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Yesterday our sweet Elise turned 5, so I wanted to write a quick post describing her special day. We lucked out with beautiful weather all weekend, and we’re glad to have Grandma Amy here to celebrate with us.

We started things off Friday night with a trip to our favorite Mexican restaurant. After obliterating every tortilla chip and bowl of bean dip in site, the kids each did well eating their dinner, so we all got to share an order of fried ice cream for dessert. You can imagine who got the lion’s share of that course.

After dinner we came home and Grandma took the kids for a short walk in the neighborhood. We decided to let Elise have a present, and we actually had one for Ava as well, so we gave them both a Hatchimal. Both of them have been asking for one of these dolls for several months, and Ava actually had a deal with us that if she learned all her kindergarten words, then she would get one. Well, Ava learned her words, and we felt like Elise deserved one for her birthday, so they got home from their walk and found the Hatchimals waiting for them. It was a big deal for both of them and they were super excited. The girls spent the rest of their night playing with their new dolls and getting excited for the big day to come.

Saturday morning the girls were up early, excited to open presents. Even though it’s Elise’s birthday, Ava was really charged up to see what all the presents were. Elise, being as sweet as she is, has been promising Ava for a while that she would give her one of her birthday presents. That just goes to show you what kind of kid she is, but then Ava has to try to manipulate things more in her favor by asking if she can pick the toy, or finding other more subtle ways to gain an advantage. Such a little deal maker that one is.

We were able to hold them off for a little bit, in order to get some more sleep, but soon enough it was presents time. I’m not up to speed on all the different dolls and characters they’re into, but I know we got the Hatchimals, and I know they’re really into LOL dolls, Pinky Pie Mermaid dolls, and Fingerlings. I feel ridiculous even talking about all this stuff but this is a good example of how becoming a parent changes you.

After doing presents we loaded up in the van and headed out to a home & garden store in Woodinville who was hosting a kids carnival as part of a fundraiser for the local YMCA. We played all kinds of games, bounced in the bouncy house, got arm paintings, specialty balloons, silly photos, and even got to enjoy some live music. It probably comes as no surprise that Elise LaFleur loves flowers, and this store had a ton of them, so she was just as happy to walk around comparing and smelling them.

It was Jessica’s idea to do something low key like this for the morning, then go home for some relaxing down time, because we knew we were in for a long night at the ballgame. The kids carnival ended up being the perfect way to spend our morning.

On Saturday evening, shortly after 5:00, we headed down to Everett Memorial stadium for the AquaSox game. Jessica did a good job coordinating so we were able to meet most of our group in the parking lot before heading into the ballpark. Uncle Butch and Aunt Carol were there waiting as we pulled up, the Palmer’s were already in line to enter, then Dana and family pulled up right as we were pulling our sleeping children out of the van.

We had a pretty good sized group for the event. For friends there were the Palmers (Jodi, Leon, & Miles), the O’Hairs (Solana, Josh, Ronin, & Finn), and the Weissmans (Laurel, Mark, & Sadie – happy birthday to Laurel as well). Then for family we had Kristy, Madi, and Gilberto, Butch and Carol, Dana & Brad, and my nephew and niece, Kallan and Anna.

We had access to a covered pavilion area before the game, which included unlimited food, so most of us were hanging around there to start. The kids, however, all had unlimited bouncy house access, so they were pretty much all down in that area jumping away to their heart’s content.

One of the most exciting parts of the evening for Elise was the fact that she got to throw out a pitch before the game. She didn’t really want to go out on the field alone, so I ran out with her as they announced “Celebrating her 5th birthday, Elise Pellegrini”. She threw a pitch that actually made it to the catcher, which was all I was hoping for. We’d been working on it in the yard leading up to this, so I was confident in her.

After throwing the pitch we got to pose for a quick photo with the catcher, while the announcer said “Nice job Elise”. It was a super cute moment and she was so happy, then she got to give one of the coaches a high five as we headed away. I don’t have the photo taken by their photographer yet, but will share it once I do.

Once the game got going we met up with our group and just hung out. It was a picture perfect evening with mountains in the backdrop. Everyone was enjoying the atmosphere, pulling for the AquaSox (who ended up winning 8-2 I think), and just having a good time. We had a group of seats that spanned 4 or 5 rows, so it was easy for people to bounce around to different seats and mingle.

It’s become a family tradition for us to go to these games every Summer. The kids love seeing Webbly (the mascot), and the whole atmosphere is really family friendly. Honestly, if I’m taking my family to a baseball game, I’ll take this over a Mariners game. It’s too much of a production when you have 3 little kids, so going to see the AquaSox is perfect for us, and it was actually Elise’s idea that we do this for her birthday. I wish Jessica or I could take credit for it, but we honestly can’t.

We lucked out because not only was the baseball game on Elise’s actual birthday, but it was also fireworks night, which is something they only do a few times per season. So after the Sox won the game, we all headed out to a field behind the stadium, laid on blankets in the grass, and watched a cool fireworks show. The kids were loving it and running around, rolling down grassy hills and freaking out over the biggest explosions. It was pretty much the perfect summer night.

We thought the kids would pass out on the way home because it was late by the time the fireworks were over, but no, they were too motivated to go home and open a present. So we did just that, one present, then had to basically force everyone into bed. Overall it was such a memorable day and Elise couldn’t have been sweeter or more gracious. She really is an awesome kid and we loved seeing her enjoy her special day. This is a big turning point for her because she’ll be entering Kindergarten soon. I feel like that’s the point where they start changing, maturing, and as a parent you have to accept the fact that they are not solely within your influence anymore. Now there are all these other outside influences coming in, but not quite yet. Not for a little bit longer. She’s still (and always will be) our thoughtful sweet girl that’s always looking out for her siblings, loves her family, and enjoys making people smile. Happy 5th birthday sweetheart, we love you more than you will ever know.

As it turned out, her birthday celebration had to spill into the next day because she was so fortunate to receive so many gifts that there would be no way to open them all after the game. So once again, the girls were up early, all charged up and ready to dig into all the beautiful pink party bags on our kitchen table.

All I can say is that everyone is far too generous and she was overwhelmed with all of the things she loved. Literally everything she said she wanted for her birthday had been accounted for, so we are obviously most appreciative of everyone’s kindness and generosity. Elise, Ava and Enzo have been playing together all day with all the new toys, and now they’re the cool kids on the block, as several of the neighbor kids were really excited to see all the new stuff.

We wanted to make sure they got some activity in, so this morning we all went to the outdoor pool at our gym for a couple hours. Grandma got in and had fun with the kids, and everyone had a blast. Even though it was pretty early, it was still 85 degrees out, so having access to the pool was perfect.

Now it’s time for the birthday weekend to come to an end, yet we’ve still got one more full day with Grandma Amy before she heads out of town. Once again, thank you so much to all of our friends and family who helped to make this such a special and memorable day for Elise. We appreciate it so much, and loved seeing her soaking it all up on her special day.

Here are a few of our favorite pics.

Starting things off right, with a flower balloon at the kids carnival

Enzo enjoying his dragonfly balloon, before popping it.

And Ava was our little Musketeer

We decided to make use of our new hair chalk before the game. Enzo was pissed about something.

Enjoying the pre-game festivities

Getting ready to throw out the pitch. These two are something else.

Madi was in her happy place holding and feeding baby Sadie

Of course we had to get a photo with our friend Webbly. Right after this Enzo punched him in the nuts.

I think he had finally recovered from Enzo’s attack, but was still getting laughed at by Kristy and co.

Elise was still going strong even at the end of the game

One of the better shots I got during the fireworks show

Happy 5th birthday Elise, we love you to the moon!!!

Today we returned from a very fun week at Nana’s house in Las Vegas. We did a bunch of cool stuff and there’s so much to talk about, so let’s jump right in!

We arrived on Monday, June 25, and immediately got our first dose of desert Summer heat. It was about 105 degrees, and pretty much remained that way the whole time we were there. Mom and Uncle Bob came and picked us up. We needed both of them because my Mom’s car is only big enough to hold all of us, but not our luggage.

We wanted to have a relaxing first day since it was a long morning getting there, so we all went to the pool in Mom’s neighborhood and hung out for a bit. After our swim we were back at the house and Ava started wiggling her one remaining front tooth (I had pulled the other one very recently). For months now Ava has been saying she wanted Nana to pull her tooth when we got to her house. We tried to explain you can’t really plan something like that, but she was dead set on it.

Well, as luck would have it, her tooth was so loose it was hanging on by a thread, so Nana had no troubles pulling it. Of course Ava was so excited, and it was a fun way to start the trip. Elise and Enzo were a little jealous that they weren’t going to get anything from the tooth fairy, but we assured them that the vacation tooth fairy brings gifts for everyone. As it turned out, Elise and Enzo both got a small glass diamond, a poker chip, and a piece of candy. Ava was lucky enough to receive a large glass diamond, a poker chip, and a total of $11, which she was quite eager to spend.

Tuesday morning we got up and out of the house and headed for SeaQuest. We had so much fun feeding stingrays and sharks, petting lizards, and playing with sand. This ended up being a big highlight of the trip for the kids. When Nana asked them what their favorite part of the trip was, Ava quickly exclaimed “Feeding the stingrays!”

After SeaQuest we were all hungry, so I got on my phone and found a very highly rated Italian deli nearby called Cugino’s. We walked in and the place was packed, which is always a good sign. A bunch of people were watching the Argentina World Cup soccer game, and the place felt like the most authentic New York Italian deli I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting. Elise and Enzo had pizza, Jessica had a caprese sandwich, Nana had a meatball sandwich, I had the veal parmesan sandwich, and Ava devoured a side of meatballs. Everything we had was absolutely delicious, and since the kids ate so well, I decided to treat them to the homemade cannoli for dessert. Obviously that was a big hit. During our dessert Argentina scored a last minute goal to win their game, and the whole place erupted. It was a cool thing to be a part of and ended up being really memorable. We really loved Cugino’s and would love to go back for lunch next time we’re in town.

After lunch we went back to Nana’s house for a couple hours of down time, then we all headed down to the Orleans to see The Incredibles 2 in 3D. Everyone enjoyed the movie, and we thought about calling it a day after that, but then made a spur of the moment decision to take the kids downtown to Fremont street so they could see the light show.

On our way there I decided we should cruise the strip, which ended up being a huge hit with the kids. They absolutely loved all the scenery, especially the Eiffel Tower at Paris and the erupting volcano outside of the Mirage. Fremont street ended up being quite interesting. Honestly it was probably a little bit too crazy for young kids, but we did our best to shield them from the things they shouldn’t see. The kids loved the live performance by an 80’s cover band called Spandex Nation, and Elise was a bit infatuated by the showgirls with the pretty outfits.

After making our way up and down Fremont street and seeing a bit of the light show, we decided to head home and call it a day. Although we had many fun days on the trip, Tuesday was definitely a great day for everyone.

Wednesday was a day Jessica and I have been looking forward to for months – Cabana Day! Basically we rented a cabana at the Red Rocks pool and hung out there all day. I’ve never done this before but believe me, it’s an amazing experience. The cabana has curtains that can be closed completely, a fan with a mister, a safe to keep your valuables in, a tv, and plenty of seating. You also get a table and chairs with a sun shade, plus some sun tanning chairs to relax in.

Even though it’s really hot out, you wouldn’t believe how comfortable it is inside the cabana. When we first got there Nana and Enzo just hung out in the cabana while the rest of us went swimming. The whole pool area is gorgeous, with lots of pools and jacuzzis to choose from. It was paradise, basically.

After a while Nana decided to take the kids out for a bit so Jessica and I could get some relaxing quiet time at the pool. She took them to Costco to grab a few things, then they went out for ice cream. While they were away Jessica and I sat in the pool sipping on daiquiris, talking about how lucky we are, and enjoyed some epic people watching.

Later in the afternoon my good friend Devin arrived and ended up hanging out with us for several hours. He couldn’t believe how comfortable and relaxing it was to have your own cabana, so he has already rented one for himself and friends next week. It’s pretty much the best way to spend a day in Vegas.

A bit later Nana and the kids returned. We could tell she was a bit frazzled – the first thing she said was “You guys deserve a medal. I can’t believe you do this everyday.” We told her to go relax, then we all went swimming. She ended up joining us in the pool later and we all had a blast playing in the water.

As you can probably imagine, the kids were exhausted by the time we left, so we got home and put them in the bath, fed them dinner, and got them settled in Nana’s bed with a movie. Once the coast was clear Jessica and I headed to one of my favorite places – Paymon’s Hookah Lounge. We met up with Devin and our other good friend Tiko, for a hookah and some excellent Mediterranean food. Although every day of the trip was a blast, if I had to pick a single favorite day it would have to be either Cabana Day, or Saturday, which I’ll get to shortly.

Thursday morning started off fine, but things quickly started to unravel. We went downtown to the Container Park to let the kids run around. We had fun for a while, but it was too hot to be outside for long. We decided to take the kids to the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace with hopes of seeing the talking statue show.

Unfortunately the kids were all burnt out (probably a hangover from the long day at the pool the previous day) and they all started having emotional meltdowns. So we ended up going back to Nana’s house to relax. They ended up having fun doing arts and crafts projects with Nana, so it worked out fine. That night I ended up going out and playing a poker tournament with Uncle Bob. Unfortunately things didn’t go our way and neither of us won any money, but we still had a great time. I really love Bob and always have a good time with him, so I’m glad we were able to get out together.

Friday was another nice chill day for us. We hung around the house during the day, then I got to experience my first swap meet. We went to an indoor one and wondered around for a bit. We needed a new suitcase and ended up finding a good one there, plus we let Ava spend her money from the Tooth Fairy. Each of the kids got a toy and a keychain, so they were pretty happy overall.

Later that night we all went over to Tiko and Tina’s house to play with their daughter Helen. Devin brought pizzas for everyone and we all had a nice time hanging out. Afterwards, Jessica and I went back to Red Rocks Hotel, bought ice cream cones from the Ben and Jerry’s stand, and just enjoyed walking around for a bit and taking it all in.

Saturday was our last full day in town so we wanted to make the most of it. Like myself, Devin and Tiko are hockey players (which makes sense considering they are both from Montana), so we all met up to go ice skating at City National Arena, which is where the Vegas Golden Knights practice. Tiko’s daughter Helen, who just turned 3, had never ice skated before, so it was great to be there for her first time. Enzo and Elise both did a great job skating, and of course Ava was out there with us showing everyone how it’s done. This was also my first time skating with my buddies so it was very memorable.

Bob and Sandy came to watch us skate, which was great, and Nana took lots of pictures of everyone out on the ice. After wrapping up the skating we all headed over to the Knights shop where we proceeded to buy various shirts, hats, pucks, and keychains.

Saturday night was something that Jessica and I had been looking forward to for a while. Basically Devin wanted to take us, as well as Tiko and Tina, out to a nice dinner to celebrate some exciting things going on with his company. So we picked him up and headed down to Aria, which is a very cool modern hotel on the strip. We got there early so we could walk around and have a drink. It was during this walk that we noticed this very exotic looking woman walking towards us. Then I noticed who she was with – it was NY Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. Totally random but awesome.

We had dinner at Carbone and it was literally one of the top 5 meals of my life. The only Italian meal I’ve had that I would place ahead of this was the one my relatives made for Mom and me at their home in Italy, but as far as Italian restaurants go, this was the best I’ve ever had, and I’ve had plenty.

The original Carbone is in New York, so this was a faithful replica. You walk in and immediately feel like you’ve gone through a time warp. The decor and music is all 1950’s New York. There’s a beautiful bar front and center, and the front waiters are all wearing these really cool red suits. The food is meant to be served family style, so that’s exactly how we ordered.

Our server was telling us about the menu and said the beef carpaccio appetizer would be his dying meal if he had to choose. We were already considering getting it, so we were sold. We ended up getting the carpaccio (which was easily the best any of us had ever had), fois gras (also outstanding), prosciutto with mozzarella (amazing), and tableside Caesar salad. The Caesar was great but it was the croutons that put it over the top. They were these large sesame bread croutons that were crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside. The whole first course was simply ridiculous.

Next up was the pasta course. We had heard great things about the homemade rigatoni with spicy vodka sauce, so we had to get that, and Tina loves lobster, so we also got the lobster ravioli. I can’t decide which was better. The lobster ravioli was absolutely decadent, and I loved how they used black pasta to make the ravioli. Then there was the rigatoni, which was so simple yet so incredibly delicious. The sauce had just the right amount of spice, and the rigatoni was cooked perfectly al dente.

After pasta we moved onto the meat course, and this is where things went to the next level. When our server was describing the menu, he said the meat dish they are most known for is the veal parmesan. He said “If you consider yourself a connoisseur of veal parmesan, I promise you this will be the best you’ve ever had. You’re going to end up coming back here just for that.”

I seriously thought he was talking directly to me because I feel like I love veal more than anyone. When I lived in Vegas, Devin and I would go out all the time, and we would frequently end up finishing the night at a place called Carmine’s with a plate of veal parm, so we knew we had to get it.

Our server also told us about their 60 day dry aged porterhouse, which made our jaws drop. For comparison’s sake, the steaks at El Gaucho are 28 day dry aged, and they are phenomenal, so we had to see what the 60 day dry aging was all about. He didn’t even bother to ask for a temperature on the steak, but it came out so perfectly cooked and sliced up to share. It was easily one of the best steaks I’ve ever had.

Then there was the veal. This was my first time having bone-in veal parm. They sliced it up tableside, then asked who should get the bone. Devin immediately pointed at me. So before I even took a bite of the veal, I found myself gnawing on the bone, which was amazing. It was so good that everyone had to try it, so here we are passing around this big veal bone, and everyone was blown away. That’s how you know you’re good friends, when everyone is totally willing to take turns chewing on a veal bone. It was primal, and it was amazing.

After handing off the veal bone I dug into the veal parm, and as you can imagine, it was ridiculously good. Easily the best I’ve ever had, and again, I’ve had this dish countless times at countless places. Ultimately our server was right because there’s a very good chance we’ll be going back there for beef carpaccio and veal parm.

Next up was dessert, and although we were all getting full, there would be no early exits. We had espresso, carrot cake (which I normally don’t like, but this was amazing), lemon cheesecake (my favorite of the deserts), and a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label champagne. What a way to finish off the meal!

As good as the food was, the company we shared may have been even better. Jessica and I both really love everyone we were with and it was such a pleasure to be able to celebrate with them. Tina is 8.5 months pregnant, so it was awesome to be able to share this special time with her and Tiko. Devin is like a brother to me and I have always loved him. Even though I only lived in Vegas for 18 months, we ended up forming a friendship that will last a lifetime. I can’t thank him enough for treating us this way, and as I said at dinner, it was an experience that we will cherish forever.

After dinner Tiko and Tina headed home, so then Devin, Jessica, and I walked around for a couple hours. We visited Cosmopolitan, Bellagio, and Caesars. Due to his diamond platinum status, we could have skipped the 3 hour line and walked straight into Omnia to see Zedd play (assuming we were okay with the $100 per guy $40 per girl cover charge), but it was 11:30 and Zedd didn’t go on until 1:00am, so we decided to pass. Ultimately it was an epic night, and again, I can’t thank Devin enough for making it all happen.

So then it was Sunday, and in all honesty, it was tough to leave. Ava especially had a hard time with it. She has a very special bond with her Nana, and she literally cried from the point where Nana dropped us off, all the way to the gate. Nana was very sad too, and I was wishing we could stay a few more days. It was such a fun trip and we just weren’t quite ready for it to end. Like all good trips, it was over in the blink of an eye.

Obviously we owe my Mom and Uncle Terry a huge thanks for having us out to stay with them. We always have a great time when we go there, and I wish we did it more often. There’s always so much fun stuff going on in Vegas, so there’s never really a bad time to go.

By the time we got home everyone was pretty exhausted, so we had a nice relaxing Sunday at home. I made spaghetti for dinner, we watched movies, and talked about all the fun we had on our trip. I won’t be going back to work until Thursday, so we’ve still got a few days to hang out together at home. Kristy and Madi will be coming over to spend the 4th of July with us, so that will be a nice way to end my vacation.

To all our family and friends in Vegas, thank you for making this such a fun and memorable trip. We look forward to doing it again soon. Here are a few of our favorite photos from the trip.

Enzo and I working on our water acrobatics

Getting in the shark’s mouth at SeaQuest

Nana and Enzo feeding the stingrays

Elise was so excited to meet a mermaid

Enzo doing work at Cugino’s

Ready for the movie!

Ava loved playing with masks and fake hair

Up close with sweet Elise

Classic Enzo

Cabana Day at Red Rocks. Jessica is bringing sexy back.

We all loved the pool fountain

Devin and I helping Enzo on the ice

In back – Enzo, Jessica, and Helen
In front – Michael, Devin, Ava, and Tiko

Enzo hanging with his good buddy Uncle Bob

Hanging out at the Golden Knights shop

Devin, Michael, Jessica, Tina, and Tiko at Carbone

After dinner we saw a poster for Carbone featuring the veal parmesan we’d just had. This is how we felt about it.

Ava working on that toothless grin

This one speaks for itself

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.

Oh my goodness it has been way too long since I contributed to the blog! I can think of a 1000 reasons why I haven’t taken the time to sit down and write a post but I won’t waste our time on that, there are too many much more interesting things to share. We are currently enjoying our morning routine of a pre-breakfast bite, milk and a show, on our last day of Spring Break. We didn’t go anywhere this year but that didn’t stop us from staying busy all week, but first we celebrated one of the kids favorite holidays Easter Egg Day before officially kicking off Spring Break on Monday.

Easter Egg Day was a huge success this year. On every holiday I like to surprise to kids with some kind of special set up on the kitchen table, since its a central location and we always head downstairs first thing in the morning. I had a few eggs filled with candy sprinkled along the hallways heading downstairs and then everyone had an Easter basket filled with goodies and a few community toys for them to share. After a light breakfast and some heavy snacking on sweets we all got dressed and headed out to the farm. This is the second year in a row that we are heading north for the day to spend the day at the Palmers. This year they have a new family member that joined us, their new 8 week old puppy Noah. He was adorable and the center of attention for the first half hour we were there. Ava was drawn to him right away and was very gentle and calm with him. He was a very mellow little guy and Im sure that all the craziness was a bit much for him because it didn’t take long before he was passed out in his create deep in sleep. The kids on the other hand went full speed all day. We arrived around 11 and headed inside for just a little bit of catching up and then some bundling up before we went out in the backyard for an epic egg hunt. I know that we contributed at least 200 eggs and Leon and Jody put together more than that. There were a ton of eggs, most all scattered in easy to find places, but even still it took the kids a good 20 minutes to find them all. The kids ran in circles around each other trying to get them all faster than the other and no one complained that it was windy and raining the whole time. After they each filled and dumped their baskets out twice we bagged up as many eggs as we could and went inside to warm up for a bit and let the kids marvel over their loot. The kids over indulged in sweets for far too long then we got out some Easter coloring actives and waited for lunch to finish up. It was a great adult meal while the kids hung upstairs and happily ate together in Miles’ playroom. He has so many cool toys and they love hanging out in his room discovering all his cool, new things together. Miles is always happy to let them come crash his pad and they all act like they do this every week. Time always slips away from us when were hanging out at the Palmer Farm, before we knew it is was 5:30 and time to start heading home. We made plans to meet up later in the week with Miles and Leon so it made our departure and good byes that much easier.

We started off the week with a trip to the zoo on Monday. We met up with some of our favorite people, Solana and the boys, and Laurel and baby Sadie. We met at our usual spot near the penguins and let everyone get situated for the adventure ahead. We were prepared for a cold but sunny day and we were lucky enough to actually get hot, yes hot. It was a beautiful day (for PNW standards) and we spent several hours wandering form animal to play areas with a nice picnic lunch in the middle of it all. It is always great when I get to combine my mom efforts with my best friends. They always make things more enjoyable and the kids love each other so much. Its so fun to watch them grow up together. Our day didn’t end after our 3 plus hour tour of the zoo though. Ava has been taking swim lessons on Mondays and Wednesdays, and this week is no exception. After the zoo, we came home for just under an hour of down time before getting ready to head out to the gym for swimming.

Ava is currently in a level one class. She has what I am going to say is a slightly debilitating fear of the water. Specifically of going under the water. She is only just now starting to put her face completely in and blow bubbles for 5 seconds. She will not put her head under (like a head bob) or jump into the water. She has been making progress in the past few weeks but she has a long way to go. She did better than any class before on this particular day because, thanks to spring break, she had a private lesson. She seemed much more comfortable doing new things and had tons of fun getting so much attention from the teacher. After class we were all exhausted so we headed home for dinner and a movie.

The next morning was April 3rd, Michael and I’s 8th anniversary. We don’t generally do much for each other as far as gifts go but it was nice to wake up to a sweet message from him and plans to celebrate with the whole family this weekend. I’m going to take this opportunity to say a quick word about my wonderful husband, my partner, the one who laughs at all my bad jokes, the one who see eye to eye with me, my clam when I’m irrational, the one who still kisses me when I have morning breath, the one who can still make me blush, the hardest working man I know. I love you more with every challenging day, I love your drive and passion, I love your music and your voice. I love you, I love us, I love our life. Thank you for choosing me. ok, now back to our Spring Break.

We had a little adventure planned for the morning and then I was dropping everyone off at the kids club so I could head to the dentist. Our morning adventure was a meet up with a new friend of ours and hike through the woods with some rock hunting for the kids. We’ve recently met a few new, painted rock loving, families that have kids within the same ages and we’ve been on some really great little hikes that we never knew of before. During our hike the kids came up with a cute idea, they decided they wanted to put together a rock hunt for their new friend Elias. I thought this was an adorable idea so I contacted Eli’s mom and set something up for the next morning. Immediately after their fun at Kids Club and dentist appointment we went to work on putting their plan in motion.

Ava suggested that we all paint some new rocks that we knew Elias would love, things that we already knew he liked. SO I got out paper and pen and asked them to start listing off things that we knew about Elias. We came up with these things that we were positive he liked: Pirates, the Beatles, Coco, farts, owls, orange, blue, purple, yelling and jokes. Some of these were a little difficult to go with but we managed to come up with eleven really great rocks just for him, three of which we already had and eight that we made. After the rocks were finished we decided on a place to hide them. Elise came up with a brilliant idea of coloring the tress and sidewalk along the way with chalk, so that they would know which way to go. We also decided I would take pictures of each spot and the kids could help me with little clues along the way. Everything was all mapped out and we were ready for the next morning.

On Wednesday it was raining when we woke up but the kids were still really excited about the treasure hunt we were about to set up. So after a good breakfast we bundled up and headed to Lowell Riverfront in Snohomish. It’s a great river trail with several little shoot offs and tons of trees. We started by writing a “Hi Elias” note at the beginning of the trial and then peppered the walkway with arrows as we went. When we found a good hiding spot we drew pictures on that area of the trail with our chalk and sometimes even left a few markings on trees. We also took a picture of each rock in its hiding spot before we camouflaged it with leaves or branches. After walking a little over a mile and hiding all of the rocks we sat down at a bench an went through each picture and came up with a little note to go along with each before sending them off to Elias and his mom. By this point we were a soggy mess but the kids were still too excited to leave so we wandered around a bit more and played hide and seek for a while before going home to freshen up for the next part of our day.

After drying off and changing into new outfits we hoped back into the van and drove to see Daddy for lunch at Microsoft. The kids are always excited to see dad at work but this time we were going to a new building so they were even more pumped up about it. Michael came down and met us at visitor parking and then after checking in with the receptionist we made our way to the cafeteria. Even after the lunch rush the place was buzzing. Michael gave us a tour of all of our varied options before we spotted a table and each made our individual decisions on what we’d be eating. It took several trips to various stations and then more to get drinks, napkins and utensils but Michael has happy to accommodate us all and the kids were enjoying just sitting at the table and watching all the action around us. Even for me it was a little overwhelming, mostly because we are 4 of about 10 people within the whole building that clearly do not belong. Its not that anyone said or did anything to make us feel uncomfortable, it’s just obvious, even to the kids, that we do fit in here. We did all have a delicious and entertaining lunch and it’s always special to visit Daddy at “his Square” or rather is office. I don’t think the kids will ever tire of seeing Daddy at work.

By this point in the day we were all feeling sluggish and we still had swimming in the early evening so we headed home for some R and R; or at least that was the plan. We ended up stopping at a park near the house on the way home and played for over an hour. After that we went home for just a short while before heading off to the gym. After another great lesson for Ava, we decided to stop at McDonald’s on the way home for some happy meals. The kids don’t get this kind of thing often so they very much look at it as a treat and are overjoyed every time I ask “should we stop at McDonalds?” It usually feels like a huge parenting win and this case was no different. The kids were all at the table enjoying their food when Michael got home from work. He actually had plans to play music with a friend later that night so he wasted no time diving right in with the kids and making the most of their time together. This helped make it an easy night for me once he left. We read a few books and I put on one show for them and 2 of the 3 were asleep before it even ended. Ava of course, was still awake but after a little chat she too drifted off.

On Thursday we had a little communication problem with our friend Leon about wether or not we were going to meet up. When we didn’t hear from him about solid plans we figured something else had come up and we decided to make it a day at home and began to create a blanket fort. We were all still in our pjs and deep into fort construction when Leon finally got back to us, he and Miles were in fact already at the agreed meeting place, a local trampoline spot. Although I was rather enjoying our morning at home we didn’t want to pass up the chance to see our friends because they are also on Spring Break and our normal weekly schedules don’t allow us any play time together. So I begrudging agreed to quickly change and told him we would be out the door in 20 minutes and we were pulling out of the driveway exactly 19 minutes later. It’s amazing how quickly we can actually get our things in order if we really, really want to. I’ve never seen the kids dress and find their shoes so fast. I may have to trick them with this same tactic at some point. I was expecting the trampoline place to be busy when we arrived because it is Spring Break after all; I wasn’t however prepared for what we walked into. Not only was the trampoline area at least three times as busy as we have ever seen it but the ticket line was more than half the length of the building, and it’s a BIG building. I will not sugar coat it, I was not happy. As a solo parent with three younger children, I had literally just walked in to my worst nightmare. Seriously WTF! Thankfully Leon is about as chill and calm as anyone I know, after some encouraging words and multiple apologies, we came up with a plan. The line was actually long because they had reached capacity and were not able to sell tickets until the next jump slot of 1:05, it was 12:20 at this point. We really didn’t want to leave because our options of indoor play areas were limited and it was too icky outside to even consider that an option. So Leon agreed to sit down with the kids and feed everyone whatever snacks I had thrown together, I waited in what was now a quickly dwindling line. All in all it actually worked out. We were able to get in just a little over an hour of jumping and running, which even for Ava is enough. She had beat red, tomato cheeks when were getting ready to go. It was a very quite ride home and Elise and Enzo fell asleep. After their short car naps we all played a few board games and built a lego castle. the rest of the night was pretty uneventful.

We’re calling Friday our last day of spring break because then comes the weekend and as Elise says “the weekend already is a break”. We spent all morning at home for the first time this week just vegging in front of the TV, it’s definitely apparent that the week is catching up to the kids. We did not spend the day at home however, just the morning. At noon we met up with Solana and the boys and went hiking in the woods in Bothell. None of us had ever been to this new area, Shelton View Forest and it was a really cool place to explore. Along with several different wildlife, we saw three old, abandoned cars, a tire swing on the side of a cliff and ran into a pack of the cutest little dogs. Everyone had a good time (some more than others) and we were all really hungry afterwards. We weren’t far from Country Village, a quirky little outdoor eating and shopping center, so I suggested we find lunch there where that kids could continue to play. We found the perfect spot to eat outdoors and had some delicious BBQ. After we took the kids to the playground, because yes, they still had more energy. It ended up being much nicer out than we had expected and it was a lovely last day of spring break.

Now were heading into the weekend and getting ready to get back into our school routines. Elise is gearing up for kindergarten and is really starting to show interest in school. She has terrible jealousy issues with all of the stories Ava is constantly telling us all of her BFF and all her “school stuff”. She is very much ready to embark on her own school adventure. She is still very tender and sensitive but she is showing more self confidence and assertiveness. She is really enjoying dancing and already looking forward to dancing on stage for us all at her recital in June. She is very good at coming up with cleaver ideas and loves to build things. She made up her own joke the other day and unlike most of the jokes the kids make up this one was cute and funny.

Q. What do you call a Tiger Mermaid?
A. a Catfish

I know you’re laughing out loud right now. Most of the kids jokes include poop or farting so I really appreciate this one. She still has a deep love for cats, sparkly things, being held, rainbows, board games, holding hands, pouting and anything baby. You will likely find her in a costume if you leave her at the Kids Club longer than 10 minutes, and do not tell her what to wear; ever. Don’t tell her she cant change her clothes anytime she wants, because sometimes she needs to feel better in different clothes, or she’s just tired of her morning outfit wold like her day or night outfit on.

Ava is really starting to thrive in school, we recently had her school conference and her teacher said she is making huge improvements over the beginning of the year. I’d like to think that this is in part because of all of the extra time we have been spending on home work at night, or the fact that we have letters, numbers, and sight words posted all over house, or it could be that yes, she is maturing, slowly, but still she is maturing. She has recently expressed an interest in theatre and would love to be in a play. She said to me the other day “Mom, I think I would be really good at being in a play, but I’d like to go see a play first”. So I guess a play of some kind is in our future because she’s right, she has never been to a play. I’m hoping we can find a high school play or something like that to start with. Ava is still fiercely independent and sassy as a teenager but she is also extremely nurturing around babies and pets and younger kids, full of determination, protective of her siblings and loving and loyal like no other.

Enzo is a little handful these days, as I sit here I am constantly having to run out to see what that loud crash might have been, or why did I hear the garage door open? Who’s been in the bathroom for more than 5 minutes? Who scattered all the clean laundry all over my bed? Who ripped the sheets off the girls bed? Who dumped out all the toys on the stairs? who… Enzo, every single time. There is no need to even ask, it’s always Enzo who did it. He is literally into everything. The other day as I’m trying to console Elise I hear a clatter in the kitchen. I went down as soon as I could to find him attempting to climb in the panty to get something off the second to top shelf. The week before last we were all outside in the cul de sac riding bikes (I finally got a bike) and I couldn’t find him. I panicked a bit and ran around the neighboring yards yelling for him. Then Ava says ‘Mom, I hear him laughing!” The sneaky, little guy had gone inside and gotten one of the kids chairs and climbed into the van through the open window. He was happy as could be, sitting in the drivers seat pushing buttons and ejecting CDs. Typical Enzo these days, he prefers to play by himself for the most part but you can never be sure what he’s up to. He is also so hot and cold these days within a five minute span it is not uncommon for him to say ” Mommy you’re the best mommy in the whole wide world” and “Give me a cookie or I’ll throw you in the garbage” he also enjoys telling me “I don’t love you anymore”, “you’re rude” and “I’m going to lock you in a room”. I have no idea where he came up with most of these sayings but he has repeated them all several times the past month or so. He can also be very genuinely loving but the harsh ones cut deep at the wrong moment. I know its just his was of expressing frustration and sadness, it’s a phase like everything else. He has an adorable, cheesy new smile and is growing and maturing everyday.

It’s a crazy life we’re living but I couldn’t be any happier. That’s enough till next year…. or at least for now.

First thing Easter morning

Moments before the big egg hunt!

Selfie on the farm

Watching otters at the zoo

Heading home after a great trip

Rocks that we made for our friend’s treasure hunt

Elise marking the sidewalk with arrows

Leaving clues for Elias

“You’re rude”

Playing games

Too much fun

Shelton View forest

nzo’s leading the way

Our final Spring Break adventure

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