be a good father

My son and I spent a couple of hours today setting up a trampoline that we had gotten for him a while back… not going to say how long back. We enjoyed the time spent together and he certainly enjoyed the jumping after the work was finished.

We spent another hour throwing the football as the sun was going down. I might just have a football start yet. ;-)

My 10 year old son has expressed an interest in going hunting. He went with his grandfather to a bird shoot back in October and he got hooked. Yesterday, I purchased a Winchester 30-30 youth model for him. It was a used rifle that my brother-in-law came across. We picked up some 125 grain managed recoil ammo and come Wednesday morning, I am going to take him out in the woods early.

This will be a great opportunity for us to spend time together, teaching him about gun safety and how to enjoy nature.

It was hot today! My son attended a four hour soccer camp this afternoon. It was so hot out there. The sun was beating down on us all afternoon, but he had a lot of fun. I was surprised at the turnout today. There were around 200 kids at the soccer camp today.

I have spent a lot of time with my son and my two nephews the past three days. My nephews came over with my parents this past Saturday and ended up staying with us. I setup the Xbox and Gamecube at the house. They have a PS/2. We have all been having a blast playing games together.

My son is apparently trying to become the Tiger Woods of putt-putt. He always plays well when he goes. He has gotten at least one hole-in-one on each game he has ever played. Whenever he goes to Pigeon Forge, TN, he always looks forward to playing. Between his grandfather and me, he must have played about 15 games of putt-putt last week. He is definitely getting better, but it is aweful expensive. :)

My wife called me at work today and asked about a rake. My son wanted to rake leaves. She called me back a little while later after getting the rake for him and told me that she knew why he wanted to rake leaves. He raked up a big pile of leaves and then threw the rake aside so that he could run and jump into them. :)

When I got home from work, he took me to the backyard to show me the pile that he had raked up. We ended up playing soccer for a while and had a lot of fun.

I have not been living up to this goal lately. I have promised my son that I would do a few things for him, but I have not done those things yet. Some reasons for this have to do with the way that he acts sometimes. We all know how kids can be.

Other reasons have to do with the fact that I spend entirely too much time on the computer. He said something to me the other night that made me think about it a lot. I had promised him that I would setup the XBox now that we have our new carpet installed. I did not get to it that night and he asked me about it again when it was time for him to go to bed.

I told him that I would not be setting it up that night, but I would get to it. As I was headed down to the computer room, he asked me what was more important “him or the computer”.

Today, my plans are to go home, change out of my work clothes, grab a football, and toss it around with him for a while.

I surprised my little stinker today by showing up at his school to pick him up today. He was so excited when I was there to pick him up instead of Mom. Small things like this can go a long way with a child.

My son has been at camp with my wife’s mother this week and I am really starting to miss him tonight. He will be home tomorrrow and I am taking the day off from work. I need to think up something very special for the two of us to do.

My son and I got out and played baseball a couple of times this week. Well, it is with a soft baseball. He is only six years old. He is getting pretty good at batting, but this old man hates chasing down the balls.

Later in the day today, we got out and washed mine and my wife’s trucks together. We had a good time together doing that.

Just spending a little of time with a child is such a rewarding experience for both people involved. He was so happy to get out and play baseball today. His grandfather even came by and got in on the action today.