Hey, hey, Ho, ho--this snow has got to go!!

Continuing with a protest theme we are trapped in by the snow and we are mad as hell. Actually not so much, as it is giving us time to do the normal snow day routine of getting caught up on the domestic duties and make some banana bread. The "domestics" have fallen behind because we headed out last weekend to the Dells, an extended family retreat that has been in hiatus for a year and honestly had a pretty weak return. Mark and Kate were otherwise committed and Bob and Nancy just kept checking the road conditions on I-90 like they had OCD. Bob did find some time to read a little Shel Silverstein to the youngest two, easily entertaining both ends of the age spectrum. The kids had a riot and are not only old enough to not fight with each other all the time, but even old enough to head to the arcade alone, well the oldest ones anyways. Without the biggest kid present, Mark, us other three didn't even stay up too late and Brad was forced to complain Sunday morning about how well he felt from all the extra sleep and lack of a hangover. Becky and I agreed with him and we figure we will have to do it up right next time. Evan moved up the pecking order without Munky Arky present and became the brunt of several jokes including an atomic wedgie when everyone in the condo spent 20 minutes looking for his ipod only to have his mother remind him that it was in his pocket, of the pants he was wearing.

Been a slow week other than that, Sophia is on spring break and all of her weekly activities are postponed and Merrick's skating concluded last week with the acceptance of his level-two badge and a red-plate meal. During Sophia's break from gymnastics she was told that she passed to the next level which is pre-team. so she is head towards competitive gymnastics and loving it. The previous Sunday, the day after we returned from Madison, the whole family headed to the YMCA for a little pool action. The pool pH was too high and after waiting on the deck for about 20 minutes Sophia started to chant and was immediately followed by Merrick, "We want our Pool time, we want our pool time." As they seem to understand that protesting is how it is done, I was happy Sophia didn't cry out "This is an injustice, I will not stand for this, I will be making a sign!" when I asked her to clean her room--although it did appear that she engaged in a work slow down as a job action. The kids at the Dells routinely broke into protest chants with Ollie having a panache for "kill the bill" and Merrick selecting the call and report of "Tell me what Democracy looks like, This is what Democracy looks like"

With 10 inches of fresh snow on the ground and another 4 inches expected by this evening, I suspect we will head out for a little snow boarding, after the shoveling. With the expectation of spring the patio had already become littered with toys. Fortunately I remembered where the jump rope was hidden under the snow so as not to hit it with the snow blower, unfortunately I didn't remember that there was also two hockey sticks, a hula-hoop and the final coup de gras a baseball bat. It is almost April, the snow will melt soon anyways. The official report was 17.8 inches of snow.

Less hiking, More Marching!!!

Friday night was about indoor campouts, popcorn and movies, as the kids drifted off to sleep on the livingroom floor in their sleeping bags, Lisa and I were making plans for a trip to Madison on the next morning. With a snow and rain mixture coming down we packed a knapsack with peanut butter sandwiches, bottles of waters and a ration of girl scout cookies and started the drive south, to help drive home our political message. We waited in orderly lines to take a shuttle bus down to the Capital building. The kids have been helping out with the local protests around town, but it was time for the big show. A show that did not disappoint. Merrick spent most of his time on my back and I packed a section of rope and quickly fashioned a tether to keep Sophia tied to us. I meet up with one friend down there and bumped into two others, but the meet up still took two adults with cell phones 20 minutes to find each other, a kid would have been lost for a long time. The crowd was immense in size and generosity. Estimates around the capital were near 150,000 people and that didn't include the spoke streets leading to the capital circle that were equally filled with humanity. One lady gave Merrick a granola bar and then in the spirit of fairness gave one too Sophia. An hour or so later and another lady kindly handed me a kleenex, because she said Merrick had a runny nose. These throngs were the masses of generosity and kindness that easily parted to allow people to move in and out of the pulsating mass of frustration, with excuse me's and thank yous. I suspect it was the first time any of these people had been considered thugs, they were librarians, nurses and farmers they were firefighters, professors and teachers. We decided we needed to go down for a variety of reasons including to make sure that the kids knew what a jilted democracy looks like and to give them context for a government that is meant to be by the people and for the people. This an experience and a lesson that should give them a very organic sense of other grassroots movements and uprisings that does not come across on the printed page in which it is impossible to capture the bumping, gyrating, noise and foot stomping emotional chants that spring up with little leadership and create a mass of individuals with a single voice. Coincidentally it was also day light savings time in Wisconsin, so we set our clocks back 100 years.

Princesses and Snowboards

A montage of the past couple weekends finds us in the woods, fairyland and even the slopes. Seems like we haven't spent much time outside this winter, be it horsing around in the backyard after supper or just getting out for a walk. The weather has been pretty good, but the kids have gotten so involved in skating lessons, floor hockey, gymnastics and girl scouts that by the time you toss in the occasional play date or sleep over there is little time or motivation to create outdoor experiences. Two weeks ago Sophia and I had much anticipated night out, while Merrick and Lisa went to a movie and dinner, we had a meal at nice restaurant and then went to the father daughter dance at a local high school. Sophia spent about two weeks planning what I would wear after getting her ensemble put together in about a month and a half. She was even able to ask me before we left, "Is that how you are going to comb your hair?" We had a wonderful time and Sophia quickly got used to me opening every door for her and generally leading me where ever she wanted to go. She had a couple of her friends at the dance, but she still generally chose me to dance with, a choice that still warms me greatly as I recognize the fleeting moment that the choice represents. We danced to every song but one, when Sophia had to stop for an ice cream break. Some of the high school girls were there dressed in massive 'princess' prom type dresses. Sophia wanted, and received, her picture taken with the princesses, at great risk to my own career of having high school girls pictures on my phone. My princess, Sophia, was certainly worth the risk.

We have been able to get some outdoor time by hiking near the house and watching the rabbit tracks weave in and out of the dried bamboo canes. Last weekend Sophia had a friend over and we headed north to the Oconto to take a hike. On the way up the friend said she had never been in the woods, so it was nice to introduce a 'new kid' to all of the tracks that we came across in the woods. With a fresh bit of snow we ended the weekend with a trip to the sledding hill armed with new snowboards. The kids did great. Turns out Sophia is a goofy foot and rides as a lefty, Merrick with no real surprise seems to excel at this athletic event. He rode all the way to the bottom of the hill several times and then just stepped out of the board when it stopped. Sophia did much better once we switched her bindings around. We rounded off the weekend with a solid spaghetti and meatball supper. Oh, but lest I forget about the restaurant of Friday night, I will sum it up with only that when we left the host asked Lisa "Are you sure you got all of your kids?" not a pleasant outing.

A winter Siege

As we keep up the good fight against the wintery bluster of Wisconsin we are sometimes forced to look for indoor activities. Sometimes those activities can come in a parcel post surprise from Muncle Arky and other times we must head out to see what if any of our Wii skills can handle reality. Muncle Arky sent a big box of sweating gear as well as some books. Sophia has been plowing through the books with an wonderful eagerness. The box also contained a swim cap that quickly found a mate in my old gym bag. The kids sported the latex with giggles and smiles, potentially from the lack of circulation in their heads. As the kids had been way too healthy for most of the winter we figured it was a good time to put them in rental shoes and let them play with publicly shared bowling balls, score-keeping screens, video games screens and finger foods for supper. Shouldn't have been a big surprise when Merrick spent the next week with a fever that bounced over 103. Coincidentally about the same as our families cumulative bowling score. Wii bowling never causes a fever. The rest of the time has been spent on Merrick's hockey of which he happily passed his first course and got a badge that he wears with great pride,Snowplow Sam 1, and Sophia's continuation with both gymnastics and Girl Scouts--Friday we unleash a wave of cookie sales so bring on the tag-alongs and peanut butter patties.

December passes

December draws down as we slide towards the new year. The early winter months have found us busy with the normal albeit often forgotten beauties of the season. Early in the month Merrick and I found an early Saturday morning to brew a batch of Scotch ale and an IPA. The two of us were able to crank out ten gallons and clean up before noon on a gray drizzly morning. Sophia finished up her second session of gymnastics. She was very proud to pass on her first attempt, she improved greatly and we are going to get her signed up for the next session that will start after the new year. Merrick is staying active as well and has started skating lessons. We did get the family out for an open skate before his first skating lesson. His balance and athleticism is always amazing to watch. He has also developed an excellent knack at waiting in the middle of the ice until one of the college girl instructors come to help him. Getting there is always half the fun, one night as the parking lot was as icy as the rink, Merrick crossed the lot by taking three steps and then sliding like Pete Rose Penguin over and over until he was at the front door of the rink. The next week with three inches of fresh snow and a parking lot filled with inattentive SUV drivers, Merrick decided that an unadulterated section of parking lot need a snow angle. Although we were running late he was not to let the lot go unadorned and dropped down for a full snow angle display for all to see. The outdoor rinks are just now being flooded so we will try to get to some outdoor ice as well. The opening salvo of snow hit us hard dumping nearly 12 inches in the area and leaving wet heavy snow and massive drifts to be cleaned up. The kids however have a very different opinion on the snow and it was perfect for a snowman. We also spent two days making the largest snow cave that I had ever made. It was large enough for all three of us to sit very comfortably inside and have a nice chat while the candle light flickered off snow walls. The cave only lasted a few days until the kids decapitated it and is became an snowy atoll, not unlike the Metrodome. Christmas comes with decorations for the tree and Christmas sings. Sophia even had a speaking part and was asked to introduce the final song of the concert. The Grandmas made a trip over to watch Sophia's sing and we had a nice lasagna dinner and conversation before they had to make the dark drive home. Sophia also was able to go caroling with her girl scout troop. With all of the snow we have been getting a great deal of sledding done. Merrick is an intrepid little sledder on the hill and completely fearless as his three-year body rolls and tumbles across the hard packed snow. He even likes to crash Sophia as she hits the jumps. Sophia hit a particularly large jump only to have Merrick run to get into her way. She took him right in the knees, when she got up from the snow he asked her if it hurt--seemed very reversed from what I expected. As I washed him the other day I wondered to myself about all the bruises on his little body and what a doctor would ask if I had to take him in. After every crash he stands up and hollers back up the hill "That was Awesome!!" We are between the holidays now and are making plans for a little ice fishing and try to sneak in a night hike with some hot coco and woodland sledding as well.

Mini-Milestones

This weekend became a weekend of mini-milestones for the kids. Merrick moved up to a booster chair in both vehicles, making him feel the king of the world. This also allows him to buckle and unbuckle himself as we move in and out the vehicle. For her part Sophia got her initial badges put on her Brownie vest and is now an official member of the Girl Scouts of America. Once I ironed the troop numbers on her vest and allowed it to cool enough for her to put it one, she wore it the rest of the day. Even the dogs hit a milestone, much to their chagrin my prophecies came true and Sophia started to put her doll cloths on the dogs. Tony was voted most likely to be dressed, just because he is slow, docile and easy to catch, while Cleo bits, snaps and growls when Sophia approaches with any textile that was made with a teddy-bear proportions. Tony's first outfit appears to be a street-hood gangster, complete with Sophia flashing her second grade impression of gang signs.

Saturday was a beautiful day and started a weekend that just continued to get nicer, with temperatures at nearly 60 degrees in November we headed for the woods. We hiked along the sunset trail in Peninsula State Park in Door county. It was our first time on the trail and we didn't realize that it was reserved for cranky people. We passed three different hiking groups and only one guy responded politely when we greeted him with a hello. It might have something to do with the high volume the kids are able to produce outdoors or all of the sword fighting we were doing with the sticks we found, but still it is just impolite not to return somebodies salutation. These other hikers apparently thought we should have kept the kids indoors so they could complain about how you never see kids playing outside anymore and then blame the most current video game or technological device. The sword fighting was a riot and clearly a product of the kids watching too much Star Wars and Karate Kid, so I know the kids are getting their American allotment of digital entertainment. On the way home we stopped for a mid day meal at PC Junction. An old bar that has a train theme complete with an electric train that runs along the bar to deliver your food. The kids thought it was great fun and particularly liked it when nobody was getting food and the cargo contained singing dogs and bubble machines. I could have done without the soap bubbles on my fries, but we weren't really there for me. Sunday was a solid house cleaning before the Grandparents arrived. Bob and Nancy showed up with all the accouterments of grandparentdom; math flash cards, coloring books, candy and of course quality cheese. We all took a short walk along the bike trail and then spent much of the afternoon skipping rope in the back yard. By days end, which seemed to come early on the first day of the time change, we found ourselves outside with a campfire and the kids and neighbor girl playing ditch under the 5pm stars. All in all a pretty good weekend, as any weekend spent with family generally is.

halloween begins

A generally rainy weekend filled with the domestic duties that the changing seasons can bring. Friday evening was the only part of the weekend that was fit to be outside and we managed to make the most of it. The Heritage Hill, just a block or two away, had the first night of trick or treating. We met some family friends there just before supper time and gave it a go. Merrick managed to return home with only a single jaw-breaker haven eaten his take as it came. Sophia in her gracious way gladly shared with him on Saturday morning. The weather was crisp but sunny and an pretty nice fall evening with the smell of wood smoke in the air. Merrick was a 1920's gangster complete with tommy gun and Sophia went as a Flapper girl, so it was a very thematic outing. We ended the evening with pizza and laughs at a friends house and the kids drifting off to sleep asking about when the next trick or treating was going to be--it will be Thursday, followed by Friday and then finally Sunday night.