Flexiblity for changing Weather

The mild weather continues and other than a freak storm this appears to be a nearly snowless winter. The lack of snow of course means the lack of snow activities and the XC skis, ice fishing gear and sleds are quietly collecting dust as we keep our shoes flexible with hikes and playground equipment. Two weekends ago the kids even gave up on shoes as the temperatures were hovering around 50 and they figured that was warm enough to get their naked toes into the mid-February backyard mud. We have had the occasional slumber party but otherwise the weeks have clicked along rather briskly with gymnastics and Girl scout cookie sales and Saturday morning Soccer. Merrick has started playing games in soccer and tends to be quite good at scoring. He is a ball hog, but in his defense his team of four generally plays 3 goalies and Merrick as the forward. He and I have also started to spend Sophia's gymnastic time in open gym shooting buckets and playing various versions of PIG and HORSE with ever changing rules. Sophia has her Science fair this coming week and has a great project all constructed on Water Loss in Plants. She will present her research on Tuesday and I think she is as excited as I am proud of her work. Her and I also have a Daddy/Daughter dance this weekend and with dinner reservations already made it will assuredly be a wonderful date. We did head over to a nearby park today but that was a short lived adventure as Sophia slipped and bite her lip seriously enough that we needed to come home for some ice and a clean up. She rested and Merrick and I cleaned up the backyard and changed the oil in the truck. Her lip seemingly improved enough to eat up the rest of her Valentine's day candy. One evening last week we were in need of some real summer weather and when the kids wanted to play summer I decided it was a good idea for us to all get our shorts on, turn the furnace up to about 85 and we all put some sunscreen on--even as nice as it is outside a little mock summer is still a nice break. I was sweating like crazy during supper that night and When I commented that it must be close to 90 in the house, Sophia checked the thermostat--"Dad it is 68" Oh, how I loath the heat--my people are not built for heat.

Snow Problem

No Snow, snow problem. With a garage and mind full of winter activities we are missing the key ingredient, snow. Temperatures hovered in the upper 30s and are forecasted to hit mid forties by midweek. We sit in rapt anticipation for the January thaw. Saturday morning Merrick was on the 'pitch" for soccer, a nice indoor field with sport grass. Some minor domestic shopping on the way home and then we grabbed a friend of Sophia's and headed north not in search of non-existent snow, but for the trails that are supposed to be well buried by now. We had a great hike and the kids learned to easily identify bracket fungus as well as beech trees. I also showed them how to look under the smaller spruce trees for shed antlers, this led to a treasure hunt of sorts but only returned copious amounts of grouse 'shed.' The late afternoon was filled with various games of imaginary characters, pizza and pop before the sleep over, which ended at 3 am due to a disagreeable stomach. Sunday we hung closer to home. Set up a new suet feeder for the birds, which required the kids to climb as high as they could on the 20 ft extension ladder, followed by a small brush burning and some backyard soccer. The backyard fire did serve double purpose as a funeral pyre for the single snowman we have been able to build this year. We did take some time to relax at the coffee shop with hot chocolate and large table top checkers. The late afternoon was spent dozing in the livingroom and putting some of last summers harvest to use in an apple-rhubarb crisp as the bbq ribs slowly cooked to give the whole house the smell of a home. A short walk after supper under Orion's belt rounded off the weekend that is sure to recharge us enough for another week.

New Year with Minors

Something about night hikes on New Year's Eve seems like such an appropriate way to welcome in the new year. With the temperatures so mild and little snow cover a night hike seemed almost required. So I headed out with my two favorite Miners, which happen to be minors. During our marsh hikes earlier in the week we had come across two big green softballs and a ratty baseball locked in the ice like a long forgotten wandering mammoth. So we donned our head lamps and grabbed our implements of destruction to free the balls of summer's past. The kids also wanted to run through the path/maze that we made in the canary grass as well and them it was enough tag to make my knees bark. We headed back home for some hot coco and poker. Always great to hear Merrick slam down his cards and tell me that he has a pair of "ladies" to win the pot. We did get some snow by Sunday so there was a couple of snow ball fights and just enough shoveling for the novelty to wear off. With vacation over, we are back to reality with school during the day and fasted paced evenings of homework, gymnastics, etc..

Solstice and New Growth

The Solitice has come and gone along with Christmas and while the days are getting longer we are taking some time between the holidays for slow evenings and afternoon naps. It is a good time of year to replenish, reconnect, reflect and recharge. Santa was pleased I am sure to find a batch of fresh baked sugar cookies shaped like planes, butterflies and little angels driving cars. The weather has been a beautiful curse, with temperatures hovering in the high thirties and low forties it has been great to be outside, but without the snow, little to do. We have tentative plans for a hike tomorrow and maybe finish it off with pretzels the size of our heads and some rootbeer at Titletown, today however is going to be some swimming and a trip to the dentist. Sugar plums come with consequences. The kids were not for want during the Christmas holiday that extended almost a week. The embarrassment of riches reached a new level this year when I found a whole bag of gifts in the truck the day after I thought the gift opening was over. The kids and I discussed several times how important it is to have and to remember that their are people out there that love us and are thinking about us even when we are having bad days and temporarily forget about the support we have. The temperatures yesterday were low enough to take a marsh hike in a nearby park. We played on the open ice sections and beat some paths through 12-15 foot tall reed canary grasses. It was cool enough that we needed some hot coco to warm up our bellies and we headed down to a coffee shop. We sipped our coco and played some chess on the monster chess board. Without the snow the Santa gifts of Cross-country skis and ice-fishing gear are of little value, but will be fun when the eventual snow comes. We have been playing a lot of nerf gun battles and both the kids have taken great pleasure in assassin type shots to my face from across the room. Merrick has also become quite good at actually stealing my gun if I set it down to dry dishes or change loads of laundry. So much for the armed society is a polite society philosophy. Although their slides and back bends have reached almost Matrix-like quality. Snow of no snow it is of course the time with the kids and the lessons they teach that are the most important. Merrick did get a new bag of green army men and as Sophia and him were setting up the battle field Merrick took dibs on the good guys, Sophia looked at him and said "Don't you get it yet? There are no good guys or bad guys just two groups with different ideas." She does scare me sometimes with her flashes of maturity, and a level of maturity that some will never reach. Merrick keeps me grounded; he did get a new 'puck' of hair product for Christmas and in hindsight I should have helped him the first time he used it. He was happy and he still has about half of it left--yikes! Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, best of luck on recharging and sticking to resolutions for the better.

Daylight challenged

The days are about as short as they can get, and it appears that we have been packing them so full that I have had little time for updating. We have been sneaking in late season brussel sprout harvests and prepping for the upcoming Christmas holiday. We are spending time with several indoor activities, such as hockey and soccer for Merrick and Girl Scout bake offs, bowling and Gymnastics for Sophia. We have spent some time outdoors although the activities are a little more limited as we wait for snow and ice to go along with the temperatures. We did get the Christmas tree put up and decorated right after the Thanksgiving day holiday. Merrick only broke a single ball, but made sure to secure all the others. We also made it back to EC several times including once for a wedding dance in which the kids danced all night long and Sophia even had a solid hand in starting a conga line. To challenge mother nature we do don the head lamps in the evenings and head out for night hikes around the neighborhood. The kids play shadow tag and run around in general which is of course the idea to burn some energy all over the neighbor's lawns rather than the living room. This night games are not without consequence, as Merrick's forehead and nose show some 'curb marks." Sophia and I, however have convinced him that his horn is coming in and the blood is really just from the horn tip, like a unicorn. We told him most 5 year old boys start getting their horns, but they fall off when they are teenagers, and being that he is the biggest in his class he is likely to get his before the other boys. I figured he had a pretty good sense of our jest when he just looked at me and said that he can't wait for Mitch to get his wings, like a big dragon.
A couple of other funny kid moments: We are reading Dragon's Tooth in the evening and with Merrick already asleep on my lab and Sophia close behind, the second armed character entered the story with a four-barrelled pistol. To which Sophia raised her head and with the voice of a 28 year old asked me "What is with men and their guns." Earlier in the month, Merrick and I were about finished making supper and Sophia was playing upstairs. I asked Merrick to go get Sophia for supper. With me still at the stove, I hear him hollering at the bottom of the stairs, "No Sophia, no more sex!" then he said it again, "No, I said no more sex!" I was obviously completely confused as to what was taking place and when I went into the living room he hollered it yet again. I asked what is going on? and he replied, "I told her no more sex" still bewildered I improvised with "Huh?" Merrick then said "I told her to come down and eat, but she said just a sec, so I told her no more secs!, right dad there are no more secs, right?" Laughing all to myself and the complete and fortunate bewilderment of both children we had a wonderful taco supper.

Red Plate Weekend

Another busy weekend has come and gone following a pretty common pattern of events, common but comfortable. The three of us sneaked out on Friday evening for some open skating and Merrick pushed the chair around the rink for an hour and worked as much on his form as his confidence. Sophia mean while was off knocking down high school boys, as two skaters were trying to avoid her in the corner, but she had the angle on them. She dumped them as they tried to avoid her and then she just skated away. Saturday was soccer for Merrick and then a quick jaunt across town for a Girl Scout Make and Bake badge event. Merrick did well at indoor soccer and although he cracked skulls with one of his friends, he rebounded in time to finish the drills. Merrick and I did the grocery shopping while Sophia was baking and then it was back home for a quick lunch and the domestic duties. Merrick and I cleaned the gutters and got the yard raked up. The kids helped with the raking, at least until they had a pile large enough to jump in. Sophia continued to play with the neighbor girl as well as call another friend over which eventually turned into a sleep over. We did end up having a pretty good game of poker with all four of the kids playing and me generally loosing. Sunday was a morning filled with last minute fashion shows and various games before the sleep over ended. This did give Merrick and I enough time to bottle up several gallons of Cyzer. We did do some shopping for dress clothes for an upcoming wedding and I was again reminded of how open a Dad's wallet will get for his daughter's dresses. Merrick gets a single hanger--boy in a bag type of clothing. With Sophia I was just happy I was able to appease her within a single store--did make for a good lesson in double standards. The afternoon was rainy but that was fine considering we all needed a nap and some downtime. After our recharge it was off to Hockey again and Merrick is doing really well and enjoying it, although he was a little confused by the other players taking his puck. We worked on jersey jacking after practice so we will see what Wednesday's practice brings. I gave him the red plate for his hockey efforts. As always just a great weekend.

Halloween Just keeps giving

Merrick started his Halloween season last week with a party at his school and the season just kept coming for almost another week. Friday we sneaked out and watch some deer after work/school and then prepped our guts for a weekend of junk food by starting out with movies and take out pizza. Saturday morning was some domestic chores and getting ready for the big Zoo Boo. Merrick and I did some grocery shopping only to find out that we would not be getting away from mindless begging quite so easily. Festival was filled with children in full costume, I was unaware of this so Merrick was dressed as The Merrick, but they gave him a bag and by the end of my list he had racked up more goodies than I had. He even slung his bag over his shoulder on the way to the truck to carry it out like a Sherpa. Mid afternoon we headed over to the big zoo to trick or treat with all of the animals. Merrick was dressed as Captain America this time and Sophia donned her Ghoul outfit. Her outfit coincidentally looked an awful lot like the swamp thing that was wandering around the penguins pool. After the candy gathering it was off to some friends house for pizza and play time for the kids. Sunday was the kind of day that makes you happy you own a couch, the wind was blowing stank all day and the intermittent rain meant that we spent a good deal of time in doors. In the early afternoon we did head over to the YMCA for some wetness of a warmer variety and hit the water slides and splashed around in the pool until our eyes were red from the chlorine. We did get out a little and tried to shoot the bow and arrows, but it turned out that the kids were too small for the draw length so it is shelved for another year. Monday of course is the big gig and we pounded the neighborhood for candy by the pound. We did meet up with some of Sophia's friends from the neighborhood but then it was back home to count up the loot. Merrick has gotten very good and packing up to about 8 suckers in his mouth at a single time--very efficient.