This is part of the reason my new car build is agonizingly slow. I feel guilty when I work on it away from the kids and also don't want to miss time with them. I have two boys, 15 and 11. We've had two great road trip summer vacations in the last two years and everybody "survived". They are both great kids. With my older son, William, we have spent time scuba diving, building stuff and welding in the garage, working on his first car, driver training, he flies gliders, does really good stop-action animation and plays the tuba. My younger son Sam is a bit of a couch potato but is really starting to get into cars, swap meets and will likely help me with the assembly of the new race car. They are both doing great in school and we constantly get compliments from the adults they come in contact with. Sometimes we are confused by that but have been told that kids act differently toward their parents than they do to the rest of the world. The teen demon has infiltrated the older one to some degree. Someone told me this week that nature puts the "annoying" in teenagers so you will have an easier time letting them go, probably true. I figure my contribution to the world is to be a good person, be a good example to those around me, and raise my kids to the best of my ability.
:D
