Schroon Lake 2008

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Originally uploaded by peteshaw

more photos from the beach

Schroon Lake 2008

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Originally uploaded by peteshaw

more photos from the beach

Schroon Lake 2008

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Originally uploaded by peteshaw

more photos from the beach

Schroon Lake Vacation July 2008

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Originally uploaded by peteshaw

What goes up...

Schroon Lake Vacation July 2008

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Originally uploaded by peteshaw

Must come down!

Schroon Lake July 2008 - The Beach

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Originally uploaded by peteshaw

Schroon Lake Vacation July 2008

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the water was very nice to swim in

Getting my children to clean the basement

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Originally uploaded by peteshaw

... its like herding cats.

I like the Video Games...

Sunday night Kathleen was off somewhere (probably on a bender, or possibly looking into our apartment building) and the kids and I decided to stay up and watch a movie.  The movie was "My Neighbor Totorro," a strange Japanese animated film that my kids love. 

Since we were watching a movie, I decided to make some popcorn.  Since regular butter is so greasy, sometimes we use "buttery topping", which is this buttery seasoning which comes in a spice jar and is a fine sticky powder.

I disappear downstairs for a minute or two to check on a conversion job my computer was doing.  Suddenly, I here Anna's voice through the floor.  "Dad?  You better come back up here and see this."

I run upstairs.  Sam has taken the top off the buttery seasoning and dumped it all over the TV room carpet.  The sticky powder is everywhere.  I start yelling, and take Sam and send him up to his room.  We get the mess cleaned up.  Its close to bedtime now anyway, so the remaining two kids got to watch the movie for a few more minutes before it was time for bed.

Finally I get everyone in their pajamas and into bed. I am saying goodnight to Sam, and talking to him about his misbehavior.

"Sam, You know when you behave badly like that, it makes me sad."

"That's okay Dad, because I really don't like you."

"What?"

"Except for the part that likes video games.  Other than that part, I really just don't like you."

"Well, I'm sorry about that Sam, because I love you."  I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing until I got downstairs.

a Wednesday Night without School or Anna

PJ had a tooth pulled at the dentist today.  Surprisingly, he got the novocaine, had his toothe pulled and it was no big deal.  He is such a sensitive little guy, he can be surprisingly tough and it always catches me off guard.  Sam, on the other hand, is much more thick skinned, even now.

PJ, brought home his tooth in a special plastic box from the dentist, and he was very excited about leaving it for the tooth fairy.  Sam got into the box while it was left alone for a moment, and dropped it on the kitchen floor, where it promptly dissapeared.  "Oh, sorry!"  Sam said, and raised his arms in the air.  Sam does that about forty times a day now.  Its infuriating.

We could not find the tooth.  PJ was very upset by this.  I told PJ he just needed to write a note to the tooth fairy, which he did, in his scrawling, left handed letters.  He drew a small stick figure on the right hand side of the note.  "What is that?"  I asked him.

"That's me with a sad face."  He told me, his shoulders slumped. 

"Its okay PJ."  I told him.  "Here, I'll sign the note too so the Tooth Fairy will know to believe you." 

Anna was gone for all this, sleeping over at a friends house for the second night in a row.  Despite her grating personality, she always manages to find lots of friends to play with, perhaps through force of will alone. 

Camping in the Micheaux State Forest

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Originally uploaded by peteshaw

Lies we tell Kids

I only rarely link to external articles, but this one struck a chord with me.

Kathleen says that I have almost zero credibility with my children. They never no whether I am telling the truth or not. Consciously or not, I think that I ever wanted them to grow up trusting anything I say at face value. I want them to question me, question everything I say, question the world around them. Look for truth but expect lies at every corner.

Mostly, when I lie to my kids it is with a wink. I say to Sam, "Sam, come here I want to tell you something." and when he gets near I tickle him.

I tell PJ that there are dinosaurs at the national zoo. He knew I was wrong. I tell Anna that New York was settled before Virginia. She later finds out I was wrong. It's just a game to them. Sometime, lots of times, dad doesn't tell the truth, so listen carefully and be careful.

Its like the X-Files. Trust no one. The truth is out there.

EDIT --------------------------
(In response to Gagi's comment) To clarify -- I don't just outright lie to the kids about things that matter. For instance I wouldn't say that it's okay to cross the street without looking, or that homework doesn't matter, or its okay to hit your brother. Yes, its more to make a point, if they ask me a question I'll either answer it outright, or say something wrong, hopefully with enough information so that they can tell that its wrong. And usually I end up saying what is correct anyway.

The whole point of the article was, I think, that may times parents lie to their children without thinking about the reason for it, or that sometimes it is unnecessary. My thinking is that its important to get your kids to question everything they see and hear around them, including you.
That said, I guess its not that simple after all. It never is, is it? You need to have trust in the first place in order to play games with the truth. Hopefully Anna and PJ and Sam know to trust me. They can always ask their mom, she never lies. :^)

Found on our front porch...

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Originally uploaded by peteshaw

I thought this was cute. I especially liked the "put stuff here" in the corner.

No more old tomatoes

Yet another Sam-ism. Sam has been trying to put his foot down about
various things, usually not eating dinner and not going to bed.

We have been telling him to stop giving us ultimatums.

Tonight Sam announced proudly last night that he was giving us an "old
tomato", and that he wasn't eating his meatloaf.

How I feel by Anna Shaw

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Originally uploaded by peteshaw

Anna gave me this story she wrote last night. She was very mad at me because Mom planted seeds in Anna's garden and didn't let Anna plant any. My crime was that I told Anna she was over-reacting, and that she was taking a small problem and making it into something worse.

The reason I said that is because she dug out all of the gardening stuff Kathleen had used, and brought it up to her room to look for seeds. In the process she spilled several cups of topsoil on her bed. She also emptied the garbage can in the kitchen and left the contents on the kitchen floor. She also forgot that the downstairs bathroom was clogged and used it anyway, spilling toilet water all over the bathroom floor.

But clearly she disagreed with me, and this is how she explained to me how she felt. Anna is so awesome.

How I feel by Anna Shaw

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Originally uploaded by peteshaw

Here we see Anna and Dad, with a magical 'poof' coming from Anna, which I guess is exacting a magical spell contingent on her exacting her revenge on poor old Dad.

How I feel by Anna Shaw

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Now dad has been transformed into a frog...

How I feel by Anna Shaw

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And on this page Anna has dissected the Dad-frog and is going to eat him for dinner. I am unsure of the psychological ramifications of all this.

Get in line, Dana

Kathleen was waking Anna up this morning, and she first had to get
Dana out of her bed. Dana used to jump out of bed at first sight of a
grownup, but she has figured out that Anna's bed is okay, while the
couch and chair and other beds are not. This morning Kathleen said
"Here, Dana!" and instead of getting out of bed, Dana wagged her tail,
but just stretched out and curled in closer to Anna, who was sleeping
on the inside.

"I don't think Dana wants to get out of bed this morning, Anna." Kathleen said.

Anna, the perennial morning grump, said "Get in line, Dana!"

Trampoline snares first victim!

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Originally uploaded by peteshaw

Anna and PJ were on the trampoline. PJ dropped to his knees and was bouncing up, when Anna fell towards him. The back of PJ's head collided with the front of Anna's and frankly, the back of PJ's head won. The black eye looks worse than it is though, and Anna will be well healed shortly.

Twenty Questions

Sam and are driving to the Eye doctor for a follow up appointment to
my LASIK surgery this Saturday.

"Dad?"

"Yes, Sam"

"You wan't to play twenty Questions?"

"OK, sure."

"I'm thinking of something."

"Is it an animal?"

"No."

"Is it a vegetable?"

"No."

"Is it a mineral?"

"No. Ask me if its a place."

"Okay, is it a place?"

"No, but do you want to here a hint?"

"Okay, sure, give me a hint."

"They sleep all day and work all night."

What? Now I'm curious. "Ok, Sam I give up. What are you thinking of."

"Chinese!"

Note to self: Ask Sam what he thinks Chinese means. "Well, okay, I
guess you got me that one, my turn now."

Then a pause, then he says "Nacho"

"What?"

"I said Nacho!" he said, "When I say Nacho you miss three turns."

It was then I knew it was going to be a long drive.

Lasik, Mothers Day

On Friday I had i-LASIK surgery that has pretty much removed the glasses that have been affixed to my head for the last thirty years. Pretty awesome. The procedure was quick and pain-free although it freaked me out a little bit.

On Friday PJ's class had a special Mother's Day presentation. One part of the presentation was the whole class read "Love You Forever" by Robert N Munsch. Just before the presentation, Kathleen whispered to PJ, "PJ this is the book that makes Dad cry."

PJ whispered back, "I know, I told EVERYONE!"

***

PJ also filled a Mother's day paper with questions and answers.

My mom is special because: I love her.

I like it when my Mom: Catches Anna hurting me.

My mom is as pretty as: A flower.

I like to make my mom smile by: Doing well in School.

My mom is smart! She even knows: What 10^6 - 32 =

My mom can do many things. I think she is best at: Math

***

Sam asked me this morning. "Dad?"

"Yes Sam"

"You know what I want to get Mom for Mother's day?"

"What, Sam."

"Breakfast. Can you cook it for me? Becaue thats what I want to get her for Mother's day.

School Days are so hard

PJ woke up earlier than I did this morning, and the first thing that
he asked me was if there was school today. I told him there was and
he made an "awwww" noise and went back into his room.

A few minutes later, as I was packing up my gear for work I walked
through the kids playroom in the basement. He as sitting in the
corner of the couch curled up. PJ is such a skinny kid that he can
really curl himself into a small little package. I sat down on the
couch.

"What's wrong, buddy?" I asked him.

"I just don't like school days, they are so hard for me."

"Well, they are hard, but aren't they fun too?"

"No, I always have a headache and there is a lot of noise and stuff."

The funny thing is that PJ is a lot like me. He is introverted, and
likes video games and computers. He doesn't like being in big crowds.
I felt like I must have gone through the same thing as him, but at
the same time I couldn't do anything to help him. I had to go to
work, and he had to go to school, and all I wanted to do was hug him
and make it all better, but some times you just can't.

trampoline madness!

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Originally uploaded by peteshaw

I may have mentioned putting together a trampoline for the little gnomes, but here is a picture of the three of them having a good bounce.

unwelcome guest

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Originally uploaded by peteshaw

This guy was sleeping inside the hot tub when I started chopping it up into many tiny pieces. Anna was very excited, and chase it all over the deck with a pair of kitchen tongs until it finally disappeared under the deck.