Big Day - First Day Back to School

Today was a very big day, all three kids started school for the year. Julia is in 2nd grade, Lea in Kindergarten (very big!) and Nicolas started a new pre-school. We all went up to the school in teh neighborhood together to drop off Julia and Lea. It was a really big day for Melissa as well with the funky first day schedules and driving back and forth between Santa Clara and Sunnyvale (about 8 miles each way). She summed it up very well in a message to her parents which I have summarized below. BTW she abbreviates their names to J, L and N in the note.

"Big sigh, winding down. Did the whole thing... here is the scoop.

Julia first (we all walked her to the door, JK too). Met teacher briefly seems energetic and nice. Then over to Lea's. Parents allowed in for a few minutes. L got settled in her spot and started coloring. Mrs. Burnett said there was a meeting in the gym for kinder parents with the principal at 9. This was the first I had heard of it. Either missed the note in the packet or --- I dunno what, either way, JK had to get to work and I had to get N to preschool so we missed it. Turns out not much I didn't know except no eating with kiddies at lunch anymore. I think this is good from a safety perspective, but I'll miss it. Did it quite often with J last year...

Then straight over to Nicolas' school. Stayed for a few minutes. He was happy making a fruit loop necklace so I left. Many crying kids and worried parents. Thought it better I just scoot... Then back home dropped off car at home and walked to get L. She at first said it was good, later in the day she said not so good cuz she didn't make any new friends. Well, she was there for < 2 hrs and the schedule was tight. She will be fine and her teacher really is fantastic. We all know L is a bit glass-half empty at times!!!

Had time to walk her up to jamba juice though and get some 'alone' time which we both really enjoyed. (Hot, hot here today)... Then back home to grab some food and pick up N. He was fine, said he had a great day. We stayed and ate our lunch under the tree in the courtyard and talked with Jen and some other moms/kids...

L and N slept on the way home, I packed the pool bag and we ran off to get J... Saw Mrs. Hohman who's belly is getting big. She was so sweet!!! Do hope she comes back. J said her day was great and her teacher was really nice. Went over to the pool. Had invited Jen and company and they were there waiting...

Played for a long time. Kiddies got along so great and it was hot!!! Steve out of town tonight so Jen suggested Red Robin. We got there early so not too full. Kiddies were excellent. Got to have a margarita and don't have to cook/clean!

So back home now. 5:30 and they are fed, bathed and pj's on. Time for a movie and bed!

Tomorrow a little easier. Lea stays until 12 and eats at school then pick up J at 2. N and I can just hang out. Maybe go to the park....

Anyway that is the day. We have survived so far! Whew. Think this week will be a good transition week. We can still feel sort of like it is Summer but start to get into the school routine..."

Wow what a day! I must admit I was a little bit sad to see summer pass but I know the kids are ready to get back to school and we are ready to get back to a routine.

More later!

Major milestones of child rearing #3241

We reached another one of those milestones that parents of older children will recognize and parents of small children dream about - the end of diapers!

I wrote in several older blogs about our efforts to potty train Nicolas. He did successfully accomplish that but was still wearing pull ups at night.

He had been dry for weeks at night so this week we did away with them all together!

No more diapers (sorry pampers). The income savings along will be astonishing!

Needless to say Nicolas is really happy to have moved to full boyhood.

John

High School Musical 2 - Arrives

Well last night was a big event in our household. It was the premier of High school Musical 2 and our kids (mainly Julia and Lea) have been all abuzz waiting for it to come. There has been a blitzkrieg of advertising which has had the kids in a frenzy everytime it comes on.

So we decided to make it a very special event, buying popcorn and their other favorite candies, which are usually reserved for a trip to the cinema. Thankfully the movie was show with only limited commercial breaks and the kids really liked it! Despite the late hour they were dancing and singing along to the numbers (and asking for more popcorn).

As for us we thought it was OK, maybe not a good as the original. Several reviews I've read have been more harsh but I think if the kids liked it then it likely met its goal. One thing my wife and I were wondering though was since the theme was "out for the summer" why it wasn't released in June so that it could have been a summer hit? My only thought was that Disney wanted to make sure it was still fresh for the x-mas gift seasons.

So if you have kids I am guessing they will enjoy it nearly as much as the original.

Running Music Resource

I started running again this spring and discovered a fantastic resource for thouse of you who need or want to run with music so I thought I would pass the info along. Like many others I am sure I run with an IPOD strapped to my arm and earbuds in my ears mainly so I don't have to listen to my own labored breathing. :)

Anyway while looking for new music to run to on Itunes I discovered an awesome free resource for running music from DJ Steveboy. He takes all kinds of music and creates long (mostly 1+ hour) mixes which you can download and run to. One of the things I like is that for his mixes he creates specifically for running he identifies the beats per minute (BPM) so it is easy to find something that matches your pace as you pound along (at least in my case).

He has several sites, one call Podrunner and one called Groovelectric and I highly recommend it if you like to listen to music that motivates and moves you.

Enjoy!

Earings!!

I had an interesting voice mail message on my mobile phone yesterday from my daughter Lea. It all started over the weekend when my wife mentioned that she had inquired about getting her ears pierced b/c another friend had. We talked about how her mom had not permitted her to get them until she was 13 and Lea is only 5 so I did not give it much thought chalking up to normal little girl desire to look more mature. We didn't really talk about it much after that and then i got the phone message.

It was Lea saying "Hi Daddy, I got my ears pierced today!" I was in a little bit of shock! My little girl getting earings? Wow, another stage in life! She sounded so excited on the message that I knew she was extremely proud and happy. I called her and congratulated her on it and told her I could not wait to see.

She was very excited and it is a bit hard to see in the picture but she chose little cubic zirconia for her ears and they suit her just right!

In the end it seems that she kept asking and ultimately they foind themselves at the doctor and she had a piercing gun and could do it right there in a safe and sterile environment and that was that.

Another interesting observation was that my 7 yr old said she did not want to have earings until she was 10 and Nicolas wanted to get an earing as well (that will have to come later, like father like son!)

Vacation Summary

Well as my friend Darren says blogging is about volume and consistency and I certainly have been remiss in that regard. We took literally hundreds of pictures and I will update the post with a link to the best pictures from the trip. In the mean time I wanted to update everyone. The kids were great in all aspects of the trip, plan, car, museum etc etc which really made this for our best vacation ever!

We finish an awesome two week vacation in the east coast. We visited friends and family and didn't get a chance to spend enough time with anyone!

The kids had all kinds of new experiences like seeing firefly's for the first time with Gramma and Baba.

We then went to my sisters house in Charlottesville Va to spend a little time with her family. We had a family reunion which featured four generations together for the first time in 4 years.

One of the highlights was watching my 88 yr/old grandmother play golf against my aunt Susan on the Wii gaming system. I then had the pleasure of getting beat in Wii bowling 153 to 150 by my grandfather, awesome! We also let the kids ride on a motor cycle with Uncle Lane and play on the ropes course in the front yard which was fun.

We then transitioned to a more rural scene and joined my dad and Sue at their property in Craig county Virginia (population 5000, no traffic lights!) The kids had more adventures including exploring a 100 yr/old barn and seeing the remains of the original log cabin where the only thing left is the chimney. There were tons of deer and turkey (despite the noise coming from the kids) and my dad is obsessed with "outbuildings". There were plenty of other attractions near by like hiking, lakes and other places to explore.

They have a beautiful place and we hope to visit again soon. We spent the evenings watching satellites and stars. I highly recommend it for any vacation.

We finished with an absolute whirlwind of visits including my friend Jim Geiger who just returned from 2 years in Brazil, Sheri Eliker who has her own show on XM Satellite Radio.

We went to the Zoo, trolley museum, Smithsonian museum of Natural History (awesome) as well as many other attractions. It was a full yet relaxing vacation!