Author: Michael Pellegrini

This weekend was one I’ve been looking forward to for a while. I know I’ve mentioned it in several blog posts, and now it has finally happened – yesterday Elise had her first dance recital! As you can probably imagine it was beyond adorable, and Jessica & I were both so proud of her. She did a great job, never got nervous, and you could tell she was having fun on stage. Her class danced to the song “This little light of mine” and they were all dressed in the poofiest pink tutus one could possibly imagine.

We wanted to celebrate her special day, so we decided to go out to a nice family dinner afterwards. Since we have all been studying Italian lately (more on that in a bit), Elise requested that we go to an Italian restaurant. Initially she thought we were going to Calabria because we’ve been there twice recently, but when we said we were trying a new Italian restaurant she asked “Do they have bread there?” We assured her they did, so she was happy to give it a shot.

We ended up having a really nice meal to celebrate her performance, which was capped off by a big piece of chocolate cake. Jessica and I barely got any bites though, as the plate was pretty much completely occupied by the 3 ravenous little monkeys. You’d almost think we barely fed them by the way they attacked dessert.

We got home to see our new front porch nearly complete, which was very exciting. They still needed to wrap and paint the columns, build the step, and finish the facia, but it was already totally usable. Last weekend we went to a lumber store to look at different railing systems and ended up finding something we really like. The only issue is that it’s not available until July, so our porch won’t have any railing for a few weeks. No big deal though. We’re already out enjoying it and will be all summer.

The same guy doing our porch (Jeff) is doing another project for us next week, which is to paint all the trim on our house. We really like him and the quality of his work is top notch, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we hired him for more jobs in the future.

Last week Ava lost one of her front teeth (insert hockey joke here), which felt like a milestone. This was her third time losing a tooth, and the first time I got to pull one. Grandpa Rick got the first one, then Mom got the second, so I guess it was my turn. She must have gotten a really cool Tooth Fairy because it left her a $5 bill and a guitar pick. No question she was more excited about the guitar pick than the money. Now she only has two more days of school until she finishes Kindergarten, and she’ll do so with perfect attendance, which I’m very proud of.

Last week was also a big week for Elise, as she graduated from preschool. I can’t believe she’s going into Kindergarten this Fall! I was just looking at her photo from the last day of school and it’s crazy how much she has grown up this year. I can’t help but be slightly concerned because she’s on the younger end of her class, and she isn’t quite as social as Ava, but she’s ready and is going to do great. I’m very proud of her.

As briefly mentioned in the intro, our family has been studying Italian for a few weeks now. It’s something I’ve done on and off for years, but I was recently thinking to myself how I wish my family would have forced it on me as a kid. Then I was thinking about how I wish our kids knew at least a little bit of another language – then I just decided to take on teaching them, even though I’m not fluent myself.

My thought was that although I’m not fluent, I know a decent amount, and if I take studying seriously myself, I’ll easily be able to stay a few steps ahead of the kids and pass down the things I’m learning to them. As of today I have a 31 day streak going on Duolingo and can’t believe how much I’ve learned. What’s even more impressive is how much the kids have already learned. At this age they are little sponges, and they soak up everything you tell them.

What I’ve found is that if you just do 10 minutes a day, your progress will be better than you would expect. Although I consider myself a very busy person, I’ve still had no problem finding 10 minutes a day to do this. What often happens is that I’ll get really into it and end up putting in much more time, but at the very least 10 minutes is totally doable. I already know that once the kids are old enough to have their own cell phones, I’m going to require them to do the same thing with Duolingo (or something similar) everyday that I’ve been doing this past month. The way I see it, even if you don’t use the language very often, the act of learning it teaches your brain to think differently, which will have other positive impacts.

Earlier this week my team at work had a fun day outing, meaning we all left work early and went to a Mariners afternoon game. One thing I love about my industry is that I get to meet and work with people from all around the world, so at this game I found myself in this group of people who had never even seen a baseball game before, let alone attended a game. There were 2 guys from India, 2 from Israel, 1 from Argentina, and me. They were all sports fans and were interested in learning about baseball, so I spent most of the time explaining the game to them, which was fun, but also made me realize baseball is more complicated than it appears.

During our conversations, I brought up the fact that my family had been studying Italian, which prompted one of them to tell a joke: “What do you call a person who speaks 2 languages? Bilingual. What do you call a person who speaks 1 language? American.” They all got a chuckle from it, but for me, it was a bit different for me being the only American in the group. It’s pretty true though and I took it in the spirit with which it was intended. I don’t know exactly how far we’ll go with this, but it’s good for us, and I’ve already promised everyone that if we learn to speak Italian as a family, we will absolutely be taking a trip to Italy shortly thereafter.

Anyway, speaking of trips, we are now t-minus 8 days until we go to Las Vegas for Summer vacation at Nana’s house. We don’t have a lot of plans set in stone, but have talked about a lot of fun different things to do, so I know it’s going to be great. One thing we do have on the calendar for sure is a pool day at the Red Rocks Hotel. We rented a cabana for the whole day on Wednesday, meaning we will have a covered/shaded area to hang out in and room for plenty of people. We also have plans for Saturday night to go out to dinner with friends at a really cool new Italian restaurant at Aria called Carbone. Hopefully we’ll get out Friday night as well – I’m sure Nana would enjoy a little alone time with the kids.

This upcoming trip will give me my first days off work (other than weekends and holidays) since our last trip to Vegas, which was for Christmas. I can easily say this has been the most productive 6-month stretch of my career – projects like Microsoft for Startups, the Gaming Developers Conference, Microsoft Build Conference, and the new Azure menu, have been hugely rewarding, and it’s hard to believe they all happened in such a short time period.

I’ve come a long way this year, but I’ve got one more hurdle before going on vacation: starting tomorrow morning I’ll be on call for a week. Being on call is tough because you’re not in your normal workflow, the days are long, and you’re constantly getting surprised with problems popping up that you have to investigate/fix. The good news for me is that right as my on-call shift is ending, our plane will be taking off for Vegas, so I can put everything behind me and get ready for a fun relaxing week.

In addition to Elise’s recital, there is one other thing that makes this weekend particularly exciting – today is Father’s Day! Per our tradition, we met Uncle Jim, Aunt Brenda, and Kristy for the Father’s Day Car Show in Burien. We lucked out with beautiful weather this year, so the turnout of cars was excellent. I love this (relatively) new tradition we have with them and am thankful for the time we get together.

In addition to walking around and seeing tons of cool classic cars, we ended up finding a really cool little restaurant called Frankies B-Town Bistro. We were expecting to have a bunch of food trucks to choose from, but they weren’t there, so we ended up wandering into Frankies and ended up having an excellent lunch. It was a nice (delicious) surprise and made for a fun, memorable day.

Later in the afternoon I got to go play hockey with my buddies and had another great time. I scored 2 goals in the game and kept my consecutive scoring streak alive at 4 games. It’s funny how in such a short time hockey has become such a big part of our lives. Even though I’ve tried to put music at the center of my social life, it hasn’t really worked out that way. Between Ava’s involvement with it and the people I know through Washington Wild, then there’s my thing on Sunday’s in Everett, and there’s some crossover of people I know from both places. It’s been awesome.

Today even though Ava was absent from hockey (for the first time ever), my buddy Daniel who helps run Washington Wild text me with a photo of her skills evaluation, which said she had completed all of the skills for the hockey 2 program and was ready to join the 8U team in the fall! This was very exciting news that I was happy to share with her. She’s been working hard for over a year now and it really shows. I can’t wait to get her on a team and take things to the next level.

In addition to knowing Daniel through Washington Wild, he is also part of our Sunday group, so I get to play with him every week. We’re going to be attending a skating camp together at the end of July, and it turns out that our birthdays are only 3 days apart, so it will be both of our birthday weekends when we attend the camp. Like myself, Daniel is into blogging, and actually writes for a few different hockey websites. He recently started doing this column called “Geezers in Breezers” for a site called Beer League Talk. The purpose of his column is to tell the stories of all the different people you find playing adult recreational hockey, as well as to encourage new people to get into the game.

Daniel ended up asking me if I’d be willing to be interviewed for one installment of his column, and I was more than happy to oblige. At first I didn’t think there was much to tell on my end because I was so new to the game, but between the elbow injuries I’ve faced, and Ava’s involvement with it, it started to make a little more sense. So he emailed me a bunch of questions, and I wrote long answers (shocking) to all of them. The actual article turned out much shorter than the sum of all my long-winded responses, but it was really cool. I’m not sure if the link will always be active so I’ve pasted the whole article at the end of this post. Anyway, it was fun and is just another example of why I love our local hockey community.

Okay, sorry for the hockey tangent – back to Father’s Day. Jessica and the kids really went all out for me this year. Elise dressed up as a cowgirl at school, got some photos taken, then made this adorable soup can with her photos and drawings pasted onto it. She also made me a photo collage of various photos of her throughout these past 5 years.

Ava did something similar by making me a beautiful photo book at school, which I loved, then Mom made a fun video at home of the kids talking about why they love Daddy. Finally, after the video was over, Enzo presented me with a painted rock I had requested last year from Jessica. I’ve mentioned this before, but basically last year I requested two painted rocks from her – 1 with the Vancouver Canucks logo, and 1 with the Alice In Chains sun logo. I can’t remember if I wrote about it in the blog, but about a month ago she presented me with a Vancouver Canucks rock, and it was amazing. She didn’t paint it herself, but had someone she knew through the rock painting community do it. Well, the same guy who did the Canucks rock also did the Alice In Chains rock, and it’s amazing! Obviously these are things I’ll keep forever, and I appreciate them so much! See photos below for more details. Overall I just want to thank my family for showing me so much love and appreciation. Obviously they are everything to me, so it’s nice (and humbling) for them to go out of their way to show me how loved I am.

Okay I guess that’s about it for now. Obviously there will be a lot for us to write about after our vacation. To all the dad’s in our family, we are wishing you a happy Father’s Day! Thank you for being a part of our lives and thank you for everything you do.

Here’s the my installment of the Geezers in Breezers colum:

Geezers in Breezers – This Week Features Mike From Everett Washington

by @Sounder2thecore

What’s up Beer Leaguers?

OldManDan here to tell another story, so sit on down kids. You, yeah you, sit down! Back in my day people showed respect to their elders and the men that played hockey were tough, the women, even tougher!

If you ask around any rink, anywhere from Honolulu to Chelyabinsk why people play the greatest game you can name and the first two things that come up in every answer are that it’s fun and the people are great. Your fellow featured Beer Leaguer this week is no exception.

Meet Mike,

Mike is one of those folks that as soon as you sit on the bench or walk into the locker room is there to say hello and welcome you to the group.

He along with his young daughter is playing and learning the game. He plays with our Sunday evening crew at Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, Washington home of the Silvertips. He started playing Jan. 2017 and is now wheeling and dealing. I asked him a few questions for the benefit of Beer Leaguers everywhere.

What do you think a new adult player needs to know:
Don’t be intimidated. I’ve seen people starting from absolute ground zero (like first or second time on ice skates), and after sticking with it for a bit, their progress was incredible. Everyone is out there for the right reasons, so you don’t need to worry about not being good enough or able to keep up. The people are great and all newcomers are welcome, you just need to find the right group.

What is the best part of playing the game:
There’s two parts to this for me, because not only do I play, but my 6 year old daughter has been playing for a year now as well, and she loves it! For me, I love learning the game and learning the athletic skills, I love the camaraderie I’ve formed with people I’ve met there, and I love the exercise. As a father watching my little girl get into it, I love the lessons she’s learning about teamwork and listening to coaches, I love the athletic skills she’s forming, and I love seeing the pure joy it brings her. Sorry if that’s too many answers, but they’re all true.

Best hockey memory:
After playing for 6 months I had a bone spur and I partially tore my right triceps. I had surgery two days before my birthday, and was expected to be out 4 months. I was back out on the ice in 2 months. In order to give my right side a bit of a break, I switched to playing left-handed for the first few months back (I’m back to right-handed now). In my first game back I scored a top-shelf goal as a leftie, and it felt amazing.

What stress or fears did you have when you started as an adult
I was worried about my skating ability, and the fact that I didn’t know the game very well. That stuff has all come in due time though, and today I’m slightly obsessed with skating and playing hockey. I watch every game I can and never miss a chance to get on the ice.

So for you newbies, get out there! Recruit your friends and hit the ice!

OldManDan

And of course it wouldn’t be a PellegriniPage post without some recent pics, so here you go!

The amazing painted rocks I requested. I can’t thank Jessica enough for these. I love them both.

Elise and Mommy before her recital

I had to get one with her as well

Ava showing off her Unicorn face painting

Elise got Cheetah spots to match her dress

And then there’s our little Enzo monster

Ava got a visit from Elise and Mom at school

Elise’s photo from her final day of preschool. I love that she wants to be a doctor, and can’t believe how grown up she looks.

Elise with her teachers for the past 2 years. They say she’s easily one of the sweetest kids they’ve ever had.

Speaking of growing up…

Our little hockey player is looking the part

As we close in on the end of a beautiful Mother’s Day weekend, I just wanted to give a quick update, and pay homage to my partner in crime. Luckily Jessica didn’t have to work this weekend, so we were able to take full advantage of the weekend by combining some hard work around the house with some good meals, beautiful weather, and nice family time. It was exactly what Mom wanted, and I’m glad she got the weekend she deserved.

We decided to make Saturday a work day around the house. This was the second consecutive Saturday that Jessica spent the entire day outside doing yard work. I wasn’t able to help out last weekend because the impending Microsoft Build conference (which ran Monday – Wednesday), forced me to work a 7 day week last week, then I was on-call this whole week, so getting through all that and simply making it to this weekend was my main goal.

Anyway, the weather has been beautiful all weekend, so Jessica focused on the backyard, while I took on power washing the driveway. She did a great job edging and pulling weeds, while I spent 7 straight hours erasing away years of dirt and grime from our driveway. Once I finished the driveway it got really meta because I had to power wash the power washer, then Jessica had to power wash me. By the end of the day we were both exhausted, but I still had to go to Central Market to get groceries for our annual homemade Mother’s Day breakfast.

We were too tired to cook, so we all went out to our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner, then per Mom’s request, picked up Dairy Queen for dessert. We definitely felt like we deserved it after such a long day out working in the sun. Jessica was hunched over in the yard all day and I felt like Ralph Macchio out there learning a life lesson. It was rough, but the end result looked really nice.

As you can probably guess, we all crashed early last night. I was up pretty early this morning so I could get going on my annual Mother’s Day breakfast/brunch. I made the same Crab Prosciutto Benedict I have on the family recipes site, and everyone seemed to enjoy.

After breakfast we had a video chat with Nana, then it was time to get Ava ready for hockey. After Ava finished hockey she and I ran to the store and picked out a nice bouquet of flowers for Mom, then headed home to prepare for our afternoon hike.

Jessica found a new wooded trail about 25 minutes from the house to check out, so we all loaded up in the van and headed that way. On our way we called Grandma Amy to wish her a happy Mother’s Day. The trail was beautiful, with lots of sights and sounds to consume. We saw trees with mushrooms growing all the way up their trunks, the birds were singing to us, the bugs were biting us, there were lots of winding paths to explore, and a bench near a pond to relax and have a snack on. We left a Mother’s Day themed painted rock, and found a painted rock, which will be a Mother’s Day keepsake. It was a nice way to spend our Sunday afternoon.

As is the case with all weekends, they go by way too quickly, but we’ve got a lot to look forward to in the near future. We’ll be meeting Auntie Dana and Uncle Brad for a hike in North Bend on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, then doing a BBQ at Laurel & Mark’s house the following day. I’m very much looking forward to Elise’s ballet recital in mid June, then at the end of June we’re heading down to Las Vegas for a week of sunshine.

It’s hard to believe that Ava is about to finish Kindergarten and Elise is about to finish pre-school. Their growth, as well as Enzo’s, over the past 6 months has been incredible. Elise is definitely ready to start Kindergarten in the fall, as is Enzo with pre-school. Ava is now playing hockey two days a week, and her progress has been amazing to watch. Just today I was watching her skate and couldn’t believe how fast she was, and how tight her turns were. She also started riding a bike without training wheels last weekend, so that was an exciting milestone to cross for the first time. It was almost a little too easy for her, so hopefully my help will be more necessary for the next two.

We’ve been putting a lot of work into the house lately, and it’s going to be continuing. About a month ago we had the house power-washed, plus had the roof and gutters cleaned. Now we’re getting ready to start a much bigger project with the same guy who did all that work, which is to replace and extend our front porch. It’s something we wanted to do last year but never quite worked out. This year we’re more on top of it, and are hoping to have the project start in the next few weeks. It’s going to be a major upgrade for our house, and is something we’ve wanted to do since buying the house four years ago. One thing I’ve learned about home ownership is that there is always another project looming on the horizon. Some are easier than others, but this one is going to be a big deal, so I can’t wait to get it done.

Before I go I just want to thank Jessica for everything she does, and is. I feel like we’re an amazing team, and together there’s nothing we can’t get through. I’m lucky to have her by my side, and the kids are lucky to have her as their Mom. She always puts everything and everyone ahead of herself, and never asks for anything. Her dedication to our family always comes first, and I hope she knows how much we all appreciate it, even when we’re being a bunch of tired jerks. We love you to the moon honey.

I also want to send our love and thanks to all the other Moms in our lives. Whether it be sisters, aunts, cousins, or our own Moms, we love and appreciate each of you very much, and you’re all in our thoughts today. As for my own Mom, I can’t wait to see you next month. It’s going to be a great week and we definitely need the time away.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Having a little down time during today’s hike

They loved celebrating Mom’s day

Getting to visit with Lyndsey Fry – U.S. Olympic Medalist from the Women’s Hockey team that won silver in the 2014 Sochi games. She came in to visit Washington Wild and gave a very inspiring talk about her journey as an Olympian.

Happy Mother’s Day honey, we love you so much!

It’s been a busy day as we celebrate Jessica’s birthday. Although the day isn’t over, and we still have a nice seafood dinner at home to look forward to, we’ve already crammed a lot in. Before I get to everything we’ve had going on, I want to wish Jessica a very happy birthday. I love you, I love our family, and I couldn’t be happier. Thank you for everything you do, and know that we love and appreciate you so very much!

Before getting out and about for the day, we had a visit with a contractor this morning about replacing our front porch. This was a project we wanted to do last Summer, but it never quite worked out, so we decided to put it on hold for a bit. Anyway, there’s a guy named Jeff that we’ve seen around our neighborhood a lot over the past few years. He owns a house around the corner which he rents out, so he’s frequently over there, but he’s also frequently on our street because several of our neighbors have hired him for different house-related projects.

A few weeks ago we hired him to power wash our house, clean the gutters, clean the roof, and treat the roof to prevent moss from growing. He was a pleasure to work with and did a great job, so we decided to ask him about building a new front porch. He came back over this morning to take a look and measure everything. Hopefully it won’t be long before we get a bid, and depending on how that turns out, we could be starting this project sometime soon. Jessica said multiple times this morning that if it all works out, this would be the best birthday gift she could ask for.

After that we headed down to Nothing Bundt Cakes in Mill Creek Town Center to pick up Mom’s birthday cake. Last Sunday, on our way home from hockey, Ava and I stopped by there to order the cake. I let Ava pick everything out and she did a great job. It’s a chocolate-chocolate-chip cake with a beautiful purple flower, purple crown, and a flag saying “Happy Birthday Mom”. Ava did a great job picking everything out and we were really happy with how it turned out. Obviously we’re looking forward to enjoying it for dessert tonight. Chances are we’ll even have enough left over to enjoy a Grandpa Elmer Breakfast tomorrow morning.

After taking the cake home, we headed out for family brunch. We decided to try a new place, and I’ll admit the food was good, but it was so crazy busy that from the time we put our name on the list until the time we were actually eating, it had been just shy of 90 minutes. As you can imagine, we were all a little cranky (or should I say hangry) by the time our food arrived, but it was delicious and we all had a nice meal together.

Once our bellies were full we decided to swing by Costco on the way home so I could pickup groceries for tonight’s birthday dinner. The menu includes some beautiful King Crab legs, seared scallops, shrimp, corn on the cob, and of course, our double chocolate bundt cake. After dinner we’re all going to sit down for another edition of Family Movie Night. Tonight we’ll be showing a classic from our childhood that we think the kids will enjoy – ‘Honey I Shrunk the Kids’.

As usual, we’ve got plenty of other good stuff in the works. Earlier this month we purchased plane tickets to Las Vegas. We’ll be going down the final week of June for a week of warm weather, swimming, lots of quality time with family, arts and crafts with Nana, and plenty else. My mom is really excited to have us, and we’re particularly excited to have a warm weather family vacation. Every time we go somewhere as a family it’s during the winter, so we’re looking forward to this change of pace.

By the time we go to Vegas it will have been exactly 6 months since our last trip there, and I won’t have taken a single day off work during that timespan. Our fiscal year ends on June 30th, and the second half of the fiscal year is always busier than the first, so to go that whole time without a vacation day can be a bit exhausting. Due to this, I’m taking a few more days off when we return, which will be capped by the 4th of July. Between vacation days, weekends, and the holiday, I’ll have a total of 12 consecutive days off. Glory.

Related to work, the new menu I’ve been developing for azure.com went live this past Monday. It took me five full weeks of development time, and I’m still working on documentation for it. For comparison’s sake, the startups site that I built earlier this year took 6 weeks of development time, and that’s an entire website. Although it looks pretty simple on the outside, the new Azure menu is the most complicated front-end feature I’ve ever worked on. There are actually 3 menus in one (mobile, tablet, & desktop), it’s localized into 26 different cultures, it contains 2 different types of search functionality, it gathers analytics on all user interactions, and much, much more. My ultimate goal with everything I do at work is to create the most possible impact I can for my team, and considering this feature is included on every page of the website, it can’t really get much bigger, so I can’t help but be proud of it.

Finishing it last week and getting back to normal was nice, but I look forward to another big project, hopefully soon. In the meantime I’ve got a fun event to look forward to this week. Basically Google recently reached out to Microsoft in anticipation of them releasing their new mobile search algorithms in July. Basically they’re going to start ranking searches from mobile devices differently, and they wanted to give us a heads up so that we’ll have time to update our websites as necessary. They certainly didn’t have to do this, especially since we’re competitors, but we’ve formed a partnership on this, and this Thursday there’s going to be a hackathon on our campus amongst Google and Microsoft engineers to start making mobile-specific updates.

Owners of each major Microsoft website were contacted about this, and my manager chose a handful of people to represent our site, myself included. I’m excited to be part of the group, and am taking the work seriously. Search Engine Optimization is really important for us, so we can’t afford to get this wrong. It’s going to be a fun day of collaboration with Google, and a nice Happy Hour to follow. These are the kinds of perks and learning opportunities that make me love working at a company like Microsoft.

Okay, back to family stuff. Elise has been working so hard at dance and is very excited for her upcoming recital. In all honesty I think it’s her ballerina costume that she’s most excited about (such a fashionista this one is), but I know she’s also very excited to perform. It’s become obvious to me over the past 6-8 months that Elise is a natural performer. She loves telling jokes and making people laugh, she’s musical, loves dance, and seems to have some natural acting chops. Like Ava, she has recently started expressing interest in acting in a play. I certainly did my fair share of acting as a kid, so it appears the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree.

In addition to her recital in June, Elise is also very excited for her birthday party with Webbly, the frog mascot for the Everett Aquasox, on July 14. She definitely understands that she’s getting an extra special birthday party this year, and the excitement she continues to show is super cute. She’s nearly finished with pre-school and can’t wait to join Penny Creek as a kindergartner in the fall.

Enzo is doing great and growing fast. His vocabulary continues to exceed his age, and he’s about as hot and cold of a kid as I’ve seen. Luckily the hot outweighs the cold, but it’s not uncommon for him to get mad at you, say something like “you’re being rude at me” for no apparent reason, and demand a warm bottle of milk. The thing is, the bad mood never lasts long with him, and without notice he’s liable to start laughing, hugging you, and saying things like “I love you with all my heart.” He really is a sweet kid.

Between school, hockey, and swimming lessons, Ava is as busy as ever. She’s been struggling with swimming, but had a breakthrough lesson this week where she willingly put her entire head underwater. This was a big deal for her so Jessica and I were really happy. We just want her to be comfortable and safe in the water, and we’re committed to continuing with swimming lessons until we reach that point. She also has perfect attendance at school this year, which we’re very proud of. As it turns out, due to her being such a natural social butterfly, the best way to punish Ava is to threaten to keep her home from school. Just the mention of it will straighten her out quickly.

Last Sunday Ava started the new Spring hockey session with Washington Wild. This is now her 3rd consecutive session in the Hockey 2 program with them, and the progress has been really noticeable. I’ve been there for every class and it’s been so cool to see her go from the beginners group to the advanced group. She has also qualified to play in their 3 on 3 league this summer, but her ultimate goal is to join a team, which she will be doing this fall. Regardless of how far she goes with hockey, the lessons she’s already learning about teamwork, listening to coaches, and self-improvement, will stick with her for life. Although I will never force her (or any of our kids) into an activity, I really hope she sticks with it. Her natural talent is obvious, and seeing her having so much fun on this ice is always a pleasure from my perspective.

Working on Sunday nights has been working out well for Jessica. Although going to work isn’t something most people think of as ‘me time’, when you compare it to full-time care of 3 small kids, it kinda puts things in perspective. Considering that it’s only one night a week, Sundays are a laid back night, and she gets to see people we’ve both known for many years, you can see how it’s the perfect gig for her.

Over the past couple years Jessica has become really involved in the local rock-painting community. Despite her modesty, she definitely has artistic talent, but beyond that, it’s her generosity with her work that impresses me most. It seems like every week she’s working on a rock for a sick kid, or someone who has recently suffered some type of misfortune. It gives her great pleasure to do nice things for complete strangers, which I think speaks a lot about her character. The funny thing is I asked her for 2 rocks about a year ago (one with the Vancouver Canucks logo and one with the Alice In Chains sun logo), and am still waiting for them. She’s always busy with other projects, but assures me I will receive them when least expected. I’ve had to remind her that Seattle is getting an NHL team in 2020, so the Canucks won’t be my favorite team forever.

One more thing about painted rocks; last weekend the weather was nice, so we went for a little rock hunt at a nearby park. There’s a big forest behind the park, and through her social media connections, Jessica knew about a special hidden rock collection in this forest called ‘The Dragon’s Nest’. The location was a secret, but you could get clues on social media. By the time we were going as a family, Jessica had already been there once before, but it was my first time, and I believe Ava’s too. We actually ran into other people in the woods who were also looking for it, which was a little awkward because it’s supposed to be a secret, but they were cool and weren’t there to steal all the rocks. Finding it was cool – it’s hidden really well, and there’s quite a few rocks there, each of which is painted with some type of dragon artwork. The idea is to only take as many dragon rocks as you leave, which we did. Unfortunately some people are jerks and take all of them, which is why they have to be careful about hiding them.

On our way walking through the woods I could hear the faint sound of clanging metal. I didn’t think much of it, but it all made sense a few minutes later as we walked around a corner, and suddenly, about 20 yards away, I see a man wearing a full suit of armor, like total Knights of the Roundtable style. Then I saw a few more in similar garb not far behind him. I have to admit for a second I was a little worried for my family’s safety – after all several of these guys were carrying broad swords, but I’ve seen enough episodes of Game Of Thrones to know how The Hound would deal with this situation.

The funny thing was the kids weren’t even slightly fazed by it. The just walked on by as if we weren’t in close proximity to a bunch of nerds LARKing in the forest. I, on the other hand, couldn’t divert my attention. They had a BBQ going, a few of them were choreographing a sword fight, and seemed to have been there for quite a while. I got a particular kick out of their shrink wrapped case of bottled water, like the kind you buy at the grocery store, which didn’t feel very authentic to me. Shouldn’t they have goblets, or mead, or something? I’ve never seen anything quite like it, but to each their own I guess. After all, we were out there on a rock hunt searching for a ‘Dragon’s Nest’, so who are we to judge?

Guess that’s all for now. I always feel like I’m forgetting something when I wrap a post up, most likely because I am, but I digress. In short, all is quite well, but it’s all happening a little faster than we ever expected. Happy birthday to my love, my best friend, and the best Mom our kids could ask for. I love you. Here’s a few recent pics.

A birthday pic with Mom and the totem pole

We had fun a couple weeks ago at Madi’s party. The girls were more than happy to ‘help’ her open presents.

Our family-style anniversary dinner

They love coming to guitar stores with me

A visit with Wild Bird at one of Ava’s hockey practices

The start of the Spring session has arrived!

Our neighbors had some concrete work done. Enzo was just a little excited to have a cement mixer on our street.

Elise enjoying the nice weather in her favorite sundress

Enzo had a fun beach day with Mom and friends. I can’t believe his sunglasses aren’t upside down.

Happy Birthday Mom! Not sure why Elise is holding a baby photo of herself, but I love it.

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and we’ve got a nice day to look forward to. We’ll be driving up to Sedro Woolley to spend the day with our good friend the Palmers. Like last year, they’ll be hosting an Easter Egg hunt in their massive backyard, then later in the afternoon we’ll all sit down to an excellent family dinner. I’m not sure what’s on the menu this year, but it really doesn’t matter – Leon is an amazing chef and someone I definitely look up to in the kitchen. I may even bring a guitar along, as the kids always get a kick out of someone playing music for them, and I never need much of an excuse to jam.

Another exciting upcoming event for us is our 8th anniversary, which is on Tuesday. I’ll quickly do the obligatory bit and then move on: “It’s hard to believe it’s already been 8 years. Time really does fly by.” We usually celebrate by going out to dinner, and I guess that still holds true this year, except that we’ll need a larger table. In my last post I wrote about taking the girls out to a nice Italian dinner at a nearby restaurant called Calabria, then taking them to our first Daddy-Daughter dance.

Well, that dinner really made an impression on them. Elise’s dance school is just a few doors down, and recently after dance she saw the restaurant and started going on and on to Mom about the dinner we had. Then we had a similar experience with Ava raving about it. So, based on all the excitement we thought it would be fun for the 5 of us to go out to Calabria for a nice fancy anniversary dinner as a family. Since our anniversary falls on a Tuesday, we’ll have to wait until the following Saturday to go out, but it will be worth the wait.

The funny thing is the kids don’t really get the concept of simply going out to dinner, so they keep asking what we’re doing afterwards. They seem to think we’re going to another dance, or something of that nature, so we keep trying to explain that dinner is the event. I don’t think it’s sunk in yet, so we’ll see if we end up finding something else to do after we eat.

There’s a few other events in the near future we’ve been planning. On April 14th we’ll be attending Madi’s birthday party, which they’re doing at an indoor trampoline park (similar to what we did in Vegas). Those places are fun for everyone so we’re looking forward to it. Speaking of Vegas, we’ve selected the week we’re going (last week in June), so it’s just a matter of purchasing tickets at this point, which I expect will be done in short order. We’re timing it so that we go right after school, Ava’s hockey session, and Elise’s dance recital have completed. Can’t wait to get some hot weather and pool time!

The other thing we’ve been planning is Elise’s 5th birthday party, which will be right after we get home from Vegas. Normally each summer we take the kids to at least one Everett Aquasox game, which is the Single A minor league affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. The games are close to our house, it’s a really family friendly environment, and the kids absolutely love seeing their mascot – Webbly.

Well, when we asked Elise if there was anything she wanted to do for her birthday, she asked if we could go see Webbly. We were intrigued by the idea of doing a baseball birthday party, so we looked into it. As it turns out, Elise’s birthday falls on a Saturday, the Aquasox have their final home game that night before going on a road trip, and it’s one of the few ‘Fireworks Nights’ of the season, meaning there will be a fireworks show after the game.

Based on all these factors it seemed meant to be, so Jessica got in touch with someone from the team and we have started planning a party. We decided to do it right by going with a party package, meaning all you can eat for all of our guests, all you can bounce (for the kids going to the bouncy houses), a meet & greet with Webbly, Elise’s name on the scoreboard during an intermission, and she even gets to go out on the field to throw out a pitch! Obviously she’s going to love it, but beyond that, it will be a very memorable occasion for our whole family. We’ve started extending invitations to guests and interest seems to be high, so it should be a lot of fun.

As of last Sunday, Jessica is back to working Sunday nights at El Gaucho Bellevue. The offer has always been there, and since I’m already gone playing hockey for a few hours on Sunday evenings, she felt it made sense to go back, but just that one night per week. Tomorrow is an exception because it’s Easter, so neither Ava or I has hockey, and Jessica won’t be working, but then we’ll be back to (our new) normal the following Sunday. It’s a nice chill night to work (compared to the craziness of Friday and Saturday night), she gets to see all our friends, and they love having her, so it seems like a good fit.

Things have been crazy for me with work, as usual, but even more than normal this week because I’m on call. Now that I’ve made it to the weekend, the worst is behind me, but the long consecutive days start catching up to you, so I’m more than ready for a relaxing weekend. Based on Jessica’s encouragement, I ended up purchasing a new amplifier on eBay this past Monday, and although it wasn’t scheduled to be delivered until this coming Monday, it ended up coming early, literally as I was writing this post.

It’s a Cornford, which no longer exists as a brand, but they’re these incredibly high-end boutique amplifiers that were hand built in England from the late 90’s until about 2012. I’m not sure what happened to the company, but their products are legendary, and very hard to find. The funny thing was, I hadn’t even considered a Cornford while shopping around because they’re so hard to find, but I was looking on Craigslist last Sunday night, and found a Cornford for sale right here in Snohomish county. My jaw practically dropped, because again, they’re very rare. I’ve never even seen one in person. It was too late at night to call the owner, so I figured I’d call on Monday, but my on-call shift started on Monday morning and I was so busy all day that I didn’t get a chance to contact the owner until after work. Not surprisingly the amp had already sold.

I was pretty bummed, but now I had this specific amp in mind and started looking around for it online, and ended up finding one (and only one) on eBay all the way out in Michigan. It was slightly more expensive than the one I’d found on Craigslist, but again based on Jessica’s encouragement, I ended up getting it. Getting it delivered today is awesome because the only other thing I’m doing today besides writing this post and going to the gym, is playing guitar. I’ll crank it as much as I can at home, but what I’m really excited for is taking it to jam with my buddies, where I can really let it loose. I’d been having amp issues for a while, so this is going to be a drastic upgrade. I’ve owned a lot of nice amps over the years, but gotten rid of them because they were all so large, heavy, and too loud for practical use. This one is smaller, lighter, and just as good (if not better) than any of the classic amps I used to own. I never really thought I’d own an amp of this caliber, but look forward to keeping it forever – after all, you don’t get rid of a Cornford.

I’m currently working on a big / highly visible project at work, which is to rebuild the entire header and menu for azure.com. I’ve been on it for two weeks already, and it’s going to be another 2-3 weeks before it launches, but it’s so important that we can’t afford to ship it in less than a perfect state. This is different than building a special component, page, or set of pages, because it lives on literally every page of the entire website, so it gets seen and interacted with by millions of users over time. I could tell some of my teammates were relieved not to get this project, but I don’t see it as pressure. Instead, I see it as just another opportunity to deliver big results, and so far it’s going really well. I’ll definitely mention it on here once it goes live.

I have to be honest in saying that the main reason I’m writing a post today is because I didn’t want to break my consecutive months streak, which dates all the way back to July, 2011. That’s longer than I’ve been a parent, which pretty much already feels like forever. Normally I would wait until some exciting things have just happened (like our Easter Sunday and Anniversary dinners), then write about those, but the family blog is important to me and I didn’t want to skip the month of March. The truth is, sitting down to write these posts is a bit of a time commitment, and sometimes it’s hard to make that time when you’ve got so much else going on, but it matters. Not just to Jessica and myself, but it’s really going to matter to the kids someday. It’s the greatest gift I can give them, and staying on at least a monthly cadence is something I’m committed to.

I look forward to filling in the details about our upcoming adventures sometime in April. We recently received some of Leon’s photos from Enzo’s 3rd birthday, so here’s a few of those, along with a handful of other recent goodies. Happy Easter, Happy Spring!

His little smile kills me

Wonder Woman twinkle toes loves to entertain

Our little helper

My new Cornford Roadhouse 30. May not look like much, but a very special amp.

From Enzo’s party at Chuck E. Cheese

Ava has fun at any gathering

Make a wish buddy

Family

There’s been a lot of cool stuff going on for us lately, and I’ve got a lot to get to, but first I need to wish my Dad a happy birthday. I can’t believe today he would be 90, but I keep doing the math and it keeps checking out. After all, he was 52½ when I was born and I’m 37½ now, so there you have it.

As always, I still think of him every day, but on days like today I can’t help but think of him a little bit more. Obviously it sucks that he never got to meet my wife or any of my kids, but I know he would be very happy with how my life has turned out, and my God would he love his grandchildren and daughter-in-law. Even though he was gone well before any of them came along, he is still very much a part of our lives.

I’ve done my best to not just talk about him, but to associate his memory with good. So, on a special occasion when we’re having birthday cake for breakfast, we call that a Grandpa Elmer breakfast. Or when Ava knows she did something wrong, I’ll ask her “What would Grandpa Elmer tell you to do?” and she always knows immediately. I’ll be pulling that on Elise and Enzo soon as well.

I feel like not only does he deserve that, but the kids deserve it too. They deserve to know who and where they come from, and he was a great man who deserves to have his memory live on. I especially love the way we celebrated his birthday today, which was by me taking Ava and Elise to our first Daddy-Daughter Dance at the local high school. We found out about it through Ava’s school, and as soon as I mentioned it to the girls a couple weeks ago, they got super excited. They had their dresses picked out a week in advance.

I figured if you’re going to a dance then you have to go out to dinner first, and being that it was Grandpa Elmer’s birthday, an Italian restaurant seemed appropriate. We went to a local place called Calabria, and had a delicious meal. The girls both had pasta, while I enjoyed Veal Saltimboca, then we got down on some serious dessert (see photo below). After dinner we headed off to the dance where we enjoyed an evening of games, pictures, snacks, and of course – dancing. It was great fun, as it should be, and was a night I won’t forget.

So before moving on, happy birthday Dad! I find myself telling my kids a lot of the same things you used to tell me, and I love the fact that you are still a part of our lives.

Jessica has been quite busy lately. She worked a few shifts at El Gaucho Bellevue recently, as they always get busy around Valentine’s Day. They love having her there and keep asking her to come in and work more frequently. She got a call from the General Manager this week saying they received the nicest letter from a customer regarding the service Jessica gave them. It’s a true testament to her natural ability not just to do a good job, but to connect with people and make sure they really enjoy their evening. She’s been thinking about picking up a few more shifts so we’ll see if it works out.

She’s been continuing to work hard with the kids on reading, writing, and counting. Ava is getting close to having all her sight words up on the wall, and Elise is soaking it up. I’ve been extremely busy with work lately (more on that in a bit), so Jessica has taken on so much in terms of homework and studying with the kids. On top of this, in addition to our two family trips per week to the gym, she’s been squeezing in a couple extra workout sessions per week, just to keep her sanity I guess.

The kids are all doing great. Yesterday was Ava’s 100th day of Kindergarten, so they had a classroom party where each kid was supposed to wear a shirt with 100 of something on it. Jessica ended up going onto her local Buy Nothing site and found another Mom giving away her daughter’s shirt from last year, which had 100 smiley faces on it. So Ava wore that, and we’re keeping it for Elise to wear next year 😉

Elise is continuing to enjoy dance classes on Wednesdays, but I’ve still only had a chance to see her once, so I really can’t wait for her recital in June. She is also showing a lot of interest in two things: building (like with Legos or Duplos), and music. She also insists on picking out her own clothes each day (even her pajamas), so I love all the creativity we’ve been seeing from her.

Enzo loves playing the Ukulele we got him for his birthday. As I write this, he is sitting next to me watching a movie, while holding (and strumming) his Ukulele. On command he will play you his favorite song “Dumpy Dump Truck”. He has also been really interested in hockey lately. He insists on coming to Ava’s hockey practice every Sunday, and keeps asking if he can put on skates and play. The funny thing is, since his entire exposure (so far) to hockey has been through Ava’s team, he thinks its a girls game, so he said “Daddy I want to play hockey, but not on the girls team.” I had to explain that boys play hockey too and he could get on a boys team if he wanted.

I was talking to some guys at my hockey class on Sunday afternoons, and found out that next Saturday (March 2nd), there will be another “Try Hockey For Free” event in Everett. Basically kids of all ages are invited to come out and play on the ice. All the gear is provided for you, so it’s a nice way to give your kid some exposure to it without making the commitment of buying all the gear up front. In Enzo’s case, he already has his own skates, but we’ll get everything else from them. He’s super excited about it, so I hope he has fun.

Then right after that all 5 of us will be attending the hockey game between the Everett Silvertips and the Seattle Thunderbirds. The following day Ava has hockey in the morning, and I have hockey in the afternoon. So in other words, next weekend is all about hockey. I’ve been watching as much of the Winter Olympics as possible lately, and was super excited to see the US Women’s hockey team win the gold medal for the first time in 20 years (Canada’s first loss in 20 years). I showed Ava some of the highlights, including the post game celebration, and she was so excited. She kept saying she wants to play hockey on TV…

One more little thing about hockey before moving on: I used to play right-handed, but then after breaking my right elbow in July, I switched over to playing left-handed. It was a fairly natural switch for me, and I’ve played that way ever since, even though not that much later I ended up injuring my left elbow as well. Last weekend I was practicing shooting in the garage, and as I was wrapping things up, I saw my old right-handed stick sitting there, so I decided to pull it out and have a go. Well, even though it’s been a while, shooting right-handed still felt a little more natural and comfortable, so when I play tomorrow I’m going to play right-handed and see how it goes. I figure I can always switch back if I want, but I’m excited to give it a try.

After I finish playing hockey tomorrow night, I’m going to quickly clean up, run home to grab Jessica, then we’re heading to the Moore Theater in downtown Seattle to see a Jazz Fusion band from New York called Snarky Puppy. I’ve become a fan of their music over the past year and was stoked to see them coming to Seattle on their Winter tour. Jessica isn’t familiar with their music but is always down to catch a show, so it should be a lot of fun.

Speaking of music, I’ve been getting a decent amount of jam sessions in with friends this year. It’s not a weekly thing, but we tend to get together at a rehearsal studio on Monday nights from 8:00-10:00. Up until this week, it’s just been my friend Sam on bass, myself on guitar, and a drum machine plugged into the P.A. system. However, this week we had a designer I work with come in a play drums.

I’ve been recording all the sessions and have been posting the recordings here on our website for download. I’ll put a link to it here, but with a warning – none of this stuff is rehearsed or practiced. It’s totally improvised on the spot, meaning a lot of it sucks, but there’s also a few little nuggets of sonic goodness in there.

I’ve been going through the recordings, trying not to focus on the abundance of cringe-worthy moments where I played the wrong note, or missed the beat, and instead focus on extracting the good stuff and working on it. I can envision a scenario where eventually we’re writing songs, while still embracing that jam-based influence. It’s all instrumental too, so the focus is entirely on what we can do musically, rather than just holding down a progression and hiding behind a singer. I’ll eventually be putting the recordings up on SoundCloud, but for now it’s all available at https://pellegrinipage.com/music/

I’ll wrap things up with a work project I recently completed. I spent the first 6 weeks of the year working on a brand new website, which we launched on Valentine’s Day, called Microsoft For Startups (https://startups.microsoft.com/). It was a project I had volunteered for, was named lead developer on, and was excited to be a part of. It was a ton of work, but as expected, a great learning experience. There were some 16 hour days, and working on some weekends (all the typical tech industry stuff), but in the end the launch went super smooth, and I ended up finding myself on some email threads with VP’s and other people much more senior than myself who were offering congratulations on a job well done.

It felt great to get that type of recognition, but as always, there’s no time to sit around soaking it up. We’re in the middle of the cloud wars baby, and times are as busy as ever, so you take a quick victory lap, maybe treat yourself to a nice lunch, then jump back into the fire. I’m already working on another cool project in anticipation of next month’s Gaming Developer Conference. The announcement we made with the launch of the site was a really big deal, and within just a few hours of going live, there were already articles about it on some major websites like GeekWire, TechCrunch, and VentureBeat. I couldn’t explain it better than any of them, so if you’re interested in learning more, just check out those articles.

I guess that’s about all for now. As always, things are great, and we’re staying busy. Here’s a few recent photos.

Getting ready for our big night out

My girls

Family couch selfie

We couldn’t pick between the Tiramisu and the Chocolate Cake, so…

Face painting at the dance

Mommy and Enzo, enjoying a cookie outside

Enjoying their bedroom fort last weekend

The girls getting some couch snuggle time

Elise looking studious, Enzo caught booger-handed

Ready for our snow day!

A perfect snow angel by Elise

Happy Birthday Dad

Today our big boy turns 3! Although today is his actual birthday, we held his birthday party yesterday afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese in Lynnwood. It was a small gathering consisting of us, the Palmer’s, and the O’Hair’s. Definitely the smallest birthday party we’ve hosted, but that was of no concern to Enzo. As one could imagine, Chuck E. Cheese is absolutely packed on a Saturday afternoon, so while our group was small, there was no shortage of excitement or activity.

We spent a while playing games, then eventually migrated over to the table for food, photos with Chuck, cake, and presents. It was fun and easy, and everyone had a good time. After the party we came home and had a video chat with Nana so she could see him open her presents.

The girls have definitely noticed that we were taking it easy this year because they keep saying stuff like “Who’s coming over today? When will they be here?” When we say no one is coming over today, they’re like “What!? You mean we’re not having a bunch of people over to our house? What’s going on?”

This morning we woke up and came downstairs to open a few gifts, play with new toys, and have breakfast together. After that we had a video chat with Grandma and Grandpa Martin. As usual, Enzo received some really cool gifts this year. Some of the highlights include a light up race car track, a big dump truck, cement mixer, various books, a ukulele, remote control monster truck, and a personalized construction outfit.

We could tell that he wasn’t quite feeling 100% this morning, but Enzo insisted on coming to hockey with Ava and me this morning. This is his third week in a row joining us (by choice), so it seems like some level of interest is brewing. Although there is no doubt that currently his favorite part about going to hockey is watching the Zamboni clean the ice. Normally he loves running all over the place, but today he insisted on me holding him the entire time Ava was on the ice. At one point I made the mistake of sitting down, but he quickly corrected me, saying that I needed to stand up while holding him.

Enzo is also still doing great with his potty training. It’s actually probably not fair to use the term “potty training” anymore because he’s not training at all, he’s just using the bathroom like anyone else. It’s been over two weeks now and we’ve only had 2 or 3 accidents that whole time. So, in other words, birthday presents were reciprocal this year. After all, diapers have been a part of our daily lives for the past 6 years and change, but that’s over now. Re-gifting our remaining diapers felt pretty sweet.

Elise has completely recovered from her cold a couple weeks ago, and has been keeping busy with school and dance. She is continuing to learn letters, numbers, and words, and her ability to hold a pencil has improved noticeably since my last post. My Mom got her and Ava some great workbooks to help facilitate all this learning, and both girls are loving them.

Elise continues to love dance, and I’m already excited for her recital in June. I feel bad that I have only been to one of her dance classes, but she goes on Wednesday’s at 10:00 am, so there’s nothing I can do. I keep asking her to show me things she has learned in class and she’s starting to do it more and more. She is also showing more and more interest in music, so it’s probably only a matter of time before she starts getting into some form of lessons.

Ava is continuing to do great with her reading and writing. She now has 23 of the 45 sight words up on the wall (meaning she knows them). Getting number 23 today was exciting because it means we have crossed the halfway point. We started working on these sight words about 3 weeks ago, with a modest goal of knowing all of them by the end of the school year. Based on her current progress I think we’re going to have no problems meeting our initial goal, so it might be time to start shooting a little higher. Regardless, we are so proud of her and excited to see all the progress she continues to make. The sweetest part about it is that her number 1 goal with learning to read is to be able to read a book to her brother and sister.

Ava is also continuing to have so much fun playing hockey. The improvement she continues to make is pretty amazing. Just this morning I was watching her doing skating drills where she was skating backwards, and jumping! So she’s doing a two-foot hop while skating backwards. Trust me when I say that’s really hard to do, especially on hockey skates. She has no fear though. She loves to warm up by going on the ice (first one out every time), grabbing a puck, and skating laps around the rink while stick handling the puck. Again, not easy, and not common for most of the girls out there, but she is already showing an impressive level of determination and skill.

Guess that’s about it for now. As you can probably infer, everything is good and we’re all doing well. Wishing a very happy birthday to our big boy Enzo! Here’s some photos (and a video) from yesterday. My good friend Leon was taking pictures yesterday, so I look forward to sharing those once they are available.

Bringing new meaning to BFF. Love our girls so much.

His new smile cracks me up

Sporting his new personalized construction outfit from Nana

So, the ticket blaster wasn’t such a big hit…

Make a wish Enzo

The kids! Left to right: Miles, Enzo, Elise, Finn, and Ava (Ronan was there but refused to get in the picture)

All three of our kids are doing big things these days, and I couldn’t be more proud of each of them. As you may already know, Ava is in Kindergarten this year, and let me say, Kindergarten has changed significantly since I was there, which was over 30 years ago. I can’t believe the stuff she’s learning at such a young age! I also can’t believe how much homework she’s responsible for each day. Her teacher warned us at orientation last summer, and it’s no joke. Jessica spends at least an hour each day after school working with Ava on letters, numbers, sight words, writing, and basic arithmetic. Then when I get home from work I’m spending another 30 minutes working with her (and Elise quite frequently) on reading and writing.

Ava is supposed to be able to read 45 sight words by the end of the school year, and we have all of them on flash cards. Once we are convinced she knows a word, we tape that flash card up on the wall. We’ve only been at it for a week or so, but she already has the following words on the wall: look, I, go, is, my, come, like, the, and to. I expect we’ll be adding one or two more this evening. Although Ava was struggling a bit at first, she has already turned a corner, and I can tell she is starting to actually read words by sounding them out, rather than relying on some form of rote memorization. She gets very excited when doing a good job, so positive reinforcement and encouragement have been key from our perspective as parents and teachers.

In addition to everything she has going on at school, Ava just got started with a new 3 month hockey session. She hadn’t played in 3 or 4 weeks before getting started on Sunday, and she was absolutely chomping at the bit to get out there. In fact, before class begins she always pushes her way to the front of the group so she can be the first one stepping out onto the ice as soon as the door is opened.

It was so cute to see her helping a younger little girl who had never played hockey before. We were getting suited up and this little girl was afraid to put some of the gear on. Ava took so kindly to her and told her we have to wear the gear to stay protected, then you can fall or slide on the ice and it doesn’t hurt. I know how much Ava is already looking up to the older girls, and it’s clear she can’t wait to be a role model for the younger ones. Hockey is already doing great things for Ava, and they’re not just athletic.

As with most of Ava’s milestones, Elise is always right there paying close attention and soaking things up quicker than we realize. Since Ava has been so active with letters and reading, Elise has naturally gravitated to them as well. I can tell things are coming quickly for her, because she has an impressive ability to focus for someone so young. While Ava can sometimes get easily distracted, Elise tends to stay locked in. Her biggest difficulty at this point is more mechanical than anything; she often struggles with holding a pencil, which in turn affects her ability to write. However I expect this will only be a temporary struggle. Even this morning she was showing improvement with how she holds the pencil, and I’m so impressed with how many letters she has already learned!

Poor Elise had a difficult week this week because she came down with a cold. She had a fever, cough, and partially lost her voice, so we kept her home from school and dance until Friday. At this point she seems to have fully recovered, and she had a good day at school yesterday, so I think we’re in the clear. She’s excited to get back into her dance class next week, as she has a recital in June to prepare for.

With Elise being so under the weather this week, Jessica ended up staying home with her and Enzo on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. While this may sound like a recipe for cabin fever, an incredibly positive thing came out of it: Enzo is now potty trained! His 3rd birthday is a week from tomorrow, and as I write this on Saturday, he hasn’t had an accident, or gone potty in a diaper, since Tuesday. He actually ended up getting sick this week as well, so Jessica had two sick kiddos to care for, but even throughout all of that, he didn’t have any accidents.

He’s waking up in the morning with a dry diaper, going to the bathroom on his own, then coming to get one of us for a bottle of warm milk. He tells us when he needs to go, and isn’t bothered by using public restrooms when out and about. Obviously we’re going to have minor setbacks or accidents at some point in the near future, but there’s no question he has turned a corner with this, and there’s no going back. To think that diapers have been a daily part of our lives for the past 6 years and change, and we’re now basically all done with them, is just crazy. It’s definitely a parenting milestone that we’re happy to surpass, and I just couldn’t be more proud of our little guy.

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of taking all 3 kids to Monster Jam, which is the annual monster truck show at the Tacoma Dome. It’s funny because I’ve been seeing commercials for monster trucks shows at the Tacoma Dome for literally as long as I can remember, and finally now at the age of 37, I have finally attended my first show. I have to admit, it was a lot of fun. I wasn’t really sure beforehand, so I got seats up in the nosebleeds, but it didn’t matter. The kids loved it. The only bummer was that I didn’t realize our seats were behind the huge TV screen that shows replays, so we weren’t able to see any of that stuff, but again, it didn’t matter. All 3 of the kids loved it, so I suspect we’ll be going again next year. I’ll certainly pony up for better seats as well, now that I know how much we all enjoyed it.

It’s extremely loud in there, so ear protection is a must, and not surprisingly I got a lot of resistance from Enzo when it came to wearing it. However, after the trucks came out for an opening lap and he got a taste of just how loud they really are, suddenly he wasn’t complaining about wearing his headphones. I wasn’t totally sure how much the girls would enjoy it, but as it turned out, Elise definitely liked it, and Ava loved it the most of anyone. Grave Digger is her favorite truck (and Enzo’s), so she would get super excited whenever it came out for a run. There was a big “puppy dog truck” that instantly became Elise’s favorite. Personally, I liked Earth Shaker, which was a big Cat-style dump truck.

Not only was it a fun event, but it was a nice special day for the kids and I to have together. I loved the idea of getting a whole day with them, and consequently giving Jessica a day to herself. The Tacoma Dome is more than an hour from our house, and I took them to lunch before the show, so we were gone from 10:30 to 5:30. Jessica spent her free day meeting Laurel and baby Sadie for lunch, going to the gym, and getting some stuff done around the house. She deserves more days like this, so I’m glad she enjoyed it and made the most of it.

We recently made a nice upgrade to our living area, and I’m actually enjoying it right now as I write this: we bought a nice new leather sectional couch! Our old sectional had been with us since we lived in La Mesa, and had been basically destroyed by the kids over the past few years. The cushions were getting flat, there were plenty of uncomfortable spots, and it didn’t have any recliners, so you had to move a big ottoman into position if you wanted to put your feet up. First world problems for sure, but still ready for replacement.

We had seen this beautiful dark gray leather couch with golden brown stitching at Costco and fell immediately in love with it. It had 2 power recliners, 1 manual recliner, stainless steel cup holders, multiple power and USB outlets for device charging, and a storage bin so big that Enzo immediately crawled right inside. We didn’t buy it on the spot, but kept it in mind, and did a little comparative research online. Then, a week later, after going to the gym that morning, we decided to go back to Costco to see if it was still there. With luck, it was, so we got it. It’s so big that even with our minivan emptied out, I still had to make 4 trips to Costco just to get it all home!

Once I finished my final trip we all jumped in the car and drove down to Des Moines for a late Christmas at Kristy’s house. We had a nice afternoon with her, Madi, Uncle Jim, and Aunt Brenda. There was good food, football, quality family time, and of course, Christmas presents. What more could you ask for? Once we got home that evening, we took out the old couch (we actually gave it away on Jessica’s “Buy Nothing” group) and got the new one setup. It’s much larger than the old one, and also much more comfortable.

We’ve been staying busy going to the gym a lot lately. Jessica and I have never been huge gym people, but I have to say I love Columbia Athletic Club. It’s a really nice atmosphere, with excellent quality machines and equipment, plus tons of classes to choose from. They intentionally keep the number of members relatively low, and guarantee you that you’ll never have to wait to use anything when you’re there. It’s true too. Even when the parking lot is full, you never have to wait because there are so many different things for a person to do. We’re not even members of the tennis facility or the golf facility, but there’s just so much stuff to choose from.

The kids are unlimited members at Columbia’s Kids Club, as well as gym members, so they’re having a lot of fun there. It’s funny how quickly going to the gym can become part of your regular routine. Already I’m at the point where I would be pretty bummed if I missed one of my (now) regular workouts. We’re making a point to go twice a week as a family, and either Jessica or I have been sneaking in here and there as time permits. Combine that with my Sunday afternoon hockey and I’m now as athletically active as ever, and it feels great.

We all went to the gym today, and the kids played in the Kids Club while Jessica and I got a good workout in. Then after that we scooped up the kids, changed into our swimsuits, and headed to the pool. In addition to the outdoor pool (which is closed until Summer), they have a full-sized indoor pool, a hot tub, steam room, and an indoor kids pool that’s as warm as a bath. It’s actually deceptively large so Jessica and I played in there with the kids for a full hour. The pools are salt water too, which is much better than chlorinated. The kids loved it, and it was quickly obvious that we need to get Enzo into swimming lessons right away. He’s already fearless in the water, and the gym offers swim lessons, so I think we’ll be getting involved in those very soon. I hope we continue to take advantage of this place, as it’s already turning out to be a hit for everyone.

Things are going well for Jessica, and she’s as busy as ever. As previously mentioned, she has been so dedicated to working with Ava and Elise on reading, writing, and arithmetic. She has decorated our house with letters, numbers, and sight words. That way no matter where you are in the house, there are letters to learn and words to read. As you might expect, her dedication to keeping the kids on top of their school work has been top notch.

Between all the school stuff with the kids, and me being so busy with work, we made a conscious decision to keep Enzo’s third birthday very small. Instead of doing some big gathering at the house, we decided on doing something at Chuck-E-Cheese with just a few friends. Kristy doesn’t have Madi that weekend, and Dana is teaching a class, so it’s just going to be us, the Palmer’s, and the O’Hair’s. Nice and easy, but Enzo won’t know the difference. He’s going to have a great time, and I look forward to writing about it.

Things have been especially busy for me at work since returning from Christmas vacation, but that was my own choosing. I have been assigned a lead developer role for a special project, which is due in the middle of February. It’s something I initially volunteered for back in mid December, and after nudging my manager a few more times, he gave me the project. I can’t give any details right now, but look forward to sharing them once it goes live. I’m working closely with some developers down in Buenos Aires, Argentina, so that’s been fun (as well as a good learning experience). I’m also still working closely with some developers in China (which I’ve been doing since June), so I have a lot of responsibility these days. This is what I wanted though, and I have no concerns about being able to deliver, so it’s all good.

I have also been getting together regularly with friends to play music, and looking forward to doing so again this Monday night. We’re just improvising and jamming, but it’s getting better and better. I’m going to start recording these jam sessions soon because every time we finish one of us always says “Wow, we came up with some cool stuff there. I wish I could hear that again.” Well, now we will be able to hear it again, and maybe even start turning some of these spur-of-the-moment ideas into more structured songs. We’ll see. It doesn’t really matter though, as just the experience of playing music with people is more than enough of a reward.

I guess that’s it for now, but with our big boy’s birthday next weekend, it won’t be long before I’m giving another update. Once again, our kids continue to amaze us with all their new milestones and achievements. Jessica and I couldn’t be more proud, or lucky, and look forward to whatever comes next. Here are a few recent photos from our world.

Our new couch!

Playing Bingo for Books at Penny Creek Elementary

We take our Bingo seriously in this family, and it all started with my Nana

Enzo found his favorite hiding spot

Ava getting started with the new hockey session

Her hockey stance is looking pretty darn good…

Having fun at Ava’s hockey practice

Enjoying a special treat with Mom

Taking in Monster Jam with my little sweetheart

All smiles at Monster Jam, 2018

On Thursday evening we returned home from an excellent Christmas vacation at Nana’s house in Las Vegas. We were there for a full week, and were kept busy with all kinds of fun and exciting activities. Lots of memories were made, some bucket list items were checked, and a great time was had by all. There’s so much to get into, so let me dive right in.

Rather than fly out of SeaTac airport, which is always very busy and crowded (especially during the holidays), we opted to fly out of Bellingham, which is north of us (about 20 minutes from the Canadian border). Although the distance is further, it’s much easier for us to deal with because it’s such a small airport. This is our second time flying to Vegas out of Bellingham and we love it.

There was a bit of excitement flying in, as the winds that day were ferocious. The plane was jumping all around as we were preparing to land, and a few passengers could be heard yelping as the plane bounced up and down from all the turbulence. Once we landed Ava shouted out “That was fun!” and the entire back half of the plane erupted in laughter.

Between the 5 of us, plus all of our luggage, no one had a single car that was big enough to hold everything, so I had been coordinating with my Mom and Uncle Bob to pick us up. Basically Bob would be taking the bags, and we would be riding in my Mom’s car. The airport was typically busy, so there was a long line of cars waiting to get into the passenger pickup area.

My Mom was ahead of Bob in that line, so she arrived first. I started getting the carseats setup in my Mom’s car, then in the distance, I could see our other ride, which was coming to get our bags. My typically sour traveller’s mood immediately disappeared as I saw Bob coming to get us. You see, his car has become a bit of a tourist attraction in Las Vegas. It’s completely covered with toys, bobblehead dolls, poker chips, Christmas lights, and more. You have to see it to understand, but luckily I have included photos below. His car gets so much attention that even cops pull him over to take photos of it. When you’re with him, he’s constantly responding to photo requests saying “Yeah, take as many as you want.” He actually makes a little money from it too – basically he drives down to the famous “Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas” sign at the south end of the strip, and people pay him to take photos of/with his car. It’s perfect for Bob and I know he enjoys all the fun and attention.

We had plans for our first evening in town, but everyone was exhausted from all the traveling, so we ended up staying in and relaxing. It’s good too, because Friday was going to be a busy day, and as it turned out, a major highlight for the whole trip.

We got out of the house around 9:00 Friday morning and headed out to the Lion Habitat Ranch, which is southeast near Henderson. Bob and Sandy were on their way to meet us there, sitting at a red light, and ended up getting rear ended. They were at the front of a 3 car pile up. The guy that caused the accident was driving a fancy BMW, and he slammed into the car in front of him so hard that he completely totaled his car. The car he hit then ran into Bob and Sandy, and they were pretty shaken up. Damage wasn’t horrible, but he hurt his back and neck. They’re so lucky they didn’t get hit by the BMW directly, as it probably would have killed them.

They still made it to the ranch though, and were able to join all of us for a private tour. As it turned out, this ended up being my favorite part of the entire trip. I’ve always loved lions, and I’ve seen them at the zoo, but this was a completely different experience. You’re separated from them by 2 chain link fences, but you’re only about 8 feet away, and let me tell you, being in their presence at that proximity is nothing short of amazing. It’s a visceral reaction you have and you quickly realize that although humans may be the smartest animals in the world, they are completely powerless in relation to these majestic creatures. For a second I made eye contact with a 620 pound male lion, and he didn’t even growl or roar, but simply perked up and grunted at me. My instinctual reaction was “Oh my God!” as I stepped backwards so quickly I nearly fell over. Suddenly those fences felt like nothing but thin air.

We had an amazing tour guide who showed us all around the place. She introduced us to every animal they had, but the biggest (pardon the pun) highlight of all had to be Ozzie the giraffe. Ozzie is the only giraffe to have ever entered the state of Nevada. He’s a reticulated giraffe, which is the tallest species of giraffe. He’s currently nearly 16 feet tall, weighing 2,000 pounds, but he’s got a lot more growing to do. Once he is fully grown he will have grown another 5-6 feet, and will put on another 2,000 pounds! For each foot he grows, his massive purple tongue will grow another inch, making it easier to reach out to grab food.

Ozzie is so friendly that everyone in our group got a chance to feed him. Giraffes eat a strictly vegan diet, so we were all feeding him pieces of lettuce. He would bend way down so he was at your eye level and let you pet him on his chin. All I can say is it’s an amazing experience to be at eye level with a giraffe, then watch him elevate directly above your head another 10 feet into the air. It’s humbling actually.

In addition to being an all-around nice guy, Ozzie is a talented artist. Every day he sets up with his painting supplies and paints pictures by holding a brush in his mouth. For those that don’t know, giraffe’s are Ava’s favorite animal, and it just so happened that one of Ozzie’s paintings featured Ava’s favorite colors (purple & black), so I had no choice but to purchase it. It’s now proudly displayed on our art wall, along with a magnet containing a photo of Ozzie working on one of his masterpieces, right as you enter our house.

Speaking of paintings, my Mom was so kind to get me an absolutely beautiful painting of a lion from the Habitat Ranch. It’s one of their younger male lions named Benny, and it looks strikingly similar to the lion tattoo I have on my right shoulder. It was too big to carry on the plane, so she’s going to mail it to me. I can’t wait to get this up on our art wall, right there with Ozzie’s painting.

After the Habitat Ranch we relaxed at home for a bit, then went out that evening to this really cool indoor trampoline park. Unbeknownst to me, ‘trampolining’ has become practically a professional sport, and there were some kids doing stuff there that makes your jaw drop. The place was huge and there were so many different areas and activities to explore. Jessica frequently goes to places like this with the kids, and she said this was easily the coolest one they had ever been to.

So for an hour we basically jumped around and played games. It was a ton of fun, and an extensive workout. Everyone was starving by the end so we treated ourselves to burgers, fries, and milkshakes before calling it a night. Friday really was an awesome day.

Saturday was mostly a chill day at the house, but that night I went to an NHL game with my friends Devin and Tiko. Meanwhile Jessica and the kids hung out and played at Tiko and Tina’s house with their daughter Helen. This is the first season for the Las Vegas Golden Knights franchise and they’re having an extremely good year, which no one expected from a brand new team. It was only my second NHL game ever and it was a blast. The arena is right on the strip and the atmosphere was excellent. Lots of energy, and plenty of cheesy Vegas entertainment during game breaks. The Knights ended up beating the Capitals 3-0 and Fleuri got his first shutout as a Knight, so it was cool to see that in person.

Sunday was Christmas Eve, so I took the kids to the park in the morning for a couple hours so Jessica and Nana could get stuff done around the house. It ended up being a memorable park trip because Ava finally figured out how to swing on her own. I’ve been trying to show her how to swing for years whenever we go to a playground, and on this day it finally all kicked in.

That afternoon we went to this newer shopping mall nearby called Tivoli Village. There was a Christmas store there that was putting on these amazing Christmas experiences for kids. We arrived early and had lunch, then walked and shopped for a bit. When we first entered the Christmas experience it was like you were entering Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. There were all these bubbles coming down, Christmas music was playing, and these cheerful elves were out greeting us and explaining our upcoming adventures.

Each room we entered had a new theme and activity for the kids. In one room you’re building ornaments with elves, while in another you’re eating cookies, sipping warm cocoa, and chatting with Mrs. Claus. The grand finale was when we met with Santa and got our picture taken. Ava was so sweet when she tried to get Santa to keep the ornament she had just made.

Christmas morning was totally fun and crazy, as you’d expect. Lots of paper flying everywhere, shock and awe from the various gifts being revealed. It was great. We had tentatively planned on going sledding at Mt. Charleston that day, depending on weather, but there wasn’t enough snow, so we decided to just relax at home and have a nice dinner. Terry and his girlfriend Lana were there for a bit, and Bob and Sandy came over for the afternoon. I made spaghetti bolognese and we had a handful of other things as well. It was a nice day of family, gifts, relaxation, and food. Oh, and for no particular reason, I decided to show my face again and shave my beard completely off for the first time in 18 months. The kids were pretty freaked out by it, and Ava actually got visibly upset, but it didn’t take long for her to start coming around. At first she was afraid that I wasn’t going to be the same person, but she’s good now.

Bob gave me a couple really special Christmas gifts that I will hold onto forever. One was a Seattle Mariners coffee cup that he gave his dad back in 1977, which the first year they were a team. Not only did my Grandpa never drink out of it, he never even took it out of the box. When he passed away, it went back to Bob, but never came out of the box, and now I have it, still in the box. It’s a brand new coffee cup that’s older than I am, but it comes with some sentimental value.

The other gift, and this one really means a lot to me, is the United States flag that was folded by soldiers during my Grandfather’s funeral. Bob has been holding onto it since Grandpa died (which was about 17 years ago), but he said he spoke to his siblings about it, and they decided I should have it. I got a little choked up when he told me that and had to step away for a minute. It means a lot to me to have this, so Jessica suggested we get a flag box for it and put it on display in our house. It’s definitely something I’m proud (and honored) to hold onto.

Tuesday was another fun and busy day, filled with exotic animals, and an unexpected surprise. We met Bob and Sandy at the Mirage, then headed over to the dolphin exhibit. Nana sent Jessica, the kids, and myself on a VIP tour with a dolphin trainer. We got to see the entire area, learn a lot about dolphins, and meet a really friendly 39 year old male dolphin named Lightning for a snack, photo, and a few splashes.

They have an underwater office we visited, and all the female dolphins were swimming near there at that time. So we got to see Cocoa, the new baby dolphin that was just born there 5 months ago. They had microphones setup to capture all their communication and it was incredible. I’ve never been up close with dolphins like that before, and just like our experience at the Lion Habitat Ranch, it was simply awesome. My mom’s main goal was to send us home with memories, rather than stuff, and she totally came through. We did stuff on this trip that I will never forget, and hope the kids don’t either.

Later that afternoon we were in the tiger exhibit, which is connected to the dolphin habitat. It was pretty busy and crowded, but then out of nowhere I recognized our friend Kendra, who Jessica and I have known forever in Seattle. Her sister Julie used to be our roommate at the house in Queen Anne, and we’ve all been close ever since. She was there with her family, presumably for New Year’s Eve, so we all hung out for a second to catch up. It was just a nice random small-world surprise.

Wednesday was the day we weren’t looking forward to because it was the day Nana was scheduled to have shoulder replacement surgery. Something strange happened though, which may have been a twist of fate. While we were on the tour at the dolphin habitat, my mom got a call from her doctor. He said he’d been thinking about her for a while and had come to the conclusion that full shoulder replacement surgery was the wrong first step. He wanted to try a much easier procedure where they inject stem cells into the bone, then do some type of compression therapy, in hopes that it will stimulate new bone growth.

She was ecstatic because it was day surgery, rather than 3 days in the hospital, and felt like it would be worth it to try based on his recommendation. So I took her to the hospital early Wednesday morning, then picked her up and brought her home that afternoon. Everything went perfectly well during the procedure so hopefully things continue to go smoothly.

We wanted to give her some quiet time to rest, so after getting mom setup at home, Jessica and I took the kids down to the strip. Destination – M&M World! The place was so busy you had to wait in line to take an escalator. No joke. So each of the kids got to pick out a toy, then we got out of there as quick as possible. Enzo got this little toy fan (which I assume is more popular in the summer), and has proceeded to get it stuck in Ava’s hair twice now. Once was so bad we had to cut some of her hair off to get it out. The girls both got Miss Green stuffed animals, but Elise has already lost hers, which is another story.

The other place we really wanted to show them was the indoor gardens at Bellagio. It’s only 2 blocks away from M&M World, but these are Las Vegas blocks, so it took us quite a while to walk there. Walking with your young kids on the strip is a bit of a trip. There’s a lot going on, plenty of distractions for the kids, so you have to walk with purpose. It turned out that just getting there was the adventure, and by then the kids were pooped. We still walked around the Christmas displays though, and were blown away by several of them.

It was a long walk back to the car, but I noticed I suddenly wasn’t feeling very good on the way. By the time we got home I was as white as a sheet and needed to lay down. I got in bed at 7:00pm and that’s where I stayed until 1:00 the following afternoon. It was one of those nasty combinations of fever and chills and it hit me out of nowhere. I had been sick before this trip but was taking antibiotics and had gotten past it, then I basically got blindsided by the flu. Jessica got it too, and so there we were, faced with travelling home in a matter of hours, feeling like hell, with 3 kids to keep in check.

Somehow we pulled it together and were able to get everything out the door. We actually left with one more suitcase than we arrived with, but that’s just how it goes. We had no troubles at the airport, as practically no one was leaving Las Vegas 3 days before New Years Eve. Once again flying through Bellingham was simple and easy, so we found ourselves home around 11:00 that night.

The kids all did great, and to their credit, none of them were 100% either. They were all exhausted, Enzo was showing signs of having caught a cold, Ava had been dealing with Enzo’s fan getting stuck in her hair, and Elise had (actually still has) a black eye because Ava hit her in the face with a badminton racquet.

Upon arriving at home, we didn’t exactly have the homecoming we were expecting, in that our new fish Taco, was unfortunately dead. Our neighbors had been feeding him, so we’re not sure what happened, but it was a bummer because we knew the kids would take it rough. They were all sleeping, so the conversation would have to wait for the morning. As expected, Ava took it the hardest (although Elise was quite sad as well), but we used it as a life lesson about being a pet owner. Later that day we went to Bridges (our favorite pet store) and ended up getting a tank heater, 4 male guppies, and a frog. Look at us with 5 pets.

We decided to name some of them after the animals we’d met on our trip, so one fish is named Ozzie, and another is Lightning. Elise named her fish Oreo, and then there’s Coconut, which is how my kids refer to my favorite hockey team, the Vancouver Canucks. Oh, and we can’t forget about Stevie Ray Frog. He seems pretty lonely though so we may have to go back for Jumpy Hendrix to join him.

While Jessica recovered pretty quickly from the flu, I had no such luck. Since we’ve been back I’ve been really sick and have barely left the house. Jessica is working at El Gaucho Seattle tonight for New Years Eve, so this is my big day alone with the kids. Unfortunately I was still feeling like hell, and to make matters worse, the pain had spread to my ears, which freaked me out into thinking I had an ear infection. Since it’s the last day of the year, I knew I could go to the doctor at no cost because my deductibles had all been met, but if I waited another day, everything started over. Plus I’m on call at work starting tomorrow, which means I’ll be extra busy all week, so I made the call to go into Urgent Care this afternoon, even though it meant bringing all 3 kids with me.

I got there and started coughing so hard during check in that they made me wear a mask. They got us into a room quickly, but it was there we sat for a full hour before a doctor arrived. After a full exam he told me it’s not an ear infection, or pneumonia, but a classic case of influenza, which in this context was good news. He said the worst of it is behind me, but prescribed a cough syrup to deal with some of the lingering effects. He said the pain I was feeling in my ears was a reflected pain, coming from a nerve in my respiratory system. More than anything it just ended up giving me some peace of mind that I’m almost over it and there’s nothing more serious to deal with. In a strange way, it felt appropriate to finish off 2017 with a few hours in a doctor’s office, considering everything we’ve dealt with this year.

Tomorrow is New Year’s Day, so I’m off work. This year I decided to change my Stay Fit benefit at work, so starting tomorrow, our family is enrolled at Columbia Athletic Club, which is a very nice facility that’s only 5 minutes from our house. The kids are also enrolled in their kids club, meaning we’ll always have care for them there, plus they do all kinds of weekend activities, so it should be fun. Jessica and I are excited to be able to start working out together, and they have a killer combination of indoor and outdoor pools, so going there in the summer is going to be sweet.

2017 was a pretty crazy year for us, mainly being dominated by Jessica’s neck surgery and my 2 elbow surgeries. We’re not getting any younger and this year was a good reminder of that. This was the year of hockey and ice skating for Ava and myself. The first of many I assume, as we both have come to love it. Elise has started exploring a lot this year, including participating in a running team, and taking ballet lessons. This year Enzo has developed a vocabulary most 2 year olds can’t even touch, and Jessica has shown a dedication to giving and community support that I’ve been extremely impressed by.

Looking ahead to 2018, we know we’ve got Christmas in Colorado, but we’re also thinking about an early summer trip to Vegas. For the near-term, I’ve got a big work project due at the end of January, so it’s going to be a busy month for me. Then at the end of January Mr. Enzo will be turning 3!

To our family and friends who actually take the time to read this, thank you, and happy new year with love from all of us. Here are some of our favorite photos from the trip. To Nana, thank you so much for a Christmas we will always remember.

Uncle Bob’s ‘Toy Car’

Enzo taking a closer look

Elise couldn’t decide which pair of sunglasses to wear, so…

This is the 620 pound lion that scared me half to death

Jessica saying hello to Ozzie, the giraffe

Mom got a lot of quality time with him

Ava holding our painting by Ozzie

Enzo wearing my Dad’s actual U.S. Navy hat. I’m sure it has shrunk over the years, although Enzo does have a very large head…

Jumping into some milkshakes after the trampoline park

Ava showing her newfound skills on the swing set

Elise and Enzo patiently awaiting the Christmas village extravaganza

I had to hold Ava for a bit after shaving my beard so she would believe it was still me

Wearing silly Christmas clothes in front of the tree, our annual tradition

Enzo wearing my crown from a school play – 30 years ago. Yep, Mom still has it, and it’s in perfect condition.

The little sweatshirt is one I used to wear as a little kid, but then Mom broke out the big one on Christmas. Jessica swooned over it and had to have it.

Bob and Enzo quickly became buddies on this trip. It was great to see.

Getting some time with our new friend Lightning

Exploring the tiger park at the Mirage

Ready to explore the Bellagio kids!? Maybe not. It was beautiful though.

Elise has never seen a Christmas tree she didn’t like

Ava enjoying her Princess Poppy travel pillow on the plane ride home – a gift from Nana

On Friday night, her first night of her first holiday break from school, miss Ava lost her first tooth! She had been wiggling it for a couple weeks, and Jessica noticed during our fried chicken dinner with Rick and Chris that it was more than ready to come out. She told Ava to pull it out, but she was scared, so Grandpa (who was sat right next to her while she was sitting in Grandma’s lap) reached in there, gave it a couple tugs, and it popped right out.

It was almost surreal – one second I’m taking a bite of spicy fried chicken from Ezell’s, and the next, Rick has Ava’s tooth in his hand. Meanwhile she’s sitting there with her mouth wide open and this funny look on her face, not sure how to react. She didn’t really like seeing some blood, but as we all know, it was no big deal. She was totally cool about it and got super excited about her impending visit from the Tooth Fairy. She immediately ran and got her Polaroid camera from Nana to document the occasion.

It was an exciting moment for all, and the first of many, in terms of losing teeth. I was always scared of pulling teeth as a kid, but as a Dad I’m going to have a chance to get over that. Ava’s dentist said there are 3 more coming soon after, so I may get my chance soon. The Tooth Fairy was kind enough to leave Ava one dollar, and a chocolate gold coin. She’s so excited to go spend her dollar at the Dollar Store, but I’m not sure how she’s going to cover the 10.4% sales tax.

That night had to be my favorite of Rick and Chris’ visit, because in addition to dinner and the whole tooth debacle, we also built an awesome gingerbread house, and opened Christmas presents from Grandma and Grandpa. The gingerbread house was really fun because literally all 7 of us took part in its creation (or maybe I should say its decoration, as the house was already constructed for us). Everybody was adding their own little touches to it, and of course Enzo kept trying to eat stuff on it so you had to keep an eye on him.

After they went home on Sunday morning, Ava had her final hockey class of this session. There were lots of kids absent for the final week, so she got extra one on one time with her coaches. She now has a 3 week break from hockey before starting back up for the next round. Speaking of hockey, I was able to get back the previous Sunday and play with my friends for the final session of the year. I was a bit out of shape but still had a blast, and most importantly, suffered no injuries.

Sunday night we decided to do our own little Christmas thing at home, just the 5 of us. The main downside to travelling for Christmas is that it can prevent you from forming your own holiday memories at home, so we just pretended last night was Christmas by giving the kids all of their presents from Mommy and Daddy. Instead of wrapping everything, we did this fun thing where the kids all waited in the living room while one of us went upstairs to pick out presents for them. Then we would come downstairs and play everything up before surprising them with their gifts. It actually worked out really well, and for each ‘round’, the kids seemed to bubble up more and more with excitement. Plus there was minimal cleanup, and you’re not wasting wrapping paper.

Each of them loved their presents and consequently spent the rest of the evening playing with all their new stuff. Some highlights included:

• Big dress up dolls for Elise and Ava
• Enzo’s ride-on firetruck
• Costumes (Elise got a Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) dress, Ava got a Lego Batman outfit, and Enzo got decked out like Sir Lancelot)
• New clothes for the girls
• A toy Zamboni and a toy street sweeper for Enzo
• A coin book filled with pennies (Enzo is obsessed with pennies)
• And lots of little trinkets

This Thursday morning we’ll be flying out of Bellingham, heading to Nana’s house in Vegas for Christmas in the desert. I know my Mom has been working extremely hard to get the house ready, so I hope she can finally relax and just enjoy the time with her grandkids. She has a busy itinerary planned out, which includes visits to Lion and Dolphin habitats, pictures with Santa, baking cookies with Mrs. Claus, sledding on Mt. Charleston, trampoline parks, and much more.

We will also be visiting our friends, and I’m super excited to go to the hockey game Saturday night with my buddies Devin and Tiko. The Washington Capitals will be in town to play the Golden Knights, so it’s going to be packed, and I’ll get a chance to see a future Hall-of-famer in Alexander Ovechkin play. I’m sure I’ll also make it out for a poker tournament with my Uncle Bob. Should be a great week.

I’ll definitely be writing again after our trip, so for now, here’s a few pics and videos from our recent visit with Grandma and Grandpa Rudd. Merry Christmas!

Ava’s Polaroid after losing her first tooth

Nice shades

Grandpa and his “main man”

On 3 say “Gingerbread house!”

Enjoying the new costumes for a bit

Today we celebrated Ava turning 6 in style, by hosting a ‘Unicorns on Ice’ themed birthday party at a local ice rink. We knew plenty of our guests had either never ice-skated before, or hadn’t done so in a long time, so we were a little nervous that people wouldn’t like it, or wouldn’t get it. Luckily everyone had a really good time, and several of the kids trying it for the first time ended up loving it and not wanting to leave. Hopefully we’ve sparked a little interest in a few of them.

The girls in our family took the Unicorn theme pretty seriously. Grandma, Ava, and Elise were each wearing Unicorn pajamas, meanwhile Jessica was sporting a beautifully colored Unicorn wig, which drew plenty of attention on it’s own. As you can probably imagine, our group was pretty easy to notice.

Most importantly, Ava had a great day that I’m sure she will always remember. Having Grandma and Grandpa Martin staying with us for her big day certainly makes things more special. She had a blast this morning opening boxes of dress up jewelry, clothes, and toys. The party went on pretty much all afternoon, then we came home to chill and let the kids play with all the new toys and gizmos.

Beyond today, Ava has been doing great with Kindergarten and is loving learning to read. She is beyond excited to have 4 loose teeth and can’t wait for the tooth fairy to make its first appearance. She loves playing hockey on Sundays with the girls and is constantly improving in all phases of the game. I hope today was a really special day for her because everyone loved celebrating with her. Happy 6th birthday my sweet girl.

Elise is doing really well and has been enjoying attending dance/ballet classes for the past several weeks in a row. Her running series ended a while back and we transitioned straight from that to dance. She is loving it and it seems to suit her, so it looks like something worth continuing. She is still attending pre-school 2 days a week, but I think we’re going to add a 3rd day after the new year. Won’t be long before we’re sending her off to Kindergarten as well.

Enzo is a raging ball of two-year-old energy. Sometimes he’s the sweetest, funniest little boy you’ve ever seen, then he suddenly transforms into an outburst of emotions without warning. His experience with the Terrible Twos has been different from the girls, but we seem to be moving away from the worst of it. Sometimes he’s super difficult to contain, then suddenly you’re playing with the funniest, coolest little kid ever. He’s doing well out on the ice, actually quite surprisingly well considering he’s still in diapers, yet is able to skate several feet in a row without assistance. He’s pretty hilarious without meaning to be, and might be the most talkative child in our family history. I remember Ava being a very talkative baby, but I don’t think she can compete with Enzo. He loves trucks, bulldozers, front-loaders, trains, and tractors.

Things with Jessica and I are going well and we’re just getting into all the holiday hustle bustle. A few weeks ago we had Grandpa Rick out for a Halloween visit, now we’ve got Grandma and Grandpa Martin out for Thanksgiving and Ava’s birthday, then we’ve got Grandpa Rick and Grandma Chris coming back out in mid December for a long weekend visit, then that following we our whole family is going to Las Vegas to spend Christmas at Nana’s house. My Mom has tons of stuff planned for us to do while we’re there, so yeah, the holidays are on in full effect.

Earlier this month I had my second elbow surgery of the year (actually in the last 3 months), this time on my left side. Everything went really well and I’m doing physical therapy on my way to an easy recovery. Although the first surgery wasn’t too major and was relatively easy to recover from, this most recent one was even less serious and will be even easier to recover from. It should only be a few more weeks before I’m done with PT and moving on.

As always, plenty to be thankful for, plenty of good stuff to look forward to. I don’t see how things could be better. Here’s several photos and videos from Ava’s big day. Happy birthday Ava! We love you to the moon.

Getting started with presents a day early

Trying to get a good view for Elise at opening night of Snowflake Lane

Winter trains and gingerbread cookies

Ava on her birthday morning. She loved her crown.

The Unicorns and the Dragon, preparing to party

Mama Unicorn

Grandma and Grandpa Unicorn, I mean Martin

Our good friend Julie and her awesome little boys

Love this pic of Carol, Butch, Dana, and Brad

Keeping each other upright

The Unicorn cake!

Ava opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa Rudd

Opening presents from Nana

Ava’s birthday morning

Free skating during her party

The cake photo

Happy Birthday to you