Summer Chillin'

Good morning everyone. Only about a week and a half before school starts so we're making the most of the little Summer we've got left. My work schedule adjusted this week to having Thursday off (which should be my weekday-off till October till Mia's soccer season completes. During the week, we made an attempt to get some shoes at the Journey's down the road from our house at the mall. Mia tried on a pair of Vans with kitty mermaids on her sneakers. Didn't like how tight they were on the bridge of her foot. Tried on a pair of mermaid Chuck Taylors. Wasn't a huge fan of how they felt on her ankle because she was wearing a shorter sock. Dammit.

I had not one, not two but THREE art lessons on Thursday. I added a 3rd student, Gigi. My 2nd student's little sister. She's a fun kid that loves to draw. Micah did a great job with her Hermione sketch as well as Gigi did with her grape drawings. I met up with to grab some lunch and we went to my 3rd lesson of the day with Ella. We tackled a tricky sketch of Hagrid, but she nailed it. She's always willing to learn new and challenging mediums and techniques which is amazing. After the lesson, Mia and I went to the Journeys Kidz store at Mayfair in attempt to find some sneakers. Tried a few similar pairs from the other store, wasn't a fan. Just as we were about to leave, she was eyeing up a pair of Doc Martens. She tried a pair that were on clearance and we ended up getting them. She loves these boots, but they weren't sneakers. She NEEDED sneakers. We stopped at Payless and she picked up a cheaper pair for everyday use and gym class. Note to self: Go to Payless next year. Lucky little diva picking up a pair of boots. Good thing I'm pulling in some extra cash doing art lessons :)

Later, we had our 1st team practice for the season. Last year, we were very lucky to have the entire field to ourselves. This season, we're sharing. There were at least 3 other teams across the back field including a much older group on our field. Luckily, they shared it and we were fine. Met all the parents and players and overall, we had a solid first practice. The kids learned proper passing techniques, dribbling, shooting and how to do a throw-in. Already these kids are starting better than my team last season. The majority of my team have played before with the exception of one 1st grader. I received an email a few hours before practice of an extra player to be added. She couldn't make the practice but we'll meet with her next week. Hopefully we can get a scrimmage in. Mia's proudest moment of the day was her booting the ball over the keeper's head and in the net. She's literally told everyone she knows about it. Even yesterday when she went ice skating with her BFF and teammate Cecilia. "CAN YOU BELIEVE I SHOT IT OVER HER HEAD??!" That reminds me, we have a very ambitious and solid player who would like to play keeper this season. I'll probably use the same strategy that I did last season: Play the keeper for one half and switch her out on the field the 2nd half.

As mentioned earlier, Saturday, Mia hung out with Cecilia for the day at the Petit. Both girls really wanted to go ice skating so her Dad dropped her off and we did some open skating. The girls had a blast. They also made some gummy worms/bears with Jill and loved mixing the colors.

Today, I'm watching the Chelsea game while Jill travels to Illinois for a baby shower. Work later. Blah. That's about it for now. This week, Mia's got open house to meet the already familiar 2nd grade teacher, and we've got our 2nd practice for the New Berlin Cheetahs. Thanks for reading!

Kick IT!

Another busy week in the books. August is truly flying by. This week, I started two art lessons with two different students. Both just happen to be friends. I did a 2 hour lesson with Micah, a sorta shy, but very open artist. We drew a warmup sketch of a strawberry, and moved onto the Sorting Hat. Yeah, she's a major Harry Potter fan like Ella. She did a great job with both and was really proud of her work. It's just amazing to see pride in your art, so I was stoked to see that in Micah. Later, I met up with Ella and we did a very tricky Dobby sketch in pen with some color pencil for eyes. Her first mixed media piece. It was a difficult challenge but she nailed it. I believe we're doing Hagrid for the next sketch.

Later, Mia and I met up with Cecilia and her Dad for the NBAA soccer coaches meeting. We got our roster, equipment and team shirts, and info for the season. Mia and Cecilia will be sporting yellow kits this season. I was glad we got anything but pink since we had that last season. Our roster is very even. 4 2nd graders, 4 1st graders. Myself and Cecilia's Dad are looking forward to starting this week with the kids. Both girls immediately grabbed their shirts with preferred numbers and ran out kicking a ball around. Love the enthusiasm. They played a bit on the playground and we eventually had to say goodbye.

Friday night, Mia and Jill made a cute plushie fox. Not an easy thing to make but the end result is pretty cute. Saturday, Jill and I watched Chelsea beat the Gunners 3-2. Solid game but we let them back in. Gotta work on our defense. Later, we did some cleaning, met up with Mia's cousins Easton and Cam and aunt and uncle Ashley and Andy at the park. Warm day out, but the kids had fun. Mia did some tricky hula-hooping. I've never seen her do that well at hula hooping so it was pretty cute. We tried Mechi's frozen yogurt for the first time. Very tasty.

Later, we cut some grass, Mia played outside and we made some tacos. Today, they left early in the day to help uncle Tommy move into his new condo. I've been working on graphic design stuff before head off to work. This week I've got more art lessons, Mia's got Picture Day and we've got our first practice. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Reunited At Last

Good afternoon everyone. Back to work this week and it's been hell. Boss has been gone so like usual, everything has been lousy. Mia got to hang out with long time friends Gracie and Hannah on Tuesday. It was a warm day at the park but the kids had fun. Always nice catching up with them and their Mom. I think Mia would like to hang with Hannah one-on-one some time. Their Mom can't wait for the girls to start school again, which I can totally relate at times. Wish the girls had more time to hang out together. Summer just goes so fast.

Wednesday was art lesson day with Ella. We drew a jellyfish with pencils on toned paper. We didn't get to finish it, but she totally got the concept and I look forward to seeing how hers turned out. She is such a fantastic artist and wants to tackle another Harry Potter-themed lesson this week. I may be adding another kid to my art lesson schedule so we'll have to see if/when that happens.

I spent a lot of time video-editing our recent trip. I think it turned out pretty good. Wish at moments I would have done more video work. Still have to show both sets of our parents.

Saturday, we didn't do too much. The first Premier League matches for the season started so I watched Chelsea beat Huddersfield 3-0. Great match and awesome to see our new keeper in action.  Jill had to photograph her brother's friend's baby at the studio. We had Noodles later and watched some of a movie before Mia got tired. Today, they went to Illinois to help her friend Jacqui unpack so I had a few hours to myself to clean before I went to work.

This week, I have some graphic design work to accomplish, more photo editing, art lesson and I have the coaches meeting this Wednesday for Mia's team. We'll get the roster, schedule, "jerseys" and equipment for the season. Should be an exciting 2nd season of rec soccer. Mia's super excited to start, but I still need to do some work with her skills.

That's all for now thanks for reading!

Tea for 5

Greetings everyone. Well, we're all back to work officially post-vacation. Jill's been back since we got back into WI, and I finally returned to work today. Ugh. The time off was so nice and enjoyable and unfortunately, I don't think I got to enjoy the post-vacation off time. Let's get into that..

Throughout the week, I've been tutoring my awesome 7th grade student Ella (who's doing AMAZING by the way) and have been here and there picking up some school supplies for Mia. She did a bit of back-to-school clothing shopping as well. Always a bit tricky because she hates pants but she did find a pair that are comfy enough to wear this year. We also had to take a visit to Dick's Sporting Goods to pick up some new cleats. Her beloved black/pink Adidas cleats outgrew her, so she picked out some black/neon yellow Nike boots for the season. Just like she used to do when she was a tiny toddler. She used to try on random boots and dribble soccer balls around the aisles. After she laced her new boots up, we found a ball and she got some kicks in. With some great powerful passes to me, she was pleasantly pleased with these boots so we paid and were on our way.

Friday, Mia went clothing shopping with my Mom and than later had a tea party with her friends Noelle, Katelyn and their sisters. Great fun playing and eating little treats! These kids always have the best time pretending to run a bakery, a kitchen, etc.

Saturday, we packed up the car and went to Steven's Point. Jill helped her friend and former roommate Willa photograph a wedding. We got to hang out and catch up with her and her family. Mia enjoyed spending time with their 11 year old kiddo Hanna. She's a tween alright, but super sweet and enjoyed playing with Mia. Sunday, we did breakfast and went to Sculpture Park checking out all the fun contraptions and creations. We said our goodbyes and made the drive back home. Later, had dinner with Jill's parents for the evening.

This week, play date tomorrow with long time friends Hannah and Gracie, I've got a tutoring lesson on Wednesday and hopefully enjoy what we can of the week.  Premier League officially starts this week. Chelsea needs to kick it into high gear and start the season off winning!

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Aloha mākou iā Hawaii

Good morning everyone! It's been an incredibly busy few weeks traveling over 4,000 miles and back to CA then two islands in Hawaii. It's been a blur but we're trying to get back to normalcy. California was our first stop. Upon arriving at the SFO airport, we took a Lyft to Chinatown and explored the sunny city. Mia loved al of the little stores and soon after picking up a large fortune cookie, we headed over to pier 43 in SF. Awesome day to be down by the area checking out the boats and street musicians. We took the BART to Sacramento to meet up with my sister in law and made it to our first AirBnB. The complex was owned by a police officer and ice cream truck owner. Cool! We had dinner later with my brother and his family. Round Table pizza is pretty amazing and we all loved it.

The next few days we hit up SF again (for the GG Bridge) the Japanese Tea Gardens and the Pink Ladies.  A much chillier day due to the marine layer. Such a weird phenomenon, but anyways, it was fun attempting to walk the bridge. If you've ever attempted it, it's pretty chilly and very crowded due to everyone wanting to bike across it. We didn't make it too far on the bridge before turning around.

We went to the Japanese Tea Gardens later. Great place to visit. Mia loved climbing the steep bridge, watching the koi and playing with cousin Alex. Later, we checked out the Pink Ladies. Also, known as the Full House house. It's a fun little tourist thing to check out. Mia and Alex once again, ran around and played with each other for quite a while, while we relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful day. We later, went to a very dirty beach before heading home for the day. Our last day in CA, we spent at Lake Tahoe. This was probably one of our group's favorite part of the CA trip. I've been to Lake Tahoe before but every time I make it to the glassy lake, it's always enjoyable. We pulled up to what felt like our own beach to enjoy. The kids played in the water (sorta, Alex forgot his swimsuit). Mia was literally neck-deep in the chilly waters shooting photos of wildlife. Never matters how cold temps are, she sincerely loves being in the water.

The next morning, we packed up early (very early) and took the plane to Oahu. Hawaiian Airlines didn't have the massive amount of free movies and shows that Alaskan Airlines did that Mia totally loved, but it did have a breakfast box complete with parfait, grapes and a chive roll, and LATER they gave us BOOZE :) Yes, rum! And no, Mia did not have the rum. One of the memorable events we had planned to celebrate was our 10 year anniversary so we both took the time to write our own vowels. Mia helped me a bit, so that was pretty sweet. I'm not going to go through everything we did in Hawaii, but I'll hit up some of the highlights. Upon arriving, our amazing friend Andy and Jess gave us a bit of a tour of our beloved island of Oahu. We stopped to grab donuts, take some scenic photos at one of the many many points around the island before grabbing our rental car and getting to our 2nd AirBnB.  Beautiful places with an amazing view of the mountains from above a plumeria tree. We didn't stay there long before hitting up the beach. It was both Leanne and my first time body/boogie boarding so Andy gave us pointers. It was pretty easy to catch on but tricky at times. It was an absolute blast and I sincerely wish I would have done in more on Oahu. Flying in a helicopter with Andy was definitely a highlight (as well as Jill and Leanne's when they did it on Kaua'i'. We flew for a few hours and I snapped as many photos as possible with Jill's camera and some videos with my GoPro. Of course our wedding vowel renewal was memorable. Our friends officiated it and took photos/videos on the beautiful beach. We dressed up and and the ceremony was amazing. Mia was both a flower girl and ring bearer holding our unique anniversary rings in a bowl full of plumeria flowers. We later had dinner at our house with our local friends. All in all, amazing night.

One of the last highlights I'll mention was the highly anticipated shark dive with OneOcean Research and Dive. We (Leanne, Andy and myself) arrived a bit early for our trip out. We saw the co-owners boarding the first boat. Dammit. I sincerely wanted to dive with them. Later, our vessel arrived and we took it out 3 miles from shore. Immediately while departing the harbor, our boat got a call that there was a pregnant tiger shark in the area. Nikki. I instantly got excited, while others would have been fearful. Are we actually going to swim with a tiger shark?!! We found out that she was swimming near the other boat. Ugh. Oh well. Anyways, after about 10 or so minutes on our journey, the waves were hitting our side the heaviest, we were getting nice and soaked before jumping into the waters with these amazing creatures. The current took its toll on some of us in the waters, making it difficult to keep level. I had some issues accidentally inhaling the salt water once which unfortunately was a heavy distraction from Galapagos sharks at times. I tried to keep composure and get the best footage I could.

What I love about this company is how knowledgable they are about sharks. Our guides were super friendly and you can tell that safety is #1 with them. The man driving the boat always had his eyes on every single person, as well as the guides in the water. I would instantly do this again in a heartbeat and I strongly recommend it over any cage diving experience. They promote sort of a fear mongering approach, keeping you "safe" in a cage, while OneOcean wants the humans to co-exist with these apex predators all while educating the importance of sharks. Other notable places we re-visted were the Pali Lookout, Dole Plantation, hiked Makapu'u and my favorite, Macadamia Nut Farm. We had plenty of sushi and for the first time, experienced the Polynesian Culture Center which is a must if you visit Oahu. The island traditions are fun to participate in as well as luau and shows.

For 4 days, we'd explore the small island of Kaua'i', a short 15-25 min flight from Oahu. It was a totally different experience that Oahu. Kaua'i' is much more green with a lot less city, for starters. Plenty of beaches to explore. Some you can't really swim at, but can easily enjoy the view. Our final AirBnB felt more like a hotel than the places we stayed at. All of us were disappointed, but Mia did like that it had a pool. WHY would that even matter on an island?! Oh well. One of our days, Leanne and I drove around for 4-5 hours trying to find a good beach to bodyboard at. Out of the 7 we checked out, we where only able to hit one of them. It wasn't as great as the one in Kailua where we stayed on Oahu, but it was still fun. We kept having kids behind us getting in the way. Later, we made the trek back home. One of our other highlights was a very long and winding drive up one of the mountain ranges. It was highly recommended by our friend Andy. We drove what felt like forever up the mountains to the Pu'u O Kila Lookout and when we finally got to the top, the stars were beautiful. The sky was very clear, (from 5,000 feet up) and you could literally just about feel the clouds. It was so peaceful. I would have loved to have seen the views during the daytime, but with a sleepy diva, I don't know if she'd ever want to make this long drive again. Jill and Leanne had some fun doing a beekeeping course, did a chocolate tour and a helicopter tour. We also got to visit the small town of Hanapepe, which was the setting of Lilo and Stitch. Mia snapped a photo of herself by the painted mural on the side of the Aloha Theater which is the only sign in the entire little town that Disney director based the movie here. She loved playing with one of the many wild cats. Speaking of wild animals, both islands have an over abundance of chickens and roosters hanging around. In fact, when we where leaving Lihue airport, we saw some roosters that got through security near the terminal waiting area. Too funny.

One of the last highlights of Kaua'i 'I'll mention is our doggy field trip. So at their humane society, you can take a dog out for a day. One morning, we were hanging outside a store while Leanne was shopping, a stray pit bull ran up to us. The poor girl could have gotten hit, so after about 20 minutes of waiting around for someone to claim her, we drove her to the humane society we had already planned on going to. Mia picked out this cute calm little black lab-looking dog Hina. She was super sweet. She would often sleep in the car and she really enjoyed her Shave Ice (all ice). We had plenty of people wanting to pet her and ask about adopting etc etc. We were happy to be able to give her a nice day out and hope she'll get adopted soon.

Speaking of Shave Ice (NEVER add the "d") after having copious amounts of the local treat, we become snobs about it. Some places had better Shave Ice than others, and the very last place we got some, ended up being the best. Some of the weird flavor combos Mia would get, would be tigers blood/wedding cake/vanilla, or another day she had gummy bear/root beer/vanilla. The root beer overpowered the other flavors.

We had a very long flight to Denver over night from Kaua'i'. American Airlines had free movies/shows like AA, so Mia watched till she couldn't stay awake anymore. Jill and I stayed awake watching movie and shows till we landed. Airplanes are pretty uncomfortable for me, so I was fine staying awake. We landed at 6:30am Denver time, which was around 2am Hawaii time. Yikes. Mia was super tired as well as Leanne who also crashed on the plane. We soon boarded our last flight and before we knew it, landed in MKE. The trip was over. It was bittersweet and I think for Jill, Leanne and I, we could have easily stayed longer. Mia was missing home and her animals. Hawaii is one of the few states we've been to that we feel like we could actually live at. Jill and Leanne really liked the kindness of the drivers (Oahu) how they would just let you in when you're trying to turn or lane change, and you'd exchange a "shakka" in return. Can't do that here or anywhere else. I'm missing the ocean, the POG juice and our friends. We're still trying to get back to the swing of things. I low-key celebrated my birthday with my in-laws, I started tutoring again, Mia hung out with friends for a while and Jill went back to work. Saturday, she visited friends and Mia and I had a Daddy/Daughter date night at StoneFire Pizza.

I have one week left off so I'm hoping to enjoy it as much as possible. Almost a month left before Mia goes back to school, soccer starts as well as dance. Insane how quick Summer went. We knew traveling would effect our Summer.

Thats all for now, thanks for reading!

Aloha and Goodnight

Good evening everyone. I'm pretty behind on my blogging due to an unfortunate issue with our internet so instead of going through everything I'll try to go through the gist of it quickly. The week of internet going down, we celebrated Jill's 34th birthday with sushi w/family and some awesome gifts from Mia. Sushi was fantastic as always at Big Tuna. One of the best parts of the day, was Mia's creativity making cupcakes. She made Dr. Pepper Cupcakes with a black cherry cool-whip frosting topped with an Oreo crumble. I wasn't allowed to do do much accept open and close the oven. She was quite proud of herself as well as myself. Thursday while she made her cupcakes, AT&T installed internet and on Friday, it was already down. Are YOU KIDDING ME?! I was already weary of the issues they've had with other people and sure enough we did. The box stopped working and we were internet-less till TODAY. With two people who work from home, this was far from acceptable yet we couldn't do anything about it but suffer. Sorry Milwaukee Torrent. Luckily, this season I've had a guy helping out a ton so that was great. At some point, Mia reunited with Cecilia and played at her house for an hour or so. The kids would have played for hours but I had to work on a very rare Wednesday night.

Over the weekend, we visited Uncle Tommy's new condo and had some lunch. Awesome. Throughout this week, I completed my last few days of work (YAY!!!) and we've been packing and re-packing and adjusting everything for our big trip. This week, I luckily talked Mia into bringing her school bag instead of this tiny pink thing. It'll be so much easier to leave the little bag on wheels behind. Yesterday was the 4th so we had a few cookouts between my brother Andy's house and my in-laws.

Today, I had my first art lesson with a 7th grader. I was requested to teach this awesome kid some art skills. Honored, I was looking forward to this for a few weeks so along with Mia who played with her Kindle, we did a little apple drawing. I wasn't sure what she truly wanted to improve on, so I figured a little apple sketching with color pencils and pastels would be a fun warm up. She informed me she'd like to get better with human anatomy and animals. After our trip, I'll be working on a Hedwig pen sketch with her. When she told me she was a massive Potter-head, I knew it'd be a lesson worth teaching. I sincerely love teaching kids and the older the kid(s) the more they can retain and pick up so I look forward to doing it again.

Tomorrow, picnic with friends, hair cut and getting any last minute things done.  Torrent game Saturday so hopefully they can end the season on a good note. This will be the last blog before we leave for the trip. That's all for now, thanks for reading and ALOHA!

Soccer Nights

Good evening everyone! Hope everyone's enjoying the beautiful weather. This week was a busy one but a lot of fun was had. I got my 20th anniversary gift from work this week. I picked up a really nice Shark vacuum and this thing is incredible. Mia loves vacuuming now because it's super easy on our area rug.

We've been watching a lot of World Cup lately this week. I'm not going to go into every match individually, but I will say that it's super unpredictable. Some of the biggest teams are struggling and while some teams I'm not surprised aren't doing well, I think it can go anyway. It's pretty early still but I'm stoked to get to watch so much of it. Even Mia and Jill have been tuning in, so that's awesome as well.

Wednesday, Mia and I went to our first Women's Milwaukee Torrent match. While the crowd was light as well as our loud supporters group, she had a great time. The girls won 2-0. Mia was shocked the first goal came in the first minute and a half. She'll tell people that it was in 10 seconds, but it was definitely 1:38. Awesome game. Her favorite part was after that the match, we went on the pitch and played a little soccer with Echo, Zack and Nico; some of the other kids that came. Echo's Dad and I have been working together on the team(s) since the beginning of the season, Zack's Mom photographs the teams and Nico's Dad is the assistant coach of the Men's team and the head coach of the Women's team. Mia had so much fun shooting on net and her new favorite men's team player Hector Portillo even played a bit with her. The guys had practice after the women's match so they where warming up while we where playing around on the pitch. Mia said her goodbye her new friend Echo and Hector and we headed home for the night.

She was pretty exhausted running around the pitch, but if she had her way, we would have detoured to the skate park across from the stadium. "Dad, my scooter and helmet are IN the trunk! We could just go over there!" It was dark and I would have been worried about her accidentally hitting a rail. We'll go back there in the day time maybe. I admire her for wanting to go in the first place. She had wanted to do a Mia and Daddy's Adventure video at the match, but when we arrived, changed her mind for some reason.

Saturday, we watched a few World Cup matches, and Mia slept over at my in-laws house while we went to a BBQ at a friend's house. Great time catching up with friends. Went back home later, watched a bit of Netflix before crashing. Today, we got a text that Mia woke up at 5:00am looking for us. Ugh, Okay. Ran to go pick her up, went home and did some pre-packing for our trip before I went to work. Getting everything into backpacks is tricky, but we're making it happen. This week, Mia's got two art classes at the Sharon Lynn Wilson Center. It's an animal sculpture class so she's pretty stoked. In a week or so, I'll begin tutoring a 7th grader in art. Hope to get a few lessons in before we leave for our trip.

That's all for now. Tomorrow I'll try to catch the Spain vs Morocco match before work. Thanks for reading!!