Being a
parent has always been in the plans for me.
I couldn’t imagine not having kids.
I have abilities that make me “good” with them: the ability to distract babies from crying,
teenagers from tearing each other apart, and the rest of them laugh a little at
the tall, goofy guy. This might be the
reason that I became a teacher. I could
talk to kids without boring them to death.
Now that I
have kids of my own, I’m trying to use the same gifts with them. My wife and I have two sons. The oldest just turned 4 and the youngest is 14
months a little over a year old. They’re
all that matter to us. Watching the
Olympics, I totally get why some of those parents look like they’re about to
lose their minds at the slightest hint of achievement or failure. All of that time, effort, and patience is
finally coming together. There’s nothing
better for a parent than helping your kids to live their dreams.
Time spent
with your kids is valuable, and I don’t always get that time. I work numerous jobs throughout the year. I’m not proud of it. In an economy where so many are out of work,
I feel like a bit of an a-hole. I end up
missing time with my family because of all the work. These are the formative years when the boys
make such leaps and bounds developmentally and I’m gone a lot. This week alone I will see them for about six
hours until we get to the weekend.
When I’m not
working, I spend time with my family. I
don’t meet friends at any bars or hangouts.
I don’t meet up with bro’s to discuss the latest fantasy football
analysis. I don’t even spend that much
time on the Internet… That last one is
partially true. When I do get the time
with them, I don’t want to waste it.
We just went
on a week-long family vacation to Colorado.
It’s a nine hour drive, which we completely in one day each way. After a summer of triple digit temperatures
and no rain, we all needed this.
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| Left to right: Kid 2.0, Chris, My Lady, & Kid 1.0 |
I love the
mountains: the smell, the afternoon thunderstorms, the quiet, and all of the
wildlife. Kid 1.0 is a huge fan of
animals. We go to the zoo a lot and
Colorado is a great vacation spot for him.
Every other street corner has a different kind of animal waiting for him. We’ve seen elk, mule deer, ground squirrels,
chipmunks, a coyote, numerous kinds of birds, and a fat yellow-bellied
marmot. Kid 1.0 loves it.
He loves
animals so much that he had purchased three stuffed animals on this trip. Kid 1.0 shopped around and made sure he got
just what he wanted. There was a cougar,
a mule deer, and a snake this year. He
would prefer we had a menagerie. I’m
dreading the day when these won’t’ be stuffed, but actual animals in our
house… That’s one of the reasons that
what happened on the trip gave me hope. I’ve
found something I might be able to distract him with; speed.
On the third
day in the hills we visited the “Fun Center” that has slides, bumper boats,
bumper cars, mini-golf, and go karts. We
spent $50 to get $57 in value and attacked the slides. Turns out Kid 2.0 is not a fan of the
slides. You can read it all in his
expression.
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| He didn't cry and he went twice, but you can tell not his first choice. |
Kid 1.0 was
a big fan of the slides. He was an even
bigger fan of the go karts.
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| Literally, his face couldn't smile any bigger. |
Every parent
loves their kid’s laugh. Being able to
hear Kid 1.0 laugh for the entire time we were out on the go kart track was
fantastic. What more could a father ask
more? I was lapping a go kart with my
son, worked my way from the back to 2nd place, was gaining on the
leader, and my kid was roaring with laughter the whole time.
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| Maybe the most fun I've ever had. |
It was a
great experience. We did two times out
the first day, then went back where Kid 1.0 rode with myself and then with my
wife later in the week. He said to her,
“I need you to drive so fast.” I
couldn’t be more proud. I knew that my
competitive spouse would be doing everything possible to win. She hates to lose, which is probably why I
never win any arguments (Hacky Joke Alert!).
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| I would have caught her eventually, but she made it easier by slowing down. |
The only way
it gets better is if 12 years down the road and we’re lapping at Exotic Racing
in Las Vegas in an R8. It could
happen… Our it could be our R8… #WantanR8
I’m not that
big a fan of animals, but my kid is definitely interested in all of them. My wife and I have already discussed Disney’s
Animal Kingdom and after that even some African Safaris, maybe even the
Gallapogos. We will do everything that we
can to make sure he lives out his dreams.
The best part of this whole experience is that now I know he and I have
a common interest. He might not be that
“in” to sports, but he definitely wants to go fast. As he gets older it will get easier for me to
try to understand him. Every year has
been a new and awesome experience.
MoKan
Motorsports, here we come. I guess I
really need to get something small with a manual before they all
disappear. Who’s got a Mustang GT or a
540i lying around that they want to donate?
P.S. I’m an
okay driver, but some of the drivers on this go kart track were horrendous. I lapped some people just by driving a good
line. I was one of the fatter
larger persons on the track, but I was still catching them. There was an eleven year old boy that did a
great job of blocking me on my solo run.
If I had known him or his family, I totally would have put him in a
wall. I didn’t know them, so I kept
after him, but was blocked most of the last two laps. Sometimes it sucks to be an adult… I did tell him “good job, good effort” afterwards.
