Family stories(part 2)

 So, I had a request to write more family stories, some of these will be funny, and some may not be so funny.

There is a small stone house somewhat in the middle of our town, It has been turned into several different businesses over the years. When the kids were younger that house was turned into a little restaurant and the owner was a friend of ours. The food was pretty good and all the kids could find something they liked. Well, as our luck would have it they had a karaoke machine. I am not sure how it all came about but Chris decided that he was going to sing a song. Now mind you this is a smaller place and the majority of the people eating there are on the older side. So Chris goes out and looks at the book with all the songs listed and picks one out. So here we all are looking at Chris when the music starts, and the kids are laughing right away as they know what it is. It took Angie and I a hot second to place it, it was "Right Thurr" by Chingy! Needless to say Angie and I were mortified, the kids were rolling and Chris was having the time of his life. What an experience!

After the divorce, the kids were moved to Richmond Hill and that was where the boys started to play sports. Kai decided that he wanted to play football, he was 6 if I remember right. He went out, did the tryouts, and was placed on a team. On the first or second practice, he decided that he didn't want to play football anymore. Mind you playing rec sports isn't cheap, you have to pay the yearly fee, get physicals, equipment etc, We let him stop as he was young, it was hot and a lot for him to handle. The next year Kai said that he wanted to play football. I remember telling him that this year he was not going to drop out and that if he was going to try that again then he was going to pay me back for all the money we had to shell out. I am here to tell you, Kai did not drop out and that was his first year as a baller. If you have never seen Kai play football, you have really missed out. Kai had a knack for following the ball, as well as finding the holes when he was running the ball. I miss watching him play.

When we would get out of church there were times when we(well Angie mostly) didn't want to cook. So we would talk about it and then decide to go out for lunch. Sometimes we would ask the kids what they wanted, but more often or not we just picked a place. One Sunday as we were walking out of the sanctuary Angie and I were talking about going and getting lunch. I guess Jenny heard what we were talking about and in her not-so-inside voice blurts out "Let's go to that bar we like". I am not sure whose eyes got bigger...Angie's, mine, or most of the people around us. 

This next story saddens me every time I think about it. It is a mistake that I made as a dad, one that I regret to this day. When Chris was in elementary school he had a habit of not eating his whole lunch that we sent with him. He would eat the stuff which he liked and bring the rest home with him. Normally this was the sandwich, he liked cheese sandwiches but he wasn't eating them. We told him several times that he needed to eat the whole lunch and why it was important to do so. One day after the kids had been home for a while after school, I went to throw something in the trash. Sitting right on top was a partially eaten cheese sandwich. I remember that Chris was in his room getting ready for bed. I called him to the kitchen and I asked him about the sandwich and how it got there. He told me that he had no idea and that he had eaten his at school. I grilled him and interrogated him until he finally gave in and said that it was his. I popped him a couple of times for lying and for throwing away his sandwich. When my wife at the time got home from work the kids had been in bed for a couple few hours. I told her the story about Chris and the sandwich. She asked me if the sandwich had butter on it? I had no clue, I went and checked and sure enough there was butter on it. That was when she told me that she had made that sandwich before she went to work and through the rest away. I immediately started to cry, ran to the bedroom, and took Chris in my arms. While I was boohooing I woke him up and told him that his mom told me that she threw that sandwich in the trash. I showered him with kisses as I apologized over and over again. I still regret that day, I'm so sorry Chris.

When Kai was 6 or 7 he told me that he wanted to go hunting. I am not sure how that all came about but he showed interest so I rolled with it. I told him that we were going to do everything the right way, we were starting with him going through the Hunters Safety course. I went through that course when I was in high school in Colorado, but I wasn't going to send him through that alone. That sounds like a no-brainer but there was a kid Kai's age if not a little younger that was alone. We both liked the course and we both learned a lot. The big difference between my course as a kid and Kai's was that we went to the range in Colorado and we did not do that here. So the next year Kai and I went to a friend's property to go hunting. Luckily we were placed in an elevated box stand that overlooked a small clearing. Needless to say, Kai lost interest pretty quickly. We did see a doe run through and I told him that there was probably going to be a buck chasing her. Sure enough there he came, he was in a good spot to get a shot off, but at least we saw them. Not too long later I told Kai that they would probably come back through. That wasn't too long after he told me that he didn't want to hunt anymore. I handed him a little call and told him that when I told him he could use that call to stop the deer if it went through. Sure enough, here comes the doe and the buck close behind. The buck got in shooting range and I told Kai "Go ahead"...nothing. "Go ahead"...nothing "Go ahead"...nothing. I turned to look at him to see why he wasn't using the call, he had index fingers from both hands in his ears. He looked so funny so all I could do was laugh. Unfortunately, both deer were gone. We left the stand and got some lunch. We went back to the stand much to Kai's displeasure. I loaded my gun and put my earplugs in. Kai looked at me and said "I don't know why you're doing that, all the deer are gone".  I told him that you never know. Shortly after a buck popped out, and BANG, I dropped him right where he stood. Kai ran out of that stand and down the ladder before I could say anything. I yelled at him to stop as there might be another one coming and sure enough there was another one. When Kai spun to look the deer saw it and bolted. I don't think Kai cared at that point, he wanted to go see the one we got and he wanted to help getting it to the van. It was a good day