Day 1,763 - Summer Days Go By

It feels as if I’ve been more than a little busy this summer. For example, just since Ellie went on summer vacation, we’ve been to Worlds of Fun three times, Oceans of Fun twice, the Zoo twice, countless park trips, a few library trips, a trip to Savannah to see my mom and dad, a trip to Nebraska, and we’ve even gotten lost in the woods. All of these have been super fun but sometimes it’s good to just slow down and take a breather. Over the past couple of days, that’s been the plan.

Wednesday was one of the first days of the summer where it felt like we actually took a break and decided to not run ourselves ragged. Instead, we just peacefully chilled out at home and watched the movie, “Leo”. For the record, Ellie and Ethan were initially cautious at the idea of watching a new movie. They generally prefer to watch something that they have seen before but I was eventually able to convince them to give something new a try. Lo and behold, they ended up loving it and already want to watch it again!

Of course, no day can pass without work to be done. On Wednesday, that looked like doing three loads of laundry and heading to Aldi to do some long-delayed grocery shopping. I will say this about grocery shopping with both kids. It didn’t take me long to miss those times during the school year where I was shopping by myself. That was especially true when both kids decided to hang on the side of the cart as I made my way through the store. After all, a heavily loaded cart is hard enough to push without an extra hundred pounds weighing it down.

Today was a little bit fuller than yesterday but it was still fairly relaxing. We started our morning off with an impromptu trip to Hodge Park for some morning park time. The beautiful thing about hitting up a park around 8:00 am is that it’s a near guarantee that you will have the place to yourself. That was exactly the case in this instance. While I generally enjoy being around people, it is a special experience to just be able to soak up playing at the park without the stimulus of other kids running around. It also provided me with a nice little workout as Ellie and Ethan took turns being slung down the zipline by me.

After our park trip, we headed to the Liberty branch of the Mid-Continent Public Library where the kids picked out some new library books to check out as well as picking out their reward for the first 20 days of the Summer Reading Program. As Ellie gets older, it’s always fun to watch her painstakingly deciding what book to choose for her reward. She always takes time to read the backs as well as looking for awarded medals on the front.

This afternoon, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and our friend, Cochran, by heading to his neighborhood pool for a couple of hours of swimming. As Ellie’s gotten older, it’s become really fun to work with her on her swimming technique. On this occasion, I took her down to the 5-foot-deep part of the pool and let her practice with. Of course, I was alongside her, taking care to do two things: Number 1: ensure that she did not drown and Number 2: provide instruction as needed.

Soon enough though, our fun ended, and it was time to head home and grill some tasty brats for dinner followed bed soon thereafter. I guess the moral of the story is that even though we had a couple of days without a big adventure planned, we still had plenty of things to do to provide entertainment and keep us busy.

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,755 - Boards, Saws, and Snakes

Summer’s here! However, I still feel like we’re not fully celebrating it yet. For one thing, all last week, Ellie spent her mornings taking part in a VBS while Ethan would spend his days at Fox Hill Elementary practicing what kindergarten will be like in the fall.

As for this week though, I had been looking forward to it quite a bit. You see, Ethan still is at Fox Hill each day. However, Ellie’s at home with me. Over the past week, I had been planning out fun things for us to do together. Among them were a trip to Savannah, an afternoon at Oceans of Fun, some tennis, and likely a trip to the library. However, when Ethan woke up this morning running a high fever which meant he couldn’t go to school. Instead of Ellie and I having some kind of adventure, we instead found ourselves just hanging out at the house all day. That being said, there’s still fun to be had if one keeps their eyes open.

For this day, I had one big goal to complete which Ethan being sick didn’t change. You see, since I worked on our deck last year, I’ve had a ton of old boards laying around from the project that needed to be gotten rid of. Therefore, I decided to take the first step toward making that a reality by sawing up some of the longer ones so that they could actually fit in my car.

While Ethan slept this morning, I headed outside to the backyard with Ellie in tow to begin my project. I started by picking up a longer board and carrying it down my patio stairs and towards the front yard. While I expected Ellie to just kill time by playing on her swing, she instead picked up a smaller board and followed me around front. In fact, with every trip I made to the front yard, she was right there behind me carrying one or two boards of her own.

Eventually, we had all the boards around front, and I began setting up my workstation so that I could safely cut the boards down. Finally, it was time to saw. Before I started, I gave Ellie strict instructions on how to keep both herself and me safe while I cut. Lucky for me, she’s great at following directions so there were no problems. On a couple of occasions, I actually had her hold the board so that I could cut safely. Don’t worry; she was quite a way off from where I was cutting.

One of my favorite things about our project was seeing how excited Ellie gets about the smallest things. As I made my way through our pile of lumber, I looked over at one point to see Ellie excitedly watching the ground. I set down my saw and made my way over to Ellie to see what she was looking at. As it turned out, she had found a garter snake and was watching it crawl about our driveway. It eventually disappeared into the grass but that didn’t stop Ellie from finding one of its snakeskins amongst the boards. I’m sure that it comes as no surprise to many people that she decided to keep that skin for her collection of interesting things that she finds in nature.

While our day obviously didn’t go according to plan, it’s still special to know that Ellie and I can make memories and have fun just doing everyday life together in the front driveway. Honestly, those small moments are probably some of the longest lasting memories that we’ll have together, too.

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,745 - Summer Break's A-Comin'

Today kind of marked a weird day for me. You see, it’s one of those days that’s not unbelievably significant but still somewhat significant. Today was the final day that Ethan and I will spend alone before Ellie joins us for summer break. Not only that, but it’s likely the final day that the two of us will spend together before Ethan begins school in the fall. Crazy, right?

Since I had attributed so much meaning to the day, I decided to try and make it all about Ethan by basically letting him plan our day. Of course, when you tell a five-year-old that he’s responsible for planning the day, you’re sometimes met with a resounding chorus of “I don’t know.” Therefore, I ended up having to give him ideas here and there for things to do. We finally ended up with plans to go to a park in the morning and then to go to a splash pad later in the afternoon.

After dropping Ellie off at school, Ethan and I started our day off by heading to E.H. Riverfront Park in Riverside. Honestly, it’s been a while since we’ve wandered to Riverfront Park so Ethan was actually pretty stoked to get to play there. Between the three-story slide, the zip-lines, and the various things to climb, it’s one of his favorites!

When we first arrived, Ethan quickly made his way to the big slides where he took a few trips down. Then, he asked me if we could head to the zipline. Most park ziplines are pretty small and easy for kids to get on and off. Not so at Riverfront. Ethan actually needs help to initially climb up onto the seat and then after that he’s fine. Before our ziplining fun began, Ethan decided to challenge himself by taking on the ropes agility course leading to the zipline. He’s really become a fan of stuff like this since watching American Ninja Warrior on television last year. He honestly does a pretty good job at it, too. I’m continually amazed at how he deftly makes it across obstacles that it seems like he has no business attempting.

Once he finished up at the zipline, Ethan headed back to the playground to tackle that agility course which involved him climbing through a series of ropes, across floating portals, up a “rock” wall, and finally reaching solid ground on the other side. Of course, it wouldn’t be a trip to the park without engaging in a little time playing soccer together. I’ve been trying to teach him the value of dribbling and passing so we spent time in the octoball pit so that he could practice making and receiving short passes.

After that, we headed home for lunch and a quiet time before our afternoon activities could commence. Around 1:00 pm, Ethan and I began getting changed into our swimsuits so that we could make our way to City Park in Liberty to play at the splash park.

Ethan’s one request for the splash park was that I actually stand under the large dumping bucket with him and get wet. While I didn’t initially think that was a big thing to ask, my mind was certainly changed when I realized just how cold the water was on this day. Eventually though, I worked up the courage to join my already-drenched son under the bucket for a dumping (even if I did sidestep most of it at the last minute).

Eventually, Ethan tired of the splash park and made his way over to the adjoining playground to dry off while playing on some more ropes courses. If you didn’t already know, Ethan definitely has a favorite kind of playground. My favorite part though was watching him continually try to leap from stone to stone in an attempt to make it through an area of the playground without touching the ground. It’s always fun how such a simple activity can activate both his imagination and his competitive streak in a never-ending quest to complete his mission.

Around 3:00 pm, I had to break it to the little man that it was time for us to head home. After all, I knew we had one more activity ahead of us for the day and I wanted us to have the opportunity to change clothes, rest, and grab some supplies for our final activity. When the time came, we headed to school to pick up Ellie and made a stop by Summer Sno Co. on the way home. You see, Ellie’s been asking to go to the snow cone stand for at least a couple of weeks and I had promised her we could on the last day of school. Since Friday is a full day, I instead chose to celebrate the last day of school on Thursday.

The great thing about Summer Sno Co. is that their snow cones are large enough for multiple people to share. As such, I generally take along some extra cups and spoons for splitting up the snow cones so that everyone can have their own. Of course, the downfall of that choice is that it normally takes a bit of time for the kids to come to a consensus on what flavor to get. Luckily on this day, it went fairly smoothly, and they decided on the special of Polynesian Punch (Pineapple, Strawberry, and Black Cherry).

Once we received our order, I split the snow cones up among the three of us and we found a shady spot to sit and enjoy our frozen treat in the shade before heading home for the day. As you can see, it certainly was a full and fun last day before summer. Unfortunately, I’ve got several more last days to celebrate in the upcoming months. Don’t worry; I’m already trying to mentally prepare myself for those lasts to come.

#DaddyWrite 

Day 1,742 - "The Soccer Star"

One of the things that I love most about Ellie and Ethan is their penchant for being active. Neither of them is particularly happy with sitting around and being lazy. They’d much rather be having fun and using their imaginations or playing some kind of game. In fact, playing games has been a consistent in our home for quite a while. There’s been lots of games of cornhole, hours of me teaching Ellie to play tennis, and plenty of rounds of catch with a baseball and a glove. Of course, I would be remiss if I neglected to mention all of the time spent tossing a football with Ethan.

Over the past month or so, our family has embraced a new game: soccer or futbol for our Spanish speaking friends. I don’t completely remember how it started but long story short, we signed Ethan up for soccer with Sporting Kansas City’s youth soccer program. I’m sure part of our thinking was that Ellie has routinely taken gymnastics classes for the past few years and maybe it would be a good thing for Ethan to have an activity of his own. I’m pretty sure we told him he could play soccer or baseball but can’t confirm or deny that. The end result was that he picked soccer and as such, found his new favorite sport!

It's honestly been really fun to watch Ethan’s understanding and skill for “the Beautiful Game” grow over the past few weeks. Early on, his only goal was to kick the ball. As the weeks went by though, he developed his ability in moving the ball downfield and especially in defense. Seriously, I don’t know a ton about soccer but I can truthfully say that the kid is a menace to other players when it comes to defense. He even had another player call him a bully due to his propensity for hustling downfield and routinely stopping potential goals.

Yesterday actually marked Ethan’s final game of the season. Going into the final game, Ethan’s team, the Gray Wolves, sat with a record of 2 – 3. If you know Ethan at all, then it’s no surprise to hear that he was extremely unsatisfied with that record. On more than one occasion, he actually complained to Bethany and me about his teammates not giving their all. Honestly, that was a good opportunity to teach him about the concept of winning and losing as a team.

Lucky for Ethan’s competitive nature, the entire team seemed to be on the same page for the game yesterday. It was as if they all knew it was their final chance to end the season on a high note. Ethan put on his normal masterful defensive performance which included some last-minute blocks of what otherwise would have been an easy goal for the Green Grasshoppers. The highlight though had to have been watching him deftly weave his way down the field and score a goal all by himself while his teammates were laying on the ground.

When the final whistle rang, the score of the game was 4 to 3 in favor of Ethan’s squad. Honestly as I watched Ethan get his medal symbolizing the end of a fun season, I was a little bummed. I’ve had a great time watching him play over the past few weeks. Never fear though as we’ve already signed him up for the Fall season. I’m honestly excited to see how he improves once that time comes as he’ll actually be having full practices one night a week prior to his games on the weekends. It’s going to be fun!

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,740 - Field Days and Last Days

This was a fairly momentous week for Ethan as it pertains to his time at school. It definitely deviated from the norm in quite a few ways. Of course, that happens when one has a field day on Tuesday followed by their final day of K-Prep on Thursday. For the record, that’s a pretty weird thing for me to wrap my head around at this juncture. Seriously, he’ll start kindergarten in three months! Crazy, right?

One of my favorite things about being a stay-at-home dad over the past couple of years is that it lends itself to me getting to be a part of things like field day. For example, I’ve gotten to take the opportunity to head to Fox Hill for Ellie’s field day the past two years. I even found myself in a dunk tank last year. I think I successfully avoided that activity this year though. Taking all of that into account, it was a foregone conclusion though that I would help with Ethan’s field day.

As we normally would, Ellie and I dropped Ethan off at his school a little before 8:00 am and then headed home to hang out together for an hour. After I took Ellie to school at 9:00, instead of heading home, I headed to Ethan’s school for field day. Over the course of the two hours, I would have two jobs. The first hour, I was running kickball bowling; a fairly simple concept consisting of kicking a ball towards a set of bowling pins. While I thought it seemed simple, I underestimated just how exhausting that event could be. I never considered how I would have to squat down hundreds of times to replace pins over the course of the hour. While kids certainly had fun with the event, I was fairly happy when it ended. That being said, I was more than a little disappointed that Ethan never visited my station during that hour.

Next up for me was the ring toss. Honestly, it was a much simpler event. That’s probably the case because I got smarter at this station and would encourage kids to retrieve three rings after every turn before handing them over to the next in line. Good idea, right? Once again though, I never got the opportunity to see Ethan at my station.

Don’t feel too bad for me about missing Ethan. The ring toss event actually wrapped up early which left me with the opportunity to wander over to the obstacle course where Ethan’s purple-emblazoned class were taking turns running it. Unfortunately for the folks running the station, Ethan somehow missed that the concept of an obstacle course was to conquer said obstacles with agility and swiftness. Instead, Ethan saw fit to blast through the obstacles much as the proverbial bull in a China shop would.

Fast forward to today and Ethan’s final day of K-Prep. As part of an end of year celebration, Ethan got to wear pajamas, eat cheese pizza and popcorn, and watch the movie, Finding Dory. Pretty fun stuff. I was honestly pretty proud of myself for remembering that today was the final day of school so that I could take our traditional last day of school photo before dropping him off.

It was honestly kind of a sad day though. For one thing, I hate the idea of Ethan having to say goodbye to all of his friends and teachers knowing that as a public-school student, he likely won’t see any of them moving forward. For another, Ethan has spent most of the year bestowing the sweetest hugs upon Ellie and me as we drop him off for class. Today though, he was so excited that he didn’t even remember the hug. That’s ok though, it just serves as a small reminder that I probably won’t get a hug once he starts kindergarten in a few months.

That being said, I’m grateful for this season of life. It’s been a blast watching him grow in so many ways during his time at Northland Christian K-Prep. He’s become more confident in relating to others which is one of the big things we wanted to see happen during the year. He’s also learned to read more and more, write more effectively, and count really, really high. According to his teachers, he's also consistently displayed responsibility or at least that's what we learned at his award ceremony last Friday. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s ready for kindergarten in a few months.

As for me, I’m probably not ready for kindergarten to start yet. Hopefully I’ll get there though. Time will tell.

#DaddyWrite

First Day versus Last Day

Day 1,732 - Ellie and Ethan Go to the Advent Health 400

Surprises are fun. I love a good surprise. My kids, not so much. It’s not that they don’t like to be surprised; it’s more that they just like to know what’s happening at every minute of every day. They honestly get that trait from their mom. Of course, there are certain times when those surprises come up that are just too good not to share immediately.

One of those events happened on Saturday when I received a text from our pastor offering three NASCAR tickets for the Sunday Cup race at Kansas Speedway. The main reason for the tickets coming available was kind of a bummer but I still appreciated the gift all the while. Therefore, I didn’t wait too long before sharing the news with Ellie and Ethan to their upmost excitement.

Fast forward to Sunday morning after church and a quick early lunch, the kids and I were in the Traverse around 11:15 heading towards Kansas Speedway. Since I knew the race didn’t start until 2:00 pm, I knew that we’d have more than enough time to follow our traditional Sunday morning routine. However, I wanted to make certain that we left early enough to enjoy exploring the midway before the race began.

After parking our car and making the hike to the midway, Ellie and Ethan were immediately filled with the desire to check out the NASCAR Kids section at the track. Once we headed inside the area, the kids first took the opportunity to sign their names on an actual NASCAR stock car that is traveling from track to track this season. Ellie’s recently learned to write her name in cursive, so it was pretty fun to actually watch her do so. Next, we headed to a little photo area where each kid took a photo with a kid-sized version of the NASCAR Cup Championship trophy before participating in an RC car race on a replica of the Chicago Street Race course.

Once the kids got their fill of the NASCAR Kids area, we continued exploring the midway, ultimately finding our way to the Toyota exhibit where the kids were able to take a photo inside a replica of Christopher Bell’s #20 car. This was fun seeing as how the Oklahoma native is actually quite a favorite of our family. From there, we wandered to the NASCAR Stage where we watched a trivia contest take place between two individuals competing for a chance to take part in a NASCAR Driving Experience. I embraced chaos here by holding up fingers corresponding to the correct answer in the multiple-choice questions. For the record, I got every question right although one of the guys was a little too late in realizing that.

Finally, it was time to head into the actual racetrack where we took an elevator to the top of the grandstands. About this time, it began raining. If you’re a NASCAR fan, you probably shouldn’t be too surprised by that as negative weather seemingly follows the Series all around the country. While I was initially optimistic that the weather would pass, it eventually became clear that the weather was there to stay for a while. Therefore, we finally made the decision to head back to the car for a little break since I knew the track would take 60 to 90 minutes to dry once the rains stopped.

We waited in the car for about 30 minutes before I finally made the painstaking decision at 3:00 pm to head home and let the kids rest for a while. I knew that the race would either be run at night under the lights or if the rain was bad enough, it would be postponed until Monday. Either way though, it wasn’t going to be fair to the kids to wait at the track that whole time.

Once at home, we took the opportunity to rest and regroup while I continually updated NASCAR Twitter accounts (not so) patiently awaiting an update. Finally, at 4:30, my update arrived. The track was dry and the race would be held under the lights starting around 5:15 pm. So, at 4:45, with the kids awake, we loaded up and made our return to Kansas Speedway.

Once we got parked, we entered the track and headed straight to our seats to take in the race which was already in progress. I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect from the kids, Ellie especially, as we watched the race. However, they were absolutely engrossed. It helped that I had brought winter coats and a couple of blankets to keep them warm. My large assortment of snacks didn’t hurt either.

After Stage 1 of 3 came to a close, we made our way down to the concourse where I bought the kids a basket of chicken fingers and fries to share to make up for the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that I had forgotten at home. Once they finished their meal, we headed back up to our seats for the final half of Stage 2 and all of Stage 3.

It was actually really fun to see how well Ellie and Ethan were paying attention to the action on the track. Ellie especially loved pit stops and gazing through our binoculars as she watched the tire changers quickly go through their motions. In fact, she eventually began counting the number of seconds it took the crews to finish their stops. Ethan for his part was transfixed on the results of Ross Chastain and continually searched for “The Melon Man” as he made his way around the track.

As night fell upon the Speedway and the lights turned on, the kids’ fascination increased. Ellie continually looked at me and stated just how cool the night race was. True story, as their bedtimes are around 7:15 pm, neither kid had ever seen a night race before Sunday night. Honestly, they probably didn’t even realize they existed.

The thing about night races is that the track completely changes as the temperatures cool. Drivers went from being spread out around the track during the daytime to intensely racing side-by-side. As such, the number of cautions increased dramatically during Stage 3. They became so frequent that I fretted we wouldn’t actually get to say until the end of the race. That would have been a horrible mistake though.

With around seven laps to go in the race, the caution flag waved one final time. With so little time left to run, it was a guarantee that NASCAR would be calling for a two-lap “overtime” shootout to decide the race. I took the opportunity to pack up all of our stuff and encouraged Ellie and Ethan to stand up for the end of the race. Finally, the green flag waved, and the cars headed off into turn 1. Ellie took the opportunity to provide me with a running commentary on everything happening on the track.

The cars came around the track successfully and took the white flag meaning that no matter what, we were now watching the final lap. Over the course of that final lap, two drivers, Chris Buescher and Kyle Larson, frantically battled for the lead. Finally, coming off of turn 4 for the final time, the two found them side-by-side, crossing the line in a dead heat.

At this point, the entire grandstand (as well as myself) was screaming leaving both Ellie and Ethan more than a little confused at what was going on. Finally, a hushed silence fell over the seats as it became apparent no one knew who had won. Buescher was originally named the winner but a video replay about 30 seconds later confirmed Larson had passed him at the line. By a margin of 0.0000 seconds, Kyle Larson had won the race. Not only that, but we had just witnessed the closest race in NASCAR history.

Larson is in the #5, Buescher is in the #17. FYI, I did not take this photo.

Yes, I’m serious. At their first ever race in person, Ellie and Ethan were treated to the closest finish ever in the 75 years of NASCAR. As we left and headed to the car, I strove in vain to drive home the point of exactly how big of a deal this was. While I think Ellie understood a little, Ethan instead found himself crying over the loss of Chris Buescher. Not because he’s a Buescher fan but because he’s really tired of Kyle Larson winning so much.

We finally made it back to our car and both kids passed out in their car seats, tuckered out by a huge day at the Kansas Speedway. I had honestly never intended to take them to a race yet. That being said, I’m elated that the three of us received the special opportunity to share in this together.

Just in case I needed reminded how special of an opportunity it was, Ellie drove home that point on Monday morning by asking me to email her teacher pictures of our time at Kansas Speedway so she could share them during Circle Time. Pretty cool stuff, right?

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,728 - Zoos and Rodeos

Over the past week, Ethan and I have found ourselves having several opportunities to get out of the house and go on little adventures together. The two biggest though probably occurred on Tuesday and Friday as we hit the Zoo for his class field trip and the American Royal Youth Rodeo on Friday for a little Daddy – Ethan outing together.

Now, it probably comes as no big surprise that I had been looking forward to Ethan’s class trip to the Zoo for quite some time. The idea of getting to see him interacting with his classmates in a setting like that was certainly exciting to me. Honestly, on the way to the Zoo, I found myself fairly concerned that we were going to be late due to the multitude of traffic jams we encountered along our way. However, we ended up making it with time to spare.

Once we arrived, Ethan and I found his teacher among the mass of humanity at the gate and formally checked in. After checking in, we hung out with the rest of the group until it was time to formally enter the Zoo at 9:30.

While I had expected the class to remain together as we explored the Zoo, I was more than a little dismayed to discover that the entire group went their own way as soon as we reached the Polar Bear exhibit. Seriously, I looked around and there was no one left from Ethan’s class anywhere in sight. So, with that, a very disappointed little boy and I began roaming the Zoo together.

As you can see, Ethan certainly had quite the mix of emotions.

It wasn’t all bad though as we did meet up with several friends from church that also attend Ethan’s school at the aquarium, followed by us eating lunch with them. Following that though, I decided to take Ethan to the carousel before we headed home for the day. Honestly, I’m glad that I did because almost as soon as we were in line, Ethan’s best friend from school, Joe Ryan, walked up behind us. The amount of excitement that both boys had at finally finding each other was off the charts. While Ethan had been asking me the entire day if I thought Joe Ryan was at the Zoo, apparently Joe Ryan had been asking his mom the exact same question about Ethan. Even though their reunion was ultimately less than 15 minutes, it was still fun to see Ethan happily interacting with his peers and helped make our trip worthwhile.

Fast forward to Friday and our trip to the American Royal Youth Rodeo. This actually marked Ethan’s first ever trip to a rodeo. He’s been around farm animals plenty of times throughout his life but has never taken in a rodeo. While we left home with plenty of time to spare which I hoped would give us time to walk around and see some animals in their pens, the traffic we encountered on the way downtown kept that from happening. Instead, we wandered in to Hale Arena with only about ten minutes to spare before the Rodeo would begin.

After purchasing our tickets, we then wandered through the seating area until we found a nice pair of seats in an otherwise unoccupied area. As we sat there, Ethan anxiously asked several times when the Rodeo would begin. It was obvious that he was excited for a new experience. Soon enough though, all of the lights in the arena when dark and a single rider on horseback approached the center of the ring with an American flag for the national anthem. This was a chance for me to teach Ethan for maybe the first time that one should always cover their heart with their hand during the national anthem.

Finally, the anthem ended, the lights came back up, and the rodeo began. The first event was bucking bronco riding which Ethan watched very intently. In fact, he laughed slightly every time a rider flew through the air. After that, it was time for calf roping. Ethan asked me several times just how they were able to rope the calf to which I could only reply “Lots and lots of practice.” His favorite event though was probably team calf roping all because one of the pairs inadvertently roped a calf’s tail. I’ve been to my fair share of rodeos and I can honestly say that I had never seen that happen before Friday. For the record, neither had the arena announcer and I can guarantee that he’s seen a lot of rodeos, too!

Near the end of the rodeo, Ethan definitely started getting fussy as he was beginning to get tired. In fact, I didn’t know that we were going to get through the closing event of bull riding. However, despite his crankiness, he was able to tell Bethany all about bull riding and the trick rider who rode her horse not long before that in painstaking detail when we got home.

There's that fussy face again...

Outings like these are sometimes kind of hard for me when Ethan gets tired. I inevitably find myself wondering if he’s even having fun and feeling bad if I think he’s not. Those feelings are heightened when he’s showing signs of being tired, hungry, or bored. However, those moments when he’s more well-rested where he recites the highlights of his day to his mom in painstaking detail lets me know that he is indeed having a good experience.

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,715 - Adventures in Ecuador: Day Diez

3/30/24

So, here I am, somewhere in the air between Panama and Miami, waiting patiently for this flight to end. If I’m being honest, I’m ready to be home. It’s late or very early depending upon how you want to look at it and I’m coming to grips with an inconvenient reality of being on a plane: there’s just no good way to sleep.

Well, actually there is if you’re somewhat shorter than I am. As I look around at my fellow team members from my aisle seat, I notice that I’m definitely in the minority. Richard is comfortably reclined, snoozing away. Mason is resting his head on his tray table, using his hoodie for a pillow. Jordan is cozy and curled up, using Leslie’s lap as a bed. Both Kaylynn and Sharon are using their window seats as a comfy surface to nap on. Unfortunately for me, none of those positions are even remotely comfortable. I could lean my seat back but that’s the last thing I want to do to Andy who is sitting behind me, deep in a marathon of HGTV remodeling shows.

With no other alternative, I just pop my earbuds in and start the movie, ‘42’, in hopes that I’ll eventually doze off. Soon enough though, that’s no longer a concern as our plane finally touches down in Miami. With close to four hours to get through customs and to our next gate, rushing is no longer a concern. With Dan’s advice, we all actually preregistered with customs from the plane meaning that our wait time dropped to around 2 minutes. Seriously, check out Mobile Passport Control on your next international flight; it’ll definitely save you some time.

At customs, I was welcomed back to the United States by possibly the least enthusiastic customs agent of all time and headed to the bag carousel to await my luggage’s arrival with the rest of our team. Oddly enough, this is where we would spend the majority of our time in Miami as the carousel seemingly broke down, not once, not twice, but three times. I was able to spend the time sending a few Marco Polo videos to both Bethany and some friends, knowing that they wouldn’t see them until the morning.

Finally, our bags arrived and it was time to head to the American terminal to check-in for our flights. Now, if you’ve never been to Miami, here’s the part where I inform that there is no handy, dandy way to get around the airport. What it does have though is lots and lots of walking. Our best guess is that we covered at least a mile trying to reach the American desks which isn’t that bad if you’re not dragging a heavy suitcase with broken wheels (in my instance) behind you.

Once we reached the check-in desk, it was more than a little stress-inducing to discover that it was not yet open for the morning. All we could do was wait. Once it finally opened though, we were treated to more personality from some of the grumpiest airline employees ever. They even forced a member of our team to check a bag that she had successfully carried onto every flight of our trip. It was hard to be too unhappy though as we were getting ever closer to home.

After checking our bags and proceeded through TSA one final time, it was time for our team to officially break-up. Five of us, including me, would be flying home via Dallas while the rest would be traveling through Charlotte. Once I reached our gate, I started checking out my surroundings and realized there was a vacated gate right across from mine. With that, I abandoned the rest of my group and found a empty spot to lay down on the floor and take what may have been the most glorious 40-minute nap of all time.

Alas, my alarms (yes, two) went off long before I wanted them to but it was time to board my flight to Dallas. Rejoining my group, we boarded in our seats and took off for our next-to-last flight. While I kind of wanted to sleep more, I realized that it was probably a futile gesture. Instead, I perused the list of on-flight movies and decided that it was time for me to finally watch one of the most hyped movies of last summer, ‘Barbie’. Even though I felt some apprehension about doing so, I went for it. For the record, I don’t know if it was exhaustion or boredom, but I can confirm that it was not my cup of tea.

We finally reached our last stop in Dallas and as we disembarked the plane, I was a little stressed to discover that we had about 25 minutes to make it across two terminals. While Dallas does have a tram running continuously, I will say that it was a stressful journey. In fact, I reached our gate a few minutes before the rest of our team and checked in with three minutes to go before they were going to close the gate. The rest of our team made it as well and we were heading home to KC.

On our last flight, I found myself getting continuously more excited to get home while also trying in vain to get a little sleep. Somewhat unfortunately for me, it wasn’t happening. Therefore, I settled for spending time with Michael Scott and the rest of ‘The Office’.

Finally, our plane touched down in Kansas City and I absolutely could not wait to get off the plane. That feeling was probably amplified by the fact that Bethany and the kids had sent me a text that they were waiting for me at baggage claim. Eventually, I navigated off the plane and began to make my way to baggage claim. I descended down an escalator and through a set of security doors, turning left to head to carousel 3. A few steps later, Ellie and Ethan spotted me and took off for me as fast as they could. I knelt down on the floor and wrapped them both up in a giant hug as soon as they reached me.

While I wish there was a photo of that moment, I also acknowledge that sometimes it’s just as special to have something that lives in our memories. And with that, my ten days in Ecuador was over. I was back home with my family, and I had honestly never felt so missed and appreciated by my kids. That being said, I had absolutely no regrets over how I had spent my last ten days. Definitely worth the trip.

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,714 - Adventures in Ecuador: Day Nueve

3/29/24

Wow, I actually can’t believe I’m saying this but today is our final morning in Ecuador. It’s definitely felt like a long trip at times but it’s also been a ton of fun and super rewarding. This morning, it felt like there was only one way to start my day off and that was by sleeping in until 7:00 am! That’s the latest I’ve slept in over a week.

Once I had gotten all of my beauty sleep, I got myself dressed and made my traditional morning walk to the pool one final time. There I made sure to read, catch up on my journal, and spend a little time in prayer. Then, with more than a tinge of sadness, it was time to say goodbye to the pool and head to the cafeteria for one final Ecuadorian breakfast.

While we didn’t have any camp duties today, there was one final item to check off the agenda: BEACH DAY! It goes without saying that I was more than a little stoked for our beach day trip. I actually haven’t set foot on the sand since Ellie was one year old. Once I was dressed in my trunks and fully suncreened, I joined the rest of our dwindling group outside the auditorium where we killed time by watching Levi and Jamie have their hair braided by Leslie and Kalynn.

Finally, the time came to load up on the bus. I found my way to the back of the bus and sat near some of our Ecuadorian friends. Fairly quickly, a guitar appeared as if from nowhere and our bus became one giant sing-along. Did I understand anything that was being sung? No, not at all. Actually, that’s a lie. I did understand when our friends started singing ‘Jingle Bells’ in Spanish. That’s a fairly iconic tune regardless of the language.

Once we arrived at the beach, we hopped off the bus and started wandering across the hottest sand I have ever encountered. While it wasn’t always part of the plan, Matt decided that the team budget could handle the renting of several cabanas where we could gain relief from the sun. As I wandered the beach, it didn’t take long for my status as a tall, white, blonde guy to draw attention. It was cool though because the conversation I had with an older gentleman gave me the opportunity to share the Gospel with him. Definitely a flashback to my days of doing beach evangelism in Jacksonville, FL.

After my conversation ended, I abandoned my backpack and sandals in the cabana and headed to an area where other members of our group had gathered to play in the waves. There, I spent most of the next hour happily getting pummeled by waves. Finally, it was time to head back to the cabana and dry off in preparation for heading back to camp. Luckily, Richard had one last surprise for us as he purchased ice cream bars for the entire group.

Back on the bus, I ended up sitting by Matt and chatting with him most of the way back to camp. As for our Ecuadorian entourage, they were significantly more docile on our trip back to camp with a lot of them even falling asleep. Once we arrived back at camp, it was time for one last trip to the cafeteria where we were treated to an “American meal” of hamburgers and French fries. Definitely a super sweet gesture and it did not go unappreciated.

After lunch, we all took quick showers and packed up our belongings. Then, what was left of our group gathered inside the auditorium one last time for goodbyes and photo opportunities. Before we knew it, it was time for our team to board the bus one final time to head to the airport. Here’s the part where I share that entering an airport in a large bus can be slightly intimidating. That’s especially true when your bus is boarded by a soldier carrying a very large assault rifle as he checks for anything suspicious. Luckily he didn’t find anything and we were on our way.

We entered the airport and checked our bags. Then, with a couple of hours to kill, we quietly hung out and bought sandwiches from a little deli inside the airport for dinner. Eventually, it was time for us to head out onto the runway and board our plane for Panama. Here’s the part where I should share what our flight schedule was going to look like. While our flight to Ecuador took two days, our flight home would be done in one with the first group of us touching down in KC around 10:00 am.

After a fairly nondescript flight to Panama full of quietly listening to music for yours truly, we disembarked the plane and took a quick bathroom break. Then, we broke up into small groups to start heading to our terminal. Mason, Micah, Andy, and myself started slowly heading towards our gate when we were sidetracked by a Wetzel’s Pretzel stand. Overcome by the delectable smells, we hopped in line and patiently awaited our turn.

At about this moment in time, Mason received a notification that we were a 25-minute walk from our gate with about 35 minutes until boarding ceased. With that, we started booking it across the airport as fast as we could go. Somewhere along the way, we sadly lost Andy. We finally reached the terminal about 15 minutes later where we were dismayed to find that we would have to go through security to get on the plane. While we standing there deliberating what to do, other members of our team began showing up and we subsequently headed through security. Thankfully, all of us made it onto the plane with barely any time to spare.

In the moments before our plane departed, I took the opportunity to go ahead and take out my contacts and put on my glasses. After all, this flight would be flying through the night with us landing in Miami around 1:00 am. Now, you may ask “What do you do on a nighttime flight such as this one?”. Simple, when you’re as tired as our little group is, you spend a bunch of time watching episodes of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and waiting patiently for the inflight meal of meatballs and fried rice.

Somewhere in the air between Panama and Miami, our Friday came to a close and our Saturday begun. As for that Saturday, well, stay tuned for more.

#DaddyWrite

This is the face of a very tired international traveler.

Day 1,713 - Adventures in Ecuador: Day Ocho

3/28/24

Wow, I can’t believe I’m writing this but today is our final full day in Ecuador and it is most definitely going to be a long one! We have our normal camp day but once it’s over, we will be heading into Manta for the camp concert at the pier. That’s definitely going to be a long day but I’m sure it’ll be fun!

I started my day earlier than normal so that I could watch the sunrise over the mountains by the pool while I write and read my Bible. Once I finished, I headed to the cafeteria for breakfast before heading to security training for the Manta show. That basically consisted of Steve giving us a map of the area and instructing us where to lead our kids to for the show. He also explained the show order so that we would know when it was our team’s turn to perform.

When campers arrived, I learned pretty quick that it was going to be a wild day. The combination of tired kids and a lot of excitement kind of made me feel like I was herding cats. I still strove to find ways to love on the kids though. David brought me a bag of homemade popcorn all for me which was definitely a sweet gesture. I also took an opportunity to play soccer with Jian. Even though I’m the world’s worst footballer, he still showed the most personality that I had seen out of him the entire week. Of course, there would be plenty of bottle flipping as well.

This is me and David.

Once the camp day ended, we had a quick sack lunch of ham sandwich, chips, apple, and juice. Then it was time to hop on the bus. While I had originally kind of hoped for a quiet ride, the mom of Sheila (one of our translators) sat down next to me and started chatting. We actually spent the entire drive to the pier chatting back and forth and I was happy to continually provide affirmation to her on her English skills.

Once we arrived, Wilton and I herded the kids to the grassy area where they would be sitting and waiting for their turn. This was actually a fairly stressful experience as I was constantly counting kids to make sure that I still had all nine. Several times, I had to use the translator app on my phone to remind my team to stay put and wait patiently for their turn near the end of the show. Finally, that time arrived though.

Part of my responsibilities as group leader meant that I would be joining the kids in dancing along to their song. While I’m certain that video exists of said performance, I haven’t actually seen it yet. Once the program ended, it was time for my final goodbyes to the kids, Leo, and Wilton. While I had initially expected to feel relief, I was definitely saddened to issue my goodbyes.

This is me and Leo.

If I’m being honest, my goodbye with David was perhaps the most heartbreaking as I watched him cry in his mother’s arms over camp being over. Mason and Micah saw this display and were quick to ask his mom if they could buy him a sno-cone from a local vendor. She was quick to say yes and even responded with giving us all big hugs complete with traditional “air kisses”.

Once everything was officially over and all of the kids were gone, many members of our team bought sno-cones from that same stand (I actually bought two; yes, I’m a pig) and explored the pier for the next hour. My favorite moment had to be when most of our American crew gathered near a large monument at the end of the pier and chatted about the week a bit while listening to the waves crash below.

Finally, the entirety of our team along with a few remaining Ecuadorians gathered to hop the bus back to Hacienda Los Cerros for our final night’s sleep at camp. Also, in perhaps the most important development of the day, the first thing I did once returning to camp was to shave! Bethany will be so excited; I just know it!

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,712 - Adventures in Ecaudor: Day Siete

3/27/24

It’s kind of hard to believe but today is our last “normal” day at camp. We have one more full camp day after today but it will be followed by the concert in Manta for the kids so that will be a fairly long day.

Today actually was the first day that I really struggled to get out of bed. While my migraines have abated, I just really didn’t want to get up. Instead, I found myself lying in bed until 6:45 am! I did read my Bible during that time though so at least I accomplished something. Once I finally knocked the cobwebs loose, I showered quick and headed to the cafeteria for breakfast.

Once breakfast was over, it was time for my daily ritual of applying copious amounts of sunscreen and tossing on my bright blue camp shirt. Then, I headed to meet my team outside the auditorium. When I arrived there, the kids were in their normal state of happily flipping water bottles. In addition, some had brought their recorders from home and were sitting on the ground practicing while waiting.

Once our camp day officially started, it didn’t take me long to notice one big difference from prior days: the kids were really getting attached to me. Don’t get me wrong as they had always seemed to like me quite a bit. Case in point, the relentless patting of my head and the nonstop stream of excited Spanish directed at me. However, today, I saw them really wanting to interact with me a lot. One way that they did so was by consistently asking for the English version of Spanish words. I love learning the language so this was a cool opportunity for both sides to really help each other.

Once our camp day came to a close, I tried to call Bethany and the kids on Facetime to no avail. No worries though as it was about time for dinner anyway. Dinner was an interesting experience if I do say so myself. For one thing, I found myself sitting with the oldest members of our team (70s) and one of the youngest members of our team (14) at dinner. Crazy generational gap, right?

The biggest reason for dinner being interesting revolved around one of the main dishes. We were served Ceviche. If you don’t know what that is, I didn’t either prior to this day. It is essentially cold fish soup. Chunks of fish are placed into a lime juice-based broth which essentially cooks the fish via chemical reaction. Then, it’s topped off with onions and lettuce. As far as my thoughts on Ceviche go, I honestly didn’t think it was too bad. I don’t know that I need to eat it every day though. If I’m being honest, getting to try new foods is one of the coolest things about traveling to new places. I highly doubt the opportunity to eat Ceviche ever would have presented itself at home.

After dinner, we had our final team meeting which was highlighted by a devotional led by Matt and our final Northland breakout session. After our meetings ended, it was free time until bed. Most of our American team headed towards the pool where we turned off all of the ambient lights around the pool and just enjoyed looking at the stars. I hopped out of the pool though once some of our team started racing from one side of the pool to the other.

I’d be remiss if I failed to mention the saddest part of our pool adventure though. Obviously, we all had our towels and shirts laying around the pool in various areas. While we were all hanging out, one of the camp dogs came to visit. Oddly enough though, it made a beeline straight for Efraim’s stuff, lifted its leg, and peed all over his towel and clothes. Then, as quickly as it came, the dog left. As Dan put it, “If I didn’t know better, I’d think that dog had a vendetta against Efraim.”

I guess anything is possible, right?

#DaddyWrite

Bonus Day - Adventures in Ecuador: Day Seis

3/26/24

Remember when I said that yesterday was full of struggles. Yeah, me too. I probably shouldn’t have said anything though because if yesterday was a struggle, then today is most definitely an epic struggle. My struggle today is based around chest and throat congestion, dehydration, and epic migraines. Clearly a fun way to start one’s day in a foreign country, right?

Regardless of how I am feeling though, the day can’t stop. Therefore, I got up and dressed myself and then walked up to the cafeteria to write and read my Bible. Eventually, people started wandering in to eat breakfast so I joined the line and picked at the food in front of me that I had no appetite for. After breakfast, I made a quick stop in the auditorium to pick up my freshly laundered camp shirt and got myself changed for the day. Somewhat unfortunately for me, I absolutely could not find the ibuprofen in my suitcase that I knew was packed so I finally had to give up and head to the auditorium sans medication.

When the day really got underway and the music started blaring, I could immediately tell that this was going to be a day that I couldn’t wait to end. After all, loud music, squawking recorders, boisterous kids, and intense heat are never conducive to getting rid of a migraine. Regardless though, I pushed through. If I had to pick a highlight of the day, it would probably be recreation time as I got to hang out with the kids in the shade as they played on the playground equipment. The lowlight though would be music time as I wanted nothing more than to curl up in the fetal position and go to sleep. Unfortunately for me, I was much too stubborn to let people know I was struggling and instead just tried to tough it out.

Team flags make a great sunshade in case you're wondering.

Somewhat mercifully, the day finally ended. The kids on my team were great. It was just the migraine that was wearing me out. There was one fun surprise though once the camp day ended. Andy had finally obtained the camp’s Wi-Fi password meaning that I could reach out to Bethany and the kids at will. I also gained the ability to send texts and Marco Polo videos to people too!

One of the only things I really remember well from this day was Abel working on a 12-sided Rubix cube and me expressing my doubt to him that he would get it done. He proved me wrong when I saw him about three hours later.

Reaching out to Bethany and the kids was actually the very first thing I did after receiving the password. While reception was a little spotty, it was still really good to see them. In fact, I found my way back to the auditorium later that night for an extended conversation with Bethany on a set of stairs leading to the stage.

After my initial conversation with Bethany and the kids, it was time to head to dinner where I spent time talking with Matt and some of our Ecuadorian friends. Taxing my brain by trying to speak in and understand Spanish probably wasn’t the greatest idea after having my migraine. It was an idea though. After dinner, it was back to the auditorium for our nightly debrief where Dan gave a really stellar devotion.

After our nightly debrief ended, it was actually free time for the rest of the night. While I had originally planned on sitting on the edge of the pool and letting my legs dangle in the water, it was unfortunately closed for cleaning for the night. Instead, I wandered back to the swings by the soccer fields and hung out with a bunch of Americanos and Ecuadorians as we watched the ferocious games unfold. Finally though, it was time to call it a night and go to bed.

At least I thought that was the case. Right after I had laid down, I heard someone calling my name inside our cabin. I drug myself out of bed to find that one of my roomies had scraped a scab off his leg in the shower and was bleeding everywhere like crazy. I fulfilled his request to grab his first aid kit and then passed him several band-aids and pieces of gauze as he tried to put his leg back together. Finally, he everything bandaged well enough that he was able to head to the camp’s first aid station to get some real bandages. The moral of the story is that even when one goes to bed on a mission trip, that doesn’t mean the excitement for the day has stopped. At least, I think that’s the moral. I’m not really sure.

#DaddyWrite

I promise no one died here...