Jim Dalrymple.com

I’m home one day from San Francisco’s warmth and sunshine and what happens? We get hammered with a winter storm. Not just any first of the year winter storm, this was a dandy.

Nicole and Michael came out to help shovel the side deck, which helped out a lot. Actually, Nicole did most of the work and seemed to have a good time doing it.

Twiggy had a blast. She has a habit of jumping in front of you when shoveling snow getting a face—and mouth—full of snow every time you try to clear the walk.

I hate snow. I hate winter.

Sometimes no matter what you do, it’s just wrong. That’s what happened to Monique and I on Sunday when friends of ours and their kids came up to the cottage for the day.

Nicole and Michael were lobbying for their friends to stay overnight at the cottage even before we left for vacation. We said that we would think about it and let them know the day they came up.

Dave and Brenda showed up and we sat around talking and had a few drinks. Later in the day we had a few burgers on the grill. The whole time Nicole and Lindsey were hinting about the sleepover.

It didn’t matter to us if the kids stayed or not, but Dave and Brenda couldn’t come back on Monday and pick them up. They decided to just take the kids home and we could arrange for a sleepover some other time at home.

Michael and his friend Andrew were disappointed, but accepted the news. Nicole and Lindsey on the other hand started crying and wailing like two year olds.

It was so bad, it was actually funny at first, but then it got old really quick. They wouldn’t stop and it was one of those stupid crying fits that you knew was planned if the news didn’t go their way.

Monique and I have never allowed ourselves to fall victim to such antics, so Nicole should have known a temper tantrum was not the way to win us over. Instead, acting like that only strengthens our resolve.

To make matters worse for Nicole, she will be punished for her actions. I’m not sure what yet, but I believe that she has to learn that there are consequences for her actions, good or bad.

Well, that news didn’t go over well with her, but I’m her parent, which means I’m not always her friend. That also means that I do what I think is right. If she thinks she can get her way by pulling stunts like this now, she may pull stupid stuff like this again.

Not on my watch!

The first couple of days of vacation were pretty busy, but today we all laid around and relaxed. Michael went out in the paddleboat by himself and later with Monique, but nobody seems to be enjoying things as much as Twiggy.

Michael really enjoys the paddleboat that is at the cottage. He travels up and down the shore picking up rocks and other treasures he finds along the way. We stay out there and watch him, but he’s a good swimmer, so we don’t worry too much—he’s not far from shore anyway.

Monique and Michael went around the entire lake in the paddleboat today—believe me, that’s quite a distance. Monique was tired and sore when she got back, but I’m sure Michael could have gone again. Oh to have the energy of a kid again.

Twiggy is just insane about the water. She just runs of the end of the wharf and jumps into the water whether you throw the stick or not. She seems to be enjoying the water more than the kids at this point. You can certainly tell at night because she is beat.

We haven’t done a lot so far, but that’s okay, it is vacation. The kids are reading a lot of books and I’m playing guitar and putting together some tracks, so all is well.

I should have known it was going to happen. My first day of vacation was the busiest day of work I had all week—figures. At the last minute I did up a feature story on building a Widget to go along with the release of the Macworld Dashboard Widget.

By the time you read this, my vacation will be over; I’ll be back home again; and the Macworld Widget will already be available for download. That’s because I have no Internet access at the cottage we rented this week. I’m always fearful of not having Internet access, but I’m kind of looking forward to having the time off.

We managed to make it up here about mid-afternoon and get everything out of the truck. Then we had to go into town and pick up some groceries for the week, which included a good helping of Heineken for me.

Michael went in swimming for a bit with Twiggy while the rest of us just kind of laid around and rested. Twiggy has no fear at all of the water—she just dives in.

By 7:00 pm I was beat. I was yawning and looking for a quiet spot to lie down, but I didn’t want to go to bed too early. I don’t sleep that well most times—I’m often up until 3:00 am or later and get up several hours later—so I was happy to see I was so tired.

After the kids went to bed, Monique and I watched a couple episodes of Alias on DVD. We just started watching the show a few weeks ago and are on season 2 now.

Sadly, after being so tired for so long, I couldn’t get to sleep. I laid there for hours trying and finally dozed off. We have to go back into town tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll be rested enough.

Don’t take my word for it, just ask my daughter. I found out recently that I am the coolest father in the whole town! That led to me taking Nicole and two of her friends to a concert last night.

Nicole’s favorite band, Hedley, is led by one of the Canadian Idol contestants from last season. A few weeks ago there was a segment on the local news that Hedley was coming to town, so Monique went online and stayed there until she came away with four tickets in the second row.

The plan was this: Monique would take Nicole and her two friends to the concert and I would stay home with Michael. Worked for me.

The plan was fine until this week. Nicole decided this week that I was so cool that she needed me to take her to the show. I felt bad for Monique because Nicole fights with her a lot, but I have to say that it’s been a long time since I’ve been called cool or anything even resembling cool.

So, off I went with three pre-teen girls following behind—okay, actually I was following behind, but I was really out of place. Luckily, I wasn’t the only parent at the concert that was totally out of place.

Nicole had a lot of fun. She managed to get up on stage with the band and danced around for most of the last song. After the concert was over, I stood in line with the girls for over an hour so they could get an autograph and a picture.

It all worked out pretty good. The girls had fun and I’m apparently still cool!

After knocking out his teeth a few weeks ago and spending more than his share of time in the doctor’s office, Michael is doing so much better. In fact, tonight he went for a ride on his bike for the first time since he went down.

It seems that Michael’s face took the full force of the impact in his accident. The bike is fine except for twisted handle bars and from what I can tell he didn’t damage the road at all.

He was hesitant to get back on the bike—and I don’t blame him—but he strapped on the helmet and started up the street. He decided to walk the bike down the hill (next to the one he fell on) and ride on the straight stretches. That was fine with me—it was just good to see him riding again.

Besides a car that almost backed over him, the ride was a complete success. He said he felt a lot better about riding and I feel better getting that first one out of the way too.

Michael, Monique and Nicole sat down tonight and watched Scooby-Doo 2 Monsters Unleashed. I was going to watch too, but I had some work to do, so I got that done instead.

Sometimes listening to Michael watch a movie is better than watching the movie itself. He’s one of these genuine laughers that belly laughs—when he gets going it’s contagious.

All through the movie Michael was laughing so hard, it brought a smile to my face.

Sometimes it’s the small things in life that make me happy. Well that and lots of money would make me really happy.