[speaker001:] okay you don't have any children
[speaker002:] no we were never blessed with children um we had a foster child for a while and we're real active
[speaker001:] oh oh
[speaker002:] in church with some of the young people
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] I hear I heard one of yours
[speaker001:] oh yes yes we have four and they range in ages from eight until the youngest is eight months so
[speaker002:] so you have a considerable range of of interests and activities and so forth
[speaker001:] right we do and when they were speaking about some of the activities that you like to participate in as a family one of our very favorite is reading we love to read read with our children and to them and and so far they've been they've grown up with a love for reading too and we're very glad about that
[speaker002:] that's terrific you know that's not I've I've observed that that's not done enough these year these days
[speaker001:] oh yeah
[speaker002:] when we had our foster son he was um uh two and a half to three and a half that that year in there and we read every night because we just felt like that was important to spend time
[speaker001:] oh uh-huh oh
[speaker002:] with him there's so little time one-on-one time these days with mechanical or or the electronic uh games and and TV and so forth to draw folks away
[speaker001:] boy I'll say right boy I'll say that's right my with our well where with all of them we start right from the time they were born and and spent time reading with them and and they seem they enjoy it the kids will get the books and bring to us and say you know let's read a book
[speaker002:] did they have them memorized and and know if you're skipping a page
[speaker001:] uh yeah they do they do did you experience that too
[speaker002:] yes it it on nights when it was already really late and I'd try to short circuit it it was no no no
[speaker001:] uh-huh and they catch on pretty quick you mentioned TV watching watching too much TV and I I feel that's a real big problem also I I think that there's just too much of that it's used too much as a babysitter and and
[speaker002:] I totally agree
[speaker001:] people just plop the kids down in front of it and
[speaker002:] now there are some wonderful programs for children and when I had our foster son I was babysitting I had
[speaker001:] that's right um-hum
[speaker002:] four under the age of three and we ended up using television couple times a day when Sesame Street was on
[speaker001:] oh wow uh-huh
[speaker002:] to entertain them but also to do some learning things and then we re-enforced that then with with some of the things that we were involved in if I was in the kitchen and and so forth the little girl wanted to emulate everything I did
[speaker001:] right oh oh uh-huh
[speaker002:] and so and we talked about the letters and numbers and so fourth so we used it as a tool
[speaker001:] uh-huh right
[speaker002:] but not I won't say I was perfect it wasn't ever used as a babysitter while I was busy with one of the others but
[speaker001:] oh that's right that's right and then I can't say say that either but then like you say there's some good shows on it and there's some good videos also that you can rent that are
[speaker002:] yes
[speaker001:] you know real helpful and um we also like to play with our kids I one of one of our other favorite things to do is to have pillow fights with them and they really enjoy that they laugh and you know it's winter here and it's hard to get outside and do a lot of
[speaker002:] oh
[speaker001:] lot of outdoor physical type things and so
[speaker002:] I hadn't thought about that
[speaker001:] yeah so we we do pillow fights and um course just play with them play games and um when you were growing up did you spend time did your family camp or or what other activities
[speaker002:] we did we went camping and then Richard and I did that all through our our twenty years together too so it was something that carried over from both our backgrounds and into into our current life
[speaker001:] oh uh-huh oh that's great
[speaker002:] your your pillow fights reminded me though that when when I was growing up um uh we we spent four years in Utah and then we went from there to Germany and and it was even further north
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh oh boy I'll bet
[speaker002:] and uh daddy used to roughhouse in the winter time with us we'd get on the floor and just you know play play play tickle games and and and hug and cuddle and that was important to do that bonding and I never thought of that till you mentioned the pillow fights
[speaker001:] uh-huh  uh-huh oh it is oh
[speaker002:] but we'd get everybody involved in that well it was just my brother and I and we thoroughly enjoyed that that time spent with daddy that we didn't get to see him very much at all
[speaker001:] uh-huh boy I'll say I'll say you do and and I think like you say the bonding and the physical you know loving and touching that's that's very important I feel like so um
[speaker002:] do you have outside the home activities that that you do with the the family
[speaker001:] yes we do we well like I say we the little community we live in it's winter a lot of time so we go sleigh riding and the kids love that they love there's
[speaker002:] yeah oh
[speaker001:] several hills close by that we that are kind of designated sleigh riding hills and and we take the tubes you know the tubes and toboggans and and go and do that in the winter and in the summer um oh bike riding and we go well we've we've each got a bike with the little one we haven't done it this last summer as much because she's just so so tiny that
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] we didn't get a chance but um we've got the swings and had a trampoline