WOW - WHAT A WEEK!!

We are wrapping up the first week of school, and wow, what a whirlwind!

The week began with O starting school on Monday, while the rest of us took Bear up to Tampa for an appointment with the pediatric cardiologist. That was a stressful trip for us, but ended wonderfully as we got news that Bear is just fine.

We headed back home, to find the painters had begun working on the house, and the house looked like a wreck. Scraped paint, busted soffits, the outside just looked terrible. We picked up O, she told us she had a wonderful day, we grabbed a quick dinner and headed to the gym for basketball practice for Bear and the Tornado.

Tornado had his meeting with his teacher early Tuesday morning, and seemed very excited. He's got a good class of kids, and we like the teacher, so we are optimistic for the upcoming year for him. Bear had her first day of school as well, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I had a physical therapy appointment before school ended, then took the kids up to the gym for their fitness class.

Wednesday the Tornado was still at home, so we walked the dog, played some games and watched a movie. We spent the afternoon driving carpool around town, getting haircuts, and catching up with each other. Wednesday night the CEO went to school for elementary school orientation.

Thursday began with the Tornado starting his first day of kindergarten, and boy was he excited. he couldn't wait to get there. After dropping the kids off, I headed to PT again, thinking of the wonderful summer we had and how I'm going to miss having them around the house. I got home in time to meet with three separate roofers to discuss repairing the house. When I was done meeting with them, I went and ran at the Y, then headed to school to pick up the Tornado and watch the girls tryout for volleyball. They both did well, we will know next week if they made the team, but they both said they had fun. We ran home, grabbed a quick dinner, and I went back to school for an amazingly long 3 hour middle school orientation.

Today, after school, the gang is headed up to Tampa to watch the Rays take on King Felix, and do the tornado's favorite thing...the centerfield shuffle and dance party! Tomorrow will take Bear to the Y for what will hopefully be a more pleasant basketball game than last week, while the Tornado will possibly try to dribble between his legs again in his game. Afterwards, the Bear is going to a sleepover while a friend is coming over to help finish putting up the new basketball hoop.

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by how must faster the pace picks up when everyone is in school compared to the summer. Is this a typical week? Is this what it's going to be every week of the year? If so, it's interesting to say the least!!

Goodbye Agent F

Agent F (for fish) passed away while we were on vacation. He was with us for I'm guessing about 9 months. He was the Tornado's fish, and he took care of him by feeding him every day. When we told him that Agent F had died, he just kind of took it in. A little later that day, he went over to the empty bowl, and took out the plastic coral that had been in the bowl. He took it over and laid down on the couch. He rolled to coral around in his fingers a little, staring at it. The CEO went over to him and asked him how he was feeling. His lip quivered a little bit, but he never cried. He said he missed Agent F. It was very touching, as you could tell he was just envisioning Agent F swimming in his bowl.

Later that night, at dinner, as we said grace, it came to the Tornado's turn for special intentions. He said his usual "everybody in the world" then paused a little, and looked up. Then he added, "and Agent F". It was a sweet and fitting remembrance for Agent F.

A Bear-Sized Heart

The Bear went for her annual physical a couple weeks ago, and because she is so active, the doc suggested she get an EKG. The EKG showed a slight abnormality, so the recommended an echo cardiograph to get a better look.

We got the echo back on Thursday night, and it turns out Bear has a "hole" in her heart. The medical term for this "hole" is an atrial septum defect. Apparently it's not that uncommon, about 25% of people are born with it, but for most folks it closes by the time they are 3. Also, supposedly, it's not something that will affect her as a youth. Unfortunately, as she gets older, it is something that could affect her health. Complications can be things such as high blood pressure, heart failure and stroke.

Depending on the size of the hole, and we believe it's tiny, she will need a surgery. The hope is that it is surgery where they insert something through a catheter, as opposed to open heart surgery. We need to meet with a specialist to determine our next step. Hopefully she will give us good news.

We've been so blessed with all of our children's health over the years, I am thankful for that. The thought of Bear having to go through some sort of surgery on her heart is just terrifying for me. Sure, it's "simple" surgery, but it's still surgery on her heart. I'm not sure how well I'd hold up in the hospital while it was going on.

I'm praying that the specialist says it's so small there is no need for surgery, and that it won't affect her down the road. If not, I'm praying that it can be fixed without complications. She has such a big, wonderful heart, that is so full of love, like I said the day I created this blog. She is full of heart in so many ways. The way she loves the people in her family. The way she watches over her little brother - sure she bugs him and he bugs her, but she's always there for him. The way she stands up for her friends, even when they are difficult to love sometimes. The way she plays sports, never giving up, never backing down no matter the challenge. Heart - it's Bear's best quality, and I'm praying, that the strength of her heart gets her through this bump in the road.

Braces!

After about 8 months of wearing a retainer, O went in for her braces on Wednesday. She was so excited when the process started. but after a couple months of wearing the retainer, the enthusiasm wore off. I told her that the braces are actually easier to wear, at least I thought so when I had them.

She went back with the orthodontist, spent about an hour back there, and came back looking like this - she looks beautiful with them!!

It looks like we've got 18 months to two years wearing them, says the orthodontist. Hopefully if all goes well she'll have them off by the time she hits high school. She's adapted well in these first few days, chopping things up real small, not chewing any gum or candy. As usual, she's doing a good job with the task assigned.

It's kind of strange to look at her and see them, but I guess after two years of wearing them it will be strange to see her without them. It will be interesting to see the smile when they do come off though!

Another step forward in life, woo hoo!!

Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to me!! My beautiful family and I went to the beach this morning, had a little lunch and came home. We are about to sit down to dinner (ribs from the grill!), and we will probably read a little before bed. It's been a nice relaxing day, and spending time with my family is my favorite thing in life.

I want to say thanks to my Dad. I think about all the things I did with my Dad over the years as a kid, and think about what a wonderful time I had with him. Ballgames, coaching me, playing catch, going to the beach, running, trips all over the country, walks in the snow in Buffalo, playing golf, you name it. As a grown up we've done many of those things too, and I've enjoyed them just as much.

He has been such a great role model for me, I hope I can be the same to my kids. Today O asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, if I wasn't going to be a major league baseball player. It was a question that requires a very fatherly answer. I didn't really know how to answer, eventually settling on saying that I really didn't know what I wanted to be until I was already through college. I kinda of fumbled around, saying if I was 18 years old again I may have done this or that differently, but that changing things at this point would require too much upheaval for the rest of the family.

Then I remembered what it was I really wanted to be when I grew up. A Dad. From the time I was in college, I wanted a family, probably even before then. I wanted to have kids of my own, to help guide, to tutor, to love. I can only think that's because I had such a wonderful Dad, and I wanted to replicate that experience. I told O that being a Dad was what I wanted to be, and I couldn't be any happier than I am, blessed with the family and kids that I have.

(and if you are reading this Mom, you sure are a big part of why I wanted to be a parent :) love ya!!

Things I Wouldn't Understand

The Tornado is one smart dude. He's only going into kindergarten, and he can read on his own pretty well, he can do double digit addition and subtraction in his head, and he has a sense for other things too, instinctual things.

For example, we are walking down the sidewalk the other day, and he says "you know what would happen if you didn't have any toes...you wouldn't have any balance." He starts curling his toes and stumbling around. How does a 5 year old figure that out? What makes him think about something like that? Maybe I'm just amazed because he's my son, and that's not that unusual, but that's a curious mind at work. Powerful and awesome to watch and listen to.

However, sometimes it can be pretty darn frustrating. We are standing on the green the other day, before the start of golf camp, and I'm trying to show him how to putt. He tries "my way", and misses, and gives me a "see?". Then he putts a ball "his way", knocks it in, and starts off on a rant about how I'm trying to get him to fail!! Really? That's what I'm here to do - set you up to fail?

After golf camp I was asking him how it went, what they did, the normal debriefing questions. He tells me they learned about golf, some of the rules, and things like that. I asked what kinds of rules or things and he responds,"things you wouldn't understand". I assured him that I was pretty knowledgeable about golf related matters, so he "tested" me with some questions. To his shock and amazement, I got all his questions right. He gave me a wry smile, like the one in this picture, and we walked over to the creek next to the parking lot.

We took a couple pieces of bread over, sat down on the edge and fed the fish, turtles, minnows, ducks and ibis. The Tornado was tossing the bread, and watching intently as the various animals stalked the sinking morsels. He was asking me questions about the different wildlife, once again curious as to why things are the way the are. That made me feel good, as I guess there are some things I understand :)

Summer Has Started

I've been looking forward to the summer for about a month. It was an emotional year in school, everyone was involved in lots of stuff, and I was looking for getting a little break from all the activities.

It's kind of fun to let the kids stay up a little later, we watched the first halves of the Finals together this year, before they crashed each night. The CEO watched a movie with them all last night, well past bedtime, which was nice for all of them.

Amazingly, they still get up at 7am each day, and are ready to roll, but that's fine too. I just like having them around.

The Tornado is in golf camp this week, his first summer camp, and he's having a ton of fun. They are "hitting bombs" with their 7 irons, riding around the whole course in the golf cart, and learning about golf. Today he told me that he learned some things that "I wouldn't understand". I told him I'm pretty knowledgeable about golf, try me, so he quizzed me about bunkers and divots and the like. I also asked him if the teachers help him much, and he said no, they only help the kids who don't know what they are doing! Love the confidence.

We've had a nice start to the summer, and I'm looking forward to enjoying it with the gang.

End of the Year

I picked up the kids after the last day of school yesterday, and everyone seemed a little sad that the year had ended. O got in her seat, sighed, and said "Well, what a great school year". I laughed, she asked why I was laughing, and I explained that it seemed like she had a couple rough days along the way. She agreed that she struggled in spots, but as she said "not every day can be perfect, but overall it was great".

I learned a lot this year from the kids. They are so good at being able to adjust, adapt and deal with things being thrown at them. Learning how to handle disputes with friends, accepting responsibility, managing expectations...all of these things can be difficult. They all had to do these things throughout the year, as most people do, and I couldn't be more proud of how they came through.

Both the girls got straight A's all year long. They both won an art contest with beautiful pieces of work. They served their communities in various ways, including their church. They played basketball and were both leaders for their teams. They are loyal friends, and wonderful young ladies and it's a pleasure to be their Dad!

As for the Tornado, we've covered some of his rough patches this year. But he adapted too, and did it with a smile. He made some great friends, learned some excellent math skills, and now knows how to read. He's prepared himself well for kindergarten, and he is excited to take on the challenge. I'm proud of how he went out into the world this year, took his lumps and came out on top!

As I've been struggling with some of the changes in my life, part of getting older, I am reminded to look at the kids and how they handle the changes in their life. Sure, some of it stinks, but don't dwell on that stuff. Enjoy all the good stuff that is present every day. That's what my kids do, and I'll try to follow their example.

Now on to summer!!

Remembering

So I'm sitting at the counter making lunch with the Tornado yesterday. He asks if we can watch Peep, which is what we would watch when he was still at home during lunch.

I looked for it on TV, and was surprised to see that Peep is no longer on TV. I let the Tornado know that the show isn't on anymore. He was pretty bummed, as was I.

Then he said, hey Dad, remember when we used to go out on the back porch and have a picnic lunch sometimes? Of course I remembered that I said, I always had fun doing that. He said, let's do that tomorrow or the next day, OK? Sure, I said, and we plan on doing that on Memorial Day.

It made me feel so good that he remembered doing those fun things, just a couple of the things I had listed just a couple weeks ago. Sometimes you wonder if the kids remember the things you do together. Do they have good memories of those things, like I do? It sure is comforting to know that the answer is yes, they remember.

Friday with the Family

The gang went up to the Rays game Friday night, it was our 7th or 8th game of the season. We've gotten to the game just in time most of the times we've gone this year. We park, grab something to eat, and get to our seats right when the game starts.

Friday night though, we arrived about an hour and a half before game time, and did some of the things that we usually did the last couple of years. The CEO and the Tornado went to pet the stingrays, while O, Bear and I went to watch batting practice. Bear got a ball, tossed to her from Carlos Carrasco, which was nice of him. I almost chased a ball down myself!

Afterwards, we went down by the Rays bullpen area to see if we could get any autographs. Bear saw Evan Longoria walking towards the area, and scooted under a table and through a number of people to get on the rail. She had a pen and the ball she just received, and got the ball signed by Longo! She was pretty pumped about that.

Then we watched that night's starter, David Price, warm up in the bullpen. We were standing about 10 feet from him, and he was pumping the ball in there with all he had. The girls mentioned they could barely even see the ball! That was really cool.

We then went on to watch the rays win 5-0, with Price striking out a career high 12 batters. Afterwards, we got to walk down onto the the field and dance for about 15 minutes. The kids had so much fun, and got on the big screen, after getting on regular TV when we walked into the stadium before the game.

So far this season it seemed like going to the games were a little more mundane, they didn't have quite the excitement that they had in years past. Friday night everyone seemed really into the experience, into the atmosphere, and it was a great family night at the ballpark!

A CAREER BEGINS

The Tornado played baseball, well, t-ball, for the first time this spring. As he put it, he doesn't get to play real baseball until he turns 6 in the fall.

Quite simply, this was the most enjoyable thing I've done, in terms of watching my kids. I so wish I would have put O and the Bear in t-ball, looking back on it.

One of my favorite things to do with the Tornado over the years he was at home was to play baseball with him I started pitching to him, overhand, before he was two. And he could hit it! He has some kind of hand eye coordination. Also, he loves to hit. So when the time came for him to be able to play on a team, I signed him up, and he was excited. We went to the field together on a cold day in January to sign him up, and he was soooo anxious to get started.

A couple weeks later he had his first practice. They hit a little, threw a little, ran a little, and laughed a little. His friend Chris was on the team, and he was excited to see him there. The games started two weeks after the first practice, and oh what an experience those were.

The teams each got to hit 3 times, with each kid on the team hitting. The last batter of each inning got to run all the bases, so of course that's where the Tornado wanted to hit. Sometimes he got to, other times not. In the field, the only positions of consequence are 1b and the "pitcher". The rest of the areas on the field see next to zero action. As a result, whenever a ball is hit, all of the kids rush and dive on it like a fumble in football. This stopped to some degree as the season went on, but heck, I liked watching them pile on like that!

The Tornado, when told he couldn't play first or "pitcher", often chose to play 3b. As a Rays fan, and Evan Longoria fan, he figured that was a good spot to be. Oh, I almost forgot - each day on the way to the game we would listen to Here Come the Rays, Feel the Heat, and Longoria's walkup song. I guess it pumped him up?! Anyway, he would stand over at third, and every kid that came to 3b got chatted up by the Tornado. he loved it.

When he was on the bases he would bend in half and put his head on the dirt. When they ran off the field he would throw his hat high in the air. He loved the snacks at the end, he loved cheering "Go Mighty Sand Gnats" and hugging the coach at the end of the game. He loved his gummy bears that he would get before each game and snack on in between innings. He just seemed super HAPPY on the field.

After a tough first couple months in school, it was so relaxing to me to see him enjoying himself so much out there.

As the season wound down he said he was ready to play another sport, like basketball or golf, and after 5 months of playing, sure, that makes sense. I know it will get more intense as he gets older if he continues to play, particularly if he's any good. I'll do my best to just enjoy watching him enjoy playing the game I loved to play so much. And to help remind him it's just a game, I'll always have gummy bears there for him too.

LEARNING FROM OTHERS

The High Hoops season has ended, and it was a totally different experience for all of us this year. Last year, I was one of the coaches, Bear wasn't on the team, and the team was in way over its head in most games. We had to play most of our games against teams that were older, more experienced, and more talented.

This year, I didn't coach, Bear got to play, and for the most part the games were reasonably competitive. We got to play against teams that were more on our level, so that was nice for the girls.

Not being the coach allowed me to observe the team, the player interactions, how the coaches handle things, and got to watch O and Bear just play. That has been an interesting perspective, because I've been so engrossed in the past that I wasn't able to really just enjoy the girls and the way they play.

The coach basically rotated several girls in and out of the guard spots, with both of my girls being part of that 5 player rotation. Bear got the least amount of time probably, with O getting among the most. I think that was good for the Bear. She got to observe from the bench, and see how others played and reacted.

When the season started, Bear was very nervous about playing, and how she would do. By the end of the season, she was the probably the most aggressive of all the guards, both on offense and defense. O's game came along well too, as she was refining things in her game that a lot of kids don't do.

I think the best thing about this season though, was that we all got to learn something. As the picture above shows, sometimes you learn from people and places you might not expect. I learned what it's like to be a parent on the sidelines, watching and thinking how I would do things different. I learned that there is a totally different vibe on the sidelines then on the bench, and that it's probably best to ignore that when you are on the bench. O learned that you aren't always going to love the people you have to work with, but that you can still be successful with those people. I also think O gained a measure of respect for Bear, seeing how hard she plays despite being so much smaller then almost all of the competition. I think Bear learned a little about patience. She's used to being the star, and she wasn't on this team. She learned about gaining confidence, and that believing in yourself can carry you a long way. And lastly, I think she learned about hard work. She wasn't satisfied sitting the bench, so she started practicing harder at home. I think by the end of the season she knew that she could compete with anyone on our team, and most other teams. Success leads to wanting to work harder to achieve more success, and Bear has been working harder than ever.

So another year is in the books, and I think it was a good one for both girls. I enjoyed watching them play, without the stress of having to coach them. I'm looking forward to that opportunity again should it arise in a couple years. Until then, I'll just keep watching, learning, and enjoy watching them learn, both about basketball and life.

Not Just the Tornado Anymore

I've been waiting for a while to write this post, I've thought about it many times. I made a list of things that the Tornado and I did over the 4 and a half years we spent at home together. I'm sure there are many other things we did that I can't remember, but this is a pretty good list. It makes me sad thinking about all the things we did together, many of which I now do by myself throughout the day.

I often feel like I didn't do enough, take you enough places in our time at home together. I am sorry for that. My time at home with you gave me so many smiles, so many laughs, so many good feelings of being loved that I can't really explain it. I am also glad to see you having fun with your friends at school, learning so many new things. You are a smart, funny, and loving boy, so much more than just a Tornado anymore. I am blessed to have you as my son!

First, some of the places we went over the years.

The beach, Sanibel, Captiva, Bowditch Point, and Times Square. We ALWAYS have fun at the beach! Playing ball, punching waves, building castles, playing water football. Remember the river we built one day that went from half way up the beach all the way to the gulf??!! This was always our favorite place to go together.

Lakes Park - we climbed on the playgrounds, and played in the water fountains.

The pool - gosh, we spent many days at the pool. You always loved throwing the toy tornadoes underwater, and shooting baskets on the poolside rim.

The Imaginarium - always a good time. You like just exploring, playing with the toys, seeing the exhibits.

The grocery store - this might sound weird, but we always had fun here. When you were little, all the older ladies would come up and look at how cute you were. As you got older, you would ask questions, like what this was for, or how I was going to make dinner that night. I liked this because it never seemed like there were a lot of distractions, it was just you and me.

Costco - of course you liked going here, particularly at lunch time, because they always have lots of food to sample :)

Home Depot - another place we went almost every week. Sometimes you liked going, sometimes not, depending on what we were buying.

Ace Hardware, dry cleaning, the bank, best buy - other places we would run errands to. I always liked riding in the car with you. You are such an easy passenger. You like looking at the window at the world, and pointing out things you notice, which is a lot. You are so observant! You also liked to rock out to music in the car, our two man band had many jam sessions in there!!

Toys R US - who doesn't like going to this place?

The book stores - we went to the book stores quite a bit, you love to read and be read to. And I love reading to you - I love when you get a subtle joke in a book, how you look up at me and the wry smile you get, like, that was pretty funny.

The outlets - we didn't go down there a lot, but it was always nice to go walk around and let you run around the fountains. I hope all the wishes you made come true!

The Edison Mall - again, we only did this once in a while - but with so many people and so many stores, it was fun watching you watch everyone else. We were here a couple of weeks ago as we let the girls go explore on their own. We got some candy and sat on the bench and waited for them. We waited about 45 minutes, and just talked, and watched people go by. Very peaceful believe it or not.

The Bagel Factory - sometimes we would have errands to run in the morning, so we would stop off for a chocolate milk and a bagel. We would sit and eat, talk about what we were going to do that day, maybe read the newspaper together.

Chick Fil A - pretty much every run to Costco was accompanied by a trip here. You liked playing on the little playground, and I liked watching you. Again, sitting and sharing lunch with my buddy was always a good time.

Smoothie Central - we went here often when they first opened, then I started making my own at home. But the ladies that worked here always got a big smile when they saw you walk in the door.

Rita's - a nice cool treat on hot days, maybe after the beach or the pool. We had one of our first "man to man" talks here too - early on in your school career.

Bennett's - we would ride our bike, you on the back, down here in the mornings. We would get a couple donuts, and ride one by Mommy's work to surprise her. You loved seeing her, and I know she loved seeing you. Then we would ride home, get some milk, and eat our donuts at the counter as a reward for our exercise.

I'm sure there are many others, but those are the one's that stand out. Now, for shows we watched together.

Peep and Chirp - easily my favorite. Every day, right before lunch, this show would come on. We would sing the theme song together. "There's no place I'd rather be" is a line from the song, and that's how I felt everyday. They talked about math and science, and being friends, and it was really a great show.

Pinky Dinky Do - is this why you know so many words?

Yo Gabba Gabba - strange but fun

Hip Hop Harry - they danced a lot on this show and that's why you liked it

Phineas and Ferb - another show about imagination and adventure. It's very funny, and we always laughed a lot watching it together.

Super Why - another show about reading - which you are GREAT at doing!

Sid the Science Kid - they did neat experiments on this show, many of which we would try on our own - like freezing the Disney Princes in ice!

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - You sleep with Pluto every night, he's your buddy. On the show when Mickey needed help, he would call for 'Toodles', which was a piece of equipment that would help him out. When you would see he needed help, you would call out "Oh Toodles", just like Mickey. Loved that.

Handy Manny - he liked to build things, and you liked doing that too. Blocks, marbles, you name it.

Blues Clues - you enjoyed helping figure out the clues, your curious nature.

Little Einsteins - they liked to travel, and learn about new places. You absolutely loved seeing the new places and the adventures they would have in each place. They would talk about art a lot too - which you enjoy making. I always thought it was neat, that even when you were two or three, you would recognize a painting that we might have in a book in our house or something.

The Wonder Pets - another adventure show, but this was a lot about helping. It was a pretty funny show too, and I loved hearing you laugh when watching it.

We played lots of games at home, lots of sports, and did lots of work together. One of my favorite things that we stopped doing when you were about 3 and a half was running together. I would push you in the stroller, and we would go 3 miles some days, up to 5 miles other days. Some days it didn't look like we were going to run because of what I was wearing, so you would ask if we were going running. Anytime I put my sneakers on, you would ask "We going running Dad?" You were such a great motivator!! You never liked to wear pants, so you would usually have just a shirt and a diaper own, with a sippy cup of milk, and would kick back and relax. I remember all the smiles on people's faces that were running in the opposite direction. How could they look at you and not smile, you were having so much fun!

We went for bike rides several times a week, we played horseshoes, basketball, baseball, golf, tennis, badminton, soccer, boxing and football. We blew bubbles, had picnics, blew up balloons, had water balloon fights, raced each other on foot, or with our race cars.

We cut the grass, we planted flowers, we planted vegetables. It made me so happy about a month ago when you asked if you could help me cut the grass. It's always more fun when my buddy is there to help me.

We played games like Rock Band, tic tac toe, chess, checkers, jenga, gnip gnop, and the Wii. We did puzzles together, tons and tons of puzzles! You love doing puzzles! We read so many books together, I never would have read so many books without you. We built a new train track almost every day in the family room. We built awesome marble towers, and cool things with lego blocks.

You painted, you made drawings, and we loved playing play doh together. When you were almost 4, you wanted to start doing homework, like the girls. So we got a couple workbooks and you would do the work in it. It was crazy, you would sit there and do like 30 pages without stopping! I'd have to get us outside to do something else to take your mind off of it for a while.

We made smoothies together, we made lunch together everyday. I miss not having lunch with you. We'd watch Peep and Chirp while making lunch, sometimes we would do a "movie lunch". Sometimes we went out back and had a picnic on the playground or on the porch.

When you were real little, I would feed you lunch on the sofa or the chair, with your bottle. As you finished the bottle you would give me a smile, a hug and a kiss, then fall off to sleep. As you got a little older, after lunch, you would go over to the couch. You would either say "hold you me", or "cuddle you", and we would lay down together until you fell asleep. Needless to say, I miss those days and moments tremendously.

We've had many great times already and we have so many great times ahead! I'll always be there to "hold you me" or "cuddle you" if you need it :)

The Wizards of Braman Avenue

The next stop on our great adventure was Minneapolis, Minnesota. I had never been to Minnesota, so I was looking forward to seeing the place. Minnesota is also home to the Mall of America, and thus, this was the part of the trip the Bear was most looking forward to. Bear loves to shop, to look around, to try things on, all that stuff. And with something like 400 stores in the MOA, she was bound to enjoy it.

We arrived at the hotel right around dinner time, so we checked in and got something to eat at the hotel. This was probably the oldest hotel we stayed in, it was ok, just not the best of the trip. Our hotel was right across the street from the MOA, so after dinner we walked over. The Tornado found the Lego store, and began playing with all they had, while the girls looked at the roller coasters that lie in the middle of the mall. I told the CEO I wanted to take a quick walk as I had seen something online that I wanted to check out.

There was a place called MagiQuest, and since the girls are so into Harry Potter, I thought it might be interesting. I walked up to the store front and could barely take myself into the building. The employees were in full "magic" outfits, and speaking in Old English. I mean really, they were barely understandable. I couldn't imagine working in a place where I had to be in costume and character like that every day, particularly if I had to dress up like a magic wizard or something. But hey, the girls love it, so it looked like it would be cool for them. I got all the info, and met up with the gang again.

We walked the mall a little, went into some stores, then got dessert in the Rainforest Cafe'. It's been a while since we went to the one at Disney, the Tornado was much younger, so I was wondering how he would react to all the noise. When the thunder started, he looked a little startled, but bounced back quickly and realized it was pretty fun to hear the animal sounds as if we were in the jungle. We went back to the room and to bed, and planned on hitting MagiQuest in the morning before the Twins game at night.

When we told the kids in the morning about MagiQuest, they were sooooo excited!! O couldn't wait to get there. Once we did, we found out we could go in for a couple extra bucks and "help" the kids do the scavenger hunt. Basically, you are a wizard, trying to kill a dragon. You need to go through several quests to obtain the necessary powers to kill the dragon. There are big screens that show clips when you activate them that gives clues on what to do or where to go. You have a wand to activate the clips and do other magic things. Honestly, it seemed a little silly, at best, before we got going.

The CEO and I decided we would let the girls do their own thing, go at their own pace, and we would guide the Tornado through the hunt. Well, it didn't take long before I was doing a little more than "helping" him. I was running from clip to clip, saying "over here buddy, c'mon, hurry up!" I got really caught up in the hunt/maze aspect of the game, it was pretty cool. The CEO kept telling me to let him do it, yet every time I turned around, she was on another side of the room guiding one of the girls to their next clue!! We all had magically gotten wrapped up in the game!

The time was winding down, you have 90 minutes in the room, whether you finish the hunt or not, and only one kid looked like she wasn't going to reach the finish line. With us helping him, the Tornado was right on track, and although a little pushed, O was going to make it too. That left the Bear, O M G!! I looked at the CEO and said we HAVE to get her to the finish, or the next several days of the trip would be unbearable (so to speak). So there was the three of us, sprinting from clue to clue, from clip to clip, waving the wand frantically. It was about as much pressure as you can feel doing a fun activity on vacation. I looked at my watch and saw we were down to 30 seconds and still had two things to find. I don't know what fairy intervened, but I thank her for guiding us to the right places quickly. The Bear was about to explode she was so nervous. But we made it, and the Bear got to slay the dragon! God Bless us all.

We left MagiQuest, all with huge smiles on our faces. It was a ton of fun for everyone, they all got to bring their wands with them, and for that they were extremely happy. We grabbed some lunch, shopped around a little more, and headed back to the room to relax before the game. The three master wizards and two wizard apprentices were ready for more excitement later that evening!

The 2010-2011 Lady Vikings Basketball Season

We started in August, running sprints and stairs outside in upper 90's heat, lifting weights and everyone getting to know each other a little bit.

It ended on February 15th, at home, in triple overtime of the state Sweet 16.

In between there was a lot of hard work, by the kids and the coaches, emotional ups and downs, and a lot of adjustment at home.

6 days a week, at least 2 hours a day, took a lot out of everyone. The kids missed me, the CEO missed me, and I missed them. But I really enjoyed the coaching too. I love being in the gym, and I love strategizing to try to get a win. It's a great challenge to be a motivator and positive influence on a group of people everyday, trying to keep things exciting and interesting.

We had a receptive audience this year and only minimal parental interference. Mark and I worked well together, and he let me participate in every aspect of practice and the games. We played a brutal schedule, that at times late in the season felt like had crushed the team's spirit. But after a pair of tough losses, we sprinted to the finish line in great fashion. We upset the regular season champion in the conference tournament final, without our best player, to become conference champions!

We won the first round game of the state tournament 68-30, before falling in the next round by 2. I was proud to be their coach, their attitude and effort all season was fantastic. It was a great experience for me too, and I look forward to having my own girls there and sharing it with them in a few years!

I Like When We Are Together Too

The Tornado has had a bumpy first year in school, and while it's been better, we keep getting notes about ticky-tack things. It seems as though one of his teachers doesn't like him, for whatever reason.

But I'm here to tell you, this is a special person, with a heart of pure gold. On Valentines Day he asked me to fold a piece of paper for him so he could write a card. About an hour later he gave me the card, all with his own handwriting. It said "I love you Dad, from Luke. I like when we are together." Is that the best thing in life or what??

A week later the kids had off from school for President's Day. I took them to the beach in the morning, then they played some video games in the afternoon, and we played basketball together in the evening. At breakfast the next morning, he takes a break from eating and says,"I had fun yesterday Dad, thanks." Then went on to recollect the things we did.

The CEO had a meeting that same night so she was gone longer than usual, and as he was brushing his teeth, getting ready for bed he looks up at me and says,"It's been a long day of work for Mommy, I miss her." I picked him up and carried him to bed, and gave him the biggest hug ever.

He's pure gold, and I couldn't love him any more than I do.