A Hanuaka of Halloween

The past few years it has occurred to me that there is a lot of money to be made during Halloween. This has occurred to me not because I am making any money on the holiday, but rather those wiser than I are making money because of me. What I recall as a single evening in the fall in which we wandered around our neighborhood, or at least no more than a three block radius has become something all together different. Today there is evil doers behind every tree, shrub, rock, bush, Bush sign and there is no way we can let our children wander the streets. At first the evenings were replaced by day time trick-or-treating but even that was deemed too unsafe. Now we spend most every weekend in October driving the kids to some new locale (parks, zoos, etc.) to trick-or-treat at a premium. The kids are still just as cute, but wandering along with a cluster of other parents in a cattle herd has lost some if its luster for me, although I understand the kids are none the wiser. We took the kids to Merrick's school party early in the week, then we went to Heritage Hill State park for some more treats. Heritage Hill is a state park about a block from the house that is home to early colonial period houses and demonstrations, such as blacksmith shops, livery stations, farmsteads. They also had some period games including apples dangling from the ceiling that the kids took turns trying to chomp on--thinking that it was cold/flu season we passed on this game. Later in the week the kids were then able to trick-or-treat in EC with their grandparents as well. Apparently Merrick was easily appeased with the initial offerings in his bag and was content to forgo all future attempts at getting more candy, unlike Sophia, and just be happy with the bird in hand. Merrick was dressed up as a fireman and convinced that he was going to "freak everyone out." While Sophia was an Alien commander complete with glow in the dark mask that did freak me out, as well as Merrick. Merrick's school party had the usually games including a pinata. Given the large German descent in the area I suspect that the pinata has been a long time tradition of Halloween. Sophia even got to take the first crack at the brightly colored paper mache donkey, the symbol of Halloween, although she no longer attends that school. Her school had no costumes (another change) nothing scary, sharp, pointy, excessively toothy, potentially offensive, political or fun could be worn. We erred on the side of caution and just kept her home that day, least her pink wardrobe offend anyone with a flamingo bias.

Autumanal bliss

After a long summer in which almost every day was a 'bloggable' day by the standards of this author, school has resumed and with it the ebb and flow of daily domestic minutia and the subtle joys of the weekends with the kids. As with most of the rest of the state we woke up to a chill in the air that was beyond just crisp, a definitive preface to the onset of winter. All of this seems too early for a summer that seldom crept into the range of summer. The leaves are about 50% of peak and I suspect will top out in the next week to ten days around here. We tried to make the most of it, and on Saturday went apple picking. It was cold, we were underdressed, not poor planning as much as too stubborn to admit that it was as cold as it was. Temperature was in the mid thirties and there was a pretty stiff breeze. The kids didn't mind too much, as the tractor ride out to the apple trees as well as the fruit picking poles was enough novelty to warm them up. The also were able to pick out their pumpkins on the way home. Both of them felt the full brunt of being in the elements and had Chernobyl style melt-downs on the way home. In the afternoon we taught the kids about Columbus day, and drove down to the spice store and claimed it as our own.
Sunday was equally cold/beautiful. The sun, while no longe warm, still was bright in the sky and we headed out for an early morning hike. Sophia wanted a walking stick to cruise the trails dappled with sun light and a palate of leaf colors and Merrick just wanted a stick so he could pretend to shoot things when he wasn't actually beating trees, brush, rocks or anything else that didn't move. The maples had lost most of their leaves and the forest floor appeared to be pockets of gold where their leaves had dropped. The previous day's gourd score was also appropriately gutted and faced into the jack-o-lanterns that now decorate our front stoop. Merrick was less interested in the pumpkins and was easily side-tracked by the balls in the back yard that surely needed to be kicked, while Sophia dutifully gutted and carved faces on both sides of her pumpkin. She figured that way no matter which direction people in our neighborhood were walking they would get to see her rendition of Comedy and Tragedy. After long naps by all we had a small fire in the back yard and then commitioned the kids to paint for us. Earlier in the week I had built some frames and stretched some canvas and prepped them to be painted. The kids doned their painting gear and were as Merrick imediately gravited to impressionistic art, Sophia started out in realistic and then migrated through Van Gogh impressionism and eventually ended with late Monet inspired impressionism. Through here artistic travel she did stop to dabble in some surrealism when her flower was the same size as her tree, she told me she was just using her imagination. After supper we made the early fall pies, apple and pumpkin, as a test run for the upcoming glutinous holiday and called it a pretty good weekend.

A two-year old's strategy

With the girls at swimming lessons, Merrick and I took a run along the river trail. I say Merrick and I took a run but he was really in the rickshaw. This does of course add to cardiovascular work out for me as a two-year old never is quite and must ask questions or risk falling asleep. While on the run I did have to laugh out loud at the following conversation as Merrick recognized we were going to run past the ice cream shop were we often stop.

Merrick: Daddy, we get ice cream?
Me: No, not today.
Merrick: Why, Daddy?
Me: We are just running today.
Merrick: Why, Daddy?
Me: because I need to exercise.
Merrick: Why, Daddy?
Me: exercise makes me feel better.
Merrick: Ice cream makes you feel better daddy.

This was a bout a minute and a half conversation and I thought a pretty well laid out plan on his part--I never saw it coming.

Fortunate enough for self-reflection

Spent some time in the garden this morning, picking a couple pounds of beans to go with about the same amount of peas that we picked last week. I was again reminded of how fortunate I am to have this time with the kids, there is obviously times when I wish they would venture a distance greater than six feet from me but most of the time we are able to have good conversations and I can see both their curiosity and level of questioning grow. Sophia is always trying to please us and Merrick is learning as well as constantly testing his boundaries--both good and important skills. One of the photos shows Merrick in the garden and Sophia's head is poking around the corner of the garage, she is able to eat the raspberries in the back yard as well as run to the front of the house for blueberries.

Good times that I don't wish away are extended from the backyard garden to our most recent trip to Northern Highlands-American Legion State Park (NH-AL). Lisa picked out the park and came along with us on this trip. We again had beautiful weather with daytime highs in the low eighties and nighttime lows in the fifties with no humidity. We stayed dry although last night a large storm moved through the area with winds approaching 60 miles an hour--by that time we were already showered and in our own beds--again fortunate. We spent some time hiking on the numerous trails that meander through the hemlock and maple forest. Merrick and Sophia were happy to hold the dogs' leashes although the dogs neither liked the idea of the leashes or the walking. Sophia is big enough to make the entirety of the hikes although Merrick often catches a ride on the shoulders of the the most sympathetic parent. He will get down and run for a little bit then claim his legs hurt and he needs a ride. The bugs were not bad but even a few bites causes good sized welts on the little boy. One of the bites swelled his shin into a second calf muscle. The dogs are getting old and it seems their blood line is very far removed from the wolves, so the idea of multiple days in the woods is not their idea of a good time and the novelty quickly wore off. In reality Cleo hasn't really moved since we got home and Tony has only ventured outside for a combined total of 1.7 minutes. The dogs were not allowed in the beach area nor could we leave them unattended in the tent. Lisa found a great solution to this as we hiked the shoreline she found an isolated strip of sand beach that we could take the dogs to. The kids played in the sand making sand castles, sand pies and for Merrick getting plenty of silica into his diet. He also like the idea of European swimming as well as "you are peeing" swimming. With his suit removed he found it most enjoyable to build sandcastles that he could sit on. Yes tea-bagging the sandcastles--fortunate. This was only after I convinced him not to pee were he was playing. The kids were also able to carry the largest rocks they could find and after an hour not a single toe had been crushed. Lisa and I read on the beach and the kids played close at hand. The were not too interested in the water as it is the sand not the water that is the novelty for them. The lake had a pretty good drop off which is a remnant of its recent glaciated creation. I swam and it felt good to remove a day and half's worth of wood smoke and grease. No intrepid raccoons on this trip but Lisa and I did find a couple of mice that made an equal amount of noise in the dry leaves around our campsite and the chipmunks and red squirrels added to the agony of the dogs.

A long drive on July Five

With the fourth of July being yesterday we did all of the American things that are supposed to be done; we grilled out with friends and walked down to watch the fireworks over the river. As is often the case with young kids they fall asleep just as the fireworks are starting. With the first flares sent up I felt the Sophia lose her battle to the sandman and the dead weight of her body replacing the conscious heft that was there only moments before. When she awoke this morning she had to ask if I had carried her to bed, as she had no memory of the holiday light show. Merrick was in the same position, although did not seem to be nearly as concerned with how he made it to bed.
The Fifth of July was another day, a beautiful low eighties, low humidity day and on a whim we made a long drive south to the our old stomping grounds of Port Washington. We spent some time fishing on the pier. Between the clarity of the water (thank you zebra mussels) and only a light breeze you could see down to depths of over twenty feet. This allowed us to watch some massive carp cruise by as well as about 15 - 20 nice sized lake trout. Alas, nothing was biting. Merrick is still on bobber restrictions, but Sophia has moved up to an open bail. The closed face reel I bought her was a quality name but now appears to be made in China--in short it is junk which is why she was using my open face--She did well enough with it that I think I will pick her up one of her own. We were able to watch several others clean fish at the public cleaning station although both kids thought that the smell could use some improvements and then grabbed a couple of sandwhiches and headed a couple minutes north to Harrington Beach State park. This is a beautiful State park with great hiking trails of which Lisa and I have traversed all of them several times. Our intentions were to do a little hiking, some possible geocaching and then a little time on the beach. As it turned out we only hit the beach. The kids swim alot, although they have never really swam at a beach and Merrick was beside himself with joy and appearance of so much sand. The water was typical temperatures (low to mid 60s) but we waded around and made several sand castles and in general just enjoyed the beauty that is Lake Michigan. The kids made use of thier reptilian brain to make sand angels in the body warming sand, this of course lead to sand everwhere and as Merrick kept saying "I got sand on my junk"

Gypsy Village at Hartman

After more than a year of tentative planning Brad and I finally got the kids out on a camping trip and it was really enjoyable for everyone. We had a mid week Tuesday to Thursday excursion at Hartman Creek State park. The weather was cool and dry which meant no swimming but also no bugs. Given the midweek nature of the adventure we even had the place pretty much to our selves, with the exception of the ghost sites that were just empty tents holding sites for the holiday weekend. All of the kids were very well behaved to the point were we are already planning to do it again. We even got the whole troupe down for a nap, and to bed relatively early. The park had a nice set of asphalt loops for the older kids to ride their bikes on and our site was large enough for everyone to play soccer on. The kids spent much of their time hunting/trapping chipmunks. The older ones initially tried throwing logs at the furry-tailed rats and then eventually decided building traps was the way to go. This was actually less successful than assumed as the two youngest kept eating the peanuts that were left for bait. We did a couple of long hikes each day and the collective herd was way too noisy to see even song birds but Ole did manage to foul up the woods just the same. Hiking and fishing during the day, and smores and campfires at night. Wednesday night we let the oldest ones stay up to see the fearless coons that came within feet of us to eat the ground waste that accumulates with five little ones snack/grazing all day. We tried to incorporate some of the local history and botany on the hikes between the current plants in bloom and the informational sign posts along the hiking trails, even managed to visit a restored Norwegian home that was on site. The next trip is coming shortly and we are thinking Buckhorn or roche-A-Cri, no sense doing the same park twice the state is too pretty to do that.

Like watching Fish in the Grass

Was able to sneak out for an early morning run by myself this morning and was fortunate to see large numbers of carp rolling in the grass where the river was running high. Fortunate because it meant that I could stop running and watch them for a while and also because it meant I could drag the kids down to the river and see if they could hook on to a river pig. The kids were just rolling out of bed when I return but were quickly eager to grab their poles and some slices of bread for dough balls and head out on a carping adventure. The both jumped in the rickshaw and I tossed on my roller blades and we hit the bike trail to make the best time possible. The sun was still low in the sky but hot as would later be evident by the degree of sunburn on my back. Merrick had his small Lightning McQueen fishing pole and Sophia's weapon of choice was a new 4 foot Ugly Stik. Sophia was given a treble hook given her age and experience casting while Merrick, given his age was given just a bobber. It was a bright bobber and he really just wants to cast and reel so there is no reason to increase the risk of hooking somebody. Even with just a bobber he managed to tangle Sophia's line on the first cast. Sophia has the patiences of a nun and sat for about an hour and half waiting for a fish to bit. The fish were surfacing, rolling and roiling the water all around but alas they did not bite for her. Merrick was less interested in the fish and thought it would be way cooler to feed out bait to the nearby Herring gulls. He doesn't have the patiences of Sophia and the distractions of the nearby bike trail were too much for his candidate personality. If he wasn't making promises to the gulls then he was waving and smiling to the passerbys on the trail.