Category: JSL

Fast Fading Biking Fun Time

Fun, JSL, NHL

P1360390 With summer a fast-fading memory and winter’s icy temperatures making a couple of pre-launch appearances, outside play time is getting rarer and rarer.  So, when temperatures the past two days were in the 50’s, we took advantage of this “heat wave” and allowed the kids to play out of doors.

Saturday, we went to B’s parents’ house and, while B and her mother went shopping for B’s birthday present, NHL, JSL and I took to the sidewalks.  JSL had his big wheel bike and NHL had his scooter.  NHL tired of the scooter quickly, as it wound up just slowing him down, and decided to hoof it instead.  He would “race” JSL up and down the block with me trailing not too far behind.

One time, as we reached the end of the block, I stopped and called for them to turn around.  NHL kept going which spurred JSL on to follow him.  I called a second time and then, seeing that they were starting to get close to the main road without signs of stopping, went into a full-on run to catch up.  NHL stopped but it looked like JSL wasn’t going to.  As I screamed for JSL to stop (and as someone crossing the street turned around and looked poised to leap into action), NHL quickly jumped in front of his brother’s bike, grabbed the handlebars and forced it to a stop.  I was so proud of him!  (And, needless to say, I didn’t let JSL get too far from me the rest of the weekend as I don’t think I can trust him to stop when I tell him to.)

P1360369After some play, NHL decided to head indoors to play Nintendo DS.  (B’s father was inside so he was supervised.)  JSL wasn’t ready to go in, so we walked around the block twice.  Well, I walked, JSL biked.  His little feet pushed those pedals up and down with such expertise that you wouldn’t know that he just figured it out this Spring.

  On the way, we met a nice lady and her dog.  JSL loves dogs, but hates being around them up close.  It might have to do with a dog that knocked him over once.  We (meaning I) chatted with her for a bit, but soon JSL was feeling the urge to bike again and called on me to hurry it up.

On Sunday, the boys and I went food shopping, letting B get some quiet time to do laundry and write articles  for KidsFunPlaza.  When we got home, B had left to do some more shopping with her mother.  After putting the groceries away, we decided to go outside and do some more bike riding.

P1360359After going up and down the block a couple of times, the boys started to repeat their “too close to the main road” act from the previous day.  This time I was better prepared and stopped them.  NHL said that he wanted to go around the block (usually, he doesn’t want to do this).  I told him that he needed to ask me first before simply biking off towards a main road.  We went around the block two times again.

P1360372As we hit the halfway mark of the second around-the-block trip, I got notification from B that she was headed home.  The race was on.  Would we make it home first?  Or would B, driven by her parents beat us.  The kids pedaled furiously, driven to increase their speed in the hopes of seeing Nana and Papa.  (Oh.  And Mom too.)  As we rounded the final corner and began to go up our street, I looked back and recognized the car making the turn.  It was a race down our street between a car, a bike, a big wheeler and my two feet.  The car won, followed closely by NHL on his bike.  Trailing behind was a fast pedaling JSL and then, bringing up the rear, was me.

By now, NHL was tired and wanted to go inside, but JSL didn’t want to stop.  So B went inside with NHL and I let JSL pedal up and down the block a couple more times before it was time to head indoors.  Sadly, I don’t think we’ll get to repeat these biking excursions too much longer, but there is hope for the Spring.  It looks like JSL might be able to inherit NHL’s bike (graduating from a big wheeler to a training wheel-enabled two wheeler) and NHL might be able to move into a bigger bike (perhaps without training wheels).  Maybe, if we do this, then B and I can get bikes too and we can all go on family biking trips.  I used to love biking when I was a kid and would love to be able to take the boys and bike around our neighborhood.

P.S.  By the way, that neat “blurred background” effect on the first photo?  Done by following JSL with the camera and matching his speed.  No photo editing programs involved!  I tried that with NHL but didn’t get results as nice as with JSL.  I think that’s because NHL goes faster and so it is harder to match his speed just right.

Ghosts of (Safe) Halloweens Past

Fun, Holidays, JSL, NHL

PA290024For someone who loves dressing up in costumes, candy and pretty much every other aspect of Halloween, I  don’t have many memories of going trick or treating when I was younger.  I remember being dressed up as a hobo with my mother putting makeup on me (to simulate a dirty face) and I remember coming home with plastic pumpkin buckets full of candy.  After my mother sorted through them (removing anything obviously dangerous), my sister and I were allowed some moderate candy binging.

When I became a father, Halloween was something I looked forward to a lot.  The first year, was a bit of a disappointment.  Obviously, NHL wasn’t going to understand trick or treating, much less why Mom and Dad were putting him in this weird outfit and taking photos.

P1010842 As NHL grew, though, he began to understand.  At daycare, his class would put on a costume parade and I would be right there taking photos.  One year, he dressed as a monkey so I constructed a big yellow hat to go along with it.  It was quite ugly and my “costume” didn’t look anything like Curious George’s Man In The Yellow Hat, actually it looked more like a traffic cone, but I was happy to join in the fun.

I actually missed JSL’s second Halloween (the first one that he would actually understand Trick or Treating) because I attended my friend’s wedding.  Yes, they were married on Halloween and, yes, the reception was a costume ball.  I got to keep my costume, so I’ve dressed as Aragorn from Lord of the Rings for a few years now.

Now that JSL is old enough to understand trick or treating, we expect Halloween to be a very fun night.  Of course, we take measures to ensure that the fun is safe fun.  First of all, they don’t trick or treat without adult supervision.  Secondly, we don’t stray far from known houses.  We’ll trick or treat on my in-law’s block and on our block.  That’s it.  We’ also screen all of their goodies for potential hazards.

Lastly, we go trick or treating before it gets too dark.  This is for many reasons.  If Halloween falls on a school PA311784 night (like it does this year), we don’t want them dragging the next day because they were out late the previous night.  We also don’t need to worry about reflectors, glo sticks, flashlights and the like.  Plus, it means they get to enjoy some candy before it’s time for bed.  Finally, an early trick or treating means that we both can enjoy our boys trick or treating and still be home in time for other trick or treaters to stop by our house.  (Otherwise, one of us gets to go trick or treating with them and the other has to stay home and man the candy distribution center.)

I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Dad Central Consulting and they sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

A Festival of Frightful Proportions

Family, Fun, Holidays, JSL, NHL, Photos, Six Flags

On Sunday, we headed over to Six Flags.  We had been meaning to go back there ever since NHL’s incident back in June.  With only a couple of weekends left in the season, we decided to make the trip.  Of course, this time of year, Six Flags parks decorate for Fright Fest.  This means plenty of (phony) spider webs and ghoulish decorations.

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There was also lots of candy both of the giant display-only variety and trick-or-treat edible variety.

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The kids got to trick or treat a bit and then go on tons of rides.  This was even more fun than our usual summer trips because: 1) we weren’t dying from the heat and 2) the lines were insanely short.  A few rides let NHL and JSL take a second pass without exiting because there simply weren’t that many people waiting on line.  A few times, they were the only ones on the ride!

They were a bit disappointed that the characters weren’t out, but at least Tweety was (dressed as an angel).

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Hey, it’s Tweety and NHL Putty Tat…. uh, I mean lion.

After tons of rides, the evening was approaching.  Not only did this mean we would have to leave because it was a school night and we needed to eat dinner, but it meant we had to leave because the scarier elements of Fright Fest were coming out.  There were guys with chain saws wandering around lunging at park goers.  Yes, the chain saws are fake, but they sound real and are scary to little kids.  You could buy your kid a “don’t scare me” necklace for $3 but that sounds like some kind of weird Halloween extortion to me.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get a photo of the chain saw guy as I was busy herding my kids away from him so they wouldn’t get scared.

Even worse, I missed a zombie photo opportunity.  While waiting on our last line, a woman walked…. well, stumbled by with pure white eyes and a sliced up smile.  She was clearly a member of the walking dead.  She would stumble up to people and engage them for a bit before shuffling on.  How I wish I could have jumped off line, leaving B with the boys and gotten a photo of her.  But the way the line was set up (and as close as we were to the front of it), that just wasn’t an option.  After exiting the ride, I looked for her, but she was long gone.  Off to score some choice brains, I suppose.

All in all, it was a great time.  Perhaps we’ll even go back another time in the next week or two before the park shuts down for the winter.

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