Week #39: Going back to the Old World

This week I chaperoned my daughter and members of her class to Old World Wisconsin. This happened to be on my list this year, which was a good thing because her class was short on chaperones.

Old World Wisconsin's historic farm and village buildings comprise the world's largest museum dedicated to the history of rural life. It is heady stuff indeed. The children had a great time playing 1800's kid games. They rolled wooden circles with sticks, threw "little ribbon things" with two sticks across the field to partners, etc. Old school fun was to be had all around. We also learned how to make cloth from flax straw (kind of like wheat). Very laborious process. People back then had only two outfits, one they wore six days a week for work and one only for Sunday for church etc. (hence the saying "Wearing my Sunday Best"). They washed their clothes and took a bath only once a week on Saturdays. There would be only one bath tub per home with one tubfull of water: Dad first, then Mom, then in order of birth ... sounds a little nasty to me. I learned about the work of oxen, farming, baking, weaving, and cooking. I think that we've got it pretty good right now!

Pictures: Old school games, 1890's catalogs of Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward, my daughter on stilts (she mastered it quite quickly), oxen workin' hard for a livin'.

The videos are: working the game Jacob's ladder and walking on stilts. (which was one thing I wanted to do this year... little did I know that my daughter would beat me to the punch!)

Check out Old World Wisconsin at :

http://oldworldwisconsin.wisconsinhistory.org/

P.S. I have to figure out how to get my video's straight up instead of sideways!!

Week #39: Going back to the Old World: Additional Photos

Pictures: Old time garden, making garments the hard way, don't give me no Flax (flax drying from the top of the barn), my daughter using the upside down nails to heckler the flax (which is the origination of the term "to heckle" someone (break them up or apart) fascinating, I am sure, last picture is after a long day at Old World Wisconsin.

Week #38: BAM!! POW!! CRUNCH!! ... That's right, you're looking at BATMAN!!!

I have a new found respect for my fellow superheros out there. It is difficult work! From waking up, showering, getting coffee, fighting major crimes, grabbing a quick lunch, meeting with the Mayor and Commissioner Gordon, making sure the NFL Packer game goes smoothly and finally finding time for a little shut eye makes for an exhausting day.

However, crime never sleeps and neither do I. When I am a little tired, I need some coffee to get me going. I think that the Starbucks barista might have been startled when Robin said "Holy Hot Coffee Batman!". She seemed a little shaken by my entrance (what the heck, can't Batman get a little coffee?). After she calmed down a bit, I believe she felt a little bit safer with me around.

Later in the day, I had to meet with the commissioner and Mayor Barrett. I assured him that he will be safe from now on. I felt bad that I was a little late protecting him from his beat down last month. All in all, it was an eye opening experience and I feel that I gave back to this great city!

Seriously though, the surprised expressions on everybody's faces were priceless. I was in the Starbucks parking lot putting on my outfit a 50ish lady in the next car said on her phone "Oh my God! I have to go there is this crazy dude in a Batman costume!" A friend of mine in Ohio randomly called me right before I got my coffee and asked what I was "up to", I explained and he said "What is wrong with you?" Nothing, of course just fighting some crime. People were taking pictures left and right with their picture phones. The barista was so flustered she couldn't figure out how much change I was due (listen closely to her on the second video "I know I know It's just I am so distracted).

Pictures are "A day in the life of" ... waking up, getting my morning Joe,
checking out a disturbance at the museum

Week #38: Continuing to keep the City Safe!

Pictures of my long day include: patrolling the city, checking out City Hall after my meeting with Gordon, trying to fight off a crazed fan at the Packer game, and finally getting some much needed shut-eye.

Video is grabbing a quick lunch downtown and going after yet another bad guy. In the 1st video ( 14 seconds in) you will see a Father and son walking by. While I was casually eating my hot dog, he yelled out "Hey are you the Real Batman?" I tuned around and told him and his son, yes of course I am and more importantly you two stay safe! Then I got back in the batmobile and was on my way. All in a days work.

Week #37: Bang!!! This is what it sounds like When Doves Cry!

If Doves are the birds of peace, then I say "Peace Out!!" My brother called me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I had ever hunted doves. The answer was no. I didn't even know that you could do such things. So, in an attempt to get some of my manhood back from the event last week, I said "Sure, why not". Bring on the doves!

On Wednesday, I picked up my brother and noticed that he had more camouflage on than I did. Plus, he had a chair and a gun. Small details that I did not think of. However, I did bring the ultimate camouflage shirt, The Squirrel! How can you not blend into the woods when you are an actual squirrel. The doves won't stand a chance!

We picked up brother number two at his house and I borrowed one of his guns. We were now on our way. The area where we hunted was beautiful. Pretty lakes, swamps, trees, etc. The hunt itself was longer than I expected. Since doves fly mostly at dusk, the Squirrel and I had to hide in the brush and bushes the entire time. The ground and my bum were extremely wet. Even though I was wearing extra-strength DEET, the Pterodactyl sized mosquitoes were everywhere. It was a fun and low key hunt. Those doves fly fast! In the end, our group was able to get one and I got a nice dove decoy (see video below).

Pictures are a dove on a wire (the closest dove we saw), getting ready for the hunt, gun and decoys at sunset, me sitting in the swamp at dusk, and my "decoy dove" kill!

Week #37: Part II Bonus Entry ... Shocking!!

I wish I could have banked this one for next week, but I was not expecting it. My brother mentioned many times during our hunt that we should get a beer afterwards at a local bar. The place is called Bonnie and Clyde's with an "old time" gangster theme. He mentioned you can get your picture taken in an electric chair. I figured I have never done this before... so why not? A harmless photo-op, right?




After we had a couple pitchers of beer, two bar employees strapped me into a chair with huge belt loops around my neck, stomach, wrists, thighs, and ankles. Then they locked the jail-style door. I am going nowhere. I can barely move. I asked my brother to take a silly picture of me, which he did. O.K. let's go now... yet he still hovers with the camera. A second later they electrocute me! I got a full-body shock that I was not expecting. I screamed the entire time! It lasted about 20 to 30 seconds. My other brother said that on a volume scale of 1 to 10, I was at least a 15. The pain starts in your arms then shoots up your body and into your head. It was horrible! Then a little while later, they zapped me again, bunch of jerks! I quickly pull a "Houdini" and manage to get my straps off. While this is going on, I remember I have shot gun shells in my pants which are also soaking wet from sitting in the swamp all afternoon. Not very safe.




My other brother (who was unaware of this scam) yelled "Get him out of there, he has a heart condition! (which I don't). This tells you the difference between my two brothers, one electrocutes me and other quickly makes up a story to get me out. It was a shocking experience to say the least!




The two bottom pictures: One is of me posing for my picture in the electric chair and the other is my unexpected electrocution. See if you can tell which is which.

Week #36: Getting N Sync!!

This week was synchronized swimming time. What else would a 39 year old Dad be doing on a Monday?? I know that my "Man Card" could be revoked after his week, but trust me when I say, I will earn it back. Truth be told, this was never on my "to-do" list this year. My sister-in-law's sister brought up the idea a few weeks ago and I wavered back and forth before saying "Why not?" Sync on! I made an uncomfortable random phone call to Andrea, who I asked to be my synchronized swimming teacher. She graduated from college last year and is headed out to NYC this Friday to look for work. My window was short. It was not the easiest phone call to make. It kind of went like this ... "Ahhh excuse me, my name is ####, I am a friend of Mary Lou's ... would you mind teaching me to synchronize swim sometime this week?" I may want to become the next Bill May (just kidding/inside sync. swimmer joke). She was really nice though! "No problem!!" For her to take time out of her last week in Milwaukee to teach this old dude some new moves was really appreciated!






Our rehearsal took about an hour. The weather was in the low 60's and the pool water was in the mid 70's. Not ideal, but for two professionals like us, it was nothing!



I always assumed that sync swimming was difficult ... but are you kidding me? Apparently, I don't have a good "core". Doing all the moves without touching the bottom of the pool was pretty much impossible for me. I tried nose plugs to keep some water out of my nose, but my ears kept popping when I swallowed air or water. Had to ditch the nose plug. Speaking of swallowing pool water, when all was said and done ... I may have ended up swallowing 1/3 of the entire pools water while trying not to drown.

I would like to thank Mary Lou and Katie for setting this up for me. I owe the biggest thanks to Andrea for teaching me my moves. I was already in the pool today teaching my daughter "The Oyster". Maybe I won't be the only synchronized swimmer in our family! I look forward to watching the next Summer Olympics with a great deal of respect for the ladies in the pool.

Pictures above are the pre-swim, pre-swim with nose plug on and the victorious post-swim "thumbs up".

Our sync moves include ... Left Arm, Right Arm, Tub Turn Kick, Oyster, Boost, Ballet Leg, Pose. (I couldn't master the inverted spin move, so we had to leave it out)

The routine is much more difficult than it looks, I had a great teacher.

Thank you Andrea and best of luck to you in New York. Your future employer will be lucky to have you!

Week #35: YouTube, The greatest day of my life!

It is rare that you know before you wake up in the morning, that this will be the greatest, most memorable, most fulfilling day of your life. Better than your wedding day or even the birth of your children. When I started this 52 week adventure I knew that posting a video on YouTube would be one of my "new things." I knew years ago that I wanted to post these videos for other parents in our shoes to see. Our youngest son was born in October, 2004. On the next day, we found out that he had failed the newborn screening exam. Most of these failed tests turn out to be just fluid in the ears, that works itself out. Unfortunately, at nine weeks of age, our son was found to be profoundly deaf. It was a shock to say the least.

Thus began an enlightening journey. It would take hundreds of paragraphs to document all that has transpired. However, these three YouTube videos show how the miracles of cochlear implants have changed all of our lives. One of our early goals was to have him hear us sing "Happy Birthday" on his first birthday. He had his cochlear implants "turned on" two days before! It was the best birthday party ever!!! Thankfully, he is now almost 5 years old and he hears and speaks beautifully. He is on his way!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuENcyiRRjA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afYOCvvz8M4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PsnuR_ehV8


I have included two other links of cochlear implant activations. One of a toddler (with a great reaction from her Mom), and the other of a teenager from Australia. Please take a look at these also.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCZ3CBmYZfw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWe6iJmHKUE&feature=channel_page

Week #35: Part II Showering with friends and family

On to an entirely different thing this week, I went to my first couple's wedding shower. My original plan this Saturday was to go to my first Jimmy Buffett concert. Never been a parrot-head before. In fact, I have always been intrigued by the Hawaiian shirt wearing, portable blender carrying, generally freaky Key West loving groupies.

Instead, I went to a couples wedding shower. Nice people and a good time. Yet, I was thinking instead of having a "Cheeseburger in Paradise" I was having a cucumber sandwich. Although, someone did have a "pencil thin mustache" that was about as close to " Parrot-ville" as I would get.

Pictures above: Me and brother-in-law, my brother, same said brother-in-law loving his big brew, us having fun with the name tags (notice the three letter addition we wrote on the upper left name tag), the food was a little late coming and I couldn't help myself to the peach tree, I might have been feeling a little "peachy."

P.S. My brother-in-law sent me YouTube videos of my January 1st Polar Bear swim. I added them to my Week #1 post. Still regretting that swim many months later.

Week #34: Putt Putting and Braiding around.

Weak week. I know. I am still decompressing from the skydive. Believe it or not, our family has never gone miniature golfing with all three kids until yesterday. Let the hate email begin now! We decided that this Saturday was the time to go miniature golfing. Our family ended up with FOUR hole-in-ones .... fun stuff. Our youngest had the best time of all ... "Mommy, I love mini -golf, Daddy let's do mini -golf again!"

Later in the weekend, my wife mentioned that I should braid my daughter's hair. Good idea! The first braid was difficult with hair being pulled in the wrong direction and "Daddy, this hurts... you are doing it wrong!" comments abound. The second (and final braid) was much more smooth, she did not complain and I had a big smile across my face enjoying this task. I honestly will do this again, as long as my daughter will allow me to do so. Why should Moms get to have all the fun!!

Week #33: Explore the Door!

This week I went kayaking for the first time. My wife and I planned on doing this until the day of our launch. It was cold and windy and quite choppy. I was told that I might get my shorts wet and maybe should wear a swimsuit. I ended up doing a solo kayak trip ( good move on her part). It ended up being fun for a "little bit", but then I was bored on the water. I am glad I tried it and will try again with the kids, but will not rush my next kayaking adventure.

First three pictures are on the way out, next two on the way back, and last with wet bum.