Mothers day

A tribute to Heidi:

I don't know how you do it.

I tried to do all your chores on Sunday and it was tough.  If the kids bathed themselves, dressed themselves, and fed themselves, it would be easy.  If they did their own piano and homework it would be easy.  But they don't.  I don't know how you get them ready for school and baseball and the gym without going crazy.  

Thanks for making the casserole this week.  It was yummy.  

Love, Danny

Jacquie's interment service

Had Jacquie's interment service at St. Mathew's church in Walnut Creek, CA

Kira's been into putting on her own makeup.

Not too shabby.

Childhood Sports

Being a sports mom is different than I ever imagined.  I was the most overly competitive kid and as a result my greatest desire as a parent is to see my kids smiling.  Lately, Scott has had a really hard time in baseball.  He went from being confident and having fun to being totally down on himself and in tears most games.  As soon as he sees the line-up, his body language screams defeat.  I just want to tell him over and over, he is great and he can do it, but my words don't seem to be louder than the line-up.  He did a mock line-up in his journal the other day and it made me sad.  

I am not a baseball coach and claim 0 knowledge of the sport, but do wish this age was more developmental. Our team did awesome in the beginning of the season when they were all rotating and now that they have their positions, it seems like the kids aren't as happy and definitely not doing as well.  

Some kids just want to pitch and our coach is afraid to allow them to pitch thinking it wouldn't be good for them to be defeated in front of family and friends. When did sports change that it isn't ok for a kid to at least try.  

I recall a time that a coach gave me the opportunity as a 14 year old to travel across the country to be a part of a relay at nationals.  I was the weakest link but he told me I was the most important link. When I was on the blocks and looked over to the girls from Stanford who were better than me I had total confidence that I was just as fast because I had a coach that believed in me.  And not just by telling me that he believed in me, but by having me travel across the country and putting me up on those blocks against some of the fastest kids in the nation.  That day he taught me that a team was only as strong as their weakest link and the power of believing in your athlete.

I saw an 8 year old pitcher, doing well, pulled in the middle of an inning and replaced with a better pitcher.  I don't know why he was pulled, but I hoped the kids on the team didn't care about winning more than their teammate doing his best.

An unforgettable memory as a kid. I was at my last college conference.  I had come for the very end of the season after my mission.  Splits determined the conference relay.  I was the fastest split and when my coach confronted me to suit up, I knew that my teammate, who was part of the relay all season deserved that spot.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVED to race and I LOVED relays, but I believed in her and I wanted her to succeed more than I needed to succeed.  I had been on more than enough winning relays.  It was her turn.  Nothing compares to that feeling of being a part of a team.

Being a sports parent has helped me become a better coach.  I don't know if I will ever coach competitively again, but I feel like I am growing as a coach. I have gone through periods that I could have lifted and believed in my swimmers more, looked for kids who were struggling and listened to parents who knew their kid better than me.  

I saw my college coach the other day and have thought about how very BLESSED I was to have some amazing men and woman in my life who were my coaches.  

I hope we don't forget the real life lessons that we hope to teach our kids through sports.  The importance of working together as a team.  The importance of lifting the weak link. The importance of working towards goals.  The importance of overcoming failures.  The importance of having fun.  The importance of believing in yourself. I truly believe that a team is only as strong as their weakest link.  

I know Scott will grow from this experience and become a better person.  I am grateful for that!  And I am grateful for good coaches who bless these kids lives.  I hope that someday my kids will be able to sit down and reflect on what helped them become a better friend, spouse, parent and teammate and realize how wonderful the journey can be!

At the end of the day, I am forever grateful for these coaches who put in all these volunteers to help our children.  Sometimes I don't agree with every philosophy, as I am sure parents might not agree with my coaching.  Most importantly I am forever grateful for the friendships that are made.  Scott has made some incredible friends that I hope will be a part of his life for a very long time!  That makes all the ups and downs worth it.

What are your thoughts?  What do you love and hate about childhood sports? Do you wish anything was different?  Do you think it is different than when we were young?

Easter and the air show

Had an Easter egg hunt at Pop's house.  

Maddie and Lucy joined us.

Yesterday was the air show at the Travis air force base.  It was way better than expected since it was free, there was always a plane in the air, and it wasn't too crowded or hot.

There were four huge planes like this, including a C-5, that took off, one after the other, and flew some laps around the sky.  They had so much lift and there was a headwind that it seemed like they took off in 400 feet.  

The wind made it chilly but the cement was warm.  We just sat and watched the planes fly over.  There was a biplane that flew upside down in between some pylons and cut a ribbon in between them and that was cool.  Then the Piper Cub landed on a moving truck and that was cool.  The headwind was such that it was flying under 40 mph.

The kids seemed to have a good time too.  I brought ear protection for all of us even though it wasn't that loud.  When the F-16 "Viper" flew by and did the muscle climb, it was loud, but the kids said they liked it.  Man, jet engines.  The Viper was pretty sweet because it could fly alongside a P51-D Mustang, which couldn't have been more than 200 mph (wikipedia claims the P51-D has a top speed of 437 mph), and yet at full speed, it could do mach 2.  I don't know my aircraft as well as Dan-o, who could identify planes in the air.

Watching the planes was a lot like doing the RC planes.  Sadly, I haven't flown in over 10 years, but the models have the same characteristics as the big ones.

After the air show, Scott, Tyler and I went to the Ports game in Stockton.  We took the Lexus and I wasn't sure what to expect for attendance, but there was enough traffic to the parking lot that I just parked on the street.  I didn't think anyone would break into the Lexus because I have the factory head unit, but once we were there, someone said, "No, they'll just steal your rims."  And I was worried from that point on because the Lexus does have nice rims and I don't have those silly special lug nuts.

Scott and Tyler weren't into the game so much but I enjoyed it.  The minor leagues could pitch just as fast as the majors but there were several fielding errors that gave me a chuckle, not that I could do any better, but that those things hardly ever happen in the major leagues.  A wild pitch to first ended up in the dugout but the runner only was allowed one base on the overthrow.

I was happy to see that all was well with the Lexus and we made it home in good time.  I had made a deal with the boys that if we stayed the whole time then I wouldn't get them doughnuts but if we left after the 7th inning then we could get doughnuts.  Well, Scott's team gave him a drink and his friend gave him some pizza, so I felt it would only be fair to Tyler to get doughnuts even though we had to stay almost to the bitter end.  I dropped the kids off at home and then picked up a dozen doughnuts from safeway.  I never go there because they're so expensive, but I thought at 11:15 pm they'd be marked down, but no.  Turns out they just throw them out at five the next morning, but whatev.

So this morning we had doughnuts and the kids are in good spirits.  Okay, bye.

Kira sings the Imperial March

Since the boys are both into playing the Star Wars Imperial March on the piano, Kira's been singing it.  Sunday I played it and filmed her doing it.  I know there's a big error in the middle, but a bad video is better than no video.  Besides, I was watching the screen to make sure she was still in it.



Sometimes I get onto youtube to see whether my videos get any likes or dislikes, and most of them have more dislikes than likes, and I don't care.  Oh, I gotta go.

Too cute

Scott's baseball game

I took the big camera to Scott's game at Adams.  It is a south-west facing field and the game was in the evening, so the sun was in our eyes the whole night.  But from this angle, the lighting was good.  

Scott jumps out of the way for a pitch that he felt was a ball.  The ump and I disagreed, but what can you do?  Scott struck out twice and was feeling pretty down.

Here he is hitting a foul ball

This is "down and ready."

I like the games at Adams because they're close and we can ride bikes, but the field has no trees for shade.  This morning, I was checking out some volunteer trees and wondered whether I could prune them to grow up and straight and provide shade in some fifty years.

One of the moms approached and said, "Are you looking for lizards?"

That's one of Scott's favorite outdoor pastimes.  He had brought his lizard collection to the game and he was pretty amped up about the one he had just caught.

I told the lady my thoughts about shade trees and then said, "Interestingly, when I took the cover off my car this morning, there was a lizard right on the door handle, so I brought it inside with the rest of the collection."

On the way home from baseball, there was another lizard on the sidewalk to the left of the house and Scott caught it.  Now he has five or six.