"...and Dad"

Ok, been a while, so here's the catch-up article. It's called "...and Dad" because that's how Johnny starts out most of his conversations with me. He's either continuing a conversation from hours or days ago, or one that he's been having with me without the necessity of telling me. For fun, you can just add "...and Dad" between paragraphs. I'd do it, but I'm afraid I'll have some kind of Nam-like flashback...

Memorial Day

On Memorial Day, we usually participate in our little 'burb's parade. Chris marches with the veterans, and I walk with the Johnny and the rest of the Cub Scouts. Works out pretty well, normally, and by "normally" I mean last year was Johnny's first year in Cubs, and we didn't lose anyone. "Leave no man behind" is the Cub Scout Motto, after all.

We did lose some flags last year, though. The pack had about fifty or so flags for the scouts to carry and wave, and somewhere along the line, one of the leaders got the idea that maybe we should hand out these flags to veterans along the way? And while we're at it, kids, too? And, hey, a few flags left over? Well, just take those with you, kids. God Bless America! 

Later this same leader learned that no, in fact, those were just for carrying and waving. So, he replaced them, with real, honest-to-goodness, made in the USA flags. But he also felt that we should hand out something,  so we got a whole lot of little flags to pass out this year. 

I'm fairly sure we didn't lose anyone.

Skype at School

The kids wanted to skype with Chris at school, so we got it set up. I went in one afternoon to work with Johnny's teacher, Gail Lipchak, to make sure everything worked. It did, pretty well, when we Skyped between her computer and my laptop. She also read me the questions she had each of the kids in the class write up. They were pretty good, softball questions: what do you eat, do you get bored, what's the weather like, and on and on. Johnny's was the best, and I'll get to it.

So that test was maybe on a Thursday, and we were going to skype the next week. But the kids came home from school on Friday and told me that they both got to talk to mommy at school that day. Turns out that Mrs. Lipchak had her Skype open, and Chris just called her out of curiosity. So Gail had to have someone run and get Johnny out of lunch and Cara out of class, but they got to talk for a few minutes. They said it worked ok, but got really choppy after a while.

Eventually, we get to do it for-real with the rest of Johnny's class. Steve and Gretchen from the PG came, too, and I got there a little early to check everything out. I didn't want to chance it with the school's network, so I just tethered my phone to my laptop and ran it through there. Did I mention that I love my phone? Well, I did love it at one point, now I think we're just really good friends, and I'm going to dump it for a new model when my "new every two" term is up. (But I still love my wife! No need to turn her in for a new model!) (Also, that option is not available on that contract.)

Anyway, went very smoothly. The kids watched the action on the big screen, and each one in turn came back to ask their question. At last, we got to Johnny, and it went something like this:
Johnny: Mom, on a scale of one to one million, how much do you love me?
Me: Don't answer! It's a trick question! He didn't say if a million was good or bad!
Chris: Ten million!
Johnny: Mom, the scale only goes to a million!
Chris: A million, then. Johnny, how much do you love me?
Johnny: A million and a half.

Too cute.

I wanted to do the same in Cara's class, and thankfully I ran into her teacher, Dave Thomas, on the way out, and we set it up for the next day. Same set up, kids watching on the big screen, and asking questions at the laptop. But here we didn't have them write down questions beforehand, which worked out ok with the older crowd. Chris also wanted to tell one of Cara's classmates about the women in the Air Force. Chris had gone into Cara's class in April, and one of the girls asked her if she got tired of always wearing the same thing, and if she could wear earrings and other things. Yes, and no. "Well, that would be a problem for me," said the girl, "because I like to accessorize!"

So this girl came up with two or three questions, but after the first one, Chris told her that the Air Force women can wear earrings, if they want to. So maybe there's a military option for her, after all?

Field Day

The next day, we had field day for Johnny in the morning, Cara in the afternoon. A few times in the past, I've run the whole event, coordinating the games and the volunteers and the snacks and whatever. It's fun, but it's a lot of work, especially when you are a closeted control freak. So for the past few years, I've offered, but other folks have stepped up (and God bless them,) so I've just volunteered to do the games or whatever is needed. 

Field day is usually held outside when the weather is good, but this year, despite the good weather, it was inside. Turns out they are surveying for the new school building, I think, and the field was unavailable.Fine by me, because as I think we all know I like the outdoors and all, but I loathe sunshine beating down on me. Usually, the gym is crowded and hot, but they did pull a few of the 'water-based' games outside, and with the doors open it was actually pleasant.

So, Johnny's field day was in the morning. I was at the 'snack' station, where I was tasked with the critical job of handing out two (2) pretzel rods to each kid. I was also the first part of the station, so I had to line the kids up. "Line up, in order of the height of your paternal grandmothers," I'd say, and after a confused pause, "Ok, just line up here."

 

There's a little girl in second grade who looks just like our neighbor, who is in first grade. And when I say "just like," I mean it in the "separated at birth, freaky unrelated twin" kinda way. I know this. I know that this girl is in second grade, she'd gone to preschool with Johnny. But of course when she came through the snack line, I gave her this sort of sideways "what are you doing here?" look, but I didn't say anything. Yet.

After they played all the games, they had a tug-of-war, which I got to emcee mostly because (a) I am loud and (b) I enjoy the sound of my own voice being loud. So, I called up the classes in pairs, and we tugged and warred and whatever. When I called up the class with the little doppelganger, I said, "Maggie, what are you doing here, really?" and she said, "I'm Grace!" "Oh, of course you are, dear, my bad." Embarrassing.

Cara's field day was that afternoon. I didn't get to take any pictures, it was a relay-race station and I had a lot of fun keeping the kids entertained while they did a three-legged race, an egg-carry, and a few others. The three-legged race is funny with kids, because they don't want to touch anyone of the opposite gender. I had to explain to several pairs of kids that, under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, participating in a three-legged race together did not mean that they had to get married. It does, however, qualify them for group life insurance, but I had no takers.

Camping 

Our Cub Scout pack has a family camping event every June, and this year I decided that would be a good distraction. The camp was "Twin Echo," near Ligonier, about two hours away. 

It's a cabin, with four rooms full of bunk-bed cots. I brought my tent. The kids wanted to sleep in the cabin, Cara with the girls, Johnny with the boys. I just wanted to sleep.

Saturday, after breakfast, we all went fishing. Well, we got the lines wet, anyway, which is fine by me, because the worst part of fishing, especially with kids, is catching the damned fish. Anyway, it was fun, and after that we went on a little hike with everyone to the top of the hill. We saw a lot of tracks, we heard a lot of birds, oh, and we flushed out an ovenbird but I didn't waste err I mean spend my time looking for it's nest.

After the hike, lunch. Not noteworthy, but while we were cleaning up, a snake was discovered in the broom closet. The resident expert was called, and I saw that it was a rat snake, about four feet. After some time, we coaxed it into a trash can and I took it outside. Now, if it had been my old man, he would have just picked the darn thing up with one hand while distracting it with the other. And good for him, I say, but we put it in a trash can.

So, as I was taking it outside, we called the kids over, because if you're going to see a snake up close, the best time is when it's in the can. Well, Cara comes running around the side of the cabin and very nearly steps on another, equally large rat snake,  at which point she vowed never to set foot in the cabin again, and wanted to leave right away. I talked her down to sleeping in the tent with me, and she eventually went into the cabin again because that's where the kids were.

After lunch, we played around the field, it rained a little, and then more fishing. Cara caught two fish with one worm. After the second, I cast the same worm out again -- another fish. And then another. Stupid fish. I'd say "lucky worm," but it depends who you ask (don't ask the worm.)

Cara, Anna, and Juliet put on a few skits, which they got out of a skit book which was conveniently brought along for just such an occasion.

In one of the photos, Johnny wanted to fly. This was the best we could manage.