When In Rome

Today was the last day of VBS (vacation bible school) at our church. For the last 5 days the boys have been learning about Paul and the underground church. They had a blast (they always do) and have been playing 'Rome' at home being Caesar, guards and undercover Christians. Here is Caesar (looking oh so serious) and his loyal guard:

Buzzzzz

Who are these clean cut boys? They couldn't be mine could they? Where is the thick shaggy hair you might ask. Well, I finally got around to buzzing it all off today. I certainly do not like cutting all that hair, but I love their soft fuzzy head when it is all said and done. And they look so darn cute too!

Sun and sand and seaweed, oh my!

Nana took the boys and I down to the Shores this morning. It was hot and crowded and wonderful. I just love the beach and so do the boys.

We wandered down the shore and even made it all the way to the tide pools (luckily it was low tide). Sammy loved all the seaweed and liked dragging, carrying and lugging large pieces of it around and Daniel loved splashing through the cool water and jumping the waves. Me, I just loved the sound of the crashing waves, the sand between my toes and the cool, misty sea breeze.

Snaggle Tooth

I just love this boy and his big snaggle tooth. I just wish he would stop growing!

Summer Camp

Daniel and Sammy just finished a fun filled week of summer camp at City Tree. They must be exhausted because they were on the go almost every single day. Trips to parks, an aquarium and the zoo, water days, movies, crafts and more. I guess they kind of liked it since they both complained when they asked if they were going next week and I said "No". What? Am I not fun? I guess not. Well, I am glad we will have next week to just relax and do whatever we want or don't want to do.

This week was a test run for Sammy. All day, every day with a schedule similar to his kindergarten class this fall. Just more work and less play. I am so glad he enjoyed himself and hopefully it will help make the transition from preschool to kindergarten easier for both Sammy and I.

I'm Losing

Rat 2, Dan 0. This time the rat(s?) got the bait without springing the trap. Maybe they will get so fat on peanut butter that they won't be able to waddle away from me when I finally see one.

RATS!

Rats! It's Gone.

Suzy's mad. Thankfully not at me. Thankfully not at the boys. She's mad at the rat(s?). A few months ago our neighbor's cat, Missy, went out for a stroll and never came back. It was a sad day, but not unexpected as Missy was getting up there in age and it was only a matter of time before her surly nature wrote a check that her cat skills could not cover. I am thinking that she picked on one coyote too many. But I digress, so Missy is no longer in our lives. Missy was a hunter. Some cats are standoffish, some cats are cuddly (doubtful), some cats are fun loving and some cats are dumb (I am looking at you Spud up there in Cat Heaven). Very rarely did a day go by that a present was not left by our neighbor's back door. Mice, birds, large insects, mastodons, there was always something. Missy was earning her keep. It was sad that the occasional bird nest in the spring was harvested for her sport, but the birds learned to stay away. Apparently so did the rodents, because since Missy has been gone, the rats have come out to play, and Suzy is mad.

'What are the rats after?'

I am glad you asked! Tomatoes. Big, fat, red, juicy home grown tomatoes. I am not much of a tomato fan, unless it is in salsa or some similar concoction, but Suzy is, and her wrath is fearsome when she finds a half eaten tomato in the backyard that she was planning on picking. Her wrath is so fearsome that she took the surprising tact of telling me before she and the boys left for Portland to,

'Take care of the rat(s?). I want them gone.'

Awesome, rat hunting season has opened in our backyard. Doing some quick internet searches it became apparent that 1. rats love peanut butter, and 2. poisons are probably a bad idea. We do have a fairly active red tail hawk population in the area and I would be bummed out if one of them died from secondary poisoning (I know, I know, I am getting soft in my old age). Rat traps it is. Home Depot had two types, the normal one you all have seen before, and what I call, 'The Chair'. The concept of The Chair is simple, stuff some 'C' batteries in there, put in some bait, and energize a big metal plate. Rat goes in, zap, and the neighbors are wondering what you are barbecuing for the Fourth (sorry that was a little gross, that's what happens when Suzy leaves for a while, I downgrade my humor standards).

I settled for the standard. As much as I wanted to try The Chair, I couldn't see myself spending 30 bucks on it. The standard for $1.99 was much more in my price range.

I baited the sucker up (peanut butter crackers, Daniel's favorite snack!) and went inside to watch more bad TV. This morning I figured I would go check things out.

'Rats! It's gone.' They took the peanut butter cracker, the trap was sprung, but no rat. Lousy, cheeky little buggers. Didn't even leave me a tip.

We are re-baited, and ready again. Maybe this time I will get a little something for my efforts. Or I will have to rethink my purchasing decision... I can hear The Chair calling to me, ZAP!

Keeping My Head Above Water

So far so good. Suzy has been gone on her yearly backpacking trip with her buddies since Friday morning. I have heard from her once when she reached the last town on their way to their base camp area, that was Friday evening. Unfortunately it was a brief call due to the fact that I had two boys vying for my attention when she called. I debated yelling at them to shut up, but I didn't want that to be the last thing she heard me say before heading off into the wilderness.

Grandma Walls stepped up to the plate and took them out somewhere (I should know where they went, but that detail wasn't critical to my well being, so it has slipped quickly from my brain) yesterday for most of the day.

I successfully got both of them to church today, and I am pretty sure they were both mostly clean and wearing decent clothes. I can't say the same for me, but that's just nitpicking. Tomorrow morning I am hoping to hit the matinee of 'Up', and if they are behaving well they can come too. Suzy gets back tomorrow night, and I/we will have survived another year.

The real reason for this blog post, however, is a self-reminder. Daniel lost a tooth this morning. Nope, no funny stories about sneezing or tickling, this one just came out while he was fooling around with it during breakfast. The critical aspect of this is that I have no one to remind me to perform my secret parental duties tonight. I am envisioning myself stumbling upstairs at the ungodly hour of 11 tonight, completely forgetting that I am supposed brave the legos and somehow climb up to the second deck of the boy's bunk bed, find where the tooth has been hidden, and replace it with a nice shiny new penny, all the while avoiding the traps that Sammy has, no doubt, laid for me.

Wish me luck, and please send some good mental reminders to me throughout the night. In fact, I am going to put out the penny right now.

[Just kidding about the penny, I think he gets a nickel, is that right, Suz? A nickel?]

[10:49 PM Update: Abort, abort, abort, someone's awake in there! Get out now! (can you tell I just finally watched the season finale of 24?) Guess I am going to be awake a little longer. Anybody got some coffee?]

[11:49 PM Update: Transfer made. What the heck do I do with this tooth?]

How Beautiful...

I will soon be here. Breathing in the clean fresh air and marveling at the beauty that surrounds me. It is just what I need.

"Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom."

-Isaiah 40:28

Work Chaos

Suzy has been a trouper recently, as she has had to deal with the end of the year busyness, the start of summer craziness (after yesterday at the pool, today she took the boys to the zoo), and also my work being particularly zany.

The company I work for (all seven of us) has, for most of its history, existed almost solely in the realm of aquatic life support systems. Occasional forays into cogeneration plants and golf course irrigation notwithstanding, by and large our money comes from parks like Sea World, zoos and aquariums. This is a very tight niche, so we have always been really cyclical in our income, when those things are building we do well, when they are not, not so well. We have always wanted to expand that niche, but the opportunities have been few and far between.

About six months ago a big opportunity fell into our laps, doing HVAC controls for a large community college here in Southern California. From a complexity standpoint, HVAC controls are very simple compared to aquatic life support, so technically we felt we would be more than qualified. That has proven to be true, as we are putting together a pretty neat package for this college, but the buildings are getting close to being ready, so things around here have been crazy. For the first time since Daniel has been on this side of the real/'figment of my imagination' line, I have had to go on regular business trips. Those trips are also very spur of the moment, and with no firm durations, so Suzy has had to be planning her life (and the boys lives) recently without knowledge of whether I will be around or not.

In the past twelve hours I was leaving for two days, not going, leaving for one day, and every combination and permutation thereof. My wife has been patient, but I think I am pushing my luck. This morning I was noticing a definite up tick in her exasperation meter. My mom is taking the boys tonight, so hopefully I can take the missus out to a nice dinner to thank her for her patience and supportiveness, at least I hope I will be able to unless I get called out of town again...


[Edit: Things have changed a few times since I posted this, right now my co-worker is scheduled to pick me up at 3:40 to go up there, 3:40 AM that is. Yikes, that is early, I hope Suzy doesn't want to stay out too late tonight!]

First Day of Summer

Well, it finally felt like summer today. The sun was out and it was bright and sunny. A perfect way to start our summer vacation. We had a nice mellow morning. A walk down to the store, a science experiment (making crystals) and playing in the garden. In the afternoon we went over to a friend's house and the kids all ran around and had fun together. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

School's Out!

The school year wrapped up today with an awards ceremony. Daniel received the Outstanding Scholarship award. Afterwards we all headed back to class to say our goodbyes. It was quite sad. Many parents hung around not wanting it to end. Daniel came close to tears as he hugged his wonderful teacher of two years goodbye. But hopefully Sammy will have Ms. Foust next year for Kindergarten.

So now we are free. Free to do whatever we want whenever we want. No rushing to get ready in the morning. No where to rush off to. We can stay in our pjs all day if we want to. Oh sweet summertime. How I do love you.

And so things end, and so things begin...

Today was the end of Daniel's first year of Cub Scouts. He has completed his Tiger Cub existence, and is now officially a Wolf Cub. The Pack had a advancement ceremony at Mission Trails Park today, where each of the dens advanced on to the higher level, tiger to wolf, wolf to bear, bear to Webelos, and Webelos to Boy Scout.

I have had the honor of being the Den leader for Daniel's Tiger Den this year and it has been surprisingly fun. Tiring, but fun. It is a good bunch of families, and a good bunch of kids, so that makes things much easier.

To spice things up for the boys today I decided to give them wolf names (thank you Google!). I found a bunch, but not all so appropriate for youthful consumption. Daniel's wolf name is Sandalius, which is Latin for True Wolf. Suzy made some very nice picture frames for each boy with their new wolf names, and I said a few words about the boys and why I gave them the names I did.

This summer we are making things much more relaxing, maybe a trip to a fire station, a hike or two, a movie night. Stuff to lull those boys into thinking that Cub Scouts is all about fun. At least until next year, when we get down to all of our wolf business. Watch out world. The Wolves are coming!


The intrepid leader saying a few words, and the boys waiting impatiently.

Daniel during his metamorphosis from Tiger to Wolf.


A proud Mama and Sammy welcome their new wolf cub to the family.


Don't be too proud of the new outfit, Sandalius, you have a lot of hard work ahead of you...


Radulf, Ulric, Sandalius, White Fang and Bertulf, The Wolves!

Zoo Day

Daniel's class took a field trip to the World Famous San Diego Zoo today. I got to tag along. Taking a bunch of 1st graders and kindergartners on an outing (and especially somewhere crowded) is always a little bit exhausting and stressful. But the kids always have a blast so I guess it is all worth it. We walked for about 2 hours straight and I am tired. We did get to see the new Elephant Odyssey Exhibit (although not all of it and pretty rushed), but it was very cool. I will have to go back when we have more time to spend exploring and have about 3 kids less. Elephants and jaguars and peacocks, oh my!

Tired

I think Dan fell asleep before the boys tonight and that is pretty early since we put them to bed around 7:30 pm. Poor guy. Work has been busy, the boys have been up early, school has been busy and life in general has been busy. Come to think of it I've been pretty exhausted myself. If I lay down, doesn't really matter the time of day, I can be out in less than 10 minutes. Maybe I should hit the sack too. He does look most snugly. Good night.

Payback

I love music. I love to listen to it. I love to sing it. And when I really like a particular song I like to play it over and over and over again. Growing up I used to torture my parents and sister listening to songs like 'Particle Man', 'Cats in the Cradle' and 'Volcano' repeatedly. I guess I haven't really grown out of it since Dan refuses to listen to the soundtrack of 'Evita' anymore because I played it so much a while back.

So this morning on the way to church I was picking out some music to listen to and Daniel and Sammy piped up wanting to listen to 'The Mysterious Fox of Foxhollow' (Sammy) and 'Sneaky Snake' (Daniel). These are two songs from an album my sister and I loved growing up. Actually I still love it. But the past week the boys have been wanting the hear these two particular songs again and again and again.

'I want to listen to something else because we have been listening to those songs over and over again and I'm getting tired of it," I said a little peevishly.

And then Dan chuckled and mumbled 'payback'.

Up

A group of my mom friends and I took our kids (11 of them, they practically took up an entire row) to see the new Pixar movie 'Up'. I had heard it was good and it was. The boys also seemed to really enjoy it. Daniel especially since he was recounting all the funny scenes afterwards. There are many, just ask Daniel. But beware, there were also some quite sad scenes too. I was crying pretty good at one point, but then again I am a crier. So go see 'Up' and bring a kid or two.

Endings

Today was my last day working in Daniel's classroom this school year. This morning at breakfast Daniel said, "I'm so excited it is almost summer! But I am also sad that school will be over. I really like school." I have to agree with Daniel. I am so anxious for summer to come already and yet I will miss school. Daniel has had such a great year. A great teacher and an amazing group of classmates. How can next year even come close to topping this one? And yet you have to let go and move on. You cannot stop change. Oh well, I can't say I didn't have fun. It was quite a ride. So I will savor these last two busy and fun weeks of school.

Boys will be boys

Sammy had a meltdown today and I have to say I got a strange pleasure out of it. Let me explain...

I love having boys. I really do. BUT... I could do without the whole bathroom peeing on the toilet, floors or anything within a 3 foot radius. I mean GROSS! That is just so, so wrong. But that is boys. And I've kinda come to accept it.

Well, tonight I noticed clumps of toilet paper that had been thrown behind the boy's toilet. I was pretty sure I knew the culprit, so I asked Daniel first. I was right, it was little rascal boy #2.

"Okay Sammy, since you threw it back there you get to clean it up."

Oh, Sammy did not like that one bit. And I don't blame him. I would probably throw a fit too if someone made me pick up pee encrusted toilet paper. He was writhing on the floor in tears.

"I can't do it! I can't do it!" he wailed. It was so hard not to laugh, but I kept it together.

"You can and you will."

And he did. And then rushed to the sink and scrubbed his hands with soap and water. I don't think he will be throwing anything behind the toilet anymore. Do you think?

Hallelujah!

There are all kinds of unexpected consequences to Daniel being able to read. No longer being able to edit (or even shorten) stories that I read to them. Not being able to spell things out with Suzy (e.a.r.l.y. b.e.d.t.i.m.e.?). One of the strangest unexpected consequences happens on Sunday mornings at church. We do a responsive reading of a passage of scripture during the service. The pastor reads a line, then the congregation reads the next line, you get the picture. Well, Daniel has started to join in when the congregation reads, and he does a great job with it. But he is about a half beat off from everyone else. It is surprisingly hard to deal with. You have 300 people saying something at a particular rhythm, and Daniel is syncopated off of that rhythm.

So this morning, we are doing the responsive reading, and Daniel is just about a second behind everyone else. The last word in the passage was 'Hallelujah!', with the exclamation point. One of the things they have been emphasizing in school is paying attention to punctuation, and how that impacts what is said. So Daniel is very aware that an exclamation point means you stress that word, almost a shout. The nuance of the stressing of the word may be a bit lost on Daniel, so I am sure you all can see where this is going. Everyone else in the congregation had stopped talking, it was quiet and contemplative for about 0.5 seconds, when Daniel lets out with a raucous,

'HALLELUJAH!'

Amen, preach it son!