Over the last couple weeks i got to do a few things with my kid. Actually, the first thing was with two of my kids. Our middle boy is graduating this year and it was his final year on the basketball team. As a wrap up for the season, i drove the bus into the city for them to watch the Harlem Globetrotter's. That was pretty fun. Our youngest, who i brought along as well, did quite a lot of laughing. After the game, we went down to the court and got autographs from some of the team, on the ball we got for him there. Truthfully, we could have gotten more signatures. It's not like there was any danger of missing the bus. The keys were in my pocket.
A few days later, we took our youngest into the city to watch a hockey game. He's sports crazy but he loves hockey. It's the Western Hockey League playoffs. They play in the same building as the NHL, Edmonton Oilers play in. My nephew Curtis, is the trainer on the bench for the opposing team, so we got to cheer for both sides.
 |
| so close you can smell the excitement |
We sat in the 2nd row but for the second and third period the seats in front of us were empty, i let our son move up to the 1st row. There was a lot of hits right there and when they crashed into the boards, they rattled and banged loudly. I think my son thought they were coming right through the glass the first time they had a hit right there. For a while, there was a big sweat or spit smudge across the glass. My son loved it.
A couple days after that, i drove one of the buses that took our son and all the grade 6's into the city to the Alberta Aviation Museum. This is him in an old fighter jet. I got to tag along with his group and help them to answer all the questions in their work book.
I have quite a good time driving the bus on field trips. I wish that i would have gotten my bus licence sooner. I would have enjoyed doing some of these trips when my older boys were in the lower grades.
I have a bit of a soft spot in my heart for air planes. My dad was a recreational pilot. That was a long time ago, so long that i can hardly remember it. He sold his plane to buy our farm.
Long before i was ever ken-inatractor, i was just ken-standinginfrontofaplane.
.......and right around that time, i was also, ken-hunterofmoose.
Later this month i'll be driving the bus again for the grade 6's into the city to the University. There, they'll be doing some climbing wall activities as well as something in the pool. I think it's some type of water polo in inner tubes. Although, i'm pretty sure that they don't want the bus drivers in the pool.
Last night, we went into the city to have the after tax season supper with all the people from my wife's office. We had Thai food. I had never had it before but i liked it. The experience was a little different as we ordered plates of food that everybody got to take some from if they wished. It's nice to try different things like that but it may have completely ruined anything i had done on my diet over the course of the week. I hope that i can at least stay on par and not gain anything back. I weigh on Sunday.
.............while out last night i tried Chinese beer that was brewed in a German brewery.....or it might have been German beer brewed in a Chinese brewery. I can't remember exactly as right about the time they were telling that story i was dealing with fire mouth from eating a pickled jalapeno. The beer was pretty good though.
SOme fun adventures here. It takes courage to drive a bus full of kids anywhere, but I know it's a lot of fun too. I loved the ken-in front of a plane and ken-hunter of moose photos. Seeing people in their kid pix is cool! Life seemed so much simpler back in those days. I often wonder if it really was. I haven't tried Thai food, though we have a reputedly good Thai restaurant here. I may have to brave it, though I'm not a fan of spicy foods, they tend to attack me later. What crops do you plant when Ken is in a tractor? :-) How many acres?
ReplyDeleteWe're going to plant about 1500 acres this year. Approximately, 500 acres of wheat, 500 of barley, and 500 of canola. Usually a lot of people are seeding already but it's been quite wet this spring.
DeleteThings were always better in the good old days, except for when you were actually living in the good old days. :)
So many fun things going on here it is hard to single any one of them out...except for ken-hunter of moose. You are so totally bad-ass. Totting that gun, hand on the antlers. And you're what there? Four? It's like you knew in advance how cool you'd be as an adult and needed to make sure your childhood photographs demonstrated that.
ReplyDeleteIf the back 40, tractors and (assuming your profile picture is accurate) your circle beard didn't already make me just a touch obsessed...you as a moose killer just knocked it out of the park!
It's a good thing that we are both already happily married or you might find yourself hitched in no time...Unless your a Mormon. In that case, do you need a second wife?
I'll ask my wife if that's OK with her. :)
DeleteI can't say i remember getting the plane picture. We have a photo of our oldest son, about the same age, standing about the same place, in front of that same plane. It's kind of a neat thing.
I have a vague memory of the moose picture. I wish i was indeed as bad-assed as you imagine but i'm not really. I think i remember it because they actually let me hold the gun.
Yes, the picture is indeed me.
Your kids probably think you are Superman right now with all the stuff you have taken them to. YAY Dad!
ReplyDeleteMaybe the youngest might think it's sort of cool right now. The older ones, i'm not so sure. They're at the stage where the would rather not have their old dad hanging with them and their friends. I hope when they get older and maybe have kids of their own that they might realize all the trouble i went through to do things with them.
DeleteFor sure they will :-)
DeleteGlad to hear you're at least going even with your diet, and that the beer tasted good. I wish my Dad would have driven one of our buses growing up, but that job is only suited for some types of parents. Your type, the awesome kind.
ReplyDeletethe diet may have taken a severe blow last night. I went to visit a friend and he deep fried chocolate bars. They were so awesome that i had two. I'm going to need to do a lot of exercise to work those off.
DeleteLOVE the fact that you are one of 'those' dads that will keep pursuing time with them and planning exciting things (what could be better than having your nosed pressed up against the glass of a hockey rink to witness blood, snot and sweat?) for them. They may ACT like they aren't cool with Dad hanging around...but you can bet they secretly love the fact that you are involved. SO many kids now can't say that.
ReplyDeleteWay to go!
I'm still on my hiatus of sorts due to some professory obligations that I must do first, but I am trolling my favorite blogs and checking in over my morning coffee. So good mornin' to ya from the sunny South!
I have my own coffee on right now as i go through all that happened here yesterday. :)
DeleteDuring certain times of the year it's harder to fit things like that in with the kids. I try to make up for that when my time is less hectic.
Loved reading your post and all the pictures! Little boy Ken is so cute! I've been wondering about your kids and now have them figured out except for the eldest. Daughter or son? The bus trips sound like a lot of fun!
ReplyDeleteI tried Thai food once and found that it had a lot in common with South Indian food - however, even though South Indian food is one of my favorite cuisines, I wasn't all that impressed with Thai. Maybe I didn't order the right dish though.
Our oldest is a boy as well. My Three Sons. Most won't get that reference. It's a very old TV show.
DeleteWhen i was younger i had a pretty strict mind set of what i wanted my food to be. As i've grown older my mind has opened up a lot and i really enjoy trying food from other cultures. To be fair, i wasn't really sure what i should order. A bunch of us were in the same boat on that. We relied a lot on My wife's boss and his wife to pick what was good. We may have gotten their interpretation of Thai food. I still enjoyed it though. :)
I know that this was not the point of your post, but holy crap moose are big! Those things are tanks with antlers. I imagine hunting those guys was pretty epic.
ReplyDeleteYou need to keep in mind here that i'm only 3 feet tall in that picture but yes, moose are pretty big animals.
DeleteMy grandfather was an avid hunter and my dad had done some when we was younger. (that's where the picture is from) But to be honest, i'm not really a hunter myself. I raise beef, so i generally have enough meat for my family, that it's just something that i never needed to do.
Sounds like you've been making some beautiful memories with your boys! Those are the kinds of things that they'll remember when they're all grown up. So interesting that your dad had a plane before he bought the farm...people have such fascinating stories. And...that moose is HUGE!
ReplyDeleteIt sort of hits you after your first kid graduates from high school that there's so much that you missed. I tried to change that and become more involved in the things that they are doing now.
DeleteIf i did half the things that my dad did, i'd have stuff to write about for quite some time.
I'm always late to comment! Kids are great, I have a couple myself but I can't imagine driving a bus load of them around. Although they are 6 graders so it might not be that bad. I've seen the Globe Trotters once. They actually came and performed at our high school.
ReplyDeleteKen_standinginfrontofaplane and Ken_hunterofmoose had me laughing out loud!
I don't mind busing the kids at all, as long as they don't make me clean up the vomit! Well, actually that's part of the job but i've been lucky so far. :)
Delete