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I am here at Wonderboy on Sat. morning, the traditional time of rest before the outdoor portion of the events. The results so far have been a little disappointing. Greg and I partnered up for the Darts this year and unfortunately drew a tough set of matches. We lost in a tie-break Around The World (new to this year’s format) that has ousted me from my traditionally strong event. On the positive side, With Doaner I have managed a first round bye in Ping-Pong, assuring me of at least one Wonderboy pt for 2010. The draw has us in tough to go further but we will give it our best shot.

The log and tug go soon. I’ve bowed out of both with a sore shoulder yet could win two pts if my tug team can win it. That would put me at 3pts min with Euchre and Poker still to come. The cards will dictate my success yet again.

You can follow the results at http://thewonderboy.org/standings/wb2010.htm
Later!

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We took a trip to the Mayan Riviera last week. Yep, the 4 of us. We travelled to Mexico with a couple of other families, all with very small children.

Fortunately we stayed at a ‘family friendly’ resort called ‘Sandos Caracol’. I recommend going there if you have kids 5 and under. Along with the Kids Club (which was mediocre), there was a splash park with lots of slides and fountains that they kids spent most of their time in. As parents, it was nice as well because there was a bar there and LOTS of lounge space. The place was not busy since most non-parents were at the beach/main pool.

There was a lot of restaurant fare as well so there was always something to eat for everyone.

Although I recommend this place for young families, I don’t necessarily recommend travelling with 2 or more youngsters. It is certainly not a trip for everyone’s liking. I enjoyed the trip (mostly) and I know for the most part everyone else on the trip did as well, but to travel with young kids (especially one that is < 2yrs) is an exhausting effort. The getting to and going from flights can and usually are nerve-wracking.

Once there, be prepared to tailor your trip almost completely around the kids. This requires a significant resetting of expectations if you have been to resorts in the past without kids. Yet, fun can be had. Spending time with the kids alone is a great time, but you can also still have your fill of drinks and adult comraderie (we’re all in the same boat!). The real differences come down to the routine itself: you won’t unlimited or spontaneous moments to just lay down on the lounge chairs and relax. You’ll need to schedule any activity you want to do well in advance. And be prepared to be on your feet a LOT of the time.

As a whole, this vacation was well worth the effort and I won’t forget it for all it’s ups and downs. If we were to ever do this again while the kids are still very young, I would strongly consider a cruise. The amount of walking was SIGNIFICANT on the resort. Plus, a very good kid’s club (that cruises usually have) would go a LONG way to finding some free time for yourself.

See my kid’s blog sites for details on what they did during their exciting adventure!

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We took Olivia (sorry Christien!) to see Disney Playhouse Live last Saturday. She is a huge Mickey & Minnie fan as well as the Tigger and Pooh show. Fortunately the show featured both of these groups as well as the Little Einsteins (curse them!) and Handy Manny.

Olivia absolutely loved the show. She yelled and screamed when requested and danced and clapped throughout the show. One thing I thought was hilarious was that she would wave to the characters when they appeared on stage as if expecting them to notice and wave back. Very cute.

Afterwards in the car she pretended to be the host of the show and to organize the party that they were having in the play. That was before the classic meltdown that happened at Swiss Chalet.

Before the show, Olivia had her first skating lesson. She had only been on skates a couple of times before this so we started her off in the ‘never have skated’ group.

I could not believe how quickly she was able to stand up on her skates and start walking/gliding without any assistance. Soon enough she was even pushing off and getting some distance in her glides. The instructor noticed this and quickly promoted her to the next level where I think she is properly aligned. That is, she isn’t the worst skater in the group, but she isn’t the best….although I would say she’s in the top 3. Now that the groups are set she will start learning skills as they rotate around stations that will teach them how to skate backwards, hold a hockey stick, etc. etc. Before next class however, we have to upgrade her skates.

Back to the meltdown: after skating for 45 minutes, Olivia said “I exhausted myself”. Add that to attending the play for a couple of hours and it’s not hard to see why she had a meltdown. I forgot how taxing skating can be.

Yet, she loves it so I’m happy to take her….considering it’s at 1:45 in the afternoon, not some unholy early time.

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Evening life has settled in more nicely these days. Just recently I remember basically chasing Christien around as soon as I got home from work right through to bed. Sprinkled in with trying to find time for Olivia and keeping the peace between the two. Over the holidays there was a transition that took place. Now Christien is more involved in his play and is willing to sit with his toys or at the very least run around in the same room with his toys for an extended period of time. Or even watch a bit of TV. This has allowed me to either sit in the chair for a noticeable amount of time or better yet, sit on the floor and play with him. Yes, there is still the need to do damage control and chase him around the house, but it is not as constant and tiring.

Also, Olivia and Christien are playing more and more together….and better and better. All this leads to less ‘on alert’ behaviour for me and more enjoyment. As many can attest to, I am a little more apprehensive than the average bear and as such have often fallen into a mode where nighttime homelife was considered to be more of a ‘work’ thing than enjoying it as the everyday life that it is. I think this is something I am putting into the past and am settling into this life of watching my kids go psycho around me and loving it. Part of this change I’m sure is because we are sleeping more consistently now that Christien is older.

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Olivia gave me a good laugh on Saturday. We were listening to ‘Seaside Rendezvous’ by Queen. The unique thing about this song is that it features a lot of unusual instruments and sounds like kazoos and dampened trumpets. That 30’s sort of sound. During the instrumental ‘jam’ part of the song she said: “I like this part of the song. It reminds me of Mario game”. Nice.

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Our 4 year old Canon Digital camcorder went kaput. It uses the Mini digital tapes….the load mechanism on the camcorder failed and we can no longer load tapes for viewing or recording. Which leads to the problem that I have a bunch of used tapes that I need to somehow get the data off of and onto PC and DVD for archiving. But that’s another story.

I went and purchased a Sony XR200 HD AVCHD camera yesterday. In a rush since we needed it for Olivia’s school concert last night. Very slick piece of hardware. Do not purchase a camcorder unless it is HD!

After fiddling around with it, I’m still confused about a couple of things: 1) What does the ‘easy’ button actually do and if I use it, will it wipe out all my customized settings? 2) What is the technical difference between the HDSD (which is default) mode, HDHQ and HDFH? I’m assuming HDFH is highest quality as it takes up more storage. But when I view it on my TV it all looks the same to me. I wish I could find more about this stuff, including the benefits/disads of most of the features. Another example is the ability to change the sound capture from standard to this mode that reacts to the zoom in/out and the panning away and to subjects. Also, the face/smile recognition. The manual is horrendous in explaining anything and I haven’t yet found anything on the web that describes these features in more detail and provide guidelines for setting them in various situations.

Anyway, the concert was a very special experience for all of us. A benchmark in our lives: the first time one of the kids has performed onstage and in public. Olivia was part of her class in singing ‘Let There Be Peace On Earth’. I’m so glad we captured the moment in HD. When watching it on the TV last night, it really felt like being there again.

One thing I’ll always remember: the weater was atrocious. We live only 5 minutes away on a good day. 15 minutes last night. With the horrendous weather conditions, I was shocked to discover the parking lot was packed full and spilling onto the road 20 minutes before the concert began. It appears that parents are fanatical when it comes to their children. Go figure.

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will be titled ‘The Basement 2 - hello Roach’s favourite room’.

Not only am I surrounded by cement and small windows (this fares well when there are unusual events going on in the neighbourhood), but the basement is now finished and has been since June.

But now, those loose electronic wires that were laid through the studding are coming into play. On the wall now sits a 46″ Panasonic Viera G15 Plasma. Attached is the HD PVR and a Sony Blu-Ray (no, not a PS3). I got a great deal on the package where the Blu-Ray was essentially thrown in. So was the installation. Plus a calibration service to make full use of the THX software in the TV.

The installation service paid off. They guys came out mainly to mount the TV onto the wall. But they are tech savvy and showed me how to get the most out of the Blu-Ray and upscaling capabilities to maximize the 1080p of the TV.

The picture is unbelievable. I repeat, unbelievable. Even the old DVDs look outstanding.

Right now, the PVR and Blu-Ray are sitting under the TV. But with the pre-wiring I had done, they will soon be under the stairs in a cubby. There’s a 100ft HDMI that tunnels through the ceiling connecting them to the TV. Yes, that was fairly pricey. There’s also speaker wire to cover the front sides and centre, subwoofer and two wires dangling from the ceiling near the back of the room. There’s even flexibility to go 7.1 if I so desire (which I’m thinking is going to happen).

To enable this, I have an outstanding RF/IR Universal remote that is industrial strength. Can’t remember the model offhand….(I’ll post it later in this thread). It comes with an RF receiver that has about 12 IR outs that you can tape to your devices. Very, very slick. The slickest of all is that it can be programmed for well over 20 devices. And it’s simple and intuitive interface. The clincher is that there are macros and ‘push-through’ capabilities that tightly integrate all your devices. E.g., turn them all off with the same power button. Or, if the remote is currently controlling the cable box, still have the volume button control the TV. Saves having to flip the function on the remote from cable to TV and then back to cable. Can program other buttons to have same thing. So, ‘Guide’ for example, brings up the Roger’s guide regardless of whether I’m on ‘TV’ mode or ‘DVD’ mode or whatever. Unbelievable flexibility. It kicks the Harmony’s butt. Plus the RF is going to come in handy since I also rewired the outside for more speakers. Can control my music from the deck! (See the Media Centre blurb below to get my drift).

The final piece(s) I need to complete the haven:
- Receiver with multiple HDMI switching (with only 1 HDMI to the stairs, I can’t put more than one device there until I get this)
- speakers
- HP Media Server (a glorified RAID storage device up to 4TB)
- a homemade Media Center under the stairs. Oh yeah, forgot to mention I hardwired ethernet to every TV location in the house (and under the stairs) plus am WiFi’d. The goal is to centralize my movies, photos, music onto the Server for sharing and backup. The media center will serve up this stuff to the TV and speakers.

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Olivia and Sonia are heading to Steph’s for the weekend. It’s just going to be Christien and I slumming at home sitting on the couch watching TV!

There’s no way I would have been comfortable taking care of Olivia by myself when she was 13 months old. I’ve come a long way, baby!

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Well, we got the new car a couple weeks ago. A spiffy black RAV4 V6 with the towing package. Replacing the unspiffy black CRV that I praised about a few posts ago.

I don’t know how the new RAV4 with more horses, size and base features (like roof rack and tinted windows) can sell for less than the new CR-Vs and with 0% financing? Also chip in the fact that the CR-V seats are akin to a mideival torture device and there’s no comparison.

I like the fact that I can blow past other cars on the green light. Comes in handy around the farmer’s market where the lanes are all screwed up and sometimes need to have that boost to move over in time.

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I’ve mentioned often that Olivia can memorize lyrics quickly. She knows the lyrics of many many of the songs I like. But the funniest example of what she memorizes comes from David Bowie’s “Station-to-Station”. She will start singing along virtually verbatim when the following verses come up:

“Once there were mountains on mountains
And once there were sunbirds to soar with
And once I could never be down
Got to keep searching and searching
Oh, what will I be believing and who will connect me with love?
Wonderful, wonderful, wonder when
Have you sought fortune, evasive and shy?
Drink to the men who protect you and i
Drink, drink, drain your glass, raise your glass high

Its not the side-effects of the cocaine
Im thinking that it must be love
Its too late - to be grateful
Its too late - to be late again
Its too late - to be hateful
The european cannon is here

I must be only one in a million
I wont let the day pass without her
Its too late - to be grateful
Its too late - to be late again
Its too late - to be hateful
The european cannon is here”

What I love the most is we often (and unconciously by now) play a game where I start a line of any random song and she finishes it. My favourite is when I say:

“It’s not the side effects of the….” and then she finishes the line. What a gas!

I am about to post on OG’s site a list of songs I want to get onto a CD. All the songs I can remember that she liked to hear over the past few years while driving in the car.

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