Thanks for the great reply Shnool, I see definite similarities in our stories. My oldest, the gamer, is in 8th grade, and has worked so hard in school that he is already taking college algebra in advanced courses, and is in his second year of French. He also is teaching himself coding and he beta tests games as part of an invite only crew of gamers. He is well on his way to a career in that field. I am encouraged by the fact that he doesn't have illusions of being "a professional gamer" he wants to design games. He started looking at colleges in 6th grade and insists he wants to go to either MIT or Duke for computer engineering.
I have also tried getting him out hunting and fishing with me, no dice. It doesn't matter what it is outside. There are 3 things that get him outside paintball, airsoft and the ATV's, he will drop the controller in a minute if I say lets grab the airsoft guns. I served 12 yrs in the Marine Corps and until he got the Xbox he would say he was gonna be a Marine too, to which I replied oh heck no you aren't. If we let him he would ride trails all day long in the side by side.
We are planning on sailing this summer from our home in Sault Ste Marie down to Mackinac Island, then through Georgian Bay on the Canadian side. If we have time we want to then head across to Beaver Island and the Manitou Islands in Lake Michigan. I am considering letting him bring the XBox and just trade time, he gets a little game time for a little family time, but he isn't going to have internet so I don't think he realizes yet that he won't be connected to his game crew. I am making him take the ASA 103/104 and 106 classes with me though and I am thinking about both of us taking 105 too, so at least I have one other person on the boat that has the knowledge and ability, god forbid something were to happen while we were on the open lakes.
