It feels like Winter just flew by – along with the first half of our fourth pregnancy! As I watch the trees burst into bloom, I find myself astonished that Spring has sprung already… The Roades’ had an uncharacteristically busy March. We’re typically homebodies, preferring to spend our weeknights and weekends playing as a family, reading, and watching movies. But not this month!

Chapter 1: Adventure Guides

When I was younger, my dad and I participated in an activity group called “Indian Guides.” Run by the local YMCA, this national group was the anti-Scouts in that themes and activities centered around Native American history and culture and the general ethos was much less success-focused. Sure, there were still badges to earn, but there was less of a sense of competition and much more camaraderie (especially as compared to my later – horrible – experiences with the Boy Scouts).

As a dad of three (soon to be four) girls, I found myself recently thinking about the Indian Guides and the sister group, the Indian Princesses. As the girls approach ages where we can begin doing things together, I find that there are few activities for “dads and daughters.” After a couple of inquiries, I found that the “Indian” Guides was indeed still being run by the YMCA, but was renamed to “Adventure” Guides several years ago after a lawsuit (I won’t even touch how ridiculous I think that is…). I was given the name of the “chief” of a local “tribe” and contacted him to see if R and I could check out the next meeting. He was happy to get some new faces and we were excited about the opportunity.

As it turned out, the tribe was mainly older girls (ages 10 and up) and they had been together for about 5 years. And, while they welcomed us in and we had a fun night (the activity was making fresh pasta so while we had fun, we had to leave well before the activity was done as it was already past both of our bed times!), we decided that we would do better to find a group with younger kids. I heard that there is one such tribe (and it’s closer to us), but I haven’t been able to get any information about it yet.

Chapter 2: Adam Takes New York (well, upstate NY…)

During the second week of the month, I went up to Saratoga Springs, NY, for the inaugural “Social Learning Lab & Seminar” hosted by Elliot Masie at his MASIE Center. Masie is a “pillar” in the learning and development field, so naturally I was anxious to learn from this “master” in my field. And I wasn’t disappointed – the sessions in the seminar were very interesting and engaging and, with a total attendance of 35, there was a lot of interaction among everyone there. (If I get more than one comment to this post asking me about what I actually learned, I could be persuaded to write a follow-up post with my impressions and notes… .

(Long sidebar… while I greatly enjoyed the seminar, my travel plans were less than desirable. I took Amtrak on the way up – my first experience on a train that wasn’t the Washington Metro. This was unexpectedly enjoyable. The cars I was in were relatively empty and clean, the seats had nice tray tables that flipped down and the dining car was convenient and comfortable, too. Unfortunately, the Amtrak schedule did not allow me to take it for the ride home. Instead, I thought I “go Greyhound.” More like “No Greyhound!” Big mistake. HUGE.

Where to begin… the ride from Saratoga to Albany was horribly cramped. Think of riding for an hour in your sneaker. In Albany, everyone was forced to disembark into the bus depot – essentially a large latrine – for about 45 minutes. We then reboarded along with everyone going to NYC. Now the bus was completely full, making it even more cramped. Arriving at NYC, I found myself wandering around the depot looking for where I was to catch my connecting bus. I found the line for “Washington, DC” and began the nearly 2 hour wait. At about the time the bus was due, an Amtrak employee announced that anyone going to “Silver Spring” was to board. Knowing Silver Spring is right outside D.C., I asked the employee if this was the bus going to Washington. Without making eye contact, he pointed and barked, “The line for Washington is over there.” Returning to my place in line, I continue to watch as the other travelers boarded. At 15 minutes past the time on my ticket, I again approached the same employee, informing him that my ticket was for Washington at this time. Again, he demanded me get back into the line. Realizing this was a fight I wasn’t going to win, I figured that we were boarding next and, if not (and I missed the bus…so to speak), I would be speaking to his supervisor within the hour. Thankfully, the Washington-bound passengers were called next (would it have been so hard to just say “we’ll be boarding Washington passengers next”?!?!) and I began my horrendous – but final – leg back to D.C. Well, then there was the metro out to Vienna and the cab ride home to get me in by 11:30 PM.)

Chapter 3: Rebecca takes Pennsylvania

The weekend after I went to the seminar in NY, Rebecca took the opportunity to have a sisters weekend. She and Michelle met Julie up in State College, PA for a nice long weekend of hanging out together (if she so desires, Rebecca can author a post recounting their exploits). Somehow I managed not to lose or abuse (much) any of the kids. Though, I must admit, I nearly wrote a blog to the effect of “I’m a great dad…just not when I’m solo.” I even sent Rebecca a text message to the effect of “I’m glad we’re having baby #4 – she’s our spare…”

I had grandiose ideas of taking them all down to the Museum of Natural History but this was almost immediately deemed untenable by the characteristically tyrannical M (the older two were at each other’s throats as well). The revised plan was then to go to the nearby Air & Space Museum (the one with all the stuff that doesn’t fit downtown) but this, too, was scrapped as the kids continued to run amok. Instead, we chose to spend a quiet weekend at home by ourselves. This turned out to be peaceful and fun for all of us.

Chapter 3: Adam is Conference-Crazy

The following Friday and Saturday, I participated in a local “unconference” dubbed Government 2.0 Camp (after the “barcamp” style of events which is characterized by nominating and deciding on sessions the morning of each day and specific, conversation-focused sessions). Having been engrossed in “enterprise 2.0″ activities with my client for the past couple of years, I was looking forward to sharing my experiences as well as learning about what others had done, were thinking about, or challenges they faced. While I thought there were several ways the event could be improved next time, I nonetheless enjoyed the camp and met lots of great people. I’m definitely hoping there are future Gov2.0 Camps and I look forward to taking a more active role in them.

Whew! And all this in addition to work, homeschooling the girls, weekly small groups, R’s weekly dance class, and other activities! I certainly hope April turns out to be a little calmer, because I’m pooped (and I’m expecting my seasonal allergies to begin any day now…)!