to learn how to hide.

When it was my turn to hide, I remembered the most important consideration when choosing an adult hiding place. Comfort. Because you always end up hiding for a long time since the kids like to 'search' in the same spots over and over again. So I chose a spot behind the wood pile, found a nice flat board to sit on, folded my arms and leaned back to nap (hide). True to form, the kids 'searched and searched' while my back got stiff. Number One Son tried the age old hide and seek trick of standing in the middle of the yard and yelling, "Found you, Dad!", hoping he would fool me into revealing myself.

Eventually, they accidentally wandered close enough to me to almost trip on my feet. Now it was my turn to seek again. The kids actually found good hiding places this time. It took me a while to find N1S, and I had to give up on Sweet Pea. It turns out SP employed a common hide and seek maneuver by changing her hiding place mid-seek. When I was seeking I checked the play house first and while my back was turned SP dove into the play house while I was combing the rest of the yard. When it was my turn to hide again, I thought about just going around the house and going inside to watch TV while they looked for me. I guess I didn't want to give that secret away quite yet.

These are truly the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer. I want to keep the last week of summer low key but fun. We can find lots of things to do at home and have fun as a family. Next on the list, freeze tag, stuck in the mud and duck, duck, gray duck.

Here's a couple of pictures of the kids' trip up north to visit the fishing Gramma and Grampa.

So far it's been a great summer. Hopefully, we will end the summer in similar fashion. We have a trip to the State Fair planned next week. A laser tag birthday party for N1S. And lots of bike rides, picnics and bug catching.

Summer Ending? Well, Alright.

Now I'm afraid I will have to concede that summer is definitely over. It's not because school has started. It's not because our daytime temperatures have dipped by forty degrees. It's because the swimming pool has now been drained. We thought that we could maybe get one more warm stretch of weather to use it, but at this point, it would take another ninety degree week to amply warm the water. The water would have been great to chill a dozen kegs or so, but we don't have that many friends, so the draining commenced.

There actually was one sole who thought he could still enjoy a night swim in the frigid waters, but he learned the hard way that swimming at night is dangerous.

Sorry PETA, but we did have a sign that said, Pool Closed.

This is the first year we have had a pool this size. I quickly found out that a pool of this size requires a little more work to put away for the summer. Once the water was drained, I tried to prop it up on the swing set to dry. I could barely drag it to the swing set. I opted to spread it out on our hill to dry. I also found out that pools like this one don't do the lawn any favors. I now have a fourteen foot diameter brown crop circle that smells like a barn. Sweet Pea was mad because she couldn't play in the backyard anymore because of the smell. Her highness can also feel a pea under a dozen mattresses.

Now I have to scrub down the pool with bleach because of the mysterious growth on the bottom. The pool's bottom, not mine. I don't know where the pool will go once it is cleaned, dried and folded. It's pretty heavy when all rolled up. I'm sure it won't go back in the box. Maybe, I can fill it up in the basement and have that indoor pool I've always wanted. Lady Di says our basement already has enough 'smells' and doesn't need to add 'barn' to the list.

We'll have to see how the summer treats us next year. If it is as hot as this summer, we should get our money's worth of swimming.

Although, I think next year I will hire a pool boy.

Summer Over? Never!

I heard from someone that summer is now over. Is summer really over? The temperature still seems like summer. Flowers are still blooming. I'm still mowing the lawn. I'm not ready to release summer from my kung-fu grip just yet. Just because Labor Day has come and gone, doesn't mean I can't still work on my awesome farmer's tan lines. I can still hear cicadas in the trees and I can still walk barefoot in the grass. Oh no, summer is not over yet.

Every year, summer speeds by faster. We never have enough time to do all of the things we want to do. Since we had a record number of ninety degree days this year, we got to swim more than previous years. Both pool and beach. We played baseball and soccer. We got to go to the State Fair. We went to the Mall of America. We went to a Twins game. We rode bikes and played with chalk and bubbles. We went to parades. We did a little fishing and golfing. We visited family in three states. We had a few bonfires with smores in the back yard. We even went camping for the first time as a family. Summer always seems so short. We hardly got to do anything!

If summer fun really is over, what can I look forward to now? Let's see. I can look forward to cold weather and shovelling snow. (Yay! Minnesota!) I guess that also means less mosquitoes. Also, now that the kids are in school, I can try out that napping program I've been developing. But only on my mornings off from work. Maybe, Lady Di and I can do some exercising together. Or maybe a little golf. When the mildly cooler weather comes, I won't have to mow the lawn as much. Plus, I won't sweat a bucket and a half while doing it. We will get to go to high school football games on Fridays, and watch college football on Saturdays, and pro football on Sundays. If you call Vikings football, pro. We have trips to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch planned. Church suppers will also start filling the calendar. Then comes Halloween, burning leaves, hot chocolate and before you know it, Thanksgiving. Gee, I wish summer wouldn't last so darned long. I never have enough time for my Autumn fun stuff.

But how can school actually be starting already?

Even though summer seemed to go on endlessly, school sneaked up on us again. Let me clarify, school sneaked up on me. Lady Di was ready weeks ago. She not only gathered school supplies from the kids' school lists, she packed their backpacks and had them ready last week.

N1S starts school tomorrow, and Sweet Pea starts in two days. We'll see if we can strap them down for bed tonight. It will be hard for them to sleep, knowing all the fun stuff we have to do, now that summer is finally over.

I'm Melting!

Well, this has definitely been the summer of the ninety degree day in Minnesota. Adjectives like blast furnace, sauna, tropical rain forest, Death Valley and H-E-double hockey sticks have been thrown around with much frequency. We are not used to this kind of heat for so many days. When the humidity index hits three digits we have to run to the supermarket and dive under the broccoli sprayers to keep cool. Our thick Scandinavian blood just doesn't flow fast enough to reach all areas of our anatomy. Mainly the brain. My blood flow to the brain must have been extra sluggish lately, as we recently purchased a swimming pool.

All of this Sahara type weather was starting to make me delirious. I was hallucinating an oasis in the backyard regularly while mowing the brown carpet that used to be grass. During one of these sweat induced dreams, I envisioned an Olympic sized, in-ground, lap pool with high dive and hot tub. What I could afford was a fourteen foot inflatable ring pool with deluxe three step ladder.

Oh well, it doesn't matter what size the pool is, just as long as the water is wet. Right?

Anyway.......A couple weeks back I had time to take the pool out of the box. I found a good level spot and spread the pool out. I found the valve to inflate the ring on top of the pool. I didn't have the right connector so I tried to blow it up myself. After ten minutes of no progress and a lightheaded, dizzy feeling, I staggered to the neighbor to borrow the right valve. After inflating the ring, I put the filter pump together. It took me a while to realize that the instructions were indeed in English and were indeed for my pump. Let's just say I used the 'trial and error' method for most of the assembly. Luckily for me, the parts that were left over didn't look too vital.

So, with the pump assembled and the ring inflated, the only thing left to do was to fill it with water. Sweat Pea (the fish) was very excited for the new pool. She was also very helpful with the set up. From the beginning, as I was opening the box, she was there with words of encouragement. "Can I swim yet? Is it almost ready?"

Her excitement took a big jump when the garden hose was actually place inside the ring. Then the jubilation doubled as I turned on the water.

"I just can't wait to swim!!", she sang. "Can I get my swimsuit on?"

"Well, it might take some time to fill the pool.", I told her.

She wasn't really listening so I went in to fix supper. She held the hose for about an hour before she realized the pool would probably not be filled by bedtime. It also took a few days of ninety degree weather to sufficiently warm the water enough to keep blue lips and chattering teeth away. It takes a lot of sunshine to warm that much water.

Well, it doesn't have a diving board, water slide, or water cannon. It's too small for floaties, water volleyball or even Marco Polo. It doesn't even have a heater. But the kids sure have fun swimming in it. They share a squirt gun in the pool. I don't know why they share one, because we have about a dozen squirt guns in the garage. They also share one snorkel to explore the interesting leaves and bugs that have met with misfortune at the pool's floor. Dad also likes to get a good run at the pool and...........Cannonball!!! Our pool may not be Olympic sized, but it sure does the trick to cool us Minnesotans off on a hot day.

Who knows, maybe we will put a couple nets on it this winter and practice some ice skating and slap shots. That's something were a little more used to around here.

Although, N1S is a miracle child to us, he really isn't walking on water in this picture.

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Well, it's finally over. Number One Son's ear battles are behind him. About a month ago he had ear surgery for the second time to repair a hole in his eardrum. Last week was his final check up to see if the drum was healed. The doctor said yes. So now N1S can swim until he grows gills.

The poor kid has been on a 'two summer slump'. Last summer, he and his bike went over a four foot retaining wall and he broke both arms just above the wrists. He wore a cast on one of his arms until August. For most of the summer he had to settle for floating on the water with a duct taped bread bag around his cast.

This summer, he started out with a second attempt to fix his ear which required his ear to stay dry until healed. Once again, he settled for floating, but without the bread bag.

At his last check up, he still had some of the packing in his ear. Ethan was pretty nervous about the doctor going into his ear again. He really does not like people around his ears. He was quite brave to let the doctor use his metal loop to pull the remnants of the packing out.

When all was done, N1S got some gum from the doctor and called me at work from the doctor's office. He was excited to tell me about his gum and about how brave he was. After all that he has been through, I was extremely relieved to hear that his ear was now healed. I did not want him to go through another surgery. I also liked hearing the pride in his voice when he told me how brave he was. It may not seem like a big thing, but to Ethan, it was a big thing. We've seen how sensitive his ears are to him. It couldn't have been easy for him.

So now he can enjoy anything wet that the summer can offer. He can swim, dive, slip and slide. Maybe tomorrow I'll set up a bucket of water balloons....then run.

Start your engines

What a beautiful day. I got off from work early this afternoon, got the lawn mowed and started playing. The kids and I played a game of Bean Bag. This is the game where you throw bean bags at some wooden car ramps, trying to get them into the hole in the middle. With a little expert instruction, Number One Son started to hit the target pretty well. His little sister, Sweet Pea was pretty good about nailing the fire pit ten feet away with her bean bags.

Grampa Ray came for a visit and he brought his boxer, Rosie, with him. Rosie is quite a bit bigger than our poodle, Liberty, but they get along OK. Since Rosie is still a puppy, she has to be tied up or else she will run to the next state. So she is tethered to the kids' swing set and was happy to have them play around her. Their swing set has an elevated club house so Rosie could rest underneath in the shade.

Tonight after supper I asked the kids if they wanted to go for a bike ride. "Nooooo!", was the immediate response. I guess the babysitter walked them to the park this morning and they were still tired. So instead of a bike ride I got out something better.

N1S got a NASCAR electric race track for Christmas two years ago from his Grampa Gary. I'm ashamed to say that I've been too busy to set it up before now. You know how it is. After work there's dishes to wash, lawn to mow, deck to build, snack to eat, game to watch, etc. Anyway, it's OK to be a little late as long as you use it eventually. So long as the kids are still at an appreciative age to enjoy it. Since the weather was so nice I set it up outside on the deck. Almost immediately, the kids started enjoying the concept of assembly required.

"OK, kids! Who wants to untwist all of the twist ties?!"

"We do!", was the trusting reply.

The glamour of that job quickly faded. I heard, "Is it ready yet?" , just after I found the instructions. Luckily it was a simple set and I had it set up just as the kids were finishing the sticker application to their cars. Yellow car for Sweet Pea, and orange car for N1S of course.

You could feel the excitement as they anticipated the squealing of tires with the first squeeze of their controller trigger. I placed their cars correctly on the track and off they went. Spinning out on the first curve. This race track set is the same as the one I had as a kid. When you squeeze the controller all the way down, the cars lose control and leave the track. Next, the kids practiced how to get their cars around the track without having to pick up the car and replace it on the track every four inches. They would carefully squeeze their trigger ever so lightly. The car would move a few inches and stop. Then a few more inches and stop. Gradually the car would go half way around the track before stopping. The giggling really started when both cars got around the track without stopping or crashing. After a while the racing got boring and the crashing got more inventive. Each tried to see how far their car would fly after removing one of the guard rails from a curve. After that standard was set, they pretended to go to restaurants with their cars and order drive up.

The main thing is that they had fun. It was a simple toy that provided a lot of entertainment and imagination. It also allowed the kids to enjoy the nice weather with something new to do. The most enjoyable times we have as a family usually involve a simple game or activity. A deck of cards, a board game or paper and crayons are usually enough to produce many memories. The kids actually played pretty nice together and it didn't get competitive at all. Thanks Grampa Gary.

Now what can we do tomorrow?

If I had a Hammer

Well, it is finally done! I started building our deck off the back of our house last July. Now, last week, I finally screwed the last screw to the last board on the last step. I had never built anything this large before. I can cut a board and pound a nail here and there, but this is the first 'structure' that I've built. This is also the first thing I've constructed that other people will trust their lives to. People will actually be putting their lives in my hands as they step out onto my deck boards ten feet from the ground. I may have to invest in a trampoline in case anyone falls. I've put furniture kits together that people have used, but those had instructions.

I had some help from the Internet and the hardware store when I had questions. My good friend and neighbor T-roy helped me a lot with the initial framing and heavy lifting. My Dad also came from South Dakota to help put up floor joists. Definitely a two person job. And I also have to thank Lady Di for all that she did. How many other wives would grab one end of a two-man auger to dig the four foot footings needed for the posts?

So why did it take so long? Well, for one thing, I'm not handy by any stretch of the imagination. I usually measured twice or more, then measured again, then cut. I'm proud to say that I only cut two boards that were too short. So all of that measuring slowed me down a bit. I also ran into Autumn weather before I was finished. Fall came and it got cold, so I said I'll finish next Spring. Then we had warm weather for the rest of Fall. But, since I had already decided to wait until Spring to finish, I couldn't very well get my tools out again. So then Spring came, I got the railings up and found out that I was two spindles short. I had to go to two hardware stores to find the color to match. Then we got busy with baseball and the end of school, then graduation parties and family get-togethers, and before we knew, it was Summer. All I had left was to finish the steps from the lower deck to the ground. Just two steps all around the deck on one side. The first hardware store was out of my deck boards. The second store said, "Those deck boards were discontinued. We can't get them anymore." So I had to settle for a look-alike board that had to be special ordered. The special order took four weeks to arrive.

But now, one short year later, I can say that the deck is done. The table with the umbrella in the middle is out. The grill is in it's place at one end. All that is left to do is relax and listen to the birds in the back yard. I can enjoy the rest of the summer in peace.

I suppose we could have hired it out and had our deck last year and enjoyed it sooner. But I think I will enjoy it more knowing that I had accomplished something that I hadn't done before. I'll admit I have a little bit of pride in the finished product. Plus we saved some money. But now that it is done, I'm ready to do something else besides building a deck. I'm ready to move on to a golf or fishing project. There still is some summer left to enjoy.

What's that honey? Landscaping?

Teammates

Tonight was Ethan's last baseball game of the season. He had missed a few games due to his ear surgery but he was able to make it to his last game. He hit the ball a couple times and bounced a baseball off of his chin. He had a good last game.

It is gratifying to see a group of seven and eight year olds learn and improve during the two months of the baseball season. They actually started making a few outs in the field instead of filling their gloves with dirt. At the beginning of the season, one of our players confided to me that his favorite part about baseball is the snack after the game. It's also uplifting to see them become a team. They actually cheered for each other at games and asked about their teammates when they were missing.

Coach Adam and Coach Eric did a great job and all three of us feel privileged to have had such an enthusiastic team to coach.

I've mentioned before that this league doesn't keep score and everyone bats each inning. Competition is downplayed but individual effort is encouraged. Helping and congratulating each other were the most important goals that we achieved this season.

As a Dad, all you want for your child is for them to succeed and have self confidence to try things. Ethan's baseball skills improved, but his social interaction skills took a big jump forward this season. Having two way conversations with his peers is a daily learning struggle for him. Ethan was able to form friendships with multiple teammates and he missed them when he was unable to play. This years' baseball team was great mix of kids with different personalities. The whole team fit together well and everyone felt included as a team.

Next year, Ethan will move up to the next level of competition if he decides he wants to play baseball. He says he is ready to practice with me for the rest of the summer for next year. I hope we can find enough summer left to squeeze in swimming, golf, and fishing too. I also hope next year's league has snacks.

Kick It!

Our daughter Emery is now old enough to play on a team. And it's about time! She has had to watch her big brother play baseball and basketball. She has had to watch him in concerts and plays for the last 5 years. Every minute she had to sit on the sidelines would kill her. She always wanted to be right in the middle of the action. Now it is her turn to shine.

Emery is playing soccer this summer.

Now, I don't want to put any pressure on her. I just hope she has fun. She doesn't need to score in every game. Just most of them. And if one of her little opponents get a little too aggressive, I've instructed Emery to use a little intimidation when needed. The rules don't say anything about a little accidental tripping, or head-butting. Wait, I guess the rules do clearly prohibit such tactics. So much for cheating.

Emery had her first practice tonight. She is on the lavender Gopher team. Pretty intimidating, huh? Our area has about 30 teams of 8 to 10, five year olds. Tonight's scene resembled a chaotic anthill. Kids running, kicking and squealing everywhere. Emery was excited to say the least. She kept repeating, "I'm so excited!", over and over. On the drive to the soccer fields she instructed us on how to cheer for her. She said we could either say, "Go Emery!, Go Emery Go!, or Go Gophers!" We assured her we would abide by her rules.

When we arrived, Emery received her jersey, socks, and shorts. Her coaches ran the team through some fun drills. The girls didn't even know they were learning soccer. Emery got to run to the sidelines for her water bottle about a half dozen times. She informed us that she was really sweaty and that she was 'getting a workout'.

The coaches then organized a scrimmage with another team. They played a game of four on four which turned into eight little girls chasing the ball back and forth. Each team scored a couple of goals with both teams celebrating for each one. At one point, Emery was taking her turn on the sidelines, drinking her water. She looked back to see her brother, Ethan, entertaining himself with a soccer ball.

"Ethan! You are supposed to be cheering for me!", she scolded.

She didn't say we could cheer, "Sit, Emery, Sit!"

All kidding aside, I know Emery will have a blast playing soccer this summer. I've never played organized soccer before, so I will be learning too. I hope they allow foam fingers at her games.