After All This Time....

...I should know better. A little background:

Marisa is out of town this week in Las Vegas and I have all three kids (plus a friend) for most of the day and evenings. This week we have had football practice one night and swim lessons two nights, so I am a little bit frazzled, and not the most patient father to begin with.

Next. Eggo toaster waffles are regular items on our daily menu. We buy the big boxes almost every week and it's a rare day that goes by when someone doesn't have waffles with syrup for a meal or a waffle and peanut butter sandwich. So anyway, that's all background for this mornings exchange with Faith.

She said she wanted a peanut butter/waffle sandwich...fine. She won't eat a whole one and a 1/2 one isn't enough (she's hungry 10 minutes later). Tanner was having waffles with syrup, so genius Dad figures, okay I'll make her 3/4 of a sandwich, throw the extra pieces in with Tanners waffle and thus solve the problem. Now, it's not like I cured cancer or anything, but I was feeling a bit proud of my creativity. Not wanting any issues I thought that I should explain that I expected her to eat the whole thing. Here's the dialog, verbatim:

Dad: "Faith, I made you a three quarters sandwich, I want you to eat the entire thing"

Faith immediately starts crying.

Dad: "Faith, what? Why are you crying?"

Faith (sobbing): " But Daddy I said I wanted a PEANUT BUTTER sandwich"

Jesus.

Fathers Day 2011

Happy Fathers Day all! This has been a rough year so far from a Fatherhood perspective. I have been trying to think what to write all day, and I think I have the perfect analogy. 2011 for me so far has been just like Derek Jeter's 2011 season... let me explain.

I'm getting older. I don't have as much range as I used to. I sometimes struggle making the routine plays. I'm still the captain of the team, but it's more ceremonial than anything anymore, as I don't really carry the weight of the title. I re-built my whole swing in the offseason, but struggled out of the gate, so I scrapped all the changes and went back to my old swing. I'm trying for my 3,000th hit, but am on the DL for one of the few times in my career. I'm not hitting for extra bases anymore, instead, slapping singles here and there and getting on base due to errors. I have another couple of years left on my contract, but everyone is just waiting for me to retire. The analogy kind of falls apart when you get to the point of dating Minka Kelly, but what can you do?

It spite of my Jeterish 1st half of the year, I had a

great Fathers Day. I got a bunch of very nice gifts, including several very nice pictures and bookmarks from the kids. NFL Sunday Ticket from my lovely wife (now I've just gotta hope for a football season). We had breakfast out and I got to eat a chocolate donut that was as long as my forearm. We went to Dick's Sporting Goods and I got some new shoes. Marisa and the kids went out to the YMCA, so I got some time alone to watch a James Bond movie (Casino Royale - awesome!). Then out for great burgers and fries for dinner followed by ice cream from the candyshop. Then we took Jackson down to the dog park, off-leash for the first time ever and threw the tennis balls (a few to him, but mostly pop-up's to the boys).

Days like this help put it all in perspective. After all, Jeter is still the starting shortstop for the Yankees. He'll make the All-Star team again this year. He'll get his 3,000th hit. He is a sure fire, first ballot, Hall-Of-Famer. Then there's the millions and millions of dollars and the fact that he IS dating Minka Kelly after all. So, things could be worse, I could be A-Rod......

Third Times a Charm

We took the boat out for the first time of the season yesterday.... and there was no fire, no white smoke, it started the first time, and we got it in and out of the water without any drama!! I think I had a smile ear-to-ear the entire time we were out, even though it was FREEZING cold and we were bundled up in sweatshirts and wished we had winter hats on! Every winter Brian and I start to wonder if the boat was worth it- only being able to use it 3 months out of every year- and then we take it out for the first time and we remember why we bought it. We are hoping to go out for a few "Happy Hour" trips in the next few weeks, and also an overnight on Lucky Peak in July. We had so much fun, despite the frosty conditions, and we can't wait to spend the summer weekends on the lake!

Jackson Comes Home

We finally got Jackson back on Thursday evening. He is a changed dog! We are both so impressed with the training he received and how easily we were able to transfer the training into our home with all of our distractions. The kids can once again swing outside, play baseball, and dance to their hearts content without worry of the dog getting in their way. When people come to our door we no longer have to play blocking defense to avoid him getting through out legs and out into the street. He is such a good boy now!!

Our house is so much more peaceful. At night, when we are lying on the couch reading or watching TV and Jackson wants to play ball we are no longer held hostage by his incessant ball rolling, barking, pawing, jumping on the couch, etc... We simply play until we are tired of it, then "place" him in his bed. We push a button on his electronic collar and say the command and he follows it!! It is a miracle! In fact, he spent Saturday morning with us outside while we had the community garage sale going on. He didn't bark, didn't try to visit with any of our customers or try to run away down the street. It was almost eerie!

The company is called Sit Means Sit and we would recommend it to anyone that wants a well trained dog without the many hours/hassle it is to do it themselves. The "boot camp" came with a lifetime "guarantee" and as many continuation lessons that we need. It's not cheap, but since we plan to have Jackson for the long haul it was worth every dime (even if it does mean that our next tropical vacation is an extra year off now!)

Now that Baseball Season is Over.....

....it's time to dive into football season.

Jake spent the last two weekends in some pretty high profile football camps. Weekend before last he went to the Gridiron Dreams football camp at Bishop Kelly High School. This camp is put on by a group of former Boise State Players, many of whom play in the NFL now. Jake had to sleep in his own room for 7 nights to earn this one and got it done just under the wire in order to attend. It was a one day camp and pretty expensive as well, but we were pretty desperate to have our bedroom back also.

This last weekend, he did the Boise State Broncos Football camp. He did this one last year and really enjoyed it. It's a really good camp that features motivation talks from the head coach at the end of each day on respect, fair play, paying attention, doing things the right way etc. It's a huge camp (400 kids) and they get to play on the blue turf and in the practice dome which is huge.

Both camps are good and Jake benefits from the

exposure, not so much from the football drills, but from the lessons on how important the fundamentals are, how having the right focus and attitude is crucial to success and good sportsmanship that both of the camps stressed. He did good in all of the football work also. He loves football, loves playing it, talking about it, and watching it. He had a great time talking to the players, getting autographs and taking photos.

Optimist Football starts here at the beginning of August and Jake is already raring to go.

Raising a Girl

Recently Faith has been in to cheerleading. Whenever we have sports on TV (which is often in our household) she takes out her "cheerleads" (pompoms) and does her little dance routine. Yesterday when Tanner had a friend over and they were playing football in the back yard she got out her "cheerleads" and went outside to cheer for them. Cute, yes, but also kind of disturbing to me.

She is just starting to develop real interests and has expressed a desire in taking different classes: soccer, dance, tball, gymnastics, etc... It changes everyday! At this point she doesn't realize that there actually are cheerleading opportunities for four year old girls here (a slight shudder just went through my whole body as I typed that) and this is because I refuse to tell her about them or give her the opportunity to join these "teams". Brian feels I am being unfair to her, that I should present her with all the options and let her choose which she wants to do- but I think that what she doesn't know won't hurt her.

I have a huge problem with little girls cheerleading. I don't want my daughter to grow up cheering for boys in skimpy little outfits. I want her to be the one others are cheering for!! Is this wrong??? When she is older and has tried lots of interests, if she still really wants to cheerlead, well... then it will be a conversation she and I will have together. But for now? I am keeping her as far away from organized cheerleading as I realistically can.

Tanner's Tball Season Wrap Up

Tanner's Tball party the other night finished off his first season of baseball (well any organized sport actually). He had a great time and it was a great season all the way around, without any of the drama of Jake's season.

This is the 3rd year that I have coached T-Ball and this team was entirely different from the first two years. Normally one of the first things that you have to do is diffuse the "mob" mentality of everyone running to the ball no matter where it is hit. I got pretty creative about it in the past and came up with a game we played called "freeze baseball". I would hit the ball and blow a whistle and all the kids would freeze in place. Then we would talk about who should get the ball, why and what they should do with it when they had it. Then I would blow the whistle again and we would finish the play. I was pretty proud of my creativity given my lack of coaching experience and was all ready to do that again this year. The first time we tried it, I hit the ball and no one moved to get it. Everyone held their positions like they should have (including the kid who was supposed to get the ball). So it was an entirely different ball game this season from day one.

The kids were great, most of them paid attention, as much as you would expect at this level

anyway. Even Tanner ended up picking daisies

every once in a while. We played the league directors team the last game of the season and she made a point of stopping me in the parking lot after the game and saying how great and attentive that our boys were and that we were the best team she played all season which made me feel good.

They made a couple of rule changes this year that made the season a lot more fun also. After the first couple weeks, we were allowed to throw three pitches to the kids to hit. If they didn't hit them then they hit off the tee. This made the game a lot more fun for the kids on the team that were able to hit, like Tanner. By the end of the season, he was regularly belting them into the outfield. Otherwise it is still an "everybody hits, everybody scores, no stats, no score" league which is a blast.

Also, since there are no standings, the "everyone gets a trophy" thing is easier since every team finishes in 1st place. Tanner got his 1st trophy and is so proud of it sitting on the headboard of his bed. The parent group for this team was great as well. Coaching T-Ball is such a group thing as you have several parents in the field both on offense and defense, a parent pitching and a couple of parents manning the bench (as well as the all important snack parents for each game), and I always had plenty of help and everyone was really appreciative.

All in all it was a great 1st season and Tanner grew a lot skill wise over the course of the year. Here is his highlight video (Hey he's gonna need to got to college too!).

Congrats on a great season slugger. Can't wait for next year!