fully vaccinated

Today is the two week mark after I received my second COVID shot, so I'm officially fully vaccinated.  I'm definitely excited for the opportunity that represents for our coming summer compared with how things were last year.

While I am excited about things opening up, I am one of those introverted people who genuinely enjoyed many things about being locked down.  Being able to work from home, having an excuse not to go out and do too many social things, and having more time in general around the house was wonderful, especially early in the pandemic.  I enjoyed it enough that I felt some guilt, since I know this pandemic caused serious health and economic problems for so many people, and because so many people lost loved ones.

The one big issue that this caused for our family is that NJ had a very hard time dealing with things getting cancelled, and with everything about the year being different.  We tried to allow the kids as many safe social opportunities as possible, but his autism makes him an extremely routine-driven person, and having everything about the routine of the year last year change caused quite a bit of distress.

I can't tell if the year has been hard on CD or not.  She has actually been more social with kids at school than she has been historically, but she has been less social with people at church.  We'd probably prefer it be the other way around.  She excelled academically this year, and we have gotten far more family time than any prior year.  I hope she feels she had a good year.

We actually did keep pretty busy last summer, but we have more things scheduled for this summer, just due to more opportunity and less danger.  I think the rest of the year is looking up.

food after effects

When we visit my in-laws the kids love going to their local Godfather's Pizza.  They enjoy the food, and they enjoy the arcade area in that Godfather's.  So, we always have to make a trip there, which we did this past weekend as well.  This reminded me of something I have been noticing over the past couple of years.

Ever since I have been eating healthier I have noticed that I can seriously tell when I don't eat healthy.  It makes sense that eating healthier makes your digestive system feel and operate better, but the surprise to me is how much eating unhealthy makes me feel generally achy, inflamed, and lethargic.  Weird things happen like my tongue feels swollen, my legs don't seem to want to move, and my feet get a little tingly.  None of these effects are extreme, but they still pop out to me.  I'm now not sure if this is something that I've experienced my whole life and just never identified the pattern, or if it is something that is more noticeable since I am getting older.

As someone who doesn't normally eat breakfast, I've even noticed that if I do eat something unhealthy in the morning I feel worse than if I don't eat anything.  My stomach has always been a bit queasy in the morning anyway, but having something with a bit too much sugar also makes me feel generally achy and distracted for a short stretch of time afterward.

The positive from this is that it does provide extra motivation to eat right.  However, part of how I've stuck with eating healthy is planning out my cheat meals and snacks, and enjoying them to the fullest.  Understanding the repercussions may take away some of that enjoyment.

Am I the only one who has noticed this?  How do you feel after you've had a healthy or unhealthy meal?

completed bucket list

I recently wrote about goals, and of my lack of a bucket list.  The real reason I would create such a list is to have goals to look forward to, and to create memories of rich experiences.  It occurred to me that, while I haven't created such a list, I can look back at my life and see hundreds of experiences that would qualify as bucket list worthy.

As examples, I can imagine putting on my bucket list in my twenties that I'd like to swim in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.  I hadn't had that opportunity yet even ten years ago, as I hadn't been in any ocean water in my life at that time, but now I have.  I can imagine taking a tour through a cave being on my list, which I hadn't done yet seven years ago, but which I have done twice in that time.  I can imagine experiencing kids camp with my kids being on such a list, and that is something that happened just this summer.  I can imagine maintaining a target healthy weight on my bucket list as well, which is something I've only recently set about achieving.

Even if I don't ever create a bucket list with things that I want to do in the future, just consciously making choices to do things with family and to commit to self-improvement will guarantee bucket list-like experiences and achievements.  Perhaps one of the best ways to be thankful is to look at the experiences in life that I've already had that could have filled a bucket list I may have had ten or fifteen years ago.  I understand that not everyone has the same opportunities to have what appear on the outside to be rich experiences, but I suspect that most adults do have a large number of bucket list experiences and achievements of their own, even if their backgrounds or current situations are not as advantaged as others.

What are some of your bucket list experiences that you've already had or achievements you've already accomplished, even if you didn't put them on an actual list beforehand?

kids camp

This past week I did something that I never envisioned myself doing. I was a counselor at a church kids' camp. This is something that I am not particularly well-suited for, and I initially had planned on turning down the request to consider it. Upon reflection, I had the distinct feeling that this was something that I was supposed to do, so I agreed to do it.

The week actually went great. We had fourteen kids in our cabin between third and sixth grade, and three counselors to manage them all. All of us were dads to at least one of the boys in the cabin, and while there were certainly a lot of minor ongoing issues to deal with throughout my time there, I was amazed at how smoothly everything went.

One thing that I feel I got out of the experience was a greater appreciation and understanding of the personalities and drives of the seven boys from my church in my cabin. It's easy as an adult to only have a surface-level relationship with the kids in the church, and understanding their uniquenesses allows me to have a deeper relationship with each of them.

The concern that I heard relayed to me multiple times was that I wouldn't get enough sleep to function while there. While I was mentally exhausted from all of the kid conversations and metaphorical fires that needed to be put out, I got great sleep and felt great physically throughout camp.

While I believe that this was a positive experience and that I really was supposed to be doing this, it is clear that childcare of this sort certainly isn't my calling. I was able to witness adults who were truly in their element in interacting with the kids, and for my entire time there I always felt like I was winging it. However, this didn't stress me out like it normally would have because I had the attitude that I had my limits, and as long as I gave it my all that is all that could be expected of me.

So I had an great experience overall, but I don't plan on repeating it again next year. Of course, I didn't plan on doing it at all this year, so what I'm planning on right now only matters so much.

binge watching

One thing that has been difficult on me lately is that I want to take part in what is becoming a national pastime of sorts--binge watching shows on Netflix.  My current life situation and responsibilities preclude this possibility, however.  Most of the shows I'd want to watch are not completely kid-appropriate, and there are too many other responsibilities I need to devote my time to in a given week.  This isn't to say I don't watch TV, but it is much less so than at other points in my life.


I remember earlier times in my life when people would say they didn't watch TV because they didn't have time, I would wonder how that could be.  I still wonder that, because I still make time, but I understand better now.  Now what I don't understand is how people who I know are as busy as I am are able to make time for a marathon of Stranger Things or The Crown.  They have time management skills that I still need to master.

This being said, I actually have more time than Golden.  Where I could realistically add a TV series or two to my schedule due to my willingness to give up some sleep, and her more constant responsibilities, it's a serious challenge to get small things added to her schedule.

All of this will change one day.  We're in a busy stage of life.  When the kids are older and some of our other responsibilities are lessened I anticipate us having more time for such pursuits.  This is just an outgrowth of our time of life, and some of our life choices.

This has me asking a few questions, though.  Is this a greener grass on the other side of the fence situation?  Will I look back on this busier time with nostalgia because of the kids' ages, or will I look back with relief that things are slower?  What percentage of adults are in a stage where they can't realistically binge watch a show without neglecting other responsibilities?

access to amusement

When I was a kid I mostly lived in rural areas and did not have a lot of disposable income, so I did not go to places like Chuck E. Cheese's, zoos, or amusement parks in general much.  We did go to some to be sure, but the opportunity to do this much was not there.  Small towns do have other things to offer, like bowling, soccer leagues, the Shriner's circus, and city pools, so I still did well.

It's in contrast to this that I notice that our kids have gotten to experience a lot of the things I would have dreamed of as a kid.  They have gotten to experience multiple amusement parks, zoos, pumpkin patches, because the opportunity was there.  In fact, we have already purchased season tickets to Silver Dollar City for the upcoming year.  This past weekend they got to visit the KC Legoland Discovery Center and the KC Sea Life Aquarium, which are two more things that are simply not accessible to a lot of kids.  Based on what I see on Facebook, though, I suspect that we do fewer events like this than the average family.

It is this contrast that is making me wonder, do kids do more things like this that back twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty years ago?  When you were a kid did you go to amusement parks much (more than once a year)?  Did you visit zoos much or fairs, or Chuck E. Cheese's, or other such things?  Were there other things you did more that offset modern amusements that weren't available to you?

I'm not one to complain that kids these days have it too easy, because each generation is faced with it's own unique challenges, and there will always be individual kids in each generation that have to face enormous hardships.  I am wondering if the difference I am noticing is age-related, money-related, city-versus-rural-background-related, or something else entirely, though.

looking forward to winter

I remember as a kid the anticipation I felt toward the Christmas holiday.  The little Advent calendar seemed so long.  The twenty-five days leading up to the holiday seemed to take forever.  Of course, at that early age what really excited me about Christmas was the prospect of toys, time off school, and an opportunity to play with cousins.  The time felt long in part because my responsibilities leading up to the holiday were minimal.  I certainly did not appreciate all of the responsibilities my parents had in the time leading up to the holidays.

After all of my excitement, it was over so fast.  I enjoyed the next few days of playing with the new toys, but the sense of anticipation was gone.  December 26 was always bittersweet.  The next week when schoolwork started again was downright horrible.

In the past several years I have seen December as a bit of a chore.  There are a lot of things that have to be done for the holiday now including gift-buying, extra parties, traveling, and coordinating schedules.  That has made opinion of the holidays a bit less festive.  I have an advantage today, though, that I did not have as a kid, and that is that the time after Christmas day is actually quite enjoyable.

What I look the most forward to is undirected down time that I can enjoy how I like.  What I am realizing is that, while the time leading up to Christmas sucks that up and destroys it, there is more of that after Christmas.  Like when I was a kid, I typically get some time off around the holidays and can enjoy that time.  Unlike when I was a kid, I do not have a semester of homework to look forward to in January.  Beyond that, a lot of the things (both that I do and do not enjoy) that take my time are less of a factor in January than in other times of year.  There is no football that I care about as a Lions fan, and fantasy football does not stretch into the playoffs.  There is no mowing or lawn care in general.  There are fewer outdoor activities that I am likely to participate in.  There are more evenings when I can enjoy a movie with Golden.  It is really the perfect opportunity to enjoy down time with movies, games, or a hobby.  I have been clear that I generally do not like cold weather, but I don't have to be out in the cold to enjoy some of the side-effects of the weather.

This line of thinking came about because I am now realizing that this is the third December in a row where I am feeling optimistic about how much I expect to enjoy the upcoming winter months.  That seemed unlike me. It appears to be an outgrowth of the fact that I know what it is like to have work and school and a lot of other things ahead of me for the upcoming semester, and so with fewer things on my plate I expect to be happier.  This could become a trend, and so I could be modifying my negative attitude about the winter in future years.  Who knows, maybe I will even start enjoying the cold.

sabbath: revisited

Several years back, I posted on the Sabbath and my opinion on its observation. I have always had an aversion to how it was enforced when I was younger, so I didn't stop to think that it might have some benefits.

When I was a kid, what honoring a Sunday Sabbath meant fluctuated a bit, but from my perspective it almost always meant making the day more boring. Church was obviously boring for a younger boy, but as entertainment appeared to conflict with keeping the day holy, there were times when Sundays were intentionally made to be dull so as not to dishonor the Sabbath.

Now that I am an adult and have more control over how my life is run, a weekly break from work does not sound like a bad thing. My last time reading through the Bible one of the things I watched for was how the Sabbath was to be observed by Israel and what its true purpose was. It was during this reading that it occurred to me that keeping the day holy was not about putting on a show of piety on that day, but rather one of trust. Part of the point of the Sabbath was that God's people trusted Him enough that they would break from work one day out of the week even when doing so would impact them economically (like farmers during the harvest, or merchants traveling distances between cities).

A further point that I frequently heard when growing up was that workers need at least one day a week off.  Too many work days in a row will drive a person crazy.  This is something that I have always agreed with, and I still do.  Beyond that, though, I am finally at a point in my life where a Sabbath rest sounds like an appealing thing.  It just has to be on different terms than I grew up with.

Things that I think should qualify as a Sabbath rest include, but are not limited to, the following.

• An afternoon at the park
• An afternoon at the beach (no, still no real beaches in Kansas)
• An afternoon watching football
• An afternoon playing football, soccer, baseball, etc
• An afternoon watching a movie
• An afternoon reading
• An afternoon playing board/card games

While it is certainly God's privilege to expect sacrifices that seem absurd, the requirement of boredom one day a week always seemed ridiculous.  I think I would feel differently about it if I saw that doing this grew my relationship with Him, or caused me to understand Scripture better, or provided some other notable spiritual benefit.  For me it did not, and it still doesn't.  Strip away the anti-entertainment rule, though, and I am all about slowing down and having a quiet and reflective day once a week.

making time

It has been a while since I have posted an update. As might be assumed, this has been due to everything going on in my life. This is a bit odd, though, because it is not like I have more happening now that I did a few months ago. I am out of school now and few of my regular TV shows have been on. We did take a large vacation earlier this month and I have played on our new Wii some this summer, but that cannot account for the general lack of time. Somehow we're nearly into August and I feel like it should still be early June.

I have spent some effort recently trying to determine what really is a priority for my time. There are so many things that I want to fill my time with that I am having trouble dropping things. So, I decided to open this up to reader input. How do you prioritize the time that you do have? What sorts of things do you drop from your schedule when there is not room for everything?

ten-year goals

Since my birthday that ends in a zero occurs a few months before the new decade^* this provides me a double opportunity to review my last ten years and consider what I want to do with my next ten years. When I consider the last ten years, I am confronted by a lot of competing thoughts about how long and short the time has been. Ten years is a lot of time for things to happen, but it is also a short enough time to procrastinate on a lot of things that I thought I would have accomplished.

It certainly helps in my view of the last decade that about half was without kids and just under half comprises the time after we found out that we would have NJ. Life without kids is so much different from life with kids that I almost think of the past ten years as two separate decades. I am sure I am not the only person who has ever had that observation, though.

Ten years ago I was just completing college and did not really know what to expect from the ten years I had ahead of me. If I had to guess ten years ago what my next decade would include, I would have probably been selfish with my expectations. Few people want to talk about the responsibilities that they will take on more than the benefits for those responsibilities.

Interestingly, I am not much clearer on what my next ten years holds now than I was ten years ago. I know there are certain things that I would like to happen in the next ten years, but I always have a bit of trepidation about focusing too much on those. Sometimes those things that I would like to happen are just not possible or ideal and I don't want to be stuck ten years from now measuring the past decade by a standard that turned out to be unrealistic.

With all of that being said, I do have some generic goals for the coming decade. The problem is that they are not the types of goals that are easy to list. Very little is specific and measurable, some of it is private, and a lot of it is selfish. As an example of a selfish one, a goal of mine is to make more time to read and play video games. Some people would think playing more video games is a horrendous goal, but as someone who is highly strung and has had other priorities in the recent past I think the end result of doing this would be that I would be an easier person to deal with. It also represents a way for me to connect with NJ (I do have goals about connecting more with Golden and CD as well). Another goal is to, at some point, take the family to Florida to either Disney, or MGM, or Epcot, or something of that nature. If the finances for that do not work out, though, it may be better that that does not happen.

Something that I try to keep in mind with my goals is that something is only a worthwhile goal if I am willing to make a sacrifice to complete it. Graduating from a degree program qualifies as a goal because doing so requires a time and money sacrifice. Playing more video games only qualifies as a goal if I am giving up something else that I like in order to reach that goal.

Does anyone else have goals for the upcoming decade that are either the same as what has happened over the past decade or are a complete departure? I would love to hear about them.

* I understand that 2011 actually starts the decade, but does anyone really think in those terms? It is just a technicality based on the fact that there was no year zero.

wedding

Golden's brother got married last weekend. It was quite an involved event, actually, as there were seven bridesmaids and seven groomsmen as well as five ushers. That is a lot of people, and was indicative of the effort put into the wedding. The ceremony was only twenty minutes long, however, which is the perfect length as far as I am concerned.

There is so much that I do not understand about weddings. I know that most girls grow up planning every minute detail of their wedding for fun, and I know that the appeal of a wedding is supposed to be that this is a ceremony that focuses on the bride and makes her feel special. I, in my male mind, do not understand much more than this about weddings, though. I think this is epitomized in the fact that every chick flick seems to involve a wedding at some point and every time a wedding shows up in an action movie it is because a character somehow ruins the wedding event by being chased through the area where the ceremony is being held.

Something that I noted on Facebook was that I am very thankful that my parents agreed to fly here to help take care of the kids while everything was going on. There are a lot of things that people involved with a wedding are supposed to do and dealing with two kids under the age of three while doing them would be a monumental if not impossible task. Add to this that no almost-three-year-old boy does not want to sit around a church in a tux for hours on end doing nothing.

Golden's brother went to Greece for his honeymoon and I have to say that it sounds like a great place to visit. I'm interested in hearing how it went. Since we did not officially have jobs at the time and had to pay for most everything with plastic or cash from family when we were married, our honeymoon was to St. Louis rather than somewhere more exotic. It was a much nicer vacation than it sounds, far better than any vacation we have taken since, but I feel that we need to make up for the apparent lameness of our honeymoon destination next year on our tenth anniversary if possible.

So, that's pretty much it on weddings. That is, until the next one I attend.

the case for television

I was asked recently what Golden and I do together, or what we have done together, as a couple. I hesitated before answering because some people appear to look down on this, but we have always watched TV and gone to movies together. We do other things as well, but our "us" time has always been largely comprised of TV and movies. My question is why should we feel bad about our television habits? I have heard a few arguments which I will detail below.

It's unhealthy

While I agree that excessive TV watching can be unhealthy because it is associated with a lack of activity, so can excessive book reading. I don't feel that the health argument applies to me because if I watched less television I would not be replacing that time with exercise. I would be replacing it with Internet, gaming, and reading time, none of which is active.

It rots the brain

There are shows that I believe have to decrease the intelligence of the audience, but I think those very rare. Actually, if we are to believe that books, theater, and music make people more intelligent, it seems counter-intuitive to believe that entertainment built from these things (even the mass-market kind) would do the opposite. Someone I used to work with once compared Shakespeare's writings to soap operas in a less than positive way, and I wonder if more people wouldn't agree if the Bard were to write today.

It thwarts creativity

One of the arguments go that, while with books you have to visualize everything that is happening yourself, with television your experience is more passive. This could be true, but my experience tells me that my experience is only passive for slowly-paced shows, and this mimics my experience with slowly-paced books as well. As an example, when I read Captain's Courageous in high school I really had to fight to stay engaged in the story. My brain was not becoming more creative for the experience.

I think that watching shows and movies that pose scenarios that cause us to ask what we would do in a specific situation or perhaps speculate some unknowns about a story (Lost comes to mind) can actually make people more creative because the creative parts of their brains are forced to become engaged.

It negatively impacts culture

The negative influences of television probably outweigh the positives, but I hold to the belief that this is because many of the people who could make a positive impact through television have directed their efforts to other things. One possible solution to this would be to support shows that positively impact culture and to encourage others to do the same.

There are other arguments against television as well, and some are probably valid. My main point is, though, that television is not any more a vast cultural wasteland than a lot of things that are seen as culturally redeeming. Is going to the play Legally Blonde (or Grease, or Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang, et al) really culturally superior to catching it as a weekend TV movie special?

Now that I have staked out one position, perhaps someone reading this has some thoughts to counter mine. If you do, you know how to air them.

tracking

Next year is mine and Golden's ten year anniversary. We are considering a vacation somewhere sunny that summer, but nothing is written in stone yet. Whether Golden is comfortable being away from the kids for that long or whether we decide that we have the money available to do this is still up in the air. However, I have been investigating places in the Caribbean lately so can I know what kind of prices and experiences we would be considering.

One key point in this whole process is that we would need to leave the kids somewhere. The logical thing to do is to leave them with my parents because they do not get enough time with their grandkids anyway. If we did this, we would fly from Pittsburgh to wherever we decided to go, and I have taken this into account in my searching.

Because of this, I was a little taken aback a few days ago when I was on Snopes. A Travelocity banner ad specifically targeted me based on a search I had performed previously. I know this because this is the only way the ad would know that I would want to fly from Pittsburgh. I understand the technology behind the ad (it simply stored my search in a cookie in my browser), but in my experience it marks the beginning of something that will become much more prevalent in the near future.

What is really surprising is that this may be the first time that I have been able to identify an ad targeted directly to me rather than to the demographic of people targeted by the content that I am accessing. For example, I have seen ads for the Mythbusters TV show on Snopes before, but I am pretty sure that was targeted more to the general Snopes audience rather than to me personally. I would have expected that, by now, I would have seen more advertising that targets me personally, especially from Google ads.

I am not entirely convinced that Google stock is worth the premium that it goes for in the market. Even so, it has a compelling advertising business model if it can be implemented properly. Why is Google willing to host so many useful services essentially for free? Google Earth can't be bringing in much revenue. Neither can Gmail. However, the information that Google can eventually collect about all of its users through the different applications that it hosts will eventually be incredibly valuable to its targeted advertising.

I think that the feasibility of using the Internet to host a large volume of proprietary content for free depends on this targeted marketing. Many content producers are going out of business or having a tough time finding realistic revenue streams (think newspapers). At some point those who produce high-quality content will demand a higher price or get out of the business. Since targeted ads can command better revenue, it makes sense that such ads could be the savior of much of the content online. If it isn't, look forward to a lot of content going away or ceasing to be free.

8:30

Last night Golden and I went to the mall. The trip ended up being in vain because we didn't get anything that we had intended to get, but for once I wasn't bothered by it. I was quite content that we had piled into the car, dealt with all the rain that fell last night, and burned an hour out of the evening. This was because all of this occurred before 8:30PM.

Any more, the time after I get home from work on weekdays is divided into two parts. The first part is when NJ is awake. We keep him entertained and make sure he stays out of trouble. The second part is when he is asleep, which is a valuable commodity given the number of television shows that we try to keep up with. We don't really watch any of our shows when NJ is awake, so this limits our viewing to about an hour each night. This also means that I don't necessarily accomplish much after 8:30. It feels like I am wasting time if I do work after 8:30.

It seems my home life is spent in one of two modes. I am either waiting for NJ's bedtime at 8:30 or I am trying to get my TV watching and Internet surfing done after 8:30. While I love my time with NJ, I still try to do what I can to make the time before 8:30 go faster. Going on small errands is one of those things. When we go somewhere I still have time with him, but he is usually more easily distracted and better behaved.

It is nice to be with NJ. That doesn't take away from how nice it is when NJ is asleep.

our little energizer bunny

NJ has always been a good napper. He may miss a nap here or there, but he is generally pretty good about going to sleep when he is put down. Over the last week or so that has started changing.

This weekend I switched his crib to a transitional toddler bed, so now he can get out of bed whenever he wants. Since he is not stuck in bed he has been getting up to play rather than going to sleep in the afternoon. Over the past few days, this has definitely cut into his nap time. Yesterday, he didn't even take a nap.

Another issue is that recently his nap has slowly been occurring later and later. He used to go to bed between 12PM and 1PM. In the week prior to switching out his crib his nap was starting anywhere from 2PM to 4PM.

All of this is an issue because our schedule, and especially Golden's, is structured around his afternoon nap. She has been catching a nap and getting chores done while he sleeps. If he is going to be constantly awake that will change how the schedule operates. I appreciate the down time as well when I am around. Golden noted yesterday that the day just seemed to go forever since NJ had been up for so much of it.

Hopefully, if he continues to skip his nap he will make up for it by going to bed a little earlier and getting up a little later. Golden needs a rest at some point because, unlike NJ, she can't keep going and going and going and...

did i blink?

I'm asking because it feels like summer is concluding before it has even started.

While I was taking classes this past semester, and this is really the case any time I am taking classes, I could not wait for summer. I couldn't wait for all of the free time that I would have. I had some grand plans for some leisurely activities, mostof which involved reading some books or writing. Somehow, I got to the end of the summer without doing a lot of those things and I have the feeling that I haven't taken real advantage of whatever free time I was supposed to have.

The reality is that the amount of free time I have does not change that much, regardless of what is going on in my life. I make spare time for myself regardless of the situation. If I have a lot of spare time I fill it with things that are ultimately time-consuming. If I don't have spare time I'll give up an hour of sleep here or there. Also, when I am in class Golden ends up doing a lot of the things that I would be otherwise doing, so my schedule isn't as extremely different as it would seem it should be. I am busier when I have a class, but I am not doing nearly as much around the house.

I am not taking any classes this semester so that I can be around the house more as Golden's due date gets closer. I had been looking forward to having this semester off, but I have a feeling that it is going to speed by the same way summer did without me really doing much of anything. I probably should not go into the next few months with specific expectations so that if I get a windfall of time it comes as a pleasant surprise.

No matter, it is nice not having to go to class for a little while.

carver and the reptiles

Even though my parents visited us this past week, we didn't do too much tourist stuff. My parents spent most of their time either working around my house or on my grandmother's house. Everyone but my dad did get away Thursday morning when we visited my grandmother. That morning we stopped by the George Washington Carver National Monument and Reptile World Zoo. I didn't really get pictures (the reptile zoo didn't allow them anyway) but I still have some thoughts about the experience.

First, we visited the George Washington Carver National Monument. It is laid out like a park, and has one museum-like structure that we visited. There is more to the park, but that was all outside and we didn't relish walking NJ around in the heat.

I have always held a high opinion of Carver because the things he did were to benefit others rather than himself, especially his work to aid in the plight of the share-croppers. As the museum was created to honor Carver, it did a good job of improving my already good opinion of him.

NJ was drawn to one display that had nothing to do with Carver, but had a lot of buttons. He would push a button, an animal would light up, and we would hear the sound that animal made. That display probably entertained NJ for ten to fifteen minutes solid.

Not far from Carver's monument is a place called the Reptile World Zoo. It is essentially a large steel building housing an animal enthusiast's collection of reptiles. These are mostly snakes, but also include a wide assortment of other reptiles, some birds, some tarantulas, and I am sure some other things that I forget. For a museum that appears very small on the outside, there were quite a few animals.

NJ was a bit interested in the animals, but he was also spooked by a lot of them. Several of the snakes there were larger than he is and that made him uncomfortable, which makes sense because there was only a thin layer of plexiglas between him and them.

parents visiting

My parents are visiting this upcoming week. As usual, there are things that my dad will probably be doing on the house. As usual, there really isn't much of a plan as to what is happening when. As usual, the most important thing is that NJ's grandparents get to spend quality time with him.

Golden has been a little stressed trying to get the house prepared while NJ has been busy getting it unprepared. Golden has done a good job, though. It's not easy keeping this place clean with a two-year-old whose purpose it is to make the house messy.

The biggest issue that we run across when having people over is figuring out what to prepare for meals and snacks. I grew up with my parents and I cannot remember half of what they like to eat. I should have paid closer attention when I was growing up I guess.

They were talking like they would be getting in late Saturday night, but they are leaving from Columbus, Ohio, in the morning, and I cannot imagine that trip taking more than ten hours. Maybe it could take twelve hours if there was a lot of construction.

Hopefully the trip goes well and NJ enjoys the time with his grandparents, since that's the entire purpose of the trip anyway.

the past week

My sister visited this past week to spend some time with NJ, so I took the week off from work so we could more properly visit with family.

I picked my sister up at the airport in the late afternoon on Monday. Not much happened on that particular evening. We watched Nancy Drew. It was more or less what I expected.

We were supposed to have the gutters replaces on Monday as well. I was hoping they would be replaced by the time I got back from the airport. Eventually I got a phone call saying that the work would be postponed until Wednesday morning.

Tuesday, we went to the doctor to find out that we are having a girl (I know, we already announced that). Around supper time, we visited Legends. Now that we have been there a few times, the place actually feels kind of small. It didn't feel that way the first time I went there. That night we watched National Treasure 2, which I think is much better than the original.

Wednesday was NJ's birthday. We opened presents and had cake at lunch time.

We were planning to go to the pool around 3:30PM, but that is when the gutter guy showed up. It turned out that he was just there to make a final measurement and make the gutters rather than put them up, so he left in short order and we visited the pool. We spent quite a bit of time in the kiddie pool, then as we were walking into the big pool we heard thunder and the pool shut down. Bummer.

That night we watched Witness for the Prosecution, which is an old British movie based on a story that Agatha Christy wrote. Not a bad narrative, though it contained a lot of dialog, so it is not for people who don't like a lot of talking.

Thursday morning, the gutter guys showed up right as we were leaving. We visited my grandmother and great-grandmother who live a two hour drive away. Actually, that is two hours if you don't get sidetracked. I took a wrong turn and added a half hour to the trip.

NJ was especially fussy on Thursday. He screamed for the first half hour to hour that he was at his great-grandmother's house. I felt bad, but there was little we could do. From there we headed to Golden's family's house in the Springfield area.

Friday was the fourth. I celebrated by being lazy. NJ played in the back yard some. That night we set off some small fireworks. Nothing real noteworthy.

Saturday, we visited a nature center in Springfield, then traveled back to the OP. Sunday, I took my sister back to the airport.

Typically, the mark of a good break from work is when it feels like forever since I have been to the office. Since it feels like ages since I was at work, it must have been a good break.

thicker than water

We have a family reunion this September. I don't get to see family all that often, and they haven't seen NJ enough. There is one drawback, though. Since it is in eastern Pennsylvania and Golden will be in her seventh month of pregnancy we aren't going. I need to notify my aunt, who is heading this up, by tomorrow that I will not be able to attend.

My mom's side of the family is very close. Most holidays when I was growing up were spent with them, even when I didn't live near them. We moved around a bit, so I didn't have many lifelong friends, but I did have a cousin or two with whom I was close. Those are reasons why going to the reunion would be a good thing.

On the bad side, making such a trip is expensive, time-consuming, exhausting, and not really a vacation, as we would be travelling with a two-year-old. It would be a pretty serious hardship for us to attend. This is even ignoring that Golden will be in her third trimester. Even with the expense, I think that we would probably go if Golden wasn't pregnant. Everything combined makes us going unrealistic, though.

There are a lot of family things that we miss because we live the farthest away from where everyone else is. This is just one more example. I understand that I knew the drawbacks of living far from family when I chose Kansas, but I wish that someone else could play spoilsport for these events rather than myself at some point. Since the family is close, there is some expectation to make sacrifices for family to be together. I wish I wasn't always the one giving the appearance of not being willing to make the sacrifice.