The Big 7.0

Yesterday was N's big 7th birthday, and for many reasons this is a big day, though once again my mom ignored us to let us know she isn't happy with us. Oh well, you can't win them all, though for the record, I'd like to say that I think she's wrong to take out her disdain for me on our kids, but that's just me.

Being a school day, it was a little difficult to have a party, not that anyone on this end was begging to have one. Our plan was to open presents, go bowling (his wish), then have a nice dinner with cake and ice cream at Jesse's, our old favorite haunt.

The day had been building up, with everyone counting down the days, especially N. He was even marking off the days on his calendar. The night before, R sneaked into his room and put up some decorations, and the both of us battled extreme exhaustion and wrapped the presents and put up streamers.

The next morning, the kids came down and were besides themselves. They opened up the presents and had a blast, they were so excited. The pile of gifts was impressive, with grandparents and uncles/aunts doing the usual fabulous job. He got some really cool stuff, thanks in no small part to having cool relatives who love to play with gadgets.

N was also thrilled to finally be in possession of a remote controlled car, something he's been pining for for years, or rather, several months. The kids also got walkie-talkies, which were obtained compliments of the fruits of dad's blogging. I love when that happens.

We had to run out and do some errands, of course, mainly get the car fixed and do some shopping, but thanks to their new stuff, errands became fun. I had to go to the store to get a few things, and usually they come along and can enjoy the experience, but everything changes when you have two-way radios. Now, they could help out with the shopping and maintain constant radio contact throughout the store with their units. How cool is that? They were thrilled to pieces, and wouldn't let me find anything, they all wanted to do it themselves. Another dad was there and asked me what the secret was to getting our kids to help out, and even though I have some idea, I played ignorant and said, "I don't know, I just work here."

After shopping, we met mom at the bowling alley and bowled a few rounds before hitting the arcade. Then, off to A's robotics class, during which N and I went to the skateboard park and did some blading/scootering. We blade together, which can be a bit challenging because the park is filled with young teenagers on skateboards who seem nice enough but also lean towards possibly being hoodlums. That is not completely fair because for the most part I've found them to be decent nice guys, they're just cocky skateboarders. If it was just me, no big deal, but when I'm with the kids, I always feel a little edgy.

On a brighter note, N made a little buddy, a cool hip kid who was shredding on his scooter. I have to confess, N himself is pretty darn good on that thing, a quick learner who aspires to a higher skill level, which knowing him, I think he's got a decent chance of achieving. He's just an athletic kid who is coordinated and strong. He is on the daring side with trying out tricks, and has some inherent sense of what is cool. He's such a guy.

Anyway, besides being cool, the kid was nice, and even introduced himself and said goodbye when he had to go. It was heartwarming. He also inspired N to try out new tricks, and I can see them developing. At some point we're going to have to get that boy a skateboard.

N also brought along his new radio-controlled car (of course), which he got to play with. They'd spent all morning driving the thing up and down our driveway, but now he wanted to give it a go on the rugged urban terrain of Lebanon. He loves that thing.

We went to A's final class and got to watch the sumo-battle between the robots. It was pretty cool, and A really loves the whole programming thing. She and N are naturals on the computer, and since they inherited my old Mac, they are in the process of completely figuring that thing out. More than I ever had. It's pretty impressive, and perhaps an avenue we'd like to explore more. She seems to have more fun with the nerdy computer boys as opposed to the sophisticated cheerleader-type girls. Go figure.

N wanted A to have a chance to try out his car on the urban terrain after her class, he was practically insistent, but we had a reservation to make, and A's class went over because they kept having battle after battle with their robots. It's impresses me to no end that she programmed that thing, and she really loved it.

Dinner was nice, the kids both had steaks, which were kind of big in our opinion, so I got to sneak in a few bites, and then the piece de resistance, the brownie hot fudge sundae, my personal favorite, but it was N's birthday.

Afterward, we headed home, with the kids chatting on the radios all the way. The walkie-talkies that we got were actually not toys, but kind of serious machines. Not only do the claim to have a 27 mile range, which I find hard to believe, but they get they have lights and get the national weather broadcast, which they love listening to. Kind of serious machines. I had written a piece for a retail site and they gave me a gift certificate, which I used to get them.

What an exciting day, albeit a long one, but you can easily ignore the fatigue when the kids are happy and having fun. You just can't beat that.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.