Today I heard Will announce from the other room, “Dad, I want to chew tobacco!”
What? Did he just say what I thought he said? I asked him to repeat himself for clarification.
“I want Scoop the Backhoe.” Fine, I said, he’s in the playroom.
For those lucky enough not to know, Scoop is a character in the bizarre, if not freakish, world of Bob the Builder.
Jennifer and I have always wanted to go base jumping. Launching yourself off a cliff or tall building and pulling the chute sounded like a lot of fun. With my shoulder fixed and time off with the new baby we had the perfect opportunity. We decided to leave Will with the grandparents, he’s just a little young for this. Katy, on the other hand, is still nursing so we had to drag her along.
We found the perfect cliff and got all the necessary gear. I solved the Katy problem by using a 60 ft static line. It’s enough to get that real sense of falling, but still safe. These car seat portable baby
carriers are perfect. They already have a 5-point harness and the parachute clips right onto the handle.
The jump went great. I tossed Katy off just before Jennifer launched into a huge back flip. I had to time my jump exactly because I would need to monitor Katy in the parachute fall. She couldn’t reach the steering toggles because I strapped her in so tight. We all had perfect landings in a field not far from a stand of shade trees where Jennifer nursed Katy under a large oak.
Tuesday June 2 at 8:28 am we were introduced to our daughter. She was 6 lbs 13 oz and 19 inches long. Jennifer is doing great and we had a great first day together. The baby is perfectly healthy and eating and sleeping well. She doesn't understand my need for her to say something funny so I can write about it in this blog, so for now I just have to brag that she is perfect.
