Holden Football Practice

Football practice is a real time committment for both player and parent. Siblings, too. Every weeknight Holden has a two-and-a-half hour practice at Arovista Park. I personally look forward to these nights because I get to watch Holden and hang out in the park with Riley and DJ. No TV or other distractions.

Holden is smaller than most players because he is in the bottom of his division in weight and age. He also doesn't have a former football player, or even a football fan, for a father, so he is missing out a little bit on the fundementals. He works really hard, though, and enjoys running and hitting. He also never complains or gets tired.

Which One's Holden?

ANSWER: He's the one on the far upper left. With helmets on you can't tell them apart.

Holden had his first game of the season, just a scrimmage against Tustin. They won.

Dustin from my Droid

Riley Starts Soccer Camp

Riley has been excited all weekend to start her week-long soccer summer camp. For 6 hours a day she will be practicing her soccer skills. She is already on a regular team, so besides the daytime camp she has practices twice weekly.

Star Wars Occupation Chart

DJ is a big Star Wars fan. In the off chance he would read this blog I have attached a funny Star Wars occupation chart.

OC Fair

The kids and I went to the fair on Sunday. The Orange County Fair is like the Los Angeles County Fair except not as hot and a bit more expensive. Riley and Holden got to go on a ride, but other than that we didn't give them a lot of our hard-earned money. We passed on the chocolate covered bacon (frozen) and the fried Kool Aid. Well, I passed on it. The kids wanted the $4 soda and the giant $8 corn dog, but I resisted and promised them some good things after the fair. We did partake in the massage chairs which are the only rides that haven't gone up in price recently. We also saw a heavy metal concert, played mini golf, and saw a milking goat beauty contest.

If you remember, we went to the fair last year just before seeing Weird Al Yankovic in concert. This year the concert happened two weeks before the fair opened. The Weird Al tickets doubled as admission tickets to the fair, so I felt like we should use them.

The kids are learning from my frugality. DJ has been purchasing things that can only appreciate in value. Riley hoards her money most of the time. Holden never wants to hold his money himself because he might lose it and will gradually learn more about delayed gratification.

Seriously, I could have easily blown $100 at the fair in about 90 minutes just on food and rides.

Show Low Newspaper Captured Holden at Rodeo

Another quick post about Holden and the rodeo you saw on Youtube a couple posts back. The local paper caught him on his calf and took this picture – probably a half a second before he fell off. I didn’t insist on a correction to Holden’s last name. The photographer was probably someone I went to high school with. Many people in high school mispronounced my last name in the same way.

Holden's Report Card

Truth is, I don’t know how long I’ll get away with posting the kids’ reports cards here without them getting upset or embarrassed. I posted Riley’s straight As the other day, and here is Holden’s 1st Grade Report Card in all its glory. They don’t use the traditional As, Bs and Cs in his grade so he has a bunch of numbers and Ss and Os.

I’m happy with this report card. As you can see, this was the year he learned to read and write. It seems like every day he says something about how nice it is to be able to read. For example, when we go to an ice cream store he can read the flavors and he will say, “Dad, now that I can read I can choose which ice cream I want myself.”

 

Another reason to be happy with this report card is Holden has ADHD like DJ does, but he doesn't take medication (yet) so the report card is very good considering he can’t sit still easily.

Holden has good focus when there is a puzzle to solve or a group of objects to organize. He is in charge of the beverage area at the house. He stacks the waters, juice boxes and sodas in neat rows. When I assign chores he gets the ones that require good organizational skills.