It’s finally here. The last day of summer. Tomorrow, Ellie
and Ethan will begin third grade and kindergarten respectively. It’s honestly
going to take a little getting used to for them to be back at school. That
being said, they’re both excited and maybe a little nervous. The important
thing for today though was to make sure that I helped give them a good last day
of summer.
Last week, Ellie created a short list of things that she
wanted to do before school began. There wasn’t a ton on it to begin with and we’ve
been systematically checking things off. One thing that remained though was a
trip to The Rush Funplex. Honestly, with all of our other fun activities that
we’ve been filling our days with, we haven’t been to Rush much this summer. No
worries though as we can go plenty of times once the weather turns cold.
There was one thing that we had to do this morning before we
could head to Rush though. We needed to pack a lunch so that we could go have
lunch with Bethany. As Mondays are generally one of her slower days in the
office, it was the perfect opportunity for the three of us to go join Bethany
for lunch. Therefore, I packed a lunch of chicken nuggets for the kids, a sandwich
for myself, some apples, some carrots, and cookies for dessert for us to enjoy
at lunchtime.
Before lunchtime though, it was time to head to Rush. We
started off our time there in the bowling alley where Ellie and Ethan engaged
in some fun arcade like games as they bowled. From there, we wandered over to
the giant foam pit where the two siblings took turns flying off the trapeze into
the blocks of foam. Our last event for the day consisted of laser tag. Lucky
for us, the attendant was super nice and let me strap on a vest so that I could
play with the kids even though I hadn’t paid for entry. If I’m being serious,
laser tag had to be one of my highlights of the day. I loved sneaking around
the course and trying to shoot other players while simultaneously putting
myself in position for Ellie and Ethan to fire at me. Easier said than done if
I’m being serious.
After Rush, we headed over to Legends to meet Bethany for
lunch at DFA. While there was nothing big or special about our time there, it
was just fun to watch the kids loving on their mom while telling her all of
their stories about the morning. They also were able to get some big glasses of
chocolate milk to enjoy as well which made them fairly happy. Unfortunately, we
could only stay with Bethany for an hour and then it was time to come home.
As for our afternoon, it was fairly non-eventful. All we
really did was spend a little time playing outside, watched a little TV, and
made a quick trip to CVS to pick up some pictures. While nothing about it was
super exciting, most of those things were what the kids wanted to do and I was
not going to deny them the opportunity to choose what to do with the waning
days of their summer vacation.
All in all, I would have to say that this has been a fun
summer. It’s been super busy and feels like it has gone way too fast but it’s
been fun. It’s interesting to see how much I’ve hyped this summer up in my
mind. I feel like I’ve run myself ragged trying to make it a special one for
both kids but especially for Ethan. With this being his last summer before
school begins, I wanted it to be full of good memories. The weird thing is that
with all of the build up that has been going on in my head for the last month,
it feels like our summer ended on a rather tame note instead of going out with
a bang.
However, now it’s time to shift gears and get ready for
school to start. I’m excited to see what the year brings forth for both Ellie
and Ethan. I know there’s a combination of nerves and excitement that exists in
both of them. However, I believe without a shadow of a doubt that it’s going to
be a great school year. for them!
As for me, I really don't know. Hopefully I'll figure it out soon enough.
#DaddyWrite
This is the look of a tired boy anxious awaiting whatever is coming next.
Before Bethany and I had kids, our schedule was a lot more
open. I’d say it’s that way for most people though. One way that we filled our
time each week was by serving with the Wednesday night programs at our church.
Bethany with the younger kids and me with the teenagers. Over the course of
several years, I developed pretty close bonds with quite a few of the kids. Many
of those relationships continue to exist well into adulthood for them which is
cool to see.
I bring this up because I once had a parent comment to me
just how important it was for kids to have someone in my stage of life (i.e. an
adult who wasn’t a parent of a student) helping with the youth ministry. According
to her, something about being an adult but not a parent makes one automatically
cool. While I didn’t necessarily believe that at the time, now that I have kids,
I see it and I appreciate it. While they aren’t yet teenagers like the kids I
was working with, my kids already have someone like that in their life and I
love to see it.
On Thursday, there were two agenda items for the day. Agenda
item number one was to go to the Zoo and have a great day. Agenda item number
two was to go to Back to School Night at Fox Hill and meet the kids’ teachers.
If you ask me which of those two things the kids will remember longer though,
it’d have to be our trip to the Zoo. I say that because our friend, Emily, was
along for the trip. We first met Emily when Ellie was around two years old when
she was part of the college student life group we led at the time. Since then, Emily
and Bethany have met together weekly to talk about life and how God is working in
them. It’s been cool to watch happen and see how their relationship has grown
over the past five or six years.
Our original plan for this Thursday trip to the Zoo was
actually to go to Worlds of Fun with Emily. However, I’m a scrub and had no
idea that WOF closed for the season on Monday due to workers starting back to
school. Lucky for us, the Zoo was deemed a worthy replacement to our plans for
the day. Emily arrived at our house around 8:50 am and we all loaded up in the Traverse
and headed to the Zoo.
There’s not a ton of specific animal-based moments that
stand out about our trip to the Zoo (unless you count Charlie the gorilla
happily picking his nose and eating his boogers). What does stand out though is
watching Ellie and Ethan excitedly sharing their lives with their friend,
Emily. They talked about school, vacation, games, TV shows, church, and
everything else in between. What I like though is that it’s not just the kids
talking at Emily. She’s actively engaged in asking questions too and wanting to
know all about what they’re thinking.
It's obvious that as a young adult, I didn’t see the
importance in having a young adult taking an interest in a kid’s life. I
probably assumed that there were parents and grandparents around to do just that.
However, now I see first-hand how much something like that means to Ellie and
Ethan with their relationship with Emily and I just want to take a minute to
highlight it as a really cool thing.
And yes, knowing Emily, she’s going to be totally
embarrassed about me calling attention to it, too! All the more reason to do
so, right?
I'm the type of person that sometimes builds up things to be
really big deals in my head. For example, this last week before school starts,
I want to make sure that I'm giving the kids fun memories that will hang with
them for a while. The fact of the matter is that both Ellie and Ethan are young
and therefore likely won't remember a lot of particular things or events from
this stage of life. What I do think they'll remember though is the three of us
having fun together, even if all we're doing is working in the kitchen like we
did Wednesday morning.
The beginning of our day was based around one thing though
and it decidedly was not working in the kitchen. Instead, it was taking Ethan
to the eye doctor for an eye exam before he starts school next week. I realized
most people visit the eye doctor because they're struggling to see. For Ethan
though, we were just trying to get a benchmark on his eyes prior to beginning
school. Not a bad idea when you realize that Bethany, Ellie, and I all require
some degree of corrective lenses.
Like the great big sister that she is, Ellie helped keep Ethan entertained by playing hand games with him while waiting for the eye doctor.
One thing that I must say is that it's always fun to watch
someone Ethan's size sit up in the big chair at the eye doctor while looking so tiny.
For the record though, he was feeling pretty proud of himself to be sitting in
it. Once his exam began, he pretty much knocked it out of the park. He did
everything he was asked to do with zero complaints and followed directions to
the letter. By the time his appointment was all said and done, we had confirmed
that Ethan has 20-20 vision and needs no corrective lenses at this point in
time. While that likely won't last, I'm certainly happy for him that that is
the case for the time being.
After we finished up at the eye doctor, we had to make a
quick stop at Aldi before we could go home. Why you may ask? Simple, we needed
to pick up the ingredients to make some homemade ice cream just like I had
promised the kids we would. After picking up some half and half, some whipping
cream, and some eggs, we were on our way home.
Once we made it home, I invited the kids to join me in the
kitchen to start the process. Putting a big pot on the stove to mix our
ingredients in, I helped the kids measure out each thing individually so that
they could add it to the pot before we mixed it all together. While Ellie and
Ethan sometimes bicker during times like this, both kids did a great job
working together and taking turns. Before we knew it, they had mixed all of the
ingredients together over a hot stove and it was time to place our cream
mixture in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to cool down.
Two hours later, it was time to start mixing the ice cream.
I carefully poured the mixture into the freezer and then let Ellie and Ethan
put the mixing tool and the cover into place. With that, Ethan hit the on
button and the mixer started spinning. While the ice cream churned away, it was
time for us to get our toppings ready. Getting out the food processor, Ellie
and Ethan took turns unwrapping Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and dropping them
into the processor where they were obviously chopped into tiny pieces.
Fast forward about twenty minutes and it was time to add our
toppings to the ice cream. While I carefully scraped the pulverized pieces out
of the food processor, Ellie and Ethan took turns dumping handfuls of Reese's
Pieces candy into the churn. Finally, we had all of our toppings added and it
was time to step away and let the mixer churn.
Here's where I share an important life lesson with you.
Never take the recipe card for gospel when making homemade ice cream. Even if it
says 45 minutes to churn, one should probably check it after 30 or so. As it so
happens, I had left the churn going for too long and the ice cream actually
overflowed out of it and created a melted, sticky mess all over our counter.
I'd be lying if I said that it didn't take quite a while to clean up.
Later that night after a dinner lovingly prepared by Ellie
(with a little help from me), it was time to taste our ice cream. Despite the
messy conditions created by our churn escapades, the ice cream tasted
fantastic. Not only did it taste great, but the kids were absolutely elated to
have played such a big part in making it. It's just like I said; making ice
cream was a relatively unexciting thing but it will likely help create a memory
of us having fun together. That's not a bad thing at all if I do say so myself.
It’s crazy to say but today marked the last week of summer
vacation. By this time next week, Ellie and Ethan will have finished their
first day of the school year. By that same logic, it means that I will have
gone from being a stay-at-home dad to being simply unemployed. Actually, I
think I prefer to say “between jobs”. Sure it’s been eight years since I last
held a nine-to-five but “between jobs” sounds so much better than “being simply
unemployed”.
Actually, the truth is that I’ve continually been asked one
question over and over again the past few months. What’s next? Somewhat
unfortunately for me, I don’t really know; I’m kind of in the midst of a relatively
big shift in my life. That being said, I do sort of have a plan in store for the
near future. I know that doesn’t sound very certain but such is the life of a
substitute teacher. For the record, this won’t be the first time that I’ve worked
as a substitute. It seems like a good option during this time of transition. I
can still have summers free and also be available for field trips or if a kid
is sick or has a doctor’s appointment.
Of course, it goes without saying that are quite a few hoops
one has to jump through when working with kids. There’s the normal stuff like job
applications but then there are other things like getting a substitute teaching
certification and getting fingerprinted. That last thing is actually what I got
to go and take care of this morning with Ellie and Ethan in tow.
Ellie and Ethan have been to a lot of various appointments
with me over the years. I can say with the utmost certainty though that they
have never been with me to get fingerprinted. Honestly, I thought that they
might find the process kind of intriguing. Unfortunately, I was somewhat wrong
about that.
When we first arrived at the fingerprinting place, it was fairly
obvious that the kids were not in a mood to be patient. They were immediately
asking when we were going to be done and proclaiming that they were bored. Now
I realize that sitting in a waiting room probably isn’t the most exciting thing
for a kid but I figured they’d be fine for a little bit. Especially after the
front desk worker gave them fun-sized candy bars.
Real life experience of my kids
Once we got called back for fingerprinting, the kids became
more interested in what was going on. They watched fairly intently as I placed
my fingers on a scanner time and time again. The most interesting part to them
though had to be when I would roll my fingers across the scanner so that it
could take images of my entire fingerprint at once. Before that, I really didn’t
realize that my fingertips had so many scars but it’s fairly obvious once you
see an entire image of your fingerprint at once. For some reason, I had to have
a picture taken with my head completely level as part of the processing. For
someone that has a natural tilt to their head, I never realized how difficult
it could be to keep my face completely level. Of course, it didn’t help that Ethan
kept distracting me by trying to get in the picture himself.
Finally, we were done and could leave the fingerprinting office.
As the kids happily skipped out to the car, I definitely felt tinges of both relief
and sadness. Relief because we were done with the process of me getting
fingerprinted and sadness because I realized that there won’t be many more
times of me taking the kids to do stuff with me over the summer. Even if it is
just something as boring as fingerprinting!
It would not be a lie to say that it’s been a very busy
summer in House Holt. We’ve gone on hikes. We’ve played in creeks. We’ve been to
the zoo. We’ve been to World of Fun. We’ve been to the park countless times. We’ve
gone swimming. We even went on vacation. It’s all been fun though. However,
with all of those activities, we haven’t left a ton of time for being spontaneous.
If I’m being completely honest, it’s those times of absolute spontaneity that
gives us the best memories. Lucky for us, today was one of those days.
With this being the last full week of summer, Ellie has made
a checklist of the things that she would like to have happen this week. It just
so happened that the first thing on her list was to make homemade fudgesicles.
Since that’s hardly a difficult request, once we got dressed and ready for the
day, we loaded up in the car and headed to Hy-Vee.
Now, I am aware that there are closer grocery stores to us
than Hy-Vee. However, those stores don’t allow me to surprise the kids with
biscuits and gravy. The funny part is that Ethan has come to associate Hy-Vee
with biscuits and gravy so as soon as he saw the parking lot, he asked me if
that was what we were going to get. Leave it to the little man to ruin my surprise,
right?
After enjoying our breakfast together, we picked up our box
of pudding and checked out. Then we headed over to Walmart to grab a disco
ball. Yes, I am completely aware that a disco ball is not needed for making
fudgesicles. That being said, it is essential for dance parties which Ellie and
Ethan love. They have been a little sad since my childhood disco ball broke
leaving them with lights for their dance parties.
Once we found the novelty light aisle at Walmart, we spent a
little time browsing before going on our way. You see, Walmart does not only have
disco balls in the novelty light aisle. They also have a variety of neon lights
that can be activated by pushing a simple test button on the outside of the
box. As one could probably guess, the three of us had a great time testing all
of the lights and identifying our favorites and explaining to each other why we
liked it. Eventually though, it was time to check out and head for home.
Once we got home, before we could make fudgesicles, Ellie
and Ethan became embroiled in what could be the most random activity ever for an
eight-year-old and a five-year-old. They began drawing replicas of flags. It
started simple enough with them choosing countries that they knew and
recognized from the Olympics. Once they ran out of those countries, they began
asking me for ones to add to their collection. Before long though, our entire
table was littered with various drawings of flags from around the world. While
it is definitely a random activity, it also was highly educational so I can’t
complain too much!
Ellie and Ethan present "Fun with Flags"
After lunch, it was time to make our fudgesicles and get
them in the freezer to harden up. While it was hardly an arduous task, it still
was a fun activity to do together. While I assumed quiet time was on the way
after that, Ellie and Ethan had one more thing to do before that could happen.
They needed to have a dance party courtesy of their new disco light. Accompanied
by the sounds of the Bluey soundtrack, the two danced nonstop in their room all
the way to quiet time.
While I know that our morning sounds like it was relatively
full and eventful, it was actually refreshing to just sit back and let life
happen rather than to go out and plan some huge activity to occupy our day. Honestly,
by the time this is week is over, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that today was
my favorite day of all.
I’ve been a dad since 2016. In that time, I’ve come to
believe that I have a fairly good handle on what my kids like and do not like.
For example, neither of my kids will eat jambalaya or shrimp scampi. I can’t
believe it but it’s true. They routinely turn up their noses at both dishes. I
also tend to be able to guess what kind of experiences Ellie and Ethan will
enjoy. However, there are those occasional moments where my guess is wrong and
I’m proud to say that one of those moments occurred during our recent vacation.
In a first for our family, we actually spent nearly an
entire week on vacation last week. We left home on Sunday to head to Nebraska
to spend the night with Bethany’s parents before hitting the road the next
morning bright and early to head to our destination of Valentine, NE where we
joined Bethany’s entire family for a float trip down the Niabrara River. For
the record, that was not the part of our trip that I was concerned about the
kids enjoying. Between the cool, refreshing water and the multiple picturesque
waterfalls along the route, I was fairly certain they would both enjoy it.
The morning after our float, we were loaded up by 9:00 am
and in the car heading towards South Dakota. For the record, that wasn’t the
original plan for our trip. However, when we realized that Mount Rushmore was a
scant three hours away from Valentine, it only made sense to make the trip. It also
helped that my parents along with my aunt, uncle, and cousin were also making
the trip. On our way to Mount Rushmore, we did have one stop to make first.
Little did I know that one stop would end up being Ellie’s and Ethan’s favorite
part of the entire journey and one that they are still talking about!
What was that one stop you may ask? It was the Badlands. When
we made our first stop in the Badlands at the Door and Window Trails, I was
more than a little nervous as both kids seemed to have a lot of trepidation
when it came to climbing the various rock structures. If I’m being completely
honest, I felt the same way. The already rocky terrain was littered with tons
of tiny marble-like pebbles making the path more than a little slick to wander.
Of course, matters weren’t helped by the fact that both kids were hungry at
this stage. After a quick wander of both trails, we retreated to the visitors
center and grabbed a quick lunch.
Once Ellie and Ethan had full bellies, they were much more willing
to explore. In fact, we didn’t even have to leave the grounds of the visitors
center before they were happily scaling large rock structures, trying to get as
high as they could. My favorite area that we explored though had to be the
Fossil Trail. The area consisted of an elevated walkway winding through rocky
terrain and at any time, you could step off and explore the area. Our family
spent plenty of time climbing whatever looked fun in that given moment and it
goes without saying that the kids had a great time. They were fearless and
trusted themselves well.
Eventually though, the time came for us to move on down the
road to our lodge for the night. After checking in, we went ahead and connected
with my family before grabbing some pizza at a restaurant on the grounds. Then,
the four of us headed to the Kids Zone where Ellie and Ethan played on a
playground and participated in a quick round of mini golf. Before we knew it
though, it was time to head back to the lodge for bed.
The next morning, Ellie and Ethan awoke fairly early and
were ready to start the day. Unfortunately for them though, our lodge didn’t
serve breakfast until the relatively late time of 7:30 am. Therefore, we just
had to find ways to keep them quiet until 7:30 arrived. Once it finally did and
we ate, we prepared ourselves to head to Mount Rushmore.
Now, if you’ve ever found yourself in the vicinity of Mount
Rushmore, you realize that it’s fairly impossible to miss. That being said, the
kids were still more than excited to see it up close. Ellie wasn’t only
intrigued by the actual mountain; she also was fascinated by the history behind
it which could be seen by her excitement in sharing every cool fact she
discovered about the mountain and the construction of the monument.
After we made our way around a trail which led us right
under the mountain, it was time to load up and head into Keystone for a quick
lunch before the driving portion of our afternoon. The first stop on our
driving tour was the Iron Mountain Scenic Drive. Winding through the Black
Hills National Forest, this trail featured plenty of switchbacks to drive
around as well as tight tunnels to thread our Traverse through. When we popped
out of the Iron Mountain portion of our trip, we found ourselves in Custer
State Park. To tell the truth, we didn’t spend a ton of time in Custer. We
basically just drove through it on our way to Needles Highway.
Now Needles was probably one of the more fascinating parts
of the day. It featured three tunnels cut into rock that were probably tighter
than any we encountered in Iron Mountain. In addition, one of the tunnels was
guarded by a Storm Trooper who greeted Bethany and Ethan with a fist bump
before telling us to move along. One of the final stops along Needles was
Sylvan Lake which was home to a huge biker gathering. That didn’t stop us from
taking a quick bathroom break and wandering the lake for a bit. For the record,
Bethany would be happy to inform you that Sylvan Lake was host to part of the
filming of National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets if you’re interested in
that sort of thing.
While we would have loved to have spent additional time in
Custer State Park, we had to make sure we were back to the lodge by 3:00 pm so
that we could sign Ethan up for Mutton Busting at the Rodeo. Yes, you read that
last sentence correctly; Ethan was indeed going to ride a sheep that night in
the Rodeo. After signing up, we rested for a little bit before taking the kids
to play at the onsite water slide. Before we knew it though, it was time to
head to the rodeo.
When we arrived, Ellie and I found some seats with my
parents while Bethany accompanied Ethan to the ring for Mutton Busting. Ethan
for his part was nothing but excited to ride a sheep. In fact, he was proudly
proclaiming it to anyone who would listen throughout the day. When the time
came for him to climb aboard the sheep, he wasn’t even nervous (from what I’ve
been told). However, his ride came to a quick and bitter end as the sheep
reared its head back, making contact with Ethan’s helmeted head, and tossed him
to the ground. Then, for good measure, the sheep saw fit to stomp on Ethan’s
leg, leaving a pretty sizeable gash across his leg. Like the tough guy he is
though, Ethan stood tall and walked out of the ring alongside Bethany and didn’t
show any weakness until he was back safe in the bleachers with his family.
After spending a couple of hours watching, the kids had definitely hit that
point where it was time to head to bed so we left the rodeo and did just that.
The next morning would mark the
final day of our vacation. While we initially only had one stop on our agenda, the
Presidential Wax Museum, we were beckoned by the allure of the Wildlife trail
at Custer State Park after my aunt and uncle had shown us video of the 300-plus
buffalo they saw on their journey through the park. Therefore, since the kids
were up and ready to go early just like normal, the four of us loaded up around
6:00 and hit the trail. Somewhat unfortunately for us, we failed to find any
buffalo during the nearly two-hour excursion. We did happen to find plenty of prairie
dogs, deer, and even some wild turkeys. We also got to see a beautiful sunrise
so that counts for something.
After eating a quick breakfast
once we returned to the lodge, we packed up our bags and checked out, being
sure to hit the Presidential Wax Museum on our way out of town. Both kids had
been preparing for this stop for quite some time by practicing the President
song over and over again. Despite their knowledge, they were crestfallen to
discover that the Wax Museum did not have the Presidents in order. Instead, they
were just randomly placed throughout the building. The kids did enjoy learning
about everything though through the aid of a personal phone that enabled one to
listen to facts about each Commander in Chief.
Finally, the time arrived for us
to say “Goodbye” to our vacation and head for home. While some would not look
forward to a ten-hour car ride after a full vacation, Ellie and Ethan are
actually really good car riders. With the aid of several audiobooks, lots of
music, snacks, naps, and license plate bingo, our trip actually went fairly
quick with us finally reaching home around 10:30 pm.
While I’m not necessarily excited
that Ellie and Ethan are getting older, I am relieved that we have reached an
age where the kids actually travel quite well. It’s fun to know that we’re
reaching a stage where all kinds of fun adventures away from home are awaiting
our family and I honestly can’t wait to see what we discover next!
