The Run Around Place

Call it what you will, the indoor park, play land, play place at the mall. You know the place where your kids can play while you rest your weary feet?. We call ours The Runaround Place.

We have been going to the one at our mall since we moved to this area 8 years ago. It is really cool and has a health theme. The run-a-round place works for our family because. . .

1) It's free. You got it fun on a budget. I think all 3 kids now prefer spending time at the children's section of Barnes and Noble. But alas they have all discovered that things can be bought there. Nothing is for sale at The Runaround Place, unless you count the fact that is in a mall. Okay, point taken.

2) It gives our poor home schooled children the opportunity for much neglected socialization. Yes, I am being sarcastic. But the kids always enjoy making friends there.

3) It allows us as parents to watch our kids grow before our eyes. We see the little crawlers and think wow remember when Charlie used to do that?

4) It teaches our kids that places other than home, have rules and they need to be followed. There is a height requirement, a requirement to wear socks and rules about how to place nicely.

5) It teaches our kids that life isn't always fair. Our oldest is now taller than the height requirement and our second oldest is right on the cusp. Yet every time we are there they see bigger kids playing when they should not, or kids playing without socks. This gives child and parents alike an exercise in living out a good example.

I won't give you the runaround, this place works for us. To see what works for others out in Blogtopia go to We Are That Family. Also to participate in my Tony Dungy Book and Bible give-a-way before this Thursday click here.

Next Time: The Civil Rights Game

An open letter to the car behind me II

Warning: This article may contain sarcasm.

Dear Car Behind Me:

It happened again as it usually does on my first bike ride of the spring. It doesn't always happen the same exact way. This year, my wife dropped me off at the bike shop where my bike was being tuned up. I hit the bike trail for my first cycling of the year. Now I am not quite the cyclist I once was, but even in my heyday no one was confusing me with Lance Armstrong. Mainly because he was 6 in my hey day. For a 10 year period I cycled 100 or more miles a week. For the last 10-15 years I have biked less and less but for the past couple of years I have been getting back into it.

Now I am not one of these dangerous people. I wear a helmet, I mostly bike on trails and when I do bike on roads, I stay as close to the line as possible and when possible I bike on the shoulder. I use proper signalling techniques. I even stop at all stop signs which is uncommon for many cyclists. At 44, I can use all the rests I can get.

Yet that doesn't stop people like you from honking at me. When you honked at me I was no more than 2 inches off the line. Did you think a loud noise startling me from behind would be prone to keep me at a safe distance from you? If you ever have to take a field sobriety test ask the officer to blow an air horn halfway through your walk and see how you do.

Every year as energy and cost concerns increase, media outlets champion the idea of cycling to work. Who wants to bike to work while people are blaring their displeasure on us? Isn't that what awaits us on the job?

Please dear motorist, cyclists have a right to the road. During the cycling months you will just need to pay more special attention and pass us with caution. I mean, we're cyclists! You won't be behind us long.

Next Time: The Run Around Place

Give-A-Ways Galore

Good Morning and thank you for flying Crazy Dave's give-a-ways a division of Home School Dad. As you keep your seats in an upright position I want to make you aware of the many give-a-ways going on today.

1. We still don't have a winner! Way back at post 75 I tried to give away a book and a c.d. One of my followers declined the prize package of a point of grace c.d. and a book of writings by Michael Kelly Blanchard. I then offered it to another one of my followers and have still not heard a response. So today, I am going to give it away to one of the commenters on that post. The winner is Michelle of Psalm 104:34.

2. I chose the next giveaway in part because Father's Day is soon upon us, in part because I am going to Indianapolis this weekend, But mostly because I have them in my give-a-way pile. I am giving a copy of Tony Dungy's book Quiet Strength as well as a copy of the Quiet Strength New Testament in the New Living Translation.

Quiet Strength is an excellent book about how God can work in your life through great success and great difficulties. Those who know Tony Dungy's story know that he's had both. I love this book, even though his Super Bowl victory came at the expense of my beloved Chicago Bears.

You can enter for a chance to win them both my commenting on this post or at the face book feed for this post. If can earn a second chance by including in your comment something you appreciate about your Dad. You can earn another chance by posting about your Dad on your blog and leaving a link on my comments. I will announce a winner sometime next Thursday.

3. I want to thank the many followers of my blog with a special followers only give-a-way. I am giving a way a copy of the movie, The Second Chance. Michael W. Smith tries out acting in this tale of prejudice, faith and redemption. If you win this let me know what you think of it and I will let you be a guest blogger with a review on these very pages. I'll be right back with the winner. . .

That didn't take too long did it? The winner is Kim @ Forever Wherever.

Next Time: An open letter to the car behind me part II.

The End of Blogging

Don't freak out! In the words of the great Indigo Montoya, "It doesn't mean what you think it means." Besides, if I was going to stop blogging, I would have done so last time on my 100th post; making it a bye centennial.

The end in my title is the one defined at dictionary.com (#7) as the object for which anything exists; purpose. Titling it the purpose of blogging doesn't lend itself readily to my flair for the dramatic.

As I have been nearing 100 post mark, I have often wondered what is the purpose or end of blogging. Specifically what is the end of my blogging? The Westminster Shorter Catechism states that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Now the chief end of my blogging does not have to be to glorify God. However since my chief end of being is such, I would probably not want to pour much energy into a task that did not.

Blogging is something that I really enjoy doing. My blog really is an extension of myself. My blog like myself is a work in progress, but it is not something meant to define me. Blogging is not who I am. The title of my blog is Home School Dad not Blog Writing Dad.

There have been times when blogging has gotten the best of me. There was the NaBloPoMo debacle to begin with. You may have noticed that I no longer use playlist.com on my blog. I was trying to change music each week, which got a little cumbersome for me. cutting down to once a month or so, was so freeing that I decided to stop it altogether for a time.

Being way into numbers and patterns and having the love language of giving gifts I decided that I would host a give-a-way every 25 posts. I still want to continue the practice of give-a-ways, I just don't want to be so dogmatic about when I do them. So, I am switching from every 25 to semi-whenever. The next one is going to be relatively soon.

I like posting in Blog events like Works for me Wednesday, and Three Things Thursday. I think I do some of my best work in these venues. But that doesn't mean I have to participate in them on a weekly basis. The past few weeks have been super busy in my families life and as a result I cut down on my posts. This is one of the main reasons why I have not tried to launch s meme of my own. Believe me I have several ideas for them. But the bottom line is that I know that would take more time and energy than what I am willing to put into this blog.

The majority of my posts have not had much of a spiritual flavor to them. This will stay about the same. I do have a few planned in the near future that will have more of a spiritual emphasis to them. I hope everyone will enjoy the one coming in the next week or so entitled "How Heaven is a lot like going to the bathroom." Maybe there's a reason why my blogs don't have more of a spiritual flavor to them!

So there it ism my state of the blog address. Blogging as an extension of my self, not as an end in itself works for me. To see what works for other (perhaps less philosophical) bloggers out there, go to Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family.

Next Time: Give-a-ways galore (I told you it would be soon!)