Am I a Good Father?

Well my first Fathers Day is quickly approaching. I look back at the past 10 months and wow time has sure gone by fast. It seems like just yesterday we were in the delivery room laying my eyes on her for the first time. Louisa is a great mom and from time to time she will give me grief about needing to help out more around the house.

The biggest problem is the extra curricular activities that keep me out of the house in the evenings. I have been very active in both the Knights of Columbus and Scouts. Louisa is with Bethany all day while I am at work and she looks forward to me coming home after work to give her a break. So it is no wonder that she doesn't like me being out so much.

So I decided to make some changes to make sure that I am around a little more. For the Knights of Columbus I have taken on a different position on the executive, one that doesn't involve as much work at home. No more writing up the minutes and no more doing the Rosarium (council newsletter). Also with my new position if I am unable to make it to the meeting I won't feel that I am letting the council down as my new position isn't as key.

And for Scouting I have tendered my resignation as the Group Commissioner. This was a tough one as Scouting is so very dear to me. But I had to be honest with myself, that I am not really able to commit the amount of time necessary to do a proper job. So I did what was necessary and I stepped down. I hope to be able to stay involved in some capacity, we will see.

Parenting involves sacrifices and up until now I havn't had to make many but the time has come that I make sure I have my priorities in order.

I came across a survey at www.fathersforgood.org titled Am I a Good Father?

Here are the questions:

Answer each of the following statements honestly in relation to your fatherhood, placing one check for each statement to indicate: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree.

This is not a scientific survey, and no one else will see your test score. It is designed to help you think about some important fatherhood issues and how you evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. Have fun, and learn.


I practice what I preach *
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree


I pray with my kids, and for them *
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree


I regulate TV time for my kids, and myself *
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree


I avoid any use of porn *
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree


They know they can come to me with questions *
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree


I look at their report cards *
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree


I set clear and consistent rules *
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree


I control my temper when disciplining *
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree


I listen and not just talk to my kids *
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree


I am home for family dinner *
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree


I respect my wife and show affection *
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree


My kids feel safe and secure with me *
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree


They know I am fair yet firm *
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree


I say I love them in word and deed *
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree


Thank you for completing this self-assessment. In general, those who are walking the path of the good father will answer mostly “Strongly Agree” and “Agree”.

How to not impress your Mother-in-law

Yea I know it has been a long time since I have posted any new blog posts. There have been many things that I wanted to post but never seemed to get around to it. Let me tell you a little story and then I will provide an update on what is going on in my life.

So my Mother-in-law is visiting and tonight I was going to BBQ some salmon on a cedar plank. Everything is going fine, I soaked the plank for 6 hours in preparation. I don't think she has ever had salmon cooked on a cedar plank and she was interested to see what I was doing. I was proud of myself and hoping she was a bit impressed with my cooking skills. Once the salmon was cooked I asked Louisa for an oven mitt so I could bring the salmon inside. Well I underestimated how hot the plank would be even though I was wearing an over mitt. After a few steps away from the BBQ it was starting to burn my hand so I attempted to place it back down on the BBQ. The salmon fillet slid right off and onto the ground with a big splat! I was very upset at myself and embarrassed at what I had done.

I was hungry as a bear as I had not eaten much all day and it was a little later than when we normally eat. Here I just ruined our main course. Fortunately there was still another half of a fillet left because we bought it at Costco. So Louisa's mom cooked that half in the oven. So it wasn't a total loss but I was so mad at myself.

Other than that things are good. Baby Bethany is due to come out in a few weeks. Can't wait to meet her. Louisa and I have done everything we can to prepare. Louisa has read countless books, we took the prenatal classes, went to a breast feeding seminar and even a cloth diaper consultation. The room is ready and all the baby clothes have been washed.

I am thrilled to become a dad. It is something that I have been looking forward to since I was probably a teenager. Not that I wanted to become a teenage dad, just that I knew that I wanted to be a father one day. It is such an exciting time right now. As I am sure any parent will know just knowing that you will become a parent you start to look at things differently.

I have always been a big music buff. I have tone of CD's and MP3's, all genres of music. Now when I listen to a song I am like "Oh I never realized that song had swear words in it" and I remove it from my playlists so I don't expose Bethany to it. I have even started a playlist for her with children's songs.

The summer is coming to a close soon which means all the activities will be starting up again. I have a meeting on Tuesday for the Knights of Columbus to start our fall planning and I will also be holding a Group Committee meeting for scouts to ramp up for the fall. Granted with Bethany coming I won't be able to do as much for the first couple of months. It will be interesting to see if I can manage to keep the right balance. One thing is clear to me, Louisa and Bethany have to come first.

I will try to post more often, if I can find time. I am sure I will have tons of things to blog about.

Update

I haven't written a blog entry in a while so I thought I would give an update on what is new.

Only a few days more before we get the new car. I am so excited. We are buying a red 2010 Toyota Matrix. So now we will have two vehicles which will be important once the baby comes and Louisa is on maternity leave. Plus when I have my meetings and activities for Scouts or Knights of Columbus I won't have to worry if Louisa needs the car.

Louisa and I have been talking about getting a filing cabinet for the basement. I have so many papers that it doesn't take long for the basement to look all messy. I am currently working with a 'pile' system. One pile for Scouting stuff, one for the Knights of Columbus, etc. A filing cabinet sure will be helpful.

My boss will be out of the office all week. He is going down to Las Vegas for a Trade Show. Originally I was supposed to go as well but that was before the company started to cut down on their travel budgets. Assistant Buyers are no longer eligible for International travel. Oh well.

I will be recertifing my first aid this week through work. Which is very convenient because my certification is due for renewal. The last time was paid for by my previous employer and now Costco will be paying.

Louisa is doing well with the pregnancy. She is either very happy and laughing or in discomfort due to her changing body. I want to celebrate Mothers Day but she doesn't seem to be big on the idea. She says she isn't a mother yet. Plus our wedding anniversary is the next weekend. We are planning on a overnighter a couple hours away to celebrate.

Camp No'Chimik

 

This weekend I went winter camping at Camp No'Chimick with the venturers. It had been a while since I had been winter camping and I was looking forward to it. Camp No'Chimik is not far from home, just a 15 minute drive. We went out Friday night. There were 8 of us spending the night Friday and two more joined us on Saturday and spent Saturday Night.

This was my firt time going to Camp No'Chimick, what a great place. It is actually private property but the owner has been letting scouts use the area for camping for years. There is one small cabin with a wood stove there, a flagpole in a clearing and a bunch of groups have created permenant camp sites in the surrounding area.

Since we didn't arrive until late Friday night we spent the first night in the cabin. Us two adults slept downstairs and we had 4 Venturers and 2 rovers sleeping up in the attick. The cabin is very basic yet very functional. I didn't measure it but I would estimate 15 feet by 15 feet at the most. There is no floor, just stones and dirt. There was an old wood stove in the middle of the room to keep everyone warm. There were two benches along the two side walls that were wide enough to sleep on. The space under the benches served as storage for wood for the stove. There was a table attached to the back wall and teo folding tables as well. The ladder to the attick was beside the door. There were lines surrounding the stove to hang and dry wet clothes and plenty of naile for hanging jackets and other articles. The Attick was large enough that you could sleep 8 people comfortably and there was room on the benches for four more.

So Friday night we didn't have time for much but we did play their favorite game Whistle in a bucket. Basically two people go and hide a bucket with a whistle inside in the woods. Now remember it is night time so it is dark. The rest of the people have to find the bucket and blow the whistle without being caught. If the two people guarding the bucket beam them with a flashlight they have to go back to home base and start again. I didn't see the apeal of the game but once you get into it it can be a lot of fun.

Saturday morning I was the first one up. I managed to get myself changed and put together before anyone else got up. Brady was the first Venturer up and at 'em so he decided to get a start on breakfast. We had bought pre-cooked bacon so all that had to be done was heat it up. I suggested that since they come packaged in a plastic bag he just place the bag in a pot of hot water to heat up. That way there there wouldn't be any mess, no dishes to clean. Brady didn't take my advise and put them in a frying pan and placed it on the wood stove. By the time the rest of the food was ready that bacon was burnt to a crisp. They had some-what of success with the eggs and the sausages turned out fine. Just a typical breakfast at camp.

The morning was spent mostly with preparing their snow shelters for Saturday night. The original plan was to build quinzies but that never happened. Brady wanted to make a lean-to but eventually abandoned that idea. Jake and Hunter salvaged the remains of a snow trench that was left from a previous group and made a nice looking shelter rather quickly. Francesca and Emma decided to go with a snow trench as well but they wanted to start from scratch. It took more time but they pulled off a great shelter. Brady eventaully follwed Hunter and Jakes lead and salvaged one of the snow trenches that was left from the previous group. Adrian decided to join him and when I found out Andy was going to sleep in the cabin that meant I was on my own so I resigned to sleep in the cabin as well.

For lunch we had hot dogs cooked over the fire on sticks and we had some chicken noodle soup. After lunch the owner of the property came to visit with his chainsaw and cut up some fallen trees and our group transported and piled outside the cabin for the next group that would come to use the camp. A little later we all went on an exhausting hike. I am sure glad I rented those snow shoes.

Supper was easy. Emma's mom had made us boil-in-a-bag chili. You take milk bags, cut the top off and wash them out. That you fill them with chili, soup , or whatever you want and seal closed. Freeze them and take with you when you go winter camping. Just boil a large pot of water and place the bags in the pot to unthaw and heat. You eat right out of the bag and there is no mess. You can either burn the bag or place in the garbage.

of course after supper it was more whistle in a bucket. Except this time we changed it to candle in a bucket. The objective was to blow the candle out. We had a lot of fun. For the last name Andy and I were the bucket defenders. We came up with a plan, well actually we cheated. Instead of hiding the bucket we circled around back to the cabin and went it to warm up while they were out searching for us. They were not too amused.

When it was time for bed Brady found his shelter to be wet and decided he didn't want to sleep outside. Adrian felt that it would be fine by adding an extra tarp. Since he really wanted to sleep outside I agreed to take Brady's place and I slept in the Snow Trench. I was dry as a bone and not one bit cold. I had a great nigjht sleep, well except for the aaches and pains from sleeping on the ground.

Breakfats was instamt oatmeal and once everyone was done eating we packed everything up and headed home. I was home by lunchtime. To view the pictures from the camp click on the image below.

Camp No'Chimik Feb 2009

Rock Climbing, Hockey and Perth

These past few days have been busy. Thursday Night was our Venturers meeting and we went indoor rock climbing. This is something I had never done before but the rest of them had done it many times. It was fun. I did two accents in total in two different areas of the gym. Half way up I was thinking "I can't do this" but somehow I made it to the top both times. My toes were really hurting. You have to wear very tight shoes so you can get a good grip on the holds. Louisa wants to try so we are going to go give it a shot some time.

Friday night Louisa and I went to the Ottawa Senators hockey game. They were playing Anaheim. The sens lost, they didn't really try until the third period. Even so it was nice to go to a game. Sure was different than watching on tv at home. I like to get to one game a year so I guess that will be it until next year.

Yesterday it was raining all day so we stayed at home most of the day. We did go to mass in the afternoon and there was a parish potluck afterward. Not a huge turn out, probably due to the rain.

Today we went for a day trip down to Perth, Ontario. Luckily the weather was nice. I took Louisa to Camp Opemikon where we had Rovent last weekend and we walked around the town. We had lunch at a great restaurant called GoodWood.

Tomorrow is my first day as an Assistant Buyer at Costco. Very happy to finally be starting my new position. I will be working with a great bunch of guys.

Rovent / Woodbadge I for Senior Sections

I spent the weekend camping in a tent. Something I have done many times in my life, but not in a while. This was my first scout camp in a number of years. I was at Camp Opemikon, a Scouts Canada area camp site. This weekend was their annual camp called Rovent. Rovent which is an event for Rovers and Venturers, this year they also invited Pathfinders from the Girl Guide program. There are older youth between the ages of 14-25.





Rovent is based on a medieval theme. Many participants came complete with costumes such as knights, court jesters, peasants, etc. They also had a royal family comprised of youth from the organizing Rover Crew. There was a story line weaved throughout the weekend. One of the highlights for the youth is the siege. They build catapults and launch bags of flour at each other. The air was filled with flour and they made quite a mess, but they sure had fun.





My Venturer company did not attend, I went solo. I went to take a training course called Woodbadge I for Senior Sections. It is a compulsory course for new Venturer and Rover advisers. I spent the majority of the weekend in training so I didn't get to spend too much time walking around but I did manage to get around a bit.

Since I was going solo I found another group to camp with. The 1st Nepean Rovers adopted me for the weekend. I brought my own tent and personal gear of course, but they fed me. In addition to these fine folks I met a number of other great people that I know I will see again at future camps and events.

We had a good size group of people taking the course. We were asked to come up with a Scouts Own on Sunday morning at the closing ceremony. For those who don't know what that is, it is a spiritual reflection of some sort. I shared with them my story of what brought me back to scouting. They asked me if I was willing to share that with the whole camp so as part of the Scouts Own I did just that. What I said was the following.

My name is Joe Vautour and I am a 1st year Venturer Adviser. I have a rich background in scouting but I was inactive for a few years and I am just getting back into it. Like many of you I was a Beaver, I was a cub, and I was a Scout. I have been a Beaver Leader, I have been an Akela, and I have been a Troop Scouter. I have not been active the last few years, mostly because I was moving around a lot.

One morning two months ago, it was a Monday in August. All of a sudden out of no where I started to think about Scouting. About all the great times I had, the camps I had gone to, the people I met and the friends I made. I became very happy remembering all those great memories. Right then and there I looked up the phone number for Scouts Canada and I gave them a call. I told them I wanted to get back into scouting and they helped me find a group near where I live.

They very next day I was at work and my mother phoned me. My mother does not usually call me at work so I knew something was wrong. She called to tell me that a man I knew had passed away. His name was Robert MacVicar and he was a great man and he meant a lot to me. He was a retired fireman, in fact he was a District Fire Chief when he retired. He was very involved in his church, and in the community. And he was my troop scouter. This man had a huge influence in my life. As far as male role models in my life go, he was right up there with my father.

She them told me that he had a heart attack on Sunday. That is when it hit me. He died on Sunday and Monday I had this sudden urge to get back into scouting. I have no doubt that his spirit came to visit me and was urging me to go back to the Scouting movement.

That is my personal story that I want to share with you. Now each participant is going to briefly say what scouting means to them. For me Scouting is a lifestyle.

And then each of the other people taking the training said what Scouting means to them. I received many compliments afterwards on my story. There was over 300 people there in around the flagpole and it is not easy to hold their attention for long. But while I was telling my story you could hear a needle drop. I had everyones undivided attention.

I had a great time, met a lot of new people and I look forward to the next camp. See all my photos from the weekend on picasa.

Rovent 2008

Crazy Canuck Challenge

Today was my first outing with the 25th Nepean Venturer Company. We went to Merrickville for the Crazy Canuck Challenge. It was a great day weather wise for this event. We had 4 out of our 5 venturers go.

Andy and I drop them off at the start and the received their instructions. They had to use a compass and put their orienteering skills to use. We met them at the first check point where they had to mount their mountain bikes. One of our guys forgot to bring his bike helmet but luckily we found someone with an extra to lend. Lucky for him otherwise he wouldn't be able to participate in that portion of the course.

Shortly afterward they had a stop at a rock quarry where they did some repelling. Just as they were entering the quarry one of the guys ended up flying through the air over his handlebars and had a little spill. He had a small cut and hurt his fingers on his left hand. He wasn't seriously hurt but he choose to let the others continue on without him and he joined Andy and I in the chase car.

We then waited for them at the next check point. When they arrived we fed them some lunch and they set off in the canoe. We then picked them up at the finish line. We actually we were waiting at what we thought was the finish line. Luckily we figured out it wasn't the right spot before they arrived. I don't know their official time or standing but I think they did pretty well.

At the finish line they had a fun activity of crate Stacking. They are rigged in a rope harness and try to see hoe high they can build a stack of milk crates while climbing on top. I hear the record is 14. They had a lot of fun with that. Pictures are available at my Picasa Albumn