Daddy is home!

Daddy is home!
Originally uploaded by JenJeff.

I was away on a trip with 43 students that took us through London, Paris, Lucern, Florence, Venice and Rome. The two week trip was grueling and not exactly a vacation. Although it was fun going through these cities being responsible for 43 students and their safety is a big responsibility. In the end we did have a good time.

This was my 2nd time through Europe with a group of students and Amanda was only about 3 months old the first time. This time through I knew that Amanda would likely have trouble understanding why I was away and when I got back. To make things a little easier I decided to take a foam board and make 15 spots on the board. Each spot would have a photo of me hold up a number that corresponded to that spot. Each night Jen and Amanda would put up one photo on the board and we would slowly get closer to the day I got home! The 15th photo was me holding up a sign saying HOME! and we would put up the picture together once I got home.

We weren't sure if Amanda would understand but after about the 3rd night she wanted to put up all of the photos up so I would be home. When Jen told me this I felt like crying. Amanda was used to it after a few days. In fact the anticipation of putting the last photo up really got Amanda worked up and was so excited to meet me at the airport.

For those Dads or Moms that go away for extended periods of time this is a great idea for younger kids! Worked for us!

Gone Fishin'

It's been awhile since we've posted...life's been crazy as always! I had to post about a cool idea Jeff came up with last weekend. Amanda has seemed very interested in fishing recently (her daycare must have some kind of fishing set)...she's always hanging off the back of the couch pretending to fish. Jeff looked at some fishing sets in the stores, but they weren't too great. So he figured out how to make our own!

He attached a ribbon with a magnet at the end to a fancy stick (actually a juggling stick) we had around the house. Then I found a couple dozen colourful pictures of fish and other sea creatures on the internet and printed them on card stock, and we attached washers with scotch tape (this was a good job for Amanda). And tada - her own fishing rod and fish!

For a 10 minute project that cost nothing, this has been an incredible source of endless amusement. Amanda catches each fish one at a time, then puts them in her Fisher Price Aquarium (her "fish bucket"). Once she's done, she dumps them all out and starts again. It's fun to watch how excited she gets - we have to stay close by because with every catch she yells it out and wants to show us ("Look Dad! I caught a shark! Wow!").

Check it out (more photos on Flickr):

Back of a fish, showing how the washer is attached:


Such a proud fisher!


Such concentration:


The day's catch: