On Memorial Day Jason and I went to a cook-out at our friends’ house. I wasn’t prepared for the dessert they had planned. They made "spaghetti ice cream!" No, I don’t mean spaghetti flavored ice cream…nasty! (This is not Baskin-Robbins’ newest flavor.) They served us ice cream that looked just like spaghetti noodles, topped with marinara sauce, parmesan cheese, and even meatballs on the side. It was wild! I wish all meatballs tasted like chocolate ice cream!

It tasted so good and the level of childlike giddiness in the room was at an all-time high. How could you not be smiling from ear to ear, eating food that is so fun?

This experience reminded me how important it is to add a bit of playfulness and fun into our day-to-day lives. It’s kind of like exercise. Everyone knows it’s good for you and when you actually get motivated to do it, you always feel better. Often we have to make a considerable effort to be more playful and in return we undoubtedly feel better. We get a chance to experience some of the joys, laughter, and excitement that childhood is made of.

I’m pumped that we are offering this fun device on our store, The Lemonade Stand. It’s fun to offer our customers joy in a box!

Oh, and by the way, you have to eat it with a fork.

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Now here’s a story that will warm any baseball fan’s — and especially a Cubs fan’s — heart. I got an e-mail the other day from Dennis Garkey, the president of a non-profit group called Build Little Cubs Field. The aim of the group is to build a wiffleball-sized replica of Wrigley Field in Freeport, Illinois. The project, which has been supported by Ron Santo and the Chicago Cubs, will feature brick walls, the famous ivy (some supplied by the Cubs), the basket over the wall, and even a replica scoreboard. It will be used for Little League (7-8 yr old boys and girls), kickball, wiffleball, rentals, and as a tourist attraction. It sounds like the whole community is behind it.

I would have died for a field like this when I was a kid. No doubt the people involved have not lost their childlike spirit. In his e-mail, Dennis shared "I am one of those people who refuse to grow up–I have a 50 year old wiffleball bat that I have used 50 straight years."

And because of Dennis’s refusal to grow-up, lots and lots of kids are going to benefit. And a field trip is in my near future.

Technorati Tags: Chicago Cubs, baseball, Wrigley Field, Little Cubs Field

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Jason and I got a chance to catch an episode of "Honey We’re Killing the Kids" the other night on TLC. I was, like many people, intrigued by the concept. The premise deals with the important issue of childhood obesity. In true reality TV fashion, an expert (in this case, a nutrition expert) comes into an "extreme" household and shakes it all up, giving them challenges that are meant to improve their lifestyles. Some of the challenges have included: "Sack the sugar," "Family eats together," "Set a bedtime routine," "Limit television hours" and "Exercise together."

It’s so sad that these "challenges" are even called "challenges." Of course, the families that get picked for these types of shows always have those parents who make you wish you needed to have a license before you’re allowed to be parents.

The family they highlighted on the episode we watched definitely needed some major help, to say the least. However, I completely disagree with how Dr. Hark went about "helping" them. Her motives were pure, yet, in my opinion, her methods were flawed!

The family was addicted to greasy fatty foods. They fried almost everything. In an attempt to get the family eating healthier Dr. Hark provided them with menus for the first three weeks. The first two meals the family had together included beet salad and tofu scrambler. The kids had a fit! There ended up being a major power struggle fight at the table, as the parents tried to force their 12-year-old to "take 3 more bites." It was dramatic, to say the least.

Here’s my issue: beets and tofu.

COME ON.

How about starting with things they might actually like and cooking them healthier? How about introducing some new healthy foods that are consumed by the average family. What ever happened to fresh green beans or peas? How about some baked chicken, knowing that the kids loved fried chicken? This is setting the kids up for failure- big time! What have they learned about eating healthy? It stinks! (Just like the nasty tofu.)

My other big beef with the show was regarding the way Dr. Hark encouraged the kids to exercise. All three daughters were used to spending their time watching TV and playing video games (not an uncommon epidemic these days). So, they needed to discover that exercise can be fun. Dr. Hark decided that all three girls, ages 12, 14, and 15, needed to join cheerleading. She said that being involved in this organized sport would increase their teamwork and social skills, as well as their activity level (all good points). However, the oldest was not "into" cheerleading. She said it was for "girly-girls." My guess is that she was more of a basketball, soccer, or volleyball girl. Why not let her play a sport SHE picks? Nope, she needs to "stick with" cheerleading. Of course, she hated it, felt even more self-conscious about her weight while being there, and stubbornly told her parents that she would rather slide down a slide of razor blades into a pool of alcohol. Nice way to encourage her to exercise, right?!

I thought for sure Dr. Hark would ask her what sport she would like to learn. Nope. They made her go back to cheerleading. YIKES! Another set-up for failure.

At this point in the show I was furious.

Common sense, people! Giving people choices goes a long way, especially for kids. Would you like green beans or carrots tonight? What type of exercise would you like to try? What are you interested in doing? It doesn’t matter what you pick, just so you enjoy exercising.

This is NOT rocket science. I realize that the show would not have had "enough" drama had the kids eaten the meals willingly and had the eldest daughter not humiliated herself at cheerleading. So, that leads me to believe that this show is not really trying to help this family. It is only trying to "use" them for ratings.

That’s low.

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Tonight Kim and I had the privilege of babysitting our goddaughter Isabella. We took a field trip to the park. Upon arriving, I did the typical grown-up thing: scope the playground equipment in search for the most fun, unique, "big budget" installation. We grown-ups are naturally geared to skip past the things that appear ho hum. We have this "been there, done that" thing going on.

Of course I expected that Belle would follow suit and make a beeline for the big multi-slide, suspension bridged plastic edifice.

Nope. Belle went straight for the pebble gravel. Crouching down, she stroked her hands through the tiny rocks, feeling the texture with her outstretched fingers. Then she grabbed a handful, stood up, and let the cool stones rain through her fingers. That occupied her for several minutes. Eventually, she did make her way to all of the playground equipment — including the gigantic structure o’ fun — but the little things that impressed her along the way were similarly unorthodox.

Sometimes it takes a child to remind us to snap out of our preconceived perceptions and notice the little things in life. The little things we are so quick to skip by can be the most interesting things of all.

Technorati Tags: playground, park, little things, children

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Check out this original take on Thumb Wrestling, brought to you by Bernie DeKoven and featuring the Thumb Helmet:

Self-evidently, one takes a bit of foil, or candy wrapper, and twists it around the top part of the thumb so as to make a helmet similar to the classic Pickelhaube helmet worn by the German infantry in World War One. Notice the extreme spike-height in the illustration on the (right.) This is the kind of Thumb Helmet worn by a high-ranked Thumb Warrior, for, indeed, the higher the spike, the greater the skill required to win.

As in the normal course of Thumb Wrestling, two opponents begin the game by locking fourfingers in the traditional grasp of the Thumb Wrestler.

Unlike the heretofore normal game of Thumb Wrestling, helmeted Thumb Wrestlers become Thumb Warriors securing victory, not by anything so crass as trapping the opponent’s thumb so as to pin it into the thumb-down of defeat. Rather, the Helmeted Thumb Warrior need only to cause the other player to "lose helmet."

This is accomplished by a variety of sophisticated, cunning strategies, too sophisticated and cunning to enumerate here. Suffice it to say that under helmet jabs, pokes, jousting-like maneuvers, and, of course, spindle-pinning are but a few of the minor infinity of cunning thumbings available to the skilled Thumb Warrior. Actual thumb-to-thumb contact is considered gross, crass, and not nice.

I wonder when thumb wrestling started, and how it got passed down from generation to generation. Just the other day in church, while the congregation recited the Lord’s Prayer, I noticed the two altar boys — who were obviously brothers — holding hands. Except they weren’t really holding hands. They were thumb wrestling. It was subtle, but undeniable. I couldn’t help but smile, as I could imagine doing that with my own brother. Some things are universal. I guess thumb wrestling is one of those things.

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As Kim mentioned in her latest post, we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary yesterday. After picking up some delectable morel mushrooms at the Farmer’s Market, we had lunch at Ian’s Pizza (Mac and Cheese pizza for Kim, Philly Cheesesteak for me.) Then we toured the new Madison Museum of Contemporary Art and the Olbrich Botanical Gardens — both free! — and capped off the evening at The Eldorado Grill for dinner and the Hilton’s Olive Lounge for some dueling piano action. It was a beautiful day, packed with new adventures and a cornucopia of childlike curiosity.

Ever since we spent a chunk of our honeymoon at Walt Disney World (big surprise, huh?) we decided to do something childlike on every anniversary. Here’s the rundown so far:

• Year 1: Saw flying chainsaws and Liberace-wardrobed elephants at the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus.
• Year 2: Visited Toys R Us on Times Square in New York.
• Year 3: Went to see how they make beer and said hi to Sue, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, while she was staying at the Milwaukee Public Museum.
• Year 4: Rented a small cabin near Devil’s Lake and roasted marshmallows over a tiny gas stove.
• Year 5: Spent our actual anniversary at an elementary school spring festival manning a Kim & Jason table and watching the kids play some pretty festive music with a hodge podge of instruments. (The following day we went to see Star Wars Episode III.)

Trying to do something childlike each year has been a good little tradition. It has helped me take stock of what a lucky guy I am and appreciate the things I treasure about our relationship. It reminds Kim and I to stay young, keeps Adultitis at bay, and it forces us to keep our minds active and thinking outside the box, rather than settling into the same ol’ routines. I highly recommend it. And I’m looking forward to seeing what the list looks like twenty years from now.

Technorati Tags: anniversary, Madison, childlike, tradition, marriage

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Yesterday Jason and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. Man, the way this marriage is flying, we’ll be up to 60 before we know it.

Jason had the whole day planned by the time I awoke to breakfast in bed. (He makes the best scrambled eggs!) After enjoying the spring weather as we bummed around Madison’s famous Farmer’s Market, Jason excitedly shared with me one his new discoveries in town, Ian’s Pizza.

Talk about childhood! You can read all about Ian’s at Jason’s recent blog post.

I had a hard time choosing what kind of pizza I wanted. I had narrowed it down to lasagna or mac and cheese. The kid inside of me ‘won,’ mac and cheese it was! I was a mac and cheese addict as a child. So, the thought of combining these two foods is unimaginable. This meal would make Atkins enthusiasts cringe. Carbs on carbs, with some grease thrown in, for good measure. YUM! It’s hard to explain how awesome it was.

As we were leaving I saw a young family ordering their slices. They had three little boys. They seems like they had just been told they won a trip to Disney World. They, too, had ordered the mac and cheese pizza. The looks on their faces said it all.

Ian’s was an instant time machine, bringing you back to that childlike excitement that we rarely experience as grown-ups.

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Every month, one Club K&J subscriber is drawn as the winner in the Supremely Wonderful & Exciting Loot Lottery. This month’s lucky recipient is Patricia Wieczorek! She wins a Kim & Jason journal! Congrats, Patricia!

Join Club K&J for your chance to win this month’s prize Loot Lottery!

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For the fans of the comic strip, I am happy to announce an avalanche of new eBooks featuring a variety of classic Kim & Jason episodes. What’s neat — in my opinion — is that they’re optimized for on-screen viewing, or you can print them and share them with friends.

Club K&J subscribers can get them all for free right here. They can also be purchased individually for the astronomical price of $1.99 (actually, The Olympics is just 99¢) My favorite? It’s a tie between The Mall Santa and T-Ball. (Kim steals the show in both of them.)

For those of you relatively new to the strip, don’t miss the free eBook, Unfit For Syndication. And you’ll probably get a kick out of the The Band and The Candidate mini-websites, which can be found in the Archive. (Those are free too.)

Technorati Tags: eBooks, Kim & Jason, comics, comic strips

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Today I had lunch with a friend at a remarkably childlike place. It’s called Ian’s Pizza, and it sells pizza by the slice as well as by the pie. What’s remarkable is what’s on those slices. You can choose from Mac and Cheese (their most popular), Lasagna, Steak and Fries, Chicken Cordon Bleu, or Guacamole Burrito, to name a few. (I heard they had Chicken Mashed Potato, but I didn’t see it on the menu.) Of course, you can also get — ho-hum — pepperoni.

I felt like I was in the middle of Escape Plan Challenge #15 — eating something new. If the concoctions above don’t seem too appealing to you, I can speak from experience: The Mac and Cheese and the Steak and Fries slices were AWESOME. I’ll definitely be back, and I’ll be bringing Kim.

Clearly, these folks have a passion for pizza and a childlike curiosity, as revealed in their manifesto:

Running a pizza shop is hard. The hours are long and the work is exhausting. What keeps us here, however, is the desire to create a unique environment for our employees and our customers. Whether inventing a new pizza with grilled hearts of palm or having a contest to win our lovely – yet smelly – purple couch, we’re always fighting complacency.

Of course, not everything we try succeeds. For every hit slice we create many more fail miserably. Nevertheless, our promise to you is this:

As long as we’re here, we’ll create good food and fun experiences. And hopefully make a difference.

One slice at a time.

 

As far as I know, the only Ian’s that exists is in Madison. If you’re ever in the neighborhood, I invite you to try a slice. Meanwhile, I’m waiting for a pizza topped with chicken nuggets.

Technorati Tags: pizza, Ian’s, macaroni and cheese, passion, curiosity, childlike

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I just uploaded a free Kim & Jason eBook. It’s got a bunch of my favorite strips — the ones I sent to the newspaper syndicates last fall. If you have never read Kim & Jason, this is a great introduction. If you’re a regular, then this is a great tool to share with the uninformed. Feel free to e-mail this post to a friend (or seven), or download and print the eBook to share around the water cooler. I appreciate the help in spreading the word.

Download it Now (it’s about 2.3 MB and it’s free!)

Technorati Tags: comic strips, comics, Kim & Jason, free, eBook

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Kim and I mentioned the new Play-Doh cologne in our last podcast. Hasbro has commissioned Demeter Fragrance Library to create and distribute the scent in honor of Play-Doh’s 50th anniversary. I’m not sure how many people would actually buy the stuff, especially at $19 an ounce. In fact, I read on Foxnews.com that they didn’t necessarily expect that many people would actually wear it, but rather "take it out of (their) purse or glove compartment now and then and just smell it."

Interesting. Why wouldn’t I just buy a container of real Play-Doh for a few bucks and stick THAT in my purse or glove compartment? Then I could actually take it out and play around with it while I’m in line or backed up in traffic.

I think this is another example of how grown-ups need to throw money at something before they can justify being childlike. Reconnecting with your childlike spirit isn’t always easy, but it doesn’t need to be expensive.

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