2014 年 11 月 2 日 (NOV 2, 2014)
DATE time.
A COUPLE ON A DATE SAYING A BIG HELLO TO DADDY AND DAUGHTER ON THEIR DATE!
Daddy time.
So what's up with these dates? Taking my kids and my wife on little excursions and outings…
It has become my desire, the thing I look forward to after the day at work. There's something about the magic of riding the scooter with one of my kids, or my wife on a Friday (our date night).
WE go random places! However other nights have become my "date" night too, except its with one of my kids... so I am going on a lot of dates lately!
And eating out a lot more, so I have to watch the calories and I'm doing a lousy job of that...
Our lifestyle has changed once again. COLLEGE IS UP!
So spontaneous here. We're busier now. Well, Christa is anyway! Aw me too. Work is very challenging and I need a break from it.
Christa is so dedicated to her Mandarin college level classes that she is spending a lot of time every evening too after dinner to study individually along with our son Kevan and daughter Jaylene who are also attending the same three intense university classes: learning Mandarin Chinese at Liao Gong Da University in FuXin (across the street from our apartment). They are busted busy, but they support each other. The rest of us, what do we do?
So dad is left to figure out what to do with his time.
Can't watch an iTunes movie. I will get SHUT DOWN with making such a distraction while they study, LOL.
Can't take my wife anywhere, because there's studying to do and she's busy with the older ones.
So, it's...
DIAN DONG CHE SCOOTER TIME!
Adam and I went for an excursion!
It's really just a means to an end.
Riding the scooter as I see it is just a means to facilitate having some quality time with dad now... something I have been short on in the past while Christa was with them during the day more. But now I am feeling the need to step up more, give more time, and it just feels good. Being a dad is fun. Being needed more than ever is even better.
Kids need their parents, their time。 THIS Dad (meaning ME) needs to step up. They need to spend time with us, and frankly I am glad that I can't watch a movie with them anymore because that was often the very fun but uncreative lazy default for how I would often spend time with my kids: we'd buy some ice cream popsicles or cones and some bags of chips and several candy bars and skittles and snickers, and then we'd buy or watch an iTunes store movie back in the USA. I actually can and should do better, but we are all lazy at one time or another.
Lately though... that's not an option. Serious STUDY Time is in the house! But for me, I NEED some time with family, being away from family for 11 hours each day, even eating meals with non-family. I actually need family time to keep my spirits up being away from them all day, so this is a great thing happening, an interesting higher quality alternative to how its been in the past year.
IT'S ABOUT THE ADVENTURE
So we go exploring the city, but its just one kid at a time (with an occasional Adam/Audrey double up on the back). So dad (me) is spending nearly ALL of his nights with the family, but having much higher quality times together more, one on one. I LIKE IT. I REALLY DO!!
It's dad's Dian Dong Che and the kids love to go for long rides where we explore the world of Fuxin, China and the VERY THICK CULTURE EXPERIENCE here, it is so fun. The warm and friendly people of FuXin make this very fun, I really do love them, as a general rule.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
MY DATE WITH EMILY
Last night I took out Emily at about 6:30 pm, and got back at 9:30 pm, and we went and saw much, got off the bike and even danced with the local Chinese people who were super welcoming!
It was fantastic, and I wished the whole family could have been there with us. We took a lot of pictures and video of these various dancing events and places, even while we ride too, getting pictures and videos of fellow "dian dong che" riders and bike riders too.
We went out to eat at about 9:00 pm rather than go home, because it was so fun we didn't want to stop. As I drove up to the apartment, I said "its too soon to go in, let's go get something to eat!" Such is the "date" with my kids. Spontaneous.
What guy wouldn't smile when a pretty girl is taking a picture of him? Emily got a lot of good shots this night while riding on the back of the scooter. She's getting to be quite a Great photographer and videographer.
On the back of the scooter!