Yes, I have 9-1-1 on Speed Dial

Daniel saved all of his AWANA bucks this year in hopes of buying that spiffy new skateboard. It was almost 100 AWANA bucks. He earned them by learning about 4 verses every week. Last week was the last meeting for the year and store night. So guess what Danny brought home?

New Bikes - look out Virginia Beach!

Bumper Cars

Things We've FINALLY Gotten Done!

1. Shrubs. We've bought all of the new bushes for the front of the house. That might sound boring to some people, but really, how often to you get a chance to design all of your own landscaping. Usually you just inherit whatever came with your house. This was fun! The best part, two weeping Japanese maples (on sale!).

2. PTA. I'm caught up on newsletters, calendars, membership duties and correspondence. Yahoo! Our elementary school finally got 100% membership, with only a month to spare! Just one more issue to get out and I'll be done for the year.

3. Soccer Party. 10 wild boys + 200 water balloons + 1 swimming pool + 80 hotdogs + cake + 1 sunny day = a great soccer party.

4. Invitations. My brothers, their wives, Brad and I are helping to throw a 40th Anniversary party for my parents in June. Everyone has been working hard at the preparations, but I've kinda been slacking. But Shutterfly is printing up the invites as we speak.

5. Laundry. Wohoo - It's only Monday and I'm done with the laundry from last week. It's a small victory, but one I'll be proud of!

6. VBS Gear. At the bookstore, I stock up on VBS themed goodies to sell during VBS registration. Well, Oriental Trading came through with flying colors this year by offering tons of Power Lab science toys. Need a bouncy ball that lights up? Gooey slime? And later this week... VBS t-shirts arrive! Hopefully this will stir up some business.

Camp Piankatank

Last summer Danny wanted to go to a "camping" camp. And he was really serious about it. He wanted to go on the internet and find one himself! So we did some research and found Camp Piankatank. A camp with a funny name has to be great! So he went all by himself, slept in a cabin, cannoed in the Piankatank River, climbed a rock wall, spent all of his money at the camp store and had an amazing time. We sure were proud of our little guy!

Star Wars and War Games

30 years. I can't believe I have memories that are 30 years old.

Geoff is kinda scary with the computer - figuring out stuff that no kid should know. For years we have joked with Geoff that someday the FBI would come looking for him, just like in the movie War Games. AMC channel is celebrating the 25th anniversary of War Games and we are watching it with Geoff for the first time. We watched an adolescent Matthew Broderick play a "game" with WOPR and almost initiate WW III. He gasps when he sees the "cool" TRS-80 set up at NORAD. WOW! I used a TRS-80, but I couldn't get it to play any games.

But in 1983 Brad knew all about the Comodore 64. It was the beginning of the pc. (I honestly never imagined what they would be good for!) And now we have Geoff who knows all about HTML and servers and networks.

In third grade (30 - yep, 30 years ago) I remember all of the boys had Star Wars t-shirts. And Star Wars lunch boxes. And little plastic R2D2s. And now Danny knows all 6 Star Wars movies by heart and he uses legos to build jet-wing fighters with an ejection compartment for R2D2.

I am grateful for these connections from our childhoods to our children's lives. We enjoy our memories and the boys have a frame of reference to understand the past. We see a little piece of our life experience passed down to another generation. Maybe someday they will tell their kids about Star Wars or My Space and their children will understand what was wonderful and exciting about them.

Do you share any childhood experiences with this generation? I'd love to hear!