Monday, February 28, 2011

Happy Birthday Demi

I need to have seconds on this posting date and time, since it is not a leap year. I hope you have a wonderful Birthday. You deserve a great day. Love you.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Happy 10th Coco!

Happy birthday, youngest son. Congratulations, on reaching this milestone birthday. Both my boys are in double digits. Crazy talk. I hope you have a wonderful day. Quite the day you have planned out: Breakfast in bed (biscuits, sausage gravy, eggs, bacon, and protein bar), stay in bed reading your Kindle all day, Mega-dog for lunch (hot dog with bacon, pulled pork, and cheese), and Marshfield Famous Pizza for dinner. It's good to be the king.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

The Will to Survive

Right after Caz was born, Demi and I finally sat down and had a will created. Circumstances were vastly different. We didn't own our house yet. We only had one child. Demi didn't have the daycare yet. So while a Will was not ideal, it did the job. Ever since then, a living trust has been something under consideration. Actually, it was just a matter of when to make the change. It always seemed like there was one more life event on the horizon to hold out for. Coco came a long. We bought the house. Demi started her day care. We remodeled room after room, and then the entire main floor. I think it is finally time to convert.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Movie Review - The Green Hornet

The whole family wanted to see this one and we were not disappointed. This is not your typical superhero movie. The car chases are great, but this is not a special effects bonanza. The humor is typical Seth Rogen. Many of the characters have great dead panned one liners. James Franco makes a brief cameo, which is very funny and well done. Not many folks are familiar with the Green Hornet. Unless, like me, you grew up watching Adam West's Batman on TV. It is PG-13, mostly for language. A lot of S bombs right in a row. Some colorful references. But nothing cringe-worthy. For us any way. Coco's age would be the youngest I would recommend (10 on Sunday) and there were parents with kids a lot younger. I thought Kato did a great job. Best side kick character in recent memory. And Cameron D in a movie is always a bonus.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Growing Up Brady

It's not always a cakewalk. In fact, you know I kid, parenting is just plain hard work. It hardly ever goes the way you want. Today was one of those days where you question why you wanted kids. In the end you remember why, but it can be a struggle for a bit.
I find it hard to know what is typical behavior for an 11, soon to be 12, year old kid. Especially, one with ADD. Our pediatrician is great. He actually has ADD too, so he can relate. He did jump right to a diagnosis either. But since then has been a voice of reason for us to bounce things off. He's the one that reminds us that there is a difference between "can't" and "won't". With ADD, there are certain things that Caz can't do. Shooting whatever phrase comes to mind out of his mouth, no matter how mean or spiteful is one of them. He does not have control over a filter. And in the heat of an argument or heated situation, it can be very frustrating. It takes all of my self control and patience not to respond to it. Sometimes, like today, I don't have enough of either. I don't always do the right thing. I try to learn from it and go forward. But it goes against my instincts and nature, not to take the insults personally. I know he feels bad afterwards and regrets saying them. It is something we both need to work on.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Ski School

Coco had his own issues to face. He was not wanting to go to ski school. Demi and I knew better. This was an activity that we could not help him with. He would not listen to us. He thought he could get right up on skis and go. He ended up fairly well last year but it was over a year ago. The morning we hit the mountain he knew it was coming. He pouted a bit. But when we picked him up after class, he was a new kid. He was smiling and could not wait to show us what he had learned. He was up and down the slopes all day. Seeing him in his tuck at the end of a run was priceless.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Climbing Mt. Everest

Everybody has their mountain to climb. Figuratively speaking of course. This lesson is more the overcoming of an obstacle, rather than the "because it was there" theory.
Caz thought he was just going to jump on his snowboard and fly down the mountain, picking up where he left off last time. Not only was that not to be, it was worse. His first run of the day was disastrous. I thought it was going to finish him for the weekend. He fell down the entire mountain. He was cursing (dropping S bombs), deriding himself, and in tears. He wanted to get to the bottom, call it a day and be done with snowboarding for good. Caz was more frustrated than I have ever seen him.
Leave it to Demi to save the day. She knew he was overexcited to start. So much so he missed breakfast. She took him into the lodge. She got him a bagel and cream cheese. They ate a leisurely breakfast and then gave the board another shot. Coco did so much better. Night and day from run #1. His confidence soared and each run just got better. By lunch time we were up and down the mountain continuously. I give Coco a lot of credit. He could have given up. But he faced his challenge head on and overcame it. I give Demi a lot of credit too. She read the situation perfectly and handled it masterfully.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Ski NH

Family Ski Trip 2011. I know I write about family trips all the time. And a ski weekend is not exactly groundbreaking. But this was a total Chin family ski trip. Meaning good old Dad even skied this time. I felt the time was right to test out the newly cleaned out knee. Of course I was nervous. It is not like I was a great skier to begin with. I only like skiing a bit. But I wanted to be able to do this with the family, instead of watching from the lodge. I have not skied since before the kids were born. So we are talking almost 14 years. One wrong move and I could do more damage to my knee. But my desire to partake in the family weekend was greater than my fear of wrecking my knee. I really think it will be all right. And I do plan to go easy. I will rest between runs. At the first sign of trouble, I will shut it down.
Don't get me wrong. I don't mind putting the ski weekend toghether, carting them to the mountain, sherpaing their equipment around, and minding the fort. As long as they have fun, I am good. But I would really like to see the boys bombing down the mountain. I would like to see them on their skis/snowboard. I would like to ride up a lift and have that time to talk with them. So I plan on skiing. Done. Decision made.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

National Signing Day

Forget that dirty Groundhog, today is national college football signing day. High school recruits all across the country are signing their letters of intent, choosing which football program they will be playing for next year. ESPN provides coverage and tracking like the NFL draft. Coco was very taken with the spectacle of it all. We were both hoping that it was not going to be 6 more weeks of winter for the Noles. As it turns out, the Noles ended up with the #1 recruiting class in the nation. Finally. Maybe FSU is back on the rise. Coco wanted to see the list of recruits, which is amusing since it won't mean much to me but even less to him. I like that he takes such an interest in the details. Most kids his age could care less about this stuff. I like the Father/Son bond talking like this creates.