I told Ben to get dressed for the library. That he could pick out his own clothes, but wear something nice.

Ok, this is what Facebook is for right? Talent show time! Hey, this is only 2 minutes, I sat through 2 hours!

Anyways, I’m super proud papa. Proud of Ben for rehearsing hard and memorizing his jokes, proud of him for making a great recovery when he forgot! Proud of him for being nervous as hell but seeing it through.

Today’s after school banter.

- Hey how was your day? Any drama?
- Repeat.
- BEN! BEN! YOUR PARENTAL UNIT IS MAKING NOISES OUT OF IT’S MOUTH HOLE AT YOU!

- What did it say?

- How was your day? An

- Nope.

First day of spring break.

Me: Hey Ben let me take a picture with the path in front of you. You know, to symbolize heading into your future path in life.

Ben: No dad. Let’s take a picture of me in the forest. You know, to symbolize my crazy nature and I just follow my heart.

Ben’s project on another Country.

When I was Ben’s age I thought 2024 would have flying cars and colonies in the moon. Nope, but we got light up chop sticks!

I don’t usually post these fb memories, but those little legs.

Today is a field trip to learn about the history of Worthington, so it’s old timey dress up time! I told him not to loligag after his schoolin cuz he’s got pigs to feed and the barn to muck out.

The nice thing about going to the beach when it’s still may, is you have the place mostly to yourself. I ain’t goin in, but this is actually late in the year for Ben.

Edit: the water is shallow and warm and I spent the whole time in it.

Bonus dad points today because he had his first driving lesson in the empty parking lot here. He sat on my lap and steered. He even parked it perfectly.

I’m biking again and it sure feels great. Rubber legs and all.

I spent the last few weeks on fb marketplace searching for the perfect used bike and found it. I had a checklist.
- light weight. Aluminum frame.
- straight handlebars.
- no shocks. Road bike.
- black! It’s the sleek black beauty! When she slides out of stingy it’s like a a small yacht coming out of a larger yacht.

Mods/upgrades coming.
- toe clips w pedals.
- cut down handlebars to shorter length.
- better grips.
- gears. The derailer is an Altus which is fine, but it’s a little noisy in some gears and shifts a little sloppy. Good enough for my needs, but I don’t like the shifters (thumbies) so will definitely be switching out to Rapid Fire snap shifters. Might change out derailer if the new shifters don’t improve it.
- maybe wrap the frame in matte black vinyl over the winter? Oh ya.

It’s fun to be riding again.

It’s a 20 year old frame that was rebuilt with working used parts by a bike builder who is retired and buys bikes from auctions and rebuilds them to sell at low prices. He’s a great guy who has a lot of passion.

A day late but happy Father’s Day to Me.

Little kid Ben. Middle age Ben. And old Ben.

So I took the photo of Ben, trying to match the background of Richmond Hill in this photo of my parents. But I should have moved the recycling bin out of the frame, so I asked chat gpt to do it for me and this (photo 3) is what it gave me lol. Thanks for the photo shop gpt.

Well 2 days before school starts and we are finishing the summer break the way we started it. Ben had an adventurous summer, getting to spend time with family, and swim in Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and Georgian Bay!

Everyday at 3 o’clock Ella gets ready for Ben to come bursting through the door.

Ben entering the forest of doom.

I see Ben is kickin around some ideas for making money.

I don’t know what he is, but Marcy worked hard on it, and the eyes flash and everything.

Ben’s been wearing a different tie to school for a couple of weeks now. We even went to the goodwill store last week to pick some up. Don’t know why, but he likes it. Does he get teased? Yes. Does he care? Apparently not.

This is the Dad Points Chart. Apparently, I collect dad points when I do something that Ben approves of. Today I got applauded by Ben for reaching 25.

10 years old. I remember being 10, and I wouldn’t go back for the world. I try to remember that being a kid can be tough, it comes with its own stresses that we adults don’t often see. Keep on being you Ben, it’s working so far and I’m proud of you. Happy birthday.