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Misc

Back to Normal

Camping out with 15 or so under-10 year olds is a blessing and a curse. The blessing part is simple enough: they keep each other busy and entertained. Aside from having to occasionally telling them to stop climbing walls or some such, they’ll just move from one game to the next or one activity to the next.

The curse is that getting any sleep is an exercise in futility.

The basic timeline from lights-out (and there has to be a lights-out, even if none of them are in bed or even ready for bed) follows a pretty simple arc. For the first ten minutes, it’s bedlam. Kids laughing, farting, burping, hooting and any other thing they can come up with. After that, things start to settle down a bit. Kids who weren’t in bed are in bed, kids who weren’t ready are ready and one their way. It’s still loud, but all the craziness is becoming tamer. After about 25 minutes, it’s noticeably calmer. Most of the noise is kids fidgeting in bed. The laughter and jokes are quieter, and a couple of them are one their way to sleep. Finally, at the 40 minute mark, they are all basically quieted down and falling asleep.

But that doesn’t mean the parents get to sleep. Now, the room is a cacophony of heavy breathers, snoring, rolling on air mattresses and other noises of sleep. If you’re not asleep by now, there is no guarantee you’ll be getting to sleep any time soon. If you are asleep, the odds are you’ll be up for one reason or another: the strange environs, the unfamiliar rhythms and noises, a kid rolling over and farting in your general direction.

At that point, the arrival of morning is your best friend. Because the morning means you can go home and lie down on the couch to catch some Z’s, finally. But morning is a long way off, and, wouldn’t you know it, you come to the realization that your air mattress has a slow leak in it. Pretty soon, you’ll be sleeping on a hard wood floor.

But the kids had fun, every last one of them. So there’s pride in the knowledge you helped facilitate an enjoyable time for them. They don’t even want to go home. Of course, they got to sleep.

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Misc

Gone Campin’

For the boy’s Cub Scout pack, we’ve unofficially completed the Fall popcorn fundraiser. I say unofficially because all order forms are due to me within the next couple of days so I can order all the popcorn for the “take” orders the Scouts collected. That was also why we had the Election Day sale- a final push to sell what we could.

It’s also not a coincidence that the Fall Campout is today. The Scouts all worked hard; and so did their parents. So today is a chance to have a little fun for the afternoon. There will be hiking, games, a campfire, s’mores and more games. We’ll also be sleeping over tonight. Though, based on past experience, the kids will do most of the sleeping and the parents…won’t.

Either way, enjoy the afternoon. Spend it with your kids. Aside from the occasional tweet, I’ll be back tomorrow.

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Family

Sometimes Life is a Drudge

The kids had off from school on Election Day earlier this week. We ran our last fundraising activity for Cub Scouts that day at the polling station. Since we’re selling product, popcorn to be precise, and I’m the Cubmaster I had to be on call to support whoever was selling at the time. Mostly, that means bringing more popcorn for them to sell, but I also might have to help out with change or something similarly exciting.

Since I was going to be somewhat occupied by that activity, and the plan was to take the boy to sell for an hour during the afternoon, we decided to let the lass go see a friend for half the day. I dropped her off early in the morning and that left the boy with me.

So what did we do? In a word: chores.

More specifically, I did some grocery shopping and continued with doing cleanup from Sandy. The large tree that we took down in the early hours of the storm still needed to be chopped and the wood that I had chopped needed to be stacked. Also, there was more wood in the back to clear or harvest for firewood. So the bulk of the time was spent doing that.

The boy was disappointed.

I’d asked him to come outside and help me with stacking the wood, since it had to be carried across the yard to get it to it’s resting place for seasoning. I figured with a little help we could complete the project quicker. Well, I’d have been right if I’d received a “little” help. The boy did pick up a few pieces and stack them. But for the most part, he whined about the fact that it was boring work and wanted to know if this was all the we were going to do.

I wasn’t in a mood to humor him or try to make the work seem more glamorous than it was. The fact is, he was right- the work is boring. But then, that’s life. It’s meals, laundry, pickup the kids, drive the kids, mow the lawn, chop the wood. For the Wife, it’s go to work, laundry and all the rest. Why bother putting lipstick on a pig?

So I told him that sometimes there’s work that needs to be done and it isn’t fun or glamorous, like vacuuming or dusting, but it needs to be done and it’s best to just get to it. Further, I explained that most of life would be like that, even after he had a job someday. He’d go to work and, if he was lucky, some of the work would be interesting. But for the most part, there’d be things he’d have to do that wouldn’t be as much fun, or interesting. But he’d still have to do it. Finally, I told him that’s why you can have fun later, because you get the boring stuff done.

I don’t know that he’s too young to understand that, but he’s definitely too young to accept it. When his sister came home and told of all the fun stuff she did with her friend, he told her flatly “We worked the whole time.”

I wonder if this isn’t a fault in parenting now-a-days. We spend so much time as parents trying to find ways to entertain the kids: here’s a DS, here’s a portable DVD player, here’s an iPod, here’s a word search book, here’s some other thing to hold your attention for 5 seconds. Then, when it comes time to actually do something productive and necessary, they aren’t prepared for it because it doesn’t beep, bloop, blow-up, or entertain in some way. It’s just them and a rake or some wood or the vacuum and how boring is that? Perhaps more time should be spent on basic chores so that, while they don’t necessarily like them, they at least are part of their routine. And with that, they learn by doing that boring stuff can be done and then they can have their fun afterwards.

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Family

A Letter to Santa

Dear Santa Clause,
I have been good this year. I would like Space angry bird kit, Microscope, the lord of the rings lego set, apples to apples, BaBlade Ball Stadium and new launcher, terrain, trampolien, ipod touch, bow and arrow, ipod portable speakers app gear games, Galaxy tab 2, Super mario Bros. 2 DS, Mario Kart 7 DS, Angry bird DS

Happy cristmas,
the boy

They’re just ideas I would like.

One thing I hate about the way they teach the kids writing is they don’t have them worry about spelling. The idea is to just get them to write something without getting all stopped up because they can’t spell a word. It’s a nice sentiment, but functionally the kids pump out a blob of letters that loosely resemble words and sentences and then get upset when it’s pointed out that every other word is spelled incorrectly. They aren’t interested in fixing it, they’re interested in moving on to the next thing.

The writing rant aside, I like his ending. He must have decided it seemed a bit daunting to pull all of that together, so he let’s Santa off the hook by telling him it’s all just a suggestion. Santa appreciates the sentiment, I’m sure.

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Misc Notweet

First Snow

An early snow again this year. We didn’t get hit too hard here and right now it’s raining a little. The storm overall ended up being a little weaker here than I expected, with the winds dieing down in the evening. The trees were frosted last night with a light coating of snow, but it looks like the rain this morning removed it all.

It’s been pretty chilly for awhile now. I’ve been running the wood stove continuously for the past 4 days or so. Luckily, it’s supposed to let up over the next several days- the current burn rate on the wood supply is pretty high.

Oh, the kids got an early dismissal out of the deal. They also got a 2-hour delay this morning as a bonus. At least they don’t count as a day off. At the current rate of school cancellations, they’d have to stay in school into July.

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Family

Rock the Mock Vote

The kids got a chance to “perform their civic duty” this afternoon. Amusingly, the boy wanted clarification on what his vote meant. I was blunt, I told him “Nothing, it doesn’t count because you’re not old enough.” I think he was a little taken aback.

The town’s public library had setup a “Mock Vote” for anyone under the age or 18. It appears to have been some kind of internet site, since it was browser based, with a ballot code to gain access. Upon entering the code, the ballot for a given state would come up and the kids could make their selections.

Both kids were excited about it, since they’ve been hearing about the election non-stop for the past couple of weeks at school. The boy has been coming home asking me why everyone here is voting for Barack Obama. His favorite theory is because “he’s already President, so they just want to keep him there.” He voted for Mitt Romney. When I asked him why, he said “because everyone else if voting for Barack Obama.”

The ballot program, in addition to the voting, had a bunch of questions about “the issues.” They wanted to know what the kids thought was the most important issue from things like health care, the environment, the national debt, energy and a few other things. Then they also had further questions where the question tried to drill in deeper about a given issues, like should taxes on the wealthy be raised or should programs be cut. Basically, things that were beyond the realm of a 6 and 8 year old. Heck, those things are probably beyond the realm of 18 year olds. Seemed like overkill to me, but I guess people need something to talk about.

When it was done, the boy stated “That was kind of boring.” I’m not sure what he expected, seeing as he watched me vote by filling in circles with a black marker on a paper ballot. At least he got to use a computer.

What’s that, the lass you say?

She voted for Barack Obama. I assume she’s still at the library…

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Misc Notweet

Cold

Wow- 19 this morning when I got up. It’s no record, but it’s pretty chilly for this time of year. The past couple of days have all been cold and its been the first time I’ve run the fireplace continually since last Winter. And tomorrow, we’ve supposedly got a Nor’easter on the way, though I don’t imagine it’ll be bringing the snow.

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Family

Hockey Begins

It was an all-sport weekend for us. Hockey began yesterday for both the boy and the lass. That was the morning. Soccer then ended for the boy and the lass. That was the afternoon. There was another round of hockey for them this morning, topped off with a trip to the Providence Bruins for the afternoon, which I tweeted about during the game.

I can only conclude that peer influence is becoming substantial. The boy was actually looking forward to his hockey practices. He mentioned it a bunch of times in the context of some of his buds at school also being excited about hockey. Amazing how that works.

Unfortunately, we hit a bump in the road yesterday as the boy came off the ice. As the practice had proceeded, it became apparent that the boy’s effort level had tailed off. The Wife and I both initially figured he had just reverted to form. But when he came off the ice, he told us he had a headache from his helmet.

His head has been a saga ever since he got started with hockey because his head isn’t shaped like a normal kid’s head. It’s broader, so the helmets tend to squeeze it and that’s why he get the headaches. We spent a lot of money on an adult style helmet for him last year because it wasn’t as rigid inside so it could mold to his head a little better. It seemed to work last year. It was dispiriting to find out it wasn’t working this year.

Luckily, a friend offered the suggestion of changing the face cage on the helmet- a slightly bigger one might force the helmet open a bit more and relieve the pressure on his noodle. We were able to get a different one and I changed it out before his practice this morning. Thankfully, he didn’t have any trouble with the new change.

The lass, on the other hand, loved every second of her ice time. She even learned how to properly hold the stick while skating around and practiced her puck handling. If we could just get her to reduce the drama involved in getting her ready for practice, she’d be perfect. For hockey, that is.

And so begins the hockey season. I shouldn’t complain, as talking to some of the hockey diehards revealed that they were going from practices here to games elsewhere for other hockey organizations. That’s even more time and money spent. God bless those parents.

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Family

Should I Laugh or Cry?

As I tucked the lass in to bed tonight, she had a big smile on her face and told me “Daddy, we’re going to live across the street from you and Mom when we grow up.” By “we”, I’m assuming she meant the boy as well. (The Wife informs me I’m incorrect- she was referring to her husband. Also, she told the Wife they’d be living with us.)

I suppose every parent’s reaction to this kind of thought is different. Some might think it’s really sweet. Others less so. For the most part, I figure there’s a long way to go before we get there.

Which gives me plenty of time to influence that outcome.

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Family

Give the Lass What She Wants

The lass has been on a roll where she likes to nitpick things to the extreme. I suppose she thinks it makes her look clever. Mostly, it comes off as annoying.

So today, she comes home with a birthday invitation, which she was excited about. Then she noticed that the inviter had misspelled her name.

“Dad, look,” she said. “It’s for someone else because my name isn’t spelled like this…” She gestured to the invitation with a smile on her face.

Rather than shrugging her off, I decided to play along, but not like she really wanted.

“I guess that means you’ll have to return it,” I told her.

“Huh?” Her brow was furrowed and she had a confused look on her face. She clearly hadn’t expected me to take her quite so literally.

With her off balance, I pressed my advantage.

“Well, like you said that’s not how your name is spelled so that invitation wasn’t meant for you. You’ll have to return it so it can be given to whom it really belongs.” I stated this all as matter-of-factly as I could, making a simple logical argument based on her own words.

“But it… it’s meant for me,” she stammered.

“No it’s not,” I replied. “It’s meant for someone else with a different name. Like you said, the name on the invitation is not spelled like your name is.” I continued with the game.

“Dad, the invitation was in my mailbox at school,” she stated flatly. “The teacher put it there.” Apparently, in her world, teachers don’t make mistakes.

Silly girl, such a simple logical error.

“Just because it was in your mailbox doesn’t mean it was meant for you. The teacher obviously made a mistake,” I replied. “Like I said, you’ll just have to return it so the proper person can be invited. Just save it for Monday and you can bring it back then.” I was trying to twist the knife a bit, just to see what would happen.

“Alright Dad, that’s enough.” She was talking like an adult now. At least, she was trying to. “Obviously, it was meant for me, but she just didn’t know how to spell my name. OK? Can I go?” She had her hand on her hips and her head was cocked over to the side. I suppose this was her I’m-not-playing-anymore pose.

Oh well, game over. She wasn’t having it anymore. But it was fun while it had lasted. I guess a birthday party invitation is not the sort of thing a 6 year-old messes around with.

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Misc

Yum

In this case, a picture is worth 1 word.