Mid-Summer Statistics

100% 

That was my accuracy on some Facebook quiz about how well one knows M*A*S*H trivia. I didn't even need the multiple choice options. This development gave me the opportunity to explain to Sam why Hawkeye Pierce was such a hero to me.



54"

I found out today that Chik-Fil-A's policy is to permit only children less than 54 inches in height into their play area. Sam, as you can see in the photo below is well above that.

Caroline wondered if we were including Sam's hair in our judgment that he was too big to go into the play area, but I believe the determination was correct. I also had reinforced today that kid-sized meals at that particular venue are no longer acceptable. They're now getting the full-sized sandwich and fries.

Have you noticed that Sam's hair style is changing slightly? Starting this summer he didn't want it cut anymore. We compromised on getting it trimmed but allowing the top to grow out a little bit. I like the outcome.

Both of them are too tall for discounts at Bruster's, too. 

8

The number of college recommendation letters I've written. While the kids took swimming lessons, I rolled on through the list of students who asked me to write letters. It's really not an unpleasant chore, but it's a chore. It becomes an ugly one if left until fall. I liked the reminders of these neat kids and what I saw from them this year. I'm teaching six of them this upcoming school year.

6 

As part of a group of friends, we earned six bands at the one borough pool. Our two pools have kids qualify for bands that signify the swimmer is qualified to be in deeper areas of the pool. Yesterday, Caroline earned an orange band for qualifying to go down Fourth Street Pool's twisted slide. About 90 minutes later, she tested for the green band to be eligible in the deepest parts of that pool and at Whites Road.

Caroline's ankles after earning both bands. 

After qualifying for orange yesterday. 

Taking advantage of the green band today. 

5 

Consecutive days spent recreationally at one of our two borough pools. I'm actually worn out after the past two days' time there. However, it is nice that the kids have gotten to a point where I'm not needed as much anymore. I completed crossword puzzles three days in a row while they frolicked. I also engaged in quite a bit of diving board activity with the kids and their friends. That is what wore me out.

4

There are four different food / beverage items that I have prepared this week but won't be able to eat for weeks or months. First, there was a beer that I brewed with some new equipment for brewing outside.

Might be the most relaxing moment of the whole summer. 

But then I had to deal with the abundance of cucumbers from our garden, which led to me canning pickles. Pickles? What's happened to me?

Taken two weeks ago, just as the garden was beginning to grow out of control.

Oh, I know what happened to me. A deep level of relaxation. I think the most stressful thing to occur in the past week was wondering how I would synchronize the canning of these items before they went bad.

I also had to deal with the abundance of fruits we picked at Weaver's Orchard. Cherry preserves and blackberry jam. Canned them both.

This fruit-picking trip was actually my idea.

3%

Battery life remaining on this Chromebook. Time to wrap it up.

Perkiomen Trail

In the epoch of my life that existed before kids I had the chance to bike several segments of the Perkiomen Trail. It's a meandering 19-mile trail that follows an old railroad path through the center of Montgomery County. It makes for pleasant biking, travelling a level path mostly through woods but occasionally crossing the roadways up that valley. I drive by and over it quite a bit, in particular when I'm traveling back to Elverson to visit Mom and Dad. It's been a dream of mine to bike portions of it with the kids. But I knew that I had to wait until they were able to do so.

Sam has probably been ready to bike portions of it for a few years now. A month and a half ago I never would have guessed Caroline would be ready to do so too. However . . .

Taken during our return to the van. It brings me joy to see how far ahead of me they were. I had to hustle to catch up with them after getting the camera away. 

I didn't put much planning in to today's trip. While eating lunch I saw there was a break in the poor weather. So I quickly put the rack on the van, loaded up the bikes, and told the kids "We're going." When we arrived I simply asked Caroline to choose between right (the Schuylkill River Trail) or left (Perkiomen). She chose left, I told Sam to take the lead, and we were off.

Sam doesn't necessarily like surprises. He asked me early how far I thought we'd go and I said, "I guess about three miles." He surmised a six-mile round trip would be fine and we went with that purpose. He did give me a punch on the arm when we came across this marker, showing that we had gone further than intended.

Obligatory selfie. 

I'm not sure we entered the trail at mile marker 0. I think we started at about 0.5 miles in, so our round trip was likely 7 miles.

The biking was pretty smooth. It started with a paved path along the swollen Perkiomen Creek. It briefly took us uphill on pavement then crushed gravel. After that, it was a straight shot through the woods. At a few points there was erosion that meant we had to stay a bit to one side rather than stay religiously to the right. Certainly it was more easily navigable than the alleged trail I tried to take at Delaware Water Gap.

Sam's worried expression as we took the trail that didn't really exist at Delaware Water Gap back in May. 

Typically Sam was out front and Caroline and I followed. There was only one tricky part, coming down the hill about 0.5 miles from the parking lot. Sam actually clipped the pole at the bottom of the hill as he turned onto the final paved stretch. But he had his bike under control as he was coming down so he avoided falling. After he and I debriefed for a about a minute I saw Caroline had really gone quite a ways up the path and I had to hustle in my attempts to catch up with her.

The path spends about one mile in a rather impressive (for this area of the state) gorge. I hope this photo of Caroline captures some of the cliff faces.

I've been spending quite a bit of time teaching the kids about the concept of right of way. I like how this sign clarifies the matter.

During our return I stopped and took a few photos of the kids moving on down the path in front of me. Here's a repeat of the one starting this blog along with another, without the zoom.

This is my seventh summer at home with my two kids and it's hard to believe we're at the point where I can do an adventure like this. I see that photo of them way down the trail and I can't help but think I've got a precious amount of time here where they're big enough to do these adventures, small enough to think of them as an adventure, and young enough to think of doing this with their Dad as a great way to pass a summer day.

Next time we take Sherry.

What Makes a Great Park Great?

We've had the chance to camp at two parks so far this summer. This is in fulfillment of a small dream I've been nurturing: to get to at least one new park each summer. The two that we've visited this year are Ricketts Glen, July 1-3, and Hickory Run, July 10-12.

At first glance I want to say Ricketts Glen is the superior park. My experience there hiking is the best walk through the woods I ever remember having in PA. However, it's a park that is really geared for trekkers rather than kids. There are two basic activities one can do there: hike the falls or recreate on the lake. The lake, by the way, was drained during our visit. I don't know what I would've done with more than two days at that park.

There was part of me wondering what I would do on a seventh visit to Hickory Run in just two years. I did figure out a way to get onto one hike I hadn't done before, Sand Spring Trail. I found out, however, that actually I've done less than half the hikes possible at Hickory Run.

Seven pairs of feet after crossing the stream at the top of Sand Spring Trail. 

I think there's a more important aspect to the camping, though, that it's tempting to overlook. The kids like Hickory Run. They feel at home there. We've made it customary to camp in a set of adjacent spots along the open field in the older campground there. Now there is a real drawback: the bathrooms with modern plumbing are on the other end of the park. Otherwise, it's a perfect location. It's easy for us to set up our sites to work together. One site essentially becomes the social site, where we gather for meals or a fire. The other ones become sleeping quarters.

A snapshot of our site that includes two of the adjacent sites. The other is out of frame to the left. 

Meanwhile, the kids have two recreational options within arm's reach of the sites: what they call the mini boulder field to the north of our sites or the big field across the driveway.

Field across the lane from our sites. 

We're also becoming pretty adept at planning and packing for the trips. A few of us are using a version of a tub system for organizing camp stuff for which this blog served as inspiration. I'm learning how to meaningfully employ Sam and Caroline in set up and take-down duties. And this summer our friends Ken and Jess started bringing and old school Coleman three-burner that works nicely.

Pancakes.

In the past three years I've been camping at three different state parks, the two mentioned above and Promised Land. The next ones I'm eyeing are World's End, Ohiopyle, and Black Moshannon.

Boulder Field Trail

One of Hickory Run's most prominent features is its boulder field and we make it a point to take the kids to it each time we visit the park. The only drawback for me about that attraction is the drive up to the field. Really it's not that long of a trek, but it feels long and dusty and tedious. Perhaps knowing the thrill of bounding across the rocks makes the trip seem tedious.

Fortunately, I was able to walk to the Boulder Field instead. I agreed to meet Sherry, the kids, and the rest of our party up at the field. The trail, according to park literature is 3.5 miles. It's slightly uphill. I challenged myself first to beat the party to the field. I figured all those kids stopping at the bath houses at Sand Spring Lake would hold them up enough for me to win a race to it. 

From park literature.

Then I stopped being delusional.

Part way through my journey I surmised that simply reaching the Boulder field via that trail in an hour would be an accomplishment in itself.

Start of trail: 2:35.

Poorly lit selfie at end of trail: 3:35.

I should note that there was some foolishness about this quest. First of all, trail conditions weren't that good. Lots of places were swampy as a result of our wet early summer and a recent storm. Running and fast hiking over such terrain while alone isn't necessary prudent.

One other unwise decision: rather than have my modest point-and-shoot camera dangling from my hips I moved it to the webbing of my somewhat old Camelbak. Midtrail I realized it had popped out. No idea when this happened. I moved on, figuring it was lost. But I came across hikers going the opposite direction and asked them to keep an eye out for it. If they found it, I requested that they set it at the sign at the trailhead.

I got lucky. A hiker trailing me found it and returned it to me up at Boulder Field.

So I immediately took a selfie with the camera with which I was reunited.

Sherry's look says it all: As she pointed out I could have simply clipped the camera to the Camelbak to prevent it being lost in the first place. 

This past weekend's adventure marked my seventh trip to Hickory Run. I've been fortunate to have a chance to travel a new trail on each adventure up there. My hunch is that an eighth trip to Boulder Field won't be too far away. The kids feel like it's theirs. Besides, my friends, the kids, and I are getting pretty good at this camping thing. More on that in my next post. 

A Field Trip that a Social Studies Dad would Love

So, let's say a dad teaches Macroeconomics. And let's say he takes his kids to Philadelphia. And let's say he leads them on a trip that looks like this. 

Oh, I forgot. There was also a trip to Elfreth's Alley. 

Sadly, the Money in Motion exhibit at the Philly Fed was a bit over their head. But it was so satisfying to bookend a trip to Philadelphia with tributes to how cash and then coin are made. 

Tee hee! Oh, I can see the therapy bills piling up in the future. 

Psychologist: So tell me about your childhood. 

Sam/Caroline: Well, he insisted on visiting bunkers for government during nuclear crises and places that help decipher monetary policy. 

Psychology: No wonder you're such a mess. We must schedule more sessions. 

In between we visited Betsy Ross's home as well as the Fireman's Museum. With friends. It was our fifth such trip of the summer to someplace historical or scenic with friends. It was also our first that was not to the north or west. 

I was surprised at how fascinating the U.S. Mint was. In fact, I need to visit that place again. In a practical sense, I learned enough on that little visit to justify a field trip with my AP Macroeconomics kids. It'd be kind of interesting to lay in wait until that inevitable class when a student asks a question about the nuts and bolts of money and then respond with a question of my own: "You want to take a field trip and find out?"

We did miss the morning with our friends as they saw the more conventional sites on Independence Mall. One of them suggested that they could see me someday giving tours at a place like Independence Hall. It's flattering and in many ways believable. I think my best education on U.S. History was of the colonial and Revolutionary period. I can make pretty good sense of the complexities of the era and I'm not too shabby about explaining them in layman's terms. 

Sadly, though, I never visited Independence Mall's historic sites until I was well in my 20s. And today's trip showed me that I need to get my kids down there more often. When they're in their 20s I hope they feel like they truly know the lay of the land down there. 

Behind every good man . . .

I decided to subscribe once again to the Philadelphia Inquirer. In part, I did so because I found myself having to explain the concept of comics and how the Sunday comics differ from daily comics in a newspaper to Sam. Recently Sam has taken a liking to Calvin and Hobbes, which I find amusing since he so often reminds me of Calvin when he is thinking of Spaceman Spiff. When he and I hit an impasse in our conversation because he didn't know what I meant by a Sunday edition of the cartoon I realized a critical though archaic piece of cultural literacy wasn't in place. For that and other reasons I realized it was worth the money to get a daily paper delivered, at least for the summer.

Sam has pretty quickly gotten in the habit of reading the comics. Although we hit another impasse in our dialogue: I have to explain why I find Peanuts amusing but not laugh-out-loud funny.

Today's edition.

Interestingly, Caroline has found her own tradition, which gets me to the titling of today's post. Today she asked for "yesterday's news," which made me ask in return, "Why do you want to see yesterday's news?" Her response: she wants to check my work on the crossword puzzle.

She filled in two across clues I couldn't get. Also, she pointed out that the one clue was "clot" not "clod" as I had thought.

Excellent. Now I have a seven-year-old correcting my work.

No Longer Flying Solo

Sherry returned this evening. What fantastic news. I'm particularly glad that she did so in time to see her brother, his family, and fireworks in Glenside. I enjoyed seeing her spend time with Sam and Caroline. They shared a blanket beneath Abington's fireworks.

I don't like to think of myself as a single parent when she's away. I prefer to think that I'm temporarily flying solo. It means an added burden, less opportunities to take breaks. But I have many good friends as well as family who offers me support when she's gone. To wit, the three of us only had to eat meals at home three nights (of the sixteen she was gone) on this particular trip.

Speaking of flying solo, it's funny how technology makes it possible to see where she is in the air, how fast and how high the plane is following. I knew the moment she touched down in Philadelphia. And during the trip, video calls were free and easy to conduct. How did couples do this even a decade ago?

Oh, and I should commend my two kids for being much more effective helpers this time around than last year. Yesterday I challenged them to work as a team to unload the whole dishwasher without my help: they didn't need to ask once where an item went. It was pretty impressive.

What struck me about flying solo this time, however, was how much I missed having a sounding board who understands my kids (and me) as well as Sherry does. It's up to me to make all the judgment calls while she's away. Toward the end of the trip, it taxed me. And when I wasn't thinking about how to respond to a situation, I was analyzing how I had responded to the most recent one. I miss having my wife here to talk me down off of stubborn ledges. I miss the breaks and perspective a spouse who is right here can offer.

Still, I think it's tougher on the one who is away. I could see the joy she took in seeing Sam and Caroline again. It overcame her fatigue from nearly 32 sleepless hours in transit.