SANDPICKS

Getting Ready for Valentines

2012-02-07T08:44:00.001-08:00

With Valentine's Day approaching quickly, the kids are tasked with making boxes that will hold the Valentines they receive from their classmates. For most people this is kind-of a hassle because you have to go find a bunch of supplies. But most people don't have Grandma Kari... She showed up with a massive amount of cool things that the kids were able to use for their project! Thanks Kari for the supplies and for the help ;)

Sledding and Superbowls

2012-02-05T19:23:00.000-08:00

Before settling down with the rest of you to watch the big game, we decided to do some sledding at the hill across the street. This video has me, Katie, Andrew, and our neighbor-girl all in ONE sled. We were cruising pretty fast toward a tree and I had to plant a foot to slow us down and change course, which is what causes all the snow to drench us (and the camera).

(And yes, that ridiculous groaning is me)

More Snow

2012-02-05T00:02:00.000-08:00

Dumped on today. Andy was an enthusiastic shoveler.

Lots of snow and Secondteen

2012-02-03T08:41:00.001-08:00

We got ourselves a good-ol-fashioned blizzard today. I'd say its about a 4 on a scale of 1-10 but it still qualifies. School is closed. Kids are home. Unfortunately I still have to work.

Andy woke me up this morning with this:

*Andy crawls into bed with me*

Andy: Dad, are you awake?

Me: Ughhh, what time is it?

Andy: Mmmmm, abouuuut... 6:29

Me: Awesome, what's up?

Andy: I just named a new number!

Me: Really, what's it called?

Andy: Secondteen!

Me: Cool, where does it go, what is it's value?

Andy: It comes in place of twelve. And I want to rename eleven to Firstteen too.

Me: Excellent, can I go back to sleep now?

Andy: OK

While I was unable to really appreciate the value (no pun intended) of these new number names at the time, I think they make a lot of sense now. I mean, who was the donkey that invented eleven and twelve...? They make no sense when compared to all the other 1s and 2s in the rest of the number system.

Guess what

2012-02-02T19:03:00.001-08:00

I'm kinda desperate for blog topics this week. Maybe I've just been working too hard. So I took this picture, wondering if anyone can guess what it is...?

B.I.P.

2012-01-27T11:13:00.001-08:00

This week Andrew was BIP (Berry Important Person) in his class. Essentially, he gets to have a bunch of special privileges throughout the week, like always being first in line, picked first, and stuff like that. On the last day of the week (today) he gets to have a parent come to class and read a book. I did the best "Sneeches" reading I could muster. The kids were great and asked a ton of questions. After the reading, mommy showed up with some McDonalds! We pulled Katie from her class and had a family lunch in the cafeteria. Good stuff.

Slideshow

2012-01-25T22:08:00.000-08:00

Here are the pics from 2011...

(Tip: you can view the slideshow in LARGE fullscreen by pressing: in the bottom right corner of the YouTube window.)

Jab... Hook... Cross... HI-YAH!

2012-01-23T15:41:00.000-08:00

More from MMA. I'm hoping he becomes the next Chuck Norris.

Cookies

2012-01-22T21:22:00.001-08:00

Today was a big day in America. All across the country, homes were tuning-in to watch the Patriots battle the Ravens, and the Niners take-on the Giants. The outcome would decide who would go to the Superbowl. At the same time, millions of Girl Scouts were taking to the streets, knocking on the doors of these homes, and trying to sell the worlds most famous cookies.

Day one of Girl Scout cookies sales.

I gotta say, it ranks right up there with Black Friday, and the time I stood in line back in '80 for Empire Strikes Back. Having only been on the buying end of Girl Scout cookies in the past, I was totally unprepared for how Hard-Core the Girl Scouts are about their cookie sales. It starts with signing your life away for 50-or-so boxes of cookies. After that, you basically sprint to the streets of your local neighborhood, trying to beat all the other girls who might be trying to move on your turf. The true victims (or casualties) of this war are your poor unsuspecting neighbors who have to try to say 'no' these puppy-eyed saleswomen as they pile overpriced boxes of sugar on their doorsteps. On top of it all, it was windy and in the 30s today here in Denver, so lets just say it wasn't the best weather for door-to-door sales.

That being said, Katie was awesome at it. She was brave and confident as she knocked on doors until her hands were frozen. Many thanks to our generous neighbors and family who said 'yes'. Please eat-up and call us if you need any more... we still have a few boxes to sell.

LIFE!!!

2012-01-19T11:53:00.001-08:00

Last night we played LIFE. We haven't played a board game together as a family in a while and it's funny to see how the kids personalities come out. We had a pretty good time making up names for all the kids we were having. I ended up with SIX boys! So many, that I had to start jamming them in between each other in the car...

26 Push-ups

2012-01-18T19:40:00.000-08:00

Today in his Mixed Martial Arts class, Andrew's Master asked for a volunteer. Andy raised his hand, and the teacher asked him to come up and do Push-ups in front of the class...

After, the teacher told a story about how when he was once training under a Shaolin Monk. The Monk asked for a volunteer in a similar manner. The eager teacher (a student then) volunteered. The monk told him that he had volunteered to clean the bathroom. The lesson being: never volunteer until you know what you are getting into...

I have to admit, i was pretty impressed with Andy's ability to do 26 push-ups.

Dontcha just love APPS?

2012-01-17T11:36:00.000-08:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

As I wade back into the depths of blogging, I have also been looking at applications on my phone that can help. As you all know, there sure are a LOT of apps out there. I have found a few really cool ones though.

JibJab (per the Star Wars vid above) is just so much fun. You can make all kinds of silly stuff really easily. If you like photos and if you like to create, you gotta check it out. Its not really an app, its a website, but it acts like an app.

Sincerely Inc is a company that makes apps focused on mobile photos (and printing them). The photobooth app (popbooth) in this post is from them. They have a cool postcard maker, card maker, and some other fun apps. I have some fun travel coming-up and I hope to make some good use of the postcard-maker.

Instagram is another very cool photo sharing platform. More akin to Twitter and Facebook, Instagram lets to share photos via mobile devices in a very mobile-relevant way. (The MMA photo and Text-A-Saurus were both edited/created through Instagram -- see below.)

Finally, the Blogger app is a must for anyone who uses Blogger. It is a huge time-saver.

Katie has been going NUTS with apps lately on her itouch. It seems like she has found every single free app in the universe. Since I have the download function pass-coded, that means a lot of "Daddy? Can I get this app?", and a lot of me entering in the password.

Skate City

2012-01-16T22:43:00.000-08:00

Inspired by my sister's family, we decided to head over to Skate City in Littleton this weekend. I grabbed my sequined shirt and matching cowboy hat and we went looking for roller disco fun. I think Jen was having some wicked flashbacks since she grew up around there and used to go to Skate City as a kid. Not much seemed to have changed from Jen's descriptions. We had a blast both skating and people watching.

I was particularly impressed with my wife's skating ability. Now we can add Bowling AND Rollerskating to Jen's ninja list...

MMA

2012-01-15T09:37:00.001-08:00

Andy has been taking Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) for about a half a year now. He really gets into it and is super intense about his training. Lots and lots of focus. Its great to see him take something so seriously.

Where are we?

2012-01-12T21:07:00.000-08:00

From our trip in Dec to Copper, here's a clip of us on the ski lift. Not real exciting but im just trying to see if I can embed video...

Success!!!

Text-a-saurus!!!

2012-01-11T16:02:00.001-08:00

So, I thought it would be a cool idea to give Katie texting capability on her itouch...

I cant really find good words to describe what has transpired since. The term, "Ive created a monster" feels like such an understatement.

Keep in mind that the only person she can text right now is me... so Im getting all of the activity.

This is forwarded from my iPhone today:

Jan 11, 2012 3:58pm

: What time will ur work be done?

: Dad!!!!!

: Yo Daddio!

I'll be done at 530

: I need help with homework!

: Kk!

: I'm gonna hook up mom so we can text each other! But I'm doing it laterz. Love ya to my toes! -Katerz

Jan 11, 2012 4:02pm

: I want to be able to EDIT the blog. Like post pictures and ect.

: P.S. I would like to upload pictures to my iTouch :D

: Ya know, I'm texting ya in the basement! :o

: I'm upstairs now!

: Drew and mom r at KARATE! :D

: Now I'm at ur door!

: Peeking in!

Jan 11, 2012 4:05pm

: Now out!

: Done yet?

Super Socks

2012-01-10T16:18:00.001-08:00

Here are Katie's socks...

Her Birthday

2012-01-08T19:25:00.001-08:00

Took Jen to the Magnolia Hotel downtown for a night away to celebrate her birthday. We had a great corner room with a eye-opening view of the city. Being able to see so many people at once (by just looking from your window) is definitely a different kind of feeling from living in the burbs. We had a great time being alone together while surrounded by strangers. We drank copious amounts of wine while talking like James Lipton. We ate a lot of Garlic. We slept in. I can't overstate the value to having time alone together every once and a while. Happy Birthday Jennifer, I hope you had as much fun as I did.

Never leave your iPhone unguarded...

2012-01-08T19:23:00.001-08:00

...or your wife might snap ya nappin'.

How to reboot?

2011-12-28T19:33:00.001-08:00

How do you pic up and start after having been stopped for so long?

August Wrap

2009-09-03T20:01:00.001-07:00

A lot to catch-up on, here goes:

BIRTHDAYS
August is always a busy month for us with Katie and Andy having back to back Birthdays on the 15th and 16th. In the middle of all of this, I had to take 2 business trips, so we had to really pack in the fun in the time we had. We had a crazy slumber party with the cousins accompanied by a trip to ChuckECheese, and finished off the morning with a dozen KrispeKreme doughnuts. Andy and Katie got lots of wonderful presents and are proud to inform everyone of their new 5 and 7 ages.

Grandma Kari went crazy with the cakes this year, and you can see the neat-o Sandals for Katie and the Inter-planetary Star Wars cake for Andy. Very creative and very yummy.

MODEL ROCKET

One of Andy's gifts this year was a model rocket. I used to make them as a kid so I picked up a kit at the local Michael's. I guess I should have been a bit more conservative when I chose the engines cause I went with the biggest they had... when we finally went out to launch this thing in the backcountry, we counted down... and ZOOM! The rocket must have gone about 2000' up in the air cause none if us could even SEE it. We finally saw the parachute as a little white speck and the rocket drifted from the breeze to come down about a mile away. Heartbroken on losing his cool new rocket, I had to take Andy (and Zoe who was there to watch) home empty handed.
I went back out later and was determined to find the darn rocket and wandered around the open trails for about an hour looking. I was heading back, and had given-up when I noticed a small white patch in the distance, and sure enough it was the rocket.
We did a second launch a few days later and were sure to wait for a completely non-windy time for blast-off. We tried a different location too... daddy though it would be good to use what APPEARED to be an unused pasture near our home. After launching the rocket, and recovering it shortly after, we started to head back to the car. Just then a pick-up comes zooming across the dirt at us and some rancher/cowboy tells us "you 'ought not be here, there a pair o' bull over that there hill."
Thankful that we steered clear of the steer, we quickly headed back to the car. I tell ya, this rocket stuff is exciting business!

FIRST HAIL
September 17 marked out first ever HAIL STORM as a family. From out of nowhere (as most weather usually occurs in Colorado) we began to get pelted by half-inch sized ice pellets. Loud, fascinating, and kinda-scary -- we continue to build respect for Mother Nature's presence in this part of the world.

GARDEN OF THE GODS
We made a trek down to the "Garden of the Gods" late in August. A beautiful private park, which is open to the public, boasts beautiful crimson rock formations which are a particular attraction to outdoor enthusiasts, especially climbers. It was really hot that day but incredibly beautiful as well. The kids climbed on the rocks and reminded me of trips with TL when I was a kid.
I also had the opportunity to marvel at Pike's Peak, which was climbed and descended in 5h47m on the previous weekend by my brother-in-law in the Pike's Peak Marathon. (Woody, after seeing it in person, I think you are even crazier now!)
We finished the afternoon with a picnic in the shade and then a quiet drive home.

ASPEN CELEBRATION
The final chapter of this mega post is about the weekend we just spent in Aspen to celebrate our 10th Year Anniversary. Having never been, I was simply amazed at the beauty of that place. It has a posh ritzy character to it (like Santa Barbara) and a backdrop that is unmatched in anything I have ever seen.

We arrived Friday afternoon and enjoyed live music in an outdoor restaurant in the middle of downtown. The next day we set off to climb the Ute Trail which leads to a beautiful view of the Aspen area. The trail was very aggressive, about a 2000' climb, and STEEP and ROCKY. We were quickly winded with and our hearts pounding as we made the climb -- but we persisted to the top to enjoy an amazing view and a delicious picnic.

On the way down however, we had a bit of a 'slip'. While descending the lower half of a rocky, gravel-laden steep section of switchbacks, Jen lost her footing and began sliding on her butt down the hill. Keep in mind that if it were any steeper here, it would be a sheer cliff. Being ahead on the trail, I raced to intercept her on the switchback below. I arrived just in time to stop Jen from continuing her slide (it was more like a bad football block). However, in stopping Jen, the force of her hitting me knocked ME over onto my back upside down on the hill, clinging to a small tree with one foot to prevent me from dropping into the valley below. I gave Jen about 10 seconds to collect herself and then pleased with her to grab my other foot so I could get back to the trail. It was scary, and if not for that lovely little tree, I might now be blogging this right now.
We counted our many raspberries and bruises, thanked god for the second chance at life, and headed down the trail with a higher level of care.

Feeling like we needed to be a little more careful, we decided to spend the afternoon on a nice safe bike-ride. We grabbed some rented mountain cruisers and enjoyed a stunning trail that follows the Aspen river crossing unique bridges and groves on the western edge of town. We visited the John Denver memorial and decided to explore a dirt path that headed to a place called "Aspen Meadows..."

About 5 minutes onto the dirt path, we come around a corner and find ourselves 20 yards from a 500 pound BLACK BEAR. He was sitting RIGHT in the middle of the path. I calmly slow down to advise Jen to do the same but was remiss to find her burning rubber and kicking up dust as she tore off at about 30 MPH in the other direction. I was able to get a glimpse of her saucer sized eyes just before she left me to be eaten by the Kodiak. All this commotion alerted the bear who began to get up while looking in our direction.
That was the last moment I looked at the bear. I emulated my wife and a few minutes later we were panting near the main path, having a laugh over our second close encounter for the day.

On Sunday we headed to Maroon Bells for a final hike before heading home. Called "The most photographed spot in Colorado" the bells are everything people claim them to be. Mirror-like mountain lakes, endless Aspen groves, and stunning mountains encase every inch of this area. We hiked for about 4 miles, took many photos, and 'ooohed' and 'aaahed' a lot. Incredible.

Old School and New School

2009-08-09T19:18:00.000-07:00

The Old School...

Nana is in town, and you know what that means, early birthday presents! Andy got a brand new GREEN MACHINE 2! Very similar to the old school Green machine, this Big-Wheel on steroids is a lot of fun and prone to crazy slides. See Andy on in the pic, he actually stacked on that turn but I caught it just before he tipped. Lots of fun, thanks Nana!

The New School...

Katie began first grade on Friday. New school, new backpack, and new friends. Two other girls in her class are named Katherine/Katie and they ALL have "S" as a last initial. That's going to be confusing... On top of this, the teacher's name is Katie as well! Even with the surname silliness, Katie loved her school and quickly made a couple new friends, both of which live in our neighborhood. She seems to be adjusting better than expected.

The Projects...

Been a rough week for the handyman, I was on travel a few days and have some more coming-up. We did get a new TV stand today that I am really starting to like. And I have started some painting with Acrylics, will keep you posted on that as it develops. On the horizon, I have a lot of pictures to deal with....

Triathalon

2009-08-02T19:54:00.000-07:00

Today we went down to Cherry Creek State Park to watch my sister and my cousin's wife compete in a Triathlon. It was to benefit the fight against breast cancer -- a very inspirational setting and experience.

I'm so proud of my sis! She really cranked and it was great having so many family and friends (and mom) there to cheer her across the finish. It was hot but the kids were effectively distracted with Popsicles and pink party beads.

I find myself thinking I might consider doing one of these events. I think it's required by law here in Colorado. I heard a statistic the other day that Co is the only state in the Country that is not clinically obese -- and I'm starting to notice that the combination of mountain air and frequent sunshine seems to have a healthy effect on people.

On another note, Andy said something funny today while at the pool. A lady came up to him and Katie (and since they look about the same size) she says:

Lady: (to Andy) "Are you and your sister twins?"

Andy: (looking irritated and responding defiantly) "NO! I'm a boy!!!"

Clearly Andy did not understand that you can have twins that are not identical, and was insulted that he lady suggested he might resemble a girl. Too funny.

SS

Projects this week

2009-08-02T19:51:00.001-07:00

Going to try and track the projects im doing here, and you guys can also see why Im not calling anyone...

Hung Pendant Lights in Kitchen
Built Workbench Storage in Garage
Installed Overhead Lights in Garage
Installed Racks and Hangars in Garage for Wood, Garden Stuff, Bikes, etc
Repaired some Scratches on Hardwood Floor
Tried to Fix our old Tivo, Fail
Immortalized Grandpa in Andy's Room, soon to be a post

POW!

2009-07-30T15:40:00.001-07:00

As promised, pics of Andy's room:

The Vision in Sketchup...

The bed and desk, (yes I had to build these too!)

POW! Super Hero themed, Andy has mini heros on his walls (From left to right: The Torch, Thor, Mr. Fantastic, Daredevil, Ironman, and the Silver Surfer)

Above the wondows there is a 3d montage of Marvel heroes. Can you click on the photo and look closely at the HULK? Andy was scared of the face on him at night, so we augmented things a little...

BAM! Wolverine, Captain America and Spiderman.

The biggest project here was the storage-box version of Gotham City. Some peices I bought, some I made by hand, hand painted. Its where he can live out his action figure fantasies and stage massive conflicts for world domination.

We're still missing some peices. A dresser and some other paint I intend to do someday, as well as the BATSIGNAL!

SHUBYS

2009-07-29T20:14:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's already been a month since we left California.

In all that time, we haven't gone out to dinner ONCE. I spend pretty much every day at the house, I go to Home Depot a lot for lunch breaks and after the kids are in bed. We are going out for dinner tomorrow to my sister's so that will be a nice treat to get out. All these projects are consuming me. Thankfully Jen and the kids are able to be more ambulatory than myself.

I finally finished Andy's room (mostly) and so ill have to take some photos and post. Im really happy with it, and he tells me that he is as well. He's sleeping tomorrow so you will have to remind me.

This weekend was very busy, mainly because we had our first sleep over guests... THE SHUBYS!

Yes yes, the Shuby's were on world tour -- Rick was dragging them all in a Suburban across the states, they had been up to Glacier National Park, and so they 'swung by' Colorado for a few days. It was awesome. We always have such a great time with them, and we seem to share many of the same values. Even when we don't see each other for over a year, we click when we are together like we haven't missed a minute.

Highlights:

-- Going to Red Rocks and planning fantasy concerts we are going to attend in the future

-- Our first Rockies game vs the Giants

-- Watching the put on dancing shows int he basement

-- The boys playing "target" a game they invented by rolling a ball on our new rug and getting points for different spot (gee the Sandos must have a real fun house if that's the youth entertainment)

-- Sitting on the porch and watching the lightning, listening to Jack J

-- And of course, drinking good wine, listening to good music, and playing Shanghai for the crown. We always play cards at night with Rick and Vic and this trip was no exception. We have always held a healthy competition around winning so Rick finally made a real 'crown' made from cards that the winner of the last night's game gets to keep until the next meeting.

Here's hoping that I get a chance to lose it back real soon. Thanks for visiting guys.

Roxborough

2009-07-19T23:00:00.001-07:00

Projects, projects, work, work...

Been so busy making the house livable, while trying to acclimate to my remote job that it's been very busy here at Backcoutnry Lane.

The good news is we are making some real progress on the house, it almost feels like we have moved in. I have installed 5 ceiling fans, routed a cable through a wall and created jack, hung dozens of pictures and stuff, built 2 kid's bedroom sets, wired the whole house for music and Internet, set-up a TiVo in the master, applied frosted window tint in the shower, built the kitchen table and chairs, hooked-up rope lighting above the kitchen, built some garage storage, am half-way done with a special storage project in Andy's room, and about a hundred other small projects.

That doesn't even count the basic moving stuff around and unpacking.

Whew, I am sore a lot.

So we got a chance to break-away from the house and take a short field trip to Roxborough State Park. It's very close, about 15 minutes, and totally stunning. I now have been officially bitten by the Colorado State Park bug, and plan to visit every one of them.

We also got our for our first Krispe Kreme in Colorado the other am. We walked in through 2 sets of double doors, and Katie asked why they have 2 set of doors... I said, 'when it snows, you need that extra set of door to keep it warm inside' -- man, we have no idea what we are in for here, but it sure has been an adventure so far.

Rocky Mountain High

2009-07-09T21:35:00.000-07:00

After a few nights in our new home, we went to a local outdoor 'concert in the park'. Met with TL, Woody, Megan and Zoey.

The scene was packed with families. The air was warm with patchy clouds. The music was by a really great John Denver cover band.

We ate, drank, danced, and swayed to classic JD songs that TL and I had learned as kids -- all against the outdoor backdrop of the Rockies.

The second half of the concert was marked with fairly significant rain, but the band was vigilant (playing under a tent) and I didn't see a single one of the audience pack-up or leave. Everyone just sat and got wet, while enjoying the music. We huddled together and covered the kids with tents made of blankets, supported by poles made from parents. Giggling sardines tickled my toes and the air never smelt so good.

(Yes, those lumps under the blankets are the heads of 4 little children -- Thanks Woody for the pics, your smart-phone has better ninja-photo skills than my iPhone.)

Everyone knew that they'd be poorer if they left when they were dry.
Rocky Mountain High.

Cha cha cha CHANGES!

2009-07-05T22:27:00.001-07:00

For those of you who have not yet heard, we moved to COLORADO!

It has certainly been the MOST crazy month for us accompanied by the MOST change we have ever experienced. Let me take you all back to the time of my last post...

Um, oh yeah, Blogging! I haven't forgotten about you loyal readers out there (all 3 of you). But after this post I'm hoping you will have some sympathy for my lack of scribing, or at least a better understanding of why Sandpics has been in a temporary coma.

Let's see, right about the end of May, I had this bright idea of applying for a new job at HP. Now keep in mind, they had already let me take my old job remote to Colorado, and I was all set... but NO! I had to take on more responsibility, you see moving my family across the country just isn't enough stress for me, no sir. A week or so later, I come to find that I am the new Marketing Manager for HPs Media business. And HP is so cool that they let me keep my old Job for about a month while also doing my new job... Yay!

So working double duty, learning the ropes for this new gig, packing, doing all the mayhem associated with moving totally blasted my life into survival mode, and alas, blogging seemed to have fallen of the list of things I could manage. (I debated dropping more sleep or maybe skipping more meals but you cant subtract from zero)

In addition to stress, June was a very emotional month. Saying goodbye to all our friends in SD was really hard. We miss all of you already.

Saying goodbye to the Pacific was also difficult -- I have already used my windshield wipers here more than I ever did in my entire life in SD! I had this weird moment at one point when I sold my longboard on Craig's List. The guy walked out of the house with it and I saw my future in California go with him. Suddenly it was very real.

The few weeks before we left were filled with goodbye parties and PACKING. Boxes boxes boxes. I took 2 weeks off work and spent 5 of them packing up stuff, and saved the rest for the drive and unpacking.

We had movers come and haul everything for us. That was also eventful. The Semi truck driver decided not to take Jen's advice to back-in to our street. So he then gets STUCK trying to leave! This totally blocked our street resulting in police and tow-trucks to remedy the situation... crazy stuff.

But finally we made it on the road. On day one we drove to Vegas and stayed at the MGM. We decided to take an extra day there and soak up some sun and play. That was a really nice day as I hadn't had a break in soooo long.

Day three we drove 7 hours to Grand Junction. Along the way we noticed the tires on the 300 were looking bad and dropped a bundle on a couple of new tires.... yuck. At least it was fast.

Day 4 took us to Denver! It was July 1 when we pulled into our new home. Our stuff in the truck was still coming, so we spent a few days at Dick and Kari's making trips to and from the house working on some little stuff. Finally the truck came on the 3rd and we started the unload.

More boxes...

And now about 3 days later I sit here in my new den writing this post. We have done most of the 'opening' of boxes at this point, but there still is a TON to do, including getting the kids furniture assembled and delivered. Today is also my last day of vacation, and I face the music of my job tomorrow. It all went so fast as it always does.

I'll leave you with this last photo of the Denver fireworks as seen from our house. Unfortunatley my camera could only capture about half of the panorama but it was quite a show.

See you soon.

Arborous Amusement #2

2009-05-29T14:15:00.001-07:00

Tree Joke #2 from Katie:

Katie: "What did the Tree say to the Woodpecker?"

Me: "Ummmm, I give up."

Katie: "LEAF me alone!"

*She will be here all week, please tip your waitress*

Arborous Amusement

2009-05-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

Katie told me a joke today:

Katie: "What kind of tree fits in your hand?"

Me: "I dunno..."

Katie: "A PALM tree!"

*followed by endless giggling*

Palomar Maountain

2009-05-23T20:08:00.000-07:00

We went on what is likely to be our last camping trip in California this last weekend -- certainly the last one for a while. We had never been to Palomar Mountain before and we had been told that was beautiful. I would say that beautiful doesn't do it justice.

We arrived at the park about dusk, and the roads were very quiet. We started to descend into the camping area through a windy road that was lined with oaks that gave the effect of a natural tunnel of brown and green. About half-way in, we were greeted and stopped by 6 deer that appeared to be out for their evening walk. We stopped the car and got watched as they tried to decide if crossing in front of us was safe or not. It was a really great moment.

Shortly after we reach the site and met-up with our camping partners, the Loys. Always a blast to spend time with them and we quickly fell into the comfort of old friends. We cooked, we played, we hiked, we fished, and had an awesome time.

We were able to take a field-trip up to the Observatory as well. Palomar's 200" telescope is something to behold for anyone who appreciates the frontier elements of science. You walk into this gigantic white dome structure which is literally in the middle of nowhere. Inside is the very 50's-ish feel of gigantic metal parts of old mainframe-looking computers -- it's almost like a time capsule of mid-century science.

Highly recommend the trip for anyone thinking about San Diego area camping.

The Grouchy Ladybug

2009-05-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

Katie's Kindergarten class recently put on a play called "The Grouchy Ladybug". They had been practicing for months, there were dress rehearsals, and a surprising amount of production value. Katie was selected to be the narrator of the play.

We didn't practice too much with her, she seemed very competent and confident with a couple of read-throughs. I was however, a bit nervous to see how she would perform with a microphone in front of a crowd.

Of course she was totally awesome, beautiful, and made us all very proud. The way she would regularly primp her dress and sit so gracefully on stage was particularly endearing. The best was how she would use her hands to animate her lines while she was narrating. Ill have to upload a small vid for you guys to check out.

39!

2009-05-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

I can't believe this is my last year of the 30s. It pains me how fast the time goes. And worse yet, it seems to be accelerating. This year I aged a great deal mentally and emotionally -- more than any year I can remember.

On the bright side, Jen and my mom really made my birthday a lot of fun. There were lots of great presents, and a special scavenger hunt! My mom really deserves some credit for all the detailed work she put into it, and it was a blast. And Jen got me ice cream cake! That is going to have to become a tradition -- yummy.

Mother's Day

2009-05-20T00:30:00.001-07:00

We had a double Mother's Day here with Nana and Mommy. In addition to a nice breakfast cooked by daddy and some homemade gifts from the kids, Katie had a couple of ideas that really carried the day. She made mommy a book on animals, which she put a LOT of work into. She made a cover for it, authored and illustrated over a dozen pages -- her opus so far. For Nana, Katie had the idea of creating a birdhouse. Where she came up with this idea, I have no clue. But we set to work one afternoon and using some scrap wood and paints, made a pretty nice little birdie home.

Later that afternoon, mommy was treated to a massage. During this time, daddy took Nana and the kids to see Planet Earth the movie.

Catching-Up

2009-05-18T19:42:00.001-07:00

My apologies to anyone who is still checking my blog, it's been a very hectic month. Let's try and catch-up.

It looks like we have been taking a good amount of pictures so I will try and post some eventful recaps over the past few weeks.

Lets start with Fiesta Island. Katie and I had a great daddy-daughter camping date at our local city-park called Fiesta Island. Its one of the world's largest man made water-parks, composed of large bays and camping areas. We went as a part of the Adventure Guides program. It was a lot of fun spending time 1:1 with Katie. And since the destination was less than a few miles from the house, it was easy peasey.

The Adventure Guide trips often turn out to be competitions between the dads to see who can outdo the other with the best food preparations. Each of the fathers was given a meal to provide for. I drew breakfast. Knowing that I am not the world's greatest cook, I decided to use a secret weapon, Krispe Kreme doughnuts! A winner every-time. The other dads prepared everything from King Crab Legs, Tri-tip, and Apple Cobbler.

We also got a chance to do some canoe-ing. I dont think I have been in a canoe since I was like 7. It was lots of fun rowing around the bay and I think Katie enjoyed it even more than me.

Coming up next: Birthday, Mother's Day, The Grouchy Ladybug, and Mount Palomar...

When will I ever learn

2009-04-29T21:48:00.001-07:00

Last post I promised to work less and move slower. At least I am moving slower. This is mainly due to the fact that I have been working so hard, and that I am too tired to move quickly.

Going camping this weekend, will be good.

slow down, live long

2009-04-27T16:48:00.000-07:00

We went to Krispy Kreme this weekend for our regular sugar fix. While we were there, I bought one of those Snapple drinks. Snapple does this cool thing where they put a fun fact in side the lid to entertain yourself while you drink. As I was reading...

Katie: "Daddy, what does it say inside the lid?"

Me: "It says, 'The longest living animal on the planet is the Tortoise, which has been recorded to live up to 125 years."

Katie: "125 Years? Wow! How much older is that than you?"

Me: "Alot."

Andy: "Maybe they live so longly because they move so slowly."

Me: (Impressed with my son's highly insightful comment.) "You know Andy, I am pretty sure you are right. Animals that move slowly, save their energy, and also take better care of their bodies."

Katie: "WELL, yeah daddy, that's why YOU should move slowly."

Now, you have to have seen the wonderfully sincere look in my daughters eyes as she made this comment, clearly concerned about her daddy sticking around for the long haul. I was perfectly touched, laughed, and promised to do as little work as possible! I told her I wasn't planning on going anywhere until I got to take HER kids to Krispy Kreme too. I promptly limited myself to just one doughnut that day, and only worked a little. ;)

Through the Eyes of a Child

2009-04-23T16:16:00.000-07:00

One of the best part about having kids is watching how they creatively respond to new situations.

My kids have been doing some printing lately. We try to manage it, like all parents,(cause it's no secret that my employer squeezes us pretty hard when it comes to the cost of ink.) Anyways, sometimes the printer is low on ink, and you have to press a button on it in order for it to continue to print. Andy, who can't read the control panel warning, does not know that his print is not coming, and decides he needs to get a better view inside the printer (where the paper comes out) to see why things are taking so long. So he stands on his head and waits, and waits, and waits.

Now, this makes perfect sense to him, its the best view of where the paper comes from, but I just don't see too many adults standing on their heads, peering into the mouth of a printer, anxiously waiting for their print to arrive.

By the way, I sent this photo on to our customer experience team and told them we need a better experience for low on ink warnings...

Pinewood Derby: The Final Finish

2009-04-19T17:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I have some good news to report from the races... 'Heart and Soul" Placed 3rd in the La Jolla Pinewood Derby!

It was quite an exciting series of races for us, to be certain. There were over 200 cars entered into competition. Each car races in 4 heats against 4 other cars, and the 16 fastest cars advance to the finals for a single-elimination series to determine the fastest ride.

Remember how I mentioned in the previous post the level of competition here? Well, to accentuate that story, imagine a track that uses lasers to measure time and finishes. Imagine guys with levels making sure the track is set just right. imagine roped off areas around the track to keep meddlers out of the pits. Imagine projection screens with finish times, and computers to track the whole shebang. I mean, it was crazy.

So our little car goes up in in first heat... and we win! We were surprised, delighted. Then the second heat, we win again, and the third and fourth heats... all 1st place finishes...

At this point I'm starting to think we might have a shot at this thing. So we wait it out in the hot sun to find out that we made it to the sweet sixteen! Katie is actually posted as the 3rd fastest car at this point.

So the finals go down... Single elimination 4 car heats with the top 2 advancing to the elite eight, and then top 2 from there advance to the finals. We win our first heat and advance to the elite eight. We come in second on the next heat and advance to the final four! Holey moley we are exited now. At this point, Katie realizes that no matter what happens, she gets a trophy (which was her fantasy.)

The finals go off and we come in 3rd place. What a rush. I am now properly motivated for next year... look out Pinewood, I caught the bug!

Pinewood Derby

2009-04-19T02:30:00.001-07:00

Katie's Adventure Guide Program is running the "Pinewood Derby" this weekend. This is a long standing traditional event within the scouting and adventure guide groups that dates back to when I was a kid and before.

Basically, you are given a small block of wood and some wheels, are are expected to make a car that will race in the Derby. Now, for those of you who have never been exposed to this experience, I dare you to google 'pinewood derby' and see what you find out there. If you want me to save you some time, i'll tell you here -- this event is hardcore. I was shocked to see how much time and effort people put into these cars. Clearly it's the dads that are driving the enthusiasm here, and it reminds me of the days when modeling and hobbyshops used to dominate the spare time of kids/men (before the invention of video games I think).

Anyhow, Katie and I worked on our car, as you can see in the photo above. I did the building part, Katie picked the colors and design, and we painted it together. Katie named it, "Heart and Soul".

Back to the hardcore part, so we take the car down to the YMCA today to get it entered in the race, which is tomorrow. You have to weigh it to make sure it is regulation and appropriately sized. When we got there, there was a line of like 20 fathers and kids checking these things in. I was AMAZED to see some of the cars. I mean, here were dads with really professional looking cars, and full-on toolboxes that made me feel like I was in the pit of a NASCAR race. There were incredibly creative entries as well -- cars that looked like everything from sushi rolls to Spongebob Squarepants.

Needless to say, I was feeling quite intimidated and trying to anticipate excuses I would have to tell Katie for why we dont have a car that looks like it costs $500 and took a year to build. But Katie was awesome, and just said, "Dad, maybe next year we can make a car that looks like my Webkinz."

So we checked in our car, (they impound it overnight) and we go back tomorrow to race against the masses. I give us about a 1:50 chance of even winning our first heat. Ill post back soon with the outcome!

'Old' Friends

2009-04-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

The Easter bunny gave us a very special treat this weekend. He dropped off the Wards!

We got to spend a couple fantastic days with Amy, Alex, Amanda, and Nicki. Amy has been such a long-time friend to Jennifer since the college days. I got to know her while Jen and I were dating and consider her a very dear friend as well. We missed Harry this time around but hoping we get to see him soon.

The kids were awesome, funny, wonderful. Sleep-overs and sleeping bags, and french toast for breakfast. As with everyone that gets to spend time with the Wards, we only wish we could have more of it.

Easter

2009-04-13T18:09:00.000-07:00

Had a pretty typical Easter. Kids woke-up to find a pair of Easter bags with a note, and a trail of jelly beans leading-off downstairs. The note read:

"Dear Katie and Andy,

I left you some presents.

Please wake up your mommy and daddy before you start.

Love,

The Easter Bunny"

(Signed with a paw print)

And so Jen and I (and grandma and grandpa) were quickly woken as well to the sounds of excited kids frantic to start collecting sweets that were hidden around the house. The trail of jelly beans led downstairs to many hidden eggs, and a couple of 'jackpot' surprises.

Then there was the crazy sugar rush.

Now grandma and grandpa have gone home, and we already have new guests tonight -- old friends. Will update you on that soon.

Disneyland!

2009-04-10T20:17:00.001-07:00

As you can see we went to the Magic Kingdom this week. Grandma Kari was able to join us for the trip. I think she was a little shell-shocked by how aggro we are at the park. Daddy morphs into a 5 year-old and drags everyone around at a rather break-neck pace. We got to try out the Nemo ride finally, and I must say, I was surprisingly impressed with it. Some notable moments:

Day 1 at California Adventure -- Decided to ride 'Grizzly River Run' at the end of the day. It's one of those round-rafted water rides. It was getting a bit cold and the sun was setting... well, after a gnarly spinning waterfall drop, daddy managed to get completely soaked on his back and well into his underwear. Made for a squishy, uncomfortable walk back to the hotel.

All of us having a blast on Big Thunder Mountain.

Andy getting rejected on Indianna Jones cause he was literally a hair too short. I mean, his hair was touching the pole. At one point I had his head in both my hands and I was moving it around and stretching him to try and make contact but there was like this 1mm invisible barrier... Those Disney facists wouldn't give us a break. So Andy and I went and ate some yummy pancakes while we waited for the girls, which turned out to be quite a great little dad/son time.

Watching Kari experience the park. She hadn't been in 25+ years. Many smiles.

Katie in the Pirate's Island caves. They have this maze network of cave tunnels too small for adults. She tore off in there and was gone for so long we were getting worried. When I finally found her, she was glowing with that intrinsic Katie look of mischief and joy: the wrinkled nose, the huge smile, and the wide eyes. Reminded me of how much I used to love caves and rock climbing as a kid.

Great fun.

Slurp-a-thon

2009-04-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

Grandma has been making milkshakes for the kids. Andy goes through a LOT of effort to avoid missing a single drop. Click below for proof...

SLURP

...

1st Beach of '09

2009-04-07T12:15:00.000-07:00

Good grief work has been nothing short of madness. I have been putting in some very long hours and I need a break!

Luckily, I got to take a small one this weekend with a trip to the beach, our first family beach outing of the year actually. As we were heading out the door for our outing, I glanced at my iPhone which shows weather for SD, Denver, and a few other choice locations for me... Denver was showing 30 degrees. Yikes! That information helped me really savor the afternoon and soak up as much sun as I could.

Grandma and Grandpa are also visiting right now and joined us. The weather was perfect. The tide was low, and we got to do some great sand castle-ing, boce-ball, tide-pooling, and of course general sun worshiping.

Best moment for me was when Katie and I went out far into the tide pools and managed to find an octopus! Lots and lots to see out there.

Counting Cows

2009-03-28T01:34:00.000-07:00

I really don't know what is motivating me to post this many pictures of cows. Ill try to rationalize it in a second.

So, there is this "Cow Parade" here in La Jolla. Its a travelling thing, so maybe it's been to your city, or coming. Anyhow, the kids and I toured them on foot this late-afternoon. There were really beautiful and highly creative. We found, and tagged 21 cows in total!

Thankfully I have some mercy and I spared you a few, but here are some of the better ones. I think I posted all these pictures to try and share the effort that we put into this odessy. And of course, to show all the silly expressions the kids came up with. But mostly, I think I wanted to try and relay the powerful oddity that is inescapable when one is confronted with massive amounts of artsy-painted cows.

Got a favorite?

Everything but the Dentist

2009-03-25T19:57:00.000-07:00

Andy and Katie went to the dentist today. On returning home, Andy dashed into my office to let me know what happened...

Andy: "Daddy, we went to the Dentist and my teeth are all clean!"

Me: "That's great buddy!"

Andy: "Yeah, and the dentist gave us a free beer for you."

Me: *Perplexed and Amused* "A free BEER?"

Andy: "Yeah, a BEEEEEEER."

Me: "Like the kind you drink?"

Andy: *Sticking to his story* "Yes, a beer."

Me: "Well, cool, where is it?"

Andy: "Mommy drank it accidentally. I tried to stop her but she wouldn't listen to me."

Me: "I see... Hey Andy, did you make this whole story up?"

*Pause*

Andy: "Yeah... Everything but the dentist."

You know, that's a pretty good idea... free beer at the dentist. I sure as heck would go to the dentist more often if the gave away free beer. Would make those annoying waiting room experiences a while lot more tolerable, not to mention the procedures.

Kite Running

2009-03-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

I sure have had a rough patch of health the last 4 days. I won't bore you with the details, but let's just say I have seen enough of the bathroom for a while.

So today I felt on the mend, and decided I needed to get out of the house. I noticed on the TV that San Diego had a high-wind advisory in effect, so I immeadiately thought "KITES!". I grabbed the kids and drove 3 minutes to a hill top park here called Kate Sessions.

We had a few kites, both of which have never been flown. One of them, we call the Turtle Kite, was a decoration my mom bought for Andy's room, and it has been collecting dust since our last move. Not sure it would even fly, I rigged it up quickly and let her rip. Turned out that the turtle kite was not only our best kite, but also the best kite at the park! We blew the other amateurs away and had our little kite higher than anyone else. Andy deserves most of the credit for having the unending patience/fascination to fly it for about 45 minutes. (Check out the middle picture closely, our kite is the one up HIGH.)

I must say, there's nothing quite like flying a kite. Maybe it's just the pure element of looking into the big blue sky for longer than we normally do. There is something about the experience that seems to capture both wonder and relaxation. I think what I love most about it, is the peaceful dedication to watching something that simply isn't going anywhere.

Leprechauns

2009-03-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

This is the first year the kids really got 'into' St. Patty's Day. Chocolate coins were hidden around the house, and the kids were told that the Leprechauns had visited, making messes and playing shenanigans all over town. In school, the kid's arrived to find their classrooms all messed-up and coloring scribbles on random paper.

My favorite Leprechaun prank happened at our friends house, where the kids found the toilet filled with green 'pee' (a few drops of food coloring) -- showing that the Leprechauns can leave their mark in more than one way...

Classic.

Oh yeah, the green binoculars in the photo are "Leprechaun Goggles", that will help you find the little green men to get ahold of their pot 'o gold.

Slow Eater, Fast Treater

2009-03-16T20:41:00.001-07:00

Andy is known with great infamy to be the "Slow Eater" of the family. So much to the point where tears are often spawned at the end of each meal as the rest of the family is ready to go play games while Andy is left facing a half-finished meal.

In trying to scientifically examine this behavior, I have concluded that the cause is psychological, and certainly not physical. In proof, I site every trip to to get either ice cream or doughnuts. On those cases, Andy is ALWAYS first to finish.

So, I think he just gets bored with eating things that don't tickle his sweet tooth. He just kinda sits there and talks or observes others instead of eating when faced with a regular meal.

Anyone know any tricks to speed things up at the dinner table?

Remembering the Eagle

2009-03-13T04:31:00.000-07:00

This week marks the 1 year passing of my dad. I created this short video as a small dedication.

Galen 2005 Video

Thank you dad, for guiding me to dance with the west wind and touch on the mountain tops. I share in your freedom.

Double Celebration

2009-03-11T16:19:00.001-07:00

My mom had a birthday today and also celebrated her official retirement this weekend! We went up to SB to help her celebrate the occasion -- there was a big party at the park and lots of friends and family.

As many of you know, my mom was raised on a farm. She never went to college. Coming from this background, I am both amazed and proud of all she has accomplished professionally over the course of her career. She started her own interior design business (Shar Decor) in 1974, which at the time was nothing more than a few carpet samples stored in the hallway closet. Over the last 35 years, she has grown that small idea into a very significant business and has employed dozens of other designers to work for her. I've been an entrepreneur and let me assure you, it's no picnic. Its all about stress and endless hours of work -- and I have a lot of respect for anyone who can stick it out.

So she has earned a well deserved break from the toils of employment and will be 'dropping the curtain' on Shar Decor this year.

In the spirit of celebrating her life and career, I wrote the following poem, enjoy:

"How was she supposed to know?"

There was a girl who use to live
On a farm with lots of snow
She worked real hard from dawn to dusk,
...How was she supposed to know?

The days were long and dad was tough,
As she pushed around that plow
She'd clean the barn and ask herself
'Must I also milk the cow?'

The girl grew up and thought inside
"I can't take this farmhand strife,
I've gota hit the bigtime,
And make a bit more of this life"

She dreamed of smartin' up a bit
And asked her pop for money
I want to go to college dad
But he said, "no way, honey"

It's 1962 my dear
your future is not to roam,
your meant for cookin' and cleanin',
staying barefoot in the home

This stinks, said she, I'm more than that
Ill show YOU what my plan is
I'm smart and strong and just as good
as any other man-is

So she packed her bags at eighteen
To the city... the big show
But jobs were scarce and also hard,
...How was she supposed to know?

She ironed shirts, and wore short skirts
for she had to scrimp and save
Getting by in the great big world
can mean living like a slave

When suddenly it dawned on her,
"Wisconsin is waaay to cold!
Ill head out to the golden state
Where it's warm and full of gold!"

She packed again and hopped a train
California had her smirkin'
She found this place call Santa B
Where she would start a workin'

She'd tried her hand at makin' perms
but it didnt seem to stick
But then she landed at a desk
Twas a little more her shtick

When suddenly she met this guy
And she was quickly smitten
Her career became a memory
The baby clock was ticken'

It now seemed that earning felt like
some-thing of a distant foe
"I better nab this golden boy"
...How was she supposed to know?

She cooked and cleaned and washed the clothes
the job just faintly hauntin'
cause nothing stops this little girl
from gettin what she's wantin'

Soon they wed, and not long after
little babies came around
she rocked and wiped for many years
'til she heard again that sound

the sound of calling destiny
of being something greater
I think Ill fix up peoples homes
and be a decorator!

Galen said "Cool, I'll work part-time!
What a great idea honey,
Ill shoot more ducks and fish too,
and YOU can make the money!"

And so she did for many years,
starting her very own store,
she made an empire of design,
in the name of Shar Decor

The years went by more quickly now
she was working high and low
the job was fun but had its costs
...How was she supposed to know?

They say you know when it is time
to quit while your still alive
if you forget, Retirement
will tell you at sixty-five

So she'll close up shop and rest now
for Shar Decor was certain
to make her nuts or kill her
unless she pulled the cutain

And now whats next, we'll have to wait
and see what fate will bring us
exotic trips and aged fine wine
and songs granchildren sing us

So great job mom, you've earned your keep
it's now time to take it slow
dont worry about what comes next
..How are you, supposed to know.

END

And if that's not enough, here is the "When I'm 64" Birthday Video I made for her a few years back...

When I'm 64 Birthday Video for Mom

We are proud of you mom, and we love you!

SB Weekend

2009-03-10T12:54:00.000-07:00

Had a great weekend up in SB. We went up to see my mom and help her celebrate her birthday, and her retirement! (Yay!) Ill have a comprehensive post on those parts tomorrow.

For today, wanted to share some pics of a little nature walk we took with my sister and nieces. The walk was behind Tucker's Grove, a very very old stomping ground for TL and I. It was green, peaceful and beautiful.

We also got to enjoy a very nice treat down at the SB harbor, as there seems to be a whale that is hanging out there. Apparently the guy is taking a breather on his migration journey to Alaska. People were paddling right up to him and you could see him from like 100' away at some points. Very cool, as we watched from the wharf.

Yahtzee!

2009-03-05T22:31:00.000-08:00

Played Yahtzee tonight.

Andy crushed us, as he was the only one to actually landed a Yahtzee. Oddly enough, he completed this coup-de-gras by shaking a wild roll which bounced the final die off Katie's head to complete the 5-of-a-kind. That's the thing about playing Yahtzee with Andy -- for him, most of the fun is seeing how FAR he can roll the dice. We spend most of the game chasing down his rolls.

Just a little off the top

2009-03-04T22:20:00.000-08:00

Went to get haircuts today.

It's becoming something of a tradition that Andy and I go together to get our hair cut. We usually wait until they can serve us both at the same time. Andy is getting the routine down -- so much that he blurts out "I want a mohawk!" before he even fully gets into the chair. I of course have to explain to the stylist that he wants to get a regular haircut and then have it made to look like a mohawk once it's all done.

It's pretty good male bonding time and I value the conversations we have during this little trips. Today we talked about which super-heroes were the most awesome, and which ones were our favorites. We pitted them against each other in virtual battles and carefully hypothesized the probably outcomes. We also talked about our favorite flavors of lollipops, and weather or not our SUV could jump over another car if we really had to. I have to be honest with you, I really wish all my daily conversations were this interesting, and this important.

USS MIDWAY

2009-03-02T20:53:00.000-08:00

Mommy had Book Club on Sunday, so while she was off gabbing with the hens, me and the kiddo's decided to visit one of San Diego's famous wonders... the USS MIDWAY.

The Midway is an aircraft carrier that launched in 1945, and was highly active in Vietnam and Desert Storm. She is almost 1000 feet long, can carry over 4,000 sailors, 130 aircraft, and weighs 74,000 tons. In 2004, the Midway was turned into a museum in San Diego, and for a small fee, you can climb in and around almost every inch of her... and we did.

If you ever get the chance to go inside an aircraft carrier, I highly recommend it. It is a truly incredible creation. Once you get down into the belly of it, everything is very tight. And the rooms just keep going... bunks, engineering, control rooms, flight briefing rooms, and on and on. The kids must has passed (and flipped) about a billion switches, levers, and valves. We got to sit in the cockpits of fighter planes and helicopters -- and even the captain's chair itself.

One of the great treats about the Midway, is that the on-board staff is made-up mostly of retired vets, many of which served aboard her. As you walk through the ship, you see all these historical photos of young navy-men working their various jobs aboard the boat. Then you enter room after room with these old-timers who tell great stories about what life was like on the ship. A very rich experience that I will treasure for quite a while.

Special Day

2009-03-01T20:45:00.000-08:00

On Friday, Katie had a very special day. She recieved an award for ourstanding academic performance in her class. She got to stand-up in front of the whole school, take some photos, and really enjoy a bit of celebrity.

Blackout

2009-02-23T17:21:00.000-08:00

Work... killing... me...

Will try and post something worth your while soon.

Little Tiger

2009-02-09T01:17:00.000-08:00

The kids and I were home alone the oher day so we busted out the ol' golf bag and played around in the back yard. They weren't too bad. I should get some small clubs so they could actually swing without hitting themselves in the face with the other end of the club. Katie cracked me up with her attention to fasion, notice the shoes -- that's how I know she's a true golfer.

Secret Notes and Slumber Parties

2009-02-06T01:10:00.000-08:00

Working from home has a lot of wonderful advantages. Probably the best is that I get to see the kids more. However, in the name of sanity and productivity, we have some pretty hard set rules around this:

Rule #1: If daddy's office door is closed he is working. This means there is no knocking and no bothering him.

Rule #2: If anyone is bleeding or if anything is on fire, you can knock.

Rule #3: (Added recently) Getting stuck on a hard part of a video game is not the same as being on fire or bleeding.

Now normally Jen has these guys so busy that its actually pretty quiet during the day. However, Katie was home the other day and wanted to take my lunch order. Being the good rule follwer that she is, she invented a solution to communicate without breaking any rules...

"let me in ples" was quietly slipped under my door, giving birth to intrigue worthy of a good spy novel. You gotta love stuff like that.

While we are on Katie, she got to go on her very first slumber party this last weekend. She was mega excited for the event which had FOURTEEN girls there. I could only conclude that the mother must have been insane for wanting to host that many 6 year olds, which was my second reason for not to want to let her go. The first being that nothing good can come from girl slumber parties, or so the dad manual says.

However, since the dad manual also says that your daughter will always get her way on things that matter most, I was forced to conceede. She had a great time of course, and was a complete monster the next day from the obvious sleep absence. She did however, get some neat hear treatment. Anyone remember crimping irons?

Discovering Wonderful New Things

2009-02-04T17:54:00.001-08:00

Me: "Come on Andy, get out of the shower and get your jammies on."

Andy: "Dad?... I have beans inside me."

Me: "What? You ate some beans?"

Andy: "No! I have BEANS inside me... seeee?"

(Not sure how to relate this next part, so I'll just go as clinical as I can. He then grabs his scrotum with both hands, and stretches it out to show that his testicles are clearly inside, and presents this to me with the same demeanor as you might expect when one shows you a new toy.)

Me: "..."

Andy: "See? Beans!"

Me: "Be careful there buddy, you got be nice to those things, you are going to need them later."

Andy: "What are they for?"

Me: "Go put your jammies on."

Naive Narratives

2009-02-03T18:17:00.001-08:00

Katie practices reading daily and is getting to the point where she can actually handle a book on her own. Blend that with daddy's Voxie recorder iPhone app and Windows Movie Maker and you too can relive the moment...

I'm sure to most, that hearing a young girl read a simple passage is at best cute and endearing, perhaps even emotional for those close in bloodline. As you might expect, for the father it is a marvel. But what is even more marvelous, is the deep appreciation I have for the vigilant and caring teacher of this gift, who practices reading with Katie every single day. She who finds the time to correct every misplaced word, untangle every knotted sentence, and motivate the thirst for every new page. There simply is nothing more amazing than the power of a mom.

Flashback

2009-02-03T02:16:00.000-08:00

Was checking to see if we had good pics to post today and I accidentally clicked the wrong folder... figured I would share what I saw with you.

Someone please slow the whole "time thing" down, I can't help but feel like it's all just going way too fast.

The more things change...

2009-01-31T00:25:00.000-08:00

They say, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." One of the upsides to getting older is you get to see more of the style cycles repeat themselves. (Personally, I can't wait for acid washed Jeans to make a come-back.) But today, I got to see my daughter sport a sweet pair of Pink Chuck Taylor Converse Tennies. Aren't they tubular?

In other news, I have been itching to do some woodworking/building... just to keep my hands busy. I love working with woods, and it's been a while since I made anything. I decided to see what was out there on the web in terms of CAD software, (that stands for Computer Aided Drafting for you newbs)... yeah, do remember that I used to be a mechanical engineer. Well I was not too surprised when I saw that Google had a free app called SketchUp. Amazing, easy, intuitive. It's incredible the tools that are avilable for free these days. Im like additicted to it now, making shapes, listening to Gn'R, and stimulating my upper right cerebral cortex. I forgot how much I like to design stuff.

Anyhow, if you guys are ever looking for good free software, check Google first, they have almost everything and it's usually really easy.

Tomorrow Jen and Katie each have seperate parties to go to, so Andy and I are going to be banished to 'who knows where' -- I'm totally pumped about the randomness and unplanned nature of the upcoming afternoon. I'm sure I'll have a good story.

Nighttime Narnia

2009-01-27T22:28:00.000-08:00

I've been reading the kid's the Narnia books. A chapter a night. We are alomst done with the second and most famous "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." I bought them the collection for Christmas. They are really great, I forgot how much I liked the stories as I haven't read them for about 30 years. The english dialogue is a little tough to work sometimes, but I usually just replace some of the antiquated words with stuff the kids can understand. I'm getting a lot out of it myself too, symbolisim, themes that I couldn't comprehend in the younger years. If anyone wants to borrow the book(s) when we are done, let me know.

Checkers anyone?

2009-01-26T15:28:00.000-08:00

The kids have been playing Checkers. I almost forgot how to play it, it's been so long. It's so funny to watch their faces as they try to pick their moves. One thing is for sure, they NEVER see it coming when they get jumped. The first couple times they would freak-out when they would lose a piece. But now they have bent the rules in the name of harmony -- yesterday I walked in and saw Katie and Andy randomly "kinging" each other whenever someone got jumped. Hey, whatever works.

Hula Bowl

2009-01-26T05:23:00.000-08:00

Today Katie and I went bowling with our Adventure Guides program. It was a hula theme so we tried to dress accordingly. It was pretty funny to see how a group of girls approached bowling. There was a lot of focus on what color ball you had, and then they would all sit in little circles on the area where you are supposed to 'approach' the lane and socialize -- while confused fathers would try to keep the pace of the game going.

It definitely got a little competitive for Katie as she focused on her score vs. the other girl in our lane. It was a good thing she was focusing on the other girl, cause she whooped me by 22 points. In fact, pretty much all the 6-year old girls beat me today... yes, it's true, I bowled a 75.

It's pretty impressive actually, considering I was trying AND the bumpers were up. It was like a bad voodoo curse or something. I was worried about being mocked until I realized that all the dads in our group sucked at bowling too, just not quite as bad as me. I started to feel really guilty when I realized there were trophies to be won and it was based on combined father/daughter score. Katie came up with a 97 (in case you are bad at math) and I was very proud of her -- but I completely wrecked her chances at winning anything. Mommy is the bowling champ of the family, maybe she can pinch-bowl for me next time.

Fall 2008 Slideshow

2009-01-22T22:35:00.000-08:00

We took ooooodles of photos this last couple months. Here's the montage, music compliments of Green Day.

Enjoy.

FALL 2008 SLIDESHOW

Supermom

2009-01-22T20:38:00.000-08:00

Jennifer has been going about a zillion miles an hour recently. Teaching, mothering, being a good wife, managing the house... she's like a soccer-mom on steroids. Yesterday I come into the kitchen and finder her tying ribbons to pine-cones. (I see this and I'm thinking to myself, "Don't ask, or it's going to be you tying those ribbons.") Instead I decided to take a picture of my crafty little wife as she was preparing a couple dozen of these bird feeder projects for Katie's daisy troop.

I didn't realize that she was saving the real fun work for me, and soon I found myself drilling about 200 holes into old tennis ball cans for another planting project.

Katie was sick today, but she's doing OK. She's got a wicked cold and we kept her home from school. I think she found the experience pretty dull as she got to see what mom and dad do when she's not around, which is basically work. She asked if she was going to school tomorrow and I told her, "we'll see how you feel." To which she responded, "I hope I get better cause it's boring here."

Grassy Heads and a new Pres

2009-01-21T01:04:00.000-08:00

So Nana got us a couple of these chia-type things. (I guess this is the Millennium version with recycled coconut husks or something.) but the premise is basically the same: water the little brown balls-heads and they grow grassy hair. Kinda weird, but definitely fun. The kids have been enjoying checking on them daily. I think Katie is a little self-conscious or something cause she keeps asking if she can cut the 'hair' on hers (hers is the right one.)

On another note: big day for the ol USA today with Obama getting sworn in on the heels of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I spent a lot of time during the day thinking about it, and most of that was considering if I would try and explain the event to Katie this evening. I was wrestling with the idea of tainting her innocence with the ugly concept of inequality and civil rights. I mean, shes going to learn about it soon enough, and part of me wants to let her live without that ugliness in her sweet little brain for as long as possible. The other part of me wanted to use the occasion to address the subject and hopefully reinforce the importance of the issue and the event.

I finally decided on the latter. I probed at first and it turns out that she watched the inauguration in school, and had a pretty firm grasp of who King was and what he did, from their discussion. Once again, kids always know more than you think. We talked it through and I was left feeling pretty happy about the idea that our kids might actually live in world that is better than the one we started in.

You know, you hear these words like equality and liberty everyday, and often don't recognize that we still have a lot of work to do in order to live up to the amazing ideals set forth by our forefathers. We are such a young country with such a radical charter. No one has ever tried to do this kind of stuff before. I end the day feeling an increased sense of personal responsibility, hope, and faith in the promise of our children. Good job today America.

Bike Ride

2009-01-19T19:33:00.001-08:00

Today we decided to take a bike ride. Normally we just pedal around out in front of the house, up and down the street. Today was different, in that we put the bikes in the car and drove to a place that had a nice sloping downward paved trail, about 1/2 mile long, near the house. Jen dropped me and the kids off at the head, and the plan was that we would call for a pick-up once we reached to bottom.

It was a beautiful day, clear, sunny, warm. However, none of these factors seemed to matter to Andy who decided that it was perfect weather for a complete meltdown. As soon as we had made it about 100' into the ride, Andy started crying.

"My legs hurt!"
"My hands hurt!"
"This helmet itches my head!"
"I'm hungry!"
"I'm too tired to coast!"
"The road is too bumpy!"
"This is too fast!"
"You're pushing me too fast!"
"I want to go home!"

All of these lines were screamed and repeated with accompanying tears, while I pushed Andy on his bike at about 1 mile-per-hour. To make matters worse, he kept the brakes on full the entire time. So basically, it was like this: Katie would ride back and forth like a saint, while I would ride my bike 100 feet, get off, come back and push Andy (who refused to pedal at all) until we got to my bike: rinse and repeat.

You should have seen the people's faces as they passed us going the other way. The non-parents that passed wondered if he was OK, and the parents just looked at me with genuine pity. I stayed pretty 'Zen' about the whole thing and didn't get angry at him, it was my idea after all. I tried to remind myself of some of the tantrums that I had pulled when I was a kid and how my parents handled it. Honestly, he was so totally over-the-top on the dramatics that I had to keep from giggling to myself occasionally, when considering the amount of effort he was putting into being miserable.

We finally made it to the end of the trail. When Andy saw the park at the final destination, he all of a sudden transformed into a normal kid and began to pedal and enjoy himself. The last 2 minutes of the ride were what I had hoped we would have experienced from the beginning: the three of use riding along side each other, smiling in the sun.

We called mommy for the pick-up. We waited for rescue and the kids enjoyed some PB&Js with a few Snickers bars, while Daddy enjoyed the silence and the shade.

Old School Gaming

2009-01-15T12:04:00.000-08:00

Before today's post, I must take care of the cliff-hanger loose-end I left in the last post. What was so miserable about Sunday? Well the Chargers got knocked-out of course. Twas a sad day in San Diego after the improbable streak that led the bolts to the second round of the play-offs. But such is the way of the Charger fan.

On to today.

Long, ago, in a land before microchips, Mario, and HD, we used to entertain ourselves by sitting around the kitchen table and playing classic board games. This year we decided to beef-up our board-game collection and get back to the basics of good wholesome family fun at the hands of legends such as "Sorry, Monopoly, and Operation". There is something that makes me feel really good inside when I open our closet and see all these old games. Maybe it's the nostalgia of it all, or maybe it's the anticipation of knowing that each of these simple boxes hold the promise of a lot of great family interaction and important life lessons.

While video games are awesome for quick thinking and problem solving skills, they definitely can't match the old board games when it comes to basic strategy and interpersonal dynamics. The kids are learning quite a bit in terms of thinking about the ramifications of your moves (a little thing I like to call strategy), and also about sportsmanship. We typically play one every other night. Usually its a lot of fun until one person starts to become the favorite to win, and then the tears usually start on the other side of the table.

I have been compensating for the "I'm gonna lose blues" by using a technique my father used to use on me when I was a kid. We used to play chess, and I was miserable -- so most times we would get to a stage where I was heading for tears at the sight of my decimated situation. My dad, being the clever, patient and kind man that he was, would simply turn the board 180 degrees and viola, I was winning!

Instinctively, Kids care a whole lot more about winning than they do about playing the game.

So I try to employ this with Katie and Andy when things get grim on their side of the board. Amazingly, it still works!

Gone Fishin'

2009-01-12T20:47:00.000-08:00

Apparently I'm beginning my black-and-white artistic period. It's January, and I think the spirit of Ansel Adams is haunting my photo editor.

Andy got this neat-o Spiderman fishing rod for Christmas from Nana. Unfortunately, it didn't work when opened. So this weekend I spent some time tinkering with it to try and return it to operating splendor. My first discovery was that I now need some kind of visual enhancement tool to do work on tiny things. I was like, "Man, these guys use really really skinny fishing line!" It didn't take long for me to realize that old-age had insidiously played yet another trick on me... yes yes, I needed my glasses. I had gotten a pair for reading a few years ago, but I have always been able to just squint-it-out when I had too. Not this time. Grrrrr, damn you eyeballs! I was ready to poke them out in the name of insubordination.

Actually it's only one eye that has gone bad, my right one. So after I felt that I had sufficiently reprimanded my eye (and gave it ample time to beg for forgiveness) I resumed my fishing pole repair. I am happy to report that the operation was a success. Apparently the boys over at Spiderman Fihsin Pole headquarters are gettin' a little slack on the QC process. I'll spare you any more of this tedious detail, but it wasn't anything that couldn't be fixed with some sweat, a pair of pliers, and one good eye.

So we tied a little rubber fish to the line and spent the afternoon casting at shadow targets in the back-yard. I was an amazing day here in San Diego. To call it 'clear' would be an insult to Mother Nature. It almost felt like the first day of spring coming in January, and the colors were vivid, the air was warm. The contrast against the gray-ness of the last month motivated us to go up to the top of Mnt. Soledad and take a gander at the 360 degree panorama. Once we had soaked-in all the beauty we could hold, we headed back to the house for some more fishing and other general goofing around.

All-in-all a pretty perfect Saturday.

Sunday, well that was another story...

Christmas Photos and Picassa

2009-01-08T17:30:00.000-08:00

If you haven't yet tried Picassa Web Albums, you should check it out. Yet another awesome free app from Google. I just found out they were automatically cataloging my Blogger photos for easy sharing. You can see I have added an integrated slide-show into the blog based on this functionality.

Anyhow, I am uploading a bunch of Christmas photos to Picassa for you guys to check out if you are interested. Let me know if you can see em...

Christmas 08 Web Album on Picassa

BOO!

2009-01-07T22:26:00.000-08:00

Tonight I was sitting in my den, working on my computer. It was about 5:30, and the kids were clerarly getting antsy waiting for me to finish in the office so I could come join them for the nightly routine.

Have you ever noticed that you often don't notice when little things change for better?

For example, when you have a cold, and the symptoms slowly go away until you are well again -- but you don't really recall the exact moment when you felt better? Or when you are really tired and you drink some coffee, and later you are wide awake but you arent exactly sure when it happened?

...or when some irritating background noise (like kids being a little too loud) transitions to gentle silence?

Back to the forshadowed intro: so I was sitting in my Den, and that noise had gone from loud to quiet, but I didn't really notice. When all of a sudden...

"BOO!!!"

My heart leaps out of my chest, I jerk like I had just stuck my finger in an electrical socket, and I turn around half terrified, half furious -- only to find my daughter with her hands raised like a clawing tiger, giggling maniacly.

I was SO stunned that it took a few seconds for me to appreciate the experience. Something inside me wanted to yell, "DON'T EVER DO THAT!" But after I realized that I hadn't actually died from fright (combined with the look on my daughter's face), I found myself beginning to laugh too.

After I regained my composure, I assured Katie that I would extract sweet revenge when she least expected it. Her eyeballs got real big and the smile quickly went away as she contemplated my capabilities.

Now I wonder, is being startled worse than worrying about being startled? More on this later...

Happy Birthday Jennifer

2009-01-07T08:54:00.000-08:00

Mommy had a birthday yesterday!

Dosen't she look great for 29?

We went to Corvette Diner to celebrate on Sunday. Was a lot of fun, the kid's loved the 50s atmosphere, especially how the sassy waitresses threw piles of straws and bubblegum at the patrons while we were eating. The kids got some cool baloon animals. Mommy got sang to and sufficiently embarrassed. Daddy got a PEANUT BUTTER and bacon hamburger -- they were offering a money back guarantee on it so I decided to take the risk, I have to say it was amazing and I will definitely try a home-cooked version of it in the kitchen-lab soon.

Afterward we walked over to this cool little leatherbound bookstore and we were very pleased to find that they had just expanded thier selection so mommy did a little shopping and picked out a couple new volumes for the collection, including "The Wizard of Oz".

When we got home, we feasted on the Ex-Bake-Oven-made cake that the kids and I had prepared earlier in the day. You can see in the picture that the 'slices' were about 1"x1"! Not the biggest cake, but it was made with a lot of love baby.

Jennifer, you are a beautiful and classy lady. You get more awesome with every year. We are lucky to have you and we thank you for everything you do for us!

Christmas Report

2009-01-05T13:41:00.000-08:00

Well, we are back after a long break for the holidays. It is really hard to get excited about going back to work. Looking at my email today was not a good feeling at all. But we must take-on the new year with gusto, so they tell me.

We had a great time visiting family in Colorado. It was cold, but not snowy, and just enough white stuff on the ground to make it feel like Christmas. There were a ridiculous amount of presents to be opened and the kids got so much stuff we had to leave a bunch of it in Colorado, to be delivered on the next grandma/grandpa visit to San Diego.

It was also a tough year for some of us as we had a number of losses this year in the family. There were some heavy moments for me when I looked around and could not avoid noticing those who were not there with us, for the first time. But with loss comes appreciation for what we do have, and we sure have a lot to be thankful for.

Like my sister and her family... Got to see TL and Woody's new house. It was awesome, and they took us to see buffaloes (sp?), and all kinds of other fun activities. We celebrated Megan's birthday, went swimming, went to the park, visited cousin Mike's family. It was great to be close with you guys. Hope we can make that happen again very soon.

We were also fortunate to spend much time with Chris, Joanna, and Nica. They made this amazing 12-course Polish dinner for us on Christmas eve. We opened presents together on Christmas morning. Nica is so beautiful and smart and growing up fast. All of this was of course surrounded by the opulent meals and decorations of Miss Kari and Grandpa Dick.

As for details on the presents, I think American Girl was the theme of choice for Katie this year. Reminds me of Cabbage Patch Kids. For Andy, it was Batman. If you notice the first picture in this post, you'll see that Santa came to visit us this year, in person! It was quite a surprise I can assure you, as he happened to be next door and offered to come inside to see Katie and Andy on Christmas eve. He promised to come back with the presents after they were asleep. The kids were spellbound and more excited than I think I have ever seen them. Katie couldn't believe that Santa would pay her a personal visit and felt sure that she had indeed been good this year if he would take time out of his schedule to come see her on such a busy day.

In terms of gift creativity, I think Jen wins the award for coolest vintage gift. It's no secret that Grandpa Dick is not a easy kid to shop for, and his daughter decided to go on Ebay and find a 1973 donut making machine. (Apparently grandpa used to make all kinds of donuts back in the days of young-Jennifer.) As you can tell by the picture, she hit a clear home-run. Grandpa had it fired-up and working the very next day.

Ill post some more details in the days to come. Happy new year everyone, good fortune, good health, and good love to you all.

Christmas, Moses & Indianna Jones

2008-12-18T16:33:00.001-08:00

Nana came to visit this week, and you know what that means... early Christmas! We decided not to decorate the house for the holidays this year because we were going to be spending Christmas in Colorado. So when nana showed-up with a bundle of goodies, we didn't have a tree to put them under. In typical nana-creative fashion, her and the kids colored-up a tree and stuck it on the wall. We even hung the stockings from my camera tripod for added effect. Note the photo.

Katie came to me just before dinner on the day Nana arrived:

Katie: *Excited* "Daddy, We are opening presents tonight!"

Me: "Who decided this?"

Katie: "We voted."

Me: "But I didn't vote"

Katie: *smiling* "You didn't need to!"

OK: 1) when did this become a democracy? and 2) since when does my vote not count? I guess 3 votes is all you need for a majority around here! No problem, I like gifts, so we did the Christmas thing that night. Lots of great presents, thanks Nana!

Andy got an Indiana Jones Lego set which we built last night. It features the "Ark of the Covenant" from the first movie. Andy asked me what the ark was, so I told him the story of Moses, and the Ten Commandments. The story was a bit long and Andy's eyes began to wander toward the end, he was clearly getting bored by my rendition. So at the end to spice it up, I told him that the Ark had the power of God, and some people say that it can shoot fire and lightening. Andy's eyes then immediately lit up, followed by, "WOW, COOL!"

The next morning Andy was telling Nana bout the Lego set:

Andy: "And snakes drop down here, and there's a skeleton on a chain, and these traps fall down...

Andy: :...and Indiana Jones has LASERS!"

Apparently the Moses story translates to 'Indiana Jones has Lasers' Oh well, I still got a few more chances to work on the details.

Gingerbread, Skating, Bolt and Flooding

2008-12-15T16:31:00.000-08:00

Here are the pics of the awesome gingerbread cookies Jen and the kids came up with. Pretty rad eh? Also, note the plate they are displayed on. I made that plate 34 years ago!

Yesterday Katie and I went Ice Skating together at the local rink. The Adventure Guides program reserved the whole thing for 2 hours. I was really nervous cause I had no idea how to ice skate. I think I've done it a couple times as a kid -- it's just not a big SoCal thing! So we got there and laced up and hit the ice. It was funny both Katie and I started-out CLINGING to the side of the rink, looking like total noobs as we tried to find some way to stand on our own.

I found it's not too different from roller-skating and was able to get some stability after a few minutes. Then we took each other's hands and started venturing out into the traffic of skaters. After a few laps, I must say we were looking pretty good. Katie would occasionally lose her balance and daddy would pull her back-up, never letting go all the while. By the end of the 2 hours, we had progressed to "advanced-noobs".

Also we participated in "Roostisha-on-Ice", and were treated to a performance from one of the local ice-ballerinas. I think Katie's favorite part was when they turned off all the lights and we skated on the crazy dark disco colors to High School Musical Songs. It was a lots of fun to be sure.

Also earlier in the day, we went and saw Bolt. I was totally happy with the movie and would recommend it. Funny, clever, and a nice new take on a tired genre of dog-based kid's movies.

Unfortunately I came down with a rough cold today. On top of that, it rained like crazy here today, and our driveway started flooding. Jen and I frantically tried to bail out the water, that was pooling in our driveway and called the emergency drain people. We seem to have been successful in thwarting what could have been a major disaster if no-one was home.

Exciting 24 hours.

Digital Natives

2008-12-14T14:07:00.000-08:00

A number of things have happened recently to contribute to this post. At work, I have been spending a lot of time trying to figgure out how to identify the next big thing in consumer electronics. One of the perspectives regarding the youth of today, is that they are Digital Natives. This term refers to someone who 'grows-up' in a world where everything is digital... i.e. our kids.

Examples of this mind-shift between us and our kids are common. I am reminded of times when I have to explain to Andy why we can't 'fast-forward' when watching a show because it's 'live TV'. Or when Katie looks at me like I'm lying when I tell her that we can't just watch anything she wants on TV, whenever she wants, that some shows aren't available.

This notion of 'on-demand' pervades the little-tykes heads. The idea that everyone and everything is always available whenever the whim presents itself. It's a bit frightening actually, and I'm sure our parents said the same thing about us when the PC came about, or the Internet.

OK, so what's my point, why all the tech-talk? Hang-on, still more preamble... Well, I was talking with a buddy of mine the other day. He has a few kids who have taken on the video-camera as a new toy. They are making movies and uploading them to YouTube. His kids are scarcely older than mine. They actually have some pretty entertaining stuff. So we have started messing around as well...

Then earlier this week we were getting a new tape in the camera to get ready for Christmas. We decided to watch the old tape that was in the camera for giggles and came across some of our Hawaii video from May. There was one scene in there where Katie did the filming. Katie was emulating the kinds of things her parents say when they interview you on film. It's pretty cute, I especially like how she moves the camera around. Notice how Jen wrestles with either a) to tell her to hold it still, or b) to try and move her face to the center of where Katie is pointing. Check it out.

OK, so to my point, finally. Well, actually I didn't really have one. Just a bunch of semi-related video type stories that I thought might become interesting if spewed forth on the blog. Hey, not every post is a masterpiece.

Suzie Homemaker

2008-12-13T23:33:00.000-08:00

I gotta give cred to the wife when it comes to cooking. One of the many things I need to continue to remind myself not to take for granted. This christmas, mommy has been furiously baking for the many Christmas events we have been a part of. Ill post some shots of the masterpieces soon.

Christmas Parade

2008-12-12T17:55:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we had the annual La Jolla Christmas Parade here in the village. It's a pretty big deal for our little community, and it feels like the whole town shows up for it.

This year, Katie was supposed to be in the Parade for BOTH Brownies and Adventure Guides. Well, since you can't be in two places at once, we decided she'd walk with the Brownies this time around. Her and Mommy spent all morning making her a 50's costume, and then daddy and Andy sat on the curb and waited for the big 'passing'. It was pretty neat. I think this was the first parade for us where a kid was in the line-up.

Andy and I had a fun time checking out the stuff before the parade, and we got to see the Nativity camel up real close, which was a thrill. Those camels are some funky animals for sure. Good stuff!

There was also this one really strange and wonderful moment that also happened during the parade. Well, let me back-up. So during the parade, the people walking down the street throw a lot of candy at the kids on the curbs. Andy was delighted by this fringe benefit (like most kids) and pounced on the showers of sugar as soon as they came near him. Being the strict dad that I am, I let him eat 4-5 'fun sized' treats in the course of about 10 minutes.

Then the sugar rush took over.

The parade came to a halt and there was a band nearby that was playing some typical marching music, heavy on the drums. The beat and the sugar triggered a reaction in Andy's brain and motivated him to get up and start dancing in street. Like, WAY out there. I think he kinda 'became' part of the parade for about a minute, completely entertaining me, and about 2-300 other watchers. He was seriously shakin' his stuff. I think I saw renditions of the robot and a few other moves that have yet to be invented. The crowd was literally clapping and cheering him on. I was so stunned that I totally neglected to take any pictures!

Anyhow, it was a classic Andy moment that will go on his list of 'very cute things I did when I was a kid'.

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town

2008-12-05T19:55:00.000-08:00

Tonight Jennifer went out for dinner with her girlfriends. The kids and I decided to make the most of our 3-some quality time and did a bunch of fun things. After we finally got Andy to eat his dinner, we did a scavenger hunt for dessert. I made a bunch of clues on paper and hid them aroound the house. As Katie is now reading, she would struggle through the clues and the two kids ran all over the place until they finally found some lollipops and candy at the end of the trail.

We then did a reindeer craft that we had picked up last week in Palm Springs, and then finally settled into watch "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" on the DVR. You know, the old animated puppet version with Bing Crosby.

The kids are really thinking a lot about Santa right now, and there were lots of questions from the get-go. I found myself really enjoying the show as the kids would ask questions about Santa and the show was answering them as they went along. They have 100% faith in Santa and are ready for him to come visit. Katie was especially curious aobut the naughty and nice part, and kept asking is she had been 'good' this year. You could tell she was worried about some of her less than perfect moments. I told her that Santa is always watching, and that he knows we aren't good all the time, but the more-good we are, the more presents he is allowed to bring us on Christmas.

As I tucked the kids in for bed, I first put down Andy, and then Katie. As I was leaving the room and turning off the lights, she started to get out of bed...

Me: "What are you doing Katie?"

Katie: "I'm going to say a prayer."

(I smiled and nodded, and walked about the door. Of course I couldn't help myself but to linger and eavesdrop a little... her prayer was something like this...)

Katie: "Dear God, thank you for making me happy, and thank you for my friends and my school. I love Andrew. And I love all my family. I will be really good and I will not fight with Andrew. And he will be good too. I promise to be nice and to sing Christmas Carols..."

At this point our noisy heater came-on and I couldn't hear anymore! Realizing that god was probably trying to tell me to stop eavesdropping on a private conversation, I walked off feeling pretty good about life, and thankful for my kids, and for Santa himself.

I am ready for Christmas now, it's gonna be awesome!

Here's the youtube on the show we watched in case your own Chrismas spirit needs a little kindling...

Upside Down

2008-12-04T09:46:00.001-08:00

Katie is definitely developing her motor skills. I see her climbing trees, doing the monkey bars, and most recently... cart-wheels. Oh and how can I forget, climbing counters and cabinets... The last ones are becoming quite a concern as you can imagine. We can officially say that nothing is out of reach in the house anymore and we are needing to get more creative and resolute with hiding things in the name of protection.

Also last night our Indian Guide's 'vests' arrived. These are suede vests that Katie and I wear for our events, we put patches on them, and so on. They are kinda cool, however, they arrived pre-assembled! So daddy busted out the needle and went to town on the sewing last night. I was up into the wee hours of the morning stitching these things together. My fingers are so sore today I can barely type on my PC! However, those home-economic classes from high-school really paid-off as I can say that the look pretty sweet.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-02T17:09:00.001-08:00

We decided to have a rather non traditional Thanksgiving this year. We packed up the kids and headed out to Palm Springs for a few days. Our room was super tiny so we crunched-in and tried to spend most of our time at the pool and outside. The weather was great and there were all kinds of fun events going on at the resort where we stayed. Each day they would bring in some fun activities for the kids, right on the front lawn. Here were some of the activities: Jumpie-jumps, hula hoops, carmel apple stations, petting zoo, reptile show, train ride, mini-golf, bubble making stations, craft stations, and more.

Thanks mommy for arranging it all!

Summer 2008 Slideshow

2008-11-23T20:56:00.000-08:00

With my new PC, I find it a lot more convenient to blog since we have all the media stuff in one place once again -- so I've been on a tear here, trying to make-up for my weak-sauce posting frequency. Hopefully my small but dedicated readership can keep up!

I made the Summer 08 Slideshow tonight. Watching it, I guess I don't feel too bad about slacking with the posts. We did a LOT over the last few months. I didn't even relize how much less stressful life has been, but I guess it has. Kinda like when you have a cold, and you don't notice when it's finally gone... it's like that.

Enjoy the show.

Summer 2008 Slideshow

Legos and iPhones

2008-11-23T19:27:00.000-08:00

Cool new app on on my iPhone called Voxie lets me do voice recordings. So I got one of Andy today talking about his Legos and why he likes them.

Click here to hear Andy talk about Legos

Along the lines of amazing innovations like Legos... Thos of you who know me, know I'm a gadget guy, but I gotta say, the iPhone is by far the most awesome peice of technology to hit the planet since the PC. It's really amazing to have the Internet at your fingertips wherever you go, and the open source app development is making for some very useful capabilities. I highly recommend it to anyone.

Top things I use my iPhone for other than making phone calls:

Driving Directions - Integrated GPS and Google Maps
Text - Keeping tabs on my homies during a boring meeting
Music - Integrated iPod
Flashslight - iPhone Flashlight works great late at night
Alarm Clock - The Phone is now my default alarm clock, with lots of different preset times
Calculator - I know, I still do some math in Marketing
Email - Both work and home emails (Try to stay away from this as I need to de-tether)

Thankgiving Sing

2008-11-21T20:13:00.000-08:00

Katie had her Thanksgiving sing in class today. Mommy brought the video camera so I ripped a little clip for you guys. While I realize that watching other kid's school performances are often similar to going to the dentist, I tried to keep it short so you get the highlights.

Video of Katie's Thanksgiving Sing

an Oldie but a Goodie

2008-11-21T01:47:00.001-08:00

Found this file of Katie singing one of the songs from The Little Mermaid when I was cleaning up the hard drive. Ill add a photo here from the same era to complete the experience for you. I think we took this when we were at a playground in Santa Barbara.

Click here to hear Katie sing The Little Mermaid

Turkey-Head

2008-11-20T22:00:00.001-08:00

Andy just had his Thanksgiving "sing" at preschool. As you can see, the little guy wasn't too pleased with the wardrobe element. He was very nervous about having to get up in front of the school and sing the Thanksgiving songs with his class, but his mother bribed him with some pizza and video-games. This gave him the needed motivation and confidence to belt it out like the best of em.

sandpics 2.0

2008-11-20T21:39:00.001-08:00

Updated to the new blogger template. Fixed the slideshow links, try em out and let me know if they work.

Adventure Guides

2008-11-18T22:49:00.001-08:00

Katie and I have started the Adventure Guides program.

Its the same thing as the old Indian Guides program, and it's set-up for fathers and kids to spend time togehter, kinda like the scouts. I have been really looking forward to this thing since I had such a great time at it when I was a kid. The program asks each person to name themselves with an American Indian name. Katie's name is "Fluffy Fawn" and my name is "Big Buck"... (try not to laugh too hard)

So anyhow, we went up to Warner Springs for our first outing a few weeks ago. Its a really neat place with a natural hot spring. While there, Katie got to ride a horse for the first time. Of course she asked me to buy her one when she was done. I told her to talk to her Auntie Tanya to find out how much work it is but somehow I don't think hat's going to discourage her.

Pretending to be July

2008-11-17T20:46:00.000-08:00

It has been spectacular in San Diego weather-wise. We have had these amazing clear days, perfectly still, with 80 degree weather. Yesterday, Andy and I went up to the top of our little mountain here, to the memorial on top of Soledad. you could see so far it was overwhelming. I could see Orange County, Catalina, San Clemente Island and clear to Mexico past Tijuana. It was one of those special days that I will definitely remember for a long time.

The memorial is also a special place, there are thousands of plaques of solders from all branches of the military, young and old dating back to the turn of the century. Again, overwhelming to think of the span of time and people who have fought for this country and its beliefs. Andy was mostly concerned with where these beople were buried. He has seen my dad's resting place and thought the same thing was true here... I had to exaplin to him that this was just a place for remembering those people, and that they were laid to rest elsewhere.

Andy seems to have a special insight when it comes to history and people who are no longer with us. He is always asking me about my dad, and my grandfather, our relationships, and the things we used to do togehter. When he sees me doing things, he often asks, "Did Papa teach you that?" I realize his grasp of this stuff is limited, but it brings me a great satisfaction that he is curious about it. Helps me feel like those people are continuing to live-on in ways that I hadn't anticipated. I guess I didn't have that same interest as a kid and it's great to see improvements on the gene pool.

So later in the day we headed down to the beach. The water was a miraculous 80-something and we set-off to climb around in the tide pools. The kids are getting big enough now to where they are climbing on the rock and gettting pretty adventureous. We saw lots of starfish, sea anenomes, hermit crabs and the like. Katie is definitely the little oceanographer of the family -- she sticks her fingers RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of those giant anenomes and squeals with delight as they close-up and suck on her finger. Man, even I'm not that brave...

Halloween!

2008-11-02T20:39:00.000-08:00

Here are the goblins from this year's Halloween. Katie was a flapper (and so was mommy!) Andy was Wolverine from the X-men. Daddy was a disco country rock star. We trick-or-treatred here in LaJolla. Fun as always!

October

2008-10-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

We sure have been busy with life lately. Katie is doing balet/tap and cheerleading. She is also doing some ice skating. AND she is doing Adventure Princesses and Brownies. Man that is a lot of stuff. Andy is working on soccer and school. Halloween around the corner, we bought pumpkins yesterday -- still using the good ol' Sandwisch tradition of "If you can lift it, you can have it" rule. Works pretty good.

Also just had Dick and Kari come visit. Kari brought many halloween outfits for Katie to try-out (see above). We had a great time together. Also want to mention that Jen's mom Kari is having a rough time right now with her hip. We are all thinking about you every day Kari, and hope you get better soon. Here are some pics to remind you of us.

Fluffy Ranger-X

2008-10-10T15:15:00.000-07:00

So we have a 5th resident staying somewhere near us here at our new place. This little bunny showed up on the first day and frequently comes into our backyard to help us with the lawn-mowing. Katie and Andy get very excited when he shows-up and we usually go find some nice produce to encourage him to stay.

They kids decided they wanted to name him, and so they each came up with a name and put the 2 names together to come up with "Fluffy Ranger-X". I'll leave it to you to determine which kid donated which part of the name.

In other news, I went to SB last weekend for my 20th high school reunion. It was a lot of fun seeing everyone and catching up. Wierd, but fun. It seems like all the nerds are now cool and all the cool people are now in sales. :) Big change from the 10 year, where eveyone now is pretty much 'settled in' to their lives. I got to spend time with some of my close friends from those days and it makes me wish we could stay in touch better.

Other than that we've been busy. Kids are into lots of activities and school is in full swing. Katie being in Kindergarten is a kick. She is learning to read and constantly amazing me with her cleverness. Andy is working on Soccer and hoplessly addicted to "Lego Batman" on Xbox. We limit him to about 30 minutes a day... which means that the other 12 hours is mostly filled with him asking when he gets to play.

Easy Rider

2008-09-27T11:44:00.000-07:00

Katie has learned to ride her bike without training wheels! We have been practicing a lot recently and Katie has been both fearless and dedicated to learning to ride. After about 3 sessions without training weheels, suddenly she 'got it' and was off. She can ride pretty much indefinitely without putting her feet down. Turns are still a little tricky however. We went out an got her a new 'powder puff' girls bike (not shown) and we plan to be doing a good deal of riding in the coming months.

Go Katie go!

Green Fire Monkey

2008-09-06T15:54:00.000-07:00

Andy just played his first ever soccer game! His team name is "The Green Fire Monkeys", which is inspired by Andy himself who won't stop chattering about his Fire Monkey Pok-e-mon card. His favorite parts of the game seem to be the snack time, and when you do the cheers at the end. :)

Kindergarten!

2008-09-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

Katie started Kindergarten this week. Lots big changes for this big girl. New school, new friends, new teacher, new shcedule. (Not to mention new matching Hello Kitty Backpack, Lunchbox, and other stuff.) She is handling it all like a champ and is very excited.

Quotes from Katie:

"I like my school"

"I like playing with my friends"

"My teacher is fun"

"I have a fun playground, I can swing high on my swings, we have a park right at school so I dont have to go in a car to get there"

"And that's it."