100 Dreams to be Managed

Well, it's now half passed November, and this is only my third time blogging. As such as, I think I can hardly call myself a blogger anymore. But let's not make this an un-post about my non-blogging times or a catching-up-with-Luke entry. Frema actually gave me "homework" one day when I was talking about starting up with this little hobby again.

As part of a leadership exercise at work, she had been reading The Dream Manager and was inspired to write out her list o' dreams. After completing her own, she encouraged me to type out my own agenda of life goals. That was almost a month ago, and I have long since missed the assigned deadline. But it's not a bad idea to have an idea of things you'd like to accomplish over time and who you want to be, whether it's that day, within a few months, or just sometime in your lifetime. (Please note that some of mine and Frema's may coincide, but it isn't because I cheated on the assignment. Also note that the following list is in no particular order other than that which I thought it up in.)

1. Write and illustrate a children's book.
2. Write the Great American Novel.
3. Write more period, whether it's something intended for publication or just on this here blog.
4. Learn to scuba dive.
5. Learn to paint.
6. Earn a graduate degree in something more interesting than my choice of bachelor's in communications.
7. Visit all 50 states.
8. Have my picture taken at the four farthest points of the contiguous 48. North: Northwest Angle in Angle Township, MN; South: Ballest Key near Key West, FL; East: West Quoddy Head in Maine, and West: Cape Alava in Washington.
9. Go swimming in each of the Great Lakes. (One down: Lake Michigan, so only four to go. I'm not counting the times I stuck my hand in the water at Lake Ontario and Lake Huron when Frema and I were on our way back from Niagara Falls.)

10. Raise happy, healthy children.
11. See the Grand Canyon, other than through an airplane window.
12. Become an expert cook in the realm of breakfast cuisine.
13. Use those skills when I own and operate a bed and breakfast.
14. Be the kind of runner who can hold a regular conversation while jogging and not sound winded.
15. Learn to ski. Or maybe snowboard. One of the two, at least.
16. Have a pint in a real Irish pub.
17. Be known to others as someone who never has a bad word to say about anyone.
18. Tour Napa Valley, though not in the style of Sideways.
19. Go on a walkabout in Australia.
20. Take a drive down at least a portion of Route 66.
21. Teach my children to swim before they reach kindergarten.
22. Finally finish reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which I first started reading way back when I was in seventh grade.
23. Tour southeastern England and Wales, looking for my suspected family roots.
24. Have another photo chosen for a Jones Soda label and this time find a bottle with the label on it.
25. Go hiking in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park and see a live volcano up close and personal.
26. See the redwoods in California and drive a car through one of the ones that had a tunnel dug through it.
27. Learn to sail a boat.
28. Find buried treasure.
29. Roast my own coffee, which would of course be served in the aforementioned bed and breakfast.
30. Travel to the Outer Banks, seeing various sites, especially Teach's Hole off of Ocracoke, the spot of Blackbeard's storied demise.
31. Dance with my daughter at her wedding (if she chooses to get married, that is).
32. Learn to dance long before then.
33. Take my kids on a bike ride around the perimeter of Mackinac Island. When we went there in June 2007, I had to go by myself, as Frema was pregnant with Kara.


34. Own a really fancy camera and learn how to use all the functions on it.
35. Visit New Orleans again, this time during Mardi Gras.
36. Tour New England in the fall.
37. Kayak around Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
38. Go running at least times a week as long as I'm able.
39. Return to work in a meaningful career.
40. Live near a large body of water, if not near the ocean then at least by one of the Great Lakes. 41. Figure out how to get children to eat their vegetables.
42. Take gourmet cooking classes.
43. Find a balance between living green and living comfortably.
44. Go on a foodie vacation, visiting spots highlighted in Man v. Food.
45. Get a decent night's sleep sometime soon.
46. Enroll in whitewater kayaking classes (either at Otter Bar Lodge or a reputable outfitter in the Summersville, WV, area, where we went rafting a few years back).
47. Go whitewater rafting at least a few more times before the children are old enough to go, too.
48. Take a whitewater rafting trip with the whole family.


49. Win a chili cook off.
50. Take the family on a trip to Disney World.
51. Vote in every presidential election that occurs while I'm living.
52. Be one of those people who can efficiently shop sales and use coupons so they pay around a nickel for a cart full of groceries.
53. Have a large, open, well-lit kitchen with an island and a double oven.
54. See the Aurora Borealis in person.
55. Go camping in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
56. Spend the whole winter someplace warm.
57. Win a 5k.
58. Return to Rocky Mountain National Park with the family and have our picture taken at 2.3 miles above sea level. (This time getting there when the sun would be on the right side for picture taking.)
59. Climb a mountain (which doesn't even have to be a big one, just big enough to still count as a mountain—I mostly drove up the one that I am standing on in the above picture).
60. Take my son out for a beer when he's of age.
61. Tour the Maker's Mark distillery and dip my own keepsake bottle of bourbon in wax.
62. Visit old friends and my extended family more often.
63. Make more new friends as well.
64. Take the kids to Pokagon State Park for the toboggan run.
65. Go on a whale watching tour.
66. Swim with stingrays like on that one cruise commercial.
67. Build a new home—not by hand, with a developer or architect.
68. Take the kids to the Vermont Teddy Bear factory, where they can make their own teddy bears. (Yes, I know they could do that at Build-A-Bear, too.)
69. Be a good parent, even when my kids think I'm not being cool.
70. Ride in a hot air balloon.
71. Learn to fly a plane.
72. Travel to Seattle to take in as much coffee and music as possible. (This one is a holdover from my college days.)
73. Finish reading Don Quixote.
74. Read all those Hemingway novels I've been meaning to get around to. (So far, I've read The Old Man and the Sea and started The Sun Also Rises.)
75. Take an Alaskan cruise.
76. See penguins in their natural habitat. (Yes, I know that this is not really related to 75, as penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere, though it doesn't have to be Antarctica to see penguins in nature; they make it up to southern parts of South America, Africa, Australia, and various islands, too.)
77. Host Thanksgiving dinner for both sides of the family.
78. See Pearl Jam in concert again.
79. Pack up the kids for a trip without forgetting anything.
80. Brew my own beer.
81. Never get another speeding ticket.
82. Get my picture on the wall at Bub's Burgers and Ice Cream by finishing the Big Ugly in one sitting.
83. Make a pizza from scratch. (I already make the dough, but I want to add the sauce to my repertoire. Though I don't think I'll go as far as making the cheese myself.)
84. Go on a photo safari in Africa.
85. Swim with the manatees in Florida, like I had planned to do in 2007 before we scaled back our vacation from the Sunshine State to much closer Michigan.
86. Reread Moby Dick.
87. Visit Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Block Island, though not necessarily all in the same trip.
88. Take a mid-week trip to Nashville, Indiana, in the fall.
89. Spend the night in the haunted Story Inn.
90. Build a birdhouse for our backyard.
91. Get a snazzy grill and host a cookout to show off my mad grillin' skillz.
92. Buy a brand new car (not one that is just "new to me").
93. Take my wife out to eat at St. Elmo's Steak House and not worry about the bill.
94. Own and maintain an aquarium that is at least 50 gallons.
95. Take a cycling vacation.
96. Go on a ghost hunt.
97. Complete a marathon.
98. Become knowledgable about wine, at least more than "I know I like reds."
99. See the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building in New York. (Technically, I've actually done this, but it was from a car window as we drove out of the city.)
100. Leave the world a better place than I found it. At least in some small way.

It's 9 O'clock, and Yes, I Know Where My Children Are

They're in bed. Sleeping. Both of them. Ahhh...

It feels like we are finally getting into a routine around here, and both children are now settling into more regular sleeping patterns. In fact, both children were in bed and asleep before 8:15 p.m. tonight. It wasn't all that long ago that Frema and I were debating who'd be taking the first of the nighttime feedings for Nathan. In fact, it wasn't really all that long ago that we were doing the same for Kara either—they're only 13 months apart after all.

As he is still little (only 4 months as of today), we've been putting Nathan to bed when we thought he was tired rather than imposing a set bedtime. He could go down anytime from 8:30 to almost 10 p.m. But recently he's been getting sleepy around the same time one of us is putting Kara to bed, who is in her crib by 8 p.m. With both of them going to sleep so early, it's freeing up more of the evening for the grownups.

If only I could figure out a way to get them to sleep at the same time for naps during the day, too. Then the world would really be my oyster.

New Baby, Part Deux

OK, a few things have transpired in the last two months since I've written anything here. Kara had her actually birthday and was still sick for it. Don't worry, she did get better and finally had her small taste of cake (after disposing of the frosting by flipping over her banana cupcake). Also, we finally got rid of my old car that was beginning to be the bane of my existence. While it seemed to run (for the most part), there was little suspension left in the rear and one wheel was starting to bend inward, looking like it might snap off at any moment. Really, it was not a fun-to-drive vehicle in any sense. But the biggest thing was that we brought home a new addition to our little family.

Nathan Byron was born at 8:39 a.m. on Jan. 31, 2009, weighing in at 9 pounds 5 ounces and was 22 and a quarter inches long. (If you think those stats make for a big baby, you forgot what size his sister came out.) It was a bit of surprise having a baby who actually fit into newborn clothes and diapers.

While Frema and I are still adjusting to be parents of two, I can't imagine what it is like to be a one year old adjusting to what it means to be an older sibling. I'm not sure what she really understands of what is going on. But other than freaking out when he cries now and then, so far Kara seems to be taking it all pretty well. Although she does get a little too excited and has ended up smacking him in the face once or twice reached out to touch him. We are pretty sure she has not meant to be malicious. Still, it has not been easy trying to teach her to soft and gentle to the baby, but other than that we're pretty sure that she likes having him around.

When she's not sure where he is, she'll look around for him and peek in the bassinet and the playpen. It will be interesting to see what they're like together when they are a little older, like when he's able to actually play with toys and realize it when she takes one away from him. But for now, it's just cute to see her get excited and squeal with sheer delight when she sees him.