Well, this wraps up Jerry Begly's Blogathon 2010. It has been a personal challenge to me, and I hope you've come up with something that you can use. Let me know if you found it interesting, or completely a bore. Email me at jerry@jerrybegly.com. I guarantee on thing. If you try any of the ideas I've written about, your life will be that much richer for it . Now get out there and knock 'em dead. Jerry
May 2010 Archives
Supernova numbers 6 and 7. Our sixth child has an imagination that really took off. He's only 5 years old, but he showed me a catalog the other night. In it he pointed out all of the cool things he's love to have. Not video games, or electronic gadgets. He wanted the Space suit, with helmat and boots. He wanted the jet pilot suit with helmet . He likes excavators, trains, trucks, bulldozers, cowboys, and swords. The other day, he came up to me completely duded up like the Lone Ranger. "Whadda ya think, Dad?" he asked. "Well," I replied. "I feel very safe with you around," I said. "Dad, read me this book", is something I hear from him all of the time. It's great.
Our 7th child is only 2 years old. He practically walks around with a book in his hand. His vocabulary is really good, and he's following in the footsteps of his siblings. We are having a blast with that little stinker. One benefit of reading that I haven't mentioned, is that your children will begin to talk like adults sooner and will not fall into that annoying type of "baby talk" that I hear so many children use. I never thought much about it until people started telling me "your children talk so mature". Then I started noticing how much I disliked the "baby talk" of many children. So read to your kids a lot. And don't talk "down" to their level. You'll be rewarded with mature speaking kids.
Our 7th child is only 2 years old. He practically walks around with a book in his hand. His vocabulary is really good, and he's following in the footsteps of his siblings. We are having a blast with that little stinker. One benefit of reading that I haven't mentioned, is that your children will begin to talk like adults sooner and will not fall into that annoying type of "baby talk" that I hear so many children use. I never thought much about it until people started telling me "your children talk so mature". Then I started noticing how much I disliked the "baby talk" of many children. So read to your kids a lot. And don't talk "down" to their level. You'll be rewarded with mature speaking kids.
In the Supernova of reading benefits, one person shines extra bright: my second son. He has taken up reading as if it is more important than breathing. He will wake up in the morning, and walk around reading his current favorite book while getting ready for the day. When we go to the library, he is the type of person who will finish reading one of his chapter books on the way home. He will only have a stack of books to carry him through until the next visit. Not only does he read, he is making complicated drawings of catapults and other machinations of mankind. Then he loves to explain his diagrams in great detail. Perhaps he will be an engineer, or another Rube Goldberg.
Celebrating Children's Book Week, I'm pointing out the benefits of reading to your children. In my family our 4th child is world famous for her smile. In my book "Dad, the Tooth Fairy Didn't Come!" she is the one who is dressed like a princess. She loves reading horse books, princess books, and girl mystery books. She is a hard worker, able to do tasks that older children find challenging, and an eternal optimist. She's so excited about going to summer camp, that she is already packed, even though camp is about 8 weeks away.
Back to the Supernova of benefits of reading to your children: My second daughter, was read to from a very young age, just like all of out kids. At age 14, she is writing her own stories, and illustrating them. Westerns seem to be her favorites. She is working on a screenplay. She is perhaps the most like me of all the children, in her complete rapture in humor. For our Mothers Day dinner, we all dressed up like something from Mother Goose.(Get it? Mothers Day. Mother Goose?) My second daughter came to the table dressed as the WALL that Humpty Dumpty fell off of. I haven't laughed so hard in a while. She still makes me smile.
Did I mention that it's 52 degrees in the Fairy Caves? My wife says that I have the best job in the world. When it's going to be 95 degrees outside, I will get to wander through an airconditioned wonderland with a group of tourists. When it was snowing chicken feathers the other day, we got to walk inside where it was "warm" and "dry".
National Children's Book Week is almost coming to a close, and so is my Blogathon 2010. If you haven't guessed by now, I give cave tours in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. I've also written and illustrated a new children's book entitled "Dad, the Tooth Fairy Didn't Come!" www.jerrybegly.com/tooth. What else is going on in my life? I teach skiing in Aspen, Colorado. I'm building a 3400sf. Log chalet off the grid high in the Colorado Rockies. My 7 children, my wife, and I are building it all ourselves. Literally all of it (with very few exceptions). I enjoy jeeping, hiking, mountain climbing, fishing, playing my banjo, and a multitude of other pastimes. When it comes to grading me on life, I get all "F"s. Faith, Family, Friends, Fun are the mainstays of my existence. Oh, and Food. Thanks for the Fajitas, today, guys...
Who comes on my cave tours? Everybody. That's what makes it so fun. Today, I had guys with tattoos all over their body standing next to Amish tourists. I've had Adult, educated, Europeans standing next to runny nosed little American kids. Somehow, we all are able to come together and enjoy the incredible beauty underground. I like that. It's not like we have to fight over what channel to watch. We only get one channel underground-the Beauty Channel. Let's all explore it together.
I get to show the little girls the Fairy in the Fairy Caves. Ooooo. Ahhhhh. I get to show the little girls the Tooth Fairy in my book "Dad, the Tooth Fairy Didn't Come!" www.jerrybegly.com/tooth. Whoooooa.Who's THAT? The hero is a very unlikely person for rescuing the parents from Parental Tooth Stress Syndrome.
I can't find any more bats in the main part of the cave. Our last little guy seems to have disappeared for the summer. He was sleeping all alone near Exclaimation Point. I'll bet he woke up from his long sleep and said "Hey guys, where did you all go? Guyyyyys! Come on out. You can stop hiding, now. It's me, Henry. Alleeeeeeee Alleeee in Freeeee! Then he flew off to enjoy his summer activities.
Today, one of my tour groups ran into another tour group at the top of "The Barn". We're talking about 40 people here. That guide said, "Jerry, do you guys want to do a complete 'lights out' with us since nobody's down below us? "
"Sure," I said.
The guide reached for the main breaker which is not supposed to be used for turning out the lights and was getting ready to flip it off. I yelled "No not that one!" as I ran toward her. "That's the switch for the trap door where those people are standing!" I exclaimed. I heard some nervous laughter from the group. When we switched off the proper light switch, the lights below us were still on. It didn't get dark. Not wanting to appear completely ignorant of the switches, I said, "Oh, somebody didn't turn off the lights off below us. Nice joke." With that our groups parted. Tour guides have more fun than you'll ever know.
National Children's Book Week is ending on Sunday, the 16th, and I've been celebrating in my own way with Jerry Begly's Blogathon 2010. I'm putting out one blog post every 2 hours until the end of the week. Whew! You readers are keeping me hopping. I'm looking out the window at an awsome crescent moon on the western horizon right now. What a beautiful way to work at night. Have you read even one book to your kid or grandkids this week? That's a super way to celebrate this week, and your connection to the next generation. I still remember stories I heard from my grandfather, and the first time in my life that I ever read "The Little Engine That Could" was at Grandpa Begly's house in Berlin.
Today was a blast. I got to give 4 cave tours. On one of my tours was Phillip. He was in charge of the construction inside the cave a little over 10 years ago. He told me about 2 of the workers discovering over a mile more of unmapped passageways back when the construction was taking place. The "Wedding Platform", is a wooden platform that was made larger than normal, so 2 cavers could get married in front of a stalactitie that was composed of 2 stalactites growing together to become one. Now that's cave love. Also, over 10 years ago, the current owner, Steve Beckley, took what was then his 2nd date with Jeanne through an 8 ½ inch squeeze named "Jam Crack". Later, the two got married, and bought Fairy Caves, opening up Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. You've got to come up here if you ever get a chance. It's an amazing place, and I'd love to take you on one of my tours.
I was on the phone with Alan Cheuse, book reviewer for NPR. He sounded a little tired. Maybe he was doing a Blogathon 2010 himself. We talked briefly about my book. It reminded me of the time I was in New York with my comic strip Camp Pinetar, talking with the guys at King Features. New York, and Washington are really far away from where I live. Those guys and I have very different lives. But we all enjoy good books and good cartoons. I really believe that my new book "Dad, the Tooth Fairy Didn't Come!" www.jerrybegly.com/tooth is a winner. How do I know? When a grandma comes up to me on a ski slope in Aspen and gives me a big hug because of the book, I know it's a winner. When a parent tells me that she has read the book "about 18 times already", I know it's a winner. When a parent comes back 5 times in a month and orders more books to give away, I know it's a winner. I hope you'll try the book. You deserve a good laugh. Thanks. Jerry.
Blogarooney, Blogmeister, Blogarama, Blogalooney, Blogglemania, Bloggenheimer. I think I'd better take a break.
An Aspen school teacher put my book into her weekly book "shootout". The idea is that 2 books are read to the kids and they get to vote on their favorite one. Then that winner goes on to the next week and is read against another book. My book "Dad, the Tooth Fairy Didn't Come!" www.jerrybegly.com/tooth.beat out 3 books, including "Stone Soup". But when "Dad, the Tooth Fairy Didn't Come!" went up against "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", I got knocked out. I told the teacher, "The GRINCH? Why didn't you just throw me to the lions?" I was thrilled to be shot down by Dr. Seuss. The only thing better than that would be to get shot down by Snoopy on his doghouse.
What kind of children's book do you like to read? Dr. Seuss. I Spy. Richard Scary. Sandra Boynton. Those are all favorites of mine. I like cartoons. Long drawn out verbiage bores me and my kids. Yes, chapter books are just fine as the kids grow a little older. I like color, and surprises. Books where the child goes to sleep at the end of the book are too predictable and trite. The only exception to that is Dr. Seuss's "The Sleep Book". Watching all of those crazy little creatures yawn make me yawn when I read it. Just writing about it makes me want to yawn right now.
As stated previously, my wife has been a huge influence on our children with her reading. What's really nice is that she's such a good reader, that I too enjoy just lying there listening to her read. On car trips, she can hardly put a book down because the kids and I want her to keep on reading. She is trained in Classical and Opera music, and comes with all of the voice classes and coaching that that entails. Her voice is so smooth and mesmerizing that everyone loves it. You might not have that kind of a voice. Maybe you sound more like Peter Faulk (Colombo). But in the classic movie "Princess Bride", Faulk reads a book to his grandson the entire movie. His character and voice are absolutely fantastic. You probably fall somewhere between Peter Faulk and my wife. So grab a book and read to your little one. You'll both love it.
Yikes! I've been having great fun talking about my job as a cave tour guide. But back to the reason for the Bloggathon 2010. I'm celebrating National Children's Book Week www.bookweekonline.com because I've written a children's book and because I really believe in reading to kids. I've done readings in 3 libraries in the past few weeks, and the kids and parents both are entertained by "Dad, the Tooth Fairy Didn't Come!" www.jerrybegly.com/tooth.
So my cave tour group is standing outside looking at our new monster swing called The Swing Shot. It's going to open by Memorial Day weekend. Suddenly the thing takes off, sending the seats that you would ride in out over the cliff 1300 ft. above the Colorado River and returning after a 240 degree pendulum. Wow. It took our breath away just watching it. Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park www.glenwoodcaverns.com is going for the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest swing. I absolutely guarantee that it is going to give its riders one of the biggest thrills of their lives.
"Besides that, no one has ever come out of one of my cave tours saying, "Jerry, a rock fell on my head."
I'm standing outside the cave with 24 tourists ready to go inside. A few of them are concerned about a "cave-in" occurring. I say to the group, "You folks paid something in the neighborhood of $10 to go on this tour. We will be about 120 feet underground . In the event of a cave-in, you can take heart that nowhere else in the world can you be buried so cheap and deep."
Paul, a seasoned Cave Tour Guide flicks all the lights out. It's darker than a black cat's belly button. After a few comments by the tourists, Paul says, "Let me help you get your bearings. That way is north, that way is south. That's east, and that's west."
As you read this, there is a good chance that I'm telling one of my favorite Tour Guide Jokes. I'm giving cave tours right now for Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park www.glenwoodcaverns.com . This is one cool place to visit, and an even cooler place to work. The people are fun. The Adventure Park is really fun, and the caverns are beautiful, like something out of a movie set. We have the most decorated room Colorado (King's Row), and the second largest room in the state (The Barn). Stay tuned for a Cave Guide Joke...
The Jerry Begly Bloggathon 2010 is moving right along. Thanks for joining me. I'm celebrating National Children's Book Week www.bookweekonline.com with a post every two hours, through the 16th of May! What is really fun about this week, is that I get to celebrate, by offering you an opportunity to read my children's book entitled "Dad, the Tooth Fairy Didn't Come!" www.jerrybegly.com/tooth. As I sit here posting this, my son, Caleb is reformatting the 3rd Edition of the book which will be sent to the printers today. It freaks me out that we can edit and format the book, up here high in the Rockies completely off the grid, send it through the airwaves, and get it printed in the Good Old USA within a few weeks.
Speaking of "Yuck!", check out the website www.yucktruckseptic.com . If my son can make a septic pumping service website look cool, for a really reasonable price, imagine what he can doo doo for you you. (just a little septic humor there, folks). What does a septic pumping service have to do with National Children's Book Week www.bookweekonline.com? It's all about reading to kids, expanding their minds, getting them out of the nest , and watching them fly through the world making it a better place for everyone. And we all benefit; from you to me to the guy who works hard at his septic pumping business.
Keep going. My oldest son helped me set up our solar and wind power system which powered the building of our house, and the compilation of my new children's book "Dad, the Tooth Fairy Didn't Come!" www.jerrybegly.com/tooth. He started his own computer company "Crystal River Computers" at age 15. He builds websites, and repairs all aspects of computers. He is fluent in programming (C++,Visual Basic, HTML, Javascript, jQuery, PHP, SQL, Batch Language, Unix, css, xml).This allows him to create websites far superior those webbuilders who use templates. Yuck!
My oldest son came roaring in on children's books at an early age. My wife gets the most credit here, as she spent the most time at home with our kids. More on that later. My son discovered the big, wide world through books, and took off like rocket, devouring anything he could get hands on. At age 10, he put together his Christmas present, a 3 ft. long battleship made out of snap blocks, before midnight. The detailed instruction sheet was over 100 pages long. I was floored. By age 12, he was reading a manuals in bed at night. At age 13, he was researching building materials for me and ordering literally tens of thousands of dollars worth of materials for us to build our chalet with.
My oldest daughter reaped the first fruit of being read to www.bookweekonline.com . She is now an extremely creative person. She enjoys creative writing, sculpture, painting, and music. She can literally pick up ANY instrument and make something beautiful come out of it within 15 minutes. Try that by spending all your time on a Wii or hanging out at the mall. My daughter loves to read. She is on an accelerated school program, and making leaps and bounds in her education. My oldest daughter is the narrator in my children's book "Dad, the Tooth Fairy Didn't Come!" www.jerrybegly.com/tooth . She's well on her way to an interesting, and fulfilling life.
By now, you know how much I am a believer in reading to children. www.bookweekonline.com . The benefits of reading to your own kids . are a little bit like winning the lottery...only better. Let's start with the obvious and oft stated benefits: Quality family time, making good memories, development of grammar, and even having a child get used to sitting still for periods of time. Let me take you much farther than that. Join my family as we burst out of here with a supernova of benefits from reading to our children...
The results are in. The Children's Choice Book Awards for 2010: www.bookweekonline.com Kindergarten through Second Grade- "Lulu the Big Little Chick" by Paulette Bogan. (Bogan Flats Campground is only 3 miles from my house in Marble, Colorado, and is a very beautiful spot to camp!) And in the 3rd and 4th Grade category, the winner is "Lunchlady and the Cyborg Substitute" by Jarrett J Krosoczka. The Children's Choice Book Award is the result of schoolchildren voting for their favorite books from a list of finalists. Congratulations to Paulette and Jarrett! It's an honor to have schoolchildren across the nation choose your book as the best in the country!
My 9 year old son is sitting next to me reading "The Speaker's Desk Book". It has "5000 Sparkling Epigrams" and "1187 Anecdotes" in addition to "Jewels of Thought...Oft-quoted Masterpieces of all time..." The reason he's reading it is because he loves to read. His mother and I have read to him since he was far too young to know what we were saying. Now, instead of watching TV or playing video games, or texting his buddies, or surfing the net, he reads. And he DOES get to visit far away places and times and people and use his imagination, and build his vocabulary and become a more mature person. Who knows? With resources like "The Speakers Desk Book" he may very well become a sought after speaker, or an eloquent statesman. Celebrate National Children's Book Week ( www.bookweekonline.com ) by reading to your little ones.
Last night it snowed 6 inches, here at Chalet Begly in Marble, Colorado. Being on the south facing slope, the snow has pretty much melted already. What are you doing right now? Hopefully sleeping peacefully if you are living here in the States. I get people visiting this website 24 hours a day, from around the world. I'm well into my Jerry Begly Bloggathon 2010. In particular, I'm celebrating National Children's Book Week ( www.bookweekonline.com ) until the 16th of May. If you haven't had a good laugh today, pick up a copy of my children's book "Dad, the Tooth Fairy Didn't Come!" ( www.jerrybegly.com/tooth ). I guarantee that you will see yourself somewhere in the book. We're having lots of fun with it, and you will too!
Yesterday, I got goosebumps when I discovered something. I just published my book "Dad the Tooth Fairy Didn't Come!" in February of this year. Then this summer I got hired as a tour guide at the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park (www.glenwoodcaverns.com, come on one of my killer caver tours) leading people through Fairy Caves, here in Colorado. In our tours, we even show the people the dancing fairy on the wall. Then yesterday, I was reading through our tour guide book about the Fairy Caves. I discovered that Charles W. Darrow formed the Fairy Caves Company on September 16, 1895. September 16 is my BIRTHDAY! I had cold chills running up and down my spine. And I wasn't even standing out in the snowstorm that was taking place at the time.
Here's a dumb story I heard today: A kid asked his dad if the dad could teach him how to fish. So the dad went out and bought the boy a fishing video game. I hope you, the reader, aren't that kind of parent. Your kids will be grown and out of the house before you know it. As a co-worker once told me about raising children: "The days go too slow, and the years go too fast." Put down some memories that your children and grandchildren can reach back into when you're gone. Reading to a child is one of the easiest and most memorable ways to do that. You can celebrate National Children's Book Week www.bookweekonline.com by going to the library and getting some fun or interesting stuff to read. Or you can order my book "Dad the Tooth Fairy Didn't Come!" at www.jerrybegly.com/tooth.
You can have some way cool time with your kids by reading to them. Pretty much every child at one time or another will come up to their parent with a book and say "Will you read this to me?" My new children's book "Dad, the Tooth Fairy Didn't Come!" was designed to be FUN to read for both the child and the adult. The brilliant colors, rendered in Photoshop, delight the children. The subplots, and jokes aimed squarely at the adults will make you laugh out loud. The icing on the cake is that the text is slightly larger than that found in most children's books, making it possible to read this book to your grandkids without using your reading glasses in many cases. Now put down that newspaper and find some books that you can read to your child in celebration of National Children's Book Week www.bookweekonline.com .
National Children's Book Week (www.bookweekonline.com) is in full swing. There are book festivals from Orange County, California, to Hudson Bay. Families are going out with their kids and listening to story readings, attending workshops, and talking with authors and illustrators as the authors and illustrators sign newly purchased copies of the books. California boasts some of the biggest festivals in the country. I may be attending the Costa Mesa festival in October, 2010 with my new children's picture book, "Dad, the Tooth Fairy Didn't Come!". Check out Costa Mesa's festival at www.kidsbookfestival.com .
Dentists from Aspen to Rifle to Edwards, Colorado have been buying my new book entitled "Dad, the Tooth Fairy Didn't Come!" (www.jerrybegly.com) .Why dentists? Because they can put the book in their waiting room, or give it to friends or family. One dentist told me that he was going to send the book to his son in Florida because his son is a dentist, and has a son of his own. So dentists can now celebrate National Children's Book Week www.bookweekonline.com with their own copies of the book.
It's National Children's Book Week, and I'm celebrating. Why? I have 7 children, and I have a children's book that I wrote and illustrated, and it's starting to sell and gain momentum. Who hoo!
I've got copies across the U.S., in England, Brazil, Canada, and even Hong Kong. You can find the book at www.jerrybegly.com/tooth . I'm about to order the third printing since February, 2010.
I've got copies across the U.S., in England, Brazil, Canada, and even Hong Kong. You can find the book at www.jerrybegly.com/tooth . I'm about to order the third printing since February, 2010.
It's time for the "Jerry Begly Bloggathon 2010". Blogarooney. Blogmeister. Bloggarama. 42 Blog posts. 3 ½ days. One new blog post will be put up every 2 hours. How am I going to do that? Let's just say that I'm celebrating. If you think I can't do it, stay tuned...
