Build Time

This weekend the girls and I built stuff together. Clara and I built a lamp on Friday and on Saturday we went to the Lowes Build and Grow session.

The lamp idea came about becasue Clara asked me if we could build a lamp. I think she asked because we got Kelly a new lamp for her birthday. I bought the materials at Lowes, which could be the subject of a whole other post. She helped me epoxy the socket to the shade, cut the rod, and drill the holes for the base. She did really well and you can check out our result below. Lindy wants to build a lamp now also.


It works!



I have always gone by Lowes and seen that you can sign up to build all these little projects. This last weekend was a pirate ship. I asked Clara if she wanted to go with me and she said "No." Lindy, the sensitive one, looked and me comfortingly and said she would go with me. I thought she might be too young for it, but could not deny her attempt to comfort me after the rejection by me eldest. I told Lindy that she could. Then Clara's sense of sibling rivalry kicked and she wanted to go also. I signed her up also. We got there a little before 10am because it said on the website it was only the first 50 would get to participate. We were the first ones there. The holes for the ships were all predrilled so you could just set the nail in the hole and hammer it in. A good idea to protect little fingers. Clara and Lindy did a great job putting together their ships. They hit every nail at least once. I had to help a few times to get the nail in all the way. At first the girls were timid about hitting the nail, but by the end of the build they were swinging with all their might. Clara was a real pro by the end. They each got a ship, apron, saftey goggles, and a badge for their apron. It was a really cool experience.

Arrrr!

Father Time

Father's Day is so much fun. I got this cool led light from church. I can pull the light apart and a retractable string keeps it attached to my belt loop. How awesome is that? Allow me to tell you if you do not already know it is very awesome. You can never have too many flashlights. Speaking of gifts Kelly bought a some hair clippers so she can give me hair cuts for life. The kids bought me some pack of cards. They are so sweet. For dinner Kelly made Chow Mein and a Cheerwine cake for dessert. The cake had a cream cheese/fluff icing. It was delicious. The Chow Mein was quite tasty also. I have a great family.

My plate...yum!



The Chicken Chow Mein


My piece of Cheerwine cake. To make it you add a can of Cheerwine soda to a cake mix and stir. Then bake it. You can do this with any kind of soda I think.

Mountain Time

We went to Pisgah National Forest this Wednesday. I remember going there as a kid and wanted to take the kids up. There is plenty to do up there and it costs very little. I called my dad and asked him about directions to the picnic area we went to as kids. After getting the directions we packed up the car the next day and headed over. Needless to say we missed the turn and had to backtrack about 15 minutes, but it was a good chance for the kids to try out the dvd player in the van. Clara loves it. We got there and I showed everyone the picnic area, which by the way has changed since I was last there over a decade ago. Does that mean I am old now? The picnic tables were made out of huge pieces of lumber. The place where me and Matt would build a dam is gone. The river even looks the same. The cool part about the picnic area is that the river splits near there and there are two streams. The one next to the picnic area is fairly calm, cold as ice but calm. If you cross through it to the other side you will see a rock cliff and a pool beneath. Most kids like to go up and jump off into the pool which is fairly deep. I jumped it as a teenager. There were some kids and teenagers jumping it. Clara decided that she wanted to jump it. She asked me and I told her we would go up and check it out, I knew that she would not go. I did not want to crush her spirit. The cliff was about ten or twelve feet from the pool. I was impressed that she even suggested it. She took a Zoe tube with her up there. We made out way up the cliff to check it out. She said she wanted to jump, but better judgement ruled the day and we decided to hold off until she was older. Also some rangers came by and suggested she not jump. The weired part was that they were dry, and to get to where they were you had to cross water. She got off the cliff with her pride intact. Just going up there took a ton of courage and I am proud of her for being brave.

Then we went to sliding rock and she and I both slid three times. The second time we both went under water and she freaked. I thought she would not go a third, but did and went under again. That was it for her. Thank goodness, because I was freezing at that point.

Finally we stopped at Looking Glass Falls. The girls liked seeing the falls I think, but were tired so we did not stay long. The only pictures we have are at the falls. It was too hard to wrangle the kids and keep a camera dry anywhere else.


Looking glass falls


Clara and Lindy in front of the falls.


Me and the girls in front of the falls, picture courtesy of ten second delay shot. Kelly was with Charlie who was sleeping in the car.

Park Time

We went to the park this morning. It has been rainy the last few days and I have been wanting to go for a walk with the family some morning. It was nice this morning so I thought this would be a perfect moment. The girls enjoyed it and Charlie had to climb every bench. It was nice. Clara searched for treasure around the fountain, we found some there one time and she has to search every time we go by it. Lindy contented herself with pushing her buddies around in the stroller. Here are some pictures from our outing.


Lindy taking a break by the fountain.


Charlie restrained from climbing into the fountain.


Clara posing by the fountain.



Charlie being cute by a tree.



We found this "growing" in the mulch of one of the trees. Neither Kelly nor I could identify it. However, I am pretty sure it is the initial landing force of an alien race.


Panorama of the park that I made using Windows Live Gallery.

Reading Time

I teach English Language Arts. I work hard to teach my students about the language they speak, write, and read. I teach for many reasons one of which is that I believe reading is important. Reading is integral to our society. You have to read street signs and you have insurance policies to read (however if you are like me the document more of a cure for insomnia than anything else). If you can read you can learn how to do nearly anything. It may not give you the skill to do it, but it gives you a basic understanding. It is really hard to convince seventh graders that reading is important. My job is to help raise reading levels to the next grade. I and the teachers I work with buys books on subjects that they are interested in. Teachers have worked for decades to help their students read.

Then I read this. I have to believe that Mr. West made this comment purely to be contrary, and "cool". He apparently has a habit of making controversial comments, I base this on my extensive research. I am very frustrated by this rapper. This celebrity is undermining every teacher that has ever said, "Reading is important". This person must be prevented from spreading a message of illiteracy/alliteracy to youth. I don't know how to do it, but I bet there is a book where I can find out how to.