Hey Nashville and surrounding areas, my friend Michael needs you.  Here’s the thing.  Michael needs to upgrade his 150cc scooter to a big boy motorcycle.  The problem is he needs to sell the scooter first.  Now, I have been looking around for different scooters, and if I had the cash I would get this thing myself.  I’ve ridden it, and it’s way faster than the 50cc scooters that I am used to.  It’s street legal and runs amazing.  In my looking for scooters, I have noticed the increasing price of these things simply because of the demand.  They are hard to find and get snatched up quick.  

Michael is selling his for $2000, which is a fantastic deal for something like this.  I know other folks who have spent more than $2000 for far less, so I know it’s a heck of a deal.  So there it is Nashville area, come and get it.  Check out Michael’s scooter on Craigslist, or go to my contact page and email me and I will get you in touch with him.

Who wants it?

Most of you folks on Twitter already know but I spent half of the night last night in the Emergency Room with Blue.  Just before dinner he jumped off the couch (again) and landed on his head.  He was having a hard time eating and falling asleep at dinner so we had him lay down.  About an hour later he started throwing up, and acting really confused.  Not recognizing Kristin or I, and really disoriented.  By around ten, he had thrown up several times and was saying things that didn’t make sense, so I decided to take him in.

Almost immediately the doctor ordered a CAT Scan to make sure his neck and head were okay.  It’s a pretty weird feeling watching your six year old slide into a machine that’s scanning his brain for injury.  He did great and was half asleep during the whole thing.

After the CAT Scan we went back to the room we started in and Blue was hooked back up to the blood pressure thing and the finger thing to keep track of his pulse.  It was pretty quiet in the ER which gave me some time to think and just watch Blue.  I noticed that though he was asleep, I could see on the computer that his heart rate was around 123.  I don’t know anything about medicine so I don’t know if that’s normal in kids, or even if that’s normal in regular people, but as I watched it I could see the waves of what I assume his heart beat was.  After a couple minutes of watching, I reached out and started to rub the side of his face with my finger.  Instantly I noticed a change in his heart rate on the machine.  I watched as his heart rate slowed with every time I rubbed his face.  120, 119, 117, 106, 101, 98, 95, 94.  I stopped rubbing his face and watched as the number slowly climbed back up to the 120’s.  I started rubbing his cheek again and watched the number fall.

You see where I’m going with this don’t you?  Blue was not even awake, and was completely disoriented with what was going on to the point of having a hard time recognizing his parents, but something inside him knew that touch and it calmed him down.  Something inside his senses found peace in that touch, and his heart rate slowed down.  Maybe it was the drama of the night, maybe it was because it was the middle of the night, but I instantly recognized the connection to something more spiritual.  I started thinking about the peace that I feel some times in the middle of my disorientation.  In the middle of my confusion.  The times where even if I don’t recognize what’s going on, and I don’t want people around me, someone is there, rubbing my cheek and slowing my heart rate.

I love the moments in life where the definition of a “father’s love” is so evident.  Ever since I  became a dad I’ve noticed the Biblical connection to that “father’s love” become more and more real.  It’s awesome to see how something like sitting in an emergency room because your six year old has a concussion can actually bring a sense of peace.  A sense of peace that I have needed for a while now.

Anyway.  Blue just woke up and came downstairs and is completely back to normal.  He looks fine, is talking fine, and even has that six year old attitude this morning.  Thanks so much for your prayers last night, and thanks for all the Twitter folks that blew my phone up after hearing about it.  Community across the country still blows me away.

Well, it’s official.  Blue just left for his first whole day of school.  No more Kindergarten Camp, no more half days.  Big boy school.  He was less intimidated today since he had been there a couple times, he knew his friends would be there, and he had the incentive to ride the bus home if he walked into his class brave.

I think Kristin is trying to avoid thinking about it.  I don’t blame her.  We started talking about how we both don’t really have many memories before Kindergarten.  I mean there are snippets of things I remember but when I think of school and “growing up” it all starts there.  Today starts that day for Blue.

I even remember my Kindergarten Teacher’s name.  Mrs. Albertazzi. How many of you remember your Kindergarten teacher’s name?

Since Blue is in school now we have decided to initiate the “weekend” into our lives.  See, ever since we’ve been married Kristin and I have rarely had a real weekend.  With my job weirdness we just made whatever day I was home or “off” a weekend, but now that Blue has started school, we officially have a Friday night.  Since this whole new Friday night thing is new to us, we have decided to start having movie night.

Tonight we went over to Kristin’s dad’s house barbecued some hamburgers and watched ‘Nim’s Island’.  I was almost asleep during the previews but ended up making it through the whole movie.  And surprisingly enough, it wasn’t terrible.  I mean, yeah, it’s a kids movie, and yeah it’s unrealistic to think Jodie Foster could travel to the other side of the world in a day and a half to rescue an eleven year-old girl that’s living on an unknown island by herself with her friends a sea lion, a lizard and a pelican, but The Matrix wasn’t real either, so I can get past that.  Anyone seen it?

What was your favorite kids movie growing up? I’d have to go with “The Goonies”.

Today Blue turns six.

This little man holds a special place in my heart.  Like most parent-child relationships this kid can drive me nuts and melt my heart all within a matter of seconds.  

Today, we are having “family birthday” where Blue says he’s in charge.  We’re headed to Chuck E Cheese’s for lunch and games, then Blue and mom are going on a birthday date to see Wal-E and maybe shopping for a hat.  Tomorrow is the friends party.  It’s a pirate party with swords, treasure, and a monkey cake, because that’s what Blue wants.

Happy Birthday Blue!

I’ve spent the last couple weeks answering subtle questions like, “You went to kindergarten right?” and “What was it like?  Did you like it?”.  Blue’s always been a pretty outgoing kid, but I think the magnitude of “real” school has him a little nervous.  Last night I laid in his bed for about an hour while he asked me to tell him stories of when I was in kindergarten and the friends that I had.  

Today Blue starts his first day of Kindergarten Camp.  I had no idea what that was until the other day, but it turns out they take about a week to prepare the kids for going to school.  A couple half-days here and there, and some parent nights, and then they are ready to go to the real thing.  I think it’s awesome that they do that.  The other night we went to an open house type thing, where we could walk around the school and look at things, talk to teachers and check out the class rooms.  It’s a pretty big school and I could see how it would be a little intimidating to a five year old, but it’s an amazing place.  It seems they have thought of everything.

This whole “parent of kids at school” thing is new to me, but I think it’s going to be awesome for Blue and it’s cool that the school is so close to our house.  I don’t remember too many things about kindergarten, but I remember my teachers name and crashing on a bike and having to sit at the edge of the carpet during story time.

Any memories from kindergarten?

So, last night we were at a pool part at a friends and Blue decided to take their electric scooter for a spin.  Typically when we are there the kids run around and play with stuff, and the parents hang out near the pool to make sure nobody is drowning.

We knew Blue was playing with friends and saw him at the top of the driveway on a scooter.  It’s a kid sized one, but electric and fast none the less.  All of the sudden we see him decide to bomb down the driveway with the look on his face as if he hadn’t quite thought it through.  Speed wobbles followed, along with a slight look of panic.  I watched as he dodged the rock bench and the fire pit wondering where he was planning on going.  Kristin and I were on the other side of the pool without much chance of stopping anything.  Managing to make it past the fire pit, the next obstacle ahead was the diving rock on the side of the pool.  Blue managed to miss that at the last second, and tried to bail just before scraping is leg pretty bad and rolling into the pool.  Scooter and all.  

Blue can’t swim all that well but once in the water was scooped up by a watching parent as Kristin somehow managed to grow wings and fly to that side of the pool.  Blue came out breathing heavy, and a little in shock.  I picked him up and carried him over to a chair and as I was carrying him, with his head on my shoulder, he said, “That was a little fun and a little scary.”  That’s pretty much the point right?

I feel bad about the scooter that was fished out from the bottom of the pool and hopefully it’s running fine today.  Blue is his normal self, just covered in bandages and a hair slower.  With three boys this stuff is bound to happen, and I’m sure this was the first of many.  Pray for Kristin.

This is my mom.  She has a red shoe on her piano.  Today is her birthday.  It sucks that we aren’t in California to be able to celebrate, but we can do the next best thing.  We’ve all got the chance to go offer some birthday wishes.  Want to?  Go sign her birthday card.

Kristin is a lot more forgiving than I am.  She sees the good in things and can make any situation a positive one.  She has a great attitude and is one of those “silver lining” type of people.  You know the ones.  I’m glad I married her because if she wasn’t like that we would have a depressing life.  Take this camping trip for instance.  Here is her side of the story.  And here is the rest of the story.

First off.  Hey East Tennessee, they’re called toilet seat covers.  Ever heard of em?

We drove about three hours east and then north a little while.  The maps rendered useless once we started getting close and the directions were telling us to “turn right on Local Road”.  Eventually we stopped in at gas station to ask directions and found out we were headed in the right direction.  Eventually we saw clever signs with the name of the camp ground and sayings like “You’re getting close y’all”.  Good news.

We pulled up to the entrance of the campground and noticed as soon as we drove in a teepee that looked exactly the same as the one on the website.  I read allowed the sign instructing us to check in at the top of the hill.  As I looked around I noticed a few “more permanent” camping spaces and started to wonder what we were really driving in to.

I followed the gravel road up and around the pool where several people were gathered.  Still not seeing any other teepee’s I asked Kristin if she thought the teepee on the side of the road at the entrance was the only one there was.  I got out to check in and felt like I had stepped on to the set of “My Name Is Earl” only the lady from “There’s Something About Mary” was there too.  Pink string bikini and all.  Next to the gate to the pool was a woman in her early thirties, maybe six or seven months pregnant just finishing a cigarette and telling the toddler next to her that it was time to head home.

One of the women near the pool got up and walked to the gate and welcomed me to the grounds.  She brought me in to the office and confirmed that we were the family staying in the teepee.  The teepee. She told me she had turned the fan on so it should be cool in there and that the pool was open until seven and I said goodbye.

Eager to check out the teepee we drove around the circle and parked right in front.  We got out and went inside.  There sat two cot-type beds, a lamp and a box fan.  The boys were excited and jumping on the beds when I noticed a wasp flying around.  Now, I am not a fan of wasps so I told the boys to get out and I would get it out.  Just then Kristin noticed a nest with several wasps stuck to the side of the teepee.  All of the wasps looking at me ready to eat my face off.

I went back up to the office and explained to the lady that there was a wasps nest inside the teepee and asked what we should do.  She said she would take care of it and I figured that we could go on a little hike for the time being.  We started down a trail with a sign marked “Lake” with an arrow.  Kristin had been excited to swim in the lake ever since we read about it online and even bought the boys some new water shoes.  After about twenty minutes of walking we heard some voices and knew that we were close.  As we walked around the corner we realized that we would not be swimming in a lake that day.

A few minutes later down the trail we saw a sign saying “Upper Falls” so we decided that maybe that was the place that we would do some swimming.  Up some hills and deeper into the woods, we followed the trail the way it was telling us.  The boys pretended to hear wolves, and follow wild animal tracks, occasionally wandering into the trees.  One particular tree that the boys decided to run behind had specific instructions on what not to do, but Kristin and I wrote if off as a bad joke.

We finally found the falls, and played in the mud, got lost on the way back and decided that it was time to visit the pool.  No one was in there at the time so it was the perfect time to swim around with the boys and play.  It wasn’t five minutes and a family walked up wearing mostly camouflage and talking about how tired they were from working at the flea market all day.  The dad and, what I would guess was about 17 year old, son jumped in the pool and swam for a bit, then decided to float face down on some air mattress things.  Eventually the dad got out and yelled, “Jerry D., make sure you’re home by dark”, and left the pool area.  After about ten minutes of camo covered Jerry D. floating uncomfortably close to me and cornering me into sides of the pool repeatedly I decided that it was time to roast some hot dogs over the fire.  

The thought of quite literally roasting hot dogs on a campfire that is nearly in someone’s front yard was a bit comical to me, but I was going to do it regardless.  After all we were CAMPING IN A TRAILER PARK. What could make it more awkward?  We waved to the people in the cars as they were coming home from work and joked about how maybe we should go ask to use their stove to cook the hot dogs.  Because of the humid air it was nearly impossible to light a fire worthy of roasting hot dogs or smores later on that evening.  I kept trying until finally we gave up and decided to have them cold.

With most of the wasps gone, we decided to head to bed around eight o’clock and tell Indian stories.  The boys thought it was fun to make things up and like my story of the Indians that stumbled on to the colony of more established Indians and looked like idiots trying to roast hot dogs in the front yards of the other Indians trying to watch American Idol in their trailer.  Eventually the boys calmed down and fell asleep to the sounds of a box fan and intoxicated hillbillies.  

All in all we had a good trip but I think a state park is the way to go next time.  Really, when it comes down to it, I was with my family and away from my phone and computer for two days and that was the best part.  I did come back to about a hundred and thirty emails and a handful of voicemails but it was worth it to get to hang out with the family and score this picture.  

Final Score:  Tennessee rednecks - 1  Harper family - 0.  But at least no one got stung or eaten.  I was however able to bring back a souvenir though.  This morning the boys wanted to run down the the creek one last time and as we were down there I found a really cool stick that I pulled out of the water and decided to bring home to Randy.

What did you do this weekend?

So check this out.  Kristin really wanted to go camping for her birthday so I searched around on line and found a place about three hours from where we live.  The cool thing about this place is you can rent a teepee for the night.  

Now, when it comes down to it, inside I am about twelve, so the idea of sleeping in a teepee is about exciting to me as it is to the boys.  And what’s awesome about Kristin is she loves it too.  

We’re packing up and getting ready so I need to run and we will be here for the next two days.  Have a great day.  I will bring back some pictures.