Clear Lake - Day One

As I type this, I think the kids are asleep, which would not be surprising with the day they have had. We got to Clear Lake about 3:00 this afternoon for my family reunion. My Dad and Joan and Uncle Rick and Kathy have been planning this vacation for us for well over a year now and it's finally here. I am meeting Joan's children (my step brother and sister I guess) for the first time along with all of their kids as well.

Everyone kind of descended on the resort about the same time today, and given the nature of kids, they were all playing like long lost friends about 10 minutes after that, despite having never met the others prior to today. I know it's been said by the Beatles, Dylan and others, but the world would be a much better place if the children were in charge.
Everyone got settled and we sat down to an wonderful lasagna dinner that Kathy had prepared with all 27 of us getting together for the first time. Not to be outdone by our children, the parents all seemed to hit it off as well and the day was a rousing success.

My Aunt and Uncle got everyone shirts with our names on them to make the logistics easier. After dinner we played some sports, did a little fishing, and settled in for the night when the mosquitoes came out.

Tomorrow we're picking up three additional boats that my Dad has rented (in addition to my Uncle's Ski Boat), and should spend the bulk of the day on the water. We'll try to post as we go, to keep the pictures straight if nothing else.

CA Vacation 2009- Leg 1

I arrived home from my trip to Pittsburgh around midnight on Thursday, after having been gone since the previous Sunday AM. We sent the kids to daycare and spent the day catching up on bills, packing, and preparing to be gone from home for 12 days. We left Boise around 5PM on Friday and drove to Tahoe, arriving there at 2AM our time. Mom must have anxiously been awaiting our arrival, because she greeted us at our car! The kids were troopers on the drive and slept the last three hours. We spent most of Saturday in Tahoe with Nana and after a rough morning patch, had a great day at the park and lunch out before we packed up the kids and headed (slowly... due to CA traffic!) down to San Ramon to see Auntie Sue and Grandma Mary.

The kids were greeted with an array of gifts welcoming their arrival: new cups/plates, coloring books, beach towels, new stuffed animals with themed books and pajamas for all. We spent the next two days trying to visit with as many friends in the Bay Area that we could (never enough time to catch up with everyone!), eating too much food (thanks, Auntie Sue and Mary!) and watching the kids revel in the full on attention they got from two of their favorite people in the world.

All was well until the first night when I put Faith to bed. She was exhausted and actually asked to go to sleep before her brothers. I put her down, then a few minutes later heard her crying and crying. She sounded scared. Sure enough, when I went to find out what was wrong, she pointed to the item in the picture above- which was in her direct line of vision about a foot from where she slept on the floor- and said, "I NO LIKE DA BIG FEET MOMMY!". I tried to make her see that they were not attached to an actual person, but this did more harm than good, I think. She made me remove the table from her room and then close the door to the room in which they were now housed. The rest of the visit she walked timidly by that door, shying away from the room and saying, "Big feet in der. I no like them. Dey scare me!".

An Over - Abundance of Need

Now, let me start by saying I love my kids more than anything, anyone who has been around us knows that. HOWEVER, anyone who has been around us also knows that I am a man of limited tolerance. Now, don't go getting all alarmed, no one has been beaten, CPS has not been called and all is fine. But as I marched up the stairs AFTER bedtime had commenced for the 435th time last night, I got why single parenting is so hard. The need. It's more than I've got to give when it's just one parent here.

By way of illustration, let me just present a short, one act play. It's called, The Drama of the Juice and stars me and any one of the above lovely children in the photo.

Scene: The children are in the other room watching TV. Doting Father is working on computer in office.

Child (yelling): Dad! Can I have some juice?

Dad (sighing and getting up): Yes. Hold on.

Dad grabs blue sippy cup out of door and walks to fridge.

Child: No Dad! Not that one I want the RED cup.

Dad: Why does it matter? I grabbed this one, can you drink out of the blue one?

Child: (raising voice): NO, I need the RED one.

Dad: Fine! (grabbing the red cup) Here's the Red one, happy?

Child; Yes

Dad: (opens fridge and grabs apple juice container, begins pouring apple juice)

Child: Dad, I don't want apple juice, I want gatorade.

Dad: You like apple juice, just have that.

Child (lower lip beginning to quiver). But I want gatorade, I don't WANT apple juice.

Dad: (swearing under his breath): Fine, fine.

Dad: (pouring the apple juice back into the jug and pouring gatorade into the cup): Here. Here is your gatorade. Happy?

Child: (walking in and sitting on the couch): Yes.

Dad: Hey, no drinks in there, come back on the wood floor.

Child: BAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Dad: (full on swearing now, pick's up kid and puts on hardwood). Stay HERE.

and so on....and so on....and so on....and so on.....

Jesus I need a drink.......

Bye Mom! Have a good trip!

6:00 am - We dropped Marisa off at the airport bright and early this morning for a business trip to Pittsburg, PA. We're not quite sure how long she's going to be there (she promises she'll explain it all in a separate post), but it's single Dad time again.

I took the kids out to breakfast at The Cracker Barrel and now they are hunkered down watching Mama Mia! in the TV room. After that it's early naps and off for some errands.....wish me luck.

12:07 - Oh my God, everyone slept....in the same bed no less. I had to share a photo to prove it really happened....

What the heck are you doin'?

Take me out to the ballgame...

So we took Mom out to a Hawks game on her last night in town. As usual, the kids all had a blast, with the usual dose of Mascot drama. The picture is of Tanner wearing his "Mascot Protection Armor" (pat. pend.). He said he wanted to bring a sweatshirt to the game to put over his face when the "big birdy" came around, and sure enough he did, eventhough it was in the upper 90's at game time. He seemed fine, eating a sucker that Grandma bought him under there and peaking out to watch the game and keep an eye on Humphrey the Hawk.

The boys got to run the bases again,

although Tanner wouldn't at the last minute because the "big birdy" was high fiving kids bewteen first and second. Tanner settled on watching his big brother run the bases and then heading back to out seats to watch the fireworks. It was a great game and a beautiful night once the sun set.

At least Tanner's fear of mascots tell us he's not ready for Disneyland yet (not that I'm too disappointed), so we have another couple of years to put that off.

Mom left early this morning after a couple of the more stressful weeks I can remember. I'll let Marisa explain more later, but suffice it to say it would have been an impossible two weeks without Mom's help and excellent child distraction skills. Love ya Ma, see you in a week or so.

Boat Drinks

OK.... so all we had was Diet Coke and no Lucky Beer, but it was another great day on the lake. The kids all tubed and played in the sand/water, I skied, Brian drove like a pro and Mary helped all of us out, even acting as Faith's bed on the boat ride back to the dock. It took us one hour to get on the water- 60 minutes from our front door to sitting on the bow heading toward the beach.Too cool. We've already got it down to a science- from the packing of the cooler, loading of the boat, launching, driving, etc... all the way to the cleaning at the end of the afternoon.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Once again I am reminded of the importance of flexibility in this life. It's been quite a week- professionally speaking. Wednesday night I received an email from my principal for next year (I had signed a contract in April for a 2nd grade teaching position at a charter school in Eagle) stating that the State Commission of Charter Schools had voted unanimously to revoke the charter of our school. Trying not to panic, I did some research and found the audio transcripts of all of the previous year's commission meetings ( hours of fun entertainment! ) and found out the school was given a list of deficiencies way back in April. There were several meetings in May and June, then at the July meeting earlier this week, the commission gave the news that they were voting to revoke the charter. To make a long, long story very short, let's just say that after speaking with the Deputy Superintendent of Idaho (luckily I know him pretty well from my job this year at Apangea and was able to call him directly) I found out more details about the school and its leadership and I decided to resign my position and stay at Apangea to help with implementation for another year. As many of you know, I was dying to get back to the classroom, so this was definitely a blow for me at first. I spent a few hours yesterday feeling sorry for myself, but after a relaxing date night last night (Thanks, Mary!) and a day at the lake with the kids today, I am feeling 100% better. I keep reminding myself that I have a long teaching career in front of me. And Brian keeps reminding me of how much I truly respect the product that I am promoting, the people I work with, and how much more flexible my schedule is with this job.

Considering I had spent all day Tuesday and Wednesday interviewing candidates for my replacement, I had to kind of cow-tow back to my boss and ask for my job back. He was so supportive. In fact, everyone at Apangea was GREAT and not only told me I could have my job back without any hesitation, but also told me how happy they are that I am staying. Unfortunately this means I will have to go back to Pittsburgh for training the first week of August. Luckily I really like my colleagues- in fact my boss is probably one of my closest friends here- but being gone for 5 nights will be rough, especially considering I am going to be gone 3 nights this week for a training in Idaho Falls.... Brian gets another opportunity to shine as Super Dad :)

LAX

Lacrosse is a sport that is gaining in popularity all over the U.S. But is HUGE here in the Boise area. We have friends who's children have been playing for years and it's a big deal (he's choosing his High School based on where he'll have the opportunity to play Varsity LAX as a Freshman). Jake and Tanner watch college lacrosse on TV sometimes and like to play up in their room.

We signed Jake up for the YMCA lacrosse experience camp this summer (along with about 6 others), and today was the first day. Marisa had a meeting so I took him and stayed to watch. He did great. We bought him a lacrosse stick at a yard sale and he has been playing with our friends son (above) so he had some skills before he showed up this morning. He knew how to pass, shoot, face off..everything.

They did drills for a little bit and then broke down into a scrimmage. Jake had two goals and an assist. It was awesome. Hopefully he stays with it, really it's the only way he's going to go to an Ivy league College.

Why we did what we did...

So after talking about buying a boat each summer for the past I don't know how many summers (go back and read the summer posts for the last couple of years), we bought one this year. It's a 15 year old Starcraft that we found on Craigslist (how did the world exist before Craigslist?). The people that owned it were great. They took immaculate care of the boat, it was always garaged, always maintained etc. It was in beautiful shape. They took us out in it and showed us how to drive it, launch it, trailer it etc. They also threw in a whole bunch of ski equipment. So, all that said, Marisa and I jumped in a bought it.

Yesterday was the exact reason why we did.

We got up 1st thing and loaded everyone up in the car and headed out to Lucky Peak resevoir. Lucky Peak is about 45 minutes from the house and

a really easy drive. The lake is long and narrow (kinda like Don Pedro only not as warm and smaller), with campsites and docks kind of spread throughout. We got up there by 9:00, got the boat in the water and found an unoccupied dock. We set up camp and hung out on the water the rest of the day.

The kids swam, played in the sand, caught tadpoles and rode in the boat. All of them went in the tube behind the boat at different times. Faith and Tanner both helped drive as well. Marisa got to ski and knee board as well as tube with Faith. I tried to wakeboard (I need some help, and a board with WAY bigger bindings) and kneeboard (unsuccesfully!), and got to tube with both Tanner and Jake. Grandma Mary came up as well and helped us shepherd kids, man the ski flag and hold Faith while she fell asleep on the ride back to the dock to go home.

We left about 2:00 (it took a couple of shots for me to get the trailer in the water straight enough to trailer the

boat) and were home about four. We hit the DQ for some soft serve on the way home, and all in all it was the exact summer boat day we had been longing for. We are both so excited that the kids will have these memories to grow up with. The tube was the extent of their bravery so far, but it's just a matter of time. We'll see you on the water.

Top 10 Reasons Not to Buy a Boat...

#10).....yeah, we don't care


A 1994 Starcraft family/waterski/wakeboard/ kneeboard/day- on- the -lake-memory-maker
becomes ours on Sunday....

Jake vs. THE BOAT

While Tanner couldn't get enough of the boat, Jake had a love/hate relationship with it. He has always tended to side on the err of caution- even on the playground equipment or his bike, etc... He started out pretty nervous about the boat- in fact he didn't even go on it the first night, choosing instead to stay back at camp with Brian. On day two he faced his fear, though, and even went behind the boat on the inner tube with me. I was really proud of him for doing that because I know it was probably really hard for him to face his fear. Even on our last day he was a bit afraid of the speed and did not like when Jessa drove (she is a madwoman behind the wheel!). He did not like going over wakes or doing donuts. Brian dove in at one point to show him what would happen if he accidentallly fell in- that John would just circle back to get him. At that point he decided he also wanted to jump in and after a few minutes all of us dove in for a quick swim in the middle of Pend Oreille. Faith did NOT like me going in the water AT ALL but the boys thought it was great. Jake did drive the boat a few times with Brian (very slowly!) and claimed at the end of the trip that he really like being on the boat. I was proud of him for sticking with it and giving it a chance. It was a great primer before our big trip to Clear Lake next month.

Faith Takes on Pend Oreille

After the rather chaotic first camping trip of the season we left for this one with some trepidation. Doing without sleep for one night was one thing, but four nights could have been disastrous. The first night we showed her we meant business and took her out to the Suburban for a "time out" when she wouldn't settle down. This must have put the fear of God in her as she rose to the occasion for the rest of the trip and although she did spend at least 15 minutes each bedtime jumping on the air mattress and yelling, 'I JUMPING TANA! I JUMPING!" she settled down much easier. She couldn't quite get the hang of sleeping on the air mattress, though, and was found each night in varying degrees of what looked like extreme discomfort. One morning I woke to find her with her head on the hard ground and her legs on the mattress, the next morning I found her in the opposite pose. And, of course, one night she ended up in bed with Brian and I.
Her favorite activity was playing on the beach. One day she spent over half an hour taking sand and putting it on top of her hand, then taking a plastic container of water and rinsing it off. Over and over and over and over. She was perfectly content. She also loved playing with her cousins- and they definitely doted on her full force. She loved picking up rocks in the campground and she asked me to put them all in my pockets. Our trips to the restroom would take about three times as long as they should because she would have to stop multiple times to pick up the rocks (really just gravel from the road) and hand them to me to hold.

She was a little nervous about the boat at first, but loved it once she realized I would be holding her tightly the entire time. She kept saying how much fun it was but made it abundantly clear that she did not want to go on the inner tube behind the boat (not that I would have let her!) or into the water in any way shape or form.

Tanner Jackson (aka "Spiccoli") Does Pend Oreille

Check out our blond haired surfer boy. He LOVED the boat and has a definite need for speed. He was like a hood ornament in between Quincy and Jess on the helm. He drove the boat like a pro and was clearly made for the boating life.

He kept everyone entertained on the trip. My favorite quote of his was when Quincy said to him, "Tanner, you are so cute and nice!" and he said, "AND FUNNY!"

He liked playing on the beach and digging in the sand, playing in the "play tent" with his cousins, and helping Brian set up the equipment. He spent a lot of time angling for more marshmallows and trying to sneak swigs of diet coke from the picnic table.

He was so exhausted at the end of each day that he fell asleep upon hitting his sleeping bag.

Summer 2009 Family Camping Trip #2

We told our kids that we would leave after school on Thursday, but we really intended on leaving at 4AM. They tend not to sleep if they know something exciting is going to happen. So when we woke them up at 3:45 they were all rather surprised. Tanner, as usual, was wide awake instantaneously and looked up from his bed with wide eyes and said, "What are we doing, Dad?" like he had been awake for hours. It took Jake a few minutes of eye rubbing and sleepy confusion before he realized what we were doing. Faith was game to go, as long as she had all her "baynies" with her in the car.
They all took two naps on the 10 hour drive North. It was easy driving for Brian and easy child duty for me.

I love camping- and it is so much more fun when it isn't raining! We had beautiful weather- perfect, really. It was in the high 80's but our campground was in the shade so none of us ever got too hot. Plus we were right on the lake so it was easy to cool off. The kids got along great and the adults had fun. Brian and I got another glimpse of how much easier trips like this will be in just a few short years. I think the worst part for me was worrying about Faith around the fire. I have to admit to being a little manic about it but I had visions of charred hands covered with blisters.

No bugs. Good food (thanks Lisa and John!) and we had the boat to play on all day. I was reminded, once again, how much I love being on a ski boat. We are looking for a way to give similar summer memories of waterski trips to our kids- they need to do timeshares for boats, don't you think? Anyone want to go in with us on a used boat purchase? I skied for one run and had a blast. The extremely sore muscles I still had two days later were well worth it!

We left at around 10 on Sunday morning, intending to drive all the way home, but I hit a wall at about 4:30 and we were still 3+ hours from home. So we stopped at the Super 8 in Grangeville (small town- not even a fast food restaurant to be found!). The hotel had an indoor pool and I think this was Faith's favorite part as at one point she threw her arms around me and said,'This is the best day EVER, Mommy!" We arrived home the next day around 1PM- dirty and tired, but happy and ready to plan our next camping adventure!

Ponytails vs. Pigtails

Brian insists pigtails have to be braided and that these are actually "pony tails". I think that pigtails are when you have two and ponytail is when you have one. Can anyone help us solve this dispute???

In any case, Faith is getting bigger each day. Here she is in her first pony/pig tails ever and her new bathing suit. Jake snapped this shot on our way to the pool this afternoon.

Fathers Day/Opening Day 2009

How awesome is it that those two things coincide most years? I can't think of a better way to spend a Fathers Day weekend than by catching a ballgame.

We went to the Hawks season opener last night, with all the kids and stayed for the whole game for the first time. The Hawks lost (in typical A ball fashion), like 14 - 6 with 8 errors, but the deep-fried Twinkie kind of made up for the shoddy baseball. Some highlights aside from the actual baseball:

• Faith lost her mind somewhere in the middle of the 5th inning (waaaay after bedtime) and was singing something at the top of her lungs. After the 7th inning stretch she switched to singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at the top of her lungs. Thankfully everyone around us found it humorous instead of annoying.
• Tanner's typical mascot issues. He saw the Hawk ride in in the back of a pick-up truck and kept an eye on him the whole game. Even when we couldn't see him anymore, we would ask, "Tanner, where did the big birdie go?" and he would immediately know where he was and what he was doing, because he had been watching him the whole time as opposed to the game. When the Hawk finally got within two rows of us, Tanner lost his mind. He crawled over Marisa and both his brother and sister to get onto my lap, screaming, "Don't let him get me...." over and over. There was also a potato race during the 7th inning stretch (which is new this year, a French Fry, a Spud and a Tater Tot race around the bases....we are the Potato Capital of the world after all....). Tanner said, "Dad, there's a lot of mascots here tonight".
• After the game, they let the kids run the bases. Jake, Tanner and I had to run from our seats on the 3rd base line to the RF gate to get out on the field, and then in from RF to 1st base to start our way around. Jake ran on ahead, with Tanner and I about in dead last, holding hands, while he used the other hand to keep his pants from falling down, giggling maniacally the whole way.
• The opening night fireworks show after the game was really cool. We watched it from beneath the grandstands, only able to see the really high ones (of which there were plenty), while Tanner sat on my shoulders shouting, "BOOM" as each one exploaded over-head.

The kids made it through, even staying awake on the ride home. We got them into bed about midnight, sleep-over style, with Jake in with me and Tanner in with Marisa. They all slept until after 8:00 this morning, which was a first.

When we woke up this morning, Jake asked me what I wanted to do today for Fathers Day. I told him that I wanted to get some breakfast, work in the garden and make a good dinner. His response was, "That sounds like a short day.". I explained that, to me, how long you take to do each one of those things is what makes it a great Fathers Day.

We had Pancakes at the Merc, and as soon as I'm done typing I'm off to Home Depot for sprinkler parts.

Here's hoping your Fathers Day is shaping up as good as mine.

Next Time We Bring the Tequila....

In our considerable camping experience, both before and since we have had children, there are just some truths that have emerged that we can have carved in stone at this point:

1. Camping + Kids = Dirty Kids. Everyone who has taken kids camping knows this is a truth beyond debate. I am always amazed- not at the fact that it happens, but the speed and the degree always astonish me.

2. Kids love the set-up and take down, but are really unsure as to the purpose of the time in between. To a certain extent this applies to some Dads as well (I'll take the 5th, thank you very much). But the quiet, contemplative, Walden Pond like aspects of camping will always elude them. If we could have shotguns and fireworks, that would be much more their speed.

3. Water, independent of temperature and weather, will always draw children like magnets (whether you want them wet or not). My intelligent wife remembers this one and for our one night of camping brought each child three

 changes of clothes and two pairs of shoes (all of which were used, by the way....)

4. Kids + Camping + Full Night of rain = What I would imagine waterboarding to be like, only louder and more frustrating.

We went out on an overnight trial run

 up to Lake Cascade this weekend. This was in preparation for our four day trip with Lisa, John and the Girls over the upcoming 4th weekend. I wanted to do an equipment shake down and see what needed replacement- plus we needed to see what would and wouldn't work for the kids (questions, see this post). We knew that it was going to rain for a good portion of the trip, we knew thunderstorms were possible, we knew that the children wouldn't sleep well, and you know what...we went anyway. Yep, masochists as always...

I'm not sure if the word "fun" applies here. Don't get me wrong- there were some fun MOMENTS, but overall I would say that it was "trying". Some of the highlights:

• The kids playing "Wipeout" in the tent. This is a game they made up during our several hours in the tent which is based on the horrible TV show that we let Jake watch wherein the kids run and jump and barrel into things while yelling "WIPEOUT!" loudly while Brian and I hush them repeatedly and hope the tent doesn't rip.
  
• Swimming in the lake (even though it wasn't even 60 degrees outside)
• Using the light sticks that Brian got them as: light sabers, pretend cameras, exploring sticks, guns, and bug killers.
  
• Using the pit toilets (this was a highlight only for Tanner and Faith)
  
• Teaching Jake to play solitaire while Tanner and Faith colored Diego pictures while listening to the pounding of the rain on the tent
• Starting the fire with a bag of Cheetos (based on an online camping tip Brian read before we left, it works better than lighter fluid believe it or not). It worked so well we think we will buy a bunch of small bags for our next trip.
• Brian and I cracking open the bottle of wine, our loaf of bread, and the artichoke dip and lounging on our sleeping bags while the kids entertained themselves (OK... so this only amounted to about 5 minutes of our trip... but still... it was definitely a highlight!)
  

The lowlight (I guess it is really just one... but it was a doozy):

• The fact that Faith was HORRIBLE. Seriously, I don't think I have ever been so frustrated or angry at ANY of my children in the last six years. She would not settle down in the tent and it was after "quiet hours" and she kept whining and crying and screaming (repeatedly, "WHY" over and over and over again),  and being a total brat. We had no recourse except to repeatedly threaten to lock her in the car (which we obviously couldn't do) or drive home (which we weren't willing to do). Even her brothers- who usually have the patience of saints with their sister- were annoyed with her.
  

But, like Brian mentioned above, we are gluttons for punishment and are already excited for the big trip to Coeur d'Alene in two weeks. This time I think I may pack Benedryl for Faith, though. We are also thinking about bringing the kids their own tent....

Our Bodies as Art

When the boys asked if I could get out the markers so they could draw on themselves, Brian and I were just worn out enough to say yes, hand them the markers, and let them run with it. It was bath night anyway.... so I let them create their masterpieces. It kept them busy for close to half an hour and all came out in the wash. Next time we need a little alone time, I know just what to pull out....

Unfortunately I can't post the full body shots of the three kids (think: Demi Moore's painted pregnant body on the cover of Vogue 20 years ago but more graphic..) Suffice it to say that ALL parts of the boys were painted- and Faith diligently tried painting her female counterpart.

Swim Lessons

The boys started swim lessons this week. The first day was traumatic: Tanner sobbed the entire 35 minutes, bravely (and diligently) doing each thing his teacher asked of him, then holding his arms out toward the bleachers (where I was asked to sit and stay out of the way) and sobbing hysterically,yelling, "Mommy! Mommy!" as if he needed me to save him from his horrible fate. Of course, I wasn't supposed to talk to him or interact so I kept trying to look away nonchalantly, pretending that I didn't see or hear him (although I am sure that pretty much
every parent in a mile radius could hear his sobs).
I was worried that it was going to be a
LONG two weeks, but he bucked up
and on day 2 was done with thecrying and by day 3 was splashing
around, grinning, and yelling,
"MOM! Look at me! I can SWIM!"

We debated putting Jake in lessons again, but when he started the summer afraid of going in the deep end, we decided we needed to do it. He is practicing freestyle and swimming under water. Basically he is just gaining confidence because he already swims well. He is really proud of his little brother and high fives him after each lesson, telling him what a great job he did and how brave he is.

Lessons are at 4:00 so I have been picking the boys up early and leaving Faith at daycare until the end of lessons. I made the mistake of bringing her with me one day and it was definitely an error in judgment. Of course all she wanted to do was swim with her brothers and be in the pool, but this place starts lessons at 3 yrs. old so she isn't old enough. It was not a relaxing time- chasing her around, trying to keep her out of the instructor's way, explaining 600 times why her brothers get to swim but she doesn't- so she will be spending the rest of the lessons at her daycare.

One week down and one to go. If we keep making progress like we did this week, it will be money well spent!