Today normally would be a big day in our household. It’s the day we celebrate Zippy the Monkey Boy’s bursting out into the world. Yeah, his birthday.

Sixteen years ago, Zippy the Monkey Boy came spitting out of his mother like a watermelon seed on its way to a world-record distance. Apparently, when She Who Must [...]]]> by Richard

Today normally would be a big day in our household. It’s the day we celebrate Zippy the Monkey Boy’s bursting out into the world. Yeah, his birthday.

Sixteen years ago, Zippy the Monkey Boy came spitting out of his mother like a watermelon seed on its way to a world-record distance. Apparently, when She Who Must Push Now was giving birth to the little dude, and we said “Don’t push so hard now” she heard only “PUSH HARD NOW” and bore down like you wouldn’t believe.

Fortunately, our doctor at the time had some experience with playing infield on a semi-pro baseball team and made a nice shoestring catch.

Now, I said it normally would be a big day here. And that’s true. But, for the second year in a row, Zippy the Monkey Boy chose slimy fish and mollusks over his family for his birthday. He’s away at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s MarineQuest camp during his birthday.

Since he’s not around, we’ll have to content ourselves with pretending. I’ve already started teasing his little brother, Hyper Lad, and I’m planning to really irritate his mother when she comes home. It’ll be just like he’s still here.

I kid. I kid.

Sort of.

It’s amazing, really. Zippy the Monkey Boy used to be the sort of little dude who couldn’t take any sort of teasing without getting angry and stomping away upstairs to yell and scream at, well, anything in his way.

He’s grown into a mature young dude who knows how to get what he wants and to want what he should. Which makes his occasional teenage lapses back into teenager-hood all the more jarring.

Still, we’re wishing the little dude well on his birthday. We miss you, Zippy, and we love you.

Enjoy your time away because the day is coming, in about a week, when I’ll pick you up and force you into your very own college road trip. A week away from family and friends with only your worst nightmare — me — for company.

This should be interesting. But not as interesting as the last 16 years.

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I’m just here for a short sentence or two. Today we’ve got a guest blogger. My youngest little dude, Speed Racer, had to write an essay as a bit of a get-ready-for-school session. Here’s what he came up with. I’m just so proud, I had to share it with you.

by Speed Racer (who’s looking [...]]]> not by Richard

I’m just here for a short sentence or two. Today we’ve got a guest blogger. My youngest little dude, Speed Racer, had to write an essay as a bit of a get-ready-for-school session. Here’s what he came up with. I’m just so proud, I had to share it with you.

by Speed Racer (who’s looking for a new blogname)

It can be hard in a large family to find something to do that everyone will like. My dad might think the same thing would have been fun for us when I think it’s totally lame. For instance, my dad thought it was a good idea to go to the library for two hours. Boring! The one time we could all agree on is going to Heroes Con.

On Saturday morning, me and my family got in a car to go to Heroes Con — all except for my mom, who was at a triathlon. Which probably no one at Heroes Con has ever been to. Heroes Con is the third-biggest gathering of nerds in the country. Heroes Con is where you can buy comicbooks and meet comic book writers. My dad is the one who introduced us to comics so we are big fans.

As I looked into the window that peered over Heroes Con, I saw a different reality full of geeks, just like me. As I walked through the doors, I thought I just walked into geek heaven. There were people dressed up, more than 1,000 booths and a giant wall of t-shirts. My brothers took off so me and my dad looked around at the thousands of booths. I enjoyed spending time with my dad — this was a much better idea than going to the library.

Then me and my dad found the greatest booth of all — the Dr. McNinja booth. Dr. McNinja is a doctor and a ninja, all at once. We met the person who did Dr. McNinja, Chris Hastings. He signed our book and gave us a shirt. We even shook his hand. It was awesome.

Going to Heroes Con was the best because I got to spend time with my family and get comics. If your going to geek up like me — do it with your friends and family.

Richard says: Happy Father’s Day to all you dad dudes out there. It’s a great day. Enjoy!

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It’s winter and there’s still cold seeping around most doors, causing us to dress in sweaters and bundle up under blankets. But that doesn’t stop time from marching on. Believe it or not, it’s time to start looking for summer camps.

I know. It’s hard to believe, but it is true.

Over the last couple of days, [...]]]> by Richard

It’s winter and there’s still cold seeping around most doors, causing us to dress in sweaters and bundle up under blankets. But that doesn’t stop time from marching on. Believe it or not, it’s time to start looking for summer camps.

I know. It’s hard to believe, but it is true.

Over the last couple of days, we’ve begun to receive many, many thick catalogs with ideas for different camps and summer programs in which we could enroll our little dude and our teen dudes. We’re lucky. We already know what they’re going to go away to do. Unlike some camps where the little dudes and dudettes go for months, we send ours to shorter, normally two-week, camps. They get a trip out of town on their own and we get to keep a few pennies in the bank account. A few, mind you.

There are many, many fine summer camps all over the country. A lot of the ones I’ve dealt with, either by attending or by sending a little dude there, are associated with the YMCA. For the most part, they run a great camp.

All three of our little dudes have attended Camp Cheerio (no relation to or association with the cereal) up in the mountains of North Carolina. Each of our dudes have really loved their time there. Two years ago, George of the Jungle aged out. Last year was Zippy the Monkey Boy’s last time at that camp. This year, Speed Racer will be attending without benefit of brothers. He can’t decide if he’s going to be sad or going to explode with joy because he doesn’t have to watch out for surprise noogies.

The two older little dudes are going a bit farther afield. Last year, George of the Jungle went to Costa Rica to help rehabilitate habitats for endangered animals on a wildlife preserve. He got 25 community service hours and had the time of his life traveling with Rustic Pathways, a teen travel and service organization. This year, he’s going with Rustic Pathways to New Orleans to help rehabilitate homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. He’ll be there working and playing for about two weeks. He actually said he didn’t want to go out of the country this time because it would be “too much hassle.” He stuck to it, even after we had the doctor check him over for hidden head trauma.

Zippy the Monkey Boy has signed up to travel to the United Kingdom and tour Scotland, Ireland and England with a number of his classmates and other high-school dudes from around Charlotte with Educational Tours. Not so many opportunities for service with this one, but he will be exposed to a different culture or two.

We know these are all expensive, but they’re worth every penny in the joy and horizon-broadening they bring to the little dudes. So start researching now if you want your little dude or dudette to experience the joys of sleep-away camp or even find a service opportunity.

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