Sports...

Here is a video clip of Jack shooting a basket:

Here is Jack on baseball's opening day:

Swim Class Week 5...

I had a busy week posting last week so this was from 2 weeks ago. Hopefully it was a break thru week for Jack because he did SO MUCH BETTER at swim school! Yeah!!

For the first time he did not cry. He did not stall. He listened. He did a lot of the drills, float, assisted roll over, climb out of the pool, jump in and put his face under water.

Granted he still did not want to go to class but once there he was a lot more comfortable. He still freaks out if he swallows the water but I think he is finally understanding he can't talk and swim at the same time.

10 Year Anniversary...

It sure doesn't feel like it was 10 years ago, but 10 years ago today Aya and I got married at Friendly Hills Country Club.


It had been raining all week and then the day of our wedding the skies clears, the sun came out and we had perfect weather!



I met Aya in late 1996, hmm....I must be getting old, I can't remember when we got engaged, 1997 or 1998 and then married in 1999. I am going to say engaged in 1998....I totally got sick when I bought the engagement ring.

Yup, 10 years...who knew. I know everyone thought Aya wouldn't stick around this long but that just shows my greatness as I was able to get her to marry me before she knew any better!

Totally NOT cool...

This is a conversation with my mom last week:


Miles: I am not going to enroll Jack in summer school.
Miles: If you get a park & rec mailer let me know because I will sign him up for that instead.
Mom: OK, I was already thinking of enrolling him in gymnastics.
Miles: Gymnastics??
Mom: Yes, it should be fun.
Miles: Gynastics is kind of G-A-Y.
Mom: It is tumbling
Miles: Hmm...I guess but he isn't good at that stuff.
Mom: Yes so gymnastics will help his coordination.
Miles: What about karate?
Mom: Well, we were thinking of doing gymnastics AND ice skating?
Miles: ICE SKATING?? What the heck?
Mom: What is wrong with that?
Miles: Gymnastics and ice skating are the TWO gayest male sports.
Mom: No.
Miles: YES...absolutely not. NO ice skating. Karate. Maybe gymnastics but thats it.

Can you imagine if Jack actually was good at ice skating?? Goodness gracious. I wouldn't be able to tell anyone where I was going on weekend for his practice or competitions. I dunno...I know I am his dad and everything but I just dunno if I can be supportive watching male ice skating OR gymnastics. Nope...no way...can't do it....not for a boy.

Oscar's Birthday...

Yup, lots of birthdays. We celebrated Oscar's birthday at the Canal Club in Venice.

I forgot I had my camera so I only took one picture from Happy Hour.

Dawn's Birthday...

We celebrated Dawn's birthday this past weekend...the big 3-0. THIRTY years old...I bet some of you out there are feeling pretty old now!!

We went to Sakura for dinner:



One of the few places where Dawn actually eats a lot of food:



Back at home for cake:



Jack wanted to cut the cake to get the FIRST piece:



Jack using Aunty Dawn as his own personal pillow:

Jenny's Birthday...

We had a belated birthday celebration for Jenny at Duke's in Malibu on Saturday. I wasn't 100% sure if I was going to go but Jack said he wanted to go see Aunty Jenny so Aya and I decided to go to Jenny's birthday.

Even though Jenny texted Jeff, Saori and myself 30 minutes before the start of the party CANCELLING it, all of us still ended up going...except for Ron and Judy...deadbeats.

Jeff and Melanie:



Saori's Family:

Red-faced Jenny and Jack:

Swim Class Week 4 video...

Jack is slowly improving at Swim school. We try to practice during the week but sometimes Jack just refuses to go to the pool to 'practice'. He will go to 'play' but he doesn't want me to do any of the drills that he does at swim school.

Swim Class Week 4...

This was week 4 for Jack's swimming class. The second he woke up Saturday he told Aya and I that he did NOT want to go to class.

Despite not wanting to go, Jack really did a lot better. Class is private one on one for 15 minutes and this week Jack tried talking to teacher Lauren for the first 5 minutes and stalled as long as he could before actually doing anything. Grr. I was not happy that teacher Lauren was falling for Jack's stalling tactic.

Luckily teacher Lauren went right ahead with class and kept the weekly progression. Jack tried wimpering and fake crying but none of it worked:

Even though this pic doesn't look like Jack was doing well, this was his best week. He held his breath more, put his face in the water and did assisted roll overs. Hopefully next week he won't cry anymore...but I doubt it.

You had to be there...

This is NO April Fool's joke. It should be...but it isn't. Over the weekend Aya, Jack and I went to the park at our house. No one was there except for the three of us.

Jack and I like to race from one end of the park to the other. We had a race and the first one to tag Aya at the other end was the winner.

Jack and I took off running and as we neared Aya, Jack started to lose his balance, leaning more and more forward until SPLAT...he takes a header into the sand. He was okay, but after I did my winner-winner dance, Jack claimed that I pushed him down. (I did not...thought about it...but didn't push him).

Jack then tells Aya and I to race each other and tag him.

Aya says okay and then Aya and I walk to the other end of the park. Keep in mind the entire length of our park is about the width of 10 cars so not long at all.

As Aya and I are walking to the other end this is our conversation:

Miles: Are you sure you want to run?
Aya: Sure
Miles: You aren't going to fall are you?
Aya: Nnnn-oooo.
Miles: Are you sure?
Aya: It isn't far at all.
Miles: Yeah, so are you sure?
Aya: No I will be okay.

Ready, Set, Go!! And we are off...

I was kinda jogging and then I see Aya really determined to win...so I sped up a little and from the corner of my eye I see Aya start to lean forward....then more forward...then SPLAT!

The EXACT same spot...the exact same position...Aya crashed in the sand!!! You would think and adult would put there hands out to break their fall but nope...Aya's hands are pinned into her body and she has a mouthful of sand!!

I KID YOU NOT!!

The sad part is Jack runs over and the first thing he says is, "You pushed Mommy down!! You tackled her in the sand!"

Grrr...what the heck is wrong with this boy?? Then it all flashed in front of my eyes.

Some kids are the first ones picked....some kids play the bare minimum minutes. Well, it flashed in front of me that Jack would be the last one picked in sports and I could just picture him running over after the game...not happy or sad if his team wins or loses...but what kind of refreshments are being served after the game!!

Jack and Aya are peas in a pod!

P.S - Both Jack and Aya were okay from there tumble. I on the other hand was a bit saddened because I realized Jack really did inherit Aya's athletic prowess.

Brea Part II...

Since the front yard is not landscaped, Jack had fun riding on the front lawn made from dirt. Too bad he fell at the end and landed in the gutter water.

Brea...

I finally made it out to Brea to see my mother inlaws house:



They are waiting for landscaping approval...other than that it is a very nice home. Too bad they don't have homes like that on the westside for the same price. Brea is just far. We took SIX freeways to get there...90 to the 405 to the 105 to the 605 to the 91 to the 57.

Of course we are still 'wrong'. Jack still likes to play with Aya's mom's wheelchair. She doesn't need the wheelchair but it was in the house so Jack wanted to take it for a spin.

Swim School...

Jack swimming towards the wall.

Swim Lesson week 3...

This was week 3 for Jack's swim lessons. Jack still cries at swimming. He is fine when he gets there but once it is his turn to go in the water he gets scared and cries and doesn't want to get into the water.

Once he is in the water he is still scared but he doesn't cry. In week 2, teacher Lauren put Jack's head underwater and did more things than float so I liked it more...seemed like they advance the child whether he likes it or not.

This week was more of the same but they tried to teach Jack to roll over from his back to his front. Jack still gets scared when he drinks the water but it is his own fault for not closing his mouth. He is always telling the teacher 'one more minute' or 'class is almost over' or 'No more'.

At least Jack is calm when floating:



Now if we can just work on swimming to the wall a little more:

Train...

Jack's behavior goes thru peaks and valleys. Some weeks he is naughty and in constant 'timeouts' and in other weeks he is good boy. Lately Jack has been more on the naughty side but when he was good I bought him a train set and was just waiting for the right time to give Jack the train set. Sadly it took Jack about a month to 'earn' the train as it just sat in the garage so Jack had to look at it every day in the box.

Well, I finally put it together...took me 3 hours! Jack loves his train set!!