Zoe does Nutracker

Zoe was in the San Diego Youth Ballet's production of the Nutcracker. It was an amazing production and Zoe was awesome in it. I was most impressed by her courage and enthusiasm. During her performances, she had a smile on her face from ear to ear and it was obvious that she was happy to be there. Here are some pics:

Here is a link to pics taken by the Union Tribune (Zoe isn't in any).
One day, Zoe hopes to be Clara. I can't wait to watch as her ballet "career" develops.
Next up - Beauty and the Beast.

Ryder and Dad at his 1st MLB Baseball game - Padres vs. Rockies

Today I took Ryder to his 1st baseball game. We got tickets through his baseball team - Lil Sluggers. The seats were field level. It was a perfect day. The game was at 1pm PST. We hit the road and Ryder took a nap in the car on the way.










We arrived in plenty of time, so I let him finish his nap. When he woke up, we took off for the stadium. As we were heading for our seats, a stadium employee gave us some tattoos.


We got to our seats before the game started so we were able to hang out at the fence and watch the players warm up. We were on the visitors side - the Colorado Rockies - and as we were watching the pitchers warm up, the pitchers coach seemed to zero in on Ryder and approached us with a baseball in his hand. He proceeded to say "hi" to Ryder and gave him the ball! Ryder said thanks and the coach went back to his business.





We went back to our seats as the game started. It was a great game and Ryder was into it and a good sport. In/around the 3rd inning, as the teams were switching from offense to defense, I sent Ryder down to the gate to watch. Again, one of the Colorado players seemed to zero in on Ryder. As I watched him approach, there was a line of kids, Ryder being the youngest, and the player was looking at Ryder. As I watched, I thought - "he's gonna throw the ball to Ryder and Ryder won't be able to catch it". So I hustled down to him and made eye contact with the player. He saw that i was Ryders dad and tossed me the ball. I gave it to Ryder and thanked the player. As Ryder and I walked back up to our seats, some of the fans were watching and one guy gave Ryder a high-five. So, on Ryders 1st day at a MLB game, he got 2 baseballs!





The game was long, but great! The Padres were up 11 to 7 in the 7th inning. The Rockies loaded the bases up and then got a home run/grand slam to tie it up! When they tied it up, i was like... "this can NOT go into extra innings", because Ryder was growing inpatient. In the bottom of the 9th inning, the Padres got 2 guys on base and another guy hit a walk off single to end the game!!!!
http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=24842771

After the game, I took Ryder to run the bases! The Padres do a special thing where they allow kids to get on the field and run the bases. He did great! He was super brave - cuz I couldn't go on the field with him - and he ran the bases like a pro because Coach Jeremy taught him how. As he got to home base, I could see the beginnings of panic in his face as he struggled to find me, but i callled him, he saw me and all was well.



It was a fantastic day and you really could not ask for a better 1st father/son day at the ballpark than today.




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Location:Via Venzia,San Diego,United States

Ryder "runs game"

Kids cleaning their room tonight before bed. Zoe doing all the work... Ryder comes out and reports to Kia that "Zoe isn't helping". Kia says "Ryder, Zoe always helps, don't try to run game on me". Ryder walks triumphantly back into the bedroom saying "I runded game on momma".




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Location:Via Venzia,San Diego,United States

Ryder gets his medal for T-Ball

This past Saturday Ryder finished his Tball season. He did great and will be playing with the 4 year olds next week! He's a great hitter, runner and thrower... We are working on his catching-not to mention his attention span.







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Location:Via Venzia,San Diego,United States

Zoe's 1st day of 1st Grade

Today was Zoe's first day of school as a 1st grader.

Here she is walking towards school



Here is her baby brother providing moral support on her first day




Mom-great picture




Dad



Zoe, heading into class




Here is Zoe as a newborn baby... They really do grow up fast.

Location:Via Venzia,San Diego,United States

Ryder and "fearlessness"

So, the other night Kia read a book to Zoe and Ryder. In the book there is a monster who is looking for its "hairy toe". The picture of the monster develops and the full picture is shown on the last page. So, Kia reads the entire book and they both laugh and love the book. Shortly thereafter, Ryder starts to be scared of being left alone foe any amount of time. Its been going on for some time now. We are hoping it's a phase and he'll quickly outgrow it. He literally wakes up in the middle of the night and runs to our room screaming/crying in a panic. It's sad because the fear is obviously very real to him... But... Would be cool if he outgrew this soon.

 

On another topic, Tonight after dinner Zoe asked if she could have some W-A-T-E-R. She spells things sometimes to not trigger Ryder. So, hearing this, Ryder says: "can I have some W-X-Y-Z? That spells ice cream"

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Ryder can swim!

So, lately Ryder has been wanting to swim without his floaty. Mainly because Zoe can now swim as my last post indicates. So I've been letting him go without his floaty in the hot tub and he's been practicing. He'll go off the step and start kicking his legs trying to keep his head above water. He can keep up for a few seconds... After a few days practicing like this, he determines he is ready and just puts his head down into the water, floats on his tummy and starts to move forward using his legs completely holding his breath.

He's so excited he wants to show mommy. So we go to the "cold tub" and:

 

So, he does that a number of Times and then I decide to get him to jump off the side of the pool and:

 

 

 

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Lucky

We had to put The Luckster down today. Very, very sad day. He was such a good dog. Loyal to the very end and never a bad bone in his body. He showed up on our doorstep June of 1998 and left us June 2012. We love you and will always miss you Lucky. You were a good dog.

 

 

 

 

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Zoe can swim

Today Zoe officially learned to swim on her own. The last two trips to the pool she has been swimming without her life jacket with our supervision. But today she reached a milestone...

She can swim, come up for air and then continue swimming. In fact, she swam across the entire pool! She can even do it without coming up for air.

She can tread water to.

I took this week off work, so I was lucky to have been home to witness it. She was so proud of herself and it showed in her smile. We couldn't be prouder.

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Location:Via Venzia,San Diego,United States

Ryder Anecdote

When I got home from work today, Zoe had written a sign on her door and now required a password for entry to her room. Going along with her game, with Ryder by my side, I knocked on the door and she said "what's the password?". I looked down at Ryder and he looked at me and said "rough". So I said "rough". To which she replied, "no! WhAts the password?!?". Again, u looked down at Ryder and he confidently looked up at me and said "rough". So again I said "rough". Again she replied, "no!!! Guess the password!". Finally having had enough I said "what is it!?!". She said "Love".

 

I should have known.

 

Here is the sign she made:

As an aside, here is video of Ryder laughing:

 

 

Zoe's 1st day of public school kindergarten

We found out yesterday that Zoe would be starting school TODAY!!! We were both a bit taken by surprise and felt we didn't have time to mentally prepare.... Kia asked Zoe if she wanted to go to school or wait a bit; secretly hoping Zoe would opt to stay home for a while longer. But, she said she is ready to go meet new friends. So, we got up this morning to take her to her 1st day of Pubic School/Kindergarden at Shoal Creek Elementary.

 

Here are pics from the morning drop off:

And just like that, she was gone. Absorbed into her classroom, immediately swept up by her classmates who were of course curious about their new classmate. Kia and I hung around watching her from outside the classroom for a few minutes... But it was clear that she was all good, so we left; happy for her, but sad at the same time as we had to let go of a little bit more of our little girl. She has come such a long way from the time we 1st dropped her off at her Montessori in Arizona when she was only 18 months old... Parenting is a cruel gig.

She was super brave and never once cried or looked to us for reassurance. It reminded me of one of my 1st days of school when I arrived in Utah. I think was roughly the same age as her. I remember pretty vividly being very scared. I cried and clung to my moms leg. Not wanting her to leave. Zoe was way braver than me.

 

Here is video of Zoe recapping her 1st day. Not as descriptive as I'd hoped, but i was running out of space on my IPad so just took what I could get:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ryder's 3rd Birthday

Today was Ryder's 3rd Birthday. We started the day by singing happy birthday in the morning and having cake for breakfast.
 
Unfortunately, we are new to the Area so he doesn't have any friends yet... So it was just us.
 
He then moved on to opening his presents. He got:
A Batcave from Grandma
A Bumblebee transformers bike; which he learned to ride at the park today. He did a great job.
He got a call from Grandma to tell him Happy Birthday...
Zoe got a bike as well. We couldn't just get Ryder a bike and not get Zoe one too.
 
Then Kia's friend Andrea stopped by to hang for a while.
Finally, at the end of the day, we did FaceTime with Uncle Rob and Aunt Bernie and then with Uncle Charles, and cousins Indigo and Orlando.
 
All and all, it was a great day. Ryder wrapped it up this evening as he was giving Momma hugs and kisses before bed by saying : "I want to turn free (three) again."
 
Here he is at the end of the night:

Bluetooth Keyboard

Test post. Using my bluetooth keyboard that my Mom got me for Christmas. Da bomb!

From our new home in San Diego, CA.




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Location:Carmel Mountain Rd,San Diego,United States

Back to Cali

Today we departed to our new home in San Diego. We are in the air as I type this. Ryder and Zoe got to go into the cockpit to see the pilot and instruments. Pics to come.... We dropped Lucky off this morning for his flight... He barked and cried; we could here him from down the terminal. I hope he survives the trip.

We owe Grandma and Grandpa a huge thank you as they took us in for 5 days, fed us and helped with the kids.

It is true what they say: you can never go home again.

Professionally, our time in VA was fantastic. I'm also grateful the kids got to spend quality time with their Grandparents. On just about every other level, it was an "epic fail".

But... No looking back. Only forward to our new lives in sunny San Diego, Ca.

Buh bye VA... we hardly knew ya.

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Location:34,000 feet in air