Tag: Adam

Pick-up

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Adam and I drove over to Tampa International this evening. Southwest was reporting the plane was coming in a little early, so we left a little early too.

We had twenty minutes to kill in the terminal, so we hit the ubiquitous Starbucks, and picked out a table looking out across the escalator pit (leading to baggage claim) towards the shuttle departure/arrival station for the Southwest gates (Airside C – if you’re familiar with TIA). Adam was already excited, and slamming a vanilla bean frappuccino only added fuel to the fire. By the time they arrived on a shuttle, Adam was racing around the table embracing his sugar high.

When I announced “they’re here!” Adam shot off into the throng like a guided missile.

I think I’ve said something like this three other times, but I think four is my favorite age.

First assisted ride

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bike-sm.jpgAdam’s had a bike in waiting almost from the day he was born (a hand-me-down from a friend). It spent a lot of its time neglected on the front porch – until one afternoon I decided its time was nearing. Then it came inside to live with its brother and sisters.

This weekend I mustered enough enthusiasm and energy to take Adam for a helmet fitting and drag out my repair stand and tools. I spent the better part of this morning giving the old bike a once over – adjusting brake heads, checking cables, making sure everything was tight, removing unnecessary parts (fenders, chain guards – stuff that rattles, makes a lot of noise and adds weight, but is mostly unnecessary in Florida), and cleaning/lubing the chain. I thought about opening up the hubs, checking the bearings and repacking ’em, but I figured this was a transitional bike and not worth that much effort. It sounds a little like one or more of the bearings in the rear hub may be going, but so long as it’s the rear wheel and not the front one I’m not too worried (the worst that’ll happen is the hub will break down and the wheel will lock up – eventually). It still spins freely and I figure it’s got a year’s worth of use left in it (at least).

Anyway, seeing Adam riding it this afternoon, I wish I’d fixed it up sooner.

Asked and answered

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“Adam, why are you sniffling so much?”

“I have a booger that keeps coming out so I suck it back in.”

That was a little more detail than the questioner was looking for, but I thought he nailed it.

Are you ok dad?

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image1476661088.jpg“Are you sure you want to take us out on a hike this afternoon? You look like you’re still tired from yesterday.”

Look at that face. He could have been saying that. He wasn’t. What was he saying? He had to go potty. No problem. We were only two miles from the picnic area.

(Google Map)

Spirit renewing

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Had one of those great afternoons at the island with the kids. It was a little cool (by northern standards… downright freezing by our own), very sunny, relaxing, and fun.

I’ve posted all of these pics to Flickr, but I decided to fool around with my gallery plug-in again (even though I haven’t worked out how to shed the link underlines in the photos that show up in Safari – without shedding all of the underlined links everywhere).

bald-eagle-nest.jpg
bottle-plus-head.jpg
climbing.jpg
determined.jpg
imports.jpg
ity-bity-tide.jpg
just-fun.jpg
mis-step.jpg
more-fun.jpg
perfect-perch.jpg
step.jpg
testing-shutter-speed.jpg
the-owl.jpg
unk-friend.jpg

Sick day

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Adam was sitting in bed this afternoon, playing quietly while a bug worked over his immune system.

“Dad, I can’t wait until I’m big so I can eat caffeine.”

sick day


Slow mo

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Adam is a lot like a lot of other 3-4 year olds: he has one speed (hint: it isn’t slow). Earlier this evening we were getting close to the little one’s bed time and I was hoping to slow things down a little. That was when I decided to put a little Kauffman ingenuity to the test. We’d been having a marathon father-son goof-ball session and my super slow-motion routine was a hit. You name it and doing it in slow motion was good for a burst of laughter. I’ll admit this strategy wasn’t perfect. Producing fits of giggling doesn’t usually help get the kids in bed. It turns out pretending to be slow doesn’t necessarily lead to a slower heartbeat or anything else you’d associate with relaxation. Sure I could have tried to sit down with a book, or any of a number of tried and true strategies for getting ready for bedtime… but what fun is that? Now take a kid who knows nothing of 70’s television and show him the beauty of slow motion power run (a la Steve Austin*) – now that’s a recipe for good times.

Ah, but the problems really started when Adam’s own ingenuity kicked in. Through his own experimentation he discovered super fast-motion was even funnier.

Yeah, that didn’t really work out at all.

*I was a little disturbed to learn a google search for “steve austin” results in a whole bunch of hits for some wrestler, rather than my second favorite 70’s/early 80’s TV super-hero (my favorite of course was Mr H). What is the world coming to?