At Home Conversation…

As most of you know Aya goes to work early due to the Stock Market opening.  Typically, Aya will be up at 4:45 am and out of the door just after 5:00 am.    The week before Memorial weekend Aya was waking up at 5:45 or 6:00…so basically for her sleeping in an extra hour and half.

Right before the END of the 3 day weekend Aya springs this on me:

Aya:  Oh, can I get a ride to the airport Tuesday morning.  (She is going to Chicago for work)

Miles:   What time?

Aya:   I dunno, before or after you take the kids over to your parents house.

Miles:  What?  What time is your flight?

Aya:  8:15 am

Miles:  If we go BEFORE I drop the kids off then I have to wake them up so we can leave early.  Jack has his science project and he has to be at school early as well.  If we go AFTER then it doesn’t leave you a lot of time to go thru security after a 3 day weekend.

Aya:  I will make it.

Miles:  Yeah, but if I go after, then I can’t sleep in the way you have been sleeping in AND after I take you to the airport, I might as well go to work.

Aya:  So.

Miles:  So, I don’t want to go to work super early after a 3 day weekend…especially when my boss isn’t going to be there for the next 2 days.

Aya:  So I should get a cab?

Miles:  YES.

Aya’s company PAYS for the cab ride to the airport as well.   Grrr.   See this is why I have gray hair, balding and why I am so grouchy.

Nail Polish…

This is how it all starts!   Aya painted Stacy’s nails one week and now EVERY week Stacy wants her nails done.   Aya and Stacy went to Rite-Aid and Stacy picked out 4-5 different colors and Aya paints Stacy’s nails every weekend.

After Aya painted Stacy’s nails, I noticed that the nail polish on one finger was gone:

Miles:  Oh no Stacy, what happened to your nail polish?

Stacy:  Where?

Miles:  Right there…on your finger.

Stacy:  Oh.   I pick my nose with that finger.

HAHAHHAHAHA. 

ACL - Week 15

It seems like everything for my knee is going as planned.   My knee is feeling better every week.   I can feel it getting stronger and it feels more like ‘my knee’ again.   For a while I had no feeling in my knee or it felt ‘numb’.

I was finally cleared to come into therapy twice a week now.  I can walk pretty normal now.  I can go to Disneyland and do most every day things now.   I still can’t run or jump yet.   I run on the treadmill at therapy still but I have to do supervised running.   I have not even tried jumping yet but they said NO jumping yet.

Still, it feels pretty good to do most day to day things with no pain or no limitations.   My leg is still pretty weak though as you can see all my muscles twitching trying to work and ‘keep up’ during my exercises. 

Hopefully I will be able to start riding my bike to the beach for the summer!

Swim Test…

Stacy had her swim test last weekend and she did great!    I should post the video but it happened so quick that my video wasn’t in complete focus so it was a little blurry. 
In any case, Stacy got her first ribbon as she passed her level 1 swim basic test.   In a nut shell, if Stacy falls into a pool she can float on her back until she either gets to the wall or someone notices that she has fallen into the pool.

Aya and I couldn’t  remember if Jack got a ribbon.  We looked at the old pictures and video’s and Jack also passed his swim Level 1 test.  Sadly, Jack was almost 4 when he passed and Stacy is 2 years old!   After Jack passed level 1, we quit because Jack didn’t want to go to swim lessons anymore.

SBY Camp…

I took Jack to the SBY Camp at my alma mater, CSU Dominguez Hills.  It was my first time back since I graduated.   The campus basically looked the same but a lot of new buildings and parking have been added.

In any case, there was about 80 kids at the SBY Basketball camp:

Jack did pretty well.  The had 6 different baskets and grouped the kids together based on skill level.  

Jack is 6 years old and he was lumped with the 7-8 year old players.  

At the end of camp they had a scrimmage.  See the kid in the orange shorts.   We was on the other team.  Jack went up for a shot and the kid swatted the ball about 5 ft out of bounds….it was a great block.   I was pretty happy that Jack went out and played with the older kids. 

Elia…

After I hurt my leg we hired a housekeeper named Elia to clean our house every other week.  It has been almost 4 months now and she has been great.

Last week Jack and I were working on his homework and Jack was making lots of mistakes so he had to erase everything and start over.   When he used his eraser it made all those eraser ‘droppings’ and Jack just brushed it onto the ground.

Miles:  “Stop brushing all the eraser on the ground.”

Jack: “Why?  It bothers me”.

Miles:  “Because, I will have to clean it from the table AND the ground now.”

Jack: “Why?”

Miles:  “Because it is dirty and we need to clean up after ourselves.”

Jack: “But Elia can clean it.”

Grrr.   See that is why I didn’t want to get a housekeeper.  How or why Jack even deferred that to Elia I have no idea.   Aya and Jack….birds of a feather!

Uncle Bryan’s Birthday…

We celebrated Uncle Bryan’s 27th birthday at my parents house:

We ordered Tito’s for dinner and my mom made apple pie:

Happy Birthday!

Mother’s Day…

These holidays seem to creep up on me and I just totally forget that the kids need to get something for Aya for Mother’s Day.  

Luckily Jack made a card with flowers on it and Stacy and I bought a card.   Jack also made something at school.  Once again we have no idea what it is….an ornament…a wall decoration?  Who knows?!

Dawn hosted Mother’s Day brunch at her house.   I totally forgot to take pictures of everyone but I got Grandpa trying to eat Jack’s raspberry:

Cheers!

Swimming…

Wow.   I can’t even tell you…double wow!   Stacy has made a HUGE leap at swim class.   Once Stacy stopped crying she has really gotten comfortable in the pool.  I already knew how much Stacy liked the water because when we go to the pool she loves it….she just doesn’t like swim class.   Now, Stacy is a whole new person and is doing great in swim class.

The teacher thinks Stacy will be ready for her swim test soon.  Basically, water safety test where they throw the kid in, either in a swim suit or clothes and see if they can float and not drown in case they accidentally fall into the pool.   I for one know it works, because Jack fell into the pool last summer and he was fine.

Doggie…

HA!  Not a real doggie obviously.    Since Stacy likes stuffed animals, I thought Stacy would like Build-a-Bear.   I thought Stacy would pick a bear to build but she choose a dog.   This makes #3.  She already has “Wow-Wow” and “Puppy”…this one she named “Doggie”.

Stacy was so happy to build her own puppy.  She put a heart inside.   She didn’t want any “clothes” for her dog.   She just wanted to hold him all weekend:

Dodgers Part 3…

So after a day game on the weekend, the Dodgers have Kids Run the Bases.   I loved baseball and the Dodgers when I grew up and I would have killed to run around the bases when I was a kid, so we thought Jack might like it.   You have to wait until after the game and then wait in line.  Aya and I had no idea the line would be HALF the stadium!! 

The line was super long, it was a hot and I think Aya just wanted to go home.  Jack really wanted to run the bases so we stayed.  Part of me, didn’t want to stay either but part of me was thinking how cool is it to run the bases.

The line looked like it was a one hour wait but once the line started going it was about 30 minutes.   They really herd you and the line quick and it was chaotic so I didn’t get a chance to take good video or pictures.   Jack also didn’t want to run with Stacy so Jack ran as fast as he could and Stacy ran by herself so I am trying to watch both kids at the same time on the camera.

Dodgers Part 2…

Most people probably pick games based on players they want to see or teams they want to see, but Aya and I picked games based on the free giveaways!   This game was free Clayton Kershaw kid jerseys:

Jack in right field:

Jack leaping for a ball down the right field line…probably would have looked better if he had a glove on:

Most all it was Kids Run the Bases day after the Dodgers beat the Washington Nationals:

Dodgers Part 1…

I have been a Dodger fan all my life but last year I just couldn’t stand Frank McCourt any longer and I boycotted the Dodgers.  I would not watch or go to the games…even if I had free tickets.   This year once I knew the Dodgers would be sold, I joined a group and went in for a share of Dodger season tickets.   Since we were new to an existing group, we didn’t get as many games as I hoped for but it is just enough for us.

What I reallylike about the  tickets is that it is under the awning so it isn’t likely for us to get hit with a foul ball AND it is in the shade so we can go to weekend day games and not get roasted:

Swim…

Luckily we have had some nice warm weather on the weekend so Jack and I headed out to the pool.   The doctor doesn’t want me to ‘swim’ yet but I can stand in the pool. 

Good thing Jack swims well now because I don’t have to be in the water with him all the time.  I can sit in the chair and read a magazine and semi-snooze with one eye still watching him:

We spent 5 hours at the pool….I was wiped out!!

Dress…

If you let Stacy pick out her own clothes she will always pick out this dress:

Lamby in one hand, fake cell phone in another hand, a dress….so girlie.

Award…

Geez…makes you wonder if Jack is ‘special’…but Jack specifically wanted his picture taken like this:

Jack got his FIRST school award for being a reading superstar.  Not sure what you need to do to get the award but Jack does read a lot every month.  Jack gets a prize for 400 minutes read a month and a bigger prize for 600 minutes a month.  Typically Jack is in the 700-900 minute a month range.

WLA Tournament Part 2…

The hardest part about being coaching your own kid is that you expect so much more from him than the other kids…especially because Jack is one of the better players on the team.   Jack didn’t play well in game 1, in Game 2 Jack dominated  and in Game 3 he just did okay.   Luckily in Game 3, Aunty Dawn captured this video for us:

It isn’t so much the basket…it is Jack’s post basket celebration.

WLA Tournament Part 1…

Jack and the Venice Pirates played in their first basketball tournament. 

We played against 2 teams we have never seen before AND we played with fast breaks.  

Playing with fast breaks is a new rule for us as in the season you are not allowed the fast break and the ref stops the action if a team tries to fast break.   Unfortunately, I did not prepare the team to play with the fast break rule and we didn’t do as well as we normally do.   Nevertheless we did okay, but after 3 games in 2 days I nearly lost my voice yelling at the kids.

Jack adding another trophy to his collection:

Tea Party…

I never would have thought that *I* would be playing tea party, but now that my knee is feeling better, I am able to get into Stacy’s castle and have a tea party with Stacy, Puppy and Bear:

You would think I would get priority over Puppy and Bear when Aya came up to join the tea party, but nope…I was ‘bumped’ from the tea party group.  What’s up with that???

Ian’s Birthday…

We celebrated Ian’s birthday at El Marino park.  It was ‘western’ themed:

Brentt made Jail and Saloon facades:

Stacy got into the spirit, even though she looks unhappy she was having fun:

In fact, Stacy was having fun hanging out with Jack’s classmates and even more shocking the girls wanted Stacy to keep them company and play with them.   The girls were content to sit under the play equipment and talk and play….while Jack and the other boys were out running around all over the park!

Stacy…

Sure I have lots of goofy pictures of the kids, but this is probably one of my favorite pictures I have a Stacy:

I found her curled up in the laundry basket with her blanket.

ACL Update…

So my surgeon cancelled my 2 month check up and my 3 month check up is next week but my insurance only allows me 25 PT visits.  I  have now used up all my PT by insurance and when I tried to get discharged the surgeon’s assistant said that there is no way I can be discharged without seeing the doctor or within 3 months of ACL surgery.

Luckily the surgeon’s assistant is nice so I didn’t really get mad at her for the doctor not being able to see me sooner.   They tried to get me a medical necessity note to the insurance company saying I am not healed yet but that did not work.  So, I was sort of discharged.  In the books I am discharged and now working out under medical supervision.  I still can’t run, jump or play sports but I do get to run on this anti-gravity treadmill:

I totally hate running but running in this thing is like running on air.   Here is a description of the machine:

Originally conceived by Dr. Robert Whalen to design effective exercise regimens for NASA’s astronauts, Differential Air Pressure (DAP) technology has been adapted by AlterG for use in training and rehabilitation. Cleared by the FDA in 2008, the AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill is a medical device that can be used for:

Rehabilitation of lower extremity injuries
Treatment of neurological conditions
Weight reduction
Aerobic conditioning
General training to combat the diseases of aging
Unweighting is achieved in the AlterG by using air in a pressure-controlled chamber to gently lift the user. Precise calibration using our patented technology allows for very specific unweighting from 100-20% of the users body weight in 1% increments. Something no other unweighting modality can do.