SchneeWorld

Stung on the Tongue!

Jack went camping with his buddy Nico this past weekend. He was on Spring Break and I guess wanted to have one last lost weekend before returning to Kindergarten. Kathleen took him and his brother and sister out there on Friday and they all played. Jack stayed behind. Nico's parents were sort of planning on coming back on Saturday, but were also thinking of staying until Sunday.

On Saturday, we got a phone call from Shannon, Nico's mom. "Is Jack allergic to bee stings? 'Cause he got stung on the tongue". He was eating a peanut and jelly sandwich and a bee flew into his mouth. And nailed his tongue. And then he swallowed the bee.

I talked to him on the phone and he was pretty shaken up. But he shook it off after a bit and had a good time the rest of the time. Yay Jack!


 

Kindergarten Blues

Last week Jack needed to miss a day of school. There goes his perfect attendance record. He had a low-grade fever and a sore throat. Since his younger sibs just got over various illnesses, his mom and I weren't taking any chances.

I started to write the note: Mrs. Thomson, please excuse Jack Schneeman's 20071209 abs... and then I froze. How do I spell that word? If it was to anyone else, big deal. But this was to a Teacher. Jack's Teacher. I get this wrong and Jack is labeled for life as being the scion of a Bad Speller. I wrote abcense, and then abscense, but those didn't look right. Oh, for spell-checking paper!

Off to the Internet, I'm sad to report. But I got the word right.

Houston, we didn't have a problem

About a month ago, I took Jack and a buddy down to SpaceCenter Houston, a museum / playscape attached to the Johnson Space Center (you know, where Mission Control is). We got to the SpaceCenter, played, toured JSC and then played some more. Then, we found our hotel and crashed. Then we came back to Austin.

The SpaceCenter is pretty impressive - massive indoor multi-level playscape, small movie theater, moon rock vault - stuff like that. The JSC tour was pretty cool - we saw Mission Control (nothing going on), a simulation room with "high-fidelity models" of the Shuttles and the Space Station and then we saw the Apollo 18 Saturn V rocket that was never launched.

In the photos, you'll notice a rather persistent happy face. I do not have permission from Jack's buddy's parents to show him on the Internet.

Johnson Space Center / SpaceCenter Houston

Jack's Birthday

Sorry about the delay and the brevity. Here are some photos:

Jack's Bday

I had intended to caption each one, but I really am struggling to find time.

Oh, and yesterday, I ate lunch with a spork! 

Kinderfamily

Today was Jack's first day of Kindergarten at Barton Hills Elementary. I'd been waking him up early for the last couple of weeks - getting him used to the idea. Last Friday, we went to meet the teacher day and prototyped the route, figuring out the optimal path and timing the 1 1/2 block trek. It takes about 8 minutes.

We loaded Ben and Anna up in the stroller, Anna just hanging out and Ben hanging onto his lunchbox and backpack, trying to be like is big brother, and headed over to the school. Saw many of his classmates on the way and delivered Jack to the school without any meltdowns by Jack. Kathleen was a little teary, however. I brought Ben and Anna back home while Kathleen got Jack to his classroom and hung out in the cafeteria for a "coffee and crying" session with other parents.

When Kathleen came back, she told me that Jack did a great job getting situated - he found his name tag, put his backpack and lunchbox where they are suppose to go and waited for mommy to get out of his hair. He gets picked up at 2:45.
 

Some more summertime images

Some more photos taking during Graduation Day. I noticed that my scanner is getting dark - the thing is 8 years old. Maybe time to get a new one. Sheesh!

The kids and the dad.

Jack in flight, celebrating being a graduate!

Ben mugging for the camera. 

Some summertime photos

Jack graduated from preschool last month. While I don't have any photos scanned from the actual ceremony, we needed to load a new roll of film during the event. The roll of Fuji NPZ 800 was developed at Costco, which provides relatively inexpensive scans of decent quality. Costco doesn't process slide film, which was used during the ceremony. Scanning that takes time since I have to do it myself. And time is of short supply, unfortunately.

 
Here's Ben screwing around in a tire-based playscape. This is on the grounds of Jack's old preschool. Fortunately for Ben, he'll be going there in the Fall.

More Ben and the Tires. He seems to enjoy them.

Ben has moved onto a swinging tube. This is a really good candid photography. Almost as if I placed Ben in the tube and told him to look at me.

Jack and his good friend from preschool Sam. They are playing with a water faucet. As I type this, it occurs to me that this was the last time they are likely to play together in this location. Sam will not be going to Jack's school in the Fall, but they've played on the same soccer team and have gotten together in the for playdates and birthday parties and the like.

Ben, looking like he is having fun

Jack, showing me that he has learned to swing by himself.

Jack and Ben on the swingset.

First Day of the Rest of His Life

Jack graduates from preschool today and I just got back from dropping him off. The ceremony begins in a couple of hours, but right now, he's on his own. It was pretty sad walking him from the car to the room, knowing that we'll never do that again. Next Fall, he and I walk to kindergarten together which excites us. He really enjoyed the past two years at Faith Preschool, and Kathleen and I have watched him mature and grow. All his teachers like him and he tries very hard to please them - a bit of a perfectionist apparently. Jack has genious qualities as well - during a skills test, he was doing 3rd-grader activities. The teacher was blown away.

I'll take some pictures of the ceremony and post them (yeah, right).

The other day, I met a bear

The other day
I met a bear
A great big bear
Oh way out there

I tried to remember those lyrics, wanting to contribute some song to the campfire sing-a-long to which my 15 girl scout hostesses invited the boys and I. They gave us s'mores and banana boats after-all and the only thing I brought was a hastily assembled bouquet of native grasses and a "goofy guests" verse to "He's got the whole world in His hands". Perhaps I should start at the beginning...

The boys and I camped at Inks Lake in Central Texas this past weekend. Kathleen made the arrangements and stayed behind with Anna as  Ben, Jack and I loaded the Subaru and headed out for our Saturday night stay. Inks Lake is a rather nice state park about 90 minutes (or less!) from our house. Camping in Central Texas isn't the best (follow that link to see how I broke that promise), but we gotta do what we gotta do. Ironically, the boys and I got the campsite that the Choir was in (again, follow that link).

The site was about 30 metres from where the car could be parked. I had two boys, neither of which can be completely unsupervised. I had to set up the camp and be a dad at the same time. It was a bit difficult, but I managed. Once the tent was up and snacks served, I took the boys swimming at the lake. We met a very nice family ('hi Jose, Monika, Joseph and Jaden!') and played around for a couple of hours. Then it was time to head back to the camp, for cooking and eating.

That went pretty well. As we were setting up, the Girl Scout leader from the next camp over invited us for s'mores and banana boats later on. A very welcome invitation that was. The scouts totally owned me in the "campfire making" category - they had a roaring fire when all I had (initially) was a feeble matchstick. And, of course, Jack noticed ("Daddy, why is there fire so much bigger"). Eventually, we got our fire popping and all was well. Cooked hotdogs and had dinner, followed by a pre-s'more marshmallow or two. Then it was time to visit the Girl Scouts.

That was fun. We sat around and sang songs, roasted marshmallow and had a good time. Jack immediately joined in the sing-a-longs and Ben eventually caught on. We stayed for an hour and then went on a moonlight hike, which both boys enjoyed immensely (the super power flashlights probably had something to do with).

Sleep that night was a challenge for  a bit - both boys kept screwing around it the tent until I had to put my foot down and separate them. Sleep eventually followed and was too-soon followed by morning.

We went on a long hike into the granite (documented by the craptacular cellphone camera, below) and loaded up into the car for the drive home. It was quite fun!

Father's Day

The SchneeWorld Corporate Retreat was a terrific success. All SchneeWorld employees returned from the Retreat refreshed and ready to face the hot Austin July. The overnight backpacking trip became a highlight for those who participated.

n.b. all photos are clickable to larger views. all photos are likewise reproducible; either take the higher resolution image and print it yourself OR request a repro from the SchneeWorld Chief Photographer. You will likely get better photos if you take the 2nd option.

The day before Father's day. All of the fathers and sons are lined up before boarding the Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. Backrow: Danny, Steve and Brent. Front Row: Jason, Alex, Sean, Aiden and Jack. We were eventually joined by Uncles John and Tim, but they were...especially tired...that morning.

Jason, Jack and Alex have secured key window seats on the train. Notice Jack and Alex's critical use of protective eyewear - we were all cautioned about cinders and ashes that can blow into the eye and really ruin a day (or three).

And here is what was viewable throught the windows as the train navigated the tight canyon formed by the Animus River. It was a three-hour ride (at about 18mph) upto where we disembarked from the train and embark onto the backpacking adventure.


Three views of the tracks near our campsite. Notice the smoke and the train in the last two photos. Our tents were within 50 metres of where these photos were taken, but we did not have any soot or ashes land in our campsite (that we noticed). We did learn, however, that coal really does not burn in campfire all that well.

A picture of Aiden and Jack on the rockslide that provided hours of entertainment both days. As I was scrambling over the granite fall, I could not help but think "hey, that would make a nice countertop".


The bridge provided other sources of entertainments as Fathers and Sons alike took turns throwing rocks. Steve and Danny won the "biggest splash award". I chalk that up to their experience from last year when they did the same trip. Watch out for next year, however.

A picture of Jack as he and I hiked back from a brief excursion up the side of a mountain. It was a nice short hike. We turned back before the rest of the party did, but we still had a great time.

At night, the boys (L-to-R: Sean, Aiden, Alex, Jack and Jason) played Batman Uno to whittle away some time, but eventually, the campfire called.

All but three of the Lyons men are in this photo (Jack, Uncle Tim (sitting), Uncle Dan, Jason Sean and Uncle John). Missing are Uncle Tom and Cousin Donald, and Jack's little bro Ben. I'm via marriage, so sometimes I count myself, sometimes I don't. They are sitting near the campfire, which explains the squinty eyes and the odd orange coloring of John's right foot.

The next morning (Father's Day!) after a very cold night in the boonies.

A rare look at SchneeWorld's Chief Documentarian, me. But really, this is a picture of a father and son on Father's Day, 2006.

All the sons shivering around the fire. I do have to say that I moved up to a professional fire starter that day - I got the fire going without using matches (the embers were still hot from the night before and just required a little stoking and strategic use of kindling, but still, the kids were impressed).

Breakfast in the woods, with Jack, Tim, Jason and Sean.

Starting the hike back to the train pickup point. That's Jack in the tracks, and Uncle Dan adjusting Jason's pack. Off in the distance are the rest of the campers (minus Tim and John who when their own way).

A look back at the campsite, which is right between the river and the tracks, just left-of-center.

The metaphorical photo - a father and son, hiking together. Doesn't matter who they are - they stand in for all of us.

A simple, scenic look at Uncle Dan and his boys off in the distance.

"Which way to I go". Jack is pondering the switchtracks, likely extending the simple choice they represent into an allegory for his young life.

Jack has decided - take the main, not the siding. Someday, he'll start taking sidetracks, but not on this day.

The combination train ride / backpack / camping trip was very fun. Spending quality time with the cousins and uncles is always a kick. I learned a few things about relating to my son, and I learned a few things about relating to myself. We're going to be doing this sort of trip next year, but before then, Jack and I will be shaking the Pillars of Heaven once again on a canoe trip.

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