Wonderful weekend

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

We had a good weekend. Nice time with my friends Friday night. Busy but ultimately satisfying Saturday. Excellent Sunday, yep good weekend. Got to get started on my puppy training reboot and saw some good results. Still getting into a rhythm with Emily and potty training on the weekends. Enjoyed our first family hike of 2010. And enjoyed my (self) limited football watching.

Role Playing

Friday night we all got together for our role playing game. It was a nice time, although we didn't do a lot of playing, there was more than the usual amount of chatter and talking as we hadn't played in quite a while. But it was a fun time, I enjoy seeing my friends and getting together, even if I don't get to do it nearly as much as I might like.

Puppy Training

Saturday I adopted my new methods of putting a leash and training collar on Spotty pretty much all day. And then dedicated a fair amount of time to actually just working with her while the kids played. And I think there was some good progress made. There were almost no instances of the aggressive barking reaction to being yelled at or feeling threatened. I got James to buy into it so we are on a much better track with her now. We had a few accidents but I can attribute that to her being inside a little more. Although she ended up getting a good amount of outside time with the kids on Saturday and on the walk on Sunday.

Potty training

Saturday early was not good. But once things settled down we stopped having so many accidents, and only 1 on Sunday. I think it really boils down to getting Emily into a rhythm with eating and going to the bathroom at regular intervals as she has not yet really attuned to when she has to go. But overall I think it was better than the week before so there is progress there.

Hiking

Sunday morning we took the family (including Spotty) for a wlak in Red Rocks Canyon, taking advantage of the nice weather. And we all did pretty well. Emily got a little tuckered out, so I had to do soem carrying, but that's okay. It was nice to get into the practice much earlier this year, getting the kids into a better set of habits as far as getting out of the house and not just huddling inside and playing video games. And it was nice to have Spotty along as well, she got some good exercise and some training as well as far as some socialization with other people and dogs. I am thinking that Sunday morning walks/hikes will just be the order of the day this year barring weather concerns. With the goal of making longer and longer ones by summer.

Football

I watched good chunks of the games on Saturday, and a lot less on Sunday. I was pleased that the Cowboys lost, and not as surprised, I remember that this is the Vikings team that was dominating games earlier in the year. And often these late season rolls are cut short by a trip to a rested team's home stadium. I think we are in for a Colts Saints Super Bowl. I think that the Jets Cinderella act will get cut short when they play a Colts team that actually has a plan to win and play the entire game. And I think that the Saints will ride one of the last home field advantages into their first Super Bowl.

Fitness

So after the craziness of last weekend, and then 2 days of off scheduling due to James' illness I should be able to return to a more consistent eating habit and evening exercise program. I am also hoping to start using a couple of my lunch breaks to walk the dog and then eat at work, just to get a little more exercise and time outside.

James basketball

Originally I had signed James up to play in the 3rd & 4th grade level, because I thought he might be ready for it. But after 1 practice it was clear that he was in over his head, so we moved him to the 1st & 2nd grade team. Which is fine, I want him to have fun with these games, not push him above his level. He might have been able to handle that jump in soccer but he just hasn't played as much basketball. This does mean that he will be playing his game early in the day though, I have updated his sports schedule on the page below.