Five Twenty Five

I’ve decided to coach again this year and our soccer season is about to kick-off.  Kate will be taking the season off and will be my assistant coach for Reagan’s team.  I don’t have the final game schedule yet, but I know our first game is scheduled for Saturday, September 10.  Mark your calendar and get ready to cheer us on.

We’ve concluded our 2.5 weeks on the road and I must say, our family is stronger than ever for all that seat time together.  The girls got their first taste of river tubing, river rafting, horseback riding, and Vegas and I know

we are all saddened it had to come to an end.

Our trip to Yellowstone was brief, but we got a taste of the place and saw plenty of wildlife to make it a memorable trip for sure.  I’m returning to a bit of a chaotic period at the office, so my photos will definitely be delayed, but be on the lookout for the one with Kate and Reagan and their new pal, Dash the Lion Cub.

It’s been a busy, busy couple years. Here it is the eve before the eve before Christmas and I’m realizing that there’s a real imbalance between work and life that has warped our perspective. All our friends got Christmas cards out. We did not. My coworkers and even my boss took their vacations on schedule. I’ve been officially “off” since Tuesday, yet, I’ve already worked more than 60 hours this week and its not even Friday.

Things are well, but then again they are not.

Reina’s working again, but it means less family time. I got some more responsibility at work and have doubled the size of my department, but it means more stress and less family time. Reagan’s in Kindergarten now and Kate’s in the Fourth Grade if you can believe that, but this too means less family time. Our lives have become complicated and our schedules are insane. We’re nearing the end of the year, so I’m betting the next week will be a good time for some reflection and the introduction of a few resolutions that bring our personal lives back into focus.

Must figure out how to pipe in a couple feeds from Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, where we’re clearly spending more time lately.

This is just getting pathetic. There are major milestones happening in between posts, which sort of kills the spirit of a family blog. I promise to be more disciplined about this.

Some quickie updates:

Kate’s a first grader now, crazy. She’s loving her new class and she landed a perfectly compatible teacher.

Reagan started school (Mommy & Me school) and is really getting into it. Now, I know the name (Mommy & Me) is supposed to refer to Mommy being present, but Reagan seems to have interpreted it as a Mommy training school. She has really taken to babies (dolls) and is remarkably good at dressing them, cuddling them, swaddling them and the highlight is to take them to the school’s kitchen to cook for and feed them. Apparently, she had a pretty good role model at home.

Reina’s doing her usual to get super involved in the school and in addition to being Kate’s room parent again this year, she has just been elected to the PTA Treasury post. She’s rockin’ it. She’s also keeping the Brownie troop on track and is with Kate at soccer practice as I write this. Super mom.

Me, well, nothing really new, same stressful job with far too many late nights. I am about to launch my latest AFI project (November 8th), a new twist on a Documentary in collaboration with MTV & EA. Turns out that this year, we will be presenting it at the Digital Film Festival, which should be good to raise awareness of the program and our efforts. More details to come. On the home front, I am finally in the home stretch on the bathroom remodel. So much for getting it done by Mother’s day. The Matchless is also at last road worthy and I am very much looking forward to bobbing around town (a great incentive to get that bathroom done).

We lucked out and had a dry Saturday, but the rain did arrive Sunday morning, making for a soggy and muddy break-down of the camp. It was brief, but still worth it. Pix soon on Flickr.

It’s official, school started today and we are very proud of our little girl. Pics on the way.

Was a great getaway for us all. Pics on Flickr.com

So, we’ve finally got it together and started a photo collection on Shutterfly for all to check out. Take a peek at: http://525grand.shutterfly.com and use the pw: ‘scout’ to open it.

Once there, you can add comments, upload your own photos, or have prints, calendars and mugs made of your favorites.

These are mine.

While we were at the hospital with Reagan this week, Grandma and Grandpa Hoegh took Kate out to CPK for dinner. On exit of the restaurant, they encountered the fountains, perfect for coin-toss wishes. Grandpa happened to have a couple coins to oblige and the wishes started to flow.

Before throwing the first coin, they wished Kate to be happy and healthy. Prior to the second toss, Kate wished that baby Reagan be happy and healthy. Grandpa replied that it was very sweet of her to have offered one of her wishes to Reagan. This led to Kate pausing in hesitation for her third wish.

After a few moments to ponder the most appropriate third wish, she tossed the coin into the fountain.

Grandpa asked, “what did you wish for Kate?”

“Hmmm,… I made my wish for Mommy and Daddy”, she explained. Grandpa replied with curiosity, “so, what did you wish for?”

I wished my Mom and Dad could get a new microwave,… the one we have is just too hard to open.