T-Ball

Now that basketball season is complete, time to move on to T-ball

Nate, Jimmy & Jackson all from the circle are on the Pirates this year.  Here's Jimmy rounding the bases during the first practice.

Nate's turn to run the bases.

Nate at batting practice

We'll need to start working on his form.  

Didn't quite hit that one out of the park, but he's trying. Loves to swing and hit so it shouldn't take long to figure this out.

We met some of the other parents.  One of them is a distributor of spirits.  We had some friends on Facebook try a bottle of this rum.  The parent had some samples in his car and gave us a bottle.  Now we just need to crack it open and let the pirates battle the Kraken!

Bike Ride

Took Nate out on a bike ride in Folsom.  Maria, Nate and I went to Brad's new place and joined him for a leisurely ride.

Brad showing off his dangerous stunt riding.

After a short time riding, Nate needs a break, so we stopped at a local park and played for a bit.

Here we are looking at the noisy ducks.

Didn't have any bread to feed them, but did enjoy watching them swim around for a bit.

Brad giving Nate a push on the swing

Nate returning the favor.

Daddy and Brad taking a moment to talk about golfing in Arizona.

Nate enjoys swinging and hanging out.

Nate demonstrating how to use the monkey bars.  Great to see him able to make it all the way across.  He's getting quite good at it.

Misc Feb

We had a lot of little things going on in Feb to keep us busy.  Below is a collection of various things we did in Feb.  Nothing worth a whole post, but put together it makes for quite a long one.

Lilo, while looking wonderful, acting happy and healthy went to the vet and we were told she had gained 8lbs, going from 80lbs to 88lbs.  

In discussing Lilo's eating habits, the vets said she's fine, but we need to exercise her more.  So onto the treadmill for extended workouts she goes.

Mike Cottle and I went to Arizona for a weekend of golf.  We had a great time, went to the 16th  hole of the Phoenix open. quite an experience.  Here's Mike pointing to the plaque that highlights the holes in one that have occurred at Greyhawk.  Mike got one awhile back and won't stop talking about it.

Here we are coming in at the end of the day at Greyhawk.  Played some great courses, but unbelievably tough.  I should also recall that it was incredibly cold.  I was not prepared to have as many layers as necessary to keep me warm in those temps.  We had frost delays every day we played.

Here we are teeing off on the first hole at Troon monument course.

Ate a lot during Feb.  Felt like Nate in the above photo.  Just stuffing my facing with yummy foods.

Took Nate to sushi, he really enjoyed watching the chef's make the food.  He seems to prefer sashimi and our sushi bill went up 50% with all the extra he was putting away.

Nate and I bought Baba pancake molds for valentine's day and made pancakes for all to enjoy.

Nate helping me rub spices onto a tri-tip for smoking.  He's showing a real interest in cooking and helping in the kitchen.

Nate and I smoking some Pizza.  Of course we need to add cheese to make it taste better.

Love that smoked pizza flavor.  Getting much better at making them too.

Of course after all that food, Nate needed a trip to the dentist to look for sugar bugs.

After careful inspection, the daily brushing and flossing must be working, no cavities!!!!

We had a crazy hair day at school, Nate got his hair all spiked out and painted with the school colors.

We went to the buffet at Thunder Valley to celebrate German's 75th birthday.

Of course the whole month wasn't great.  We found out Nate scratched the neighbor's car with his bike.  No one saw him do it, but when we asked him about it, he proudly said he did it, TWO times!  Of course he did it to the neighbors that had just moved in less than 2 weeks prior.  He apologized and our homeowners insurance will take care of it, but premiums will go up $450 for the next 3 years.

A close up of the damage.  While we were disappointed he did it, we tried to focus on the fact that he told the truth and didn't lie to us about it.  He was punished and we tried to explain that it was a costly mistake and it wasn't nice.

We joined the Ossa's for Disney on Ice.

While we could bring in camera's they didn't take great pictures.  It was mostly about princesses, but at the end when Toy Story characters came out, Nate lit up.  Of course he was also pleased with the snow cone, cotton candy and other toys to keep him occupied.  

His school at a skate night at the local roller rink.  It was the first time he had really been skating.

Nate was determined to learn to rollerblade.  He fell a lot, but insisted on getting back up and doing it again.  I haven't seen him that determined to learn something since skiing.  He was more focused than in basketball.

He got the hang of it and was able to go around several times on his own.

Claudia's Birthday

We celebrated Claudia's birthday with a little BBQ with friends and family.  The Slater's (Tom, Barbara, Jimmy and Emily) joined Nene, Dani, Claudia and us for a little get together.  We did a pork tenderloin, brined the way Frank and Rhonda taught us.

The brining, with the smoking, turned out really good.  I'm very proud of the smoke ring you see around the meet.

Of course, no birthday party is complete without cake and candles.

Nate and Emily were ready to help Claudia blow out her candles.

Time to sing happy birthday.

Claudia proudly displaying one of her new presents.

Claudia and Emily dancing.  When Claudia gets excited, she loves to dance.  Showing off her new outfit was a perfect excuse to break out those dance moves.  Claudia really enjoys hanging out with Emily, so they made a great dance partnership.

Of course we did have adults at the party too.  Daddy had to break out his new toy, frozen shot glasses.  Or perhaps I should say shot glasses made entirely of ice and filled with Tequila that Tom had brought.  A little messy, but very fun.

Northstar 1-23

Nate, Maria and I went up skiing on Jan 23rd to Northstar.  Here I am with Nate enjoying a break at the very top for lunch.

Nate and Maria posing for a picture at the top of the mountain.  Nate skied from the very top on all blue runs.  We were so impressed.

Here's Nate making his jumps.  His favorite part of skiing is doing the jumps.  I'm afraid it won't be long before he is snowboarding and doing all sorts of tricks.

Maria and Nate on a lift to the top.

Daddy and Nate ready to race tot he bottom of the mountain.  Guess what, Daddy loses.

This video was the final run of the day, heading to the very bottom of Northstar.  It's a green run, but Nate shows great ability throughout.

Here's Nate and Daddy on the lift.

Nate and Baba sipping Hot Chocolate while waiting for a chance to bounce.

Nate all strapped in and ready to go.

Trying to flip, had a hard time getting the timing of the jumping.

Here's the video of this bounce thing.  $12 for 5 min of bouncing.  Kids lined up and waiting patiently for 30-60 min to get on.