Fatherhood

More packing tonight. I actually threw out something that was very difficult for me to throw away. I've already written about how hard it is for me to throw some stuff away.

This item was something I made for my mom and dad way back when I was in elementary school. Maybe grade 2 or grade 3. I can still remember making it while sitting at my desk in the classroom.

It was a Christmas craft and we were making wreaths to hang on our door. We actually used ours for a long time, but for the past 10 years (at least) it has been in storage.

The tidbit you are missing is that it was made of a rounded out coat hanger, and strip of green plastic garbage bag tied to it. Tie on some ribbon and glittery pine cones, and you have the Christmas wreath that I made 20 some odd years ago.

Yes it was ugly. Yes I wanted to keep it. Yes I got rid of it. I hope some day my kids will make something that special to them.

We had a glorious day today and I really mean that. It started off with Beet sleeping in until 7. That may not seem like sleeping in to a lot of people, but not being woken before 7 is great to me.

I got up with Beet and we had a pretty lazy morning. She had breakfast and I had coffee, then we played for a bit. I actually got to read my book while she played. It was great. Sprout slept in until 9. Well, sort of. I went up to his room at 9 and he was wide awake and very chipper but he was ok with being in his crib.

The whole lounged for a bit, watched some tv, I drank more coffee, Sox cleaned the kitched, then Sox made waffles and sausages for breakfast. Mmmmm.

After breakfast Sprout watched more tv, I read some more, Beet had a nap. What a relaxing morning. Once Beet was up from her nap we all loaded into the car and headed to Beaver lake to take Yoshi for a walk and to play at the playground.

I took Beet and Yoshi for the walk, Sox and Sprout stayed at the playground. After we were done there we got back in the car and headed to Starbucks for a snack and some drink to warm up with. On the way home from that Beet fell asleep again, so after letting Sprout and Sox out of the car I sat there are read my book some more.

Dinner came and went, baths were done, the kids were put into bed, then Sox and I got some packing done.

The whole day was relaxing, enjoyable, and in the end it actually felt like I accomplished some good.

On the weekend I learned an important lesson from my 2.5 year old son.

We were at a playground, and he was playing on some low to the ground monkey bars. He holding on the bars and was swinging back and forth. He said to me "Dad, do this".

I got down on the ground, grabbed the monkey bars and tried to swing. The problem was that I was to big, so I had to hold my legs out in front of me while I was swinging.

I am not used to this, and in the process pulled my ab muscles. I was sore for several days afterward.

One thing I hate about winter is getting up while it is dark.

I've been experiencing winter mornings early this year. Beet has been getting up extra early recently this week, and I've been having to turn on the lights downstairs. Yikes. I am not ready for winter just yet. Getting up while it is dark is just hard for me, even with coffee.

This past week we were camping up at Rathtrevor Park. Sox's family all came out for the trip, and it was perfect.

The cousins all got along great and played well together. The food was excellent, and the weather was spotless. Sleep was a little lacking though. The first night there Sox and I headed to bed around 10. Sprout was still awake and started talking to us. We tried our best to ignore him and to convince him to go to sleep. We also tried our best to prevent any outbursts. He kept saying things like, Hi mama, What you doin? and my favorite Can't see (by this time it was late and very dark). Every time I was about to nod off he would speak up. Ack. Then Beet woke us all up at 5:30. The sleep got better after that thankfully.

This trip brought back lots of memories for me. One of the few things I vividly recall about my parents is going camping. Especially to Rathtrevor. I loved it as a kid, and one of my great hopes as a father is to create some of these special times with my family. I don't want to recreate what I did as a child, but I do want my children to some day reflect back on the fun times we had as a family.