eternally chaotic

Sitting at the island while I poked around on the laptop the kids were playing in front of me in the living room. They were all edgy after doing homework and getting a snack and had not really settled into any type of comfortable evening routine. Anytime one of them did something another did not like, a wartime skirmish would break out on the living room floor – Lego, PlayMobile and horses be damned.

It was during one of these particularly conversational skirmishes that I intervened, trying for the sake of sanity only to add some sort of reasoning to the seeming mindless bickering so it could be solved in a civilized manner – silly me. Piper stood up and said, “Daddy, I am not whining. I am debugging.” The statement was said with direction, strength and finality, as if there was no further explanation necessary and this was not only a sufficient response but obviously the only one required.

Carol and I couldn’t help but turn our backs and laugh quietly to each other. The debug system (love it or hate it) is something they teach kids in school these days as a way towards conflict resolution without resorting to the sticks and stones that we grew up with.

A much anticipated trip to the fair today.  One of my favorite events to look forward to each year growing up.  Granted the fairs in Franklin were a little more focused on 4-H, but there was still fun to be found (and had).  We have been talking about this trip with the kids for the past few weeks and they were all very excited about getting to ride the rides and play games (even Carol but I think she was interested in the naughty food….).  Earlier in the day we took them to the grocery store along with three jars of change we have been collecting all year long – this was our spending money for any and all the goodies the fair could offer – plus it was a good way to show them that saving could add up over time.  Before cashing in the coins we all took turns guessing how much we had.  I asked them to pick a number from one to one hundred – while we were watching the coins drop in and the total go up we had to stop and make new guesses (much to our surprise).  In the end we turned three jars of change into $172.02 (woo-hoo !!!)  and the kids were able to see the coins turned into bills (what is it about $20 bills that even kids find appealing).

Once we arrived the fair was happy to relieve us of much of our hard earned loot.  Tickets run about one dollar each and each ride takes between three and six tickets OR you can purchase a stamp for twenty-five bucks that covers all the rides, kiddie and adult.  We opted for the stamps for the kids and a few extra tickets in case we needed to ride with one of them – seemed like a good deal and the kids certainly took advantage of it by riding everything thing they could, sometimes a few times over.

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Today Isaac participated in his first Cub  Scout outing, Rocket Mania.  He is just getting into the groove of being a scout and the outing could not have come at a better time to show him some of the fun stuff they get to do while learning.  Part of the day was dedicated to learning about various physical and mental exercises that had to later be demonstrated before one of the instructors.  He learned all about kickball, including some variant rules the scouts follow, a little geography including the important elements of a map, in particular the legend, as well as how to find a point on a globe using latitude and longitude.  He also had to learn about and demonstrate five manners that were important in everyday life – things such as not interrupting, and saying please and thank you – it was interesting to watch him walk around with instructor (Southern Mrs. Manners) and introduce her to random people with polite sincerity.

After all the learning bits were done and lunch was in our bellies it was time to get out the rockets.  These were the hard core, no nonsense  liquid propellant type – water rockets.  There were rockets of all shapes and sizes, some with nose cones, other without, a few with fins and others with wings – some with nothing at all.  The rocket was put onto the launchpad, filled about half way with water and then pressurized to around sixty psi before the safety was removed and the trigger was pulled.  Isaac was one of the few that had a weird fitting bottle (thanks dr. pepper) and it did not fully clip into the launch pad so guessing when it would release was somewhat tricky since the release was not fastened into place – once the pressure was just right it would literally take off whereas the other rockets would sit there until you pulled the trigger.  His rocket flew pretty well, no nose cone or fins, but it went high and far – I wouldn’t have wanted to be a passenger in it though.

Great day!!!  He is looking forward to whatever comes next.

I was enjoying some quite time watching a chick flick – Last Song – when the house started shaking and music started thumping from the second floor.  I figured Jacob was just jamming out to some music but after a while I decided to head up and see what he was up to.  I peaked into the room only to find Jacob dancing like Vanilla Ice and M.C. Hammer.  I went in to be supportive (he could be up to worse things…) and danced with him for a few minutes.  I left to grab the camera and ninja’d back up to get a video hoping he would not stop or get embarrassed.  Instead he got cocky and danced harder (just like his mother….grandmother!!!).  I did get a good video from the door and another from his room (after editing supporting cast out of the video) of him jamming to his favorite tunes….High School Musical 2.

Early Labor Day morning, one am to be precise, we received one of those late night, just fell asleep, phone cuts like a laser through your dreams, serious problem type of calls.  Turns out, the call was from the surgeon at the animal hospital where Uno was being boarded.  The details about what had happened were fuzzy at best and only Uno’s current condition was known. We were being informed that he was being rushed to surgery to sew up severe lacerations and bites as well as receive a series of x-rays to determine whether or not he had a broken leg. Good to know – still know answers but at least he was in good hands.  We were told we would receive another call after the surgery was complete, and we did, confirming he was doing well and that he was comfortable, but there were still no details as to what had happened.  To make it more frustrating the vet was closed due to the Labor Day holiday (granted later we found out that the vet left five voicemails but we didn’t see until Monday night).

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