josefbig
Chronicling my experience through the Big Brother Big Sister Organization

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!

You must be this tall to ride this fire engine!

I have two friends that are police officers (my college roommates) and another that is a firefighter in St. Paul.  ’little’ has always, since he’s been young, (yes he still is) wanted to be a cop which I totally support and think is great.  We’ve been trying to plan a mini ride along/police department tour and it hasn’t worked out with all of our schedules.  As I was trying to get it together again a few days ago ‘little’ interrupted me and told me he’d rather head to the fire department instead for a tour.  Now this may sound weird but since we’ve been hanging out all the time, and I’ve become so fond of ‘little’, my parental instincts kicks in major and my pride overflows… yes I read in to the situation way to deep.  I immediately think “ALRIGHT!! He’s thinking of his future and how he can start now on reaching his goals!!”  Then he opens up on what’s really going through his mind and outright says “I don’t think they have the poles to slide down at the Police Department… ha ha reality check, he’s 11 years old and I should realize that. I just get so excited and I can’t help it.

Right when we got to the FD the ambulance was just returning from a call. We watched them, lights flashing, back into the garage.  ’little’ was already hooked! My buddy hopped out of the ambulance (he’s 6′4 about 285) and came right over to ‘little’ and greeted him with a firm handshake.  When ‘little’ was asked his name, I’m pretty sure he forgot it for a bit because he couldn’t respond for about 10 seconds. HILARIOUS!!

Fits like a glove!

We went walking in and out of every ambulance and fire engine they had.  We got a fire hose wracking demo, we got to try on very over sized fireman’s jackets, talk to the chief, called into dispatch and had them set off the tones in the station, checked out the living quarters/work out room/kitchen/rec room, and best of all get some majorly great advice!! This was my favorite parts.  Most of the firefighters saw ‘little’ and gave him a wave and a smile, but that was about it.  When we went to talk to one of the veterans on the squad, he immediately warmed up to ‘little’ and starting laying the advice on thick.  ”‘little’ you have to stick around positive people man, you have to strive to be a better person.  Don’t listen to those kunckelheads (verbatum) on the street, cuz they just tryin to drag you down ‘little’.  You don’t need a ton of friends, you just need one… one that thinks like you, is positive and makes you a better person.  I didn’t learn that til I was about 27, you can start now, start early, and be an amazing person.” ‘little’ was awed by the old seer!!

I asked the fireman, with a wink, “how important is it that you do ALL your homework at school? Is that pretty imporant, especially if you want to be a fireman when you grow up”

Without skipping a beat,  ”Knowledge is power ‘little’. People can take away your car, your house, your money… they can’t take away knowledge and that is what homework is all about.  Very important to get that done.  Tell you what, you do all your homework from now until you graduate highschool, then you come and visit me and we’ll have a good talk.”

‘little’ didn’t know what to do with himself, jaw wide open, and a blank stare in his eyes. He was so embarrassed and overwhelmed with all the attention being poured on him. It was a great sight to see.  ha ha  We said goodbye and went to check out the fireman pole.  Turns out you need to be 18 to go down the pole so we got to look down the hole but that was as far as we got.  It was still pretty neat!

The tour was great, ‘little’ was awed, and he is determined, for now, to get all his homework done!

I can’t express how proud I am of him! It was fantastic!

Two Peas in a Pod

You know where this is going.  Well maybe not.  Everytime I hang out with ‘little’ I’m always blown away by how innocent he is.  Of course I’m still not really used to being with a preteenager for an extended period of time and sometimes expect him to act as if he were one of my peers.  When we’re together though, I don’t really have to check myself, it just suprises me that some situations tend to be more tame/kid friendly naturaly.  His deameanor really leads our events to have these certain characteristics.  His jokes are elementary, his manner of speech is light and joking, not cutting or crude, and the path that his mind takes most of the time is optimistic and excited rather than reaisticly scared or pre judged.  It really is a pleasure.  I wonder if all it takes is exposure to such characteristics to pick those up, or if he’s naturally a good natured person?? hmmm…

Well this specific post doesn’t involve the two of us together.  It was actually inspired by a wonderfuly invovled big Erin Annie. She commented on a previous blog post about how when we’re, alone (without our ‘little’s) we are much less concerned about safety.  When we’re with our little’s, in the car for instance, every noise, every creak, every weird movement scares us.  We’ve become protectors and guardians, as we take these young children under our wings.  It puts life into a whole different perspecitve and makes me realize that I really can’t be totaly who I am when I’m around ‘little’. I can be myself as far as character and personality but I have to by way more responsible and understanding that I have his life in my hands.

Even further than that, when I’m not with ‘little’ I need to act a bit more grown up than I usually would.  That means so many different things (one less drink at the bar, only going 5 over the speed limit rather than 10-15, being more punctual, and being more friendly and outgoing around other people… they could potentialy be a connection that could enhance my relationship with ‘little’) I could go on.  I seriously think about him all the time.  It affects me way more than just hanging out with him and building our relationship together.  Turning in homework was a bit of problem this school year and so I’ve really stressed a good work ethic, and being responsible through our relationship. Since I ask that of him, I have to expect it from myself.  This may sound trivial but since our match I now try to go to bed at a more reasonable time so as to be fresh and at the top of my game for work the next day.  I don’t want to slack off while I’m asking someone else to work their hardest.

I have to be the change that I want to become, and ultimately what I want ‘little’ to emulate.  I certainly don’t want him to become who I am, I want him to be the best he can be, but I want to be the same things that I’m asking him to be.  So far, so good.  I’m proud of him, and the small changes that I’ve seen over the last 3-4 months. (respecting my time more, not acting out around me, not cussing, and my favorite, becoming much more patient and considerate of other people)

The funny thing is I don’t think that I would have matched ‘little’ and I together, coming into this whole thing blind, but I don’t think Big Brother Big Sisters could have done a better job.  Thanks a ton guys!  It really has been an eye opening experience.  I’m super excited to continue on.

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!!