Walkabout

Not exactly a hike, but just getting out for a walk around the neighborhood with Levi feels good, like I'm doing something right to get him outside. Just throw him in the carrier and go. He seems to like it as no matter how cold it is he is quiet and just soaks everything around him up the entire time. Ehow.com has this list for the question "How to Get Kids Outside?"...

Step1

Set up a swing set or play equipment for younger children.

Step2

Put up a basketball goal, volleyball net or skate ramp for older children. Kids will be more likely to go outside if they can engage in an activity they enjoy.

Step3

Take family bicycle rides or walks together. Encourage outdoor activities by setting a good example.

Step4

Plan a scavenger hunt for your children and their friends. Send them around the neighborhood looking for various outdoor things.

Step5

Sign your kids up for a camp where they can explore the outdoors and participate in outside activities. This introduction may foster an appreciation for being outside.

Step6

Limit the amount of time they are allowed to spend watching television or playing video games. Without these distractions, they will want to get outside to play.

I've decided to simplify it for people like me with short attention spans. Here's my list...

Step1. Turn off the TV and go outside.

That's it. Not, send the kids outside, go outside yourself. I'm going to be making a conscious effort to habitually be outside. Working in the yard, playing walking anything, just being a family that gets out of the house and having children outside from an early age will make a world of difference 5, 10, and 20 years from now.

Bedtime Stories for Wanderers

If stories are the currency of travel, then writer Ryan Nickum is a very wealthy man. By the time he turned 30, Nickum's passport was chock full of the brightly colored patchwork of entry and exit stamps from dozens of distant countries. He was consumed by a desire to travel and haunted by the inability to sit still. The gaps in his resume developed into oceans between jobs. Cynicism grew. The overwhelming urge to quit the job and pack a bag sprang up every six months like a song that would not leave his ears. With his career stalling and idealism flat lining, Nickum looked into his past to search for the seed of the travel affliction. There was only one person to blame -- his father....

Listen to the Short at the Dirtbag Diaries.

Beenie Man

Snowboarding

I seem to be hearing a lot lately about everyone around me who's going up to the mountains. The news this morning was interviewing people who took advantage of the 20 inches that the mountains got from the last storm, a buddy at work is going up tomorrow (he had to tell me about it), a customer is going up next weekend in time for the next storm. Me, this will be 3 years without going to the mountains ONCE! Its the nature of being in a business where you have to put in more hours when times are slow. If you have a family to support, that's the priority! Hopefully as Levi gets older we'll be in a better position to go up, I don't want him to miss out.

Until then, if I have to suffer, so do you. Here's a video of me cruising down the mountain (big bear) several years ago.

Childs Play

Happiness is having a little boy that loves to play. Now that he can hold his huge noggin up by himself, Levi gets more fun every day. He's playing with his mom here, he laughs like a little champ. Bit by bit he's growing up! Days 'til first surf, 973......

Fatherhood

One thing I'm realizing about fatherhood, and desiring to raise your children with a love for the outdoors. The issue that we run into after the fact is not just raising them outside, but getting outside ourselves.

Between family and baby and mortgages and car payments, its really hard to get time to get out to the water or up to the mountains. What we once took for granted now feels like to slipping away. I got a comment from a new father that he had an 18 week-old baby boy and was totally stoked, but hadn't been in the water in weeks and was about to go insane! I know exactly how you feel. Surfing is different than many other outdoor activities in that its more of a spiritual and emotional pursuit than other sports for most participants so being high and dry for long periods of time (days for some people, weeks for others) really has a negative effect on our psyche.

On the flip side. We're dads now. Being a dad is the second most important job I'll ever have on this earth, #1 being a husband. Family comes first in everything. I've read in my any surf magazines, articles, etc speaking on the effect and power of surfing in someones life, and read something along the lines of "marriages have failed because of the powerful pull of the ocean..." or some such nonsense. When I sit back and look at the big picture, one day a week in the water when the waves aren't even good, with a happy, close, and loving family is a lot more important than catching it every time the swell comes up.

Now that contentment with my new lot is setting in, my biggest concern really is what I'm going to be able to do when my son is old enough to join me. Will I even be in good enough paddling shape to show him how to duck dive a 10ft wave? Will he be able to look up to me and see something he wants to be athletically? I was watching On Surfari a few episodes back and Shayne (the father) was surfing a longboard while holding Banyan, his son. Am I going to be confident enough in my abilities to do that with my boy? I was a while ago, not so much now.

When I sit back and look at the big picture, its easy to know what the right decision and attitude is for the moment, but there's always that nagging in the back of your head when you look at the surf report and know its going to be good, yet know you're not going to be in the water for it. I'm sure its the same for many other activities as well. When its a lifestyle, not a hobby, its difficult to let it go at all, but that's what fatherhood brings you, a dramatic shift in priorities, that are more than worth any sacrifice.

Foto Friday 1/23/09

Photo- Bruce Kirkby

8 Grand for a Skateboard?

Originally seen at Wend Blog.

.....For a mere $8,250 you can be the proud owner of one of three original LV skateboards complete with case.

The three limited edition boards are currently for sale at a store in Soho, and proceeds will go to Free Arts NYC. Even if you did have loads of cash, would you really want to be caught at the skate park on a Louis Vuitton board?

I'm a firm believer in having quality equipment, but if my son asked for something like this, I think I'd just get him a Wal-mart board to teach him a lesson. Am I a mean dad? If that's a mean dad then absolutely! Is this thing even good wood? I'd love to find out its cheap Chinese maple.

I'm trying to thing of some poignant blurb to connect this to the excesses of consumer pop culture but I'm tired so never mind...

On Surfari - Mauritius

Shayne and Shannon travel to the Island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean to not only surf whats rumored to be the best point wave on the planet, but also to follow in the footsteps of Shayne's parents who traveled/lived there for a time while Shayne was a toddler.

The Dirtbag Dad Diaries

Hello and welcome to the Dirtbag Dad Diaries. This blog is my thoughts and experiences bringing up my son in today's society where children spend more time socializing through their computer than they do in person with real live friends, where learning about nature and this beautiful world we live in is through the TV rather than in the forest, and all to often, lives are lived out from the safety of the couch, never realizing the full potential of this wonderful place we call home.

Growing up in Montana, Washington, and North Carolina I was lucky enough to experience the outdoors my whole life. Hiking and camping with my family, surfing, snowboarding and just playing in the woods, I have an appreciation for life that I feel most kids don't get now. Maybe I'm just worrying to much. I certainly hope that I encourage my son to live life to the fullest, getting everything he can out of real life and not reality TV.

Posting may not be to frequent for now. Levi is still an infant and thus not inclined to surf with me just yet. As I think about the future of my fatherhood and in the distant future when he's old enought to start experiencing more with me, I'll be posting more frequently. Thanks for visiting!

On a side note, I stole the Dirtbag Dad Diaries name from the Dirtbag Diaries, a much better blog about outdoor living than this. Make sure to visit Fitz Cahall over there.

Note: Fitz has started, and I am contributing to, The Outdoor Parent. Be sure to visit!