Double Feature

Hello everyone! hope everyone enjoyed the weekend and the gorgeous weather. This week, Mia got to hang out at the park with a couple of her crazy friends, Irianna and Nate at the always busy; Malone Park. I swear, it is super easy to lose a kid at this place. There had to be at least 50+ kids running around. They chased each other around, climbed the monkey bars and swung from a large saucer swing. All three of them needed my assistance getting them off upside down from the monkey for most of the time we were there. I'm sincerely glad she's got such great friends and hope they can all hang out during the school year (when possible). It's going to be tricky with all of the kids doing different activities during the school year, but we'll just have to try.

Wednesday was Tattoo Day, but first a quick photo session for the Torrent at Jill's studio. Her boss took a few photos of me in jersey/scarf and as well as some with my mask/drum for their social media sites. Basically, it was to announce I'll be continuing to work for them in 2017. Later, it was tattooing time. It was my very last session of my gorgeous Hawaiian half-sleeve that I've been working on all Summer, and I couldn't have been more excited to finish it. My amazing tattoo artist, Marcus put about 4 hours into coloring the shark, finishing the blue around the bicep and above the turtle and tightening any lines that needed it. The painful areas were defiantly "the ditch" or the hinge of the forearm and upper arm, but that wasn't nearly as rough as the last 15-20 minutes of coloring up my arm. He was going to stop where the shark tail ended but I insisted he kept going and finish it. "Are you sure? I figured I would do you a favor and stop." No, let's do this right and finish it. So, he did. It was real rough and sorta reminded me of my 1st tattoo (2nd session) when my artist was pulling from the inner arm. I'm proud of myself for sticking it out and couldn't have been more happier with the final results. This tattoo captures my sincere love of Hawaii, the marine animals and my beautiful family. I've had a slew of people asking me about his work and where to find him and I've happily given them all his info. He gave me a product called tegrederm that he's never used before in any session. It's mainly used for burn victims, but tattoo artists are starting to take advantage of this wrap that apparently helps with the healing process. You can leave it on up to 5 days at a time. Friday, I took off the first wrap and boy did it hurt. I put a new wrap on it and tomorrow, will be removing it. I'm excited to clean this arm, get all the adhesive off and let it heal.

Thursday, Jill and I had a biometrics test. My results were great and we'll have a better cheaper insurance for another year. Saturday, I finally got to watch Chelsea play a match in the 16/17 season. They beat Burnley 3-0 comfortably. Hazard got the first goal, Willian put away the 2nd and Victor Moses completed the day with the final goal. It's great to see them playing well again and on top of the league. There's an international break so no games for a little while. Later, we went to Mod Pizza and went to the movies. Jill's parent's met us and took Mia to see the highly anticipated animated movie called Kubo and the 2 Strings. Mia said it was really good, dark with some scary parts. We went and saw Florence Foster Jenkins. It's a true story about a woman who is awful at singing, with Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant. I It's pretty rare that we get to enjoy some time like this, just the two of us and the movie was actually pretty good. It was fun that Mia got to see a movie while we saw one for us. When we got out, she was waiting eating Gelato.

Today, we went to the zoo briefly to enjoy the gorgeous weather before I had to work. This week is a busy one. Mia's got her orientation day on Tuesday, which she'll bring in her supplies, meet her teacher again and see the classroom. I'm trying to get some of her friends together to hang before they all go off to Kindergarten. Thursday will be her first full day of Kindergarten. Jill's taking part of the day off and I have to work so I won't hear how it went till the next day :/.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Fish Are Friends Not Food

Morning everyone! Hope you all enjoyed the weekend. Monday started with the FIRST EPL game of the year for Chelsea taking on West Ham. I missed the game sadly, but Mia asked my Dad throughout the afternoon who was winning. The Blues picked up the win and started the season out well :) Tuesday, Mia went fishing with her Grandpa Chicago. She went to a place in New Berlin and caught 7 bullheads. She had a blast and I wish I could have been there to see her bagging fish left and right.
Wednesday, she met up with Olivia and her bro at the park. What would normally be a typical day at the park was anything but that. The girls started with playing Pokemon Go! on Olivia's Dad's phone and soon moved to the playground. We were hanging out in the shade while the kids played. Every once in a while, I'd hear "LEAVE US ALONE OKAY??" coming from Olivia. Wasn't sure what was going on. Turns out some boys were being sassy with the girls, and they were yelling at them. We kept a close eye on the situation. Eventually Gavin came over and was telling us his sister was being sassy to the boys. This kid has no problem sticking up for herself. Both girls came over soon after exclaiming that they were being mean, that one boy laughed at Mia when she "almost fell" and that they weren't playing nice. THEN Mia says "IM GONNA GO TELL THOSE BOYS TO KNOCK IT OFF!" Apparently Mia gained some sort of a backbone to obnoxious boys. In this moment, we realized that the girls were just as much in the wrong as whatever the boys were doing. They weren't letting the boys off without getting an ear full. Sigh. They soon left to their picnic and the kids went back to playing.

Saturday morning, we packed up the car and left for Illinois to visit some friends. They live very close to Iowa so we spent some time there as well. The kids had a lot of fun, and Mia LOVES their little dog that would fetch the ball every time.  Mia really wanted to swim, but the weather was pretty iffy. Both kids ended up playing in the undies in this lake. They had a total blast. We went to the Children's Museum yesterday and it was pretty close to the big one in Milwaukee. A little smaller but just as nice. All of the buildings were connected and had telephone lines so you could call the kids vet, grocery store, etc etc. Mia really liked the Think Station where everyone in the room had to wear safety glasses, they get their own REAL work bench and got to hammer, glue, saw, etc whatever they wanted. It was fun watching Mia become "Tinker bell" and build something straight from her head. She made something to carry her rock collection and a piece of wood to hang items from. Turned out pretty cool. We had lunch and soon got on the road and headed home. It was about 3 1/2 hours back to Wisco. Mia fell asleep in the first 10-15 minutes. Tired little girl. Spent the rest of the night hanging out and figuring out the rest of the week.

I missed the Chelsea/Watford match Saturday but I heard they won and watched the highlights last night. Another solid win. This week, Mia's hanging out with her favorite crazy person Irianna at Malone park tomorrow morning. Later tomorrow, she's got picture day followed by a kindergarten play date meeting new friends and parents. Jill's taking her to that so hopefully it goes well. She's pretty excited. Wednesday I'm finishing my 1/2 sleeve and this weekend, Jill's working.

Have a great week everyone and thanks for reading!

Mahalo and Aloha

Good morning! The summer is coming to a close before we know it. Not a lot of days left to enjoy before the busy school year. Wednesday was Mia's last day of Princess Dance Class, but first she got to hang with her pals Gracie and Hannah for a while at the park. It was pretty warm but the girls didn't mind and had a lot of fun.

Last day of dance was fun. The kids had a tea party and danced. Mia may be signing up for a more advanced dance class that she hope she can perform on stage in front of people. I don't know how she got so interested in dance, but it's pretty cute. At the end of the week, we had planned on attempting to watch the meteor shower, but instead got some Mother Nature showers instead. Thursday it was was too cloudy and Friday we got dumped on with tons of rain. Talk about disappointing. Saturday, we went to my good friend Andy and Jess's Hawaiian goodbye party. The couple plus their adorable dog are Miley are leaving in November for Hawaii. Mia was shy at first but LOVED their dog. "Daddy, take a picture of her so I can pet your phone later". I can't wait till we get to return to Hawaii. Mia will be 7 and it'll be her first time at the place we both love so much.

Later, we had a late dinner and made another attempt to watch the meteors. We probably went out too early but with Jill's new phone app, we could check out some constellations. Mia fell asleep while we drove around in the peaceful night. Sadly not too far from us, it was a different story. Milwaukee had some riots going on at the North Side. The BLM group had started fires, burned down the community all because an African American man was shot by a cop, who coincidently was also black. The man had a stolen gun and pointed at the police officer. Hardly a good reason to suggest that racism was in the cards that night. I can't turn on the news without some horrific incidents happening so we don't even have that on when Mia's around. Too much hate and problems.

Yesterday, Mia went to the zoo with Jill and Tommy while I went to work. She got her picture taken with a harbor seal after the show. Glad they had a lot of fun. Today is the first game of the season for Chelsea FC against West Ham. Sadly missing it, but hoping for a big win to kick off the season.

This week, sock monkey class on Wednesday, maybe hang with friends after and we leave for Iowa on Saturday morning.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Splash!

Good morning everyone. Hope you all enjoyed your weekend. Wednesday, Mia had her last day of art class. They made a picture of a lion (with the help of us parents/grandparents). It was a lot of fun. She really enjoyed these classes at the Sharon Lynn Center of the Arts. Later, Jill and Mia went swimming at Cool Waters. I hung out watching and taking some pictures of them. We haven't really done a lot of swimming lately (me, due to my tattoo sessions). Its insane how fast Summer has gone. She's got picture day in a few weeks for school and it seems just yesterday she was starting 4-K. Wednesday evening I watched the Chelsea vs Milan game. Mia even watched it with me. It was supposed to be the game my brother and Dad were going to go with me too but things got a bit complicated and we didn't go. They won 3-1. Would have been an awesome game to see live. They sold out the crowd of 66k people. The 16/17 season is right around the corner :)

Thursday, we hung out with some friends at the park. Malone was busy as usual, but Mia, Olivia and her bro Gavin had a lot of fun. Saturday, the girls did their last day of art/yoga. When they got home, we cut the grass and later and Mia did a "fashion photo shoot" at the studio. She picked out about 20 different outfits, but only lasted about 7 of them before burning out. The pictures turned out great and we even knocked out our Christmas photo already :) I think her fav one was the beach photo set up. This kid is so photogenic. I couldn't be luckier to have such a gorgeous little girl. Even on her sassiest days, her love is truly special. We made dinner later, and watched an old movie, "The Santa Clause".

Sunday, we didn't get much done. Mia and Jill went to Betty Brinn when I went to work. When I came home, she was passed out on the couch and this morning she got up bright and early and was telling me all about the museum. Glad they had fun.

This week is her LAST week of dance. Hopefully, we can hang with some friends this week. My good friends Andy and Jess are having a goodbye party this weekend so we're defiantly going to that.

I've been designing some player announcements the last 4 or so days that are really looking good. They've got some players that re-signed contracts so we're slowly unveiling who's sticking around.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Yoga, Soccer and Ink

WOW. What a week it was! Good evening everyone. So I had my 33rd Birthday on Tuesday and of course worked. I don't get that excited about birthdays (as far as getting off) but it wasn't too bad. Mia was mostly good and my shift was a normal Tuesday. What I was more excited for was Wednesday.
In the morning, Mia and I went to her art class. More kids this time, and she even was a bit more social with the instructor. We did this cute square cat that turned out really well.

Later was my tattoo session. It was supposed to be my last one but after 4 1/2 hours of some intense background work, detail on the beautiful turtle and Diamond Head, that he wanted to wait on the shark and detail to the waves for another time. As much as I really wanted to finish it, he knows what he's talking about and we decided to hold off on it. This was a more intense session with some awkward posses to get my arm the way he wanted it to be to do some back-arm stuff. That area is super sensitive and was no fun filling in with blue but I toughed it out and it looks solid. The dark blue that gradients to light blue looks really beautiful and makes the animals pop. I have never been given so many compliments in my life on a tattoo as I have with this. A woman at my work wanted to take a picture of it, despite the fact that it isn't complete.

Mia had a successful dance class and is already looking forward to her next one. Saturday morning, Mia started her art and movement class with Jill at the same venue. It's yoga first with art projects after. More kids in this one and I guess she really liked it. Later was the Torrent/Muskegon game. LAST game of the season and this was considered a "friendly" for the Wichigan trophy that I helped design. My parents, Mia and myself attended this amazing match. The weather was perfect and the crowd was the biggest they have had. 947 people! I joined my Flood members on the hill while Jill and my parents with Mia headed to the bleachers. I did my best to get the crowd chanting with every thing I had. at half, it went 2-1 with things getting a bit heated up. Both coaches were kicked out of the game! Oops. 2nd half, the battle commenced. The Torrent went on to win 4-2 and keep the trophy in Milwaukee. The crowd was incredibly amped and the kids had a blast. Something I didn't know they did, was after every Torrent goal, they get to kick or toss the ball out to the kids at the hill. Its fun and gets the kids all fired up. I got to use two player-chants during the game, which was a lot of fun. It was pretty neat to see some away fans at the game too. That means fans traveled from Michigan for this friendly, and that's amazing. Supporting your local team is great for those organizations. On our way to the game, someone at the stoplight looked over at our car, and says through the window "You guys going to the Torrent game?" During the week leading up to this game, I designed probably my very best game day image for this match. Something I'm quite proud of and will use in my portfolio when the right job comes knocking. After the game, they announced they'll be playing in an indoor league throughout Jan into March, and 11 players signed new deals for next season. Great news to hear as well as they'll be extending their season into August for 2017. I was stoked Mia could enjoy her very first professional soccer game even if I was chanting in the back. She even wore her Chelsea kit too and badly wanted to play soccer on the pitch after the game. It would have been fun and we totally could have, but we were all hungry and ready to get home

Sunday, we did a little cleaning before I went to work. This week, Mia's got her last day of Art Class with me, hopefully get to hang with some friends during the week. We're considering opening her Mia's Sweets & Treats this Weekend, but we don't know yet for sure.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

The Art of Dance

Good evening everyone. With July almost over (already?) another busy week is in the books. Mia had her first art class Wednesday morning. What I thought was a "drop off and pick up later" class really  was, was a parent-kid story book art class. Basically, you do the craft with the kid. The art center this class was at was absolutely beautiful and there was an acting class going on down the hall. It very much intrigued Mia all the silly little exercises they were doing. Class started and there was ONLY one other kid in it! The instructor said there may be another kid the following week. So she did the class. They read stories and asked questions and finally, we did this piece together of some elephants that were made of smaller pieces of paper and some water color painting. Mia actually did enjoy the art part, but not so much the "lets get the kids to sing along" stuff. The other boy was pretty shy as well.

After class, we got home, ate some lunch quick and met up with some friends for her pal Alexa's "goodbye party" at the park. It was pretty warm and a ton of kids there but everyone had a lot of fun. Alexa has always been a great friend to Mia and I'm glad they'll keep in touch when she moves to Texas. Trey, Olivia, Kaylee, Maya, Nate they all came. Mia was super excited that her man Trey came. We unfortunately couldn't stay too long because we had to jet to our next class, dance. We somehow made it a few minutes late but the class didn't start :) This time, I dropped her of because I just needed a moment to chill. When I got home, I had some Torrent work to do so I worked on that for a while. I also got a message from Olivia's Dad Steve that Trey got injured at the park and required stitches. Mia would be devastated when I would have to tell her about it. I picked up the diva, who had an awesome day at class. I told her that her boyfriend fell and split his little chin open on the stairs at the park and got stitches. She was so worried about him that she told me to take a picture to send to her Mom of Mia holding a piece of paper that read "I LOVE YOU TREY" on it to make him feel better. Luckily, it did.

It was a busy Wednesday and I was glad the chasing was done. We relaxed as a family and watched Masterchef together. Mia was grossed out by the weird parts they were cooking. Saturday my family and Jill's came over to do an early celebration for mine and my sister's birthday. Jill made us cakes, got me an awesome shirt and I received some cash towards my last session for my tattoo as well as a gift card from my Mom. We went to Mod Pizza for late lunch/early dinner because I had planned on going to the Torrent game that evening. Well all week I have felt like utter crap. every time I'd eat, I felt like death and I wasn't sure if pizza would be great Saturday. I ate it anyways and immediately felt horrific. I was torn about sucking it up and going to the game, or sitting home and being miserable instead. I didn't go and the Torrent won, grabbed the trophy and won the conference in the rain. I should have gone but didn't feel good at all. Today, I woke up better and after breakfast took some stronger probiotics and felt great. Before my dinner at work tonight, I took the same things and felt great. I'm so glad that there is a possibility that this is out of my system because it's been a real hell-ish week for me. Nothing like the feeling of "why eat, I'll feel like crap" feeling for almost 7 days straight.

This week, some Torrent work, my tattoo session is finally coming to an end and Mia's got her art/dance class on Wednesday. I'm absolutely going to their final inaugural game this Saturday and hopefully will bring my Dad and maybe Mia since she's been wanting to go. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Summer Fun With Cousins

Good Morning Beautiful weather today to start the week. Early in the week Mia was reunited with some old friends at the new Malone Park. These girls have been best pals since she was two and a half years old. They had a lot of fun exploring the new playground. Wednesday, we met my friend Nichole and her boy Benny (plus sister) at the zoo. The weather was pretty hot, but the kids had a lot of fun checking out all the different indoor exhibits as well as some outdoor ones.

We couldn't stay too long because Mia has her 2nd dance class. It was my first time taking her since her injury last week. She was a bit nervous going in, but I told her that I would be waiting in the lobby for her when she's done. I sat and drew her a baby Dory (which didn't turn out so well) but she had the best time. She danced, did crafts and met some nice girls. She's already looking forward to the next dance class. If she likes dance, we'll keep her in classes, but I sometimes worry her shyness in front of large groups could give her stage fright (she'll counter that with both concerts at school that she sang beautifully) so I don't know. I'm just glad she found something she enjoys.

Saturday, we did yard work before a get-together at my parents house. My 1/2 bro and his family were on a road trip and they stopped by for the afternoon. The kids had fun chasing each other around laughing and being silly. Sunday, Mia went to her friend Irianna's birthday party while I went to work. From what Jill said, she had a lot of fun. Irianna is this adorable free-spirit kid that always broke Mia out of her shy shell. At the kindergarten assessment test, she got Mia to go into the testing room and relax while she was super nervous, and on Sunday, she got Mia to come into the gym and have fun when she was shy (again). She's very fun and full of energy and I hope Mia and her can be good friends for as long as possible.

This week's gonna be very busy. Wednesday, Mia starts her art class in Brookfield 9:30am-11:30am, THEN she's got a "goodbye" party with her friend Alexa at the park, THEN she has her dance class till 3:30. This is probably the busiest Wed we've had in quite a while and I'm sure both of us will be dead exhausted after the day is over. It's crazy how fast July has gone. My birthday is next week (along with my final tattoo session) and it feels like July just started. This Saturday, the Torrent play the Chicago Mustangs home so I'm hoping for no rain and a great crowd. My Dad is supposed to come as well so it should be a good time.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading! :)