Annie Oakley With A Towel

Swimming in Newport Nj

We spent the our long weekend in Newport NJ and thoroughly enjoyed the hotel, weather and pool. We ate Afghan food in midtown (it was amazing, beyond any expectation), checked out the surrounding areas to see if there were any places we could see our selves living in. went to the Statue of Liberty (we did not do any tourist stuff when we were living there) and ate lots of ice cream. The Easter bunny brought Hayden some swimming goggles and the second he put them on his confidence in the water tripled. Before, he would put his head under, but only for a second and came up gasping for air. We think the goggles de-mystified being under water for him made swimming much more fun. So this video is of Hayden swimming for the first time underwater.

Team Jerseys are in!!!!!!!!

Hayden Phillips #8 Buffalo Saints
It was really cool, they let Hayden pick red or black and then put his name and number on the back of the jersey. Practices are going well, I got coaching certified so I get to go on the ice with him, and at the end of practice he does not want to go home. Ahhh... the life of a parent vicariously living through their child :)
P.S Family pics coming soon....

Buffalo Saints Hockey!!!

Hayden is on the Buffalo Saints mini mites hockey team!! Saturday we had our first practice, which was pandemonium, but really fun. Tuesday practice was much more organized and structured, which made me feel better. Although Hayden still got bored after doing a few skating drills. Hayden is easily the youngest kid on the ice and at least 6 inches shorter then everyone else. Nevertheless he is having fun and that is what matters. (Jen has informed me he is too young for me to give him the "commitment to the team" talk :)

Fire Station Open House

Jen, Hayden and I where on our way to a pumpkin farm, when we passed a huge fire station with all the trucks outside and a bunch of kids running around. Then Jen read a sign "Fire Station Open House" and I immediately pulled over (the pumpkin farm could wait till next week). Hayden loves fire trucks, we got to meet the fire cheifs, use a fire hose, and eat free food. Not to mention all the cool free stuff they were giving out. But the highlight of the day was when we got to ride in a giant fire truck. Here is picture of Hayden and Jen while we went for a ride, sirens blazing!

Taking Pictures Again

Hayden and I find ourselves on our swing set almost every day. And the other day he said I could not swing as high as he can, because I never do (I was fairly confident that it would break under my massive weight) However, his challenge was one I could not afford to shy away from. So being the competitive person I am, I matched him swing for swing (impressive I know :) But when we were swinging I tried to swing at the same time as him so we were moving along side each other, which is much more difficult to do then I thought. As Hayden gracefully swung along, I was desperately trying to stay on the same tempo, by jumping, kicking, dragging my feet and anything else to stay on track. Which apparently was a hilarious sight, because he was getting a kick out of it. The thought stuck me to get a picture of this and so I ran inside, grabbed my camera, came back out, saddled up, and found it even harder to do with one hand and while taking pictures. I'm sure our neighbors think I'm retarded, but out of the 30 or so shots I grabbed only one really came out nicely. And I must say it feels good to take pictures again.

Just a note, the only thing I did in Photoshop was convert it to black and white. The blur was done in-camera. ;)

Training Wheels No More!!!

I sat on Hayden's bike and bent his training wheel up.. a lot. But it gave me the idea to take the other one and do the same, with the hopes of forcing him to use his balance more when riding (it sounded like a good idea) He actually rode on his training wheels like that for a week or two, when I decided it had been long enough and it was time to loose them all together. I told my mom about the monumental occasion and she asked me to make a video. Unfortunately it has taken me 2 weeks to get around to it. So this is Hayden with a couple of weeks experience under his belt.