iamspartacus.net

No one has ever accused our clan of being traditional, and we're not about to start now. So without further ado, here's the 2009 Merritt Family Christmas Card - in digital form. Enjoy.

It seems every post I make to this blog starts with an apology or excuse for being remiss in providing new content. Nonetheless, here we go again. One more time.

I suppose the purpose of this site has been superseded somewhat by other social media outlets. When I began this web site back in 2001 it was done primarily as a means of keeping my parents and other family members up to date with photos of the kids, and the general goings-on of our family. Over time it became somewhat self-serving and I envisioned it as a means of maintaining a digital photo album and living journal of our accomplishments, our memories, our experiences as we grew and aged... with hopes that one day it would provide a richer means of looking back than would a traditional photo album.

Times have indeed changed. Ironically, at the same time when life began to become too busy for me to keep up with this web site as well as I would like, the purpose it served began to be absorbed by other means. Instead of me posting creative blurbs about the kids' recent accomplishments here every few days or weeks, the kids now update their Facebook status from their cell phones several times daily. Photos which I used to maintain here frequently have moved to flickr, then to Facebook, and more often than not, exist only in my digital archive waiting for the time to review them all.

In short, I don't have the time to effort this adequately, and I'm not going to keep posting quarterly updates which try to cover several months worth of family activities in a couple of paragraphs. Perhaps I'll repurpose my desire to verbally chronicle our lives in another medium, but not right now. We've covered nearly a decade this way and I believe it's time to move on.

Thanks, Mom. By now you're the only one reading this stuff anyway. ;) But even you have a Facebook account now, which only proves my point. So long.

-Shannon

Just another late-night rambling from me about what's going on with my kiddos and my better half. Here are some of the highlights from the past month or so:

• Back to school night at Logann's high school -- parents only. Had to sit in each class for 10 minutes, wait for the bell to ring and rush to the next class before the tardy bell went off. Bad high school memories came rushing back, but I was able to dilute that by sitting in class and texting Logann the whole time! That was fun.
• UAC's annual pirate cruise - very cool this year with Captain Jack making an appearance on the last sandbar. Leave it to my daughter to chase him down and demand her winnings!
• Martin has joined cub scouts, and he is so undeniably proud. It's difficult to convince him to take off his uniform for dinner sometimes. Though one of our favorite scouting events so far never even happened. Troop 3350 had planned a family campout at Clinton Lake for last Friday. The forecast turned ugly that afternoon and when we saw the storm clouds rolling in from the west, Jeannie and I changed plans and opted to "hotel camp" instead, dragging the kids to a local Holiday Inn. The indoor pool and miniature golf course sealed the deal. At least we stayed dry!
• Andrew has gotten into paintball. One trip with friends to the DropZone east of Baldwin City got him hooked. He has upgraded his paintball gear several times recently, and is already working on a Christmas list! In the meantime, his grades are, quite frankly, kicking ass at school! We're so proud of him for that.

Okay, so without intending to, this turned out to be an update on just the guys in the family. Who knew? Oh, one other detail... we're currently planning a vacation for next summer. Right now we're leaning toward a cruise through the Bahamas! More to follow on that one.

-Shannon

Today Jeannie, Jessica and Martin were at the Kansas City zoo on a Girl Scout outing. Jessica, with her friends, was all over the place playing, running, checking out the animals, etc. Then out of the blue she runs back over to Jeannie, throws her arms around her and proceeds to be quite clingy. When Jeannie asked her if everything was alright, this was her response:

"Mommy, do you ever get that feeling like you miss someone really bad even though they're right there with you?"

And so everyone is ending their summer schedule and heading back to the classroom, or in my case, the cubicle. Jeannie was back to work yesterday morning -- full of meetings and get-to-know-your-new-superintendent things. Today she was in her classroom for most of the day preparing for the sophomores who will be back tomorrow. Then the juniors and seniors come back on Thursday.

This evening we went to the ice cream social (which is really poorly named, I might add. I mean, if you're gonna call an event an "ice cream social", you would think you could expect actual bona fide ice cream, right? In my own experience, trying to pass off a cheap watered down popsicle with significant freezer burn as "ice cream" is enough to get you drawn and quartered in certain crowds. ...I'm just saying...) But anyway, we walked up to the school for the event and learned who were Jessica and Martin's new teachers this year. Martin was pleased to find he had the same teacher Jessica had in first grade: Ms. Stoll. Jessica, however, was not in a class with any of her close friends and not with the teacher she preferred. But being the family's social butterfly, I have no doubts she'll adapt and have a half dozen new friends within a week -- just needs a few days to settle in.

Andrew has one more day of freedom, starting his freshman year at West Junior High on Thursday. He is none too eager about starting the school year routine, but who is, right? He won't find out his exact schedule or teachers until the first day of school. But we at least know he is in Honors Biology, Honors English, Concert Band, and Civics. We'll find out about his requested electives and the rest of his schedule on Thursday.

Logann has a few more days until school starts in Lees Summit. He goes back on August 18th. Today he got his new laptop, about which he is very excited. He's still working for UAC, though his hours are limited, which is good given the fact that he'll be spending more of his time on school.

And tomorrow is my last day of sabbatical before I return to work on Thursday. I'm going to try to fill it the best I can. Getting up w/ the little ones on their first day of school, making them pancakes before taking them to school at 7:45am. Not sure what I'm going to do for the entire day, but I'm going to try to get some time on the water. It would be a nice way to close my sabbatical. It has been an incredible month, being on the water the majority of the days and being able to spend more time w/ Jeannie and the kids than I have ever been allowed. I'll miss that dearly.

And now I'll find something else to do for the next couple of hours while I wait for Kaysia to get home. She is full-on nineteen now. Too little sleep and always on the run. It's wonderful to watch that transformation.

-shannon

As summer draws to a close I am reminded of a number of milestones we saw this summer. As this web site serves more as a digital family diary than anything else, I wanted to take a moment to chronicle a few of these memorable moments before they escape my memory -- especially since I'm getting old, as my children frequently remind me...

Andrew attended church camp this summer and spent a ton of that time doing volunteer work, which he really enjoyed. He made some new friends and has grown a ton during the last few months. More recently he started learning to drive and even spent some time learning to drive a stick shift -- big deal for Andrew, no doubt. He's starting 9th grade here in a few days and it's just hard to believe he's that old already.

Logann is going back to public school for the first time since 5th grade. He'll be attending Lees Summit High School starting on the 18th of August as a Junior. Apprehension and excitement are very intertwined in his expectations about this upcoming shift in his education. Also this summer Logann has taken on a part-time job working for Up a Creek as our "Events Coordinator". He handles our incoming contacts and triages them for the partners. What's best about this is that I can now officially call him my "minion". And last but not least... he's driving. (Gulp)

Martin is leaving behind not only Kindergarten, but also daycare. He is entering the big scary world of first grade -- lunch at school, you know? We will certainly miss Ronda and her wonderful daycare, but King Martin is moving on. Recently at the river levy trails, Martin learned to ride his bike on two wheels and his training wheels officially moved to the trash. While he made great strides with his 2-wheel riding, he may have hit a bump in the road to bicycle freedom -- his river levy ride ended in a face plant which left him discouraged. He'll get there though.

Jessica has had a great summer. Recently she conquered the diving boards while at a birthday party. Then last week she took that experience and expanded on it as she took on the high dive at the Lawrence outdoor pool. It's so cool to see her challenge herself like that. She's been enjoying her summer and she's certainly becoming an older kid, preferring to stay up until near midnight reading and then sleeping in until 9:30 or 10:00am.

Kaysia has moved to morning shifts at work and likes that much better than the late night shifts she had previously. She is also officially the owner of her first car! Bought a 1991 Honda Accord last month for which she is taking care of all of the expenses, insurance, etc. Ah, adulthood.

Jeannie is... (drum roll, please)... officially finished with her Masters degree!!!!! She finished her final paper just days ago and we're having brunch to celebrate tomorrow. This wraps up years of hard work, late nights of writing papers, and seven semesters of straight A's. I couldn't be more proud of her. Though I am sad to see her go back to work this coming week. I've so enjoyed having her home this summer.

As for me, I've been on sabbatical since July 13th and I have to say... I am ready to retire. I haven't thought about, let alone "missed" work. I've spent 4 or 5 days per week paddling and am nearly finished with my sabbatical goal of kayaking the entire Kansas River from Junction City to KCK. I'm ready to find a way to be independently wealthy and just eat out, kayak and stay up late indefinitely. ...Unfortunately, I have four more days of freedom before I am relegated back to the cubicle farm.

As always, this is too brief and without photos to back it up. I'll work on that... but then I say that every time.

Yeah, so only one post all Spring -- whatever. Been busy, as always. Summer is finally here, weather is warm, school is out, UAC is in full swing. Here's a sample of what we've been up to since the last (now antiquated) post:

School is out - and this brings the end of daycare. We bid a sad farewell to Miss Ronda, Martin's daycare provider for the last several years. Martin enters the wide world of first grade next year and will no longer be in daycare. Ronda is awesome and will be missed.

Jessica... had lice. Wonderful, I know. Nothing like washing clothes, comforters, sheets, stuffed animals on a daily basis. Jeannie, more so than I, spent countless hours each night combing through Jessica's hair with a special comb and finally got rid of them. -- Then the little buggers came back a second time. And with the second visit from the lice came a haircut for the princess. Jess is now very proud of her summer hairdo.

Andrew rounded off the school year with all As and Bs... again. He is going to camp in Colorado in late June and looking forward to that. His latest adventure though, was paintball with some friends at the DropZone outdoor paintball course south of Lawrence. Pretty cool place.

Logann has been busy as well. School over, he is now officially working for Up a Creek. And by virtue of this fact I can officially refer to him as my "minion". But seriously, Logann is fielding our new customer contacts and setting everything up through the computer so that we can more easily coordinate new floats for our clients. And with luck, he'll also be a legally licensed driver this week. WOOT!

Special K has been uber-busy. Let's see -- a Spring Break trip to Chicago with Taylor, prom with Taylor, been working a lot of hours while also looking for another job, had her first moving violation (in Jeannie's car, not mine thankfully). And with any luck, will soon be the owner of her own car!

Jeannie has just one semester left of grad school before she has not only her Masters degree, but also her reading specialist certification! And of course the high school year is out so she is at home w/ the kiddos now... which makes it really difficult for me to get up and go to work in the morning while they're all still in bed!

As for me, Up a Creek has kept me busy and filled many of my non-working hours. We're getting a lot of business this year so far. My photography, unfortunately, has taken a back seat to everything else lately. Maybe that will even out later this summer. I do have a month off work from July 15-August 15 for a sabbatical. I'll be spending the month on the Kansas River -- floating the entire Kaw from Junction City to KCK, about 170 miles. Lots of planning left to do for that adventure!

Other than that, just a couple of highlights -- Kaysia's birthday, she just turned 19, which also brought us to the one-year anniversary of her arrival in Lawrence. Jeannie's birthday, which we celebrated at the Great Wolf Lodge and had a blast. And recently we dropped the little ones at Camp Grandma while Kaysia, Logann, Andrew, Jeannie and I went to the O.A.R. concert. Awesome experience, and fun to share with the teenagers. ...oh my god, I have 3 teenagers!

More later!

In the past month since I last wrote the weather has finally taken the turn toward a warmer climate. We actually had snow in April this year! Thankfully, it didn't stick and was followed shortly thereafter by a 70-degree day. Regardless, the past month has been full of activity. Here are just a few highlights:

Easter brought with it a new Easter Bunny. Kaysia took a belated turn in the rotation for the Merritt Family Easter Bunny. Despite the cold, rainy Easter Sunday this year, she stayed in character and kept a good spirit about the ordeal, including a special Easter Bunny dance (though you'll have to consult Facebook for the video on that one).

Jeannie is wrapping up a semester of grad school and just under 7 weeks until the end of the LHS school year. She has had her hands full lately with a twice-weekly reading assessment / tutoring session as part of her grad school, plus an insanely busy year at Lawrence High School. She is anxiously awaiting summer when she can relax in the knowledge that she is only responsible for the health and welfare of 5 children, plus the grad school hours she'll take on for 6 weeks during the summer break. - What can I say? The girl knows how to relax!

I would love to say the photo above is an accurate picture of how I've spent my time in the last month or two. I did manage to find a few days with a couple of hours I could devote to paddling over the last couple of months. But the majority of my time since January has been spent working toward the software we launched in early April at the Academy. Long nights working from home lately brought to an end a 3-year project to replace our internal software at AAFP. Overall, I'd consider the project a success. Though time will tell if I'm accurate in that judgment. Regardless, I have no interesting photos from that project so instead I added one of me in one of my favorite activities that distract me from the stresses at work.

Andrew, Jessica and Martin, while not pictured here, are busy with school and are equally anxious to reach the end of the school year. Summer will be a welcome rescue from the busy schedules that have become our reality this year.

Hopefully, the next write-up will contain more up-to-date photos. ...Hopefully, the next write-up will follow a period in time where things are not quite so hurried.

So for several years now every time I crossed the bridge over the Kaw in North Lawrence, I've noticed The Village Witch, a shop in a small stone building. The stone architecture and big red doors were something I've wanted to photograph every time I passed by in the car. With comfortable temps and a sunny sky, Kaysia joined me this afternoon to go "shoot the witch".

More photos were taken along the way. Click on the photo above to see the rest.

Lately it seems like there's hardly time to catch my breath. And I know I'm not alone in this regard. Here's a little of what's going on in our crazy home, which might help explain why it seems months go by between updates.

Andrew is pulling all A's and one B+ in school. Now, I'm not that guy who drives around town with the "My kid is an honor roll student, blah blah blah" bumper sticker on his car. I just won't do it. But this one deserves mention. Andrew puts in the time and his grades show it. He's also recently taken up the soprano sax and is slated for a solo at the next concert. He's also taking an extra hour at school and is there at 7am every day for Chorale. And tomorrow he is attending an orientation for a volunteer program at the Lawrence Humane Society. ...You know, for a kid who seems to be pretty busy already, it amazes me how much time he finds to play video games.

Jessica is doing better with school -- first half of the year was kind of rough on her with anxiety and such. She loves her girl scout troop, which meets every couple of weeks. And if memory serves me correctly, she's having a friend over to spend the night on Friday. She's also been busy lately with her writing and drawing really branching out. Lots of makeshift books, paintings, stories, etc. My little delicate flower's latest masterpiece was left on the kitchen table last night. It's a picture book she made, titled "The Evil Me". ...Oh, Jess.

Kaysia has been working a lot lately, partially to save up extra $$ for her trip to Chicago over spring break. She and Taylor are visiting some of his family during the break. She's also wrapping up her classes this week with her final tests tonight and tomorrow night. Keeping her fingers crossed on that one. She's worked really hard on this.

Logann is beginning to carry my itch for the river. He's been watching the weather the last few weeks waiting for a decent day when he's here so we can grab the kayaks and hit the river. So far, our luck has been less than stellar. School is keeping him somewhat busy. Lately he's been doing a lot more driving, trying to get his skills sharp enough that he can pass his driving test and have license in hand before summer. Pride and fear both surface in equal magnitude when I think about that.

Martin is all about kindergarten. Though it wears him out most of the time. Lately he has been coming home from school, having a snack and either falling asleep on the couch or, more often, putting himself to bed -- sometimes before dinner. Waking him is pretty much an exercise in futility. Tired boy. He's always scheming something, though. It's not uncommon to find him wearing his swim goggles plus a pair of sunglasses, a sword strapped to his waist, a Nerf gun in one hand and a toolbox in the other, while wearing a cape and running from one room to another throughout the house. ...I've simply quit asking for explanations.

Jeannie and me? Let's see, there's work, then there's grad school, then there's work, and some more work. ...Okay, it's not quite as bad as all that. Just busy right now. Jeannie starts spring break on Friday (and there was great rejoicing). And while I'm not given a week off for spring break, I am taking off St Paddy's day so that Up a Creek can participate in the Lawrence Annual St. Paddy's Day Parade. We'll have a float -- of sorts -- promoting our kayak / canoe business that will one day allow me to quit my day job and retire early... right? Well, at least it pays for a new kayak now and then.

So, we're busy. But that's a good thing. No rest for the wicked? Meh. Rest is for squares. I'll rest when I'm six feet under. I just wish I had more hours in each day.