Recent Conversation I Had

Recently, I was at a local Metro Park hiking with my kids.  Another hiker came along from the opposite direction with two small dogs.  My boys asked for permission to pet his dogs and he said yes, so they started petting them.  And then...

Perfect Stranger:  So, do you go to church around here?
Me:  No.
Perfect Stranger:  Aww, why don't you take these little guys to church?
Me:  Um... it's not our thing.
Perfect Stranger:  ...
Me (sensing that he was working on coming up with another persuasive statement):  No, thanks!

And we continued our separate ways down the path.  I know I shouldn't let it get to me, but I have been stewing about this.  It really rubbed me the wrong way.  Let's examine that one little statement again.

Aww, why don't you take these little guys to church?

I know the guy meant well and he thought he was being friendly.  He thought he was doing what he was supposed to do by trying to share the message or bring someone new into his church or whatever.  From his perspective, it's like he has a great big plate of cookies, and he just wants to share them with everybody, right?  But asking me why I don't take my kids to church, implies that I should.  And if I'm not doing something that I should be doing, that implies that I'm failing in some way as a parent and should feel concerned or even... guilty about that, right?

No.  No, no, no, no, no.

First of all, these are pretty personal questions to be asking a complete stranger.  And last time I checked, implying that a total stranger is somehow parenting their children incorrectly is A) just plain rude, and B) not a good strategy to win someone over.  I would never have the audacity to walk up to someone, ask if they take their kids to church, and then ask "WHY?" if they replied "Yes".  That would be rude, correct?  So why is it socially acceptable for it to happen the other way around?  It shouldn't be.

I turned the conversation around in my head for a long time, wondering if I should have said something else or if I should have given him a piece of my mind, but I'm glad I didn't.  I'm sure that would have just given him fuel to take back to church with him, "Oh, I met this angry atheist in the park the other day [shudder]..."  No, I'm glad I gave him exactly as much of my time as he deserved.

I fully respect everyone's right to believe and live as they wish - even if I do not share those beliefs - and I would just like to receive the same consideration and respect.  I should be able to go for a walk in the woods with my kids without a stranger needlessly shoving his religion down my throat and rudely implying that I'm doing parenting wrong.  Making judgemental/opinionated statements about religion is not appropriate when engaging in small talk with random strangers whose belief systems you know nothing about.  There are millions of other things to talk about.  If you really cannot think of any other topic to discuss in a small talk situation, you need to work on your social skills.





/rant
Thanks, internet, I feel better now.

Turbo Update

Hello, blog!  Long time no see.  Rest assured we have been doing all kinds of fun stuff, I just haven't gotten motivated to blog about any of it.  So I am going to do a turbo update of stuff we've done over the past few months...

We've taken several trips to the Akron Zoo, since we now have a membership.  This pic is from a day we went with a group of homeschooling friends.

 

The slide in the new Grizzly Ridge section of the zoo.  It goes underwater through the otter tank - so cool!

Side view of Monkey going down the slide.

Side view of Bug going down the slide.

The amazing view of downtown Akron as seen from the top of the slide.

In August, we went to the Civil War Reenactment at Hale Farm.  This was our first time going, and the kids surprised us by completely hating it.  I found it fascinating, though.

 

We've also done a good bit of hiking.  We're currently one hike away from completing our 3rd Fall Hiking Spree with the Summit County Metropark system.  In addition to the pics below, we also hiked at Furnace Run, Goodyear Heights, and Firestone.

Overlook at Virginia Kendall (July)

Virginia Kendall

Hand feeding the chickadees at the Seiberling Nature Realm (Aug).

I didn't manage to get a pic of Monkey with a bird on his hand, but he did get three of them to land on him that day!

Hiking at Silver Creek with Bug's stuffed kitty, Jake (Sep).

Checking out a Praying Mantis at Monroe Falls (Oct).

A kind stranger offered to take this pic of us at Cascade Valley (Oct).

A favorite spot - the Overlook Deck at Cascade Valley.

Deep Lock Quarry.  This is one of the discarded millstones along the trail (Oct).

Making friends with a worm at Deep Lock Quarry.

Deep Lock Quarry

In September/October, we bird-sat for a friend.  We learned all about Cockatiel handling and care and really enjoyed our little guest.  We're considering getting a bird and it was a good dry run.

Musical/theatrical performances:  We went to two outdoor Cleveland Orchestra concerts at Blossom Music Center (Aug/Sep), and we saw the play "Me and My Shadow" at Playhouse Square (Oct).

Blossom Music Center

Playhouse Square - Ohio Theater

In September, we went to the Wayne County Fair - an annual fall tradition.

Also in September, we had a fun trip to the Cleveland Zoo with my bestie and her daughter.  Monkey was being very helpful and took charge of wrangling the smaller kids...

Good morning, Elephant!

On the zoo train.

The boys LOVE climbing on this awesome bungee cord play structure.

Watching the giraffes

Giraffes

These two are so sweet together.

We checked out the temporary dinosaur exhibit at the zoo... Bug was thrilled to meet this Brachiosaurus.

And Monkey had to run for his life from the T. Rex!

But unfortunately, the T. Rex caught him and ate him.

In October, we went to the Algonquin Mill Fall Festival.  I hadn't been since I was a kid, but remembered it being great fun.  The boys agreed!

Pony ride

Pony ride

Mini steam train ride

 

Steam powered sawmill

Monkey trying his hand at building - the old fashioned way.

There was SO much going on!

Ice cream!

We also went to the Great Lakes Science Center for Homeschool Day (Oct).  The NASA Glenn Visitor Center area was a definite favorite, as well as the polymer play area.

Grandma went to Mars, too!

Fun with the stretchy mirror...

Also in October, we took a tour of a local fire station with some of our homeschool co-op group.

For Halloween, we didn't manage to get to a pumpkin patch or carve pumpkins this year, but we did save up milk jugs (7) and made this guy (using this tutorial):

Trick or Treat!

The day of trick-or-treat was cold, rainy and windy, but we went anyway.  We were all soaked by the end, and Shane and I were grumbling... but Monkey exclaimed, "THAT. WAS. AWESOME!"

Finally, in November, Bug turned FOUR!  I asked him who he wanted on his birthday cake, expecting him to respond with a super hero or video game character... his answer was, "Umm... DAD!"  He continued to insist on having Dad on his cake so I took a photo of Shane to the bakery and made a custom request.  Here is the fantastic and hilarious result:

Super Dad.  I'd say Giant Eagle knocked it outta the park.

Bug was delighted with his "Dad cake".

We had a birthday party with all of our family over the weekend... and on Bug's actual birthday day, I surprised the boys with a trip to Pump It Up, a giant indoor playground full of inflatables.

We played until Bug was completely worn out.

Whew!  I know there are a few things I've left out but that pretty much covers it.  One thing that's missing is our trip to Canada in August - that will have it's own dedicated post, coming up next...