Snow, that’s one thing I love about living in Buffalo.  Buffalo is not cold though some may think so.  Minnesota – that’s [...]]]> An awesome wintery storm is blowing across the country right now, blowing quite literally.  It hit Buffalo the other night.  As a result, we got about 1-2 feet of snow at our place.

Snow, that’s one thing I love about living in Buffalo.  Buffalo is not cold though some may think so.  Minnesota – that’s cold.  In Buffalo, we don’t see that many days in the single digits or below zero ever, but what we do see, is snow.

We have Great Lakes on Two sides and the air/water/wintery combination creates Lake Effect Snow that can drop 1-2 feet in no time.  So Buffalo isn’t necessarily the coldest place, but we’re a pretty snowy place.

But I love the snow.  I grew up in Michigan, and spent many days out in the snow… running into the house for warmups (hot chocolate, sitting by the furnace, etc.) before heading back out again and again.  We had a hill across the street, “the big hill” as we called it.  So sledding was always at my fingertips. I loved the snow.

The summer before my sophomore year of high school, we moved to Arizona. My parents were happy to get out of the snow.  I can understand that.  And I didn’t mind, at that point, leaving the snow behind. Moving was a grand adventure that sparked, I now believe, the wanderer in me. I became quite the traveler over the 10 year period leading from college to marriage.  It was hard for me to remain in the same geographic place for more than a year or two. I just loved moving, changing the scenery, etc.  I hit San Diego, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Columbus (OH), Atlanta, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and then Buffalo. Our Buffalo stop has been my longest since San Diego… 5 years… but I am tempted to travel once again.

Snow. One of the things I have always said though, was that I wanted my kids to grow up in the snow.  I wanted them to experience that.  Each winter, I am reminded that this was the right choice.  As soon as a snow falls, Wil and McKinely are all over us, “Can we go out in the snow?”  They love it.  There’s something special, magical, about snow.

Snow takes a dreary cold, and turns it bright white.  It does so with a forgiving blanket of white.  Whatever may lie under that blanket is hidden… I don’t know, I sort of think of snow as a living metaphor for understanding the this phrase, “covering over a multitude of sins.”  Snow covers it all up, brings freshness, and beauty… almost, a salvation of sorts.  They’re just something special about it.

I love the holidays; noted that in my last post.  But I do think that the holidays without snow are missing a vital ingredient. Snow makes the holidays that much more holi (ok, that doesn’t quite work, but the point is, they improve the holidays).

My favorite song of the season, at least on many a days and nights, is the snowy classic, “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.” I love that beautiful white.  I love knowing that my  kids are going to head out into it for some fun.  I love the way it brings a quiet stillness to the day or night.  I love how it reminds me of the season… of the reason… of the wonder of the world we live in.   The world isn’t always a beautiful place… but it can be.  Snow reminds me that… it can be… it can be beautiful.

When the muck and mire of fall is covered in white, the dead leaves on the ground are covered in white, fallen trees are covered in white, the neighbors junk?  Yes, they too are covered in white. And the white just makes it all ok, makes it all beautiful.  And the hustling, bustling sounds of the world seem to stop – except for the occasional snow plow and its backup beep- beep – beep… – but the snow, it seems to cover both the site and sound of the world in white and quiet… and peace reigns.

Standing out in the wintery white, for a moment, it’s easy to forget all the “to-dos,” forget all the appointments, stress, tasks to finish… and just live in the moment, a moment of quiet, white peace reigning down upon us.  Yes, tis the season, and I’m so glad it is.  So I’ll be saying and singing all through it, “let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.”

It’s one of those photos that you’re looking at, looking… then… it hits you.  Aha!  What in the world?!

Well, just a few weeks ago, I took a photo of the kids in [...]]]> Recently, a friend sent me a link to this website that had funny family photos on it.  One in particular was really silly.

It’s one of those photos that you’re looking at, looking… then… it hits you.  Aha!  What in the world?!

Well, just a few weeks ago, I took a photo of the kids in the backseat of Jeep after we loaded up to head home from church. In looking at it, I was reminded of that other photo.  It turned out to be one of those, “wait for it… aha!” kind of photos – thanks to one of my kids.

I haven’t posted this photo on that other site I mentioned previously.  But I thought I’d post it hear for kicks.  It’s currently the background photo on my phone because 1) it has all the kids and 2) it’s so silly.  Enjoy!

This occured to me this week as I sorted through the latest batch of pictures of [...]]]> This will be one of those tough lessons for me as a father.  Kids have to dream their own dreams.  They have to make their own choices, live their own consequences, discover their own loves, stumble from their own failures.

This occured to me this week as I sorted through the latest batch of pictures of the kids taken by Melodia while they are in Florida.  On the phone, she told me about the recent birthday party they went to at the beach.

Wil, at almost 4, is experiencing what may be his first crush, a sweet little Puerto Rican girl named Hailey.  Hailey is the daughter of some friends of ours that attend the church Melodia’s dad pastors.  Every time she’s around, Wil seems oddly distracted, and always ends up near her.  Hmm.

And you know, I can’t help but love that stuff. I mean, really.  What parent doesn’t?  It reminds us all of those “interests” and stirs up feelings and remembrances of days past.  I had a crush growing up.  When I was older, and could actually reflect on it and tell the story of her, I often told friends that I secretly loved her from the day I saw her in Kindergarten until the day she moved away, just before our freshman year of high school.   I remember well those crush feelings.

Watching Wil near Haley, Melodia and I both have thought how cool it would be for them to grow up sweethearts.  We’re dreamers, aren’t we?  All of us?  In my life, I think I’ve only known a half dozen or so couples who were high school sweethearts, and only two who were sweethearts from before high school.  So what chance does our “arranged couplage” stand?

But who wants realism to creep in at times like these?  Darn it, the two of them are just plain cute, and look good together – even if we older adults imagine them with words they don’t even understand yet, like “couple” or “boyfriend” or “girlfriend.”

Yes, we’d happily plan our kids lives out for them now.  But we can’t. It’ll be theirs to choose.

Why then is it so easy to look at kids and pair them up?  Or to get excited when we see their crushes manifest?

So Haley has an older brother.  JJ.  Well guess who Melodia noticed McKinley (age almost 3) crushing on at the birthday beach party?  Yep, JJ.  Perfect, brother and sister fall for brother and sister, childhood sweethearts…. fast forward twenty years.

Brakes… we shouldn’t be wanting any fast-forwarding these days.  Slow and easy.  Soak it all up, every moment.

I think we look at kids and we see in them, at times like this, when they are crushing, this pureness of spirit that we want for the world.  Two kids just enjoying the company of the other, somehow fascinated by the very movements of the other person, enchanted perhaps… but not complicated or convoluted by the dark realities of dating, growing up boy or girl in an all-too-materialistic and well, let’s be honest, evil-desiring, if not evil-doing society.

We see these kids crushing, and we admire it.  It seems somehow pure, maybe closer to perfect now. And we imagine it always that way.

And too, we imagine how wonderful it would have been to grow up and know, to know that this is the person I am going to be with forever.  To have that security.  Of course, that isn’t how it would be.  I don’t think that security is even close to being present until one slips on a ring, shoulders the true burden of the love commitment, forsaking all others, and patterning his/her mind to spend a lifetime with his/her spouse.  (of course, some never quite grasp the ‘for better or worse’ and perhaps some shouldn’t have uttered those words in the first place).

So as I look upon my two kids and their recent crushes, some of what I am seeing is really a reflection of my life, of my wants.  Yes, isn’t it so? I was 30 and single, and wondering why I had not found “her” in college like so many of my friends.  I was 30 and single, and thinking, if I don’t find her in two years, I’d better adopt as a single dad, because maybe she wasn’t going to show. I was 30 and single, and thinking, “God, what’s up?”

But at 30, I finally found her.  She was 30, too.  And in our talks over the last 5 and half years, we’ve often wondered aloud how nice it would have been to have met each other sooner – to have started the journey earlier.  I think this is somewhat reflected in our own desires for our kids.

But you know, I’m a dreamer… and a good daydreamer… and in my daydreams, I have indeed pondered what it might have been like if Melodia and I had met at Wil and Haley’s  or McKinley and JJ’s age. I wonder what it would have been like to grow up with your crush who becomes your friend and your love and with whom you mature through the years.

Of course, my daydream is tainted with perfection. It discounts the trials of puberty, the challenges of adolescence, and the millions of failures and hurts we’d likely have caused each other between 3-18.  And the question of whether or not one could really survive the metamorphic nature of life between 3 and 18 with a human being other than our parents. That would take some kind of patience and some kind of perseverance… but I can’t help but daydream that it would also be some kind of wonderful.

Such was not my lot in life, though.  And I doubt it will be my children’s. Nonetheless, I’ll daydream that little dream for them as I watch them around their first crushes.  In the end, we’re not just routing for our kids or the kids of our friends (their crushes), we’re really all routing for love, aren’t we?

Routing that love wins out.  That it is indeed stronger.  Stronger than what? Than whatever it is that would compete against it. Just stronger.  We all want to love and to be loved.

A friend and I were talking one day. This was in my college days at Point Loma in San Diego, California.  She said to me, “Lonni, you’re in love with being in love.” I’ve always remembered those words.  I’ve pondered them often.  (raises hand), yep, I am.  And I think many of us are.  We’re longing for love, and we’re hoping that it’s as strong as we believe it is.

We hope that for the sake of ourselves… and when the day comes, we hope that for sake of our children. May they find the love we have found, and if we have not found it, may they find the love which has eluded us, whatever the reason.

It’s not that I didn’t place a priority on family before.  No, not that.  But it is that nearly losing people you love reminds you that the stuff of earth [...]]]> The theme of my life has sharpened recently.  Since August, and the life- threating birth of Izzabelle, I have been more focused than ever on family.

It’s not that I didn’t place a priority on family before.  No, not that.  But it is that nearly losing people you love reminds you that the stuff of earth is just stuff – possessions, collections, even our jobs – it’s all stuff.  Do we live to work or work to live?

Oh, I love my job, or I wouldn’t be doing it.  Teaching college is rewarding and challenging.  Finding ways to “do it better” is part of the chess-match-like characteristic that has drawn me to occupations like coaching and teaching.  My students are a source of frustration and joy, a source of failures and successes, a source of  predictability and surprise.  And, they teach me, even as I teach them.  So I love do love teaching.  But teaching is what I do.  It’s my work to live.

I could easily bury myself in the office at school and in on-campus activities and find myself spending 10-hour days there.  I love attending the college’s athletic events, being involved in college student life activities, and seeing my students in their enterprises outside of the classroom, whether that be athletics, plays, competitions, etc.  And part of that is the result of my own educational philosophy, their more than students and I want to both know them as more than students and to have them know me as more than a professor.

But despite this desire, I have been reminded many times this past 6 months that I won’t get back the time with my wife and kids.  Wil is nearly 4, McKinley almost 3, and Izzabelle hits 1 in August.  These are important times, and greatly to be valued.

My students cannot fully understand this, as they are not parents themselves (at least most of them).  But the day will come when they are a parent, and I hope, that they will have learned from me, both in the classroom and outside, that I will have modeled for and mentored them in both their academic discipline and in life.  I do believe that education shouldn’t solely be about educating the mind. It shouldn’t only be about an academic discipline.  It should be about other things as well, like citizenship, morality, altruism, faith.

Over the last few months, when I didn’t have to be at school, I have really emphasized our family spending time together.  We’ve worked in as many outings as we can (sometimes at the sacrifice of household chores – i.e., let’s go to the zoo, the laundry will be there when we get back).

Recently, we had the opportunity to head to my in-laws in Tampa.  Melodia and the kids usually spend a month there every year.  Mostly, it has been in May/June.  But this year, we decided to do it sooner.  I think winter hit us especially hard this year, and we were all much in need of more sun.

Melodia and I both love to travel, and we’ve often talked about traveling to a place being as much about the journey getting there, as being there.  Yeah, we can hop a quick flight, but sometimes, we just need a journey.  So we sought that journey out recently.

About 6 years ago, Amtrak was selling tickets on ebay as a promotional thing.  They did it about 6 months, and I bought a few because they went so cheap. I paid $40 for a roundtrip train ticket from Cleveland, OH to Los Angeles, CA – 5 days on the train, in total.  What an adventure that was! A solo trip out to Cali while I was in grad school at Ohio State.  The train stops in Kingman, Arizona, the town my parents live in.  So I was able to stopover and stay with them, before continuing on to LA.  It was a wonderful journey. I have been longing for a few others, including taking the Empire Builder across the northern United States.

Another route I had been wanting to ride since I first learned about it in 1996, was the Auto Train.  Boarding just outside Washington DC in Lorton, Virginia, the Auto Train runs non-stop (with your vehicle on the train) to Sanford, FL (just outside Orlando). 

Melodia and I decided that this next trip to Flordia was just the time to try out the Auto Train.  So for Easter Break, we loaded the kids into the Jeep and drove to the Auto Train station seven and a half hours away.  There, our Jeep was loaded onto the train, and the kids experienced the first real train ride of their life.

We booked to small 2-person occupancy rooms side by side, so that we could have a place, besides the typical coach seat, to sit, watch the scenary, and to sleep at night.  The rooms were an awesome adventure for our little ones.  The whole train itself was an inquistive journey for them, but if the train ride were the cake, the rooms were the icing.  Oh, how the kids loved playing in their rooms, running back and forth between “Mami’s room” and “Papi’s room” on the train.

The 17 hours of that train ride, in retrospect, went by too fast.  But they wetted our appetite for more train travel.  I only wish Amtrak were more affordable, and that our country were more like Europe in regards to rail travel.  But I expect that we will again soon find ourselves on a train.  Afterall, I still want to ride that Empire Builder.  And I’d like to ride the Coast Starlight as well.

Like I said, it’s about the journey, not the destination… yes, that’s a blatant metaphor for life.

I began this post by talking about family.  In the last post, I’d written about Wil, my son.  What I wanted to communicate in this is a simple reminder, one that I am increasingly living these days… the importance of family, the importance of savoring our journey, and the importance of, at times, forgetting our earthly destinations.

Yes, there is a prize on which our eye should kept, a destination that we are striving for beyond this earthly realm.  But while we are here, it’s about the journey.  I know those who look at this life as a series of destinations. But I just don’t see it that way.  It’s about a series of journeys.  And it’s about one journey.

Lately, I’ve been reminded that we weren’t built to journey alone. And as a dad and husband, I’ve been reminded that I have a responsibility to aid and join the journey of 4 others in my life.  And I’ve been reminded that we don’t always shoulder our responsibilities as we should.  We sometimes set those down for a while, maybe taking for granted that they’ll be there when we return from soloing.  But perhaps we all shouldn’t be soloing as much as we do.

I have many other responsibilities these days beyond teaching.  I coach volleyball. I sit on a board of directors. I do many things.  Lately, I have been asking myself, am I doing too much? Am I soloing?

Our families our important.  We don’t live alone.  We have responsibilities. Whether we shoulder them or not, they are our responsibilities.  And we will be held accountable for them.  I believe that.  My journey has been greatly enjoyable these last few months, and I pray it will continue to be so. But as with other things, that requires vigilence on my part.  It requires me to reexamine my priorities, to limit my solo trips, to make sure that I am journeying alongside those who most need me on the journey.

Who most needs you on their journey?  And are you journeying with them?  This is what I’ve been thinking about.

Whew! That takes me back, and definitely limits my audience.  We’ll see whom among you remember that song, but you can google the lyrics. Reading the lyrics without their singing style and rhythm, though, just isn’t [...]]]> I can’t write the above phrase (the title) without hearing the Acapella song, “Listen to Him” play in my head.

Whew! That takes me back, and definitely limits my audience.  We’ll see whom among you remember that song, but you can google the lyrics. Reading the lyrics without their singing style and rhythm, though, just isn’t the same.  And admittedly, the younger among us may not quite be able to appreciate their non-instrumental music, but when I first entered the journey, they were a staple on the music scene, and therefore my own path has been linked to music such as theirs.  But I digress…

I hadn’t posted in a couple of weeks,   and Melodia uploaded some new pics last night. That always makes for good posting fodder.  As she always does, she uploaded some quickly to her Facebook account.  This morning, I awoke to see that Tio Izzy had commented on this picture; Melodia had, too, when she posted it.

For whatever reason, that solicited a comment from me; and it set me to thinking.

After the rather traumatic birth of our third child, Melodia and I decided that we would not pursue a 4-kid-family, as we had originally intended.  That meant our family was solidified as two daughters and one son.

During the pregnancy, before we knew whether Izzabelly would be a boy or a girl, I really longed for her to be a girl.  As I thought about having 3 kids, my heart really just started desiring a girl, so that Melodia would have two little girls with which to do all the wonderful things that little girls do.

Both of us had been the product of two-child, one-boy-one-girl families.  So neither of us had ever experienced a same-sex sibling in the family.  We longed for that opportunity for us and our kids, not because we felt we missed something, but just for the new experience of it, I guess.

For our family, I knew that one boy would suffice for me, and Wil is the oldest child.  So the thought of two little girls for Mami to chase, just set right with me.  And I could handle investing my “manly time” into just one boy, you know, the outdoors, the (toy) guns, the fishing, the dirt and mud, the bugs and snakes, and all of that.  Not that Melodia couldn’t have done the same with just one girl to direct her “womanly time,” but that my heart just longed for her to enjoy the wonder of multiple girls. (Now, we’ll see how much “wonder” we’re really enjoying when these girls are both teenagers, but that’s not this story!).

And so it is that I have one son, the oldest of our kids, Wil.  I love this little bugger.  I’m learning new things all the time as my son teaches me to live again.  It’s amazing all the things we forget when the world cuts-in on us; when the distractions take over, and we start living for some future hope, paycheck-to-paycheck, and just forget to take in the wonder and awe of each new day… each new day as a gift of grace and mercy, not as something due to us.

Whether we’re shooting Nerf guns at each other in the yard, planning to go fishing in the spring and summer, or dreaming of any other adventures, I often find myself just staring at him, thinking, “I love this little guy.”

My son is a gift of wonder to me, and it amazes me how much I love him.  In some ways, I could argue, I did not know what love was (or the fullness and richness thereof), until my son came into our life.  Make no mistake, I love Melodia, but there are different types of loves.  And my son brought with his birth, the experience of yet another love.

Of the many things I have learned with him, perhaps the most significant to me personally is this one singular thought: this is how my dad loved me.

I can’t escape it.  For 30 years, I might argue, that I never really knew – thought of – imagined – conceptualized – my own dad’s love.  I mean, I knew the phrase, I knew my dad loved me, and I’ve heard him say it many times.  All of which I am thankful for.

But the nights I’ve carried my son in my arms to his bed after he’s fallen asleep somewhere, or the days I’ve sat there staring at him as he plays, or the times he’s busted out with some new funny or sometimes insightful saying as he develops his language and observations of the world, after all of those times, I continue to return to this notion… as much as I love my son, loved the moment that just occured, I was once a little boy such as this, and my dad was loving me, too.  This stuns me.

Two thoughts, much deeper than I want to delve into here, emerge.  1)  How great is the Father’s love for us!  And 2) my own son will likely not fully realize my love for him, until he holds in his arms, until he experiences all these moments, with his own child.  It’s amazing to ponder.

So this morning I awoke thinking about my son, whom I love.  And I thought I’d share it with you all.  This is my son, whom I love.

And for those of you wondering, this is why I’ll never publish that novel I keep saying I should write… because I never find time to practice the craft.  The thought of making time everyday to write is incredible… I’d enjoy it, but it’s just a little out of my reach these days.

Last Thursday, March 5, 2009, before heading to bed, Melodia and I were both up chatting.  One of her friends had posted pictures on Facebook of her and her family going to an indoor waterpark in Canada, Great Wolf Lodge, one of 11 locations it has in the states and Canada. The Canada location is in Niagara Falls, Canada, not far from where we live in Buffalo.  The beauty of it is that it’s a hotel, with an indoor waterpark attached.  And when you live somewhere that sees as much snow as we do in Buffalo, and temps in the 20s and 30s for 4 months… an indoor water-anything sounds really nice.

A similar thing exists about 2 hours southwest of us in Erie, PA.  It’s called Splash Lagoon.  I’d driven by it numerous times during the club volleyball season, as we play in several tournaments in Ohio, and one has to travel through Erie to get to Ohio, on the 90 thruway.

Well, we chatted about the waterpark idea that night, and about how much our kids love water, and (the kicker) that our Federal Tax refund had just deposited in our account earlier in the week.  A small thank you to Izzabelly here, because she, in part, helped us double our tax refund from last year.  Good job baby, earn us back some of that money you’re costing us. Now, I won’t stop and think too long on this one, or I might realize that whatever she “made” us was really “lost” to us within two months of her birth.

Nonetheless, we made the late night decision on Thursday to book a room at the waterpark in Erie or Niagara Falls depending on availability and price.  On Friday morning, while I was in class, Melodia was making the arrangements and packing.  Erie had a better deal, so we decided to head there.  In addition, our friend Danelle was coming up to pick up a visiting friend of hers at the airport, and graciously volunteered to take Izzy for the night so that we could make the trip with just Wil and McKinley.

I arrived home about 3:00 and we were in the car at 3:01.  Well, not quite, but close.

Two hours later, we were checked into the hotel and donning our bathing suits.  The fun the kids had was worth the price.  They spent the next two hours in the wading pool, and sliding down the wading pool slides, and riding on the lazy river with papi and mami. When time allowed, I let Melodia sneak away and she tried out four of the rides for herself… loved every second of it.  She offered to return the favor, but really, I was just having fun with our kids. 

The wading pool, except for the slides, was not unlike the pool we have right here 2 minutes from our apartment in West Seneca, NY.  We’ve posted pics of it before and they’re on our flickr account for sure, but a wading pool is worth it’s wait.  And in the summers, ours is free of charge… so it’s definitely worth the cost.

After pruning up really good at the splash lagoon pools, we returned to our apartment0-stye room.  It should be mentioned that the hotel is connected to the water park, and that it was like 200 feet from the elevator to the water park.  Good stuff.

The room was at the Residence Inn… I really love those setups, a total mini-apartment… kitchenette, L shaped couch, fireplace, queen bed, and ours had the spa tub.  We found that to be somewhat ironic, given the waterpark, but liked it nonetheless… I mean, how can one not like a spa tub?

The kids slept good Friday night.  We hit breakfast around 8am, as the water park opens at 9am, and we were back in the water as one of the first few people there. Day two was similar to day one, except, we had brought the kids’ lifejackets, and McKinley wanted to wear hers for a while.  So she did.

The highlight of day two came with Wil asking to ride one of the big water slides (the big orange one in the background of the picture of Mami and McKinley below). Mami took him up there, nervously wondering how he’d do. The park has several smaller slides that kids of any size are allowed to ride, and several rides that have a height requirement.  There are also tube rides and body only rides.  And on all body rides, there’s no doubling up — that means that Wil would have to go alone, he couldn’t ride with Mami.

I was nervous below, as Wil waited in line.  See, Wil’s spent a lot of time in water, but he doesn’t have that hold his breath thing down.  When they did the water slides on the wading pool, I played catcher.  Wil’s first trip down the wading pool slide, we let him land himself… well, he missed sticking his feet on bottom, went under and came up coughing, fearing drowning.  I snagged him out of the water quickly, but I know how scary that near-drowning feeling is.  So I spent the rest of the time “catching” him at the bottom, teaching him to land with his feet, but making sure he wouldn’t slip and go under again.

Now, here he was wanting to try a big slide.  These slides all end in a straight half-tube filled about 6 inches deep, that cause a splash and sometimes send water up into one’s face, etc. So it wasn’t the going down part I worried about, but the arriving at the end.

I moved as close as I could to the landing “zone” stepping over some artificial plants so I could snatch him quick when he hit the deeper part.

And finally, Wil’s turn was up.  Mami waved down and I gave her the thumbs up.  What followed was about 20 seconds of waiting and wondering.  Was he still in a sitting position? If he’d slipped back into a lying position, water might be spraying his face the whole way down, and he’d feel like he was drowning. Was he having the fun he thought he’d have, or scared and wanting it to be over? Curly Q after curly Q, turn after turn, he was coming down.

Finally, I her the whoosh of him around the last turn above my head. A few seconds later, he appeared in the landing shoot, still sitting up and smiling.  He hit the 6-inch deep section and, light as he is, caused barely a splash.

I grabbed him up, relieved that my son had survived this water right of passage.  He smiled at me and said what I expect every kid who’s just accomplished such a feat, “Papi, can I do it again?”

“Of course, good job, son.” Mark this as one of those proud moments of mami and papi, their son’s first big waterslide run.

After two hours at the park, we checked out of the hotel (1130am checkout time, or we might have stayed longer).   We hit target for a toy run… every other week or so, we’ll take the kids to the toy store and let them pick something out — this being our vacation, albeit overnight, we wanted them to have what is always a treat to them… a new toy.

So we shopped at Target and they each selected something to play with.  After that, we hit lunch at the Old Country Buffet. The kids brought their new toys in with them, a matchbox dinosaur for Wil and a sport little people car for McKinley.  We loaded up on the good eats and then headed for our next stop on the journey, the Erie Zoo.

Now, I’ve probably mentioned this before, but to bring you up to speed, Melodia and I annually purchase a family membership at our local (Buffalo) zoo.  It costs $100, and we’ve done it every year that we’ve lived here.  We used to live 5 minutes from it, though we’re now 22 minutes away. But we see the zoo as an expense that worth it, and we don’t mind supporting the zoo with our money.

One of the benefits of zoo membership is that there are reciprocal agreements with about 100 zoos; many allow you to use your zoo membership to get in free at their zoo, and some offer a discounted rate.  The Erie Zoo is free under this agreement.  Melodia and I make every opportunity to hit a new zoo when we can, and we hadn’t yet been to the Erie Zoo.

(As an aside, we’re thinking that one of these summers, we will do a road trip, and schedule as many zoos as we can — some people go to stadiums, some to historical sites or national parks, and while we might do those on another summer, we’ll certainly do the zoo’s one summer).

It was raining off and on all day, but the air temp was in the 50s, so it made for an uncrowded Saturday at the zoo. It only took about 10 minutes inside the Erie Zoo for Melodia to exclaim something we’ve both uttered before, “Why is every zoo better than ours?” lol. I hate to knock our Buffalo Zoo – we’ve spent many wonderful days there… but look, call it like it is… that’s what I’ve always done.

Buff zoo’s biggest problem — look, make it easy to get places.  I hate it when a zoo acts like an amusement park and causes patrons to walk long, winding paths in wide out of the way circles to get to the next viewpoint. I mean seriously, straight lines, connect it all, let the customer decide which way they want to go.

The zoo’s other problem (and most zoos have it, too), contour.  Yeah, I’m a hiker, I like up and downs, give us some of that.  Flat is flat.

Third issue, no water.  Look, I wish every zookeeper in America would read this paragraph… put water for kids in your zoo.  It’s simple, and it adds value.  Add a wading pool (the Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester has one, and though smaller than the Buffalo Zoo, you guessed it, we consider it better, too).  Add some spouts that shoot water up in the air for the kids to stand in or run through (Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa has it).  Just add water.

The Erie Zoo has quite an elevation gain to it, and it makes for a wonderful viewing experience, and some enjoyable walking.

In addition, it has a river flowing through it… again, it’s that water thing.  It’s not just the hiker in me or some weird spiritual axiom like “water connects us all.”  It just is what it is. Water soothes the soul.  Ok, there’s your axiom.  The sound relaxes us.  The site soothes us.  Our worries are snatched up and carried downstream for the moment, and we’re left there without them, to enjoy the rippling of the water.

The kids had a blast at this zoo, and so did we.  And as we often do when we visit zoos, part of our support the zoo philosophy above, we stopped in at the gift shop at the end.  Even at our zoo, beyond our membership, we don’t mind stopping occasionally in the gift shop to purchase some overpriced toy for the kids.

We’re happy to give the zoo that money.  Our patronage, especially at away zoos (most of which are free to us on our zoo pass) is like our tip.  And the Erie Park Zoo definitely earned our tip on this one.  They’ve put together quite the displays of animals, and made this zoo a place where kids can really enjoy themselves.  Ours sure did.

We were also excited to see Red Pandas there. Our little zoo in Chattanooga, TN (when we lived there), formerly called the Warner Park Zoo, had as its premier exibit, Red Pandas.  So we were excited to see them again, and it brought back nostalgic rememberings of that small zoo tucked away in the city of Chattanooga – also worth a visit.

So we hit the gift shop. The kids selected a couple of stuffed monkeys with valcro hands, and with their purchase, we headed out.

We drove to Danelle’s house, 45 minutes from Erie to Jamestown, NY, picked up Izzabelle from her overnight at the Padd’s, and headed home happy.

It was a wonderful one-day vacation, we packed it full, enjoyed ourselves to the max, and were completely exhausted when we arrived home.  So much so that it took all of Sunday for us to recuperate. But you know, this was one of those days that you cannot put a price on – time with family, whether in a zoo or in your backyard, is priceless, and we thanked God in the car on the way home for the privilege of that day, and of enjoying  time together.

We headed down to [...]]]> Whew!  It’s been forever since we posted.  We continue to use the ol’ real life + 3 kids + facebook time = little time to worry about the blog.  Lately, we’ve been letting facebook keep our family updated. But I’ll try to take a few minutes to recap the Thanksgiving break.

We headed down to Adam and Danelle Padd’s in Bemus Point (near Jamestown), NY on Thanksgiving morning. We’ve spent the last 3 Thanksgivings with them at their place and it’s been quite fun.  We also bought 4 acres just up the road from their 27-acre place this last summer, and are thinking about building a small cabin there next spring/summer so that we can continue to enjoy weekends near them and/or even move there.

The nice (ok, this depends on your personality) thing about where they live is that their area gets even more lake effect snow than Buffalo (ours).  They had about 1.5 to 2 feet on the ground when we arrived.  We can still see grass up here.  I much prefer to be somewhere the winter’s white.

I’m not sure if it’s the whole global warming thing, or a product of where we live, or a child’s memory… but I grew up in Harrison, Michigan, with a nice size sledding hill across the street, out in the country, and it seems that once the snow started about mid-Nov to December, we had snow on the ground until early April. Our snow up here, at least in the Buffalo area, seems to come and go, big lake effect blocks of snow, then bare grass on the ground for a couple weeks.

Now me, I prefer the snow.  It makes a winter. Look, if I’m going to be somewhere cold, then I’d rather have a blanket of white on the ground.  In addition to making winter, it also brightens the sky’s gray up a bit, and on the whole, just makes my mood a little more cheery… causing me to reach for the ipod and click on the Christmas playlist.

But I’ve digressed, what I was saying before that little sidebar is that we arrived to much snow, which completely pleased the kids, and Wil made sure he was out in it with Zechariah in no time.

Thursday lunch was great and the day was just relaxing.  Of course, I say that, but I have to give a hand to Danelle, her mom, and Melodia who really put some time in with food preparation.  Their gracious work allowed for a really peaceful and joyous time of sharing and reacquainting ourselves with the happenings in each others’ lives.

At night, after we put the kids to bed, we pulled out a boardgame we had brought to play with them, “Trailer Park Wars.“  We had a good time with it, even if the girls did gang up on us and usher in a win for Melodia.

We spent the night at their house – as we have often done in the past.  Wil and McKinley were great, and Izzabelle? I think she wanted to just sleep the whole trip away.  Wil surely enjoyed having Zechariah to play with, and another boy was there as well, albeit a little bit older, Matthew.

In the morning, the kids were up early, but our hosts graciously watched the kids and let Melodia and I sleep in a bit longer. Hey, we’ll take it wherever we can get it!  Sleep seems a lost commodity these days.

Once up, all the boys were talking sledding.  The girls had decided to stay in and make some Christmas ornaments with the bulbs, paint, and other supplies Melodia had brought. McKinley sided with the boys at the thought of going outside in the snow – she hadn’t previously made it outside on Thursday, so she was itching to go.

So we loaded up, Adam and Zechariah, John (Adam’s cousin) and his son, Matthew, and myself with Wil and McKinley, and headed over to a hill 5 minutes from their house.  We arrived as the first group, but we quickly got up to about 5 groups – most of whom were the Padd Families friends.

The kids loved sledding.  This was their first “true” sledding experience beyond two years of Papi’s preparing them by pulling them around in our purple, “Kiddie Boggin’” sled.  But having an actual hill to go down really fast, and then walk back up – well, Wil walked up a few times; I pulled McKinley back up in the sled every time, and Wil at least a half dozen times with her! lol.

Papi was excited to get sledding again.  I grew up on this.  And it is exactly the sort of thing I’ve wanted my kids to be able to experience with the snow. Now only if I could get Mami out in it.

But — sort of sidebar here — I did finally do something I should have done 3.5 years ago when we moved here. On Saturday, we went out shopping to pick up some necessities from Target and then a couple things from the mall. While at the mall, I went into Dick’s to buy a new sled (we’d borrowed one of Adam’s).  Once there, I thought, you know, it’s about time to just do this right.  So we went over to the snow gear section and bought mami the full gear (and if you know anything about snow gear, pants, jackets, etc., you know it takes a bit of $$ to outfit a person in some good waterproof gear.

We spent about 2 hours at Dick’s trying it all on for the right fit, and I made sure she bought everything she needed despite her concern over cost.  I wanted her to feel prepared for going out into the snow with her kids in the future.   So, we picked out the red waterproof pants, which led to the black waterproof jacket with gray zip out fleece liner, then to the white, down, quilt-stitched vest for under the jacket, then to a set of new waterproof gloves, and what the heck, why not a new beanie (with ear flaps) for a cute way of topping it off?!  Good stuff.

I walked away feeling good about helping Dick’s bottom line there and wondering why I hadn’t done that sooner, for Melodia’s comfort and fun.  Now I just need to buy her a couple more sets of quality under garments (smart wool) and some new snow boots, and she’ll have it all.  Me?  I’ll still be wearing my Jeans, rubber boots, down puffy jacket, beanie and leather gloves. The scarf keeps me warm. LOL.  Besides, I’ve put on a few pounds, so I can weather the outdoors a little better.

But, rest assured, after seeing how good she looked, and knowing how good our kids look in their snow gear, I was starting to feel the itch for some new gear for Papi!  Course, that’s a few paychecks away!

Sidebar over — It was a super fun time sledding with the kids, and I only hope to be doing it again soon, with Mami present and having lots of pics of her enjoying it too.  Only issue is, who’s watching Izzabelle while we’re zooming down the hills?  Any takers?!

Cool thing is, Izzabelle is getting bigger all the time, and not just bigger, but starting to become a little “person.” She’s really able to push and hold her head up for longer periods when she’s on her tummy; and she reacts to us a lot more these days… all smiles, of course!

Well, that about sums up Thursday, Friday and Saturday for the Wilsons.  Happy Thanksgiving, now onto a Merry Christmas!

Mami left for a retreat tonight (Fri, 11/14).  It was a warm day today, around 60… warm for November in Buffalo. So I put the kids in their mudboots and we headed out in search of puddles!

The kids love wearing their mudboots and doing some puddle walking.  Of course, they love [...]]]>

Mami left for a retreat tonight (Fri, 11/14).  It was a warm day today, around 60… warm for November in Buffalo. So I put the kids in their mudboots and we headed out in search of puddles!

The kids love wearing their mudboots and doing some puddle walking.  Of course, they love splashing and stomping, too.  It took about 32.4 seconds for McKinley to splash her pants soaked.  We were loading Mami up when we first went out, and Melodia was a little frustrated with their ability to stomp themselves wet.  But you know, as I thought about it, what’s the big deal?

I remember my parents not wanting us to splash and soak our clothes.  I mean, what’s the big deal? Look if you’re heading to puddles, getting wet comes with the territory.

Now, I should warn, the kids got sick about two nights ago, and last night passed it onto me; so all 3 of us are sick with sniffles and sore throats right now.  But, it was warm, and a little outdoor mudpuddle time is a nice relief.

So in the end, I’m left thinking, you know what kids, go ahead. Stomp away.  Get wet.  It’ll wash. It’ll dry.  It’s not a big deal.  Let’s just have some fun.

After Melodia left, I put Wil and McKinley in the car and drove down the road by the volleyball facility.  It’s on a dead-end road that runs into some wetlands.  I knew there’d be a nice, big puddle down there, and there was.  The kids enjoyed their time there.

In a smaller, isolated puddle, Wil suddenly stopped and pointed, “look, Papi, a worm.”  I swear, if there’s a worm within 30 feet of this kid, he’ll find it!  And he LOVES worms.  He found at least four this summer under the same tree.  Little buggers are one-hour, all-inclusive, Wil-musement parks.

So there in the bottom of the puddle is a drowning worm.  Actually, we must have come along at just the right time.  Wil pulled him out, and he was still alive. So Wil held and held him for the next 10 minutes.   Then I managed to convince him to let the worm return to his worm house.  So Wil set him down in the grass, and i wrangled he and McKinley into the truck to head home, dry off, and warm up. Good fun. But seriously, Wil and worms, hilarious.  Where there’s a Wil, there’s a worm.