Cliff Jumping

This summer seems to have two themes. Jumping from high places and fixing crap. I'll explain the latter on a different post. The jumping started early this summer when we had taken the kids to Lake Coeur d'Alene and both kids stated jumping off a high dock with the other kids. That led to a hike around the lake to some cliffs (or "clifts" as Abby continues to call them). It was at those cliffs that Abby and Caleb impressed a bunch of teenagers with their bravery. They were hooked after that. Now every time we get on the boat, both kids are in search of more cliffs.

Surfing in Maui

In Maui I learned the secret to surfing in the ocean: Weigh 50 lbs or less! Caleb and Abby both loved learning how to surf.  I scouted a few businesses that taught people how to surf and then Caleb and I rented a surfboard and tried to stay within ear distance while they taught the basics of surfing.   We then hung out at a great learning area with small consistent waves. With a little push to get him going, Caleb was easily surfing for 100 yards plus.  The hardest part was him trying to get the 9-foot board back out past the breaking waves.  He beat at the waves until I body surfed in to help him get back out to the rolling waves.
  Abby joined us on the second day of surfing and surprisingly she loved it.  She seems to think that all surfers keep their hands fixed in the 'hang loose' sign,  constantly posing while on the surf board. She did great. I'm now a proud papa of two surfers.

First Day of School Fall 2011

Both Caleb, 9,  and Abby, 7,  have been excited for a few weeks to return to school.  Abby was especially excited to be at school for the full day and enjoy the fine cuisine of the elementary cafeteria and of course, recess.  Hearing her talk about recess makes me miss recess!

  As a parent, I couldn't be more proud of how well they are doing in school.  They both are confident and happy to start the adventure of a new school year.

  The night before the 1st day of school I had a nice chat with both Caleb and Abby separately.  Abby told me that she was nervous that she didn't know everyone in her class.  And sometimes it takes her a long time to learn every kids' names.  I assured her that she'd learn their names soon enough.  Ever the social butterfly, it will only be a matter of days before her new teacher will be asking Abby to not be chit-chatting during work-time.

  Caleb and I had a nice chat about swear words.  I asked Caleb if he knew what swear words were and if he hears them much.  Caleb likes to pretend to be much more innocent than he really is, like he's never heard any cuss words.  When I asked him if he knew any swear words, his smooth answer was, "they always beep out the words, so I don't know what they're saying".  We went over many swear words and their respective definitions with the instructions that he never use them.  We'll see how well that works out.

 Monica and I have taken advantage of the free day-care and warm weather by spending the last few days together, including a great day of just floating on the boat staring into each others eyes.

Maybe Jail is a Possibility for Caleb

When I named this blog 'Keeping Toddlers out of Jail', I did it with a little jest and the idea that I've set the bar low for my parenting skills. Turns out, I may have been more accurate than I had hoped. Both Caleb, 8, and Abby, 6, have given us reasons to be concerned.

Last fall, I took a trip to San Francisco with some buddies to see Gonzaga's basketball team play. It's a trip that we've made for a couple years and it's always a blast. While gone, Monica and I text each other frequently. We're texting addicts and we love to keep each other informed as well as send fun messages.

On one evening in San Fran I got a phone call from Mon, which is slightly unusual since we text so much. When I answered she started screaming to me how Caleb had lit the living room on fire. My first question was whether the room was still on fire? She said she had put in out with the fire extinguisher, but that the house was full of smoke. She finally calmed down enough to let me know what had happened.

While Monica was upstairs taking a shower, Caleb decided to make a fire. We heat our home mostly with a wood stove and Caleb has built fires before in the stove, but under parental supervision. During the colder months, we have a fire going all day and all night. Caleb has been taught the rules of a safety around fires, both in the house and at camp fires. But he decided to take our cardboard box full of paper trash, (junk mail, paper trash, old homework, etc) that we use to start the fires, place it on the brick hearth and see if it would burn. And burn it did! We're told that the flame reached up near our eight-foot ceiling. Abby and Caleb made a few attempts at putting out the fire with some cups of water before Abby ran upstairs and started yelling at Monica that there was a fire in the living room.

It's easy to understand that Monica did not take the screaming very serious at first since A) Abby has a flare for the dramatic, B) There is always a fire in the living room and C) Couldn't this wait until after the shower? Mon did get out of the shower and went downstairs in her towel to see the entire paper-box engulfed in flames. Mon made a quick, smart decision and grabbed the fire extinguisher which sits next to the fireplace and sprayed out the fire.

With the average heart rate of 220 between the kids and Monica, she knew that everyone was safe but that the house was completely full of smoke and that our son would be sorely missed while attending military school. (But not as sore as his backside would be had I been home). Several days later the scent of smoke was all gone. The biggest mess turned out to be the detergent that the fire extinguisher expelled all over the hearth.

Caleb was traumatized and threatened to run away for a few days, but rest assured, he won't be playing with fire anytime soon.

You can see the little cup that the kids used in their first attempt at putting out the fire

This the box sitting on the back deck waiting for me when I got home from San Francisco.

2/26/2011 2nd Grade YMCA Basketball Sonics vs Wolfpack

One of the parents on Caleb's basketball team made this video of their team. They are the green
team and call themselves the Sonics (which I personally think is like putting some salt in the wound). They're a great team. There is a little footage of Caleb in the video. He's number 4. Around the 3:00 mark, Caleb takes the rebound coast to coast for a shot.
It's been a blast watching him play again this year. It's a different league than in years past and has been really good for him to play for a good coach and with other players of his level.

Caleb's Highlights Video Ages 0-8

Here's my new creation. It makes me very proud to see all the things that Caleb likes to do. I'm very blessed to have two perfect children.

They YouTube advertisements cover up some of my fancy editing, so it's better to watch on Youtube's site and then close out the ads as they pop up.

Caleb Wakeboarding

Though it's been a fairly cool summer, we've still managed to spend a good amount of time at our favorite summer place, Loon Lake. Monica's parents have a place out there on the water that provides us with ample opportunity for all kinds of water sports. We had many days at the lake this summer, but the highlight has to be watching Caleb, 8, learn to wakeboard. He showed some interest in wakeboarding after watching some of my wakeboarding DVD's this last winter and as the weather got warmer, he kept talking about it. So for my birthday, I bought Caleb and Abby a wakeboard. Abby decided to stick mostly to kneeboarding, but Caleb was excited to learn how to wakeboard. He tried many times over several days, only tolerating a few crashes at a time before getting back in the boat. But he never got discouraged and was eager to try again the next time out on the boat. He eventually started to pick it up and before we knew it, he was wakeboarding for a few minutes at a time.

It's always emotional for me to see my kids accomplish something new. I feel like a sap of a parent as I cheer them on from the outside, but bursting with tears on the inside. And watching Caleb wakeboard was no different. Caleb especially loves to wakeboard when we have guests on the boat. He's becoming quite the ham (He must get that from his Mom). Though he tries to maintain a serious look on his face and it takes all the energy he has to not let show his big cheesy grin. It's quite the site and once again makes me feel very thankful for he and Abby in my life.

Caleb's iPod

For Caleb's birthday we bought him an ipod itouch. While your picking your jaw up off the ground wondering why I would spend more than $15 on my kids birthday gift, let me attempt to justify the purchase. We don't have a game console like a Wii or an Xbox and the $200 iPod and the hundreds of free or $1 games is much cheaper in the long run. Caleb has been playing with my iPhone for a long time it had become quite annoying that he always had my phone. It's been amazing how fast he's learned to navigate around my phone. I'm not sure if that means that Apple makes very user-friendly products or that Caleb is a genius? The clincher on buying the iTouch was that he was able to send texts while in wifi range. I knew that he'd love to communicate with me, Monica, and his extended family via text and since he's had it, he's struck up funny conversations with his Grandpa Wallace and other family members. On this first night with his text capabilities, he chatted with me a few times while I was at work and then ended the texting chat with "I'm going to sleep now. P.S. don't text me back." How cool is that?

He's learned all about his new toy since he had it and has even stated teaching me things. Compared to the other toys that's he's gotten that only keep his attention for a few days, he's always wanting to play with his iPod. Which brings me to the last reason that we bought him an ipod touch, leverage. With even a simple threat of taking away is iPod, we're seeing an great amount of behavior improvements. He's even doing his chores more! It may sound mean to some (probably people without kids), but leverage works great with kids. Just ask Santa Claus.

Tooth fairy

Caleb, 7, had been close to loosing one of his front teeth for a couple weeks. I had offered to pull the tooth out using various methods we researched on youtube, but Caleb was insistent that he wanted his tooth to come out at school where the kids receive a special box to take it home.

A few days ago, Caleb came home from school with his cheesy grin missing a key ingredient. He explained to us that he had pulled the tooth out himself in the bathroom and had also administered the first-aid needed while alone? A curious story in itself, but we didn't pry much. He was very excited though, enough to overcome the lack of 'special boxes' that the school had apparently run out. He was mostly focused on the arrival of the tooth fairly.

Monica has a cute little bag that the kids put their dead teeth in when placing them under the pillows before night, and that night was no exception. What did change that evening was Abby, 5, caught a case of the barfo-rama's that kept Mon and I up every hour or so through the night. (We're still training Abby to throw up in the toilet or a bowl...and though she's getting better, 'close' doesn't really count in the throw-up game).

As we all woke up and started our morning routine, Caleb came up to Mon and me in the kitchen and announced that the tooth fairy had forgotten him! Whoops! Mon and I immediatly shared some eye contact full of shame, we had completely forgotten about Caleb's tooth. Crisis-control took over and I started to fumble out some sort of story for Caleb as Monica ran upstairs to remedy the situation. Mon quickly placed some money under Caleb's pillow, but not before she found this letter on his bed:

For those who are 1st grader illiterate, it says:

Dear tooth fairy, why did you not come to me and get my tooth.

Write on the back of the paper. P.S. I hope you get my tooth.

Now let's all let out a collective sigh. Ahhhhhhhh.

Mon couldn't bear to write on the same paper (which was promptly held for future generations) and along with the money, wrote a note from the tooth fairy that stated that the tooth fairy was sorry she was late but she didn't want to bother your sister, Abby, while she was sick.

The crisis was averted. But I have to wonder how much longer we can pull this stuff off with our kids.

Sports time

I've been catching a lot of slack for not updating the family blog. But I'm getting back on the horse...or is it the bandwagon?...whatever it is that I'm suppose to get on..I'm on it!!! That didn't sound right either.
Sports!! I love sports, and both Caleb, 7 and Abby, 5 are getting there fill of sports these days. We've tried to take advantage of living in the 'big city' by following the local teams. There are teams that most of you outside Spokane have never heard of, but to Caleb, the best player on Spokane Chiefs Hockey team might as well be Wayne Gretzky.
The downside? Every team has some sort of cheerleader or dance team, and it's those dancing chicks in short skirts that seem to make the biggest impact on Abby. Shortly after high school (when I did love watching the cheerleaders), my brother and I both agreed that cheerleading should have no part of sporting events, they're just a nuisance really. And I also feel that it's a little degrading to women to have them wear their skimpy outfits and jump up and down in front of the crowds....oh, I sound so mean, I know. And because of my cruel thoughts, how has karma paid me back? It made my daughter fall in love with the idea of being a cheerleader...now that's mean! What's happened to my brother, you ask? He's only parented boys thus far, but how sweet would it be if one of those boys was a cheerleader? Sorry bro.
This winter, we even decided to let Monica join us for a sporting event and invited her to come to a hockey game with us. She was a good-luck-charm for the team though, not only did they score six goals (free Chalupas for everyone!!), but one player scored three goals for the first hat-trick on the team in years!
Basketball season is now upon us and Caleb and we have some sweet systems when watching local high school teams. Remember that my love for sports is quickly followed by my love to not spend money. We either try and get in the gym during the J.V. game, avoiding having to pay, or use other methods of free admission (which may or may not include Caleb walking past the ticket window as a little innocent boy and running to the other side of the gym and opening the door for pops!)

Abby "cheering" at a Lady Gonzaga game. My idea of showing her that girls can play the sports too backfired after she was given these pom poms.

I think Wayne Gretzky is down there playing?

Great looking fam!..celebrating free Chalupas from Taco Bell

At a minor league baseball game last summer

Safety Second

As an ICU nurse, I catch a little slack from docs and nurses about letting my kids ride there 4-wheeler and motorcycle, but I don't think I'd have it any other way. I won't bore anyone with my opinion of our "safety first" society and how it's smothering our own kids' confidence as well as there sense of adventure, but please note, I'm not in agreement. I'm more of a "laugh-first, safety-second Dad.

The new ride this summer is the Honda CRX 50. I bought it off Craigslist last Christmas for a smokin' deal, but it took me about 8 months to get it running (remember that I am a nurse). Caleb has taken to the motorcycle with a lot of excitement, and it's been a fairly easy transition from his 4-wheeler. It only took a couple times of falling over to remember when he stops, the needs to put his feet on the ground.

Abby has been wanting to ride the 4 wheeler for a couple years now, but this summer was the first time that we let her drive around without me running behind her. She does a great job and is loving every second. Her biggest challenge is when the camera comes out, she's more interested in posing for the photo rather then watching where she's going (see video).

Some videos from Wallace Park

Kneebording summer

Our typical day at the lake started by doing some yard maintenance then heading out on the boat. As good parents, we let the kids play first, but that meant we had to bring out the dreaded tubes. I realize that for most people, tubes are a blast. They're easy to ride, can be a ton of fun, and require no teaching/learning. But for those of us who frequent the lake a lot, tubes can also be a total drag (get it?) They hog up time and gas, all the kids want to ride them going slightly faster than a walking pace, and frankly it's boring to watch.

The last month of the summer I heard a friend of mine explain that had the same feelings about tubes and had made the rule on his boat that his kids had to do anything else, whether is being wake boarding, knee boarding or even just dragged behind the boat with only a rope, all before the tube riding began. It was great idea and I gave it life on our boat and it worked like a charm.

Not only did the kids love to knee board, but the last few times this summer, we didn't even bring the tubes with us...blissful times. Here's the proof

And video evidence

He Speaks!

Caleb, 6, was picked for a speaking part as his Kindergarten program this week. It was a short line that we practiced for a couple weeks. "My friends are together through sunshine and shade" was said hundreds of times in our home. For some reason, the phrase doesn't really roll off the tongue. And both Caleb and myself would frequently say, "My friends are together through shunshine and sade". We must of sounded like George Sr. and George W. Bush practicing presidential speeches. After much coaching to say his line slowly and clearly, this was the result....

Nailed it!

****Reminder that you can't view videos from email, you must visit the blog website*****

Big Girly Bunny

Every year at this time, I find myself lying to my children again about the whole Easter Bunny story. Who came up with this character?...and what was he smoking? At least the Santa Claus story was thought out and makes sense...in a fairy-tale-way. But a bunny that breaks into every one's home and hides their eggs? At ages where questions need to be answered, my kids have lots of questions about the huge bunny and I have no answers.
Would I be a bad Dad by telling them it's all a hoax? Would telling the truth about the bunny carry-over to ruining Christmas? Would this increase the chances of my kids ending up in jail?
Another interesting foot note about the bunny in our family is that Caleb, 6, refers to the Easter Bunny in the feminine. "How does she get into the house?" Or "How does she get to every house in the world in one night?" When we asked him why he thought the Easter Bunny was a girl today, he held up a decorative bunny, wearing pastel-colored clothes, with pink and yellow flowers, and said in a matter-of-fact tone, "would a boy wear these clothes?" Well said my son, well said.

Back From Suspension

And we're back. My suspension is over. I'd like to apologize to all my fans who missed me....and tell them to get a life.

Caleb's basketball season came to an end. We all had a great time watching him this year. I'm a little biased, but the kid is a natural. He dominated those 5-6 year olds.

Here's a quick look at the last few weeks. (As always, you must actually visit the blog site Keeping Toddlers out of Jail, to view the videos) We have become a skiing family. I've started to take Abby and she became quite good in a short time. I'm pretty sure of her motivation when she frequently asked questions like "where does Caleb ski? I want to go there" or "does Caleb go as fast as me?". With the huge amounts of snow, we spent "spring" break skiing as a family. It was the first time we've all been together on the slopes and it was loads of fun. We had one day of fresh snow and another day of sunshine, a perfect way to end the season.

Our one mishap happened the first time up a different chair-lift for Abby. Getting off the chair was a little more steep than she was use to and when Abby saw the drop off she clung to the chair. So as I got off, Abby stayed on the chair screeching as she took a ride above me. The lift operator stopped the chair lift and I was able to get able to jump into my out-stretched arms.

One funny thing that I've seen both Caleb and Abby do is sing while they ski. During particularly long runs, I've overheard both kids, when alone, singing. It's both very cute and quite odd at the same time.

Caleb and I scored a few tickets to watch the Harlem Globetrotters. They put on a great show for the kids. The Washington Generals put up a great fight, but came up a little short again. Maybe next game Generals.

Monica did a show in Portland, which meant it was single-parent time for yours truly. It was week full of Ramon and Chef Boardee products. Good times.

My frugalness (most call it being cheap) has continued to become a part our lives. We have stocked up on food and supplies for dirt cheap prices. I've found several websites that list deals at pharmacies and grocery stores and then taken advantage of what's available in our area. It has taken some time, and I still have a lot to learn, but I'm totally hooked on free toothpaste, free burgers and all the other sweet deals. The picture of the cans of soup was a sweet deal I found at Albertsons. After the coupons and instant rebates, I made $10!

We've made a long term goal of sailing for a year starting in the summer of 2017. Rough estimates have been discussed on how much money we'll need, hence the need to save more. I've always wanted to travel with my kids to other parts of the world for a variety of reasons and sailing seems like a natural way to accomplish that goal for an extended period of time. And yes, Monica has agreed to come.

The purchase of a sailboat has morphed into the perfect excuse to not spend money. Every time we tell the kids 'no', they respond by asking if we're still saving money to buy a big sail boat. The excuse may have reached it's limit yesterday when Caleb came and told me he's figured out a way to get lots of money to buy our sailboat, "you just have to put all your jewelry into an envelope and send it in!"

With the snow melting, home projects have started around our place. Among them are a total remodel of the kids' bathroom, new counter tops and back splash in the kitchen, painting the walls in several rooms, creating a space for Monica to teach Piano in the den, finishing touches on the shop, and a continued quest for a soccer/base ball field at Wallace park.

I've even had to expand my remodel skills into the world of plumbing. Hopefully we won't have a waterfall into the living room every time the kids take a shower.

In case an moles are reading this blog, (not people who lie to others, actual moles) this is your final warning. Stay away from our property or prepare to take a long dirt nap.

John Stockton Jr.

My son Caleb, 6, is playing in a basketball league this winter. It's a league sponsored by a local Christian church. It's been a fun time for the whole family. The league is very well organized with an exciting introduction before each game, full uniforms and even cheerleaders. For those girls who aren't interested in playing basketball, they have cheer leading starting as young as age 5.

The league has set up a tunnel that all the players run through during team introductions. They put out smoke, play some cool music and then all the parents line up for the kids to run by. It's quite a scene and the kids soak it up. I'm sure it does wonders for all the kids' confidence for them to feel like the entire gym is cheering for them.

Basketball has a special place in my heart and I'm excited to share my love for the game with him. We've gone to several high school games (if we go during the J.V. games, we don't have to pay to watch the varsity game afterword) and we also watch games together on television.

He's had a great time playing in this league and has really been a blast to watch. Even though Basketball at his level is very difficult to watch. It's a sport that requires a lot of coordination and an understanding of all the rules. Soccer and tee ball are much more simple to teach and play at his age. That said (and of course I'm very biased), Caleb has really excelled on his team. He's learning more fundamentals each week and more importantly, he's being aggressive. Most kids at his age are quite shy when playing sports. But Caleb has a drive in him that causes him to stay aggressive during sports, it's something that I don't think can be taught, especially at 6 years old.
Last week's game, for example, of the 25 shots his team took, Caleb probably took 20 of them. This week, his coach taught him to pass to his teammates more, so several times Caleb would dribble quickly to the basket, but instead of shooting, he passed the ball perfectly to his teammates. It was a blast to watch. That said, we kept track of the teams shots this week and Caleb still took 11 of the team's 20 shots.

I know I'm a total homer and I suppose I should be, since I'm his Dad. But I couldn't be more proud of how much he enjoys playing sports.

I grew up idolizing the great John Stockton of the Utah Jazz. Watch these videos and tell me there isn't a resemblance.

(The vidoes can't be viewed via email, you have to go directly to the website at jailfreewallacefamily.blogspot.com)

Winter Sports

With the freezing temperatures lately, it's been hard on me and the kids having to stay indoors all day. We still have a couple feet on the ground, but it may as well be granite rock all over after weeks of freezing temperatures and no new snow.

We have found a few activities to keep the kids from iCarly and Spongebob. We went roller skating with Caleb's school night. It was both Caleb and Abby's first time on roller skates and it was a lot of fun to watch...Yes, I said watch. There's no way I'm strapping on a pair of those coccyx crunchers again. Monica did skate around with the kids until they both told her to let them skate by themselves. They held different activities for the kids that night including a race. And when they invited the kids who wanted to participate, Caleb was the first out there. Monica and I thought about telling him that he shouldn't participate since this was his first time and that he was a really really slow skater...but what fun would that be? Thankfully, they divided the kids up age and Caleb's group only had three kids. The race consisted of one kid who knew how to skate, who made it around the cones in about 20 seconds, while Caleb and the other kid took a painfully long 5 minutes to skate/scoot/walk around the cones. It was quite a scene as the other kids cheered on Caleb and his buddy to the finish line.

Abby has been ice skating about 10 times since last year. She's becoming quite good according to Monica. She refuses to be with her Mom there also. She started out using a bar that's held like an old person's walker, but has since gone bar-free. If she can stay bar-free, it'll help with my goal in rasing kids who stay out of jail...get it? Bar-free! I crack myself up.

Both kids continue thier sports endeavors of basketball and gymnastics. We love watching them gain confidence in themselves. Both are involved in programs that promote trying new things and being a team player, which is important at their young ages. They can learn to be selfish later.

Caleb and I also finally made it up the mountain to go skiing last week for the first time this year. He started right where he left off last year and even skied the last half of the day without the edgy-wedgie. The edgy-wedgie is, other than my all-time favorite name of a product, a little rubber tubing that holds kids' ski tips together. Try saying 'edgy-wedgy' five times without smiling.

Hopefully we'll get either more snow or some warmer weather soon, (40 degrees! That's not too much to ask for is it?) so we can start playing outside again.