Sea World here we come!!! The kids were very excited to be headed out to their adventure “under the sea”. The drive was about one hour and they kept themselves busy doing what all twenty-first century kids do in the car – watch movies and play games.
After a day in the car the kiddos were revved up to get out and burn some energy. I think they would have been happy doing anything but we decided that a good dip in the ocean would do them all some good. It takes a while to get us all lathered up in sunblock and out to the sand but we eventually made it right around the time the sun was a massive ball of fire directly overhead.
Today we left for our family vacation at the beach. We had plans to be in bed early and on the road by four so that we could get the kids out of bed, still sleeping, drive most of the early morning and arrive around lunch with an afternoon of swimming to look forward to. But after finally getting into bed somewhere near three-thirty four didn’t sound so appealing. We did eventually get on the road but not until after nine. Not too far down the road, right before pulling onto the expressway, Carol was curious if I shut the garage door. Of course I did…right? We had to go back into the house several times for this or that prior to leaving and neither of us could remember if we shut the door the final time. We called in a favor and the thought paid off – sure enough I had left the door wide open to the world.
We had a great time this past weekend spending some time cooling off at the Duluth Town Center Fountain. The Sun was blisteringly hot and the air might as well have been dripping water, but the water coming from the fountain was refreshing and cool. We grabbed some Chick-Fil-A along the way, ate on the curb, and headed in. Once they all got used to the water they had a great time. Isaac didn’t need any warming up and was racing in circles as fast as he could swallow his chicken and fries. Piper was on his tail but needed her hand held for the first few minutes – that was until she got wet and started play. Violet needed a bit more prodding and she wasn’t having anything to do with me taking her through. Carol grabbed them all took them on a few laps to get them all good and soaked – that’s all it took to get Violet all revved up as well.
I am never sure whether to feel happy or sad whenever I get to visit the Ranch. On one hand I am happy that these animals get to live, basically get a second chance, and at the same time provide some up close encounters for the kids, sort of entertainment. On the other it makes me feel that this is just another form of making money that, while providing entertainment, lacks what it is perceived to offer. Many of the animals are caged indefinitely without even the chance of freedom. I can only hope that our kids take the time to appreciate Nature for what it is and the impact that We can have on it in both large and small scale.
Now enough of me on a soap box. All the kiddos were going to be away for some or all of Spring Break this year so we thought it would be fun to do something out of the ordinary with them before seeing them off. We didn’t tell them what we were doing until we got there and even then I don’t think they really understood what we were going to do until we started seeing and feeding the animals. We packed a backpack full of old food stuff and picked up some corn and apples at the concession as well.
The day has passed now and since been replaced by a dizzying array of southern winter weather. We have had ice, warm rain, lightening, 75° weekends, slush, wind, downpours and pretty much tiny slices of everything else since that snow. It was a fun day for us though. It started late in the evening, past the point where we needed to be out, and continued throughout the night. I don’t know what the official “inches” were but I would guess that it was four to six, maybe even a touch more. Once we were bundled up and the kids were anxious to head out into the blizzard and play. There were certainly snowmen out there that needed building and snow balls that needed targets and they were bound to oblige.
Happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to you,
happy birthday dear Isaac,
happy birthday to you!
It might a few months late getting online but that makes it no less of an event. In November, for the first and last time, Isaac turned seven. We planned a dinner out with family and friends as well as a party at the house so we could celebrate properly with cake and presents. We gave Isaac the choice of where he wanted to have his birthday dinner and thankfully he chose the Olive Garden – a fantastic and much yummier choice over the more usual kiddie venues such as Chucky Cheese or Monkey Joes. We will still eventually go to one of the others but instead of being the focus of a birthday party, we can just go and have a great time playing games or jumping around.
Dinner was fantastic. With such a large group I didn’t know what to expect but the OG had everything organized. They even put us in a sectioned off part of the restaurant near another large family party so we could be as loud as we wanted. After dinner we all headed back to the house to serenade the birthday boy and eat cake.
A special treat this weekend. Stone Mountain Park was hosting the 10th annual Indian Festival and Pow-Wow. An interesting assortment of Indian cultures and traditions. Right inside the gate we walked into a show getting ready to start called “East vs. West”. Two Indians, one from the eastern tribes and one from the western Sioux tribes, compared and contrasted the lifestyles and traditions of their ancestors. Seems the eastern Indians were more civilized, happy to barter and trade to make life easier, while the western ones, the Sioux in particular, raided and pillaged to get what they wanted, or to advance their lifestyle. I am sure this is a gross over exaggeration about the differences but it was neat to hear what they had to say and see the difference in the everyday tools used by each.
With a high level of excitement and glee, Jacob and Isaac, got to go shopping. They each received a gift card from their Grandma Donna. We gave them the option of saving it for later, surprisingly an option they have taken in the past, or using it now. They opted for the latter so we headed out toy shopping. With a figure in their head, limiting how much they could spend, they rummaged through the toys at Walmart for thirty minutes. The decision was complex of course. The selection had to be just right. Had to feel perfect. Jacob went patiently from one item to the next, meticulously inspecting its value, Nerf Swords, to G.I. Joe, to H.A.L.O to Lego. He finally settled on a pair of Lego sets that complimented each other. Isaac on the other hand created a moderate sized collection of his choices in the middle of an isle (wish I would have taken a picture) and mulled over the ultimate choice. Back and forth went the decision with the price climbing in to the hundreds of dollars and then back down into teens. With twenty-five dollars to spend it was a hard choice: does he get one larger toy that is “cool” or get a few smaller ones that offer more opportunity for play. At the end, with the clock ticking, he panicked and left his gathered assortment of mix matched items and narrowed his focus between Lego and a selection of Star Wars characters. Opting for the Star Wars route after some counseling from his clock watching oppressors.
Thank you Grandma Donna. Jacob and Isaac had a great time getting to shop for their gifts.
Halloween has come and gone. The loot has been categorized into various zip lock bags and put into deep freeze for behavior based distribution. The kids had a month of various Halloween activities: Netflix provided movies, Carol provided the arts and crafts and I provided labor for scooping out pumpkin guts. Costume selection happened about a month ago and the kids are already planning what they want to be for next year. The costumes were fun. Jacob was Ninja, Isaac was a Special Ops Soldier, Piper was Silvermist and Violet was Ariel. The all looked great and the got to pick their own costumes – thank you Internet Gods for not making us drive all over creation looking for the perfect costume.
