Dinner night

Took a few pics before we headed out to the kids' favorite dining spot -- Maggiano's.  Seems we've been frequenting this place more often now that it's a couple miles away.

Hockeytown Cafe

Kids were all decked out in their Detroit gear for the Hockeytown cafe downtown.  These were from a few weeks ago, actually the day before I took Dylan to the Wings game.

It Takes Heart to be a Hero!

We are raising money for kids that are sick.   I am wondering if you want to help?  We are helping because some people are born with half of their heart. 

http://jumphoopsmwa.kintera.org/madisonfurlani

Dylan's first game

Took Dylan to his first hockey game last Sunday.  Somehow with a 4-2 lead in the 3rd, the Wings let this one slip and the Panthers tied it up shorthanded!  The game went to a shoot-out and the Wings couldn't finish it off.  It was a great game, lots of scoring and Dylan watched every second of it.  He loved every part of it, until he saw the scoreboard after the shootout:  

Panthers - 5, Red Wings - 4

There was about 15 minutes of yelling and some crying I had to diffuse due to the loss.  I tried to explain that the Red Wings still got a point for the tie -- but that doesn't register at this age.  Believe it or not, I've spent quite a bit of time with him on losing games (once in a while) and have gained quite a bit of ground.  However when it comes to his beloved Wings, if you're not in first, you're last.

To say he's obsessed with hockey is an understatement.  He recognizes 8 of the Red Wings by number -- and 3 of them by facial recognition alone.  Dylan can tell you who is currently hurt, the backup goalie for the Wings and distinguishes players by offense and defense.  He also seems to recall specific details for every game he watches.  For example, Dylan and I were talking about the game a couple days ago and I said to him "hey, wasn't the 1st goal of the game by Alfredsson cool", his response "Dad, Alfredsson didn't score the first goal, it was Nyquist. Alfredsson scored the second goal".  Now I couldn't remember, but I had no doubt he was right.  Sure enough, took a look online and he was dead on.

I have quite a bit of hockey stories I could tell, but to sum it up.  We play hockey in the basement every single day, he plays goalie just about every time -- suits up in full knee-hockey goalie gear and tries to get shutouts.  This morning, at 6:30am he climbed into bed, first question asked (which was repeated about 20 more times), "Dad, I want to watch hockey highlights, can we watch hockey highlights?".  You see, we watched the 1st period of the Red Wings game last night then he had to go bed -- a cliffhanger for my hockey obsessed son.  Turns out, Red Wings won -- so far it's been a great morning.

Newsflash: It's cold outside

Newsflash:  January in MI this year has been cold and accompanied by plenty of snow.  Tomorrow we're looking at a high of 4 and a low of -8.   Doesn't mean we can't take advantage of the heat spells, last weekend we had high temps in the mid 20's -- perfect for the kids and me as well as I watched them play from inside.

Waterpark

Dylan jumped across these things about 20 times, never fell in, just a few face plants.

Last weekend we took a small trip up north, about 140 miles, to a waterpark/hotel.  We headed out on Sunday morning and spent the afternoon at the waterpark.  Dinner at night, then back at it in the morning for another couple hours in the water.  It was a nice little getaway for a reasonable price, more importantly, the whole family had a great time.

Teaching Dylan math and reading

This is me and Dylan, and  I am teaching him math.   I was teaching him adding and subtraction.

He read all of the colors, he colored him self.

More Christmas pics

I asked Dylan to tell Santa what was on his wish list, his response "I can't read yet Dad, remember!".... wiseguy.

We made pizza hobo pies outside, trying to start a tradition with the kids.  I wouldn't say they were a smashing success, I need to investigate better recipes for next year... the kids did enjoy the fire though,

Here are the last of the Christmas pics, all caught up.

Setting up the luminaries

I have a backlog of photos from the winter break, here are a few.

Remember a few weeks back we all went to a Luminary Party in our neighborhood.  Well Christmas Eve arrived and the family set up and lit quite a few down our street -- they stayed lit well into the night, past bedtime.

Yoga for kids

We found a few yoga sessions on YouTube for the kids to do.  Madison will stay focused for the full 30 minutes... and once in a while Dylan will join in too.  This is a great way to keep the kids occupied while Cathy and I workout.  Yes, I said workout.  We recently purchased the T25 workout and have completed 2 weeks thus far.  Although the real challenge starts tomorrow, when the kids are back to school and we're back at work.  We're going to have to workout at 9pm every night -- no excuses.  Although I'm about 100% certain the kids will have a snow day tomorrow (and Tuesday), which means we won't be back to reality until Wednesday.