Category: Family

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Cub Scouts Family

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The one thing I’ll remember about our week at Scout camp is the singing. Boy Scouts love to sing, especially during meals. Chants of all kinds, camp songs I’ve heard of, camp songs I haven’t heard of. On day 1, it was amusing but I assumed myself “above” the nonsense. By Wednesday evening, when a Scout yelled “BANANA!”, I was answering the call, yelling “Did someone say BANANA?” and the whole place erupted in the Banana Cheer:

BANANA’S OF THE UNIVERSE UNITE!
Peel!
Peel!
Peel!
BANANA!
Peel!
Peel!
Peel!
BANANA!
GO!
GO!
GO!
BANANA!
GO!
GO!
GO!
BANANA!
GOOOOOOOOOOO BANANAS!

The cheer comes complete with hand gestures. During the “Peel!” parts, arms are stretched above heads with hands touching, then on each “Peel!” call, the are spread apart- like peeling a banana. During the “Go!” part, the arms are pumped to the beat of each call.

You should hear the Napkin cheer.

Every breakfast and dinner was served family style. Each group of campers would send waiters to the dining hall for these meals. The waiters would serve the food, setup the table and take care of cleanup at the end of meals. In between, they were also responsible for getting refills of food when it was all gone. It was at the end of these meals, where the Camp staff would also sing some kind of sing-along song at the top of their lungs. Most of the campers didn’t know the songs, but they were easy enough to pick up on, like “Little Bunny Foo Foo.” Yes, I just wrote that.

Aside from the unique experience that was eating at camp, the boys were kept busy with the business of learning things to help earn their rank badges. They got to swim, do archery, shoot BB’s, fish, take nature hikes, do crafts and learn how to safely use a pocket knife. There was some free time where the kids could do whatever they wanted- which was invariably to end up down at the water front. There, they could swim, go boating or go kayaking, or even go on an inflatable water slide out in the pond. The weather was beautiful almost all week, thus conducive to being in or on the water.

Friday was a washout. It poured like the dickens all day and sapped the remaining enthusiasm out of all the campers. I’d say 90% of the campers were gone by 4 o’clock, even though there was a chicken BBQ still to come as well as closing ceremonies for the camp.

The other memorable item from the week was the theme- space. All of the camp staff would dress up each morning in costumes from all the space movies- Star Wars, Start Trek, Battlestar Gallactica. Even Firefly was represented. The campers were told all week to be on the lookout for aliens, who would invariable sneak around in full view of everyone but the staff. This would lead to amusing altercations between Star Wars characters and Star Trek characters over who had jurisdiction to capture the aliens, who would then quietly escape unharmed. We even got to witness a lightsaber duel between a camp staffer and camper. The staffer won handily and there were no more lightsaber challenges.

Despite the grand time had by the kids and the parents, it was still nice to come home last night and sleep in a bed. No worries about wolf spiders or other creepy crawlies spooking the kids. No worries about rain or getting up early to start the day. After a zany week of camp, it was good to come home to some normalcy.

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Cub Scouts Family

A Letter From Camp

As it turns out, the camp is not isolated. There’s WIFI access and even a community computer, from which I logged this post. Had I known, I defintely would have taken advantage of the amenities. The weather has been beyond fantastic so far- no humidity, cool nights, lots of Sun but not too hot. For August, we’ll take this weather as long as it comes.

The following is a letter the boy wrote to his Mom on the first day of camp. Per my usual, all spelling and punctuation is as the boy wrote it. I did modify one small section to remove names:

Dear Mom,

I had a great time at camp. I past my swim test! I am in the blue section witch is the deapest end. That also means I am in the read and white. The red is the second deapest, and the white setion is the most shallow. There are waiters in the cafe and two of my Pack mates were waiters today. After they talked about the Archery and BB gun range. we went to place were we had a second sarimony except with little acts my favorit was a one called channel flipper I think then we finally went to bed.

THE END

That was written Sunday night, after we put all the boys to bed finally. The following day, Monday, was when all the camp wide activities and “curriculum” began. That’s why he noted “they talked about Archery and BB gun range”- there was a talk Sunday night to make sure the boys understood the rules and what would be expected of them at those activities.

It’s an interesting experience being immersed with 9 and 10 year olds for such an extended period of time. I get to know them in a way that I’d never see otherwise. Perhaps some thoughts on that another time- like when I have some. But now, the hour is late and the Polar Swim is at 6:30AM. Time to get some sleep.

Good night.

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Family

We’re Their Too

Surprise! Through the miracle of scheduled posts, a surprise post this week to break the silence.

I saw this article via a Tweet which I unfortunately can’t find again for proper attribution. It’s about hitting the “sweet spot” of parenting. The author does a nice job of describing the signs:

I was at the community pool, looking around to see what my kids were up to. Then I really looked at them. The big one was playing with her friends, her long arms and legs splashing. The little one was throwing herself off the diving board like a boss. The boy was in the shade, cracking jokes with his buddies.

This is it- when you don’t need to be on your guard at all times for something that may happen. The kids are less reliant on you for comfort and stability, they rest easy knowing they are with your friends and that you lurk somewhere in their general vicinity. This frees you up to relax, read a few pages from that book that’s been on hold since they were born, perhaps even work a little on your own projects.

Reading the article, I realized that by and large, the Wife and I have been in that spot for a bit now. In fact, I think it’s possible to say my blogging is indicative of it. For some time now, I’ve been having a harder time coming up with parenting related material, largely because whatever problems the kids come up with are well worn topics here and, for the most part, pretty much trivial in the scheme of things. The posts I do come up with tend to relate to the humorous incidents, or the sorts of thing that I think every parent deals with. I don’t have any particular insights into these sorts of things, mainly it’s parenting maintenance.

I figure there’s maybe a couple more years of this before the boy begins to pull us onto some rockier roads. I only choose him since he’s the older of the two- it’s possible the lass will be the first to start going astray, but I figure odds are on the boy.

In the meantime, the sweet spot is definitely a nice place to be. I’ve managed to complete an entire patio project over the course of this Spring and Summer, largely because of it. The Wife is getting some of her knitting projects done and in the meantime, both the boy and the lass continue to develop at a steady pace in their capabilities and responsibilities.

I like to think it’s a sort of interim reward for some of the fights and trials that have been dealt with over the years. Initially, there is the stage where they start to learn rules and limitations, there are fights over food and diet, arguments over treating siblings with respect, fights over homework and school and behavior and respect. The current pause indicates a sort of balance that’s been reached, where they know their place and are basically comfortable with it. The same goes for the Wife and I, we have an idea of what needs to be dealt with and what can be let alone (hint: a lot!).

Of course, it can’t be like this forever. Eventually, they’ll need to be pushed and prodded as their capabilities grow. They’ll also sense the changes in themselves and will begin their campaigns for more independence and “freedoms.” The fights and battles will begin anew at that point.

But not this day. For now, we just get to enjoy being a family.

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A Project for the Kids…

I built a deck for our house years ago now. It’s held up extremely well. A couple of the decking boards are rotting out, which I won’t take the blame for since they are PT boards and supposedly don’t rot. Guess they don’t make them like they used to.

Aside from the decking boards, the other thing that has slowly been chipped away at are the post caps I fashioned. They were simple enough- squares cut from a 2×6 that I then cut into shallow pyramid shapes and then glued on to the tops of the posts. They looked nice when I originally did it but time and weather has undone it all. Most of the caps have fallen off due over the years as the glue has given out.

So, to give the deck a new look and some more light, the Wife found and ordered solar light caps. They are kind of like squatty looking lightpost lamps, with a solar panel on the top to charge a pair of AA batteries that in turn run a couple of LED’s.

The lamps arrived today, and there is some assembly required. Specifically, the tops need to be taken off and the batteries installed. At which point, they need to be set out in the Sun to charge the batteries.

Seems like a great job for a couple of kids to take care of tomorrow.

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Family

A Letter for the Boy

I handed the letter to the boy and he was initially excited. He figured it was from his martial arts instructors congratulating him on his latest belt advancement. So I pointed out the return address area on the envelope and he immediately became more subdued.

It was from the school.

But mail is mail, especially when you’re 9 so he ripped it open with some enthusiasm and pulled out the contents. Two sheets of paper. One had a list of the other students in his class. The other was a letter from his teacher.

At first, he was upset because there are 9 girls in his class, which is apparently 9 too many. “My WHOLE class is girls!” he claimed. I pointed out that the 8 other boys in his class would probably disagree with his assessment. After doing the math, he still felt it was 9 too many girls in the class. But he wasn’t as upset anymore.

Then he read through the letter, which was just a quick intro of his teacher as well as some of the topics they’d be covering this year- more math, more reading, more writing, book reports, physics (well- studying motion anyway) and a couple of neat field trips. He wasn’t excited about the reading, the writing, or the math. He thought the physics (motion!) stuff might be interesting, but then went into a rant about how it would probably be “babyish.”

After a few more moments reflection, he declared “I think I know why I hate school. It’s too slow for me.”

I almost choked on the air I breathed in.

I’ll have to remember this one when that first book report comes due and he’s whining at me “I CAN’T DO IT! IT’S TOO HARRRRRRRRRRRRD!”

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Family

Walking Amongst the Wealthy

The last couple of days gave the kids a chance to see what money can buy. Yesterday was spent in the company of the Vanderbilts. Today, we visited with the Pequots.

Visiting with the Vanderbilts up here in New England means visiting the mansions in Newport, Rhode Island. They were responsible for a number of those “Summer Cottages”. In particular, we checked out The Breakers and The Marble House. The Breakers was built for Cornelius Vanderbilt, grandson of The Commodore. It is the largest of all the mansions in Newport, and it also what has to be the best view.

Amusingly, when we first got to The Breakers and started approaching, the first thing the boy said was “I thought it would be bigger.” Keep in mind, The Breakers is a 4 story mansion with 70 rooms. Upon entry through the main doors, one steps up a series of stairs and into the Great Hall, which is roughly 60 feet high, 60 feet wide and 60 feet long. To that point, one has only just begun touring the The Breakers. A two-story, 2000 square foot home could easily fit into the dining room.

After walking through the whole thing, the boy had changed his mind a bit about it’s size. His favorite room was the Dining Room. The Wife was thoroughly impressed by the kitchen, particularly the 26 foot long stove and oven. Both kids took interest in some of the various rules of the household. For instance, there no kids were allowed in the Dining Room in the Vanderbilt’s day. Similarly, no women were allowed in a game room off the Great Hall, and no men were allowed in a corner study room, also just off the Great Hall.

A couple of hours later, we drove down the road a piece to The Marble House. It too was Vanderbilt property, built for Alva Vanderbilt. Over 500,000 cubic feet of marble was used to construct it. The Marble House isn’t as impressive as The Breakers, but it’s still an astonishing building to visit.

Of the two, both kids were more impressed with The Breakers.

Having seen what old money could accomplish, today we went to the Pequot Museum. Actually, the visit had nothing to do with wealth in that regard. But it’s hard to go to the Pequot Reervation and not be impressed with what they’ve accomplished in the past 30 years or so. The museum is there to document the heritage of the Pequots as well as their climb back from near extinction. The building is an impressive structure in it’s own right, with a large glass atrium. They spared little expense in creating it. The Foxwood’s Resort is the most famous part of the reservation, but it’s far from the only part. The museum itself was large enough that we were unable to see it entirely.

We ended our trip with a ride up to the top of an observation tower at the museum. I’d say it stands about 13 stories high and provides a nice view of the countryside. The elevator ride is tough for someone with an aversion to heights- after the initial couple of floors, the shaft opens up on 3 sides so the riders can watch their own ascent. It’s … disconcerting would be one way to put it. The kids had their fun at my expense for a bit. At least I wasn’t screaming and clawing to get out.

Incidentally, when we got up to the top, I could swear I could feel that thing swaying. Just a bit. The kids spent the whole time running from one glass panel to the next, looking out and down. I stood in the center and tried to look out. No need to look down.

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Family

BOO!

We heard the first rolls of thunder while in the pool. I glanced up and could see the sky starting to turn. It had been extremely hot and humid again to that point and the water in the pool was almost 90. It was pleasant only because it was wet. We’d been expecting thunderstorms, even looking forward to them. And here they were.

Finally.

We eventually retreated to inside the house as the thunder got louder, closer and more frequent. The sky got darker as well. The storm developed to a point of a near constant roll of thunder. No rain. The first shot of lightening happened so fast we wondered if we’d really seen it- a light blue blinked across our eyes and vanished. The thunder moments later was our only confirmation it had happened.

The waiting finally ended about 45 minutes after those first rolls of thunder. The rain came down in a heavy stream. All the water that we knew was in the air finally condensed and became visible. The temperature dropped 10 degrees seemingly in an instant.

The thunder wasn’t rolling any longer. They were loud claps. Lightening didn’t blink and vanish. It lit up the darkened sky.

The dogs were pacing, unnerved by all the noise from the rain and the thunder. The kids bounced around a bit, excited by the intensity of the storm, the lass most of all.

My opportunity came at the height of the storm. She was sitting on the edge of the couch, talking excitedly to the Wife. I could tell she was amped up because of the storm by the way she stuttered along in her speech. Her brain was sending words to her mouth faster than it could produce sound. She was worriedly asking the Wife what would happen if a certain flower broke because of the rain. Her concern for all things great and small is endearing.

I was standing two paces behind her, in her blind spot. She was staring out the window at the buckets of rain pounding down. I had just jokingly ZAPPED! the boy a few times to make him laugh, thus the idea was fresh in my mind and when I recognized the opportunity, I acted quickly.

I silently took the two steps towards her while she still faced away from me. Outside, more thunder rumbled and the rain continued to pour. I reached out with my hand and ZAP! I quickly but gently goosed her in the side while yelling.

Her reaction was instantaneous and hilarious. She screamed and jumped out of the couch, right from her sitting position to fully standing and ready for action. She’d spun 180 degrees during her jump so that she was now facing me. Her arms were out in front of her, ready to ward off potential attackers. Her eyes wide as she continued to process what had just happened.

My reaction was instantaneous: I laughed. I kept laughing even as she started chasing me into the kitchen. I laughed more as she started swatting at me playfully- expending the jolt of adrenaline she’d just received. The Wife and the boy were laughing as well now.

She was an exceedingly good sport about the whole thing. She’d been had and she knew it. After enduring her swats for a bit, I told her to settle down and she did. She walked back to the couch and got a hug of reassurance from the Wife, even though she was still chuckling at the lass.

Nothing like a good ol’ thunder storm.

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Family

Know Where to Squeeze

The thing about kids is knowing where their pressure points are. Perhaps it’s a favored toy that they couldn’t bear to part with. Or maybe, it’s an early bedtime. Perhaps, it’s being forced to do chores. Whatever it is, it’s a good thing to know when dealing with unruly kids as they get older.

Because at when an adult knows that, there is no reason to scream and generally act like a crazy person. Rather, simply put a finger on that pressure point and squeeze.

Thankfully, our we know our kids’ pressure points. Yes, plural. Depending on the level of foolishness, we’ll go for the appropriate spot. Smart mouthing Mom or Dad? Early bed time. Unnecessary defiance or disrespectful behavior? Early bedtime, no video games. And so forth.

But what about the kids’ friends? They don’t live here and, really, there is no authority for a parent to punish someone else’s child. Perhaps a stern talking to, maybe even raising the voice, but we can’t take someone elses child’s video game time away, or make them go to bed early.

As it happens, I’ve discovered the best lever is the friend’s parents.

For instance, the boy has a friend sleeping over tonight. We put them all to bed a little after 9 o’clock. An hour later, they are all still down there laughing and being foolish. We let them have their fun for a bit, but their obvious fatigue is causing them all to get a short with each other. So there will be a quick bout of laughter, followed by someone whining that they just want to sleep, or they to let them have something.

In this case, I could hear the friend was wound up. It’s understandable, but they need to get some sleep so they can function tomorrow. So, I threatened him with calling his parents and having them come and get him, at which point he’d have to explain to them why he couldn’t sleep over anymore. Shortly after getting acknowledgement that he understood me, I sat down and waited.

I haven’t heard a peep since. I didn’t have to say anything to our two.

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Family

Old Meets New

On the left is a more recent Tamiya Plasma Edge R/C car that the boy got for his birthday. It’s comes as an unassembled kit. The boy worked on it for about a week with some help from me, of course. The car has been runnable for a couple months now, but we just got the paint job done yesterday.

On the right is a 25 year old RC10. Technically, my brother built it. I say technically because I also had an identical kit of my own that I built up. When we told my parents their grandson had a tenth scale R/C car of his own now, they pulled out all the old R/C equipment from when my brother and I had used them. My R/C car was in a massive state of disassembly. My brother had scavenged parts from my car over the years to keep his running. So to my way of thinking, this one is 50% mine. Plus, it’s my blog…

As far as rewarding projects go, it’s hard to top an R/C car like this one. It’s 4WD and out of the box, tops out at about 25 MPH. I’d say it’s better than building a model car because the whole point of assembling this one is getting to run it around when assembly is completed. The boy has been particularly proud of the fact that he assembled so much of it one his own. Really, the only thing I did was tighten screws and check his progress along the way. It really was his project, as I intended it.

Frankly, I’m kinda proud of myself for managing to stick to that last part.

Yesterday, we finished the paint job. The boy had picked out that blue color. I masked off the windows with tape, and he painted the black for the windows while I did the initial coat of the blue. I explained that the coat had to be light because otherwise, the paint would run under the tape edges and it wouldn’t look good. After the first coat setup, he took care of the rest.

The rest of the look are stickers that came with the kit. Again, the boy took care of putting those on. I helped a bit with a couple of the longer ones so there were no bubbles or puckers in the stickers. Nothing like a pucker to ruin a nice sticker job.

When he’d finished and reassembled it, he just sat there, staring at the car. He said “I can’t believe I made that. It looks like something I bought from a store.”

That brought a smile. He’d experienced the pleasure and pride in a job well done. That’s something I hope he becomes very familiar with.

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Unfairly Maligned

So I had a minor, very minor, kerfluffle with the boy last night. He was playing video games prior to bed time. The Wife had given him a 10 minute warning, or whatever. In the meantime, the lass had headed to bed and the boy remained downstairs. His 10 minutes came and went. The Wife was still upstairs, so I stepped in.

I called down to him that it was time to go to bed and to turn off the games. A not unimportant tidbit, he’d already been playing for a good portion of the day.

The whole thing should have been done right there. All he had to do was acknowledge he’d heard me and start shutting things down. Instead, he snapped at me with an impertinence I found completely unacceptable. So I yelled at him, which he didn’t appreciate. Further, he tried to turn things on their head by claiming I yelled at him because he was still playing games. He even tried to “tell” on me, enlisting the support of his mother. I corrected his misleading statement, and reiterated there would have been no yelling if he’d hadn’t snapped at me in the first place. At that point, he was in bed and I figured the whole thing was done.

Until this evening, when he was again given a 10 minute warning by the Wife. At which point, he asked her to be sure to tell me so I wouldn’t start yelling at him again.

I’m now a victim of historical revisionism. Apparently, in his mind, I went storming down there last night yelling and screaming all because he was playing video games. He wasn’t impertinent, merely an undeserving victim of Dad’s temper.

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Enough

I understood the first night because everything was too new. They had been very young the last time we’d stayed in a hotel with them. Young enough that they this might as well have been their first time staying overnight in a hotel.

I’d hoped things would get better the second night and they did, kind of. Still, there was a lot of goofiness and fidgeting and the like. I remained patient with them and eventually, they quieted down and fell asleep.

Tonight, they were worse than either of the previous two nights. Almost completely out of control. They were loud and bouncing around and banging into the wall and being way more than just excited. I warned them on multiple occasions to settle down and each time, they ended up just as rowdy as before. There seemed to be no end in sight. I gave them a final warning that punishment was imminent.

They ignored me and I waited as long as I could before I finally decided a message needed to be sent. They received it loud and clear. I haven’t specified what it would be, only that they would both be punished tomorrow for their behavior tonight. I had no levers immediately available, so I opted for the ones I’d have with the dawn of a new day.

Kids test and test and test and test again. They do this because on some level, they perceive the rules changing as they grow up- their freedoms increase as our trust in their judgment increases. So they test old rules to see if they’ve maybe, just maybe, been relaxed. They test so much that they know when a parent is serious about a threatened punishment, and the behave accordingly.

I suspect that tonight wasn’t entirely about testing per say, as much as it was about not being able to reign themselves in and understanding when they’d gone to far. But it afforded me the chance to remind them that I say what I mean, and mean what I say. Hopefully, they remember it for the next time.

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Family

A Day in Portland

Today started, well, like any normal day would. An alarm went off and the Wife got up first to get ready for her day while I remained behind to doze a bit longer. Except for the fact that we’re about 3 hours away from home, the bed was too small and the kids were still sleeping next to us, I suppose it was just like any other start of the day.

The kids were awake and ready before I was, so the Wife took them to breakfast which gave me a chance to wake up and come up with a plan for the day. Unlike the Wife, I tend to fly be the seat of my pants. So after a shower, shave and the third ‘S’, I sat down at my computer and did some googling to find out there was to do up here in Portland for someone with a couple of kids in tow.

The first thing I came across was a Children’s Museum, which I’m guessing is something every state in the country has at least one of. While I’m sure it was somewhat unique from the one’s the kids have already been to, there wasn’t anything overly unique about it to pique my interest.

Moving on, I found an interesting nugget. The Delorme Map Store is just up the road in York. Frankly, until I found it I’d never heard of Delorme. Apparently, they sell mapping software- which struck me as unusual in an age of smart phones and Google Maps. But it wasn’t the software the caught my attention, it was that they have the world’s largest globe. Certified by Guiness no less! Seeing as how the kids are always intrigued by novelty items, it seemed like a sure fire win. So I had one destination all set.

But I needed more to work with and it wasn’t long before I found another thing unique to Portland: The Observatory. It is the last known surviving maritime signal tower in the US. Seriously, what are the odds of finding two completely unique, one-of-a-kind things in one spot like that? Destination number two settled.

I figured those two things would get us to lunch. After that, well, we’d be in winging-it territory again.

The trip to Delorme was quick- quicker than I’d expected. The globe was big though. Real big. Forty-one feet and one and one-half inches in diameter, to be precise. Australia never looked so big. It sits in the atrium of the Delorme building on a mechanical arm and rotates around as well. The kids and I stared at it in amazement until the novelty wore off, then moved on to the store.

The store was, well, a tourist trap. Sure, it had tons of maps of all varieties: road maps, topical maps, maps of the US, maps of Europe, night sky maps. They also had plenty of junk as well. Naturally, it was the junk the kids were attracted to. In fact, I ended up purchasing them some junk items: they both wanted a combination-safe bank. My initial impression was to say “No” because what the hell does a cheap safe with a two-number combination have to do with Maine? But then I figured, here was something they wanted and they’d remember where they got it. How’s that for rationalizing a ridiculous purchase?

The boy bragged how he’d be able to store things in the safe to keep them from his sister because she wouldn’t know the combination. The safe is basically a six-inch cube. I wondered a) what he had of value that he could possibly fit in it and b) what he had that he needed to keep from his sister so badly. But he seemed to have a plan so I opted not to press.

I also picked up a cool looking 1000 piece puzzle of a gray wolf. Again, not much to do with Maine per say, but I’d always remember where we got that puzzle. See, that rationalization was working well. Finally, I got a book on building rock walls. Who knew I’d have to go to a map store in Maine to get one? And, admittedly, it’s a bit late. I figured I could get an idea on how much I got right and wrong. The book is called The Granite Kiss which is subsequently defines as:

That instantly discouraging, and inevitable, experience in stone work when a fingertip or two fails to escape the contact point between two large stones on the occasion of their first meeting.

Yes, I’ve been kissed by granite.

The hardest part about getting to The Observatory was finding parking. I searched in vane for a parking lot nearby and was further frustrated that all of the street parking was labeled as “15 minute” parking, which wasn’t terribly friendly. I finally found some parking near a park that was a 15 minute walk away and next to the Casco Bay. It was free though, so I wasn’t going to argue.

While I was finding parking, the kids busied themselves with their new safes. The boy was pleased that he was able to figure out the combination on the first try. From their, he set himself to working on memorizing the 2-number combination. The lass, on the other hand, was able to open her safe once. Just once. On every attempt thereafter, she said something to the effect of “I did everything EXACTLY right, and the door won’t open,” each time with more frustration in her voice. I tried to get her to think about the problem with her statement, to no avail.

Upon arriving at The Observatory, we were informed that a tour had just started and they were up on the 2nd floor. I paid the nominal fee to take the tour and hurried up the stairs to find that the tour group consisted of… us and one other guy. The guide was kind enough to rehash everything she’d gone over and finished up just in time for a couple of old ladies to join us. So we got the whole spiel again.

The Observatory is a tower, built on the highest point in Portland, which was once called Falmouth. The individual who owned the property built the tower and then used it to keep an eye out for ships looking for a place to come in to port. He would then signal them with flags, granting the ships permission to enter the port. It stands 86 feet high on the top of the hill and can be seen from pretty much anywhere in Portland.

The kids enjoyed having a monopoly on our tour guide, who also seemed to enjoy having them along. They asked her all manner of questions, including things that had nothing to do with the Observatory, or even Portland and Maine history. She graciously and patiently answered them all to the best of her ability. Including the ones where all she could say was “I’m sorry but I just don’t know.” I was glad to offload that job to someone else, if only for an hour or so.

The guide also pointed us towards our afternoon destination: the Portland Head Light. It’s a lighthouse about 15 minutes South from The Observatory, by car, that’s located in Fort Williams Park. After lunch, we headed down there to walk around. We got to view the coastline of Maine and checkout the Casco Bay a little further. We also got to check out remains of some of the old military forts and building littered around the area. But the building that most captured the kid’s attention was the Goddard Mansion. They both were immediately impressed by the word mansion, but confused because the building wasn’t that big, “So why is it a mansion?” I tried to explain but had little success. To them a mansion was all about size. So they finally settled on referring to it as “the little mansion.”

After the disappointing mansion, the kids were further disappointed by our hotel. They had learned that it had a pool and were excited to have the opportunity to swim. The weather up here hasn’t been beach worthy, so they figured the hotel’s pool would do just fine. Unfortunately for them, the pool is a small lap pool- probably 6 feet wide and 20 feet long or so. Suffice it to say, that wasn’t the experience they’d hoped for.

We caught up with the Wife a bit later. She’d been doing her work thing all day and now it was time to play with her colleagues. They’d arranged to head over to Peak’s Island, which is a 15 minute ferry ride across the bay here. The kid’s and I joined them.

The boy had somehow convinced himself that the ferry ride was going to be “the worst thing he’s ever done in his entire life.” He hated boat rides was all he’d say- even though I could really only remember 1 boat ride he’d been on in a little speed boat. Nothing we told him could provide him solace and when it was finally time to board, he had convinced himself that we would all shortly be fish food after some unforeseen calamity beset the ferry. His gloom and dooming was off the charts. Contrast that with his sister, who was vibrating with excitement at the prospect of a boat ride. Half-way through the ride, the boy was too busy pointing out all the sites and other islands to realize that his expected calamity never happened.

Having spent a couple of hours on Peak’s Island, I can say that I wouldn’t want to live there. We walked around a bit and saw that there wasn’t a whole heckuva lot to see. The island is pretty small, about 3 miles to go all the way around. Aside from restaurants, we didn’t see any other real stores. There were ads sprinkled about for some kinds of handyman that was available 24/7 and would basically do anything: lawn care, car care, masonry, carpentry, excavation, site cleanup. There were also a lot of ads for babysitters- all of them having taken some babysitting course which taught the “Heimlich Monoover.” No really, that’s what the ads said. There is also an elementary school on the island.

So basically, to live on Peak’s Island, a resident is almost totally dependent on the ferry and the mainland. Groceries, work and all other amenities were basically back in Portland proper. To live on Peak’s Island was to live a quiet life where not much appeared to change. While that sort of life style has it’s charms, they aren’t enough to lure me out there.

That said, life up here in Portland strikes me as a pleasant, slower style. Everyone is friendly, the city proper is quite clean and very New England with large swaths of cobble stone roads, paver sidewalks and brick buildings. There is a bustle here, but not the rude sort I’d associate with New York. Drivers yield to pedestrians on the main roads and let other cars in from side streets. Delivery trucks stop in the middle of the main roads and the drivers execute their deliveries from there and no one honks there horn nor sticks an arm out the window while swearing at them. Strangers walking by don’t try to shoulder you out of the way and seem to generally and genuinely be patient with tourists.

After a day here, I’ve realized that we’ll be back here again some day.

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Family

First Night Goofies

We’re up in Maine for a couple of days.  The Wife decided to take us along on one of her business trips.  The room was already paid for and she was driving up anyway, so why not?

I’m currently waiting for the two of them to expend their goofiness.  We had a nice dinner with the Wife’s colleagues, but now the kids are all ramped up in the hotel room.  We got back late enough that it was basically time for them to got to bed.

Getting them ready wasn’t any trouble.  Getting them to actually go to sleep is proving to be very difficult.

First, there’s the novelty of them sleeping in the same bed.  So they have to wrestle over the covers, the pillow, and their territory.  Then, there’s the overwhelming urge to reach out and POKE! one another.  Then the giggles start.  Then they quiet down long for a bit before the next wave of giggles start.  Then one of them farts.

You get the idea.

In the meantime, I try to be judicious with my interventions.  I let them go on for abit, thinking they’ll burn themselves out.  But that takes too long.

Then I sternly tell them to settle down.  That’s followed with a “Yeah!” from one to the other.  Then more giggling. 

I wait a bit longer, then try it again.  After repeating the same pattern several times, I start to get more menacing.  They’ll sleep on the floor; they’ll regret it tomorrow.  Now, we move to the scenario where one is actually trying to go to sleep, but the other isn’t obliging.

Then, they try to blame me for not being able to sleep because I have a light on.  I point out that the light has nothing to do with it and that the two of them have been goofing off the entire time- THAT’S why the can’t sleep.

Finally, now they have settled down, the novelty of the room and situation having run its course.  I didn’t even have to scream myself horse.

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Family

The Wife: 1 – The Boy: 0

Generally speaking, eating isn’t a problem for us with the kids. They more or less eat whatever we cook. That’s not to say they always like what we serve, but after a little kvetching they tend to give up, hold their nose and eat.

When they really don’t want to eat something, they have one well they like to go to- the “I’m not hungry anymore” well. They don’t realize it, but they almost always give the game away because they’ll look at their plate and then declare that they aren’t that hungry.

Such was last night’s dinner experience with the boy. The Wife wasn’t fooled though- after a day at the beach where they both spent almost the entire time in the water there was NO way he wasn’t hungry. The Wife opted to bide her time, so she bagged up the food he wouldn’t eat and waited.

We went to a fireworks display later that evening. In the bag the Wife put together, she also included the doggie bag of the boy’s leftover denner. She made sure the boy knew the food was there in case he got hungry. The fireworks were a town event and had all sorts of vendors present. Of particular importance was the ice cream vendor.

The Wife went and grabbed the lass, myself and herself some ice cream cones. At the time, the boy was quietly reading The Order of the Phoenix on our blanket. He watched the Wife hand out ice cream to everyone except him. The look on his face told the story- he’d been caught. His desire for ice cream overrode his disdain for dinner. Wordlessly, he went into the bag and pulled out his leftover dinner and finished eating it.

Then, he got his ice cream.

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Still No Patience

In addition to the patio stuff we’re doing in the back yard, we’ll also be getting a pool. The kids are, unsurprisingly, very excited about it.

In a perfect world, the pool would have been installed a couple of weeks ago like we were initially told. Thankfully, it is not a perfect world. The reasons are pretty simple, the unpredictable weather kept them from getting other installs done, so we got bumped back.

Try explaining that to a kid.

As I said, I was glad for the delay. It allowed me to get the pavers installed before the pool was in. Why was that a big deal? Here’s why:

Those are sitting right where the pool will be going. If the pavers couldn’t be there, then they’d be in the driveway which would have been a long walk with all of those.

Kids don’t understand that though. Rather, they only see a pile of dirt where a pool is supposed to be.

So last week, we though the pool would be installed while we were visiting family. Unfortunately, the weather once again prevented that from coming to fruition. So when we arrived home, the kids were just short of despondent. In fact, they were now convinced that the pool would never be installed.

Then, almost magically, the installers arrived this morning. The kids were now positively giddy- convinced the pool would be done today. Welcome to the bipolar nature of kids managing their expectations. The Wife ended up taking them to the local swimming hole because she didn’t want to listen to the equipment. I stayed behind to finish the paver cuts.

Suffice it to say, the pool still isn’t installed. But the site is all prepped and ready for the pool to be set on it on Monday. Arguably, they got the most important part done.

When the boy and the lass arrived home, the both came dashing out to the back with the boy declaring “I was right- they didn’t do anything while we were gone.” Even with the pretty clear evidence of the work that had been done.

There is just no satisfying their expectations.

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Family

The Boy Suspects

While visiting with my parents, the boy lost another tooth. Actually, it was more like he decided to pull it out than he “lost” it. Regardless, the result was the same. Namely, there’s a big gap in his mouth where a tooth used to be and he had a trade item for the Tooth Fairy.

But would the Tooth Fairy know that he’d lost his tooth if he wasn’t home?

It seemed to me that this wasn’t the first time he’d lost a tooth away from home, but I wasn’t going to go there. He did his thing wrapping the tooth up and then set it under his pillow. The Tooth Fairy delivered $5 for his tooth this time. JACKPOT!

The following day, while waiting for Grandpa in the Lowe’s parking lot, the boy asked “Dad, is the Tooth Fairy real?”

I had about a half-a-moment to decide how to play this scenario. I could exuberantly say things like “Of course!” or I could say something like “No.” I opted for door number three:

“Why do you ask?”

I figured I’d see what line of reasoning had led him to ask the question.

“Well, I think that probably you and Mom or Grandma and Grandpa just took my tooth and gave me $5. It just doesn’t seem like the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus are really real. I think parents do all that stuff.”

He said all this kind of sheepishly- like he had stumbled upon a great truth that he didn’t particularly like. At that moment, he seemed like an older boy who wanted to be a little boy. He also seemed kind of hesitant in his answer, perhaps that was just his hope that there really was that kind of magic in the world.

I continued to be non-committal, “Do you really think parents would go through all that trouble? That we’d put that much work into Christmas and Easter and every time you lose a tooth?” I had a smirk on my face the whole time- couldn’t help myself. I’m not sure how he interpreted it.

He seemed to think about it a bit, and then said “I don’t know.” I waited a bit more, watching him he seemed to be trying to make a decision of some sort.

Finally, he said “Nevermind.”

And that was it.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit sad that he has figured it out, mostly. Even if he doesn’t want to completely believe it yet, he’s clearly growing up and his ability to apply logic and reason are leading him places that are probably uncomfortable for him to go. The little boy is giving way to something else. With that, some of the fun that the Wife and I had listening to them talk about magic and myth will pass.

On the other hand, I felt a sort of pride that he has started to reason it out. I don’t know if this is the normal time for kids to do so, it seems likely, but either way it was a process he’d have to undergo sooner or later. I’m sure it won’t be entirely easy for him, and when he finally makes up his mind I’m sure he’ll be disappointed.

But Mom and Dad will still be there for him, just like we always have.

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The Kids Can be Good

One aspect of the progress I’ve made with the patio over the past couple of days actually has nothing to do with the project directly. And yet, without it, I could never have been so productive. The kids behavior has been exceptional.

Starting Tuesday morning, I worked straight through the day. Today, I went to my martial arts class and when I got home, worked straight through until it was time to get ready for the boy’s class. So we’re talking hours of time where the kids had little to no supervision, or refereeing.

During that time, they took time to get me water, since the past couple of days have been so hot. They also made themselves their own lunch, and also took the time to make me a lunch yesterday. They also helped prepare dinner last night, taking the food out of the freezer and doing the initial food prep. They’ve also aided in some quick grocery store trips, and trip to the pet store for dog food, emptied the dishwasher and put away their laundry.

Most importantly, they haven’t been fighting at all so I haven’t had to resolve any conflicts in a fatigued state. That rarely works well for them.

I don’t say any of this to brag, as I’m sure that in another day or two they’ll revert to their mean. But they’ve shown what they are capable of over the past couple of days. And that’s been encouraging.

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A Quiet First Day

In many respects, today was like any other Monday. I had my martial arts class, I went to the grocery store, I did some chore around the house. Oh, and I sweated a lot because it was so ridiculously oppressive weather wise- not that that’s normal for a Monday. I just felt like complaining about it. The Wife left for a couple day business trip as well.

The main difference was I had the two shadows today.

I don’t think weekend really count in the whole Summer vacation thing, since they get every other weekend off during the year as well. Thus, today was the kid’s official first day of vacation.

It ended up being a pretty quiet affair. I let them watch some extra TV today since I figure a few days to decompress from the year is fair game. They’ve started watching back shows of Mythbusters on Netflix. This morning, they watched one of my favorites: the one where they blow up a cement truck. It was just as awesome now as it was the first time I saw it. The kids loved it too.

The day itself went pretty smoothly, with a minor hiccup in around lunch time where they got sick of each other. I broke them apart and had the lass doing some of her Summer work prep for 2nd grade and had the boy start reading The Magician’s Nephew. They spent about 45 minutes each on their work and then we got a surprise phone call.

The relevant background is simple- I was supposed to have pavers delivered here today. This morning, I got a call stating that they wouldn’t be arriving today. I was mostly OK with that, but then decided it better to say something to make sure that I didn’t continue to get bumped, so I contacted the rep I’ve been working with and he agreed. So to this point, I was expecting the pavers sometime tomorrow.

The phone call I got was from the rep telling me the pavers would be arriving in about 45 minutes. I was excited because now I wouldn’t have to worry about waiting tomorrow. The kids were excited because, well, something different. They had questions about the pavers- what the looked like, how heavy they were, how they went together and now they’d finally get a chance to see them up close an personal.

So that set off a flurry of activity as I shuffled some things around in the back and generally prepped to have the pavers on hand. The kids … got into their bathing suits and played with a hose. They were soaked from the hose. I was soaked from sweating and simply moving around.

After the pavers arrived, it was time for some dinner. We went with the old Summer favorite, hamburgers. Yum. The lass tried to weasel an ice cream promise out of me. I looked at her funny, asked “When did I say anything about ice cream?” at which point she gave me a goofy smile and shrugged her shoulders. She tried, but I wasn’t playing.

Our evening wrapped up with the boy’s martial arts class, a trip to the grocery store and a trip to Lowe’s to pick up a diamond blade for cutting the pavers. We finally settled down for the evening with more Mythbusters. We watched Adam and Jamie blow things up while some mild thunderstorms rolled through. The kids finally went to sleep in the basement, where it’s much cooler than their rooms. I’ll be sleeping in A/C tonight.

Not a bad day for starting the Summer vacation- no big fights, no major disciplinary actions, no real stress from the kids. But then, it’s only the first day.

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Family

What to Do?

The Wife and I are sitting here, enjoying the quiet with the kids in bed, when she asked me “What are you going to do this week?” With school done for the Summer, I realized, she’s right.

I have no Cub Scout planning meetings or Den meetings. I have no softball games. I have no softball games to coach. There are no after-school activities to deal with or plan for or around. The lass’ dance classes are all done. There is no other sport league they’re involved in.

All I’ve got this week are pavers and martial arts. Well, and grocery shopping. And laundry. And dishes. And mowing the lawn. And dinner. And lunch. And the kids.

That’ll be enough.

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Family

The Lass’ Author’s Night

The following is a book the lass wrote for Author’s Night, a class activity where all the kids read a story they created. The kids have been keeping a writing journal for the year and were asked to pick one of the stories they wrote to work on it for Author’s Night. The final product was a book. I have transcribed the book exactly as it was written. The horizontal rules indicate page breaks in the source material. There is also artwork in the book, perhaps I’ll get that up at a later point.

My Cat, DC

My cat is the funniest in my house.

He eats dry food. My cat’s name is DC.

I like to pick him up. I like my cat because my cat is special to me.

I like to pet my cat. I like to cuddle with my cat. I like to play with my cat.

My cat is a sleepy head. My cat sleeps all day and stays awake all night.

He likes Fancy Feast that is his most favorite food.

My dog chases my cat. The cat runs up stairs into my mom’s and dad’s bedroom. My dad yells at my dog.

My cat’s favorite spot is on my mom.

My cat is fat. He drinks his water, he does not drink milk.

My cat stayed away for five days. My mom looked for him. When we found him, he was on the porch.

I have fun with my cat. Sometimes he hisses at me and sometimes he scratches me.

DC is silly, he rolls around. I can’t rub his belly because he will scratch me or hiss at me. I don’t like it when he scratches me or hisses at me.

When me and my brother and my mom and dad go away, DC is good. When we go away we have to keep my cat inside.

Once, he took over my pillow.

My cat is as soft as a dog’s ear. I love DC a lot.

He is so cute. When he rolls on his back he is even cuter.

My cat won’t run away from my family unless my dog chases him away. I am going to love him forever.

The End