Sea Monkeys

More swimming. I think my kids are growing gills. Today I was woken up with: "Daddy, get up, we need to go swimming!" I must admit I love the pool. It's expensive to maintain (cause you all know I'm too lazy to do a good job with it myself so we have to pay someone to come out and keep it clean.} And we can't use it for 8 months out of the year, but in the summer... it all seems worthwhile. No matter how stressed or tired I am, after getting wet, swishing around n the 88 degree water, and watching the kids have fun, all the troubles wash away.

We have been listening to an 80s station while we swim (go go Sirrus Satellite Radio.) We have some speakers set up out back. I am properly brain washing my kids with the dulcet sounds of Men at Work, The Police, Madonna, U2, and the other 'classics'. It's funny when you see Katie starting to sing along now that she has heard a few of them multiple times.

Who ate all the Entenmann's...

This morning I had an early work call and I decided to call in from the home office. Being the caring father that I am, I set-up Katie and Andy with a couple doughnut-holes each, clicked on the TV for them, and headed to the den to settle-in. The last thing I said to them was, "Hey guys, if you are still hungry, there are more doughnuts in the cupboard, but don't eat too many..."

About 15 minutes later, I come out to check on them and I find this empty box on the floor... (keep in mind, this box had about 20 doughnut-holes in it when I last saw it...)

Me: "Guys! What happened to all the doughnuts?!?"

Kate: "Ummm, daddy... we accidentally ate all the doughnuts..."

Me: "..."

Accidentally? How do you accidentally eat a whole box of doughnuts? Hey wait a minute, maybe this excuse will be good for me at work... "Yeah boss, sorry I'm late, I accidentally drank all the beer last night..."

Recital Video

We finally got Katie's Ballet Recital Video in the mail. Here is a clip of her performance for you to enjoy...

Little Miss Muffet Video

Marine Camp and Aqua-Man

Katie recently went to a really neat-o marine camp at the Scripps Birch Aquarium. She had a blast and although it was very short, she really got a lot out of it. Here is a picture of her and the zillions of crafts that they created in the week-long camp.

On another note, Mr Andrew Sandwisch is now officially swimming! He has been using a floatie-body suit for the last couple of months to learn his dog-paddle. Then while we were int he water the other day, he says to me, "Daddy, I need to go potty..." So I help him out of his suit and he runs over to the bushes to do his business. Well as soon as he was done, the kid runs back to the pool and jumps in naked... His eyes got very large as he realized that he did not have his flotation, but he improvised and kept his head above water while swimming back to the steps. He is already going across the pool without assistance and is well on his way to becoming fish #2.

Petco Premiere

We took the kids to thier first Padres game today at Petco Park. (I cheated and lifted the picture as we didn't bring the camera.) It was a good time. Cotton Candy, some close flys, and the Padres won 8-5, holding on to the division lead.

Katie's favorite part: "When they make the scores and then the fireworks."

Andy's favorite part: "Digging in the sand with my friends"

To Andy's note, we sat in an interesting field-level bleacher area that was designed for kids, with a giant sandy area that allowed the kids to get right up to the fence. Hard to see the batter from out there, but you do get a few spectacular outfield catch close-ups -- such as when Giles slammed into the fence a few feet from the kids while going for a long fly.

Attachment

Here's a non-posed shot from our photo shoot. During the shoot rotations, the kids stopped for a little rest and some gummy worms. Added trivia: I used to work in the building in the background in my first internship. Trivia #2: This location used to be the old UCSB campus circa 1971.

SB, the Shubies and the 4th

Whew we have been busy.

Sorry for the black-out. We have been all over the place lately. Spent the last weekend in and around the SB area. Started up on Friday to meet our friends “The Shubies” and spend a couple nights with them. We had a great time as we always do when visiting with their family. Meeting with the Shubies is always punctuated by a contest of wit, resolve and card playing skill as we battle for rights to the Shanghai “Crown”. This trip was no different and there was much of the usual smack talking and chest puffing. I am sad to report that after many terms of service, I must relinquish my royal position -- Daddy Shuby de-throned me and has now taken his rightful place as king of Shanghai. (Shuby actually made a crown constructed of playing cards a ways back that we wear when playing.) Sadly, Jen and I spaced out and forgot to bring the crown with us so Shuby will have to wait for his official inauguration until out next meeting…

The second half of our 4-day weekend was spent in SB. The Andersons met us there with Mom and Dad for some nice family time and a barrage of family photos. The photo shoot went very well I think. Ill post some more image from it soon. Thanks to the women for organizing this, its going to be great to have these pictures for years to come.

Finally, we spent some good ol’ fashion West Coast 4th of July ‘Beach Time’ in La Jolla with some friends on Wednesday. We got started early with a morning session north of Wind and Sea, took a break in the afternoon, and then headed out again for an evening party. I came away from the day with the worst sunburn I have had in about a decade. Other than that, we had a great time. Thanks everyone for all the hard work and prep.

Ill post pics soon.

sneaking and sipping

Jen and I just got back from a nice little quick get-away in Temecula. Jen's parents were kind enough to watch the kids so we could have 24 hours of relaxing at South Coast Winery. The place is really nice, the weather was great, and it sure was nice not to have to worry about anyone else other than ourselves for a change.
We got home this morning, kids were amped as ever. We did more swimming. Andy and Katie are becoming really bold now with the water. To the point where I have to watch even harder now as they will do crazy jumping and diving stuff that is beginning to make even me nervous! Katie is now able to dive down and get stuff off the bottom of the pool, do cannon-balls and tread water for what appears to be an indefinite amount of time. Andy... well, he just dog paddles like a maniac.

The Big Night

Well, after months of rigorous training, Katie finally faced her big Ballet Recital tonight. Expecting Katie to be nervous, Jen and I were pumping Katie with a lot of, "You are going to be great!" type of reinforcement. I quickly realized that Katie was not nervous at all, literally zero performance anxiety.

Me: "Katie, you are so beautiful, you are going to be great tonight!"

Katie: "I know daddy, just like I was last night!" (Referring to her dress rehearsal)

Me: "Are you nervous at all?"

Katie: "No" (The way she looked at me when she said this, was kinda like a look of "What are you talking about?")

She was simply a knockout. She did awesome and was a stand-out with some classic Katie moves and moments. Some people watch her and think she is hamming it up. But if you know Katie, you realize that she is not performing with the audience in mind at all, she is totally in the moment, she is pretending she is a princess, imagining that she is a star ballerina...

At the end, all the performers come out on stage and bow. Katie's class all stood in a row and the girls were supposed to bow together. Katie decides instead that she is going to do this long fancy lingering curtsy, that leaves her kneeling center stage with this gigantic smile. It was priceless. Something tells me this is the first of many performances I am going to be attending.

Great things come in 3's

I can't remember where I heard it, but somewhere I once picked-up the zen-notion that great things come in sets of three. This past week has been brutal at work with a lot of pending stress. Also, the kids have been sick, Jen's been sick, I've been sick, and worst of all... our pool heater just hasn't seemed to be getting the water warm enough! Sheesh!

Well, this morning I stayed home to help out Jen as she was running a fever last night. Then all in about the matter of an hour the following happened:

- Jen felt better
- The pool was all of a sudden 84 degrees
- My work issue got solved

Woohoo.

So we went for our first real swim of the summer. The kids were so stoaked and excited that they were litterally squealing in my ears so bad that it hurt. Katie hasn't lost a step (or should I say a stroke) in her water abilities. Andy (who was initially cowering on the doormat, finished by repeatedly jumping from the steps into my arms. Was really fun, can't wait for more...

Oh yea, we also finally made the plunge (no pun intended) on getting Satellite HD service! Thanks Jen! Tomorrow I'm going to have 30 channels of crystal clear HD programming, another 200 standard channels, amd a new HD DVR... Im so excited I think I might squeal myself!

2 Day

Another camping trip this weekend. We are getting to know Cuyamaca pretty well at this point and we got to reserve the best site(s) in the park. We were a bit surprised to find that the site we picked had a ton of poision oak as well as a giant hill of fire ants! This made for some interesting 'danger management' around the site but we managed to survive.

We were also very lucky to have our friends the Loys come with us. Both familes were battling a lot of sick kid stuff (colds, fevers, bad tummies) so we agreed we need to make another trip when everyone is healthy. Here is a pic from one of the nature walks.

Crazy Hair Day

Today was crazy hair day at Katie's school (apparently...)

It's been pretty actrion packed over there lately. Yesterday was a special day as well, and all the dads were invited to a special "Dad's Day" session. They told us to bring 'water play clothes'... When you read something like that, you wonder what hey have planned. I was thinking it was going to be some kind of water balloon toss or something... oh no. It was a full blown 5-kiddie-pool + sprinkler water fest! Luckily I wore my trunks. Within seconds I found Katie pulling me into the middle of the fray and I was soaked. Good fun.

Legos from Long-ago

Went up to SB this weekend to spend some quick time with mom and pop. While I was there, I raided the attic for my old Lego collection. We have a laundry basket full of them, must be nearly 10,000 legos. As soon as I got home we busted them out and started making stuff on the living room floor.

Man these things bring back some fond memories. I used to spend a LOT of time making stuff, mostly spaceships and castles with intricate fantasies attached. I found myself playing with the Legos (and not the kids) after about five minutes of digging in. Great stuff, great toy. Thanks mom for saving this, we are going to get a lot out of it. (At least I will!)

Potty Boot Camp

Oh yes I see a light at the end of the tunnel! No, not like I'm dying, the good kind of light... The kind of light that says to me, "No more diapers if you can make this happen." That's right, we are potty training the last of the lineage. This weekend, little Andrew was entered into Potty Boot Camp.

For those of you who don't know what Sandwisch Potty Boot Camp is, well let me enlighten you. Beginning on Friday, Mr. Andrew was no longwer allowed to wear any clothes from the waist down. Jen and I then focus all of our time on beating the notion of potty training into his head every minute of the day. It's intense, it's messy, and it's tiring. So here we are at the end of day two and I have the following items to report that have been involved in the process:

- 1 Minature kiddy potty, with about 47 stickers, including the letters A N D Y

- 1 Fully suportive sister (Katie: "SEEEE, you can go pee pee in the potty Andrew, just like ME! You are a big boy!")

- 3 Library children's books on the subject read each night

- 1 Potty video (Yes they really have them, and I can tell you that wathing it will make you feel like you are somewere in the the Mr. Rogers Twilight Zone)

- 1,385 Times asking Andy, "Do you need to go to the potty?"

- 1 Accident (#1) early on

- 1 Accident (#2) while trying on his underwear while at Tim and Kathy's house... Sorry guys! Yuck!

- 1 Time Andy came to me and actually said "Daddy, I need to go potty" (Cha Ching!)

- 1 Time Andy tried to go by himslef while we weren't looking, STANDING UP. (If you can imagine someone trying to use an imaginry Hoola-Hoop while holding a hose between thier legs, and making disturbing grunting sounds... well then you can picture what I discovered when I came on the scene...)

- 2 Totally exhausted parents

- 1 Very enthusiastic boy

He is doing great, due to the nakedness, I don't have a good picture to share.

Also, we went to see Tim, Kathy, Nicole, and Tommy today. (Only true friends would invite us over in the middle of all of this!) They cooked up some mean grub and we had a great time connecting. Below is a shot of Cole and Katie sharing the love.

Spring Slideshow

Here it is, fresh off the grill, enjoy!

Spring 2007 Slideshow

Pertty Maids all in a Row

Katie's Ballet Recital is coming up and today she had her first dress rehearsal. She is in the class with some of her close friends and they love the tutus and dancing it up. The class is performing "Little Miss Muffet". It's crazy what a deal they (the class) makes out of this, I mean there is a LOT of prep for the production, including detailed instructions on make-up... you name it. Katie got to wear mascara for the first time today. About 10 seconds before her picture, she rubbed her eyes, leaving her looking more like Little Miss Goth Muffet. Luckily Jen dashed in and saved the day with some quick scrubbing. We know we are biased but we think she is the cutest one of the group.

Me, You and Shamu

I have spent a few posts recently knocking Southern California. Well, Jen was showing me some shots from a recent trip she and the kids had at Sea World and it I just had to post one of these and try to restore some Karmic balance to SoCal perspective.

Being locals in San Diego, we are able to visit the big attractions during off-peak hours. This photo is taken on a day when Jen, Amy and the kids got to have some quality 1:1 time with Shamu. The exhibit is incredible but usually you have to fight for a patch of glass against a hundred other tourists. On this early weekday morning, the kids got to just sit by themselves, and watch as the killer whale made endless passes, flirting with them from just a few feet away with each fly-by.

Pretty neat stuff.

Cast Away

Big news in the house! Katie got her cast taken off! Man, I can't believe how fast that 3 weeks went. She was very brave in the removal process, no crying, and I quote, "I wasn't even scared!" Everything looks good and we are gearing up to do some swimming soon. Our pool pump broke and we gotta pay some bucks to get it fixed but we should be in the water this weekend.


The below pic is from my birthday. The stickers are from the Pin the Tail on the Donkey game Jen got us. Of course, in true Sandwisch fashion, once we were done with the donkey, we plastered ourselves with tails and giggles. (I decided not to post the picture of Katie bending over and showing the one she had stuck to her bottom...)

Busy Weekend

I've got a few minutes here at work before I head home so I thought I'd update ya'll on the weekend.

Pretty busy around here celebrating stuff. My 37th birthday (yes I'll say it again... THIRTY SEVEN). Dear lord it hurts even to write it out, let alone say it out loud. As I cross the border into "closer to 40 than anything else" I have to say, the realization of my age is a scary prospect with no visable means of escape. Honestly, I look in the mirror and I still picture this 20-year-old guy who only wants to have fun... Weird. I really don't see a guy who is on the cusp of middle age! Man, am I in denial or what?

Jen was totally awesome in giving me the perfect birthday. I took off work early on Friday. Jen had bought these totally-3rd-grade Star Wards decorations (you know, Vader, Yoda, etc.) and hung them around the house. She had also had posters made by her and the kids wishing me a happy birthday. There were presents and snacks, and all kinds of fun. The topper had to be the authentic "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" game that she set-up.

We made the mistake of decorating before nap time. The kids didn't nap as they were so wound-up over the concept of presents and the decorations. After giving in to the reality that they weren't going to sleep, we opened a few gifts in the early afternoon. Then we set off to Dave and Busters at 4:00 for food and games. The kids were out of control and actually making the experience quite challenging as we tried to eat before we played games. I was starving, they hadn't napped, and we were all struggling to gel at the beginning.

Then miraculously (after my 2 giant margaritas) everything seemed to be really fun!

Seriously, the food was great (I had a giant Philly Steak Sandwich). And the kids went nuts on the games. We played everything. Jen had gotten us free passes for an hour so we were racing from game to game to get our money's worth. We were all exhausted after the frenzied video-gorging. I think my 2 highlights in the arcade were:

1) Andy playing this "Shoot-em-up" game where he was holding this GIANT rifle, complete with vibrating recoil -- he was basically knocking himslef backwards every time he pulled the trigger, but he was giggling so hard the whole time that it was hysterical. The second the game was over, he say, "I wa play gin!" (Yes yes, viololence, video-games, I'm a bad parent.)

2) Katie and I playing Donkey-Kong. Yes, they had the original there, circa 1976. And my old "jump the barrel" muscle memory hand-eye coordination skills flowed back into me like riding a bike. Kate loved it cause each level was all about saving the princess. Very fun. Flashed me back to playing Donkey Kong in the local Rusty's Pizza in Magnolia Shopping Center when I was like 7.

Saturday, Jen let me sleep in. She took the kids to two birthday parties in the am. Too much candy and too much fun left the kids in bad shape. I watched them Saturday night (while Jen went out with some friends) and Katie was literally "out of her mind' until about 10pm. It was a dark time I can assure you.

Sunday was, of course, Mommies day. Jen and the kids were vegetables at this point. Per Jen's request, we observed Mommy's Day by giving Mommy lots of space and rest. I took the kids as much as I could (poor Jen still had to help out in the midday) but we were able to get her an afternoon nap as well.

That's pretty much the recap, no pics yet but Ill shoot you some on the next post.

My Special Day

Last night Katie had an event at her school called "My Special Day." The idea is that she gets to choose a parent to bring to class in the evening for an hour of 1:1 play time. I was very honored that Katie wanted me to come with her. Pulled some double-duty babysitting time for one of Katie's calssmates (+ Andy) and Katie and I then headed over to her school.

Well things started off very special as we did a craft together... then Katie ran into one of her good friends in class and suddenly daddy might as well been invisible! I manged to stay cool and try not to look too abandoned (although I kinda felt like I had a "L" on my forhead.) Katie was content to play with her friend while I kinda did stuff next to them in uber third-wheel fashion. It was a pretty funny picture with my 6'3" self sitting in one of those itty bitty chairs trying to include myself while I mashed on some pink play-dough...

Next time I'm going to tie some Barbies around my nck to ensure I get the propoer attention!

Actually, it was a lot of fun, seeing Katie in her element was great and her teachers seem awesome.