Luke Loses His First Tooth

Several nights ago Luke lost his first tooth! The tooth had been loose for many weeks and had become extremely loose over the previous several days. Each night after brushing teeth, Dad would wiggle it a bit after Luke reluctantly agreed. Not wanting to make it painful, Dad wouldn't wiggle it too much. When asked if he was wiggling the tooth to help it fall out, Luke replied that he was "waiting for nature to take its course". It had reached the it-could-fall-out-and-he-could-swallow-it state so Dad gave it a gentle (but slightly firmer than usual) tug. With no resistance the tooth was removed. When the tooth was placed in Luke's hand, he didn't even know the tooth had fallen out (he just thought that Dad wiggled it too hard). He was very excited to lose his first tooth and the Tooth Fairy visited that night.

The missing tooth

Halloween

The whirlwind month that was October wrapped up with Halloween night and several Halloween-related activities at both kids' schools. At Luke's school there was a Halloween party and trick-or-treating to the classrooms. At Maddie's school there was a Halloween movie night on the lawn. The actual Halloween night was enjoyed by all of the neighborhood kids. We met together to gather a large group of kids at one neighbor's house before sunset. The kids run around and play, asking if it's time to start trick-or-treating every 10 minutes. Finally it was time. Maddie's night lasted for hours, first gathering candy, then trading candy, then playing into the late-night hours with neighborhood friends. Luke has less endurance and is ready to call it a night after about an hour (with a 20 minute break between two 20 minute trick-or-treat sessions). Enjoy some photo highlights below.

Luke's class in Halloween costumes

Luke plays Halloween bingo at school party

Luke in partial costume

Maddie in Perry the Platypus Costume

Maddie with girlfriends at school

Luke and Maddie prepare jack-o-lanterns, notice the focus and concentration

Luke in full Minion Costume, with fake banana

Minion and Rock

Paper, Rock, Scissors

The neighborhood kids count down minutes to darkness

Pumpkin Patch 2015

Our October wouldn't be complete without our annual visit to the pumpkin patch farm, or so I thought until Maddie pointed out to me that we didn't go to the pumpkin patch 2 years ago and last year it was "boys only" because she was sick and Mom stayed home with her. Oh well, so much for annual family traditions. Our pumpkin patch visit is a family tradition even if it's not annual! (For the record, we've only skipped the pumpkin patch 1 or 2 times in the past 10 years). Several weekends ago we took advantage of our beautiful fall weather and continued our "annual" tradition. It was a fun-filled day. Enjoy some photos from the day!

A late afternoon photo of two tired kids

Mom and Luke ready for the train ride

Maddie and Dad are on the train too

A field of sunflowers

Notice the looks of joy on the kids' faces and the look of sheer terror on Mom's face

As parents we discourage running with sticks, however running with "magic wands" is totally acceptable

Maddie and Mom on the hayride

In the pumpkin patch

While wandering through the corn maze, Luke became obsessed with making a "film" to document our adventure. Every few steps he demanded that I turn on the video camera to record him giving status on our progress through the maze or just to see himself on camera. You may notice he even refers to me as "the camera man". I eventually had to remind him that Mom was waiting so we could stop "filming" and find the corn maze exit. I've put together all of the clips without editing... it's amusing.

Camping Fall 2015

The annual 3-family camping trip once again occurred in early October, maintaining a fun tradition that's been ongoing since 2010. For links to previous camping trip blog posts, click the links below:

2010 Camping Trip

2011 Camping Trip

2012 Camping Trip

2013 Camping Trip

2014 Camping Trip

As in years past, everyone had a great time this year. With the kids getting older, they enjoy a bit more freedom to explore the campground together. Luke sometimes joins the "big kids" for their excursions but also is happy to spend time with Mom or Dad around the campsite. The playground is an attraction that Luke enjoys more than the big kids, so Mom and Dad will take him to the playground without the big kids. At the playground he usually meets and plays with other kids near his age. All of the kids enjoyed other typical camp activities like swimming/playing in the creek and pool, swinging into the "Tarzan hole", fishing, camp games, smores, and evening viewing of the local raccoons and skunks. This year, the kids put on a play for the parents on the last evening at camp. They spent an afternoon writing and rehearsing the play, and the "big kids" even included Luke to introduce the play and call out the "scenes" (see video link below). Enjoy some of the best photos (and video) from our 2015 fall camping trip!

Night time dance party with all kids on the "dance floor"

Four girlfriends

Luke enjoys the "big swing"

Maddie on the "big swing"

Luke and Dad sit by the campfire... Dad looks mad (confused?) but I promise, I was not

Camping provides lots of time for the girls to sit and chat

BFFs

Girl power in the river

Sharing a seat around the campfire as night falls

Nature comes out at night

Luke introduces the play (note: "Guesstures" game prop borrowed from campsite game room)

Luke and Dad break down the tent on the last morning

Four girlfriends, again

On the last morning of camping, all of the kids write in their camping journals

More chatting at the camp site, waiting for breakfast

Luke enjoying the outdoors

Mom and Luke play corn-hole

Muscles on display from Mr. Marty and Luke

Maddie on a rope swing

They hope the weekend never ends

Smile!

Luke and Dad await dinner one evening, note Luke playing with his iPad!

Luke adjusts the score on the corn-hole board

One of Dad's favorite camping activities: reading/relaxing/etc in the hammock

Tarzan hole swing and plunge into the water

Luke on the playground...boys need more than trees and logs to climb!

Link below is video of the play (skit) that the kids performed on the last night. The play is a Harry Potter parody. The audio is poor, but you can see how much fun the kids were having.  It's relatively long, approximately 9 minutes.

Rules, God and Rocketships

A rare photo-less blog post (my first one?)... but the dialogues here stand on their own with no visuals needed. Conversations with kids can be so refreshing, so innocent, so sincere and so unpredictable. They can inspire, lift us up, make us laugh (or cry) and remind us of why parenting is the most rewarding (and challenging) endeavor in the world. Over the years we've always treasured these simple moments. These are a few exchanges I had with Luke from the past weekend - definitely worth sharing.

Pulling into the church parking lot.
Luke: "Dad, how about I take my iPad into church and keep the volume off?"
Dad: "No, you can't do that. It's against the rules."
Luke: "So many rules... how do you remember them all, Dad? When we get home, please write down all the rules so that I can remember them when I'm grown up."

At mass, returning from communion.
Dad (motioning to the kneeler): "Luke, please say a prayer. Church is almost finished, we're going to leave in a minute."
Luke (kneels down, crosses hands together, bows head and closes his eyes): "Dear God, I'll see you next week."

Saturday evening, about 45 minutes after Luke has gone to bed, but he has not fallen asleep. I've heard him scurrying about in and out of his bedroom several times to get a drink or peek at the TV show that Maddie is watching. Finally he walks into the office where I'm on the computer.
Luke (squinting his eyes and pulling up his PJ shorts): "Dad, something on my leg is bothering me."
Dad (kneeling to examine the leg): "I don't see anything. Let me carry you back to your bed."
Now in Luke's bedroom
Dad: "Were you scratching your leg?"
Luke: "Yes, and I put some Chapstick on it."
Dad: "Oh... okay. Chapstick isn't for legs, buddy. It's only for lips"
Luke: "Can you write that rule on the list too, Dad?"

Upon preparing to leave to pick up a few items at Home Depot, I ask if anyone needs anything while I'm out. Luke hands me a list with the following items:

Rockets
Connectors
Bed Legs
Steering Wheel

Dad: "What are these for?"
Luke: "So we can build our rocketship!"

Kayaking in Watson Lake

Last weekend we took a day trip to the cooler climes of Prescott Arizona and spent some time kayaking on Watson Lake. Some clouds and nearby storms almost ruined our plans, but the weather passed and we hit the water. The lake is a reservoir surrounded by huge granite rocks and outcroppings. In certain areas of the lake, you're completely surrounded by the rock formations giving the lake an appearance that is almost unworldly. The lake has lots of fingers and branches that make exploring in a kayak fun, at times it almost feels like your exploring a new uncharted world.

The kids had a good time exploring the lake. Luke was "captain" of the kayak and guided his boat from his position in the front seat ("go between those rocks", "go left", "go right", "go faster", etc). Maddie is big enough to "pull her own weight" and she helped paddle the kayak, taking turns paddling with Mom and paddling with Dad. At the midpoint of our journey, we stopped on a granite island (outcropping) to stretch our legs and swap kayaks. It was a relatively isolated area that produced a great echo - Luke loved yelling and hearing himself echo in the distance.  Maddie fed some fish a handful of potato chip crumbs, but we're not sure if the fish ate them or not.

On our paddle back to the dock, a competitive race evolved with both kids urging their boat-mate parent to "paddle faster". In the end, both kids claimed victory (Luke touched the dock first, Maddie got to land first) and both parents assured the kids that they're both winners, thus diffusing a potential argument (phew). It was a great day and it's sure to be a place we visit again in the future for another kayak adventure.

Rock formations surrounding the lake

Rock formations surrounding the lake
(notice the high water marks on the rocks, about 12' above the current lake level)

Maddie and Mom navigate pass some rock formations

Luke guides us to our destination

Luke and Dad chatting during a camera break

Girl power!

Dad and Luke paddle away from the girls

Girls enjoying the scenery (and working hard too)

Luke says, "Head for that rock" 

The girls made a pretty good paddling team (though not as fast as the boys)

Taking a break on a rocky island... perhaps a picnic spot on a future visit?

Luke wants to climb to the top of the rock... a sheer 30 foot cliff to the left.  We didn't try.

Maddie takes a short break

Dad and the kids enjoy exploring the rocky island during our rest

Mom and Luke paddle back toward the dock

Maddie paddles to catch Mom and Luke (ahead on the left)