josefbig
Chronicling my experience through the Big Brother Big Sister Organization

I can’t believe how easy it is to integrate ‘little’ into my life. Although often times when we hang out it’s for a good majority of the day, which I prefer, sometimes we just have quick outings and they can be a blast.  For instnace, do you remember going to the car wash with your folks when you were young and being so intrigued by the process? The machines were great, the car looked great, something was being transformed before your very eyes and the result was gorgeous… okay maybe most of you don’t get that excited but I certainly do(did).  The other day I needed to get my car washed and pick something up from the grocery store.  I hadn’t seen ‘little’ for a week or so and was just driving by his house. I have a good enough relationship with both he and his family where I can just drop by.  I did, and asked if he’d like to go out for an hour or so.  We ran over to the store and got what I needed.  We both enjoyed a delicious Honey Crisp apple (the best!) and headed back.  It was a great time to catch up, see how his week was, what was up with school and drop him off again. I got a little bit of an update on his love interest too.  They haven’t actually spoken yet, but he thinks she may be smarter than he is.  The jury is still out on that one. I’ll fill you in on the details with this later. It’s still developing!

On our way home we quick got gas and swung into the car wash.  He was enthralled. I’m not sure if he’d never been in one before but he got so excited. It made me excited and somewhat disheartened that I have sort of lost that youthful excitement about such little things(pun intended). ‘little’ was VERY concerned that we had all of our windows up so we wouldn’t get wet! I told him it was his task to make sure we were safe from that danger.  I think he really likes it when I give him tasks so he doesn’t have to just watch and observe.  It’s obvious that he prefers having some sort of ownership in whatever our activity is.

Usually a car wash is a burden for me because I’m headed somewhere.  I really need to get my priorities straight…

When we got home he told all of his siblings what we had done and he was proud and excited to lord it over them. ha ha what a punk!

First of all I need to say I can’t get enough of hanging out with ‘little’. Our relationship has progressed so far and I am so proud of him.  Last Saturday he came over to my house for a hang out. I picked him up around 9:30 and we ended up together all day.  We really didn’t have hard and fast plans. Just hang out.  I told him I need to change oil on my car soon and he suggested we get it done that day. (I swear I’m not enlisting him to do my chores, it’s just the way the conversation goes sometimes) What the heck! It was cold out but we turned on the old propane heater in the garage and set to work.  This is his second time of helping me out. He got right to work as if he knew exactly what to do.  Everything went well, I gave him the necessary tools, and loosened the nut when he couldn’t. Other than that he did it all by himself.  I stupidly enough didn’t check over his work (he’s 11 years old) as close as I should have and we found out the hard way that he had screwed in the oil filter a little cock-eyed. Trust me, check it. 3.5 quarts of oil is a lot harder to clean off the garage floor than you’d think. ha ha O well, we weren’t going anywhere so it was no big deal and we had a good laugh about it.  My girlfriend called when we were almost done with the car and I asked her how close to 3,000 miles she was.  I was stunned when she knew off the top of her head. I had no idea she payed such close attention to those details.  She was within 150 miles.  I asked young ‘little’ if he was down for another car and he was.  We drove over, did the exchange, came back and zipped her car out too, sans oil spill.

After a hard mornings work we went inside, I whooped up some Venison Hash, a real hardy mans meal, while he played games on my computer.  We decided to sit down and watch a netflix movie.  By the way, it’s really hard to pick a movie when you have to consider the fact that you’re watching it with an 11 year old (man, the things that I learn through our relationship due to being the youngest for four in my own family). Now judging from the movies that he and I have talked about before, I don’t think his filter is on too high when it comes to choosing, but still, as long as he’s watching it with me, it will be an 11 year old appropriate movie.  We looked in the action section and found Karate Kid.  He wasn’t overly excited about it until I explained the Crane to him along with demonstration and what that scene meant to all men between the ages of 22 and 30.

Crane (the move of the century)

We gorged ourselves on the venison and sat back and watched the movie.  WOW! Movies today are so different. The character development and story line are so  much more relied upon rather than constant action. I loved it… ‘little’ liked it too but I could tell that it was just barely keeping his attention.  I couldn’t believe it but when we were mid movie he actualy took a bunch of pillows and threw them between the two of us and leaned on my shoulder to rest. No kid has ever done that to me before.  There was an honest trust between us that he was able to do that. I still don’t even know what to say about it….hmmm. Really cool and heart warming.  Alright ** shift in my seat/clear throat** back to manly food eating and movie watching… It was great and he was jazzed by the marshal arts.  We both got up at the end, practiced our wax on/wax off technique, did a few cranes and I brought him home.

Now it’s question time… ‘little’ doesn’t really have to much of an idea on how money works.  I want to show him that he put in a few honest hours of work and that I appreciate it.  Now I kind of get the feeling that Big Brothers Big Sisters doesn’t want money to come into our relationship (gifts, allowance, presents, etc.) but I don’t think this really falls under that category.  I don’t want our relationship to turn into me providing him with work and him making money (boss/employee type relationship) and I don’t want him to expect me to be giving him money.  I mainly want to sugggest that if he wants something, than he has the mind and skills to go out, set his mind to what it is he’s looking for, and honestly attain it.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be money based, it could be applied to so many thing.  (money/item, school/career, etc.).  My plan is to pay him $10 for his help and actually give him $5 for himself, and set up a college account for him to put the other $5 in.  I wonder what any of you think about that.  I really fear money becoming a main stay in our relationship so I’ll try to really separate the two but I think it could be a great life lesson for him.  He doesn’t have to rely on other people to give him what he wants, he can go out and acquire it himself.  I know he’s young yet but I’m excited to get started.

Let me know what you think, or if you have any similar ideas of what it is that we could experience together along this same vein.

$130,000 raised for Big Brothers/Sisters and a second place finish!

‘little’ and I are fairly involved with the the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization, outside of being matched together of course.  We try to attend many group activities together and meet other matches, have a good time, and support the organization! Because of our close involvement we get a lot of ‘extra’s’ from them.  One of these particular extra’s happened to be the other day.  A wonderful group of people called the Arby’s Foundation, the charitable branch of Arby’s restaurants, puts on a wonderful charitable golfing event that supports Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities.  This was their 19th annual event and it was held at Tartan Park golf course out in Lake Elmo, MN.  It turned out the week before the event there were a few tickets that had been allocated to the BBBS group.  It just so happened that these tickets floated down through the ranks and made it to me.  There was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to take a Monday off of work and hit the links for a good cause!  My game certainly wasn’t in any shape to brag about it, but that certainly wasn’t  the point.  I wasn’t disappointed that I jumped all over this opportunity.  Plus what a great opportunity to get plugged into more people that are off the same mind as I am, in wanting to make a difference in our community.

Right when I arrived before I even got out of my car, there was a golf cart there to pick up my clubs for me, and bring them to the cart I’d be using.  I went down to sign up and got a dozen golf balls, a nice Adidas Golf shirt, and a complimentary breakfast with delicious coffee. I asked my old college roommate to join me so when he arrived we met up and hit the green for a putting competition.  Apparently I wasn’t warmed up yet, because I wasn’t even close to the cup!!  After the competition I ran into some of the BBBS folks that I’m pretty close with, and they told me I was in for a great surprise.  When I headed to my cart to get ready for the shot gun start  with my old buddy, in the cart next to us was Matt Blair, an ex-Minnesota Viking.  Turned out that we were slated to hit balls with Matt Blair, and Joey Browner (also an ex-Viking) all day.  Joey ended up not being able to make it so it was just a three some.  Matt couldn’t have been a more gracious fun golf partner, not to mention a super skilled player as well.  Just watching him swing the golf club elevated my own game way more than I could imagine.  As we carted out to our tee, literally through the morning mist which couldn’t have made for a more picturesque setting, the day only kept getting better.

The format for the tourament was each group took the best shot off of the tee then played our own ball for the rest of the hole.  Obviously because Matt was on our team we had a substantial safety net, and could take some pretty solid swings at the ball.  I was so happy that 3 of mine, and 3 of my buddies drives were the best out of 18 holes, and the rest were Matt’s.  I couldn’t believe it because this has never happened before, but my game was on!! Of course I had a few duffs here and there, but my fairway woods felt great, my short pitch game was accurate but most fun of all, my putting was spot on.  Oh it was so exciting.  I made at least 5 one putts that were 10 feet plus from the hole.  I was dropping em out of no where.  The coolest part of it was that I had a 6 time pro bowler, super bowl participant, football phenom overjoyed for my putts going in.  Matt was so elated whenever I dropped a long ball!  It was, as was the whole day, such a surreal experience.  Funny after thought, I think I felt like ‘little’ when I Matt was congratulating me.  Here’s is this far superior athlete, entrepreneur, philathropist giving me a a little snip it of his attention!  He made me feel like a million bucks.  It just became apparent to me that there is no one who couldn’t use a little mentoring in their lives! hmmm

The tournament was so well run also.  Every third hole there were three coolers of soda, Gatorade, juice, water and beer.  There was a longest drive, closest to the pin, and longest putt competition.  We could purchase a couple mulligans at the beginning of the round for $25 which I thought was hilarious as well as useful!! FOUR!!!  We had Arby’s delicious sandwiches and pasta salad placed in our carts before we even started.  I was super impressed. Everything came together for this special day too! The weather couldn’t have been warmer or cooler, just perfect.  There was a gentle breeze that was nothing but soothing and I had two of the best golfing partners a guy could ask for!

My phone was ringing off the hook from work, apparently something was going down.  It was just to bad that I accidently pushed the power button and had to enjoy silence for the rest of the day!! Shhhhhh…..

At the end of the round we headed into the clubhouse for the 19th hole reception where we had some dinner and and sat in for the award ceremony  I couldn’t contain my surprise when our team was awarded the overall second place prize! I really had felt like I played the game of my life but to even be in contention would have been great!  We got some hardware to take home with us, a nice picture with Matt Blair, the Arby’s folks, and Gloria the Big Brothers Big Sisters CEO.  Pretty good company if I do say so myself.  I had to continue to remind myself to keep my chin off of the floor because of my surprise for our placement.

Me and Matt Blair

Really the coolest part about the whole night was that Arby’s ended up raising $113,00 for BBBS.  That means that 1,000 matches will be funded for 1 whole year.  That means that 1,000 bigs will have the opportunity to make a difference in a kids life in their community.  That means that 1,000 kids will be much better prepaired for college, or the work force, self confident in themselves and their abilities, and hopefully will one day come back to give back to their community!  Even though, I skipped out on work on Monday, and had a pile of papers waiting for  me on my return, I felt so accomplished and fulfiled about my experience.  Life is about helping other people out when you can, and getting through this together, and if that means I have to spend more Monday’s out in nature, then heck, I’ll take one for the team!

The point of this blog isn’t to raise funds for the orgnaization, it’s to let you know about my experience, and through that know that there are people like the good folks at BBBS, that are making a difference, and setting up opportunities for guys like me to participate in helping others out.  I hope that someone reading this will get it in their head that they too can make a difference by volunteering, and have a blast doing it by the way, but I know that we are all busy in our own particular efforts and often can’t find the time for another activity.   Of course if you don’t have the time but would like to help out events like this where we raise awareness, or would like to support a match with any amount of donation, I know everyone affected would appreciate it.  Here’s the link to donate to a worthy cause!!

http://bit.ly/9Lzm5

Thanks anyone reading this, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities, Arby’s Foundation, Matt Blair, Tartan Park managment and Staff, Cargil, 3M, and any other donors to this great cause!

What is this sludge mister??

I went on a trip to Kansas City with a buddy from work the week before and I was way farther over 3000 miles than I care to admit, especially being the son and brother of mechanics.  They think (and they’re probably right) that I’m so derelict in my care for my car.  I really wanted to hang out with ‘little’ but I felt like if I went one more mile on the sludge (oil) in my car that everything would lock up and I’d be carless, which would be no good.  It’s incredible how I negelect the tools that are so important to me and my life.  I only appreciate them when I don’t have em.  Well,  I thought I’d like to take this situation and turn it into a teaaching moment.  I’d teach little about something I fail daily at, appreciating what we have and taking good care of our assets.
When I picked ‘little’ up I told him to go right back into the house and get his greasy clothes on because we were getting dirty this afternoon.  He looked at me, looked at his clothes, and said, “I don’t know what you mean.  I don’t have any other clothes that are different than these…” alright, onward and upward my friend!!
We went over to my house, and fired up the grill so we could have some hot charcoal ready and waiting when we were done being men and getting dirty.  ‘little’ got right to it.  I gave him the jack to ‘make the car fly’.  I showed him how to make sure he was on the frame and then start pumping.  He didn’t have enough weight to put into it so he had to jump on the handle to get the car to budge.  It took him a while but he certainly didn’t want any help from me.  We got some cardboard slats, slid em under the car and got to work.  I showed him the under parts of the car.  He was hooked.

"Let's Make It Fly"

It was so much fun to impart these skills to him.  It really made me appreciate my old man and what he did for me.  ‘little’ was tough and strong (as strong as a 10 year old can be) but delicate and definitive in what he was doing.  He couldn’t get the nut loosened up at first to drain the oil pan so I got it for him but he was quick to take back the wrench.  When he got oil from the drip on his hands he was so obviously in heaven.  He really was a true grease monkey.  I gave him a shop towel to use and without coxing he draped it from his back pocket like a veteran.  I couldn’t wipe the grin off of myself, to see him so serious.  I showed him the filter and he went to town trying to loosen it.  When replacing the filter I explained that in order to get the best seal it’s good policy to moisten the o-ring by dipping it in the old discarded oil.  He was eating up my direction and trying his hardest to understand what I was saying and why it made sense.  Bolt back in, filter back on, I showed him the dipstick and how to measure the oil level.  He filled her back up to the full line. He looked at me… “is that it?”  You could see it in his eyes, he wasn’t even close to being done. We checked and double checked the air filter, trany fluid, oil level, washer fluid level, tire pressure, wipers, turn signals, break lights, headlights, brights, power windows, power locks… It was amazing.  He was even intrigued by the double latch underneath the hood and we opened and closed the hood about 5 times.

Natural Grease Monkey

It’s fascinating seeing what excites him and what doesn’t.  The week before we had gone to the science museum (which I still need to write about) and it was so hard keeping his attention on one task at the exhibit hall.  He was all over the place and really just wanted to play around and he really wasn’t in learning about science related issues.  Here in this situation he was so set on learning more, doing more, and immersing himself in the internal combustion engine.  It was great to see him so fascinated.  Seeing inspiration in other people is one of my favorite past times.  That may sound weird but was more he was more intrigued than I’d ever seen him before and that includes cruising on the lake the week before in the fishing boat, ha ha.
This outing with ‘little’ was hands down my favorite.  I finally have tapped into something that he wants to know more about.  I’m not sure where this is going to go, but I’m sure we can find more similar activities together.

A True Fisherman!!

Big Brothers Big Sisters does a fantastic job both organizing and alerting bigs about upcoming events.  This one in particular event went off with out a hitch and took so many pieces to go off right.  3M, the scotch tape and post-it note people, also a major company here in Minnesota that has been around for years, has an anglers club that sponsors an exclusive event with @BBBSGTC (Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities on twitter) where big’s and little’s together team up with an experienced fisher and have a day on the lake to learn and show off our skills, or lack there of.  Thus the adventure begins.
I usually get to hang out with ‘little’ about once a week but the week before last I was SUPER busy. I had a wedding to go to, friends that were coming into town, and work was really taking off on a few projects.   I wasn’t able to see him for almost 2 weeks.  I didn’t realize how much I missed hanging out.  I called ‘little’ four days before the event and let him know, he was surprisingly upset with me that I hadn’t called in a while .  I definitly got the feeling that he was feeling neglected, almost that I had robbed him of our time together.  I wasn’t sure if he’d want to go because we had to be at the lake by 7:00 in the morning and it was a little bit outside the cities.  That meant I’d have to pick him up by 6:10 in the AM to ensure we get there with plenty of time.   He had no problem accepting that.  I was up a little longer than I probably should have been the night before and needed a double dose of coffee that morning to get going.  When I arrived at his house 5 minutes ahead of time he was sitting on the side of the curb waiting patiently.  He didn’t seem fazed at all about the time, and acted as if it was noon.  He was super excited. It was such a pleasure to see his enthusiasm.  Honestly, I feed off of his energy so much! I guess I don’t realize that most kids his age are probably in bed by 9:30 or 10:00 or so.  Maybe he’s not really at that stage where he stays out to all hours hanging out with his friends.  I have so much to learn about youth ha ha.  I feel like I was never one.
We drove over to beautiful Stillwater, a somewhat historic city right on the Minnesota/Wisconsin boarder and then drove 20 minutes or so north on the St. Croix River.  We drove past a couple Marina’s with some REALLY nice boats.  The mist was just coming off of the road and the river, it made for an extremely scenic drive.  We arrived at the lake, Big Carnilian, and the crew was ready and waiting or us.  I’d say there were probably about 12-15 other matches there with us, and about 8-9 boats to accommodate us.  The boat we were riding in that day was a Ranger with a 225 horse  motor on the back.  It was an incredible boat with a ton of power!  I don’t know my boats that well but I bet this one was upwards of $100 grand.  It was such a smooth ride. To be honest I was a little bummed.  I don’t want ‘little’ to get spoiled with these great experiences and then be bummed if the next time he doesn’t have access to these great resources… (WHEN DID I BECOME MY PARRENTS?? ha ha) Of course I’m not complaining by ANY means.  As the sun was just cresting we took off on the lake. We really couldn’t have experienced a more pictureque launch than what we saw.  I know no one is going to believe me but directly between us and the sun a bald eagle swooped down about 400 feet away and snagged a fish and brought it to a nearby island for an apparent feast.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen the eyes of a child get so large.  I wish I would have taken a picture.  We saw everything from his launch from the tree, snagging the fish, and the massacre that happened on the small rock island right in front of us.  It was quintessential nature unfolding right before our eyes… Incredible!

The guide had never been to the lake so he wasn’t a hundred percent sure of where we were to go but he had a depth finder and plopped us right on top of a bed a of hungry sun fish. He immediatly set us up with some fishing poles and worms and leeches for bait.  It was almost as if the fish were jumping into the boat at first.  I didn’t even use my pole for the first half hour because I was to busy baiting ‘little’s’ hook and removing the fish.  He could do the worms, but it was the leeches that gave him the willies.  He was a little weary of the fish too.  He wasn’t grossed out but he was scared of getting poked and they were flopping around to much for him to get a hold… it was a funny scene! Throughout the day I was working on him/trying to trick him into working with the leeches and removing the fish.  I’d casually say, “hey man, quick hold onto this fish.  I need to fill up the live well so we can keep them and clean the fish later” or ” hey ‘little’ quick grab me a leach!! I see a big one swimming down there.”  Leaches… no chance but he was so intrigued by the idea of cleaning the fish that he almost forgot about his fear.  When the fish jumped  in his hand though, he was quickly reminded.  I finnaly got him to grab the fish but he used his shirt as a buffer zone, ha ha it was so humurous.  His shirt reeked by the end of the day but he couldn’t care less.  Between the two of us and our guide we ended up catching 50 sunny’s of which ‘little’ and I kept 22 to clean.

22 Fish... all in a days work!!

To be honest, the event definitely tested ‘little’s’ patience.  It was really interesting because that was the first time I’d ever seen him amongst the company of others and how comfortable he was at social interaction.    There were a few times where I thought he was a little forward with our guide, for example, asking him if he could drive the boat a few times, if he could operate the trolling motor, if he could pull up the anchor.  It was great to see him comfortable enough to ask questions that were on his mind but the guide didn’t really know how to respond, so he decided not to.  ’little’ didn’t understand his nervousness so kept asking and was a bit put out and when I somewhat sternly told him “no, sit down.  Whatever the captain says goes.” He was bit chagrined but got over it pretty quickly.  He was also a bit careless of where his hook was when he was casting and I needed to physicaly stop him a few times and let him know about the safety issues at hand.  He didn’t understand until he was putting a worm on his hook and stuck himself.  When I explained that could happen to others when he was casting he was much more careful. He wasn’t bad by any means, and it was a pleasure to fish with him.
At the end of the outing we gathered up our fish, and hit the road.  We went back to my house and cleaned the fish.  Cleaning sunny’s is somewhat of an easy task but he was absolutley flabbergasted to see the actual operation.  I cut the fish up so he could cut the last piece of meat off of the skin.  He was overjoyed to participate and apparently had forgotten all of his squeamishness from earlier that morning.  We cleaned the fillets, rolled them up in paper towels and got them ready to bring to his mom as a gift.  He loves to bring presents back to mom which I think is fantastic!  He has so much love for her.  On the ride back to his house he quickly konked out in the car.  The 5-6 hour excurision defintily wore him out, but I think it was a true testiment to how great it was.  He was sure to thank me before he got out of the car at his house.

Konked Out

One of the greatest parts of my day with ‘little’ is when I drop him off at home, and not for the reason that you may think. He is so innocent, questioning, and curious when he’s with me, but the first thing when his siblings come around is he puts on this tough guy fascade to let them know that, “no, 22 fish caught, removed from the hook, and cleaned in a single morning isn’t that big of a deal”, and “what?? you guys have ever been fishing with your mentor before??” knowing full well that they don’t have a mentor, nor have they been fishing before.  He such a tough guy. It’s hilarious.
Mom was happy, and suprised that we were giving here 44 filets.   The day was an absolute blast, and I couldn’t thank 3M and Big Brothers Big Sisters enough for the awesome coordination of this great event.  The guides were great, and apparently more than happy to be bringing us around.  It didn’t sound like they do this for too many other groups but that they held BBBS up as a special organization to be a part of.

Thanks guys!!

I’ve been hyping the Wild Rumpus for the past couple weeks.  I’ve never been there, but I’ve been talking like I have been.  I’m just so excited to get a book that we can both read together.   I had a flyer in the back seat of my car the other day and ‘little’ grabbed it and was showing off his reading skills to me.  It was actually a Target mailing piece that had come in the mail and it was promoting their pharmacy stores.  I’m pretty sure he had no idea what he was saying to me, but he read all the way through every flap of the intricate mailer.  I was very impressed and it got me excited to start reading together.  Especially since he was so good.  

I went to grab ‘little’ from his house, I was a about 15 minutes late.  When I arrived he was waiting on his steps and I didn’t even get a chance to get out of the car before he was opening up the rear passenger door.   That’s where he sits because he’s not over 90 lbs.  He was excited about the bookstore too but I was super hungry and proposed a different idea to him.  I said, ‘You know, it’s such a nice day out, how’s about we head up to the grocery store, grab some meat, and bbq tonight?!? … or would you rather go read at the Wild Rumpus?’  It was a low move I know, because I pitched the new idea to him just so. It was kind of a set up but I knew he’d be happy about it.  

His face lit up.  ’Does that mean we’re headed over to your house?’  When I answered yes I don’t even think he could have told me what the Wild Rumpus was… he as super excited to head over to my house and check out my digs.

We went to the grocery store and went about getting our fixens for burgers and chocolate chip cookies for dessert!!  I was pushing him around on the cart and he absolutely loved it. He stood on the front and would lean out as far as he could, just laughing and having a good old time.  Every time we passed someone it was ‘excuse me’ and ‘thank you’ when they would oblige.  I absolutely adore how courteous he is! It’s very refreshing.  He really is going to be a lady killer when he get’s older! He’s just to nice to handle.

When we went to check out, we did the self check aisle and he wanted to scan everything by himself.  The produce gave him some trouble when he had to type in the numbers but he loved it.  He didn’t quite understand the idea of the credit card though.  I let him swipe it, then when we walked out, he asked why we hadn’t payed for our groceries.  I explained to him we had but he still had a confused look on his face… ahhh so much to learn and so innocent!! I’ve noticed that about him, again I’ve never had younger siblings/cousins so I’m not use to how these kids operate, but everything new he wants to try or he wants to learn about. Not only does he want to try but he wants to master it right away.  When he doesn’t get it on the first try he rarely gets frustrated, rather more determined to finish what he’s put his mind too.  There really doesn’t seem to be anything that doesn’t interest him! 

When we got home, he went snooping around the garage right away.  When he came across the mower he said, ‘hey, I’ve never tried one of these before.’ I asked him if he wanted to mow the lawn, semi joking. To be honest it needed it badly within the next couple days.  He shook his head excitedly yes.   It was really fun! I showed him the oil, filled the gas, how to work the choke, what the spark plugs were and how they operated, the self propulsion lever and how it operated.  He loved using the socket set to get the plugs out. He was particularyawed by the blade on the bottom when I flipped it on it’s side to show him the undercarriage.  We had a little safety lesson about usage and he was all ears.  I started it for him, did a round to show him how it’s done, then we pushed it together to get the feel.  I let him take a few swipes. He wore out pretty quick.  He missed a few rows but after all the lawn looked pretty solid!

'Little' Mowing the lawn

After we were done we kicked back and had some old fashioned Coca Cola, in glass bottles! I swear that stuff tastes better than the plastic bottles or cans! It was great.  

We headed inside and made some burgers.  He wanted to do everything himself.  I let him for the most part.   We actually used venison burger from last hunting season, mixed it with an egg, some torn up bread pieces and Seasonall. His favorite part was mashing it all up with his hands and letting the burger squeeze through his fingers.   I gave him a towel to drape over his shoulder so he didn’t have to wipe his hands on his shirt… he looked like a mini chef.  We fried up some bacon as the burgers were sizzling! We even got fresh ciabatta roles to bake in the oven before hand. Everything was so fresh and delicious.

'little' and I chowing down on some burgers

Don’t tell his mom, but we sat out on the back stairs with our burgers and cokes and had a belching contest.  I’m pretty sure I won but between the laughter, spilled cokes, and general hysteria it was probably a close call!! He was, of course,  sure to affirm me that it wasn’t polite to do this in mixed company.  We sure had a good laugh though.

Dessert time! We whooped up some Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chippers, real quick, and pretty much ate half of the dough between each other. It was getting kind of late so we baked a pan for Mom and bagged the rest of it, for them to bake later.  He was so excited to give her his present!

I’ve decided I should probably keep this little guy around more often… he comes over, mowes my lawn, makes me burgers, bakes me cookies, and to top it off, makes sure I’m a well mannered young man! He really is the whole package! What a guy!

So ‘little’ and I got together last week and compiled a list of activities that we both want to do!! We’re always looking for new exciting ideas that are cheap, so if you have any please leave them here in the comments.  We plan on evolving this list as it goes here.

- Twins Game
- Basketball at the Park
-Ice cream at the Grand ol’ Creamery 
 -Science Museum (exhibit and show)
$3 bucks a piece if you’re part of BBBS! It’s usually about $25.
-  Fly fishing and canoeing in Taylors Falls
Neither of us have done this before 
-  Playing video games at his house and piggin out on junk food!!
We’re saving this for a rainy day
-  Read a book together
He likes Goosebumps, I like older classics. We’ll have to compromise (Paper Rock Scissors??)
-  Changing Oil and General Spring Tune Up
-  Go to my Sunday Softball Games
He wants to be the bat boy! 
-  Batting Cages
-  Hike Minnehaha Falls (via @nicycle)
-  Head to a Museum  Through the Musem Adventure Pass  (Via @HClib)
-  Super Science Saturday  (Via @maggiekb1)
-  Check out a police & fire depatment and get a ride in a squad/fire engine
‘little’ wants to be a cop and my college roommates are both cops.  Also have a fire fighter friend in DT St. Paul
-  St. Paul Saints  Game (Baseball) 
- Take a cruise in the old convertible Volkswagon beatle  to Stillwater and get ice cream
-Head up to my folks lake house for a swim and Jet ski ride
Only if mom okay’s the jet ski 
 - Go to ‘little’s’ church w/ him
He really wants me to go with him, sounds like it’s pretty charismatic! I dig it!
- SCSU (alma mater) v. MN Hockey Game
We were talking fun sporting events we’ve been too and after I told him about this he was pretty excited! Obviously this one will have to wait a while.

Bigs, what do you like to do with your little’s.  Parents, any good ideas that you’ve already tested with your kids?? Always looking for cool new ideas.

The most suprising thing about this whole experience is how much it is making me get out of myself and do things I would never even think of doing and having a blast!!

 After original post additions:

- Volunteer (via @dkix)
Feed My Starving Children  or The Cookie Cart in DT Minneapolis
- Dog walking and cleaning out garage???
 (via @mister_pickles & @malbiniak) 
I can see option 1 happening. Option 2 I’m still on the fence about.
- Bike riding &/or rollerblading (via my Mom)
She’s a work out guru!!
- Check out some old classic down in Watertown (1 hour drive, via @rycera)
I’d be down for a little mini road trip… could be a good time! Plus ‘little’ really digs cars!
- Wild Rumpus Bookstore  
“Snuggle up with a book… or a cat!!” That’s there catch phrase. Apparently they have small animals running around the bookstore!! Sounds magical! 

Yesterday Toots and I went to the BBBS orientation.  She was never going to be invovled in this process, we’ve only been dating a month and half, but we wanted to hang out that night anyway, and I was excited about the orientation, so I asked her to come with. She’s a great sport about the whole ordeal and very supportive. We had a really interesting chat after the orientation, which went well by the way, I’ll write about it later.

I asked her if she would like to be involved with BBBS, not with my little but with the program in general.  Without hesitation or a blink of an eye she shot out a’no’.  I was kind of taken a back because I had thought that the orientation, although long, was very intriguing.  Toots being the heart felt caring woman that she is I thought this would be right up her alley.  Before I even had a chance to ask her what brought on that response she carried on with “I have a thirteen year old ‘litte’ myself that I should be spending more time with.” She was referring to her little brother that she sees maybe once or twice a month.  Wow that made a lot of sense. 

This got me to thinking.  Why do I need to join up with this large not for profit organization to have them pair me with a ‘little’ that I could potentially not get along with, he could have a family that tries to take advantage of me, it could be a larger time commitment than I initially thought, etc., etc.  The biggest thing is that I don’t want to bite of more than I can chew and leave ‘little’ high and dry, which is probably worse than not doing anything at all.  Of course I wouldn’t abandon him, but am I really cut out to do this? Plus, I already have friends that have children in need of a male presence in their life.  There are so many ifs invovled here.  I needed to get down the real question.  Who am I really basing this decision off of?

I can make the time, there’s no question about that.  I can see my friends and their children whenever I want, they’re very accessible especially if I make the effort. And I really want to base my decision off of my community.  What is going to be the best decision for the whole.  The ultimate reason that I’m doing this is I want to get involved, I want to  meet other people with similar ideas, I want to know the not for profit horizon better than I currently do, and I want people to learn from my experience and hopefully encourage them to be the catalyst for change in anyway that they see themselves fitting in. All in all, I want to learn how to love better, through patience, understanding, and kindness. I think BBBS is going to be the best fit for what I’m looking for.  So I’m basing this decision off of the future little that I will be involved with and I’m basing this decision off of LOVE.  I want to jump into the volunteer world but i need to take it one step at a time, and the first one is going to be this kid.  How can I serve him the best that I can, be the best role model that I know how to be, and affect my community in the way that I know how?  We’ll figure that out along the way I guess, as long as I keep love in my sights.  

Toots and I agreed that this would be the best fit.  I haven’t had my interview yet, schedualed for the 2nd of March, so it’s coming up, but I can’t really see why this wouldn’t work (how naive is that going to look in 2-3 months ha ha).  Still I don’t know what to expect but I’m getting more and more excited as the process goes on.

 I think that i’ve been lead to this conclusion slowly but surely and that I’ve found the right place where I can kick my initiative off.  BBBS it is.  Here I come… well I guess I have to go through the interview first…