How some dangerous products get in the hands of kids is normally neglect from some parent or merely an accident. Well yesterday on the 4th of July I unknowingly handed my 7 year old a dangerous item, a chocolate milk bottle. Yeah he has had many milks before, everything from bottles, glasses, and even paper cartons. At 7 he is very capable of drinking from a container.

For lunch on the 4th we decided to go healthy and get some Subway. I love eating there. I like that you watch someone prepare your food and the ingredients always seem fresh. I got my son a kids combo with a ham sandwich, apples, and the chocolate milk. I came home and handed him the bag with everything in it. He likes me to just hand him the bag so he can go through it like a Christmas stocking. He always checks out the prize first and then begins eating.

He was eating in the family room while watching some cartoons. Shortly after eating he came to the living room and asked if there was something on his tooth. To my wife and my amazement there was blood. I closely inspected the tooth and I could see a hanging piece of gum on his front tooth. The bottom of the gum was bleeding. At first I was upset with him a little and I was sure he had put something in his mouth he was not supposed too. I thought there is no way he could have injured himself on a ham sandwich or apple slices. I did not even think about the milk. My son sensed he might be in trouble and started with the "I don't know" routine that I am sure many parents are familiar with. 

I walked back to the table where he was eating and closely surveyed the items. Then I saw it...a small amount of blood on the edge of the milk bottle. I picked up the bottle and touched the edge. Honestly I have felt knives which were a lot less sharp. This was very sharp. I still have the bottle here. This bottle sliced his gum open during normal use. As he drank from the bottle the top of the edge sliced his gum taking a small peice of it off.

I am letting other parents know to watch out for these bottles from Subway. I bought mine from the Subway on 2004 66th St. N St Petersburg FL 33710.  They are from a company called Shamrock Farms. Their website is http://www.shamrockfarms.net/. I do not know where else you could find this brand of milk but I would watch out for it. (see pic) Of course I am sending this link to Subway and Shamrock and I will let you know what happens with it, if anything. Shamrock should at a minimum reconsider the design of their bottle and Subway should not distribute something like this.

More Images

I know Father's Day is coming but Spencer did a poem at church for me a week early. This was mainly because Rev. Zemke is going to be out of town next week and he wanted to help Spencer with the reading.

This is the 2nd time Spencer did a reading at church. They did not put him on a stool this time but lucky for me I was off to the side to take the video. The sound is a little rough but you should be able to hear the poem.

We have had a busy Spring. Most of the activities have been with Scouts but some others have just been with friends. Here are a few of the special moments:

First Fish caught!

That's right Spencer caught his first fish all on his own. Not only that it was the very first fish caught on the weekend of the Council Camp. We were the first group to fish and Spencer landed a whopper with a piece of corn! Way to go Spencer! [Fish in picture has been magnified for actual proof there is a fish there!]

 

Crossed the Monkey Bridge!

 Spencer crossed the entire monkey bridge on his own. His friends were very supportive and even though it was scary he did it! Afterwards when asked how he did it, Spencer said "There was no other way down, it was too high to jump, so I just walked to the end." <-- This is a true statement!

First Pie in the Cub Master's Face

The Cub Master, Brian, made a deal with the scouts that if they attended every meeting in a Class A uniform that they would get to put a pie in the Cub Masters face. Spencer just happened to make it to the front of the line [Dad had the pies] and got to throw the first one!

Step 1 - Spencer Readys the Pie and chooses from 3 Leaders to slap with it, Notice how clean they look.

Step 2 - Spencer lets loose on the Cub Master! 

Way to go Spencer !

Hangin with JJ !

Finally last but not least a great picture of Spencer with his best buddy JJ at the zoo!

Look for more pics throughout the Summer !

Today I updated the Photo Gallery. Lots of New Pictures Added!

Visit the Photo Album

Once again Spencer's site has changed. What is this the 3rd or 4th version of the site. Who knows ?

 Now I have setup a blog format for the site. Gallery is still online at the usual location http://www.spencershell.com/album and is likely where you are headed.

 This blog is a lot more powerful then the previous news system I was using so hopefully it will offer more features and we can get more folks involved in the writing. I am thinking about getting Spencer involved also soon.