Mom-Mom has been visiting for two weeks and all is going well. She and Lu have been out and about and taking care of all the normal day to day business. Mom-Mom is also reading and is just about through her second book here. Today was the final of the Labor Day "Fire in the Sky" tournament. Mateos's Sagebrush Real team (U-11) played in the final of the U12 and lost 4-3 in overtime. Mateos's arm is still broken but he, Luca and I made the trip to Truckee to watch the game today. After the game the four of us went to Scheels for no real reason but Luca ended up purchasing a wooden Samurai sword. In the evening, Luca met up with his friend Natale. The two of them have been thick as thieves the last few weeks. Great for Luca to have a friend in the neighborhood who can just pop by. Mateos called up a group of friends and organized a pickup game at South Valleys. I am continually impressed by his ability to round up friends for those games. Meanwhile, Luciana and I headed over to Luca's recreational soccer practice (sans Luca.) As the coach, I give myself a C+ for today's session. The kids seemed to have a good time but it was tough to corral some of the boys today. Lu played social butterfly on the sideline chatting away with the moms. Mateos and I played a little Black Ops together (I was spectularly awful as always) and Luca and I played some warped, imaginary and incredibly fun and goofy game where we pretended to shoot each other, etc.

Mother's Day 2011

Well, we received home the 'standard' Mother's Day booklet the school has the kids put together in 2nd grade. Luca was candid and funny in his observations. The work is worth enjoying.

The perpetual question

Our vacation has a running theme - sight seeing activities followed by 'where do you want to eat?'. Today's edition had us start out by driving to the capital building and visiting Memory Grove. We followed that up by driving around one or two of the nicer home sections in SLC just to take a peak for fun. At that point it was time to address the 'where to eat' question. The answer was to eat at a breakfast place called Coachman something-or-other with decor that would be considered awful in any era but looked to have been last updated in the early 70s. However, the good reviewers of Yelp! rated it well enough and we, too, found the food to be good (but really, even I can cook a half-decent breakfast.).

After said breakfast, we struck out for Park City. I have to say the drive between SLC and Park City was incredibly beautiful. The highway snakes between mountains that are rolling and covered in trees whose leaves were changing colors. We took some lousy pictures using the phone while we sped by that will only serve to sully the memory. The drive really was the highlight. Park City itself was worth walking around, etc. But it is just a snooty little ski village. We also hit the Tanger shopping outlets that are right outside Park City. They are like outlets anywhere else in the country. At least they gave us a reason to get out and walk around a bit.

After we came back from Park City, we took a quick snooze (well, OK, I did as Lu fiddled with her phone trying to find a good time to see a movie later and, as always, to answer the question about where we should eat next.) We ended up choosing a place called Chanon Thai again based on the reputation of Yelp reviews because we had passed the place on a walk the other day and it's exterior does not scream 'eat here, you'll love it' but really enjoy it we did. The food was very good and spiced correctly even though I had to bargain with the waitress to get her to agree to spice my dish at a 2 level on a 1- 5 scale. I sad 3 originally but she pretty much said 'no' and thought 1 would be more appropriate based on the color of my skin. In the end, 2 was about right. Luciana pushed herself to the brink of splitting her pants as she first ate as much as she could, then continued to push on and scoop out any bits of chicken she could still find. After mercifully putting down her spoon and stopping, she suddenly thought better of it and proceeded to ladle out a few more servings of just the curry onto some dregs of rice. Despite proclaiming that she felt incredibly stuffed in an almost painful way, she was a good date and helped me through a cocunut ice cream dessert which was a most excellent way to end the meal. All I can say is that my mini little wife still has a pretty darn good metabolism.

After dinner we caught The Town with Ben Affleck. It was fine and well acted and all but overrated by critics. Nothing great. Waiting for Superman (which we saw on Friday) was a much better use of our time and money.

Hello again

Just back from the Real Salt Lake vs FC Dallas game. Luciana and I are enjoying our 13th anniversary trip to Salt Lake City. The boys are with the Chaves clan and it is just Lu and I for a few days. On Friday, we spent the better part of the day walking to a soccer shop that was 3.2 miles away but the walk admittedly felt forever. It wasn't helped by the fact that it was not the most beautiful scenery. Quite the contrary, the one thing we were sure of was taking a cab on the way back. We did pass through Liberty Park which was nice and very big. Let's see, what else did we do Friday? We walked to a place called The Bayou and had a late lunch. Then we went on the aforementioned Baton Death March to the soccer store. We recuperated back at the hotel to rest our weary legs and then went out in the evening to The Copper Onion and followed that up with a movie next door - Waiting for Superman. A very good first day.

Today (Saturday) we walked the nicer parts of the city. We started the morning by hitting the City Library which is architecturally very attractive and interesting to look at both on the outside and inside. We went from there to Trolley Square mall which is nice enough, I guess, but was totally, completely devoid of humans. Very dead. Actually, much of the city felt that way until we started walking toward the Mormon Temple. On the way there we stopped at a soup and salad place that Lu liked called Zupas. Have to say we both enjoyed it. After lunch, we continued on toward the temple. Temple Square was interesting and we took a small tour.

After the temple we continued our walking back to the Little America hotel. I think we had put in about 18,000 steps according to the pedometer at that point. After an hour plus nap, we took the Trax to the RSL game. There was a huge line to the team store which was concerning since I feel compelled to buy a jersey at every stadium we go to. The resason for the line was a 52% off sale, so the place was a total zoo. On the other hand, it was a darn good sale so I wasn't disappointed and came away with a new long sleeve jersey, a couple of jerseys for the kids, three scarves and a pennant. Definitely more than I intended, got caught up in the whole sale thing.

Anyway, a great day overall.

Sentences from a 1st Grader

Here are Luca's spelling word sentences brought home from class:




I particularly like his affirmative 'yep' as his self-acknowledgement of his behavior towards his brother and the comment his teacher inserted. (His teacher -- Ms. Thornton -- is fantastic.)

the holiday letter... that wasn't

This was going to be my holiday letter for 2009. I just didn't like it that much and didn't finish it in time but figured I'd post it here for posterity and for the curious.


The biggest news of 2009 for this clan was the addition of George, a chocolate mini-dachshund. The George experience happened much like many other good decisions in this house. I was dead set against it, Luciana was increasingly for it until one day I found myself in the car on the way to a pet shop as the boys hurriedly talked over each other in a race to spill the beans on their mother who had already put down a deposit on a dog, bought untold quantities of pet supplies and yet was still pretending as if I had a decision to make too. Of course, it worked out to be a great decision. Everyone enjoys George and it is fun to see the boys cuddle with him on the couch or chase him around the kitchen.

Mateos is now eight and in the third grade. He is a boy in constant motion and is usually all smiles. Mateos has a good sense of style and is into urban culture. While he has temporarily traded in his skateboard for a soccer ball he still considers graffiti to be the highest of art forms, regularly pleads for rap & hip-hop on the car stereo and walks around the house regurgitating lyrics that he understands more of than I wish but thankfully much less than what the words imply. Mateos has really started to enjoy and advance his skills in soccer and tried out for and is now a member of a local competitive team, Real Reno FC, an accomplishment that he is particularly proud of. When Mateos is confined to the inside of the house, he likes to work on his yo-yo tricks and surf YouTube.


Luca continues to defy his parent’s gene pool as his body stretches onward and upward. Luca is seven years old and in the first grade. He is his mother’s boy and he continues to have a stubborn streak that is both endearing and frustrating. This year Luca has put his stubbornness to great use and invested himself into reading and math and enjoys jumping in to answer any scholastic based question I put forward to him or his brother. Luca is still a bit of a homebody, and he very much enjoys hunkering down on the couch with a video game controller in his hands, an enemy in his sights and a bowl of sickeningly buttery popcorn nearby (“Please make it with as much butter as you would ever put on it for me.”)

Luciana is involved in all aspects of the kids’ lives through volunteer work for each of the boy’s classes and coordinating their social calendars with their friends. When she gets the chance, she continues to enjoy cult female activities like Pampered Chef and Tupperware parties (or as Luca famously understood it, mom’s ‘Tug-of-War’ party.) At night, Luciana likes to curl up with George and me (probably in that order) on the couch and watch House Hunters while flipping through magazines.

For myself, I am still working at Intuit and doing the programming thing. This year, I kept busy by co-coaching both Mateos and Luca’s soccer teams and playing in a local adult soccer league. My barber (Luciana) tells me I have quite a few less hairs than the year before but it still looks all good to me ;) 




Happy Holidays!

The Hits Keep On Comin'

I had an interesting encounter with Mateos last night. This has been the year of him learning all about curse words, body parts and now -- sigh -- sex. Last night, he asked to have a 'private conversation' with me so he could ask me about a word. Last time we did this, he wanted to know what "shitwich" meant. So, I wasn't really prepared for the following exchange:

Mateos (in a soft voice): Dad, does sex mean when a boy sticks his penis in a girl's vagina.

Dad (reeling but clinging to composure, controlling facial expression): Yes...

Mateos (clearly having thoughts swirling in his head): He *sticks* his penis in her vagina??!?

Dad (catching breath, thinking fast): Mateos, let me be clear. This is something **only** adults do and it is private...

Mateos (interrupting, unable to control self): Why? Why would they do that? Dad, why would an adult _do_ that?!?

Dad (trying to be open and bring conversation to a close): Well, that's how adults make babies but this is an advanced conversation and I think we should talk more tomorrow and

Mateos (pointing vigorously at Dad): **YOU** stuck your penis in mom?!?

Dad (full body waffle and nervously smiling): er, Mateos there are some things that are private and I won't discuss with ...

Mateos (louder): But you did???

Dad (giving in to the inevitable, sighing): Yes, but this is very private. Blah blah blah.... (discussing the gravity of the conversation, the privacy of the conversation, etc.)


I did almost all the rest of the talking and tried to nip everything else in the bud. But later that night, Luciana and I were putting them to bed and he started smiling a little funny and looking at her and Luciana was like, 'What are you smiling about Mateos?' Needless to say she understood what that was all about when I explained our little chat to her later.

Wasn't really prepared for that conversation. Happened about 5 years earlier than I expected to be honest but it was an interesting moment. I doubt he will remember it 5 years from now but I am pretty sure I always will.