Kicking Around The End of Summer and the Beginning of Fall

"School days,
School days,
These are Golden Rule days,..."

I'm not sure this is true or ever was true, at least not in my lifetime. But nonetheless the summer has again passed by and school is upon us. As usual there were more plans for things to accomplish during the summer than were were actually accomplished. Somehow the fates, the weather, and an incredibly annoying case of stubbornness conspired against us. Which isn't to say that the summer wasn't busy. Indeed for Sam and Abby this summer may be the greatest summer they ever experience.

Sam again played T-Ball this year and, unlike last year, showed remarkable improvement. His throwing motion was much improved and he was very enthusiastic about moving to the ball in the field--sometimes overly so. If and when he decides to swing the bat with some authority, he'll be a really good hitter. In the back yard and off to the side, he would swing pretty hard, but when he was actually at the plate not so much. Still he managed quite a few hits on balls pitched to him. (I should explain that in this league the kids were given so many pitches from their coach and if still unsuccessful the tee was brought out for them to hit off of.)

Abby wasn't involved in sports this summer--indeed I think her sporting career may be over. Yet she had an incredibly busy summer. Abby went to 3 camps this summer, one for horseback riding (thanks to mama and papaw), a girl-scout day camp (which Sam also attended), and an overnight camp that as it turned out wasn't as advertised. In between she was mostly at friend's houses or they were at ours. So she was busy. What we didn't get accomplished was getting her comfortable on her bike. In the Spring she had an accident on her bicycle and since then has refused to even think about riding. The odd part is that it's the easy part of riding a bike, steering, that's causing her the most problems.

Cindy's summer was filled with Girl Scout activities, library programs, and babysitting. She's taking over the role as leader of Abby's Girl Scout troop and thus was busy preparing for the upcoming year. She also applied to be a substitute teacher at Sammy's school, that is after the school district lost her initial application to be a library aide, and after she was told that all the lunch lady positions had been filled, pun intended. I suppose in a way this worked out for the best since I think she'll be happier as a Kindergarten and first-grade sub and the money is likely better.

As for me, I finally got a huge monkey off my back by passing my general exam. Of course that brings on a HUGER (I don't care that huger is not a word) monkey with the dissertation. Of course I think I would have been happier had I been allowed to skip the classes and the general exam and gone straight to the dissertation. At the end of the day, when I'm applying for jobs my worth will be judged by it and not by the fact that I got an A in Cost-Benefit Analysis. However, as of now I don't have a topic in mind, and that's kind of a big omission. To otherwise occupy my time I'm coaching Sammy's soccer team this fall. So far so good, but we haven't had any games yet.

The end of Winter/Beginning of Spring

Winter is thankfully drawing down to a close and spring is erupting, and with that a girl's attention finally turns to what's been on the boy's mind the whole time--baseball.

For the most part Winter was fairly uneventful. For the first time in 4 years neither Abby nor Sammy took ice-skating lessons and neither seemed to miss them too much, if it all. Last year Sammy took lessons and we thought did fairly well, or at least as well as most of the other kids in his class. But the instructors felt otherwise and suggested that he repeat the section for a third time. We declined. If he hadn't made sufficient progress through 2 sessions to advance to the next level then putting him into a third seemed like a waste of time and money.

So that left the Winter relatively schedule free, which wasn't the worst thing. Abby and Cindy busied themselves with Girl Scout activities which seem to never end and which they both seem to enjoy immensely. Currently they are heavy into planning for an overnight "camping" trip in April. I say "camping" because they will be staying in a lodge with beds, running water, electricity, and mattresses. It will however be at a Girl Scout Camp and they fully intend to cook some meals/snacks over an open fire and engage in outdoor activities. Still I think the Normandy invasion required less planning.

Sam has been pretty much open this winter. He's still too young for Cub Scouts (which he will greatly enjoy once he's old enough) and now occupies himself himself with all sorts of things, but none the same from day to day. He's very much into a stream of consciousness type of existence that can be both entertaining and frustrating.

When the weather breaks we're going to try geocaching. Geocaching is akin to a scavenger/treasure hunt in which folks with a handheld GPS plug in the coordinates of a cache and then traipse off through the woods or wherever to find it. Looking on-line we were somewhat surprised at the vast number of geocaches to be found within a few miles of our house and indeed within a few miles of house and/or within a few miles of pretty much everywhere we go. In a sense it's kind of creepy. But that aside it seems like it should be a lot of fun and a good way to get everyone out of the house this spring.

And getting out of the house will be important since neither kid will be playing soccer this spring. It's hard for me to admit but sports just don't appear to be her thing. She never really caught on to the concept of competing at least on the field, and certainly she doesn't like running in the least. I'm at least hoping that she will ride her bike more now that she has that mastered. (For those that don't know Abby was pretty stubborn about learning to ride and really only did so because I told her that Sam was very close to being able to ride a 2 wheeler--which he is.)

Sam is another matter. He's going to play T-Ball this Spring and though the games won't start until May, they will conflict with soccer. He and I threw a ball the other day with some success. He can somewhat throw and was starting to understand what the glove was for. His biggest issue is that he can't decide whether he wants to be a lefty or a righty, which is kind of a big deal.

As for me I'm taking my general exams right now and hope to have the second question wrapped up in a week or two and then onto the third question and then the oral exam--whooo boy.

Camping 2010

When I told the kids to gather fire wood, I never thought I needed to explain the necessity of gathering DRY firewood. Consider it a lesson learned and pretty much emblematic of how the experience went.

Abby, Sammy, and I left Saturday morning for the serenity of Pike Lake. Part of me wanted to go to Dillon State Park, close to Zanesville since it's relatively close to our house, but the kids really liked Pike so we opted to go there. The drive down was relatively uneventful until I realized that I left our camp chairs back in the garage. In packing up the van in the morning I had taken the chairs out to make moving things in a bit easier but had neglected to put them back in. Oooopppsssss.....

Chairless but undeterred we proceeded onward to Bainbridge where we unloaded our stuff, set up the tent, and check-in, and by we I mean I. While I worked the kids played in the creek behind our campsite which in hindsight was both a blessing and curse. After getting everything up and ready, I left the kids briefly to go pay for our site. Upon returning I found two somewhat water logged children. For reasons that still remain unclear they both managed to fall into the creek. Hooo boy......

And thus I took two already water logged children to the beach where they could get even more waterlogged. Somewhat to my surprise they both wanted to walk to the beach rather than drive, and at the time that seemed like a good idea. We got to the bathhouse at the beach and Sam and I went into the Men's side to change while Abby went into the Women's side. When Sam and I came out Abby announced that the top to bathing suit was missing. She went on a brief excursion to look for it, while Sam and I remained at the beach. Unfortunately for Abby she wasn't successful in finding the top, so she wore the shirt she wore to the beach as her top. Luckily, she brought a dress along with her to change into after we were finished.

The beach experience was interesting to say the least. There was a gentleman at the beach named "Turbo". I know his name is Turbo because that's what his wife(?) called him and that's how he introduced himself. Were that the only significant thing about him, that itself would be memorable. But it's not. Turbo likes tattoos. Which in and of itself isn't all that remarkable, even though he had a lot of them. Again that doesn't entirely distinguish him, and indeed didn't distinguish from others at the beach, including a good number of the men. Turbo though had a couple tattoos that did distinguish him--on the back of each shoulder he prominently displayed a Swastika. And even that wasn't the most distinguishing attribute of Turbo. No, that would be Turbo's son. Sigh.....

I think I might have mentioned here a few times that Abby and Sam go through some sort of metamorphosis around water, and this day was no different. They rollicked and played and had a marvellous time for about 2-3 hours until it became time to make dinner. I reluctantly pulled out of the water in order to change and make our way back to the campsite. As fate would have it on the walk back to the campsite we found the top to Abby's bathing suit lying in the middle of a path in the campground. And as fate would have it shortly after arriving at the campsite Abby discovered that she did not have the top she wore while swimming--so back to the bathhouse we went.

Luckily Abby found her top in the bathouse, and we were able to return back to the campsite after buying some firewood and 2 "Kozy Kampin' " cards at the park store. The latter is a great deal. For $5.00 each the card entitles the kids to one scoop of ice cream, 2 cookies, a Slushee, and a toy from the Toy Chest--more on that in a bit.

After dinner--hot dogs and chips for Abby and me, cereal for Sam (I failed to get him to eat the chicken nuggets I made for him, sometimes that boy ain't right)--we went back to the camp store so Abby and Sam could pick toys from the Toy Chest. As I peered into the selection of toys in the Toy Chest, I couldn't help but wonder what the Chinese think of us. Sam picked a "Sun Ball" and a plastic and utterly useless fork, while Abby picked 2 animals made from cheap plastic--the workers at the store let them pick an extra toy if they promised to be good.

We left the store and went to look at the animals at the Nature Center. The Naturalist for Pike Lake, who had been doing programs at other parks, returned to the center to feed the animals and talked to us a bit about them and even gave the kids literature on identifying fish in Ohio.

Back at the campsite I tried to get the fire going again while the kids played at the playground across the way. As always Abby made new friends, but unlike most times, these friends I didn't like. 2 of the girls were throwing sand at one another, and caught Abby in their crossfire right in the eye. Grrrrr.....

I called the kids back from the playground pretty much for their own protection but also to roast marshmallows. Sam is a bit worrisome roasting the sugary concoctions. He likes to burn them. Abby is a bit obsessive about roasting the "perfect marshmallow" but nonetheless a good time was had by all. The only downside is that somehow Abby lost her new toys at the playground. I suppose if she was going lose something a $.05 toy wasn't the worst choice.

The next morning I rekindled the fire and started to cook breakfast. I sent the kids out to get firewood. Why they, and in particular Abby, thought that getting a big piece of wood literally out of the creek was a good idea is simply beyond me. Sam got the worst end of the deal, as he emerged a muddy mess from the ordeal.

After breakfast we packed up the campsite and went canoeing. Canoeing wasn't quite as much fun as last year. Sam was really upset that he couldn't sit up front and let his feelings on the matter be known. Abby for her part seemed to lose interest pretty quickly which actually worked in my favor. After a bit I took the canoe in and let Abby off and moved Sam up to the front which made him much happier.

After lunch, we headed back to the beach where for reasons unknown the kids wanted me to throw them in the water. Sam at 30 pounds isn't much of a challenge, but Abby at double that weight is a whole other challenge.

After the beach, we had some ice cream and went home. Sometime after we passed through Chilicothe Sam fell asleep.

Overall it wasn't a bad camping trip, but forgetting the chairs turned out to be a harbinger of things to come.

Contrasts

Abby is such a contrast. She escehews things deemed too "boyey" and lectures me constantly on not understanding girls--which is true as some of you can attest. Yet today when we were in Dick's she pointed out the fishing pole she wants to get when she's older, insisted on looking at kayaks and canoes, and camping equipment and even stated that she wants to go on a backpacking trip some day.

Beggars' Night

Last night was Beggars' Night for most of Central Ohio. Sam and Abby brought home a good stash, though I'm constantly amazed and disappointed at the number of folks who simply don't participate. Apparently, there were only about 6 houses participating on the street behind ours, and on our street ours was the only house in a span of about 8 participating.

Sam went as fireman and was quite excited to do so. Unlike last year he was able to stay out for little over an hour but was pretty worn-out afterward. He pretty much demanded to go to bed around 8:00 last night.

Abby went as a devil which would have been more menacing had she not insisted on skipping between houses. At one point last night another girl asked Abby, "Why are you dressed as the devil? You're too nice."

I'll post pictures soon.

Catching Up

Ok, I've not been good about keeping this up. I admit it. I'd promise to be more faithful in keeping it up, but who am I fooling? Anyway, since the last update here are the major highlights and lowlight of the past couple months.

• For several years now our peditrician has been worried about Abby's urine samples. Her samples continually showed high levels of calcium, so finally she recommended that Abby be tested at Children's Hopsital here in Columbus and to make a long story short, Abby has a condition known as hypercalcuria--basically her body isn't processing calcium correctly. It's not too threatening, but we have to monitor her intake of certain foods to make sure she doesn't take in too many oxalates, lest she develop kidney stones. What oxalates have to do with calcium isn't clear to me, but nonetheless Abby is not supposed to have much chocolate, peanut butter, and berries, and a whole slew of other foods are healthy. Poor kid.
• Both Abby and Sammy are playing soccer--well in Abby's case playing. Sam's experience is basically a weekly soccer clinic, which isn't too bad a way to be introduced to the game. He's learning the basics of the game in a fail safe environment. He's learning dribbling, kicking, and even juggling in a fairly fun way. It's pretty neat though I'm not sure why we had to pay $75 for the experience. Nonetheless it's a much better introduction to the game than Abby had. As for Abby, she's actually having a pretty decent season. She finally got her first goal and then followed it the next day with another. She's shown more aggression on the field and more willingness to be part of the action. So overall it's been a good season for her.
• School is going well. Except for handwriting, Abby got very good grades on her interim report card. Why handwriting is graded is beyond me, and since most likely most of her later work will be completed electronically I'm not all that concerned. Actually I wouldn't be that concerned even if that weren't the case. Sam is in pre-school 3 days a week and enjoying it a lot. He even remembers the name of his friends there which is a big improvement from last year.
• Cindy's babysitting days came to an end in August. dag....
• As for me, my generals have been finally nailed down somewhat. This winter, Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I'll be taking 3 take home exams on Higher Ed finance, Needs Assessment, and Hierarchical Linear Modeling.

Other thoughts:

• Those calling for Terrell Pryor's benching are being WAY too hasty. It's pretty evident that he does have the tools to be a successful quarterback. That said he needs to start playing better in a hurry.
• The ads both for and against State Issue 3 are horribly disingenuous. Those coming to take jobs in the proposed casinos will be, de facto, Ohioans since they will be paying Ohio taxes. That said the proposal will NOT create 34,000 jobs. The construction jobs "created" by the proposal are temporary, meaning that the only permanent jobs "created" by the proposal are the 15,000 jobs in the casinos. However, there is some debate whether those jobs are created or merely taken from other entertainment venues.

Remember that time I caught a turtle?

One aspect of the rather mild weather we've enjoyed this summer is that, well, everything has been rather mild. Which in and of itself hasn't been too bad--we've been able to run the A/C less than usual, we've needed to water the lawn and plants less, and certainly we've been able to spend more time outside than usual. However, if you happen to be a 7 year-old girl or a 4 year-old boy cooler than usual temperatures means less chance of swimming. If you don't like swimming or water all that much, then it's no big deal. If you happen to be Sammy or Abby and you're at a lake with a great beach then cool temperatures and frequent rain can prove to be something of a challenge, especially when the power goes out.

Vacation 2009 started off innocuously enough. For the second year in a row we rented a cabin at Pike Lake State Park in south central Ohio. As you may recall we went there for vacation last year and had a great time, and could have, and maybe should have, stayed for a day or 2 more. So when we made our reservations in March we decided to stay an extra night in order to maximize our fun. In hindsight that was a good move.

After making the trek down route 23 through Chillicothe and over route 50 to Bainbridge we arrived at Pike Lake under very sunny skies. Our cabin wasn't ready yet, so we ventured over to the lake so the kids and I could go swimming while Cindy sat on the beach and waited on word that we could move our stuff in. Those who read this blog may remember that in June the water was cold; the condition hadn't much improved much in the intervening 2 months. I felt somewhat like George Costanza but the kids were (like in June) blithely unconcerned about the water temperature. For about an hour they splashed, swam, had water fights, and built sand castles and sand forts, each complete with a moat. They were a bit perturbed when we got the ok to go into the cabin.

The cabin itself was pretty much the same as it was the previous year, which is good since it was the exact same cabin. We quickly moved our stuff in and I set about the task of building a fire in the grill that came with the cottage for our dinner. As I was gathering twigs and wood (lighter fluid is for wimps!) one of our neighbors from the cabin nearby came over to invite us to the campfire they were going to have that night. Evidently his wife, their family and a slew of her friends from her days at Miami and their families gather annually, or at least semi-annually, for a reunion. This year they decided on Pike Lake which was interesting because none of them had ever been to the park before.

So that night after Abby and I went fishing (we got several bites but didn't catch anything) and Sammy's impromptu nap, we gathered up some twigs and firewood and went over to the communal firering in the cabin area. It was a little awkward since, technically, it wasn't supposed to be our fire, but it was getting late and the kids REALLY wanted to roast marshmallows. So off we went to the firering where I set out to build a pretty big fire. Luckily, our new friends didn't mind too much and my new found buddy (who's name I can't recall) even helped build it. After about 20 minutes we had a pretty good size blaze going which eventually settled down into some smoldering coals perfect for roasting marshmallows. Abby set about to roasting the perfect one, Sam set about to burning a goodly number of them, and a generally good time was had by all. The only damper on the evening were the 8 year-old boys, who for reasons unknown, kept trying to make the fire bigger but wound up putting it out, several times. grrrrr....

The next morning was cold and a bit wet, so we opted to go canoeing. On our previous trip the kids decided that they didn't care much for pedal boating, but they really liked “paddling” a canoe—though their definition of paddling and mine are somewhat different. For the most part the excursion was uneventful. We did see a number of turtles sunning themselves little realizing one of them would eventually become Sam's mortal enemy.

Shortly after canoeing rain set in and forced us inside our cabin. After lunch the rain came down harder pretty much ruling out any trip to the beach. To pass the time away we decided to bake a dump cake. For those not familiar a dump cake is one of the true delights of camping cooking, and consists of pie filling topped with yellow cake mix and butter. You can also add pecans or walnuts to the topping if you like. Traditionally this dish is made in a Dutch oven and placed in a camp fire for about 1/2 hour to an hour. Not having a Dutch oven nor a viable campfire (we were inside and it was raining) we baked ours in the oven.

The kids watched Finding Nemo while the concoction baked, but unfortunately they couldn't finish the movie because shortly after we pulled the dump cake from the oven the power went out. You may, or may not, recall that the power also went out on us last year. Unlike last year when the power went out this time it was too cold and rainy to venture down to the lake to pass the time away. So until the rain let-up we read books, played games, and did various other things to pass the time away.

Eventually the rain subsided a bit so we went fishing again, this time with a bit more success. While Abby, much to her dismay, still didn't catch anything, Sam, as is always the case seemingly, caught what I believe was a small pike. It was no bigger than my palm, but when I went to remove the hook, I saw it had a couple rows of teeth. Sam was quite pleased with himself and for the last several weeks has asked "Remember that fish with teeth I caught?" Abby, poor thing, was getting quite frustrated with fishing.

After a ho-hum dinner that night, we went down to the nature center to see the naturalist give a program on snakes. (How many of you are aware that there are rattle snakes in Ohio?) During the presentation, which was well attended, the power came back much to everyone's relief.

That night there was another campfire at which Abby again sought to roast the perfect marshmallow, Sam sought to burn as many as he could, and 8 year-old boys killed a fire in order to "save" it. Our new friends were quite generous with the beer and wine brought with them as well the numerous other snacks and desserts. A good time was had by all.

The next day our new friends departed and all was fairly quiet. It was still too cold for swimming but the rain let up, so we went hiking and canoeing in the morning. Last year Abby and I took a trail that frankly should have come with a warning about its difficulty. It went up a hill, sometimes at a steep slope, and wasn't always clearly marked (the consequences of which Abby has not let me forget for the past year--you may infer that however you wish). This year we took a much easier path around the lake. For the most part she is a remarkably good hiker and I’d like to take her to the Hocking Hills sometime this fall. There was however one part of the path, that wasn't entirely suitable for Sam, so he and Cindy opted for another path.

After hiking and canoeing it still wasn't warm enough for swimming so we went fishing again, and this time Abby had more luck. She was able to land a fairly good sized bluegill which she referred to as a "whopper" and I won't dissuade her from that view. In the midst of her joy and relief Sam somehow managed to catch a snapping turtle. While fish are generally relieved to have hooks removed from their mouths, this particular turtle didn't want to let go. I'd get the hook partly out and the blasted thing would try to swallow it again! It was about a 5 minute struggle to get the hook out of it and at one point I started to wonder what turtle soup tastes like. Nonetheless, Sam found it quite amusing that he caught a turtle and kept asking "Remember that time I caught a turtle?"

The next day, which was our last, was a lot warmer and sunnier than the previous 2. After packing the van we checked out of the cabin and then Abby and I went canoeing again, while Cindy and Sam stayed on shore (Sam REALLY wanted to go fishing). Again Abby and I saw dozens of turtles one of whom I'd swear gave us a dirty look. After canoeing it was time for lunch and Sam and I went fishing again. We got lots of little bites and Sam did manage to catch a baby turtle, but no fish this time. After our fill of fishing we went over to the beach where the kids swam and played and had a lot of fun. In some regards this day was the cruelest of them all since it was our last. Above all else the kids like to swim and play in the water which we didn't get to do until the very last day in the park. But at least the kids got to do it which is better than not doing it all.

A few other odds and ends:

• Cell phones don't work in the park. I think they should advertise this fact more heavily.


• Every so often at the park you can hear sonic booms and see F-18's or F-22's flying overhead on training missions out of Wright Patt. That's pretty cool.


• I'm still amazed at the number of people who have tattoos and where they have them. In fact among the people at the beach I'd say Cindy and I were in the minority of men and women because we don't have any.

I'll add pictures later.

Camping

On Saturday I took Abby and Sammy to Pike Lake State Park in southern Ohio for their first real campout. I was a bit nervous since I was taking them out by myself so that Cindy and her friend could work on their Harry Potter program and because it was their first real campout in the woods. Previously we camped out in the backyard and both kids loved it, so I had some idea that they would both enjoy the real thing. And if they didn't? Well, it would be just for one night.

So on Saturday morning after breakfast I loaded up the van, which took longer than expected as it always does, and the kids and headed down Route 23 toward Chillicothie and then over toward Bainbridge (for those not familiar with Ohio, Chillicothie was the first capital of Ohio and Bainbridge was the site of the world's first dental school.) We arrived at the park a little after 1:00, picked out a camp site which coincidentally happened to abut a creek (which was very fortuitous as it turns out). After a quick lunch we (meaning I) set up the camp. While I was getting the tent up and and getting out everything we'd need for the weekend, Abby and Sammy played in the creek where they made a couple friends from the adjacent campsite--a boy and a girl who looked to be slightly older than Abby and their dog. Needless to say the kids were entertained, which was good, since setting up camp took longer than expected (see a theme developing?).

After camp was set up I asked the kids what they wanted to do. Abby said she wanted to go on a pedal boat while Sam said he wanted to go canoeing. This has become something routine lately where when asked about preference between two things they each will choose different things. After some negotiations we decided that we do a pedal boat ride and then canoeing. So we rented a pedal boat and went out upon the lake. After about 10 minutes of me pedaling and the kids sometimes pedaling but mostly not, Abby declared that she was hot and tired and wanted to go in and Sam decided that he didn't much care for being in the pedal boat. Luckily, I had foreseen that this could be an issue so I only rented the craft for half an hour. After pedal boating we rented a canoe which went much better. I made sure that they each had a paddle and even showed them how to paddle. So we tooled around the lake again but this time they enjoyed it a lot more, and we talked about various things about canoeing including whether it's possible to sink a canoe (very difficult to do by the way), how many times I've fallen out of a canoe (3 or 4)and what I had to do to earn my canoeing merit badge. By the end of that half hour both Sam and Abby decided that canoeing was better than pedal boating with Sam declaring that he was going earn canoeing merit badge some day.

After canoeing it was time for swimming. I'm always amazed at the transformation that takes place whenever the kids get near water, especially in Sam. Introduce him to water and he suddenly becomes a wild man. He was splashing, giggling, and generally having a great time. And when a teenage girl took an interest in playing with him he had a grand time. Abby meanwhile decided that she wanted to go out as deep as she could. As for me, the water was too cold for me to venture out that far.

Once we had our fill of swimming, it was time for dinner, but unknown to us there was a surprise waiting on us. Sitting on a bench on the edge of the lake were Mamaw and Papaw Doll. They had driven over to say hi to us and stayed for dinner, which as it turned out was good since Papaw knew where to find firewood. Papaw and I tended to the fire and cooked hot dogs and baked, while Sammy and Mamaw walked around the campground, and Abby played in the creek and developed a new trick. Her trick was to crawl across a log that spanned the length of the creek, which sounds innocuous enough, except that the creek was extremely rocky, and log at its highest point was about 10 feet off the ground. To her credit she never fell. Again this occupied their time which was a good thing since getting dinner ready took longer than expected.

After dinner we bid farewell to Mamaw and Papaw and went to the local camp store for ice cream. For some reason the kids decided that they wanted to try rainbow sherbet while I had butter-pecan. Let's just say that they regretted that choice while I had no remorse at all about mine.

Abby wanted to see if the Nature Center was open so after ice cream we took a short stroll to it. Unfortunately it wasn't open, but we did see a number of animals on display including several snakes. While looking around the nature center I noticed a notice that the park would be showing a movie that night, something I would later regret.

We went back to the campsite so that Sam and Abby could roast marshmallows, though for Sam it wasn't so much roasting as it was an act of pyromania. He burnt 4 or 5 marshmallows on purpose and then tried to eat them. It wasn't clear to me if he liked them or not. Abby however managed to get quite a few a nice golden brown color. After an hour or so of this we decided to try and find the movie. Unfortunately, we found it. I want that hour and half of my life back.

After the movie it was straight to bed and both kids fell asleep quickly.

The next morning I awoke first and got the fire going again. Abby and Sam eventually awoke and then I made breakfast. I had packed bacon since Sam likes it and sausage for Abby since she likes it, and had intended to make pancakes for us all. Abby though REALLY liked the sausage and didn't care much for the looks of the pancakes. So she ate 2 of the sausage patties I was hoping to have. Dag! Luckily Sam left some bacon for me.

Once we finished breakfast, it was time to take down the campsite which again took longer than expected. For those who are curious I'm a lousy packer. But I did manage to get everything stowed away. We bid farewell to our campsite and headed to the lake to go canoeing again.

And just like the previous day Sam and Abby loved it. Again they each had their own paddle and we went again around the lake only this time we saw more interesting things than the day before--namely we saw a fisherwoman catch a frog and she wasn't too thrilled about it.

We brought the canoe back and then had a quick lunch and then went off to the beach where again Sam and Abby had a great time. There was no teenage girl to play with Sam this time but he still managed to be a wild man. Abby made some friends and played with them until it was time to leave. As we left the beach we got to see some girls driving horse and buggies. The kids thought that was cool.

Before we left we got one more serving of ice cream and this time the kids liked their selection--Strawberry cheesecake for Abby and Strawberry for Sam. As we were getting our ice cream Abby declared that she wanted to camp for a week next time!

On the way home, both Sam and Abby took naps.

Abby's Fish

This is the second fish Abby caught last week. The gunk that came up with it was bigger than the fish itself, but nonetheless Abby was rightfully proud of herself.

And for those who are curious this is the whopper that I caught.

Catching Up

Wow, I've been bad keeping this thing updated lately.

In something of a quick update:

• Last month I took Sammy to Children's Hospital to have a doctor check out a potential "boy" problem. We suspected all was well, but his pediatrician wanted to make sure, and sure enough he was. On the one hand I appreciate the concern that the pediatrician had, but on the other hand, it cost us $25 to tell us what we already knew.
• Abby is doing well in school and is currently on Spring Break. I took a day off Monday and Abby and I went fishing at a local pond. Abby caught 2 crappie while I only caught 1--a fact that she keeps reminding me of. I'll post a picture of the second fish later.
• Cindy is again doing programs for the library this summer although not as many as in past years. Evidently, the budget for programming at the library isn't as generous as it has been in past years, so Cindy didn't get as many bookings.
• My generals have FINALLY been scheduled for this summer. I can honestly say this scares me more than anything short of kids, and possibly moreso than that. Still I've been at this so long, that for my sanity, and possibly everyone else's, I need to get this done and soon.
• We broke down and bought a new PC. One of the perks of working for a university is that the good folks at Dell will give you a pretty good discount on a system. We've had it now for about 2 weeks and it's so much better than the old one. I still want to add memory to it, but otherwise we're quite content with it.

Of Odds and Ends, and Blasts from the Past

What an interesting few weeks. Two weeks ago, like most of the Midwest we dug our way out snow, ice, and even more snow. For reasons that escape me, I've never been quite able to master the art of ice removal. Snow I can move just fine, but ice--that's a different story. Nonetheless I did my level best to keep our driveway and walks level. As you can imagine not much happened that week. Abby was pretty much out of school the entire week and Sam didn't have preschool that week either. Even OSU closed for a day. So for the most part, much to their consternation, they were pretty much housebound though we did make it outside for some rousing snowball fights, fort-making, and other snowy frivolities.

Contrast that with now when the temperatures are expected to be in the lower 60's, most of the snow is gone, and there is a real chance of thunderstorms tonight. Weird stuff.

Anyway, Sam and Abby are still having fun. For the past few Saturdays Abby and I have been going to a soccer clinic close to our house. A select soccer program has partnered with the league Abby plays in to offer clinics at a warehouse facility. Basically, they've placed AstroTurf on the floor of the warehouse so that they can have soccer practices in bad weather. From what I gather a parent of one of the players on the select team owns the warehouse and donated it for this purpose--must be nice to be able to donate something like that but I digress. The clinics focus mainly on ball skills like dribbling, passing, trapping and stuff like that which is good for Abby, since aside from some work we do in the backyard, she hasn't really had much instruction on those sorts of things.

Both kids are still taking ice-skating lessons and remarkably Sam really seems to like it. He can pretty much skate around without falling though he does like to "fall" intentionally on occasion. Sometimes he falls just so he can get back up by himself and other times he falls so he can make "angels" on the ice--he'll lay flat on the ice and start moving his arms and legs like he's making a snow angel. His teachers really seem to be impressed with the progress he's made, though I do sort of feel bad for the one woman he sort of latches onto for his lesson. Luckily she's good natured about it.

Cindy and I have both had recent blasts from our respective pasts. In the middle of December I opened a Facebook account to see what all the fuss was about, but sort of forgot about it until I got a "friend" request during the bowl game (arrrrrrggggggg) complaining about "Tresselball" which is in overstated concept in my opinion. Since then I've reconnected with a ton of people from my past, a couple of whom I hadn't seen in well over 20 years. That's been cool.

Cindy, who is a self-described Luddite and had little idea that Facebook existed, was hit with something like 5 or 6 friend requests in one day last month. So she, somewhat reluctantly, opened an account and since then has enjoyed reconnecting with a good number of her friends.

Of Hat Tricks and Cannons

On Saturday we went to our first ever Blue Jackets game and what night it was! For those who don't follow hockey, and I barely do, the Jackets have been decimated by injuries and have to play a lot of rookies and players recently called up from their top minor league team in Syracuse. So their recent string of victories has been something of a pleasant surprise.

Sam and Abby both seemed to have a good time at least until the third period when Sammy melted down a bit. Until then both Sam and Abby were having a great time, watching the game and the attendant entertainment that came with it, including the future Jackets hockey game at the first intermission pitting one team of 7 to 9 year-olds, and the "blimp" that flew overhead the crowd dropping various prizes on the fans in attendance.

Unfortunately, in the third period things started to go south, especially for Sammy. Prior to the third each team had one goal, both scored in the first. Whenever the Jackets score, the folks at Nationwide set off a "cannon" while blaring AC/DC's "For Those About to Rock". In the first period when the Jackets scored, Sammy loved it. By the third period though the poor guy was pretty tired, which is when the Jackets did the rest of their scoring (3 goals). This time when the cannons went off Sammy wasn't so thrilled with them, and fortunately for the Jackets, not so fortunate for Sam, the Jackets scored 3 goals in the final period to seal the victory. By the last goal he had pretty much lost it.

But in terms of a first game it was certainly memorable. We saw Nikita Filiatov score his first career hat-trick (3 goals) which prompted a five minute celebration which included fans throwing hats onto the ice. And since the Jackets scored 3 goals we could have gotten free chili from Wendy's (I somewhat lament passing on that), and for reasons I forget we could have gotten a free donut from Tim Horton's with the purchase of a coffee. So it was a potentially productive night.

What a couple weeks!

As many of you know Sam's birthday was last Sunday. We originally planned to have his party last Saturday, but on Friday night Abby came down with a horrible stomach flu making a party for him at our house something of a dicey proposition. We were going to postpone the party for a week, but unfortunately, moving to the following weekend would have meant that only 2 guests could come. Luckily, Lynne very graciously offered up her house as an alternative venue, and we (well actually Cindy) were able to have the party, which as I will get to later turned out to a good thing. According to all involved a good time was had by all at the party, as games were played, cake was consumed, and Sam got a slew of really cool presents. We are very much in Lynne's, Jeff's, Erica's, and Natalie's debt. As I understand Sam and Natalie got a long very well, as you can see in the picture below.


So while Sam and Cindy were enjoying his party, Abby and I remained at home. I tried to study a bit while she mostly slept. On Sunday, however things started to get dicey for me, as I came down with some sort of normal flu bug. Normally that wouldn't be so vexing, except that last week was finals week at Ohio State and I was supposed to take an Econ (Ag Econ to be precise) final on Tuesday morning. I immediately emailed my professor and told him of the situation, and he graciously offered to let me take the final after the fact if I wasn't better by Tuesday morning, which as it turns out I wasn't.

In the meantime, Abby recovered from her stomach flu but caught my flu bug, and missed a couple days of school, and still isn't really back to 100%. Not to miss out on the action, Sam came down with the stomach flu a couple days ago and it seems have affected him a lot worse than it did Abby. I'll spare you the details, but just note that for about a day or so Sammy couldn't keep anything down, and is still somewhat leery of eating. In a lot of ways it was a good thing that we didn't move the party to yesterday.

Cindy, as you may have inferred, is still healthy but scared to be around the rest of us. I've no idea why.

A few random thoughts:

• Normally I'm somewhat upset if I get a B in a class, but this time not so much. As I mentioned earlier this particular class had a basis in Calculus, which 20 years ago kicked my behind. In some ways I view this B as vindication. I also want to go and punch my former calculus prof in the nose.
• I'm a bit torn on the auto bail-out. In principle industries should rise and all according to merit. And indeed, obsolescence and failure are fundamental to engendering progress in capitalism. Hence protecting industries from going under strikes me as fundamentally un-capitalistic. On the other hand, it's inarguable that letting the Big 3 go down would have dramatic and potentially hugely damaging effects on the economies of mid-western states, particularly Ohio and Michigan. So there is an equity concern involved as allowing the Big 3 to go down could have multiplier effects across various sectors. Allowing the Big 3 to declare bankruptcy would, I suspect, seal their doom since I find it unlikely that many would jump at the chance to buy a car from a bankrupt company. I've seen analogies drawn to the airlines many of which survived bankruptcy, but I'm unsure why that analogy would hold here. They are fundamentally different industries with differing externalities if they fail. At worst a customer of a bankrupt airline is out several hundred to a few thousand dollars if they fail, but otherwise is no worse off. A customer of a bankrupt automaker is stuck with an asset which will be harder to maintain, as suppliers go out of business, and even harder to sell when the time comes. In other words, in the short-run the former may be worse off, but can certainly recover, but in the long-run the latter is worse off since he will have a worthless asset. But then again that is the nature of capitalism, and there are reasons why Japanese automakers are doing well.
• Related to the above, I wonder if this isn't a time to think more strategically about transportation. It strikes me that auto travel is, in the aggregate, very inefficient. I don't particularly see why we can't utilize more economical means of moving people, especially on long trips. Each quarter when we make the trek from Columbus to Indy and back I wonder why we lack a sound rail system that would presumably use less fuel while moving more people across the country. What I'm driving at is whether we ought to consider alternative means of transportation in light of the precarious nature of the American auto industry as well as energy and environmental concerns.
  

An Interesting Couple of Weeks

It's been an interesting couple of weeks. Last week Cindy had a conference with Sam's pre-school teachers (a concept I'm still trying to grasp) to go over his progress. In a lot of ways it was reassuring since they were fairly pleased with him and generally thought he was doing well. They noted that he tended to be a follower, but also took direction well from them. The only real negative comment they had, if you can call it that, was that he likes to lay down when he plays or during story times. That isn't so bad, but they suggested it can be problematic if other kids start doing it. Otherwise, he's content, they're content, and we're content.

Abby has had an interesting time. Last Friday the nurse from her school called me to come get her because she was complaining of nausea and evidently had a low grade fever. However, over the weekend she was perfectly fine, though she was eating rather ravenously for her. Yesterday the nurse again called us to get her because she was complaining of the same symptoms. And again after she ate a bit she was perfectly fine. We took her to the doctor this morning to make sure that all was all right. The doctor just laughed and said that Abby was ok, but we need to do a better job of getting her to eat more substantiative things for breakfast aside from chocolate-chip pancakes. So that's good.

Abby and I did go to an OSU hockey game Saturday night and had a great time. So much so that I wish we had been able to bring Sammy too. The game itself was fairly exciting and intense, as a very youthful Ohio State squad defeated the 11th ranked MSU Spartans 3-1 to complete a series sweep. There was music playing in between down times on the ice to keep folks entertained and cameras set up throughout the Schottenstein arena that folks could interact with. At one point during a stoppage time their was an air guitar contest and during another they played YMCA over the soundsystem and showed various people doing the obligatory dance. As an aside I had forgotten how obnoxious 12 year-old boys can be. Abby really seemed to enjoy herself and with all the theatrics involved I think Sammy would have too. But alas it started right around his bedtime. We are planning to go again to a matinée game against Notre Dame in February, so that Sammy can join in on the fun.

And did anything else happen? Oh yeah, as for the election, it's hard to argue that the Republican brand name isn't tarnished. It will be interesting to see how the Democrats govern now that they have control over the Legislative and Executive. I tend to think that Obama's biggest challenge may be pursuing the centrist agenda he espouses while placating the left-wing of the Democratic party. That won't be an easy feat. I'll be happy if he can indeed change the tone of debate in this country, though I'm pessimistic that he, or anyone, can.

Other Random Items:

• Sam has insisted on wearing his new Christmas PJ's for 3 or 4 nights now. I suppose it's an improvement over when he wanted to sleep naked, but still.
  
• I'm unconvinced that the Big 12 deserves all the praise it's been getting. Scoring a lot of points is great, but giving them up not so great. That said I was impressed with what Texas Tech did to Oklahoma State.
• Along the same vein why is PSU's loss to Iowa damning to their BCS titles hopes, while Florida's loss, at home, to a fairly pedestrian Ole Miss isn't?
• College basketball is about to begin. All is right with the world.
• It looks like my general exam will be during Winter Quarter. As it turns out that works out best for my adviser and my committee, and also for me.
  

The Pumpkin Show

Last Friday was a BIG day! We joined Mama' and Papa' at the 102nd Circleville Pumpkin Show. For those not familiar it's an annual festival in the city of Circleville to celebrate the fall season, and draws visitors from around the area as well as out of state, and supposedly even foreign countries. Calling it a pumpkin show seems to be something of a misnomer since it's really more of a giant festival, or as Cindy opined a Catholic festival on steroids. There were all sorts of rides and games, as you can imagine, plus the usual assortment of fair fare including many varieties of deep fried batter.

Sam and Abby had a grand time seeing all the pumpkins, playing various games, watching a pet parade, and even got to ride a camel! For the most part we had a good time too, though we weren't prepared for either the expenses involved (which in hindsight was bad planning on our part), nor for the size of the crowds. Interestingly the carneys working there said that the crowds were smaller than usual. Go figure.

Incidentally the carneys working the game were very nice and even helped Sam and Abby win a couple prizes.

Perhaps the highlight of the show for Cindy and me was the band playing on the center stage. They appeared to be Jr. High kids but they were covering ZZ Top, The Georgia Satellites, Ozzy Osbourne, and others and doing a pretty credible job. Not entirely what we were expecting but pretty cool.

Anniversary and Other Items

Well, it's the middle of October and just a few days before our Anniversary. It's hard for me to conceive that we've been married 11 years, or more precisely that Cindy has put up with me for 11 years, but as I tell her I have much better taste than she does--just look at who we married.

Abby's soccer season is drawing to a close, but last week she showed signs of finally "getting it". She played her best game yet and was instrumental in stopping at least 3 scoring chances for the other team and setting her team up for their first score. She won't be confused for Mia Hamm anytime soon, but she showed definite improvement over her first few games. With 2 games remaining in the fall season I'm hopeful that she'll get her first goal. But regardless she seems to be having more fun now, which is the intent after all.

We got her first report card and for the most part were fairly pleased. She got high marks in virtually everything, though we were a bit surprised that she didn't do a bit better in math. I suspect it may be that she simply got bored when they were testing, which was something of an issue last year. In fact we found ourselves in the very odd, and frankly ludicrous, position of lecturing a kindergartner on the importance of giving her best effort on tests, but that's a slew of other issues.

Sam is doing well and is liking pre-school for the most part. Evidently, there comes a point in the day when he's had enough of it and lies down by himself on a rug and does his own thing while the class is going on. I'm not sure what's up with that, but admittedly there are times during meetings where that seems like a tempting idea.

Last Friday Cindy and Sam spent the whole day at the zoo and had a blast. And then Cindy, Abby, and Sam went again on Sunday while I got some stuff done at home. Needless to say a grand time was had by all, well by them at least.

A few random thougts:

• I know I'm not hip, but every now and then I come across posts on other blogs like this that remind me of my lack of hippness. Incidentally, the author (Kevin Carey) and I pretty much had the same life for a year in grad school. I'm not sure I've met a better writer than him.
  
• Lately I've been into southern rock and country rock bands, and recently discovered the Drive by Truckers.
• Ringo Starr announced that he won't be acccepting fan mail after October 20. Is this really an issue?
• I looked at the kid's college funds and my retirement fund and laughed to keep from crying. Good thing time is on our side.
• I decided to kill the other blog since I hadn't added anything to it in 5 weeks. I may resurrect it some other time.
  

Another Big Day

Last weekend was a big one for both Abby and Sam. On Friday night Grandma and Uncle Ray came from Indy, so that Ray and I could go to the game while Grandma got to spend a day with Abby and Sam. In the morning after pancakes--chocolate chip for Abby and Sam, blueberry for Cindy and Ray, and peanut-butter with chocolate chips and blueberry for me (Grandma had some as well though I forget which kind)--Grandma, Sam, Cindy and Abby went off to her soccer game while Ray and I, after his traditional stop at our local Tim Horton's, went off to the football game. In contrast to the game Cindy and I went to (YSU) we had little problem finding parking and getting on the shuttle from the West Campus lots. The game itself went pretty well and wasn't nearly as close as the final score indicated (34-21). In some ways the most remarkable part of the whole experience, aside from the game, is the efficiency with which OSU and the city are able to move such a large volume of people-100K+- in and out of the campus area.

[Cindy wrote most of this]Sadly Abby's soccer team went down 2-1, but Abby got her first experience at fullback and liked it. Apparently Sammy had a grand time playing with Grandma. After the game they went to one of our favorite metroparks, Blacklick, for a special celebration at the park. They went on a tram ride, went wading in the creek (Abby saw tadpoles), and created some beautiful artwork at a couple different craft stations. Then they came back home to meet up with daddy and Uncle Ray so that we could all go out to dinner at Abby and Sammy's favorite restaurant-- the Buckeye Hall of Fame Cafe! This has been their favorite place to eat for a couple of years now. Abby looooves their cheese pizza and Sammy likes their kid-friendly marinara pasta (when he's in the mood for eating). They also love to go to the game room and watch mommy and daddy win lots of tickets for prizes. Abby really likes that awful crane game (you know, the one that is virtually impossible) but Chris was able to win a Care Bear for her. However, he was unable to harness a stuffed gorilla for Sam. After an hour or so in the arcade it was time for Grandma and Uncle Ray to head back to Indianapolis, much to the kid's chagrin.

A few random items/thoughts:

• For reasons known only to him Sam really wanted to sleep naked tonight. We're not sure why, but he had a monster fit putting on his jammies. It sort of reminded me of the old song, Pink Pajamas. If you don't know it ask a Boy Scout.
  
• The House really let us down yesterday. Hopefully sanity will set in the next couple days.
• It may amuse some to know that 20 years later calculus has once again reared it's head in my life. I'm taking an Ag Econ class this quarter in which some facility with calculus will be integral to my success.
  

Abby's Big Day

Saturday was perhaps the greatest day ever for Abby. In the morning she played soccer and played 2 quarters at her favorite position, goalie, which incidentally was my first position as well. Her team won 5-2 with Abby only letting in one goal which wasn't entirely her fault. The girl who scored on her put the ball to the opposite corner. After her game she went to her friend Teah's birthday party, and had a grand time. But the biggest thrill was later after the Buckeye game when Abby, her papa', and I went fishing and Abby caught her first fish, which turned out to be a turtle. It was a small thing obviously but Abby was rightfully proud. After we put it back Abby caught another which this time was actually a fish! It was a small bluegill as you can see in the picture. So all in all it was big day for her. For those keeping track, I haven't caught anything yet, darnit!