Sports, School, and Stuff
Zachary once again signed up for soccer. Just like the
previous times he played, his attitude
was his biggest obstacle to overcome. His shoes were always
too tight or it was too hot or too cold. Here he is getting
his "game face" on. Actually, I think he's pouting because
I told him to "get on the field and kick the ball"
Jackson played T-ball again on the same team as before. He got
much better at hitting the ball and could hit the coach's pitch
almost every time. His throwing got better too.
This picture is a little hard to explain. No it isn't.
Jackson and Zachary like to be naked around the house,
especially after they take a bath. Think about this
picture the next time you sit on the family room couch.
Grandma Carole took Jackson on a train trip to the Grand
Canyon. While he was there, Jackson had a wildlife encounter
with a friendly squirrel.
Grandpa Ray has a boat. Zachary likes to drive the boat.
He really does drive it too with only occasional course
corrections by one of the adults when the boat is about to
collide with something.
We bought Ray a "Billy Bass" for his birthday which he
has mounted on the boat.
Zachary turned four in May and had his birthday party
at Chuck E Cheese. I was leery at first, but Chuck E Cheese
is no worse than Peter Piper Pizza, Makutus, or any of
the other really loud kid places. Zachary was especially
impressed that Chuck himself came over to the table.
The real fun of Chuck E Cheese is all the rides and games.
Zachary and Tori are crammed into one of the car rides.
One day in May I took Zachary hiking at a place called Cave
Creek. Of course, Zachary's definition of hiking is that
he clings to me like a Koala bear while I carry his
46 pound body up and down the hiking trails. We did manage
to see lobsters (crayfish) in the creek and lots of
little fish. We climbed over mountains (little hilly trails)
over and over and over.
Here is Jackson on the last day of school with his first
grade teacher, Mrs Groessl. I liked Mrs. Groessl. She was
young, enthusiastic, and was open to parent participation.
I was a parent volunteer in Jackson's class every other
Tuesday morning. One of my fondest memories is teaching
a boy named Seth about ISBN numbers and having him
actually be interested in it.
Every parent's dream is to tie their child up from head
to toe when they misbehave. It's not every parent's
dream? Well, it's my dream and one night Jackson let me
do it. He was able to wriggle out of it pretty easily.
Granddad Ken and Grandma Barbara came down for a visit
and the pool was warm. Swimming with the boys is like a
watery mosh pit. They will cling to you, try to sink
you, and make you take them on "rides". Zachary and Jackson also took
swim lessons at our gym all summer long. Zachary went
from not being able to swim at all to doing his
"big arms" pretty well.
San Diego
In July, the family went for a week's vacation in San Diego.
The first thing the boys and I would do on our beach days
was to build sand castles. Every morning we would build
different castles and wait for the tide to wash them away.
This was Bee Castle. Flower Castle is in front of us.
Here are two more of our castle creations, Leaf Castle and
Bug Castle. Bug Castle was completely wiped out by one big
wave. I also had to shoo off an obnoxious three year old
who wanted to stomp on the Bug's head.
We stayed at Mission Beach which is a good boogie boarding
beach. Jackson wasn't sure he would like it at first, but
once he tried it he was hooked. He got pretty good at
timing waves. He even started catching waves before
they broke. Our biggest problem was keeping him
from going out too far.
Zachary tried his hand at boogie boarding too. He didn't
like it so much. He didn't like salt water splashing on his
face and he did not care for seaweed at all. He fell off
his board once and scraped his knee on the sand. That was
the end of boogie boarding for Zachary.
After a busy day at the beach, we would go back to our
condo to relax. The floors were filthy, the furniture was
too, but the condo was half a block off the beach. Lisa loved
the fact that she could open the windows and let the breeze
blow through the rooms.
On Tuesday we went to Sea World. The kids sort of liked the
dolphin and killer whale shows, but Zachary was in a foul mood
most of the day. His favorite part was the penguin exhibit where
he got to pet a real penguin. The boys also liked playing in
Sea World's enormous kid play area.
The most expensive meal we had in San Diego was lunch
at the Rusty Scupper, or some such place, at Sea World.
The food wasn't too bad though and we got to eat right
next to some sea turtles which you can't see in this picture.
We had the first few days to ourselves, but then Lisa's
relatives began arriving to escape the heat/cold/work of
wherever they came from. I couldn't convince any of them
to try boogie boarding. Diana and Paula also brought the
fog with them. We barely saw the sun the last two days
we were there.
Zachary has taken an interest in photography which means
we waste a lot of film these days. Here is one of his better
pictures in that he captured his subject's face in the
photo. Usually his pictures are grainy snapshots of my
stomach.
On friday, the whole family went to Kostos' and Catherine's
house for dinner. The boys got a chance to see their
cousins, Angeliki and James. There was even a kids' table
for dinner. For some reason, Zachary is still wearing his
swimsuit.
We drove to San Diego because it was cheaper and less hassle
than flying, plus we could take more stuff like my boogie
board. The kids were pretty good on the drive. They each
had their own GameBoys and CD players.