Day 1,534 - Forgotten Days and Falling (Out) Teeth

It's summer.

Actually, it's been summer for the past three weeks but please forgive me for not being consistent with telling stories of life, liberty, and the pursuit of dadliness. There's been a lot of crazy things going on.

First of all, Bethany and I abandoned the children at their grandparents for several days so that we could take a mystery trip to Dallas. Once we returned from Dallas, it was time for me to have dental surgery (Fun stuff, right?). After that, I spent most of the next week wallowing in misery from the soreness of my gums until the stitches were finally removed. That's what happens though when you find out that your oral surgeon gave you an incomplete root canal two decades earlier. During that same time frame, Ellie was participating in a Vacation Bible School at a local church meaning that we only saw her for half a day at a time. Sometime in between all of those happenings, I decided to replace the stair treads on my deck only to learn that the stringers were beginning to rot meaning that I get to replace everything on the stairs. Also, we went camping and bought a pineapple corer somewhere in there too. Huzzah?

While all of those things are exciting, painful, or misery-filled in their own ways, Ellie has certainly experienced her own trifecta in the past couple of weeks. Of course, that's what happens when one starts losing a tooth.

Ellie has actually been getting closer to losing a tooth for quite some time. She would go through stints now and then when her bottom front teeth would begin to wiggle and waggle. Sadly though, they would never come out. In fact, they would just tighten back up again much to the chagrin of our entire family. You see, Bethany and I were just as excited for Ellie to lose a tooth as she was. It's one of those cool experiences that is totally unique to childhood. Honestly, I have no recollection of the process of losing a tooth so it was a nice opportunity to live vicariously through my daughter. However, the longer the process went on, the more frustrating it became for everyone.

Over the past couple of weeks, Ellie's loose tooth became more and more of a pain for her to deal with. It was hard for her to eat without it hurting. It would wiggle back and forth at inopportune moments. Plus, just the feeling of something loose in her mouth was driving her nuts. That all finally ended on Friday though as the tooth made its great escape from Ellie's mouth.

It was a day just like any other. Despite Ellie's best efforts, the tooth remained in her mouth through the entire day. It hung in there through two teeth brushings, meals, snacks, and a day of playing. However, that pesky tooth was no match for bedtime. When Bethany and I tuck the kids in and leave the room, we always like to believe we're done seeing them for the evening. Most nights, that's not the case because of a rogue Ethan appearance. On this instance though, it was Ellie. She came tearing out of her room holding her tooth in her hand. Apparently, she had laid in bed wiggling it enough to the point that it finally just fell out.

Now, Ellie still doesn't have an adult tooth in that spot. After all, it has only been like four days. However, she does have another loose tooth that she's constantly wiggling, waiting for it to fall out too. We'll see how long that one takes though. My guess is another two weeks but we'll see.

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,520 - Field Days and Dunk Tank Dummies

This has been a pretty big week for Ellie. Of course, that's fairly normal when one is a six-year-old and it's the final week of school. There's been plenty of excitement all around. Tuesday was First Grade Fun Day. On Wednesday, Ellie received the opportunity to be the Birthday Kid of the day even though her birthday isn't until the end of June. The biggest excitement of Ellie's week though had to have been on Monday when she took part in Field Day.

I, like many, have a lot of fond memories of Field Day as a kid. However, things have certainly changed somewhat since I was a kid. For one thing, rather than being a pure competition driven by ribbons and the quest to be the best, Field Day is now more about fun. For another, when I was younger, Field Day was basically a track-and-field competition. Now, there's a lot of silly/fun games instead. Don't get me wrong, that is not a bad thing at all. In fact, the reason I know it's not a bad thing because I experienced Field Day first hand. Actually, the entire Holt family got the opportunity to experience Field Day first hand.

Ellie and Bethany were the first members of our family to get to take part in Field Day. Ellie because she was a participant (obviously) and Bethany because she was volunteering at the snow cone station. This was actually her second year serving in this role so she's kind of becoming a professional by this point. As for Ethan and I, we had an appointment to get the car serviced on this morning. However, as soon as we were done, the little man and I headed to Fox Hill Elementary to see Field Day for ourselves.

Upon our arrival, we first wandered to the snow cone station where Bethany presented Ethan with a snow cone of his very own to enjoy. After that, we began wandering the grounds until we finally found Ellie getting ready for the sack race. One of the fun things about being a spectator at Field Day is that Ethan and I are recognized by quite a few members of Ellie's class and her teacher even took a few minutes to speak to Ethan and I while the sack race was ongoing. I was having a ball watching Ellie do her best but Ethan soon tired of watching and was ready to head home so that's exactly what we did.

Part of the reason I was so willing to head home before I was ready was because I knew I would be going back in the afternoon to volunteer. Specifically, I would be hopping into the dunk tank as a human sacrifice for Ellie's class. I assumed that I would be spending the entire afternoon in the dunk tank but I was actually somewhat excited to learn that I would be helping to run the Frisbee Toss event until Ellie's class was ready to do the dunk tank. While the Frisbee Toss was fun, I was a little bummed that I never got to see Ellie until it was time for me to head to the dunk tank.

Upon my arrival at the dunk tank, I was a little surprised to discover that I was one of five(!) adult volunteers for Ellie's class. Therefore, we all only had to do a short shift in the dunk tank. When the time came for me to take my place on the precarious dunk tank chair, Ellie swiftly made her way to the front of the line where she looked at me with a sly grin prior to throwing the ball at the target. While she missed the target, that didn't stop her from running up to the button and just pushing it with her hands which sent me plunging into the water. Following that, I climbed up out of the tank where five or six of her friends sentenced me to the exact same fate. Now, you may not know this, but it is relatively exhausting to be continuously dunked and have to pull one's wet body out of the water and back up onto the seat just for it to happen again.

While all of this was happening, Bethany and Ethan had made their way back to Fox Hill to watch some more Field Day activities after Ethan's nap. Ethan, of course, was feeling slightly sad that it looked like he was going to miss out on dunking me. Fortunately for him, once Ellie's class had moved onto the next station, there was a couple of minutes for me to climb back onto the dunk tank seat so that Ethan could have a chance to see me plunge into the drink. While his throw didn't connect with the target, his foot certainly did after a little help from another adult helping man the dunk tank. So, with that, my final plunge into the water was done for the day.

Overall, I'd have to say that I love helping volunteer for Field Day at Ellie's school. Not only is it fun but it gives me an opportunity to start building relationships with some of Ellie's classmates as well as teachers at the school. It's great too because I don't think Ellie's actually embarrassed by my presence yet either. We'll see when that changes though.

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,515 - The Butterfly Bonanza II

As the kids get older, it's sometimes really fun to look back at past years of this blog and see how they have experienced the same activity in a different way than they previously did. One of these opportunities presented itself over the past couple of weeks as we decided to raise butterflies again this year.

Last year was the first year we ever had raised butterflies with the kids and they pretty much loved it. If you need a refresher, feel free to check out the blog post. This year though, we didn't really know what to expect. After all, the kids were a year older. Would they still have the same sense of wonderment at the life cycle of a butterfly? In case you're wondering, the answer was Yes.

Early on in the process of raising butterflies this year, we honestly weren't certain that the kids would be as interested as they were previously. For example, last year, the two of them would spend ample amounts of time sitting in front of a small cup containing our caterpillars watching them crawl and explore their surroundings. This year though, that stage was not as exciting for them. In fact, I would bet that Bethany and I spent more time watching the caterpillars than the two kids did. However, once the caterpillars formed their chrysalises, that changed. Both Ellie and Ethan would check multiple times a day to make sure they weren't going to miss the caterpillars emerge. When the day finally came, both kids were right there to see the process unfold. Over the next week, it wasn't uncommon to see the kids (especially Ellie) sitting in front of the habitat watching the butterflies flutter around.

Last night marked a big moment in our time of raising butterflies as we released them into the wild. This is always a difficult venture. It's not because of any emotional connection that was formed though. Instead it has to do with the fact that it's nearly impossible to get the butterflies to fly out of the habitat they have become accustomed to. Eventually, I resorted to holding a paper towel  near each butterfly and removing it from the habitat once they crawled onto it. In fact, it was during one of those towel removal processes that Ellie and Ethan had the most fun with the butterflies.

Ellie bravely worked up the courage to ask if she could hold a butterfly. As there was really no reason to say no, Bethany and I then began coaching her through the process of gently placing her hand next to the butterfly and allowing it to crawl onto her. Of course, once Ethan saw his sister holding a butterfly, he wanted a chance to participate as well. By the time all of the butterflies had left the porch, each of us had gotten the opportunity to hold one.

Well, I need to correct myself. Almost all of the butterflies moved on. There were two that were very, very engaged in the process of making more butterflies that really weren't interested in moving to a new location. I'm sure you can guess how much fun that conversation was to have with our very curious six-year-old.

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,508 - The One All About NASCAR

It's well known that Ethan is a big Chiefs fan. However, there's something else that both Ethan and Ellie love just as much, if not more. That thing is NASCAR. Surprising, right? Since the first time the two sat down and actually paid attention to a race, they were hooked. Sure, it had something to do with Ross Chastain spiking a watermelon into the ground after a victory but I'm not going to complain about the kids and me having a shared interest. Bethany, for her part, alternates between begrudging acceptance and actual enjoyment based on the particular Sunday.

The thing about being a fan of NASCAR is that there's not exactly a strong and active fanbase around the Kansas City metro. If we lived somewhere like Charlotte or Daytona, I'm sure that would be different but it's not the case here. However, twice a year, the NASCAR Cup Series makes its way to the Kansas Speedway which provides us with a weekend of fun NASCAR-related activities to pursue.

The start to our fun was on Friday while Ellie was at school. I had spent the past few days fervently searching for show car appearances so that Ethan could see an actual race car in person. While nothing was super close, I did find that there was a show car appearance at a McDonald's near Bethany's work. Therefore, the little man and I loaded up and headed towards Kansas to see a race car. When we first pulled into the McDonald's, I was a little perplexed to see the lack of people around. Then, after making a lap around the building, I was doubly perplexed to see the lack of show car there. As it turned out, the web site that I had read about the appearance on was mistaken and it wasn't until the following day.

While Ethan and I were definitely disappointed, we decided to make the best of a bad situation and decided to head over to the Speedway to see if there was any excitement happening around the grounds. While it was too early for any action, we did happen to find all of the NASCAR haulers parked along an access road into the track. While we certainly lacked the proper credentials to gain entry, that didn't stop me from asking an security guard for permission to enter. Much to my surprise, he told us to go on and check out the haulers and to just flip a u-turn and come back out that entrance when we were done. As we drove down the street, Ethan was definitely stoked to see the haulers of some of his favorite racers such as Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez, and Chase Briscoe. He just couldn't get enough! Eventually though, we had to turn around and exit the track.

Fast forward to Saturday. As far as I knew, I definitely had nothing NASCAR-related on the agenda and that was ok. With Bethany and the kids having a playdate at the park, I figured it was a fantastic time for me to get a much-needed haircut. Keeping that in mind, I headed to my local Sport Clips as soon as it opened to get just that. Upon my arrival, I took my seat in the lobby and waited for my stylist to call me back. As I waited, I took note of the guy who came in just before me as he situated himself in the big chair. As he took off his cap, I began to think he looked vaguely familiar. I then started searching through my memory banks until I thought I knew who it was. With that, I finally spoke up and asked, "This may be a weird thing to ask, but are you Chase Briscoe?"

For those not in the know, Chase Briscoe is the driver of the #14 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. In other words, not a normal person to see in the local Sport Clips just a mile from my home. Sure enough though, the man turned his head to look at me and said, "Yes, I sure am." That was definitely the beginning of one of the more random experiences of my life which resulted in me getting to have a legitimate back and forth conversation with one of my favorite NASCAR Cup drivers while getting haircuts at the same time. Before he left to head to the track, Chase even took the time to take a quick photo with me just so I could prove to Bethany and the kids that the encounter really did happen. I honestly can't brag on the guy enough as a person. While it would have been totally understandable for him to want to just keep to himself, he actually asked a lot of questions about me and wanted to know about my family and stuff. Just a super cool and humble guy overall.

On Sunday, obviously, the biggest NASCAR-related thing of the day was the actual race. While we certainly made plans to watch the race, I also had something else in store for the kids. That was a trip to Andy's Frozen Custard in Liberty to see an actual show car. Unlike Friday, this was actually a successful trip in multiple fashions. For one thing, both Ellie and Bethany were along for the ride in this instance. For another, the two of them got to share a $2 sundae during our time there. The really exciting thing though was the kids getting a chance to see a NASCAR race car up close. While Ethan was oddly sad about the experience, it was awesome to see Ellie having fun.

Overall, I'd say that weekend was certainly full of NASCAR-themed experiences and a rousing success overall. Ok, if I'm being honest, I could have done nothing else the entire weekend and just been excited about meeting Chase Briscoe. I'm a fan, what can I say?

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,499 - Everything is Awesome...at Legoland

"Everything is Awesome!"

I'm sure just saying those three words has that particular earworm burrowing deep inside the head of anyone who reads them. Just as a reminder, that song originated with The Lego Movie all the way back in 2014. Unbelievable that it was that long ago, right? While neither of my kids have ever seen the movie, Ethan can now say that he's visited an entire world of Lego. That's right; last Thursday, Ethan and I made our way to downtown Kansas City to visit Legoland!

Truth be told, we'd never actually had a strong desire to visit Legoland and our kids were relatively unaware of its existence. In fact, when I told Ethan where were going, his only response was "Ok." However, with the fundraiser card we purchased from Ellie's school this year having a BOGO coupon on it, there was no reason not for Ethan and me to visit.

As soon as we arrived at Legoland, Ethan began to get more excited upon seeing what all was there. The very first thing that we did upon our arrival was take part in the Stunt Champion Challenge. Ethan and I both built the very best car that we could and tested it on a variety of race tracks to see how well it would last. While they didn't do very well on the first build, we didn't give up and kept building and building until we reached a final design that we were very happy with. In case you're wondering, that design also crumbled into pieces each time we sent it down a test track. It looked cool though and I think that's the most important thing.

After that, Ethan and I headed into the Lego 4D Cinema for a showing of the LEGO Ninjago Movie. It was actually really cool as the theater had wind machines, water misters, and lights synced up  to operate in conjecture with what we were seeing on the screen. Ethan, for his part, was absolutely astonished the first time we started getting wet as the Lego bird we viewed on the screen flew through a waterfall. All together, there were three different films that showed on rotation throughout the day and we made sure to see every single one since they all were only about 15 minutes long.

After our first trip to the LEGO 4D Cinema, Ethan wanted to spend some time playing on the giant indoor playground. After doing that for around 20 minutes, Ethan was ready for a new adventure. With that in mind, I decided it was time for us to hit up the rides that Legoland had to offer. The first on our list was Kingdom Quest. Ethan and I were shown to a car on a fixed track. Once we climbed inside, we were handed a light gun and began to fire at the variety of targets we saw along the route. Personally, this was one of my favorite things about Legoland and Ethan enjoyed it a lot as well.

Next on our agenda was to check out the second ride, Merlin's Apprentice. Ethan and I climbed into our seats and strapped in for the ride. Once the ride began, as long as we pedaled the bicycle pedals in front of us very hard and fast, our seats would rise all the way up to the ceiling of the building. Stop pedaling and they would start dropping down to the ground. Honestly, this was Ethan's favorite part of the entire experience. We had to ride it four times and it was actually the last thing we did before going home.

The last, and honestly most impressive part of Legoland had to be Miniland. This was a section of Legoland where replicas of Kansas City's famous landmarks had been built using Lego bricks. Some landmarks featured included each of Kansas City's sports stadiums and the entire downtown area. The Kansas Speedway replica was probably Ethan's favorite as it allowed you to push buttons and make race cars speed around the track. We clearly spent a lot of time at that display.

Altogether, I'd say that our day at Legoland was a success. Even a walk through the gift shop proved pretty fun as I found something I lowkey want for Christmas. If you're searching for the perfect gift, you're welcome!

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,491 - The One From Saturday About Ellie

Ellie kind of gets the short end of things from time-to-time. A product of her spending her days at school and me being a stay-at-home dad with Ethan is that he gets to go and have adventures that she misses out on. While she's cool with it for the most part, there are definitely those instances where she feels tinges of jealousy towards her younger brother. As a parent, it's definitely hard to see that and not feel responsible. As a result, I try to include her in short errands that I have to run on evenings or weekends. While they may not be the most exciting things in the world, I like to think that it helps her and makes her feel valued.

A pretty accurate depiction of Ellie anytime she hears about Ethan and me having an adventure.

All of that being said, there is one good thing about Ellie being older than Ethan and that is that sometimes she gets the opportunity to do something special later in the evening that Ethan wouldn't be allowed to stay up for. One of those things happened on Saturday night as Ellie and I headed to the "Light the Night" Easter Egg Hunt.

The key word in the name of that event is "Light" because that draws attention to the fact that this wasn't just any ordinary Easter Egg Hunt. Instead, it was a glow-in-the-dark Easter Egg Hunt taking place at night! The Hunt took place at Northland Cathedral, which is a church near our house. While we had seen the event advertised for several years, this was the first year that we felt Ellie was old enough to stay up and take part as the hunting portion of the evening doesn't even start until 8:30!

Around 7:45 pm, Ellie and I piled into the Traverse and drove the short distance to Northland Cathedral where we found ourselves in a huge throng of people. While I knew that this was a heavily attended event, I really didn't have any idea how popular it was. There were literally hundreds of people there! The first thing we did upon arriving was sign in and get Ellie's wristband which would assign her to one of three egg hunting courses based upon her age. Then, we wandered over to the main stage area (yes, there was literally a stage for this event!) and found a place to hang out until things began at 8:00.

Once 8:00 arrived, the Northland Cathedral Kids Dance Crew took the stage and proceeded to lead the audience in worship and dance. Following that, there was a drawing that took place for prizes. While Ellie was noticeably disappointed to not win, I was secretly relieved. After all, I don't know what she would do with a longboard skateboard or an electric scooter. Next on the event was Northland Cathedral's youth minister, Joe, who delivered a message for those in attendance. While I've already forgotten the message, I certainly remember the awesome science experiment that accompanied it which resulted in green foam exploding out of the largest beaker I have ever seen.

Finally, it was time for the Egg Hunt to being. Ellie took her place at her designated area and waited for the command to begin. While she waited patiently, I took a minute to gaze at all of the eggs, blinking and flashing under the dark night sky. Finally, the command was issued, and the kids were off. Before I knew what had happened, Ellie completely disappeared into the mass of humanity in a frantic search for eggs. As quickly as it began, the hunt was over. Ellie happily wandered back over to me with a bucket overflowing with glowing Easter Eggs. Her biggest fear heading into the Hunt was only getting one or two eggs and I was happy to see that her fear was unfounded.

With that, we headed to the car and headed home to take stock of Ellie's find and get her into bed as it was nearly 9:00 pm. While that's not late for some kids, it certainly is for ours. That being said, part of being the older sibling is getting the opportunity to occasionally break bedtime for a cool outing with Mom or Dad. Seems like a pretty good deal to me; doesn't it you?

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,489 - The One From Saturday About Ethan (Mostly)

One of my favorite things right now is seeing Ethan's love of anything and everything with wheels. It's not uncommon for our house to be absolutely littered with toy cars in each room which can make walking safely quite a chore. One really cool thing though is that one of the last times we were at my parents, Ethan and I actually found my childhood stash of Hot Wheels toy cars. Of course, he brought the lot of them home to Kansas City with him which means he is actually playing with the same cars that I played with as a child. Crazy, right? While Ethan getting excited about toy cars is one thing, one has to wonder exactly how he'd respond if he got to see real-life versions of his favorite Hot Wheels cars. Well, after last Saturday, wonder no more.

Saturday was a fairly busy time for our family between dying our own Easter eggs at home (a favorite tradition in our household) and going to an Easter egg/cookout that our church was putting on. However, following that, Bethany and I had made plans to surprise Ethan by taking him to the birthday party of one of his friends. Now, you may wonder why we didn't tell him. It's because this party was unlike any other birthday party I've ever seen. It was actually a car show!  You see, Ethan's friend, Maverick, is also really into cars. Knowing that, his mom decided to reach out to the community via Facebook and was able to organize a car show in the parking lot of our local AMC Theater for Maverick and his friends to enjoy.

Just getting Ethan to the car show was quite the experience. We were definitely struggling to keep the little man awake as he was exhausted after his big morning of egg-related fun. However, as we pulled into the parking lot, Ethan's tiredness seemed to vanish almost immediately and was replaced by excitement. We parked the car and after a quick check-in with Maverick's mom, we began to wander the lot.

It didn't take long for Ethan to find the car of his dreams. As we walked by the very first car, much to Bethany's shock, Ethan exclaimed, "Look, a Ferrari!" while jumping up and down in excitement. From there, we continued on down the parking lot checking out the wide variety of cars represented in the show. When we reached the end of the show, we asked Ethan if there were any cars he wanted to see again. He replied, "Follow me," and led us back to the red Ferrari. This time, however, the owner let Ethan and Ellie take turns climbing behind the wheel of the car and even let them honk the horn. I didn't have the heart to tell Ethan that this would probably be the only time he sits behind the wheel of a Ferrari. Instead, I just let him bask in the moment.

By the time we left the party, Ethan had made at least four walks through the car show. While he found other cars he really enjoyed, such as a lemon-yellow Honda Civic or a silver Dodge Challenger with orange racing stripes, nothing occupies a place in his heart like that Ferrari. On a positive note, even if we can't get him the real thing, at least he has my Hot Wheels version to enjoy each and every day at home.

#DaddyWrite

See, Ellie matters too!