Soccer Update

The kids have been busy with their first year of soccer this fall. Their both on teams that are primarily 6 year olds, so they struggle a bit against teams that are made up of predominantly 7 and 8 year olds.

Nonetheless, they enjoy running around the field, the friendships, and especially the post-game snacks! :) Connor is a rule-follower with the "stay in your position" -- taking it to extremes. Yelling "guys, I'm open" from halfway across the field, as he watches the "beehive" from his left forward position.


Jamie and I have become the "team photographers" with Jamie's sweet Cannon digital SLR with zoom lenses. We've been posting pictures at flickr.com

Guides - Del Mar Beach

I have to get better at throwing blog entries out here. Connor and I just had an AWESOME weekend camping on the beach at Del Mar Beach on the Marine base at Camp Pendleton here in north San Diego county. Killer weather, tents were 75 yards from the ocean - couldn't be better.

Some highlights:

• Helicopters on display in the hanger at airfield. Saw "Twin Huey" and Super Cobra (the same kind I fly in Battlefield 2). Pilots for each one were there to answer questions - the boys got to sit in the cockpit of the Huey.
• Shrimp and Tri-Tip Saturday night dinner - those dads went all out
  
• 7am rollout by Marines Sunday morning - Connor was dead asleep, I rallied him to the point of hearing the marine yelling outside our tent to get up and hurry! That was enough - Connor threw on his close, we ran down the beach, did jumping jacks, push-ups, steam engines, and bear crawls across the sand. All to earn the bear claw.
  
• Of course, tons of sun, sand, surf, bocce ball, horseshoes, etc.
• Connor did 6 aims again (twice this time) to earn a shark's tooth on a necklace. Great stuff.
  

Stanford Tuition

I got into a small debate with someone today about Stanford tuition. I can't remember what it was in 1990 when I graduated, so I looked it up. Amazing how much it's increased in 15 years...


2005-06 Tuition $31,200 Room $5,276 Board $4,656 Total $41,132

1990 Tuition $14,280 Room & Board $5,930 Total $20,210

Article about current costs

Bennett's Vocabulary, Take 2

Well, maybe he doesn't have a bunch of words, but he sure does have many gestures and sounds to direct us around in our daily lives.

Some examples:

• Fingers in mouth, making sound = Taggie (blanket with tags around edges)
• Scrunch up shoulders = I dont know
• Da da da da ta da = TA DA (with arms out to side)
  
• aah oh = uh oh
• pointing furiously with a funky fist pointed finger and almost hyperextending his elbow
• aahhh = drink / water
  
• golfer motion, then lean over to pick up ball, then wave to crowd
• ooh, ah, ooh ah = monkey
  
• ooooooh = can be either cow (mooo) or chocolate milk (also related to cow)
  

Connor (finally has a sound for his brother) = rah rah
Avery = (just sounds medium then high)

Connor's Mothers Day Poem

Connor brought this home to Mommy from school for Mother's Day. The way he read it to Jamie with his little voice was just very, very sweet...

Sometimes I might upset you
Just because I'm small
By leaving fingerprints of mine
On a table, chair or wall.
But everyday I grow a bit
And I'll be big one day
When all my tiny fingerprints
Have long been cleaned away
So keep these prints of my two hands
To help you recall
Just how big my fingers were
That time when I was small.

(he made a towel with his handprints on it)

Indian Princesses / Guides

We joined Indian Princesses and Guides through the YMCA this year. Our friend Stace convinced us on the Princesses side, and Connor's school buddy Dane and his dad Bruce told us about their tribe.

Avery is in the Galloping Ponies (Palomino Nation) - Connor is in the Aztecs (Falcon Nation). Although I don't remember too many details about it, I was in Indian Guides as a kid. I was Brown Bear, and my dad was Black Bear. I'm going to try to have my kids be some kind of "bear" related name to keep the tradition going. I mostly just remember doing fun activities with my dad -- most notably the "derby car" races (small wooden cars we'd build ourselves and race down a track).


Our first outings:

• Avery - Blair Valley
• Our first campout. We had to gear up big time for this one - it's a "primitive" campout in the Borrego desert. There is no running water, no bathrooms (the Y brought in porta-potties). It was definitely a unique experience. Cooking for ourselves, hiking to some ancient hieroglyphics, etc.
  
• Connor - Mission Trails
• This one is nearby, just down in Mission Valley. Connor was bummed cuz all but one of the braves had their bike on this campout. We went on a hike with the other boy that didn't and his dad. It gave Connor tons of incentive to learn to ride his bike without training wheels. Jamie took him to her parents house in Fallbrook, put him on his bike without training wheels on the grass, and he learned it in a couple minutes.
  
• Avery - Indian Hills
  
• What an awesome campout! This one has a playground with a huge 2 story treehouse with a slide down from there. We did activities like Paint Ball shooting, Zip Line, and panning for gold all day Saturday. Avery ended up reciting the 6 aims to the Nation Chief at this campout, earning her 6 aims patch. (she had been practicing all week)
  
• Connor - Indian Hills
• Back to Indian Hills the very next week with Connor. Since Avery had done the 6 aims the week before, he had incentive to learn them as well. He actually ended up doing them twice, earning a 6 aims path AND a sharks tooth (for any subsequent time).

Pics at flickr.com

Princesses - Camp Marston

Avery and I went to Camp Marston with the Galloping Ponies this past weekend. What a great camp! It's owned (maybe leased?) by the YMCA, and it's pretty much a typical "camp" that you would imagine with camp "counselors" (younger peeps that put on shows, run the activities, etc)

Highlights:

• Night hike - no flashlights allowed. Eating volcanic rock.
  
• Rock wall. Avery did an attempt each day, getting about halfway up the wall on Sunday.
• Canoes. Dad and Avery paddled around the small lake fighting the wind.
• Archery. Avery didn't really dig it too much; kind of difficult for her to manage the bow and arrow (even with the kids size). The dads (Stace, Rafael and I) tried a longer range target with adult bows and had fun.
  
• BB Gun range. Avery really dug this - did it twice and we brought home some paper targets that she hit.
• The Ponies did a skit. Puppets of girls joining the tribe and learning the "six aims"

Dr Jane Fever Advice

Straight from our resident pediatrician, Dr. Jane...

re: what fever temp is dangerous.

no dangerous temp: normal kids can get up to 105-106.
fever does not cause brain damage or denature proteins although you look crappy with a 102.7 .
you can give both tylenol and advil/motrin together and take a lukewarm bath (or just use a wet washcloth on her skin if she doesn't feel like taking a bath) to get the fever down faster

if her fever is over 103 on and off for more than 48 hours or over 101 for more than 72 hours, problems breathing or wheezing then you should make an appt