We threw our canoes in (actually, the kayak started down the river without us) and headed out.  The water was perfect!  My shallow-water-eyes were just flat out wrong.  There were spots that weren’t deep but in every case, there was a ton of room to navigate the river anywhere we wanted!  The last time we went on this river, the water was raging.  We absolutely could not  get out of the boats (and truth be told, probably shouldn’t have even been in the boats) and our trip down the river was speedy.  This time, we got to really enjoy the river!

There were a few “rapids” that we got to ride.  I wasn’t sure whether the kids would enjoy it but they laughed and Isaac yelled, “Caribou!” at the top of his lungs (yeah, it’s a 4th/5th grade boy thing I think).  We stopped at the end of several of the rapids and walked back up to ride down in the rapids sans boat.  Holy mackerel that was fun!  I had to hold on to the kids the first few times because they were wary, but in no time, they were itching to go on their own…we just had to catch them at the bottom!

At one point, we saw a few cassette tapes in the water.  I suspect that someones house or camp was flooded at some point as no one would just dump old Motley Crue cassettes.  Anyhow, the kids saw them and asked what they were…that’s right, my kids had no idea what a cassette tape was or why people would use them instead of cds or dvds.  That was a bit shocking to me but we had a great conversation about how life was when I was a kid (and that wasn’t super long ago…I can’t imagine if they had the conversation with my 96 year old Grandpa!)  I enjoyed telling them about sleeping in the back of the station wagon on trips and how our legs would burn and stick to the plastic seats…how we didn’t have A/C in the house  or cars and no cell phones or video games.  Abigail asked me, “How did you make it through?”  HA!  And our lives were still pretty easy compared to people before us!

Anyhow, it didn’t take long for Diva…I mean Abigail…to get tired.  She propped back in the kayak and toured the rest of the river “princess style”.  We ate lunch on the river and laughed and had a great time not worrying about a thing.  Our only donation to the river gods was one pair of old sunglasses.  They were easily satisfied with our sacrifice.  I think the river was just what we needed…and I can’t wait to go again!

Video 1 Video 2 Video 3 Video 4

You may need to download Quicktime viewer if these videos don’t work for you…

I suppose it looked a lot different (duh) but uncertainty was no doubt a part of their lives as well…especially after losing whomever was buried under that mound.  I guess it’s a part of life and all but I am not sure I am exactly delighted with the craziness that seems to be going on now with Jamaica and North Korea and and BP oil and Greece and the economy in general.  I’ll tell you one thing, I am certain that the time we spent climbing the Mound was time well spent.  I guess the uncertainty that the original builders must have felt and which caused them to build such a monument gave me a sense of certainty in the love I have for my family and the simple times we share together.

Fun with tilt shift from atop the Mound!

So we walked from our hotel in the downtown area across several of the bridges and saw some pretty neat things.  I pretty much don’t think about bridges at all as I drive over them.  Rarely do I get the chance to walk on them so it was pretty cool to sort of explore the bridges in Pittsburgh with my kids.

The “art of steel” that holds those bridges up is really interesting and somehow appealing to look at for me.  Maybe it’s the guy in me who still likes to play with matchbox cars and tonka toys and the like, but I really liked standing on the bridge admiring its strength (I feel so inferior).  I guess I am pretty fascinated by the parts that make up the bridge…imagining the folks hammering and twisting and cursing the pieces into place.  Pittsburgh sort of means all that to me anyhow.

We also saw some more human things there including tons of gum and the graffiti that seemed too philosophical to be left as a scrawling on a wall…though more people probably saw that than if it had been written somewhere more “appropriate”.  We saw panhandlers on the bridge and the kids had some serious questions for me about their plight.

Once again, I am reminded to take time to smell the…uh…bridge?  Well, I guess I’ll stick to smelling the roses but if you get a chance, spend time exploring a bridge.  You won’t be disappointed!  Most of these pictures were of the Roberto Clemente bridge by the way….

Of course, they are getting older and are influenced by all sorts of things around them.  They still like to play outside and ride bikes, but now they also want to take lessons…taekwondo and aikido and ice skating and violin and archery and soccer.  We are becoming scheduled.  At first, I was sort of irritated about it and thought that we surely must be ruining our kids by running them all over creation to do this and that.  But now that we’ve been at it for a little while, I look at it differently.  Just as it was about what the kids wanted to do for fun, so it is now.  Fun is just different.

To be sure, I definitely think that kids and parents can become over-scheduled and over-stressed, but I think if the cards are played right (as I hope we are doing), being involved is an opportunity for kids to explore.  It’s not exploring like they did in the back yard, but it is exploring the world in a way.  Taekwondo is taught by a Korean master.  Soccer is coached by a former professional player from the African continent.  They are finding what they like and don’t like but they are also seeing a larger world while they are at it.

When I think about it, I enjoy seeing the kids explore and learn and grow.  We still play together, albeit differently.  We can laugh and talk and enjoy things…just different things than just the back yard.  So, in a way, I sort of long for “just the back yard” but it is thrilling to also be a part of all of us going “out there” too.

So what about it…do you enjoy kids’ activities or is it too much?  What sorts of things do your people do?

Ok, sorry to anyone who lives there…so I took some more pics (and I promise that these will be the last) of some of the spectacle of Las Vegas…

This was on the main strip and seemed to go just perfectly together...

The Internet has a tap?

Hmmmm.....Gold balls in the fountain?

Fine dining...McDonalds!

There are "Angels" all over Las Vegas...

He lives!

A "green" solution to global climate change?

Ok, I am not being entirely fair…there is a lot of neat architecture in Las Vegas and I saw many cool cool things too…

The water show at Bellagio is excellent.  Click the picture for a video

Click for video

The colors were beautiful

A large sculpture in a new shopping center

Tacky or awesome? You decide...

New York New York was impressive

Have you ever been to Las Vegas?  What did you think?

Yeah, I licked it too!

I have been absent on this blog for the last few days.  I’ve been sick but I think we have sort of honed in on the possibility that I have/had some combination of  asthma/allergies/a chest infection…and just experienced a significant episode of it.  I go for more tests in the coming weeks to determine if it is asthma or if Emily has been making me inhale spiders in my sleep.  Anyhow, in addition to being sick, I also went to Las Vegas for a business function.

My co-worker and I left early on my birthday (Wednesday).  We left my house at 4:45 am EST and arrived in Las Vegas at 10:30 am PST.  That left a bunch of time for exploring the area before our work stuff started on Thursday.  I had never been to Las Vegas before so we decided to explore.  I don’t gamble particularly so we avoided all of those sorts of sights…I mean, I played a few slots and a couple of rounds of roulette (I came back $1 ahead!) and visited all of the casinos because each is a spectacle in its own right.  But spending significant time in casinos was not a part of my plans for this trip.

After doing extensive web research in the 10 minutes prior to heading out on the town, we determined that we needed to visit the Stratosphere tower and ride the roller coasters atop the building.

Check out videos of other riders here, here,  here,  here, and here.

The Stratosphere is a fairly tall building in the Las Vegas skyline.  It tops out somewhere around 1100 feet tall.  There are three rides at the top that are sure to make some folks cry and others wish they had brought a change of underclothes.  I have always been into thrills (cheap or otherwise) so this was right up my alley.  Like all such fun things, the proprietors of the rides have automatic cameras set up to capture the looks of fear on riders’ faces.  I have absolutely no sense whatsoever so, rather than being scared, I put on my goofy face for the camera…

The Big Shot ride that jerks you straight up in the air was pretty cool but not in the least bit scary to me.  Heck, I was already super high in the air…what’s another 100 feet?  It was cool though to be about as high as you can legally get in Las Vegas.  The views were incredible.  The ride lifts and drops riders several times very quickly so unlucky folks get a chance to travel up and down through their own vomit several times.

Aftert he Big Shot, we rode  X-Scream.  Follow the link and you’ll get a better description of the ride than I can provide.  This ride was pretty extreme.  It was awesome flying out over the edge of the building over and over.  And luckily for riders, there was no puke ride-through…it all fell to the folks standing on the ground below wondering what was going on atop the building.  Yuck…anyhow, we didn’t really get sick but we had  great thrill in both cases.

We got into all sots of other stuff in Las Vegas and I will share some more tomorrow.  In general though, I am super glad to be back home in WV!

Anyone in this area knows that it rained cats and dogs this Saturday.  The tour company cancels for neither man, no beast…only lightning.  I guess the Post Office still has one up on canopy tours.  Anyhow, we arrived in the pouring rain and prepared for our tour.  My preparation involved hitting the restroom one last time and slamming down some health food…a Snickers bar.

The tour is 2-3 hours in length and there are no tree-side rest areas along the way.  I suppose, since it was raining so hard, we probably did have some options but no one wanted to really go there when it came to going there.

So, we tied into our male-sterilizers…I mean harnesses and started the course.  It was breathtaking.  We whisked, platform to platform between what appeared to be ancient trees.  At first, we started at near ground level.  As we progressed slowly down the mountain, we quickly ended up in the tops of enormous hemlock and magnolia trees.  At the highest point, we were 85 feet off the ground in a tree…not the top of the tree, mind you.  It was far taller than that.

Hemlock trees are being decimated by a beetle that destroys entire forests.  A portion of our tour fees goes to treating the trees to prevent their destruction.  After standing high up in the tree, I am pleased they are dedicated to preserving such beauty.  We could see all around.  There were “fields” or rhododendron and mountain laurel.  There were wild, rushing streams and rock formations formed long ago.  It was incredible and a bit spiritual for me.  It just felt like how life is supposed to be.  I mean, the ziplining was a blast, but I think I may have enjoyed just looking out through the forest and seeing nature.  The only noise was the sound of raining falling through the leaves (and down my back) and the rush of the streams.

So, as I mentioned, it sort of rained some….I think Noah once said that too.  Anyhow, my pictures aren’t great, but I don’t think they could begin to do this trip justice anyhow.  The Rivermen do a fantastic job and I can’t recommend them enough.  If you have an urge to get outdoors, to have a thrill, or just do something different, try ziplining in WV!

I also have an ulterior motive.  Emily told me she always wanted to kiss a boy with braces when she was growing up.  I got Invisalign aligners so it’s not like real braces, but I figure I may get some mileage.  Invisalign aligners are a series of plastic molds shaped such that each transition between aligner sets moves my teeth toward their final destination.  I stay in each set of aligners for 2 weeks or so and they slowly force my teeth into position from the tension the plastic exerts on the teeth.

I say the aligners work slowly but when I put my first set in yesterday, it sort of felt like my teeth snapped into their slightly adjusted place (and not in an exactly pleasant way).  Even more scary was when I removed them to brush.  My head clattered as they snapped back into their old positions!

Really, it takes some getting used to I guess, but they aren’t too bad.  I figure they can’t possibly be worse than metal/ceramic braces and these surely look a lot better.  I have to wear the aligners for 22 hours a day, taking them out only to eat and brush.  I can’t eat or drink with them in place so I suppose I will really cut back on my beloved Mt Dew since it isn’t worth jerking these things in and out of my head and brushing every time I want a sip.

So, I guess a year from now I will be healthier without all of the sugar and my teeth will be straighter and I’ll be even prettier (somehow…hard to imagine I know).  Lady Gaga here I come!

My cousin Bob has been a private pilot for 30+ (?) years, flying both airplanes and helicopters.  He and my Mom fly pretty often and it’s become a tradition for Isaac (and now Abigail starting this year) to fly with them in August.

Abigail has flown on commercial planes before but it was when she was much younger so she remembers none of it.  In her mind, this was effectively her first time to ever fly.  She’s a little timid lately about “stuff”.  It is not always predictable what will upset her so we weren’t sure about flying.  Although she tried to be scared, my Mom said they had an absolutely wonderful time.  Abigail was amazed at all of the tiny little cars and houses and buildings.  Without time to be afraid, she quickly got over her trepidations and had fun.

Like last year, Isaac was the co-pilot and was able to steer the plane some, much to the dismay of his sister (did I mention she was a perceptive child?).  Isaac is an old pro and wants to take lessons to fly just as soon as he is able.  I have no doubt that he will love it (time to get a job kid)!

After flying and seeing the sights, they did several touch-and-goes and then called it a night.  Abigail was exhausted and fell asleep on the ride back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  I am sure there will be more stories to hear about their adventure this morning!

The kids were super well behaved in spite of the work and the heat (we finally had a hot day among all the rainy days) and the apparent boredom.  Under Emily’s grandparents’ house is a crawlspace in which an adult can almost stand upright.  The kids discovered that and found that it made a perfect hide-out.  The best part is that their hide-out was naturally air-conditioned.  The coolness was a great escape for them and they loved playing under there.

In time, they decided that their club needed to be a little more exclusive than it was when the started it (an hour earlier).  Isaac and Abigail were, of course, members and they decided to invite their great-grandmother to be the first non-founding member.  She happily obliged and helped them move in a table and chairs and met with them in their first members’ meeting…yes, Emily’s 82 year old grandmother crawled under the house and sat around a tiny table with the kids.  She is definitely a member of the club!

Though her birth certificate says she is 82, she certainly doesn’t look or act like it.  Both of Emily’s grandparents are built that way.  It’s so much fun to hang out with them and watch as nothing slows them down!  That’s a club I want to be in!