You ever notice the tone of voice of the news presenters on the nightly news and the adjectives they use? You would think the world is going to end tomorrow. I even hear it on the BBC. They even try to color the news so it sounds bad. You know what? I don't think it is the journalists fault. I think people like this. People want to hear bad news about impending doom. The only people who like no risk and want calm are big financier investors and we all know how boring they are.
So, no need to read this post. Because I have no bad news for you.
What was I going to tell you?
Oh yeah. Summer was great. I had a fantastic time with my girls all of July at my Mother`s cottage.
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| (Credit: Picture by Ann Post) |
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| (Credit: Picture by Ann Post) |
Yep, that is my older girl driving the boat. No she didn't crash it, though I thought she might. Wish i had some pictures of them swimming, but I used those last year.
In three words, everything was wonderful. It was especially wonderful when my older girl learned how to swim under water without breathing in water, albeit holding her nose. We will work on that.
The weather was great most every day. While everyone else in the US and Europe was in a heat wave , we had cooler weather with wind from the lake and in the woods. We went swimming practically everyday. I let them watch their favorite cartoon shows, "Arthur", "Wildkratts", "Dinosaur Train" and they liked watching Sesame Street which makes me happy because I remember watching it when I was their age.
We went to the bigger beach on the bay a couple times, pictured above, Bryant Park. The second time we had big waves which were great fun. I let them eat potato chips and drink root beer (one can of bio organic root beer shared between them) once a day. We had pizza a couple times, but more often wonderful Michigan corn on the cob which they really love. They played board games with their Grandma and got to know Grandma better and vice versa. Neighbors took them for a boat ride on the lake pictured above. They went to bed a bit later because the sun went to bed later there too. I read to them every night... I could go on, and on, but I think you get the point.
In other words, it was a perfectly, wonderful vacation. Every day of it. There was no tension or riveting bad news (except when there was a severe thunderstorm which might have been a small hurricane which knocked out the power for two days, Maybe I should write that tale of that "horrid" experience). There was no doom and gloom. In other words, by journalists standards it was probably boring to tears. But isn't that what life is like? I mean the really, awful newsworthy plot twists just happen like a blip and are gone. Most of life is just "normal" and "boring" and routine, but that is where most of life takes place.
So, if you are looking for the nightly news, "topping tonight's news a car crash, a fire ball explosion, a landslide, people beheaded, a scandal, corruption", OK, go ahead my friend, you can train to be James Bond 007. But for the real meat and potatoes of life, all you have to do is wake up, get out of bed, drive a comb across your head, put on your clothes, hopefully eat your breakfast and brush your teeth and walk out the door, the same as you do every morning. And THAT will be life. And THAT will be wonderful.
OK, now the message for stay at home dads, or dads that want to spend more time with their kids: Dudes, I spent a month by myself with my young girls. Yes, my Mother (their Grandma) put in valuable assistance and support, but their Mother was not there. If I can do it, you can too. And I took them on a plane ride half way around the world to get there. But... don't wait for next summer, spend quantity and quality time with your kids this weekend, tomorrow, right now. And then when next summer comes, plan the big kahuna vacation with them, just you and them. You can do it.
My kids love this show and it is good educational TV.
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