The scene: our kitchen table at dinner. S has a plate of food in front of him. He's hungry, but being stubborn because there is so many better things to be doing than eating dinner right now.
Me: S, eat your dinner.
S: No! (3-year-old's favorite word, whether they mean it or not)
Me: Eat your peas and you can have a cookie.
S: (thinking really hard about that deal and separating a pile of peas from the pile) I'll eat this many peas and get a cookie.
Me: OK, eat all your peas and some noodles and you can have two cookies.
S: Thinks really hard, then starts eating his peas. Gets through the first 'approved' pile, announces he gets a cookie.
Me: Here's a cookie, but eat the rest of your peas and some noodles and you can have another cookie.
S: (eats the rest of his dinner) All done, I get another cookie.
Later that night, as I'm working on the laptop, S comes upstairs to play with the nerf football. At one point, the balls goes to the other end of the room, I get on my hands/knees to get it.
S: OK! You be the horse, I'll be.... me!
The lesson: Negotiating with a 3-year-old can be challenging and oatmeal-raisin cookies are like money to a kid, but 'being the horse' is a job only a dad would take.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!
There's something about fresh-fallen snow that wakes you up and makes you feel like a kid. We had this weekend what usually turns out to be the only snowfall of the year. We may have gotten 2 inches of snow, and it quickly froze to ice, but not before we were able to get out and make the requisite snowman. G and S were both overly joyful at 6 AM when they saw the snowfall and wanted to immediately go outside to go sledding.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
My son meets Senator Merkley
Oregon's Senator Jeff Merkley visited the nearby town of Monroe today for a town-hall meeting. We decided it would be a neat idea to take G, our 9-year-old to this event. He's been doing a lot in his Social Studies class on how to get involved in his community. Here was a direct way to do it. We got to the American Legion hall, got a raffle ticket to be able to ask a question, and sat down. G came with a question in hand about picking up trash left in parks and forests by hunters. It was a good question from a 9-year old. In the crowd of about 100 people (standing room only by the time it started) were all the Benton County Commissioners, the mayors of Monroe, Corvallis, and Philomath, the head of the Corvallis School Board, the county fire chief and a police chief. It was a decent group to ask questions of, since many of the questions were both locally impacting and nationally impacting. Of the crowd, G was the youngest one by far (a high-school senior was there, as were about 3 college age kids). Most of the crowd was in the 50+ age.
The Senator gave a nice non-stump 5 minute opening talk and then opened it up to questions. The questions ran the gamut from Christmas tree burning and supporting that industry, to the gas pipeline they want to build from Canada to Texas, as well as a potential new gold mine in Alaska. A student from OSU (VP of their student Democrat group) asked how OSU could get away with not following the ADA with their new buildings. We didn't get called on via the raffle system, but at the end, he wanted to open it up to 'any other students'. An OSU student went first, then it was G's turn to end the event. He got up and did a nice job asking his question about how to get hunters to pick up their trash in the forest. The Senator gave a good response about being good custodians of the land. He then asked where he got this idea from. G answered that he takes a lot of hikes, he's talked to a lot of people, and "I talked to my mom about it". That last bit got a good deal of applause from the audience. My wife beamed at that response. Senator Merkley asked G how old he was and where he went to school. After learning he was 9, he said in the 109 town-halls he's held since he took office, my son was the youngest person he's had ask a question. Cool! G also liked saying he went to 'virtual school', though the Corvallis School Superintendant wasn't too thrilled.
So, we got some pictures with the Senator (some taken by his staff), got his business card and headed out. A good event, G was impressed with the wide variety of questions that got asked by people in the crowd, and got a good appreciation for how some things work in the country / local area. Hopefully we'll be able to tend more of these events in the future.
The Senator gave a nice non-stump 5 minute opening talk and then opened it up to questions. The questions ran the gamut from Christmas tree burning and supporting that industry, to the gas pipeline they want to build from Canada to Texas, as well as a potential new gold mine in Alaska. A student from OSU (VP of their student Democrat group) asked how OSU could get away with not following the ADA with their new buildings. We didn't get called on via the raffle system, but at the end, he wanted to open it up to 'any other students'. An OSU student went first, then it was G's turn to end the event. He got up and did a nice job asking his question about how to get hunters to pick up their trash in the forest. The Senator gave a good response about being good custodians of the land. He then asked where he got this idea from. G answered that he takes a lot of hikes, he's talked to a lot of people, and "I talked to my mom about it". That last bit got a good deal of applause from the audience. My wife beamed at that response. Senator Merkley asked G how old he was and where he went to school. After learning he was 9, he said in the 109 town-halls he's held since he took office, my son was the youngest person he's had ask a question. Cool! G also liked saying he went to 'virtual school', though the Corvallis School Superintendant wasn't too thrilled.
So, we got some pictures with the Senator (some taken by his staff), got his business card and headed out. A good event, G was impressed with the wide variety of questions that got asked by people in the crowd, and got a good appreciation for how some things work in the country / local area. Hopefully we'll be able to tend more of these events in the future.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Sometimes, it pays to be spontaneous
Cabin fever.
It was a typical foggy, grey winters day in Corvallis. G and I were both getting a bit of cabin fever around 3 PM, so I said to him "Get your shoes on, we're going for a walk". It wasn't a request, it was a "we need to do this". As we're walking out, M asks where we are going, and I tell her "to downtown to walk along the river." She says that she thought we were going to Marys Peak.
Marys Peak is the highest point in the Coastal Range of Oregon, at about 4000 feet. The view from the top is extraordinary. On a clear day, you can see the Cascade Mountain Range from Mt. Rainier near Seattle to as far south as southern Oregon. It's rare, but it happens. The problem with Marys Peak is that the road to the top in winter can be tricky to get up, it's not maintained during the winter at all. Also, a cloud at the top can mean that you are seeing nothing but cloud. It's always a risk, but when it pays off, it is always worth it.
As we're driving out of the neighborhood, I noted that we could see the Cascades, and mentioned that if Marys Peak is clear, we're going there. From our far-away view, you could see lots of clouds, and Marys Peak poking out from the top of them, clear as day. Off we went!
Marys Peak is often extraordinary. Tonight was phenomenal. The sun was setting, giving a gorgeous sunset over the Pacific (which is also visible from the top). It was turning all the Cascade mountains a nice shade of pink and orange. On top of all that, there was a gorgeous full moon. We took the path to the top of the hill, and at every turn, it would take your breath away. This was one magical trip. We were almost alone at the top, except for a couple of photo-buffs that knew better than to stay down in the valley on a night like this. There was enough snow at the top for some excellent sledding, and one family was taking full advantage of their good fortune. We would be doing the same the next day, I was sure of it.
We came off the mountain a little lighter on our feet. It was difficult to describe the beauty at the top. Words could not do it justice. Cabin fever was wiped out. I took as many pictures as I could, fully knowing that they would not match up to what we could see, feel, and experience. We got home, I thanked M for her 'suggestion' and said we're going back the next day to go sledding.
Sledding Day
It was another foggy day in town, but I knew better. Once we got over 1500 - 2000 feet, the sky would clear up and we were in for a real treat. We took G and S, wore better winter clothing, and brought the sleds with us. Unfortunately, it had been sunny on Marys Peak as well, and a majority of the snow had melted. But, we found a good shady location that still had plenty of snow and had a blast sledding down the hill. Another family with 2 boys from Newcastle, England were on the hill with us, and fun was had by all. We are definitely going to keep Marys Peak in mind when we want to go sledding in the future. It's a lot closer than going up to the Cascades! The view today was extraordinary. You could see Mt. Rainier and all the major mountains in the Cascade Range today. Another phenomenal day on the hill, definitely not to be missed!
It was a typical foggy, grey winters day in Corvallis. G and I were both getting a bit of cabin fever around 3 PM, so I said to him "Get your shoes on, we're going for a walk". It wasn't a request, it was a "we need to do this". As we're walking out, M asks where we are going, and I tell her "to downtown to walk along the river." She says that she thought we were going to Marys Peak.
Marys Peak is the highest point in the Coastal Range of Oregon, at about 4000 feet. The view from the top is extraordinary. On a clear day, you can see the Cascade Mountain Range from Mt. Rainier near Seattle to as far south as southern Oregon. It's rare, but it happens. The problem with Marys Peak is that the road to the top in winter can be tricky to get up, it's not maintained during the winter at all. Also, a cloud at the top can mean that you are seeing nothing but cloud. It's always a risk, but when it pays off, it is always worth it.
As we're driving out of the neighborhood, I noted that we could see the Cascades, and mentioned that if Marys Peak is clear, we're going there. From our far-away view, you could see lots of clouds, and Marys Peak poking out from the top of them, clear as day. Off we went!
Marys Peak is often extraordinary. Tonight was phenomenal. The sun was setting, giving a gorgeous sunset over the Pacific (which is also visible from the top). It was turning all the Cascade mountains a nice shade of pink and orange. On top of all that, there was a gorgeous full moon. We took the path to the top of the hill, and at every turn, it would take your breath away. This was one magical trip. We were almost alone at the top, except for a couple of photo-buffs that knew better than to stay down in the valley on a night like this. There was enough snow at the top for some excellent sledding, and one family was taking full advantage of their good fortune. We would be doing the same the next day, I was sure of it.
We came off the mountain a little lighter on our feet. It was difficult to describe the beauty at the top. Words could not do it justice. Cabin fever was wiped out. I took as many pictures as I could, fully knowing that they would not match up to what we could see, feel, and experience. We got home, I thanked M for her 'suggestion' and said we're going back the next day to go sledding.
Sledding Day
It was another foggy day in town, but I knew better. Once we got over 1500 - 2000 feet, the sky would clear up and we were in for a real treat. We took G and S, wore better winter clothing, and brought the sleds with us. Unfortunately, it had been sunny on Marys Peak as well, and a majority of the snow had melted. But, we found a good shady location that still had plenty of snow and had a blast sledding down the hill. Another family with 2 boys from Newcastle, England were on the hill with us, and fun was had by all. We are definitely going to keep Marys Peak in mind when we want to go sledding in the future. It's a lot closer than going up to the Cascades! The view today was extraordinary. You could see Mt. Rainier and all the major mountains in the Cascade Range today. Another phenomenal day on the hill, definitely not to be missed!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
My duty, as a dad
I believe it is my duty as a dad to make my kids laugh out loud, often excessively, every day. Sometimes this is done via some joke that they can repeat ad nauseum, sometimes it's a funny story I tell, or some funny voice I can make up. This morning we had a 'super-slow-motion-pillow-fight'.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Acai
What is an acai berry? Why can't you buy them in a store, but you find acai juice in stuff like vitamin water? I don't recall ever hearing of acai until about 3 years ago - introduced as some 'super fruit'. I heard that and thought of one of those fruit-of-the-loom guys as a super hero. It's Mighty Mango - to the rescue!! I've never had a raw acai - are they even edible, or is it just the juice that you want? Perhaps one of these days I'll find an acai bush (tree?) and try one.
What to say and how to say it
I read blogs. I have some I read fairly often, others I may glance at on an every-now-and-then basis. They cover a variety of topics: Life in the world of being a CS / IT guy, Life as a Dad, Life as a practical joker, and musings and observations of life in general as it comes at you. I like all of them, and it makes me wonder what I should write about. Should I be topical? I doubt I want to write about my opinions of life so as to seem like I'm trying to convince myself or, good gravy, try and convince others that my opinions have meaning.
I have always thought that the first part of writing something of interest is to start. The words will eventually flow from the thoughts that are rambling about in your head. I am pretty sure I don't what my blog to be topical, but rather, just a collection of stuff. What's good, what's bad, what's funny, and what's interesting. Hopefully, I can look back on this and gain some insight into things that I didn't previously have insight into. But, I'm probably wishing for far too much. Another side of me hopes my kids may eventually find this and get a sense of why I did some things the way I did them. Again, good luck.
In the end, I think this blog may be a combination of a lot of stuff. Places I go, things I do, stuff I see, observations on the banal and exciting both.
I have always thought that the first part of writing something of interest is to start. The words will eventually flow from the thoughts that are rambling about in your head. I am pretty sure I don't what my blog to be topical, but rather, just a collection of stuff. What's good, what's bad, what's funny, and what's interesting. Hopefully, I can look back on this and gain some insight into things that I didn't previously have insight into. But, I'm probably wishing for far too much. Another side of me hopes my kids may eventually find this and get a sense of why I did some things the way I did them. Again, good luck.
In the end, I think this blog may be a combination of a lot of stuff. Places I go, things I do, stuff I see, observations on the banal and exciting both.
Joining the 21st Century
Yes, I'm blogging. I am not sure why, but am curious where this may take me. Time will tell, I suppose.
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