a day on the lake

I had a real weekend this past week... Saturday AND Sunday off!  That hasn't happened too many times in the past year.  I originally requested it because Jen, in a moment of insanity, planned to go camping Friday through Sunday with her parents, who were camped on a waterfront site at a local state park.  Remembering the effort of packing for a family of six and camping with Benny (at the same park) this time last year, her better judgement returned, and she decided to just make it a day trip on Saturday.

Lily took her bike, which she recently learned to ride without training wheels, and Grandpa helped her with some fishing.  Zachary took his bike and his fishing gear.  Dylan took his fishing gear and a favorite book.  The four adults took turns keeping Benny out of the water... and the road... and the neighbor's campsites... you get the picture!

The state park had canoe, kayak, and pedal boat rentals... hourly or daily.  The boys had asked me to rent a pedal boat on other occasions, and (being the cheapskate that I am) I had never rented one.  At Jen's suggestion, I went to the concession to price the rentals... $10 per hour or $40 per day.  I asked if I could exchange boats throughout the day if I paid for the daily rental, and they agreed, so (at the suggestion of my wife) I splurged and paid for the daily rental.  The boy's excitement was priceless... sometimes it's the simple things.

I have wanted a kayak for a while, but I have other priorities.  Do you see a theme here... (being the cheapskate that I am)?  I had never actually used a kayak, so I started out the day with a single person.  It wasn't exactly the style of kayak that I want, but it was good enough to get the idea. 

I paddled around for a while, then let the kids try it out.  I hooked a rope to it at first (training wheels for a kayak), making sure they would be able to maneuver it a little way from the shore and back to me, before turning them loose to go a little further into the inlet.  Dylan and Zachary passed the test and I let them paddle independently (but close to the campsite).

Jen tried it out, and liked it... which is a plus if I ever actually decide to purchase a kayak, or two.  Of course, I would need to sell my canoe first, and apply that to the purchase of a kayak.

I asked Lily if she wanted to try.  Of course, she, who never backs down from a challenge, enthusiastically said yes.  I didn't let her off the rope, but she handled it pretty impressively for her size.

Jen's parents

Dylan's perfect day... fishing and reading.

After we had our fun with the kayak, I exchanged it for a five person pedal boat.  The boys were so excited.  I'm not sure how many miles they pedaled on the lake that day, but they were in that boat almost the whole day.  I'd say they got my money's worth.

We cruised the lake

The Farmer's Insurance blimp flew over the lake

They used it as their bass boat

more fishing

more cruising

The boys taking the ladies for an evening cruise

The two skippers loving "their" boat

Lily caught several fish with Grandpa's help.  I think she might be "hooked" on fishing.  Sunday afternoon she was telling me, "Daddy, I need a tackle box... and a jar to put worms in."  She can be a girlie girl, but she's not afraid to keep up with a house full of boys!  I guess I need to be learning how to fish.

Father's Day 2011

Today is the day America designates to honor the role of fatherhood.  As a man, I am the generation that currently occupies the "sweet spot", in that I can celebrate fatherhood with generations in both directions.

This morning, as I took my family to church, I reflected upon the importance of my role as a father, and just how fortunate I am to be trusted with fathering these four young lives.  This afternoon, my immediate family of twelve people, spanning three generations and three households, gathered at a mutually convenient state park for a Father's Day picnic.  It was a good day to be both a father and a son.

A father, his sons, his grandsons and granddaughters

My Dad

Cousins

Ornery

Dylan is happiest with a line in the water

Cousins

"Awwwww, pup-peeee"

Benny was drawn to this adorable puppy at the neighboring picnic group.  Makes me want to get the boy a puppy... but, with 4 kids, who needs another living thing to care for?

My brother brought his canoe

Lily's first ever canoe ride

Dylan got promoted from kids seats in the center, to front seat with a paddle!

Daughters-In-Law

Benny Jay

walk in the park

Marriage experts advocate continuing to date your spouse after marriage and children.  This is easier said than done... especially with four kids between the ages of two and ten!  Although it's difficult, I am recently realizing just how important it is, and how lax I have been in continuing to cultivate my relationship with my wife.

Yesterday, I had Jen arrange to have her Mom come over, after church, to stay with the kids for the afternoon.  I made sure the kids were fed, and put together a simple picnic lunch for the two of us.  I took Jen to the gardens at a local metro park, where I think I had only taken her once before, when we were dating.  It was nothing fancy, and we had no agenda, but we enjoyed the afternoon strolling the rose gardens and doing some streamside hiking... and Jen even found her first geocache. 

The afternoon went way too fast, but it was the kind of days we used to have when our life was much simpler.  It is sometimes hard to appreciate each other in the throes of daily stress and chaos that has characterized our life for the past years, but yesterday reminded me of one simple thing... I really enjoy my wife's company!

It had been so long since I had actually put time and effort into planning a "date" with my wife (instead of the typical "what do you want to do?", "I don't know, what do you want to do?"), that it felt a little like a first date all over again.  (In fact, I'm hoping she'll go out with me again!)

I'm a protective Dad, and I'm not about to just dump my kids off at any opportunity, with just anyone who will keep them... I have way too much invested in them for that style of parenting.  But, at the same time, I need to put more investment into my marriage.  I need to arrange more opportunities, like yesterday, to slip away and just be a couple.. even if it is just a simple afternoon walk in the park.  Thanks, Jen, for a great afternoon!

I have often considered myself to have an eye for photography... at least I used to think so.  Anymore, it seems my mind is so cluttered with other things, that I don't slow down enough to notice as much as I used to.  The opposite has happened with Jen, however.  She never used to have an interest in photography, but since getting our digital camera, she has developed that interest, and most of our nicest recent pictures have been a result of her sharp eye.  She could probably have spent several more hours walking these gardens looking for photographic opportunities, but (except for the obvious few I took with her in them) here are a few of her pics:

sunny Sunday

Yesterday was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and we met Jen's parents at a state park near their home for some walking, talking, playing, fishing, and geocaching.

upgrade due

I've been a homeowner for about twelve years, and, until today, I have never purchased a lawnmower.

When I bought my first house, it came with a lawnmower.  I got about one season out of it, and the deck rusted through.  Being the cheapskate that I am, I had my Dad weld it, and stretched its use a little longer.

Knowing my mower was on it's last leg, my Mother-In-Law then got a great deal on a yard sale mower, and gave it to me as a birthday gift.  It has been a great mower, and I have since gotten many mowing seasons out of it.

It has gradually been coming apart a piece at a time... mostly safety stuff.  Being the cheapskate that I am, though, I figured, "who needs all the safety stuff?"

Well, perhaps I do.

I recently made the decision that Dylan is old enough to start learning about lawnmower operation.  I taught him basic lawnmower safety a few weeks ago, and it occurred to me that my "safety course" included many quirks about how to safely operate my particular mower, devoid of features that would make the experience safer for the young son that I love.

He has twice mowed portions of the yard, under my supervision.  Being the cheapskate that I am, though, I wrestled with the need to replace a mower that still has life left in it.  After all, I wouldn't let him use an unsafe mower... it's just not as safe as it could be.  I should probably do the responsible thing, and just replace it, right?

And then, I helped myself make the decision.  Last week when I mowed, it got dark before I got to the very back of the yard.  So, this week, the grass in that area was double height.  At some point, the end of a log had burnt off and fallen out of the fire pit, and was now obscured in the higher grass. 

THUMP!  Stalled mower.  Bent blade.

So, today, my mowing experience (and that of the young son that I love) was upgraded from the old faithful 10+ year-old (for me, anyway) Yard Machines yard sale mower (devoid of much of its safety stuff), to...

my first brand-new mower purchase... a Craftsman 3-in-1 bagging, mulching, side-discharge lawnmower, complete with ALL the safety features!  I'm looking forward to mowing this week, and hoping this one is as hard-working and long-lasting as the one it replaces.

morning bikers

Since I worked a half day on Memorial Day/Zachary's birthday, I promised him we would do something (weather permitting) on my next day off.  He chose cycling at one of our local bikeways.  An added bonus was the presence of numerous geocaches, nicely spaced, along the route we intended to travel.

I loaded several cache coordinates into the GPS last night.  We got up fairly early this morning, filled some water bottles, loaded the bikes in the van, and packed some snacks, the camera and GPS, our helmets, and my "rolling office" (more on that later).  We were pedaling by 8:45, and the morning weather was absolutely perfect for a nice ride. 

Our first attempt to find a geocache was met with an onslaught of mosquitoes, mud, mosquitoes, standing water, mosquitoes, much weeds and poison ivy, and mosquitoes... mostly thanks to the weeks of relentless rain our area has received.  Our second attempt and third attempt met the same fate... caches found: 0,  mosquito bites: too numerous to score.  We quickly decided to abandon geocaching, and life was good as long as we kept moving and wisely chose our rest stops in the drier and open areas.

We didn't have an agenda or schedule, but just took our time riding and talking up and back the trail.  We stopped to look at both a turtle and a snake sunning themselves on the asphalt bikeway, and took a snack break at our turn-around point.

I told Zachary ahead of time that I would probably need to stop at some point and spend some time on the phone.  This is very unlike me.  I am not one to often have my cell phone in my ear, and I give my number to very few people, because I like carrying it without being bothered by it.  However, I showed a car and partially worked a deal with a customer yesterday.  We didn't quite complete negotiating, but the customer wanted to consider the car and the numbers overnight, and let me know "in the morning"... my day off.  For a commissioned salesperson, this creates a dilemma.  I can:

1. Work my day off to try to close the deal (hoping he actually calls like he says he will).
2. Share the deal (and the commission) with a salesperson who takes a different day off.
3. Give out my cell number and try to close the deal by proxy.

I very seldom choose the third option, but this time I did.  He seemed like a very solid customer, who would not abuse my cell phone number, and I felt that I had a strong possibility of putting the deal together.  The phone rang while we were riding, so I pulled the bike to the side, pulled out my pen and paper, and went into salesman mode.  He made an offer on the car and I spent some time on the phone, volleying offers and counter-offers between my customer and my manager back at the dealership.  In the end, we came to a stalemate $1000 apart... no car deal.  The interruption was fairly minor, and it gave Zachary a brief lesson in negotiation and a glimpse into the life of a car salesman.

Despite the brief trailside car deal attempt, we had a very enjoyable morning together and completed 14 miles of riding.  Happy Birthday (again), Zachary... love you, buddy!

the obligatory self-photography shot... we got a keeper on the first attempt!