Stories January to April 2003

Stories From Early 2003

	April 30, 2003 Daddy recently took a few nights to read Have Spacesuit--Will Travel by Robert Heinlein to Gus at bedtime. This is one of Daddy's favorite books, and Gus was really into it. He was on the edge of his bed and holding his breath during some of the more exciting parts. This book would make a terrific movie if the right people would make it. Last night, Daddy was at a loss of what to read, so he grabbed My Life As An Explorer by Sven Hedin, which he had begun rereading this week. Sven Hedin was a renowned Swedish explorer of Asia about a hundred years ago, and Daddy had been assigned to read and review this book for his Geography seminar in the spring of 1990. He didn't make it all the way through the book then for some reason, but he wrote a pretty good review nonetheless. As the kids had stayed up until 9:00 watching back-to-back Cosby Show episodes, Daddy only read the first chapter last night. The chapters are short, so it didn't take long, and Gus said it was "boring." Today, when Mommy and Gus picked Daddy up from work, Gus asked if Daddy would read more of the book tonight. "I thought it was 'boring'," Daddy replied. "Well, I want to give it a chance to see if it stays boring," Gus replied. Daddy thinks we'll finish the book--it's definitely not boring! Zoe went to the circus today with her friend Delaney and Delaney's mom and dad. She saw tigers and elephants!

	April 29, 2003 Today is Nick's one year anniversary in the GI Department. At the time he started, he had doubts as to whether he'd make it a week, much less a year!

	March 8, 2003 Zoe: Daddy, who's your favorite little daughter? Daddy: You! Zoe: The letter U?

	March 5, 2003 As today is Ash Wednesday, Mommy talked the family into each giving up something for Lent. Gus has given up pop; Mommy has given up ice cream and potatoes; Daddy has given up sky diving; and Zoe has given up being bored. In the car this morning, she said she was a little bit bored. When Daddy questioned if this was allowable, she responded, "I asked Jesus, and He said it was okay if I was just a little bit bored." It's good to know someone in the family has a direct line to the home office.

	March 3, 2003 Zoe said, "Too short, too late." She meant, of course, "Too little, too late." Pretty soon, she'll be going all the way to the bank laughing, just like her Aunt Sara.

	March 2, 2003 Zoe went ice skating for the first time ever with her friend Delaney and her mom. She was so excited when she arrived home that she could hardly contain herself! Gus was bummed that he didn't get to go skating because it looked like so much fun. He had to go with Daddy and buy groceries, though. Delaney could skate a little by herself and appeared to have more fun falling down than staying up. Zoe skated with help from a gadget that looks like a walker made from PVC pipe. Part of the time, Daddy was told, she skated without the helper gadget. Daddy had forgotten how hard ice skating is on the ankles until he saw Zoe on the ice. He expected her ankles to be really sore that evening, but we haven't heard on peep out of her. We'll have to try to get both Zoe and Gus skating in the future. We're not sure who will be on the ice with the kids, though, as Mommy has only roller bladed a very little in the last few years, and Daddy hasn't been on ice skates since he was Zoe's age.

	March 1, 2003 Today was one of Mommy's all-day school days at Mankato. Normally, she leaves at the crack of dawn and gets back at the crack of dusk. That leaves Gus and Zoe with a whole day with Daddy to themselves. Today, we went to the free kid movie at the Chateau Theater. The Chateau was the name of the old theater downtown that now houses Barnes & Noble. About a year ago, a new one was built on the northeast side of town. This is nice, as it's one of the only things in town that is close to our house. The inside of the theater looks like a castle, and there are stars blinking in the ceiling. For the kid movie, employees were dressed up like Lords and Ladies, and there were games and fun things to do before the movie starts. The movie was The Rugrats Movie, and we got there just in time to get our popcorn and pop and find our seats, so we missed the activities. Daddy and Gus had seen this movie before, but Zoe had never seen it. It was a good movie, but Daddy and Zoe missed the climax as Zoe's bladder couldn't quite hold out. She'd had a LOT of pop, after all. This year's Blue and Gold Banquet was held at Holy Spirit Church again. The meal was terrific. The main course was broasted chicken, and the rest was pot luck. Mommy came home from her all-day school day just in time to go with us. We left early, though, because Mommy was feeling a little under the weather, probably from a long week of 12-hour shifts and writing papers for school. Gus hasn't quite earned his Webelos badge yet, but he only has two things to do to get it. Gus had fun playing with some of his Cub Scout buddies, and Zoe had fun playing with some of her buddies among the little brothers and sisters. We forgot to take the camera with, though, so there are no pictures.

	February 7, 2003 The Pinewood Derby was held today. Gus is now a Webelos I, and his den is the Dragon Den, so his car was a red dragon. The event sneaked up on us much as it did last year, but this year it was held on Friday evening rather than Saturday. Thus, there was no hurried "night-before" construction--construction this year was "day-of." A couple weeks before the Derby, a den meeting was spent cutting the shapes out in one of the Webelos dads' garage workshops. That was the night Daddy decided that he would really like a band saw. A little smoothing of the rough cuts was also done that night. On the day of the Derby, Mommy spray painted the car red and Aunt Deb painted some markings in black. When Daddy got home from work, he put the wheels on. Large washers were added for weights just before weigh-in, and these were mounted on the sides of the car and looked kind of cool. Gus's car took second in the initial heat. Daddy thinks powdered graphite deserves all the credit. The car certainly isn't aerodynamic, and the wheels aren't on quite right, giving it the rocking stability of a table with one short leg. The car didn't do well in the second heat, though, and Daddy thinks the solution is to get some powdered graphite on the wheels between heats. Gus's dragon car was neater in some respects than last year's shark car, and he thought he might win the 'Most Artistic' prize again. He was quite sad that he neither won the award nor progressed to the finals. Mommy came for a little bit before she had to go to work, but she wasn't able to stay long enough to see Gus's car race. Daddy took lots of pictures though. Zoe had a wonderful time as she found a bunch of kids to play hide-and-seek with. And, of course, her idol Sam was there. Sam is also a Webelos I, and Zoe loves to play with him. Incidentally, Sam's last name is Thielke, and he is a second cousin of Travis, Ethan, and Tyler Scoblic. Small world, eh? After several games of hide-and-seek and a Mountain Dew and cookies, Daddy and Gus dragged Zoe away from her games and went home to start planning for next year!

	February 1, 2003 According to Zoe, "The one with the guinea pig makes the rules."

	January 21, 2003 Overheard in the car on the way home from Cub Scouts: Zoe: "I'm a vegetarian." Gus: "Then you can't bite me."

	January 20, 2003 When Daddy gets a ride to work in the morning, he calls when he needs a ride home so Mommy, Gus, and Zoe don't have to wait for him to be done. Today, he called and Zoe answered the phone. "Yel-LOW!" "You can come and get me now." "Daa-dee. Mommy's sleeping and I can't drive." "Well, you could wake Mommy up, and she could drive." "You know how cranky she is when she wakes up from a nap." Daddy eventually got home and watched That 70s Show with Mommy and Zoe. It was discovered that Zoe knows all the words to the show's theme song.

	January 19, 2003 Daddy, Gus, and Zoe went to see Treasure Planet at the cheap theater. Tickets there are only $1.50! The movie, of course, is a reworking of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" and was quite good. Gus really liked the parts in which Jim Hawkins rode his solar surfer. Zoe was excited and scared and laughed at the funny parts. Daddy really liked the animation and the fact that the plot wasn't sappy. Disney movies have really gotten better in the last few years.

	January 15, 2003 Grampa Wager came for a doctor's appointment and for a late Christmas. Together with Mommy and (somewhat reluctantly) Daddy, he got Zoe a guinea pig. Zoe went along to pick it out and chose a pure black one that she named Buster. He's a little ball of fur that doesn't really do much but make little grunting/oinking sounds. Mommy loves him. He's a bit jumpy yet (who wouldn't be in this house?), but he'll eat carrots and hay out of Zoe's hands. Zoe loves to hold him, but she's a little disappointed that he's not much for playing games. Gus thought guinea pigs were stupid until Zoe got one. Then he was upset that he didn't get one. Buster may get a little friend in the future. It's sort of pathetic that this is the most exciting pet we can handle.

	More Stories Stories of Gus and Zoe Spring Break 2005 Trip to Mississippi Stories From Summer 2004 Stories From The 2003-2004 School Year Stories From Summer 2003 Stories From May 2003 Current page: Stories From Early 2003 Stories From Late 2002 Stories From Early 2002 Stories From 2001

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