"Pieces of eight! pieces of eight!"

That's what Captain Flint said.  He being the pet parrot of Long John Silver.  I have just recently finished the great high sea's adventure of Treasure Island.  The last time I read it was... was... Guess I have never read it.  I only know of the story from my father.  Every camping trip that I can recall consisted of a hike,  and to pass the time on these many hikes my father would tell me various stories.  These included Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Last of the Mohicans.  I don't know how many times these stories were told to me and how many years it spanned.  What I do know is that these stories stuck with me to some degree or another,  to the point that when I read Treasure Island it seemed that I had read it just last  year.  Then today,  my son walking in to the family room carrying his Lego's,  asked that I build something for him.  Scrapping together the only artistic ability I have (thanks Brent for taking it all) I whipped up a pirate ship.  Not just any pirate ship,  but the greatest pirate ship that ever sailed the seven seas.  I mean it was awesome!  We made an island out of the fireplace hearth and had a water bottle top for the treasure chest.  We loaded the ship with a couple of skiff's to explore the island with and set sail.  For the next half hour I was young again and we played like we were best friends.  The excitement in his eyes was just fuel for my imagination.  By the time supper was ready we were running around yelling ARRGG... and avast mates! (Jen just giggled)  Needless to say the ship was placed and still remains on Caders night stand.  This morning he awoke to say that he wanted "the whole world of pirates and their ships"  for Christmas.  Funny how little sparks of imagination in my youth have spread to my son. 

Post Script:  He has also been working on his pirate smile. 

Vacation?

This weekend Jen had a great idea to take Cader to his Nana and Papa's house and then for us to leave him there.  This is the greatest thing since sliced bread.  We dropped him off at 1:30 in the pm and headed back to town to get something to eat.  At the restaurant I didn't have to ask Jen what she wanted to eat and then watch her not eat it.  I also didn't have to get up and take her to the potty seconds after my food hit the table.  We left the restaurant and headed for home where we let the dogs out and began to relax.  I didn't have to get up and "come see" anything for Jen, I actually got to watch a complete TV program.  We started a movie and watched it from start to finish and not once did I have to tell Jen to be quiet.  This morning I awoke on my own accord at 9:00am.  Jen didn't wake me up at 7:00 saying, "I'm really, really, really thirsty".  Since then I have relaxed fully in front of the TV for a full hour and a half.  The house has been extremely quiet and boring and I'm starting to think that sliced bread isn't all that great.

The Little Outlaw

This whole month has been a Cowboy theme at Caders school.    It began with a Cowboy Breakfast and progressed with days of making vests and bandannas.  They had a Cowboy lunch complete with chili pie (which he ate two helpings) and finished up on Friday with a dress up day and dance.  I believe this to be Caders favorite month of activities since he first started his school.  He has been so excited that every day he asks how much longer until the next event (he wants to know in minutes).  This also brings us to our second point.  This month has been a perfect excuse for Cader to request jeans for everyday wear.  This first began a couple of years ago when he had trouble adjusting from one season's dress to the other.  Once the adjustment was made he was fine but it usually took some time and we would be way into the hot/cold month's before we would no longer have to listen to him cry about not wanting to wear what was laid out for him.  This year was different and when summer came along he decided that Long sleeve shirts and Jeans would be the norm.  I figured that it was part of the original deal and he would soon be in shorts and life would go on.  This is not the case this year and we are in the middle of August and the boy has succeeded in wearing Jeans one to two times a week.  We do lay down the law on the long sleeve shirts and usually this is not argued much due to the Jeans success.  It is 101 degrees, and has been for the past couple of weeks and every day he requests Jeans.  Once Jen told him he would be too hot, he replied "I like being hot".  I guess we have now given up and allow him to have his couple of days a week and pray for cooler weather.