As a kid I was something of a critter catcher. I’d spend hours in the woods wading in streams looking for crawdads. If I snagged a frog, toad, or turtle I was exceptionally happy. As a Dad, I have had to catch many a creature to appease an audience of two. That desire to catch animals has been passed along to that audience of two. Now any walk through the woods is accompanied by a quick stop at a rotten log or stream for a creature check.

On Monday, while working from home, I took a break and the boys and I went to a local park for lunch. If we were fancy I would say we had charcuterie, but it was really just cheese, meat, and crackers. After a quick bite, we walked around the pond and saw a bunch of creatures. One was a massive painted turtle sunning itself on a rock. A year ago, in this exact same place, I caught the turtle before it slipped into the water. The audience of two erupted in approval. This year, Isaac tried to do the same thing.

Isaac has become quite the daring critter catcher. Inspired by his brother’s admiration and Coyote Peterson Isaac has made some downright amazing grabs, especially of frogs that live behind Nanna and P-Pa’s house. The picture above is him trying to duplicate my feat from the year before. Unfortunately, this grab is not a stun grab, but a patience grab. I took about 20 minutes to slowly sneak up on the turtle before I grabbed it. Isaac, being 11, couldn’t wait that long. He missed the turtle, but claimed it was a slip of the foot (which did happen) that prevented the capture, not his lack of patience. Hmmmm….

Last week while sitting around the dinner table, Ethan confirmed for me what his future holds—he will be a stand up comedian. His combination of quick wit, potent language, and unusual perspective on everyday things makes be convinced that his future is in making people laugh.

Over Christmas break we got a sample of this. We are all bundled up in the car driving to see Christmas lights. We stopped at Trader Joe’s and everyone got their favorite snacks. Ethan’s are the baked cheetos. As we all buckled up he opened the bag and said in a 1930s gangster voice—”Come to Poppa you Orange Weiners.” It just hit all of us the right way and we laughed for hours.

This past week, however, he took this up a level. After dinner but before we all got up to do dishes, Ethan said: “If I were Ethan Jesus, the Body of Christ would be chocolate.” Stunned Bianca and I stared at each other trying, deseparately to figure out what to say. Then we all erupted into laughter. Ethan beamed with pride as he knew his joke landed.

I am calling it now, May 24, 2021—Ethan will be a stand up comedian.

As an adult good days are hard to define, outside the obvious (“I won the lottery…”) most days are just variations on other days. As a kid, though, I distinctly remember those days where my jeans were covered in grass stains or scuffed knees. These were badges of honor, signs of a day well spent in the wild world of kid-dom.

Ethan and Isaac are busy in the backyard building a track for a hopefully soon to arrive RC car. The track is replacing the sandbox (which is a momentous change for our backyard). It is the same area where the fort was. Cleverly it is invisible from the outside but definitely visible from the patio. The result is a perfect area for the boys to dig and build and play.

Above are Ethan’s feet, covered in dirt—a sign of a good day.