Milestone

Levi ate his first handful of sand! Apparently this was an initial reaction but he enjoyed it enough to try again. That's my boy!

Still Dry; Shoulder Update

Still haven't been out in the water for some time due to my shoulder. I have an MRI scheduled for tomorrow so we'll see how it goes. I'm hoping that its fixable. I'd almost rather it be something that requires surgery but can be fixed, as opposed to something like tendonitis that never really goes away. I have that in my elbow since little league days and its extremely annoying!

On the bright side, there hasn't been that much of a great run of surf over the last month. I torture myself with the daily reports from SoCal Surf Forecast and when I'm not out and its really good then the torture is almost unbearable. When the surf is marginal I can deal with it though.

In the absence of surf or outdoors related news today, you get Levi's Easter portraits.

5-Year Old Surfing/Skating

I searched "Grom" and "surfing" on Youtube and got this. There's another cool video of a 3-year-old surfing here, but imbedding is disabled on that one... I can't wait for Levi to be old enough for me to take him out! Its kinda funny I get just as stoked off of the prospect of teaching my son to surf as I do about surfing myself!

Walkabout

Not exactly a hike, but just getting out for a walk around the neighborhood with Levi feels good, like I'm doing something right to get him outside. Just throw him in the carrier and go. He seems to like it as no matter how cold it is he is quiet and just soaks everything around him up the entire time. Ehow.com has this list for the question "How to Get Kids Outside?"...

Step1

Set up a swing set or play equipment for younger children.

Step2

Put up a basketball goal, volleyball net or skate ramp for older children. Kids will be more likely to go outside if they can engage in an activity they enjoy.

Step3

Take family bicycle rides or walks together. Encourage outdoor activities by setting a good example.

Step4

Plan a scavenger hunt for your children and their friends. Send them around the neighborhood looking for various outdoor things.

Step5

Sign your kids up for a camp where they can explore the outdoors and participate in outside activities. This introduction may foster an appreciation for being outside.

Step6

Limit the amount of time they are allowed to spend watching television or playing video games. Without these distractions, they will want to get outside to play.

I've decided to simplify it for people like me with short attention spans. Here's my list...

Step1. Turn off the TV and go outside.

That's it. Not, send the kids outside, go outside yourself. I'm going to be making a conscious effort to habitually be outside. Working in the yard, playing walking anything, just being a family that gets out of the house and having children outside from an early age will make a world of difference 5, 10, and 20 years from now.

Beenie Man

Settling Down

As you can see if you've checked this blog regularly, I haven't been doing much posting lately. Between work and family its been tough to get anything in edgewise. The downside of commissioned sales is that when business is slower, you put in more hours for less reward. At least the spending time with family part more time means more reward, I just wish I had more time there.

Luckily for me, the surf hasn't been much to get happy about anyways. The issue I run into is I'm one of those people who needs to surf regularly to keep my edge. I don't forget how to surf, but paddling is a whole other story! To keep a little bit of an edge I started doing yoga in the mornings a couple years ago. Doing it regularly makes a big difference when I do get out in the water. It doesn't help the cardio side at all, but as far as how fast my muscles wear out, and what they feel like afterwards it makes a world of difference.

Hopefully when things settle down a little bit I'll be able to get out in the water more. having a new baby shakes things up and I think they're just now really starting to settle back down to normal.

Milestone!

Yes, my son (highly advanced as he is) has rolled over for the first time! Pardon the image quality, it's a cell-phone camera. And for an additional disclaimer, the cheering is not me, I have a very masculine baritone voice(wishful thinking), the cheering is my beautiful wife.

Childs Play

Happiness is having a little boy that loves to play. Now that he can hold his huge noggin up by himself, Levi gets more fun every day. He's playing with his mom here, he laughs like a little champ. Bit by bit he's growing up! Days 'til first surf, 973......

Foto Friday 1/23/09

Photo- Bruce Kirkby

Beach Day

Went to the beach with the family today to have a surf. They played on the beach while I played in the water. Its been a long while due to work and the new baby; felt great to be back in the water. I did find out the Levi does NOT like 55 degree water, dipped his toes in and he just about exploded! Maybe the Hawaiian part in his blood longs for the warm tropical waters of his native homeland...

Soul Arch