Goal!

I played soccer today and scored a goal. In this league, goals are tough to come by as there are a zillion kids vying for the ball. I got the ball near the goal mouth and kicked it through.

Gooooal!

I also did well as a goalie. I only let in one goal.

Sabino Canyon

As I mentioned before, we went to a place called Sabino Canyon on your recent trip to Arizona. There used to be a tram that wouuld take you all the way to the end of the canyon, where there is a nice waterfall. Sadly, there was a flood in 2006 that washed out the top half of the road, so the tram only goes halfway up. That meant we had to walk the other half of the way.



It was a hot day and for some reason I only wore my Sunday School shoes on the trip out, so my feet got sore fast. I didn't want to go on with the hike. I would sit down in the middle of the trail and refuse to go on.



Eventually, this became sufficiently annoying to everyone that we all turned around to go back.




Still, it was a very pretty place. Here are some photo highlights.

Reid Park Zoo

These are some photos from the zoo in Arizona. I had a great time pretending to be a peacock. Here are the photo highlights.

Marble Run

This weekend we've been playing a lot with my marble run. I really enjoy filling it completely with marbles.




Daddy and I also like to do a version of mythbusters with the marble run. The latest myths we've been studying involve these two "Y" sections of the marble run, where the marbles can either go to the left or to the right. The way the marble run is formed, there's a "Y" early in the run and a "Y" later in the run. The marble has to pass through both Y's to land in the red or green bins but only the first Y to land in the yellow bin. The myth is that the marble is equally likely to land in any of the three bins. We busted that myth--a marble is more likely to land in yellow than either of the other two bins. We also checked that the Y's are "fair" in that the marble is just as likely to go left as right. So, how do you solve this mystery?

Wine Country

Yesterday Daddy and I went to wine country together. Our official purpose was to pick up wine shipments from the two wineries that we are members of. Unofficially, the purpose was to go on a photo safari during the colorful fall season in wine country. We visited Trefethen and wandered around the barrels there. We also visited a new winery--August Briggs--up in Calistoga. Their winery is in the shape of a big barn.



We wandered around the grapevines and got a lot of nice pictures. Next, we went to Duckhorn and found a whole bunch of secret trails around the property.




I also got to take some pictures with Daddy's camera. Here is a nice one of Daddy.


We had a great time. Here's a link to all the photos (run the slideshow in fullscreen mode for best results).

It's Delicious

When I'm having foods that I like, I tend to lavish them with praise. For instance, a Kit Kat bar is "absolutely scrumptious." What I've discovered though is that if I can praise a food not just for its taste but also for its superior nutritional properties, this is even better. I like to increase the odds of getting more of my favorite stuff. My favorite is to offer a rhyming phrase:

It's delicious. It's nutritious!

This is a useful phrase for a host of foods. For instance, Oreo Cakesters are big chocolaty cakey cookies. I proudly announce,

They're delicious. They're nutritious!

No one seems to believe this though.

Sometimes I'm more successful. Chocolate milk, for instance:

It's delicious. It's nutritious!

Happily, this produces some level of agreement.

Back from Arizona

I'm just back from our trip to Arizona. It's a really neat place. I've never seen so many cactuses in my entire life. When we got off the plane at the airport, there were cactuses on the side of the road. I just kept seeing them everywhere. I asked Mommy and Daddy what would happen if a cactus suddenly grew in the middle of the road. Could cars get past it? Later, Mommy got me a book about the life of a saguaro cactus. What I learned is that it takes forever for one of these cactuses to grow.

At various restaurants and stores, I offered my perspective on cactuses:

You guys sure must like cactuses.

I suggested to various workers.



We did a lot of fun stuff in Arizona. We went to a "desert museum", which had lots of interesting plants and creatures. One of the activities at the museum was archeology. I used a duster thing to uncover a fossil of a dinosaur.



We went on a tram (and then on a hike) in Sabino Canyon. I liked the tram ride. I did not like the hike. We also went to the Tucson zoo.

Here are some pictures from the trip. Link here.

Tired

Trick or treating is very tiring. My legs were really sore this morning, and I was generally really tired today. I went to bed early. Daddy took a couple of pictures (above) of story time. One of the stories was called Mouse Paint. I got out the mouse finger puppets that go with this. I had the red one and Mommy had the blue one. You can see the blue guy (he's a bit blurry) in one of the shots. Daddy says that the cool feature of these shots is that they were done in the natural (dim) light of the house--no flash at all. Both of these photos are downloadable. Links here:

First photo

Second photo

World Series Party

This past weekend we had a World Series party. We decorated the house with lots of baseball stuff. Baseball caps lined the living room. Oakland A's bobbleheads adorned the mantle. Also, I made some cutout pictures of baseball players which we taped to the entertainment center. We invited over Roxy and her family as well as Daddy's friend Maria (who was kind enough to provide the awesome A's tickets last year).

As part of the festivities, I designed a quiz for the people between innings. It consisted of trivia questions like: How many all-star game wins does the National League have? How many World Series have the Red Sox won? I memorized the answers from Daddy.

Of course, one of the best parts of the World Series is when a team wins the trophy and all the players pour champagne on each other. Our party was on Sunday---the day the Boston Red Sox swept the series. Roxy, Daddy, and I were all jumping around and hugging each other with the Sox victory. World Series parties are fun. I can't wait to have a Super Bowl party!

Happy Halloween

Halloween is one of the best holidays. You get to dress up. You get to visit lots of people. You get candy. What's not to like? This year I dressed up as the Shadow Ranger. While most of the Power Rangers are teenagers who have been trained by the Sensei to have powerful crime fighting skills, the Shadow Ranger is a dog-like creature named Anubis "Doggie" Cruger. He retired from being a ranger but then came out of retirement to save the world from the evil General Benaag. In the picture above, I'm with my friend, Christopher, who is dressed up as Vernon Davis, a player on the 49ers.

Daddy did a photo shoot of me showing off my many crime fighting moves. Check it out here.

Campanile

Here are some fall pictures of the campanile at Daddy's work. Check them out here.

Pebble Beach

Daddy recently went to Pebble Beach for a conference. He also got to play some golf. He said it was the most beautiful golf course he'd ever seen. Here are some highlights.

The Price is Right

The newspaper is surprisingly interesting. I like to hear about the A's notebook, which tells what's going on with the Oakland A's. I also occasionally like to hear about the Raiders and the 49ers, but only to hear about the injuries. But one of my favorite parts of the newspaper is the "guess the price" game. Daddy will look at the car ads and tell me the names of two cars as well as some descriptions. My job is to figure out which costs more. For example:

New Toyota Camry versus new Toyota Prius (I know the Prius costs more)
New Camry versus new Toyota Pickup truck (I know the Camry costs more)

My favorite is the 2005 Hummer H2, which has been in the paper for the last couple of weeks. It costs more than ANY other vehicle---even more than the high end Lexus, which used to win all of these contests. Why do people pay so much for Hummers?

Weird Phrases

I've picked up a bunch of phrases, mostly from movies (none of which I've seen) that I like to say. Here are my top 5:

1. "Give me a little room to breathe" (Col. Bill Kilgore, Apocalypse Now)
2. "Brains...brains" (Night of the Living Dead)
3. "You do X like you fix roads...lousy" (Doc Hudson in Cars)
4. "It's not the worst X I've ever seen. It's not the best either." (David Feherty, Tiger Woods game)
5. "Destroy the Humanoids" (Robot words from video game Berzerk)

More Games

Daddy and I have played a bunch of games lately. I've learned some new poker variants. I like 5 card draw poker the best. It might even be better than Texas Hold 'em. I've also learned seven card stud poker with lots of crazy wild cards. My favorite variant is a game that Daddy's grandfather taught him---the wild cards are kind of a rhyme---deuces and jacks and kings with an ax. Of course, there is only one kind with an ax (the king of hearts).

We also played a game of Risk, which I won. We played the yellow team versus the green team. I was green. I managed to take over South America and stopped Daddy from taking Africa. Then I expanded into Europe and Australia and finally wiped out the last of his guys in Asia and North America. I like it when I have lots of guys. Daddy and I make tank noises as I roll across the countryside.

This Week in Sports

It was a sports filled weekend for me. On Saturday, I played tee ball. I'm getting really good at catching the ball and I'm a really fast runner. In fact, I'm almost too fast. My friend Christopher was on base in front of me, and I kept passing him as we rounded the bases towards home. I like to go into home with a big head first slide. I also like to root on my team, the Cheetahs. I started a chant:

Let's go Cheetahs. Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap

I couldn't get the other kids to go along though.

Daddy and I played a bunch more tee ball after the game. Interestingly, even though the game is called tee ball, we only hit balls out of the air rather than off a tee.

Sunday was golf day. We went to San Ramon Royal Vista (aka the "green golf ball") golf course for some practice. I hit a zillion range balls and even got a reward from daddy for hitting a ball about 50 yards into a bunker on the driving range. We also played "crazy golf" by choosing different random spots to putt from and trying to make putts. Finally, We did some chipping practice. We each had three balls and the person coming closest to the hole won. I managed to win two of the games! I still don't like to hit the normal way, but am getting more used to it. Hooray for golf.

Of course, we also engage in blocking drills almost every day. I'm getting very good at getting leverage low and keeping my feet moving forward to push the offensive line (Daddy) out of the way so I can get to the quarterback. I'm also improving in my "swim move" to get past the linemen. While I don't want to play football for real (too much chance of injury), I do like pretending.

Sox to World Series

As you know, my favorite team in the Oakland A's, but, since they were eliminated, I've decided to root for the Sox with Daddy. It was a great night last night as the Sox won and went to the World Series. Both of us were jumping up and down, high-fiving, and hugging one another at the Sox victory.

I even got out my Sox cap to help root them on. I like to do lots of cheers, so Daddy and I were hoarse from yelling

Let's go Sox. Let's go Sox!

at the TV. Mommy, of course, thinks this is all rather silly.

I also liked how the Sox got two trophies and how they poured champagne on one another. Celebrations are great. I'm really hoping they win the BIG trophy. Go Sox!

Pixieland

After church, we went to Pixieland. It's about at the end of the season and Pixieland is only open on weekends. After October, it won't be open at all. I really enjoyed driving in the cars. I try to time myself in line so that I get the yellow one. The shot up above is using something called a "panning" technique. Daddy sets a slow shutter speed and follows me with the camera as a drive in the car. The result is a motion effect.

I also "won" a new stuffy---a cute white bear. I love him very much. It's the lead photo in the "highlight reel" entry below. Daddy intends to put one of these up in his office.

Mommy Joins a Church

Today Mommy officially joined the United Methodist church in our area. She had to go to a special class to join. She also got a cool magnetic pin with her name on it. After the service, Daddy and I went exploring up and down the stairs of the church complex. We took some pictures of Mommy looking down from a little balcony that we found. Daddy also took some nice pictures of Mommy and me at a table after I had some cake and juice. Daddy thinks these are some of the best Mommy and Aidan pics in a while.

Trefethen Harvest Festival

It's harvest time in wine country. The leaves are strarting to turn---even the leaves on the grapevines. We got to visit our friends at Trefethen last weekend. I carved some pumpkins, got a whole bunch of corks, and generally had a good time visiting all the niftiest spots in the winery. I also got to visit with my friend Shannon. It was lots of fun.

Hawk Hunt

Two weeks ago, Daddy and I went on a hawk hunt. At first, it was looking like a pretty unsuccessful one as we only saw one hawk. But, in the end, we saw 6 hawks, a couple of ducks, a whole bunch of bulfrogs, and a bunch of squirrels. I also liked trying to figure out the types of trees by looking at the leave and the seeds and comparing them to Daddy's tree book. We saw a bunch of oak trees and couple of other kinds like manzanilla as well.

Photo Extravaganza

Daddy's been taking lots of photos. Here's a full sized slideshow highlight reel for those in a hurry.

For those with more time or if you're looking to make some prints, here are some Shutterfly collections:

Aidan putting on jammies

Harvest Festival

Church Membership

Pixieland

Note: Shutterfly now has a full screen mode for slide shows. This is a huge improvement in judging the quality of prints. you lose a lot of the detail at the small size slide shows that Shutterfly used to have. You should check this out to see the pics in all there pixel glory. There are a number of really great shots in this mix. The shots of me with my friend white bear are highlights. Also, several of the shots of Mommy and me (particularly IMG_7200.JPG) are also really good. For Mommy fans, the solo shot of Mommy is super crisp.

Mommy's Plant

Daddy liked this photo so much, he wanted me to make an entry just for it. Here's a picture of one of Mommy's plants in the evening light. Click on the image to see a full-size version. Order prints (if you wish) here.

Flying Solo

Today was my first "solo flight" at homework. As you know, each week, we have to memorize a poem about the letter of the week. This week's letter was "R". Normally, I have my friend Christopher do the poem with me in case I forget anything, but Christopher was away from school on a trip today, so I was flying solo.

At breakfast, I recited the poem for Mommy and Daddy and totally nailed it, so I was pretty confident. I recited the poem in school all by myself and I got...starry eyes---the highest grade. Hooray for me!

Bedtime

I like to prolong bedtime as long as possible. I've decided that staying up is lots of fun, while getting up for school the next day is less fun. Making bedtime last fulfills both goals. One way to stay up late is through comedy. Check out these funny poses.



Aidan at night

Writing

I've been adding a lot of writing to my cards and other things I make for Mommy and Daddy. What I like to do is to figure out the first letter in each word I want to say and then write this on the card---sort of like texting. For some words, I add a couple of letters. Here's an example:

T hdr
F Aidan
D u n ur n 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ...

Translation:

To Heather
From Aidan
Do you know your numbers? 1, 2, 3, ...

Writing seems pretty useful.

The Letter of the Week

This week's letter is "r". We get a preview of the letter of the week on Friday and then get our homework the following Monday. The main part of the homework is a poem using the letter of the week. Over the weekend, Daddy and I speculated about what this poem would be. We came up with

R R for Rodney Rat
Rooting through rubbish
Rotting rubbery
Radishes. Rusting
Roadster
RRRR for Rodney Rat

The poem is of a specific form---the first line is always the letter twice repeated followed by the name of the animal. Then there are four words starting with the letter. Followed by one more word. Then the animal again.

Urban Planner

I've been making lots of urban planning pictures. I like to make pictures of towns, cities, farms, and even baseball stadiums. You can see my latest collection here.

Scoreboards

I'm fascinated with scores. Whenever a sport is turned on TV, I check the scoreboard to see who is winning. I've been making scoreboards on my own as well. When the Yankees were playing the Red Sox recently, I created my own scoreboard to keep track. I wrote the score down in pencil, so I could change it when more runs were scored.

Yesterday, I was busy making scoreboards again. I had some "bump car" races between Mater and Lightning. For those who don't know, bump cars are toy cars that go when you bump them. The winner was the car that went the furthest. On my scoreboard, I drew pictures of Lightning and Mater and created a grid of boxes. Every time one of them won, I put in "x" in the grid below his picture. After many races, Lightning won the most, but it was pretty close.

I also made a scoreboard for the colors of marshmallow pieces in my cars cereal. This cereal is sort of like Lucky Charms, but instead of having hearts, clovers, and the like, it has cars in various colors. I carefully picked out all the marshmallow pieces and then created a grid on a piece of paper to score the match. I then counted the cars of different colors and filled in squares on the grid. Yellow had the most. In the end, my scoreboard looked sort of like a bar graph, which I also like.

Smiley Balloon

I really love this balloon---so much so that I had Daddy take some pictures of it with his new camera this morning. You can also see a slide show
here.

Story Night

Tonight was story night at my school. This means that some of the teachers read stories and a whole bunch of the Mommies and Daddies read stories too. I got to hear about a zillion stories. Some were ones that I knew, like Click clack Moo. Cows that Type others were new to me. There was one, The Giving Tree that is really sad. In fact, it was too sad for me to sit through. I had a lot of fun hearing stories though.

Blog #800 - A milestone

This is my 800th blog entry---approximately one blog entry for every 2 days I've been alive. 800 is a bit higher than I can count. Most recently, I counted to 150 by ones. That was a big job. I was pretty happy with the fact that I got well past 72---my favorite number.

Not really much to report in this entry other than to note that it's kind of amazing that the blog has been going so strong for so long. Thank you loyal readers!

Mini Golf

The previous weekend, the whole three family went out and played mini-golf in Pleasanton. While I've played mini-golf before, this was my first attempt to play all 18 holes. (I played in Maui and only got through seven holes---I decided I liked the 7th so much that I played it over and over about a zillion times.) Mini golf is lots of fun although it's harder tan you might think. I like to keep putting the ball even while it's in motion (more like hockey than golf), which definitely makes it harder. Also, I'm pretty aggressive in my swing, so I sometimes shoot the short putts well past the hole.

One worry I had when playing was that I wouldn't like the putters on the mini golf course, so I brought my own putter. Most of the other people used the standard putters. Daddy did too, but he didn't like the putter at all. At the end, I was more or less tied with Mommy while Daddy shot 1 under par for the course. Mommy, however, made the only hole in one!

Catch

I'm getting very good at catching and throwing a football. While I really like to tackle and block, Daddy has insisted that I learn some other skills as well. We've been playing catch with my Steelers football. Initially, Daddy would throw some underhand spirals to me, and I would have to catch five in a row. I would toss the ball back to him as well. Over the weekend, he decided I was ready for the overhand spiral toss. Initially, I thought the ball was way to fact to even see, let alone catch.

My eyes are falling out of my head, the ball is so fast.

I said. But I soon adapted. Today was a new record---seven catches in a row. My throwing is also very strong too. I figure if Daddy can throw overhand spirals, so can I. So I zing the ball as fast as I can at him. He mostly catches it, which is pretty amazing.

While throwing and catching is fun, the best part of football is the "sack the quarterback" game. We set up pillows at each end of the room, representing the opposing quarterback. Then, we take turns being the blocker and the pass rusher. I like to be the rusher. Despite Daddy teaching me some techniques like the swim move, my preferred approach is to bull right into him, and try to push him out of the way. I'm getting good at getting leverage from below and keeping my feet moving. If he's not really ready, I can push him back a bunch of steps and slip through to get the quarterback.

Right now, my best athletic talents are: (1) My speed (I'm very fast); (2) My strength (I'm quite strong); and (3) My hitting ability (not so useful in football, but very useful in baseball).

By the way, for those worried about my past football injury two years ago---I've forgotten all about it. I'm as aggressive as ever.

Homework---Results

My homework assignment was due on Friday, and I did great. I totally nailed the Sammy Snake poem and got a smiley face with two stars for eyes--the highest possible score. This week's assignment is Missy Mouse (in honor of the letter of the week, "M"). I'm less excited about Missy than I was about Sammy the Snake, but I should do well with this also.

Risk

As I mentioned, we got the game "Risk" over the weekend. I love this game. We played a full game on Sunday. I had the blue pieces while Daddy had the pink. Initially, I controlled much of Asia while Daddy held all of Australia and slivers of the other continents. There were some big wars in Iraq, Iceland, and Siam, but eventually my forces defeated all of Daddy's. I gradually managed to take over all of South America, then Europe, then the rest of the world. I'm very proud of myself for winning the game on only my second try. The die rolling in this game is very exciting!

Go....bears

This Saturday, Daddy and I went to a Cal football game. I've wanted to go to a game for a while, so this was really great. It was a bit rainy in the morning, so I wasn't sure I wanted to go, but it cleared up.

We got an early start, so I could visit Daddy's office before the game. It took a while to find parking owing to the fact that most of the lots were closed for the game, but we found a good spot. On the way to work, Daddy stopped off and picked up a new game for us to play while we "worked." The game is called "Risk". the object is simple---take over the whole world. While Daddy initially worred that the ages for the game were 10+, I quickly got the hang of what was going on and put up a god fight. There were giant wars in Iraq (just like the real world) and Kamchatka. After a bit of time, we went to the game. It was great. There were a zillion fans, and I liked a lot of the cheers. The best one was "Go...Bears". The way this cheer works is for one side of the stadium to yell "go" and then the other to reply "bears". There was also a cheer I didn't like, "Roll on you bears." For this cheer, you have to say the words while twirling your finger in a circle.

Anyay, the Bears destroyed the Arizona Wildcats. One of the best things about Cal is the terrific colors of their uniforms. They wore blue tops with yellow letters and, best of all, yellow pants.

Sunset Ride

As you know, Daddy loves to take photos. Here are some pictures of his ride home from work today.



Drive Home Sept 2007

Showtime

Well, homework is due today. I think I'm prepared. Two of my assignments involve reciting things. One of the recitations is the Pledge of Allegiance, which I hate to say. The other, Sammy the Snake, is more fun. Here it is:

ssss Sammy Snake
Seesaw sandwiches
Silly soup
Saturdays
Ssss Sammy Snake

Picture Day

It's picture day at school today. While this is not such a big deal for me, it is for Mommy. She was fretting about what outfit I should wear and what color backdrop will be most complementary to my coloring. (She settled on blue.) One not so fun thing about picture day is that Mommy is fussier than usual when it comes to my hair. I don't really liked to have my hair brushed---instead preferring the natural look---but Mommy definitely wants it to be somewhat in place for the picture.

Bedtime with Aidan

My bedtime routine hasn't really changed that much over the years. I still get read several stories, Mommy and Daddy still sing songs. Maybe the only thing that has changed are the details of the last bit. Right now, I like to be tucked in with my "stuffies" to the side of me. Sometimes, there are so many stuffies that it's hard to fit the covers over all of them.

Daddy decided to take a couple of photos of me in bed. They're pretty much impossible to take with a normal camera since Daddy used no flash and with only the nightlight in my room. You can see them here.

Homework

A milestone for me happened earlier this week. I got my first batch of homework. (Yes, there is homework in Kindergarten these days.) There are actually a bunch of things I have to do by the end of the week. They include learning the pledge of allegiance, learning a poem about Sammy the snake, tracing the letter s in various places, and some sort of social studies. I've nailed the snake poem already, and I'm pretty confident about tracing the S's. I don't know about the other things though. The Bell school is pretty tough.

Ice Cream Social

It was a busy weekend this weekend. On Sunday, the whole three family went off to play miniature golf in Livermore. It was really fun. I putted pretty well and really enjoyed playing. Daddy putted extremely well and ended up finishing 1 under for the course. After that, we went home and watched football for a little bit before going off to the ice cream social/gong show at my school. I liked the ice cream part quite a bit, but the gong show part, where the Daddies were supposed to showcase their talent, was a bit boring. Overall, it was a really fun day.

Daddy took some pictures with his new camera at both events. One of the things he's most excited about with this camera is his 50mm prime lens. He especially likes the "bokeh" from this lens. Apparently, if you set it in a particular way, you van get a laser sharp image of the subject while softly blurring everything in the background. The ice cream social shots (those where I don't have a golf club) are good examples of this effect. You can view them here.

World Series of Poker

As you know, poker is one of my favorite games. This is especially true this time of year when ESPN is running episodes of the main event of the World Series of Poker. I really like watching all the players decide what to do and have my own views about which hands I'd like to hold.

Anyway, I've been pressing Daddy for quite a while to increase the number of cards we use in playing poker. Initially, we played one card poker, which was quite fun. (And, on one memorable evening, I managed to wipe out Nainnie in a one card poker tournament through a combination of pretty good bluffing and an Ace at the right moment.) We advanced to two card poker and eventually three card.

I felt ready for the real deal---major league poker---Texas Hold 'Em. In this game, each player is dealt two cards face down (the hole cards). Next, three cards (the flop) are turned face up in the middle. These are shared by both players. Next a fourth card is turned face up (the turn), and finally a fifth card (the river). Best five card hand wins. Now, the trickey part for me is remembering all the possible hands. There are a lot of them: quads, full house, flush, straight, trips, two pairs, a pair, and a high card. Daddy thoughtfully laid out all the possibilities in order for me to consult. I'm getting pretty good at figuring things out though. I managed to win with a full house recently. I've also had a couple of straights, and a flush or two. The best is when I have a pair of aces in the hole. This hand has a special name, pocket rockets, since the letter "A" is shaped sort of like a rocket ship. I've never lost with these.

Usually, I'll have a couple of helpers like Thomas trains or stuffed animals to help me decide what to do. The only bad thing about poker is that I'm sad when things don't work out on a hand with a big pot. I really want to win these. Still, I love playing poker.

Christopher

Last night, I went over to visit with my new school friend Christopher while Mommy and Daddy went to the opera. Initially, I was quite worried about this visit since the original plan called for me to go to sleep at Christopher's house until Mommy and Daddy came to pick me up after the opera. Fortunately, Christopher's Mommy was kind enough to agree to take me back to my home for bedtime (the only live a couple of blocks away). While this was a good thing, Christopher and I came up with an even better plan--we decided that it would be great if he could come over to visit my house since he hadn't seen it. So off we all went to my house. It was really exciting showing him all the many toys. I also pointed out some of my sports stuff since Christopher is a really big sports fan. (He got TWO football helmets for his birthday and we decked out in Alex Smith garb last night). It turned out to be a great night.

Are you ready for some football?

Football season has just started and that means it's time for me to put on the pads and get out there as well. Daddy and I have been playing a number of football related games. One of my favorites is "sack the quarterback". In this game, we set up two pillows (one for each QB) and then take turns acting as offensive lineman and pass rusher. The pass rusher has to get past the blocker to tackle the opposing QB. The offensive lineman's job is to block. While there is plenty of contact in this game, there's no tackling, which is a plus.

The next game is "pass routes". Here, one player is the QB and the other is the wide receiver. The receiver runs the route called by the QB and tries to catch the pass. I've learned a number of pass routes already. I know square in, square out, slant, and fly patterns. I especially like the fly since it allows me to run down the field at top speed to catch the pass. My catching skills are much improved too. We've been doing some pass catching drills. Daddy tosses the football to me until I catch five in a row. If I drop a pass, we have to start over. This really forces me to concentrate on catching passes. I've become quite good at catching five in a row though.

Of course, I also love to watch football on TV--especially when the Steelers or the Packers are on. Happily, both teams are undefeated so far this season.

Late Already

Well, it only took me two days of school to be late. Everyone got up at the usual time on Tuesday (around 7am) and things seemed to be proceeding well, but I was in no particular hurry to do anything. I put on my clothes at a leisurely pace (no clothing races for me today), I lingered over breakfast and got distracted by all the interesting comings and goings around me. In the end, I got to school 3 minutes late. While I come home with a positive attitude, the thought of starting each new day at my new school makes me very nervous and I'd rather put it off as long as I can.

Daddy said I had

A bad case of the slows

(An aside from Daddy: The quote "a bad case of the slows" is actually due to Abraham Lincoln who used it to describe General George H. Thomas, the Rock of Chickamauga.)

(A double aside: I understand that Gen. Thomas was my great grandfather's favorite general in the Civil War, at least according to Daddy.)

First Day of Kindergarten

Monday was my first day of kindergarten. I was pretty nervous about the whole thing and didn't sleep well the night before. I asked what would happen if I fell asleep during class. Since the first day only lasted a little more than an hour, Daddy and Mommy didn't think this was very likely to happen. The first day of school was pretty fun and, best of all, I got a bunch of gifts for surviving the first day. One of the absolute best gifts was a Chick Hicks from the movie Cars (my favorite movie and, in my opinion, the best movie of all time). Chick is the mean car who crashes into the other race cars on purpose while trying to win the Piston Cup. Apparently, Disney/Pixar underestimated the demand for this bad guy car, so Chick has been a hard item to find. I am very happy to finally own Chick so that I can punish him again and again for the bad things he did to The King and Lightning in the movie.

Airplane Contest

One of the big highlights of the Smithsonian Air & Space museum is the paper airplane flying contest. It was this contest that inspired my many flights of airplanes with Daddy, Mommy and Felix. (In fact, while we were in DC, we had another flying contest from Felix balcony on the 4th floor of a building, Mommy set a new distance record by flying more than a block in the air.)

Anyway, in the Smithsonian contest, you have to fly your airplane through a small hoop. The person who does this the most times without missing wins the price (which is a plastic helicopter thing). I've competed in this even a ton of times without ever winning. Well, that all changed the Sunday before we left to go back to CA. It was early in the morning when Daddy and I arrived at the air & space. Nobody was at the contest area, so I though I would win by default. Eventually, a mommy with two Japanese children (a 3 year old girl and a 5-6 year old boy) arrived. The battle was on. I knew all the patter from the leader of the contest. In fact, she said I might as well get up and explain everything to the others. First trial through the ring---I made it. so did the boy. The girly had no clue how to hold a plane or in what direction to throw so she was eliminated. Second trial--I made it again---this tied my personal best record of two in a row. So did the Japanese boy. Third trial---I made it again---a new personal best. The Japanese boy missed! I won the prize.

Round Rainbow

While I don't like any kind of art with recognizable people in it, I do like more abstract things. One of my favorite pieces while visiting DC was Olafur Eliasson's Round Rainbow at the Hirschhorn. The installation consists of a clear torus that slowly rotates while a spotlight projects onto it. The torus reflects the light in various ways to produce a pattern of rainbows as well as cardioids and other shapes. I found this absolutely fascinating.

Let's go Phillies

I thought I would write to you about some of the highlights of our recent trip to DC. The first is about (what else) baseball. Daddy, Felix, and I attended a game where the Phillies took on the Washington Nationals. Part of the fun was getting there, we took a metro train and there were a zillion stops between our hotel and RFK Stadium. We went in and sat in the second tier of seats (sheltered by the vast overhang of the upper deck). It's a huge stadium---much larger than Oakland---so there were a fair number of empty seats. At first, I wasn't sure who to root for. Normally, I pick by color but both the Nats and the Phillies wear red and white. I decided to root for whoever took the lead first, which was the Phillies thanks to a 2 run HR from their catcher. At that point, I swung into action. I started a cheer:

Let's go Phillies! (Clap clap clap-clap-clap)
Let's go Phillies! (Clap clap clap-clap-clap)

Happily, other people in the stands took the cheer up and soon lots of people sitting near us were cheering for the Phillies. This made things lots of fun since everyone seemed to be rooting for the Phillies.

The Phils built a 4-0 lead into the 8th inning when Tom Gordon came to the mound. Unfortunately, he gave up two solo HRs and put a bunch of guys on. Things looked despareate for the Phils. In fact, I was so concerned that I asked Daddy and Felix to leave. But we stayed and the Phils escaped the 8th up 4-2. They closed it out in the 9th for the win.

It wasn't as fun as seeing the A's, but it was still a fun ballgame.

Who is the lefty?

Answer: Barry Zito.

Comeback

A very exciting A's game tonight. Danny Haren was pitching against the Tigers. Things were not looking good for Oakland--the A's got down 3-1 to the Tigers in the 6th. Then, we saw a terrific comeback. The A's managed to load the bases and, with timely hitting, scored 4 runs in the last of the 6th to go ahead 5-3. They went on to win 7-3 with Haren picking up the win. Huston Street pitched well in the 7th to hold the lead. I was also happy to see the Marco Scutaro made some key hits to redeem a costly error that let in 2 runs early in the game.

Let's go Oakland!

Baseball Card Game Show

Baseball cards are great. There are a zillion games you can play with them. Here's a new one: You have to pick three baseball cards where one of them is different from the others. For example, you set out Danny Haren, Joe Blanton, and Jason Kendall and then ask the question which one is the catcher. (Answer = Jason Kendall for those unfamiliar with the A's.) The fun is both thinking up interesting questions and answers.

But the fun is also in the sound effects to go with the show. Daddy has located a bunch of "sounders"--effects from old game shows. During the setup time, there's the intro music from the show "To tell the truth". Then, when the contestant is thinking, we play the "thinking music" from Match Game. (Listen to it here.) The best sound effect comes when a contestant guesses incorrectly--the losing horns from The Price is Right. (Listen to them here.) Almost as good are the victory sounds, also from The Price is Right, which you can listen to here.

The sound effects really make the game.

Here's today's question: Which pitcher is left-handed:

A. Barry Zito
B. Danny Haren
C. Huston Street

Tune in tomorrow for the answer.

Labels

There's a new function on my blog--labels. I've tagged a bunch of entries with labels describing what they're about and, to the right of my blog, you'll see a count of the number of posts with each label. If you click on one of these labels, you'll get all the posts devoted to that topic. For instance, if you click on the label "Oakland A's", you'll get all the posts about the A's.

Hat Day and Danny Haren

Yesterday, Daddy and I went to the A's game. We didn't have tickets, so we talked about where might be a good spot to get. I decided that I wanted to be in the 3rd or 4th row. Fortunately, we were able to get tickets in the third row right behind the A's bullpen. These were really fun seats. We were out early enough that the Orioles (the other team) were still taking batting practice while the A's pitchers were stretching and tossing the ball near us. I noticed one guy running and doing stretches and said that he looked just like Danny Haren. Daddy replied,

That's because he IS Danny Haren.

I couldn't believe how close we were to Danny. It was amazing. We also saw Joe Blanton, who was throwing a pretend ball for a while as well as Huston Street. But things got even better after the stretches were over. It turned out that Danny Haren was signing autographs by the dugout. I was able to make my way right to the fence and, since it was hat day, I gave Danny a nice white hat to sign. I also smiled and waved at him and said hello. A couple of other people around knew how much I liked Danny (since I basically announced this fact when we first got to our seats) and shouted to him that I was his biggest fan. I still can't believe that I got to meet Danny Haren.

Unfortunately, the rest of the game was not quite as good. Wile I did have cotton candy and other goodies, the A's did not play well. They were shut out 2-0 and hardly managed any hits at all. I was very disappointed that they didn't manage even one run. As we were leaving the stadium and said, "Goodbye Danny Haren. Goodbye baseball field. Goodbye BAD baseball game." I definitely think they need Frank Thomas back.

Baseball Cards

Last week, I got a package from my cousin Emma. In it was a very nice picture she made as well as a bunch of baseball cards. This weekend, Daddy and I took the baseball cards out for a spin by playing a baseball card game we made up together. In this game, there are nine little people located on a poker table roughly in the positions of normal baseball players. We then lean a baseball card against each little person so that we have real players on the field. The hitter takes a poker chip (a white one so it looks like a ball) and rolls it across the poker table. If the chip hits any of the cards, then it's an out and the person on the card is presumed to have fielded the ball successfully. If not, then, depending on how far the ball goes, it's either a single, double, or home run. After three outs, we switch sides and the game continues like this for nine innings.

Saturday's game consisted of the Oakland A's (my team) against the All-Stars (Daddy's team). The all-stars are players that came from Emma. While the All-Stars managed to win with a late inning comeback, the A's managed several home runs and did a lot of scoring. I also discovered a new A's pitcher who I like--Jay Marshall. He has a great baseball card and, best of all, he's a submariner. I especially like submarine pitchers. This may be the most fun baseball game ever. I love it.

Maui Photos

Maui 2007
Here's a selection of long-delayed photos from our trip to Maui. I can't wait to go back. I love Hawaii. You can see the full versions here.

Diffuse Glow

Daddy picked up a new Photoshop trick--the diffuse glow filter and he wanted to share the results of some experiments with it. See the results here

Ace of Jets

I'm always encouraging Daddy to come up with new card games. Yesterday, while he was cleaning his office, he ran across a deck of British Airways playing cards with pictures on them and devised a really interesting game. Here's how it goes:

On each of the cards is the usual rank and suit, but also a picture of an airplane flown by BA at some point in its history. Instead of using the regular suits, we use the form of the airplane as the suit. There are three types: biplanes, prop-driven monoplanes, and jets. So an 8 with a picture of a jet on it becomes and 8 of jets. Each player gets seven cards. The youngest player leads the first card. The other player then has to play a card that either matches the "suit" or the rank of the card led. Failing this, the other player has to draw cards until he gets a playable card. High rank of the led suit takes the trick. first player to get rid of all of his cards wins.

One odd little feature of this game is that there's one card that has a picture of a helicopter. Since there's only one helicopter, I decided that we needed to remove this card from the deck because it is too powerful.

Danny Haren - My Hero

Some quick news to report, my favorite Oakland A's pitcher, Danny Haren, is the starting pitcher for the American League this All-Star Game. I will be wearing my A's gear, including my road A's cap (since the AL is the away team this year). I'll also have out my Danny Haren bobblehead to help root for the real Danny Haren. Danny is my favorite pitcher to pretend to be during my many play baseball games.

Bye Bye Nainnie

Today is the day that Nainnie flew back to Pennsylvania. I enjoyed her visiting and wondered when she'd be back. I hope it is soon. During this past weekend, we went to Napa where, happily, the fake apples and pears were back at Trefethen winery. Daddy, Nainnie, and I played all sorts of games with these. I also went "fishing" in the fountain located out on the side of the property. In my version of fishing, I get a stick and use it to fish out colorful leaves located in the fountain. I got an especially nice one that I took back home with me. Next, it was off to Domaine Chandon for a ramble. They have a pretty stream there, and I spent some time going back and forth on the "rock bridge". It's not really a bridge, just a set of rocks crossing the stream that, if you're careful, you can use to get across without getting your feet wet. I also discovered that Domaine Chandon has really tasty bread. Daddy and Nainnie got an artisan cheese plate while they were there, and it featured a really nice stick of bread. I like the middle part of the bread (not a big fan of the crust) while Daddy thought the crusts were just fine, so everyone was happy.

On Sunday, we had more gravity races. Daddy lent Nainnie his team of gravity race cars while he fielded a new team, and we had a three way duel. While I didn't win all of the contests, I am proud to report that a car called the "Little Red Roadster" did manage to claim the Gravity Cup in one of the tournaments.

Now Pitching for the Oakland A's --- Joe Blanton

We went to the A's game tonight. It was really fun. The A's were playing the Blue Jays, so I got to see Frank Thomas and his steel bar. Frank didn't really make any great hits (though he did hit one ball deep to center field), but it was nice to see him anyway. The star of the game was Joe Blanton, who pitched the entire game and only gave up one run. He was outstanding.

In my balloon baseball games, Blanton is the go-to guy if Danny Haren (the usual starter) is not pitching well. Often, I'll substitute pitchers if things are not going as they should and Daddy, playing his beloved Boston Red Sox, is winning.

After the game, we saw the fireworks. They open up the outfield and the baselines for people who want to watch the fireworks from th field. Initially, I thought this would be a good idea until I saw all the people coming out onto the field. There were a zillion of them. The fireworks were spectacular. I held my fingers in my ears because I don't like the noise, but the fireworks themselves were very pretty in the night sky. They turn off all the lights in the stadium when they do the fireworks, which is also kind of neat.

It was a great night.

Aidan Slides - Spring 2007

Some of these you've seen before and some are Maui shots that you haven't (and are still unprocessed). Regardless, I thought you might like the cool panning effect of this slideshow. The link is below if needed.



Aidan Spring 2007

More Scotland

Here are some more Scotland photos in fancy slideshow format. Ken Burns would be proud of the panning effect. The direct link is below if needed. The link will send you to a larger version of the same pics.



Scotland

Coffee

Everyone (except me) likes coffee in the morning. I know Daddy especially likes it, so I've taken to surprising him. When I hear him taking a shower, I quickly head over the kitchen, pull up my tall brown chair, and get to work. I pour out any old coffee left in the carafe, rinse it out, and put in new water. I know to fill the water up to the 6. Next, I pour in the new water and put the carafe in the right place. Next (I need a little help with this part), I take out the old grounds, fill the bin with new beans, put it and the lid back on the coffee maker and turn the whole thing on. I then try to surprise Daddy by suggesting that we go make coffee together. He's always delighted to find the coffee already being made once we arrive in the kitchen. I love surprises.

Volcanoes

Yesterday, we went to Stimson beach in Marin. It's been awhile since we've been to a beach (I think Maui was the last time) and I really liked getting back to one. This was a very pretty beach with excellent views on the road going there. The road is quite a twisty one, so I cautioned Daddy not to drive straight or we'd fall off the big mountain. Fortunately, Daddy took the curves perfectly and we made it without incident.

When we got to the beach, one of the best things to do is play in the sand. Daddy and I ended up building something that started as a castle but eventually became a volcano. Then, we played a game called "evil real estate developer." In the game, a developer named Sylvester McMonkey McBean (a huckster from the Dr. Seuss book, The Sneetches) builds a residential development on the side of the volcano. Everyone is happy and serene in their houses. The people are also amazed at the terrific prices they got for the properties. Until one day, a resident named Mr. Smith drives his truck up to the rim of the volcano to inspect it. This is where the trouble starts. Inevitably, when Smith's truck is right at the top "lava" (actually a big buck of sea water I brought from the ocean) pours out of the volcano pushing Smith's truck down the side of the mountain and destroying the properties below.

The game continues with variations. McBean builds a wall to protect the houses, suggesting:

The strength of this wall
There isn't a doubt
Keeps homes safe within
And lava without

Sadly (for the homeowners), McBean's wall fails, Smith's truck rolls down the mountain, and the hillside is once again empty.

McBean tries one more trick---building a dome or bubble around the houses. Once again, homeowners flock for the great views and bargain prices. McBean avers:

This volcano, it's true
Is nothing but trouble
But safe will you be
Inside of your bubble

Well, you can guess how the bubble thing turns out.

Advertisements

Yesterday, we were playing Deal or No Deal, as we often do, when I took a break for dessert and milk. Since it was a break in the game, I decided that, like the real game, we needed to fill the break with commercials.

While I don't watch that much TV, I am attracted to (and have great recall of) commercials. Sometimes I use this knowledge in unexpected ways. For instance, one of my school friends had a bladder infection that caused him to have to use the bathroom frequently. Seeing his difficulty, I helpfully suggested that he might try a product (called Avodart but I didn't remember the name) designed for men with a "going problem" that I had seen on TV. I thought this was very helpful and timely information for my friend.

Anyway, back to Deal or no Deal: During the commercial break, each of the people in the house took turns making up commercials. Daddy seemed to come up with classic commercial lines like "I can't believe I ate the whole thing." (One of my favorites.) Mommy and Nainnie favored musical numbers like the Dr. Pepper theme song and the Oscar Mayer bologna song. I went for products to cure various problems. One of my best was "Key Ah" for when you have pain in your legs. Simply apply "Key Ah" and you legs will be "unpained." Works for feet too!

Scenes from Scotland

Here are some photos of scenes from Scotland (and a couple from Cambridge too). The hill dominating many of the landscapes is where Edinburgh Castle sits--right in the middle of the city. You can find the pictures here.

Scotland - Doors and Windows

Daddy posted up the first batch of Scotland pictures. These are of doors and windows. There's also a bright yellow VW bus that I especially like. You can find them here.

Calistoga 2007

While Grammy was visiting, Mommy and Daddy went on a trip to Calistoga. There, they saw the "Old Faithful" geyser of California. Here are some pictures from their trip.