Thanksgiving 2012
Click here or the picture to go to the Thanksgiving 2012 page.
October 14, 2012
Before Season 4 gets fully underway and it
corrupts my memories of Season 3, I need to
document my highlight of his little “career”
thus far.
Scenario:
We’re re-playing the team that destroyed us the
most of the three other teams in the league.
They’re a 6-8 year old team from a different
YMCA playing us, a 5-6 year old team. Everyone
was taller than all of us.
They start out up by about 6-0, before Dash
makes a couple of shots. With about a two
minutes left in the half, they’re up 6-4, so I’m
very impressed (good hustle on defense by our
undersized team). They score with about a minute
left in the half.
Now normally, it takes our team (or any team
manned by six year olds) anywhere from two to
three minutes to inbound the basketball.
I run out to the baseline yelling “Let’s go,
let’s go, get it in, get in in. We’re running
out of time. It’s almost halftime! Go go go!”
Justin inbounds to Dash with about 15 seconds
left or so (a victory in itself, only taking 45
seconds to inbound). The team of giants for some
reason fails to cover Dash who is dashing up the
court. He gets to the right elbow as time is
expiring. I don’t think he sees the game clock,
maybe it’s just he feels it’ in his range (I
thought he was out too far, but…). The clock
expires with the ball in the air, BUZZZZZZ! The
ball hits the rim, bounces way up, and falls in.
I’m jumping pumping my fist and yelling “COUNT
THAT! You gotta that! Yes!” Crowd goes wild (20
people, both sides’ parents appreciating the
clutch-ness of it).
Halftime 8-6. Very impressive.
With less than a minute in the game, the score
is tied at 16. We have the ball. I wished I’d
taken a time out, to have the kids drink in the
feeling: they’re tied with the best team in the
league, the team that destroyed them a few weeks
earlier, a team where everyone is a year older
and four inches taller. Drink it in, good job.
You’re in a position to beat the best team in
the league.
They score with about twenty seconds left. Now
would also have been a good time to make that
time out. “You can do this. Special moment”. We
turn it over. The End. A couple of the kids on
the team are devastated, not sensing the pride
all the parents feel for hanging with the
virtual teenagers and taking the game to the
last possession.
My boy has one more buzzer beater than I ever
had. What a thrill.
August 19, 2012
| The summer has been real summer-y, which is not a given. This was a great summer-y weekend: Surfing Friday afternoon and then Sushi. Saturday we went to Soak City and rode some big slides. Today we took the boat out. Mounted the boom and threw Dash out on some training skis: three tries, three good rides. We then did picked up some friends and actually went swimming in the bay off the boat for prolonged periods... |
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August 12, 2012
Surfing...
August 10, 2012
Dash at Scooter Camp...
| ...doing stuff I can't do. | |
| There was a hotshot Scooterer there
named "Sorin" doing all sorts of tricks.
I said (aloud): "In one attempt I can be all that and more." Folks said: "I don't think so." I said "No really. Sorin Bloody!" Tell me that's not funny (everyone else did). |
July 23, 2012: Florida Vacation
Florida Vacation: click here.
April 22, 2012
Fun Weekend.
Met Bob, Ruthie and Joel Vander Lugt on the beach on Saturday.
Had to split up for a few hours for Dash to play a basketball game. As expected, we played a very good team and Dash had his first experience as the team lead having to bear the burden of being relied upon and not being able to pull it off. He handled it pretty well; I was happy with his attitude.
Today we went boating in the big bay. Had a really nice time. Saw lots of porpoises.
April 15.
Happy Tax Day. This 5 and a half minute Basketball clip may tax your patience, but here it is. Season 4, Game 1. Leigh's first game as Coach. Last season's superstars have moved up a league, leaving Dash older, taller and more experienced.
March 17
| Dash just completed a
very successful third season of
basketball.
The big success was that he started taking practices and games seriously. He used to goof off in a ridiculous manner for at least some of each game and a good portion of practice. He's a consistent teammate now. He also scored for the first time this season and started dribbling with some effectiveness (he's always been a good passer and hustler on defense). |
March 1
Dash was home recovering from a cough today. One of those days where you weren't sure whether you were going to take him in or not. He was in a good mood with lots of energy, touch and go.
For whatever reason, he occasionally likes to have a sheet of paper with math equations written on them (I certainly prefer that to having to draw for him (his artistic expectations of me far exceed my ability)).
I started some math equations and then gridded out the Multiplication Table and showed him how to use it. Perfect squares and the symmetry around it. The school's approach to teaching math is pretty interesting, he gets a lot of conceptual stuff (for example, the commutative property is very natural to him and he brought it up when I was showing him the symmetry of the Multiplication Table).
That got him inspired to go grab a calculator and start playing with it for quite some time. So we wrote down some equations and calculated the answers for things like how many seconds in a year and how much we could sell him for if he were made of gold (I told him not worry: I wouldn't sell him because he's worth more to me than gold).
The calculator had a square root button on it. If figured I'd test him. I showed him the square root of 4 is 2. 4=2x2. The square root of 9 is three. 9=3x3 The square root of 16 is 4. At this point Leigh had called to check in and was on the phone.
"Okay, Dash, what is the square root of 25?"
Dash: "Five."
"What is the square root of 36?"
"Six." Leigh says in my ear (phone), "That doesn't prove anything. You're doing them in order."
"Okay, Dash what is the square root of 100?"
"10."
Square Roots got me thinking of "Donald in MathMagic Land". Thanks to Youtube, I pulled Dash onto my lap and we watched it on the computer. His first question, during the opening credits, was "Is this non-fiction?" "Yes, animated ducks are a perfect vehicle for non-fiction."
A good day. It cost me some work time, but it was really great to be able to do it.
BTW: he had first fully-earnest basketball practice on Tuesday. He's into it (a big relief, because unless he was scrimmaging he was generally goofing off during drills).
Feb 25: Dash's First Basket!
A great couple of weeks in Basketball. He's actually been fully focused for the last two games (first full-focus ever), a milestone of relief for us parents (and coaches).
| The monkey is off the
back (our monkey, his back). It took
three seasons, but here it is: his first
basket. It's been a sustained effort from the young man, we're happy for this rewarding milestone. He did his first "real" dribbling (handling defense in his face) later in this game, which was a surprise to me, since it kind of came out of nowhere. |
February 14, 2012 - Valentine's Day
Too busy for anything romantic for Valentine's Day. Ahh, parenting....
Idyllic time at the beach last Sunday. Too cold of course to swim or even wade (as usual), but warm with little wind. Got the trifecta in: football, Frisbee, and sand castles. Receding tide gave us time to build dams/shields and lakes, with enough rogue monster waves to overrun them often, but not too often. Frisbee is fun, because with his back to the wind, Dash’s throwing range is about as far downwind as mine is to him into the wind. About as “peerish” a sport as we can get to at this point. Also, at that range, it’s really hard to hear his complaining. J
This Sunday it was rainy and ugly. I had pretty much resigned myself a dull icky football-less grey winter day. A break in the drizzle saw us at the park throwing a small football that fit into Dash’s little hands. Lots of “throw it way up high”. “Again.” His depth perception is very good as is his footwork. Moves early and instinctively. His catching is a bit nerve wracking, though, as he still traps it against his body or his neck or his face. He gets angry with me if I don’t make a catchable throw, which is often. Often enough that there is yelling and crying. I tell him that I have a 2-foot by 2-foot square that I have to aim for and that I can hit it consistently only if I throw it low and fast. Not wanting to do that I have to throw it high and soft which makes it harder. Too low and he’ll cry about a bad throw, too high and I’m beaning my kid in the head. Pick your poison.
Nonetheless, good bonding between the bitching.
Later, took him to the pool for the first time in a long time. Gosh, he loves to swim. So much laughing (unfortunately, some of the laughing he does under water. So much water breathing…). He really does very little complaining while swimming.
Post HedgeHog Day Blues...
For the Before I Forget Files
Funny what sticks in their minds. Actually it shows good prioritizing:
While combing through pictures for his 1st-Grade Autobiography Project, we got to last year's Disneyland trip:
Jeff: "Ahh, that was one of my best days ever."
Dash: "Third best."
Jeff: "Huh?"
Dash: "Your third best day."
Jeff: "Huh?"
Dash: "Your best day ever was..."
Jeff: "The day you were born."
Dash: "And your second best day ever was the day you married mommie."
January 30, 2012
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January 1, 2012
A tough week at skateboard camp and a little NYE Party rugburn.
Happy Christmas
Dash Skis Mammoth December 18, 2011
Conversations from Mammoth
| “Dash, stop
looking for jumps.”
“Dash, stay on the trail. There’s not enough snow cover; rocks and stumps are everywhere.” “Okay, Dash. If you’re going to jump things anyway, make sure you line up your jump so that you’re landing into the run and not towards the woods.” “Leigh, let’s see if we can find a helmet that has a cage to protect his face.” Dash, on the chair lift: “I went off a jump and landed just fine. My Daddy, went off the same jump and wiped out. He landed on his head.” “Okay, Dash. Let’s talk about something else. Let’s talk about something that makes Daddy happy, okay?” Dash: “How about the time when Mommy wiped out?” |
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Debriefing: Dash at Mammoth
Good weekend of skiing up at Mammoth. Snow
was man-made hardpack: fast and hard. Made the
mistake of not starting off gently, which had
Dash on the evil side of his spectrum. Wound up
nicknaming one intermediate slope the “I Hate my
Daddy” run. The overall challenge for the
weekend was, because most of the mountain was
closed, the “easiest” long runs were crowded
with advanced (read “High Speed”) boarders. Dash
was fine ,but I was a nervous wreck. Found some
runs better suited for him, the afternoon was
salvaged.
Saturday Night had The Naked and Famous
playing on a stage outside the lodge. Caught
only about 25 minutes before Dash was too cold
(but it was a good 25 minutes (The male singer
called the person who through a beer on-stage an
“F***ing Hick” which I thought appropriate, but
not necessarily a crowd pleaser)).
Sunday found the conditions a bit worse, but
the run selections much better. Found some
steep, but wide runs that weren’t all that
crowded. Dash was able to do what he wanted.
Good turns, mostly parallel. Got a good video of
him. Go to YouTube and search “Dashpotato Skiis”.
Occasionally, though, we had to take other
lifts, which had their steep, mogul-y areas and
narrow areas, all with two widely-separated
speed groups. There’s Dash either going wide to
keep his speed under control or going wide to
jump something or do a half-pipe wall vert; I’m
uphill of him trying to run interference. Oy.
And, as usual, I am getting into more trouble on the non-advanced slopes (when I’m alone on something more “dangerous” my attention isn’t split). Catching an edge looking back up the hill, sliding out trying to go slow on ice (whereas his dual edge system works better): my helmet paid for itself many times over Saturday and Sunday (hard to believe we ever boarded without them). Today (Monday), less head-smacking, but a lot of butt-busting slideouts. By comparison, on Saturday I had no wipeouts in the Terrain Park (which was, of course, directly adjacent to the “Easiest Intermediate Run”). I caught a respectable amount of air for an old guy.
Sunday Night we all watched the Chargers whoop up on a very good team, teasing us into thinking that they still have a season. Afterwards, I took my Giant Scope out with our hostess Kathryn (thanks for the hospitality, Kathryn!). Very dark skies, but for whatever reason, not the clearest I’d seen. It was too cold (21 degrees) to relax and explore, so it was pretty much “hit the knowns.” Still, I’m glad I didn’t skip it. Now I know that SDAA’s TDS, even with brighter sky, is still a pretty good site for going deep.
Today, snow was really hard and icy. Dash started out kind of cranky, but a lunch break with hot chocolate and foot-warmers seemed to do the trick. Good skiing on his part, Mom and Dad were wiping out more than him (two-edges, again). Very good speed control and experimenting with “hop turns.”
| Dash on a
long wide run. Not his most
impressive skiing of the weekend, but
the only place I felt safe enough
filming... He did much better in worse conditions... |
December 7, 2011
| A Good Sequence of Hoops |
| Second Crossword Puzzle (to his great delight) |
