Athens Marathon

Nick has now crossed the finish line of the Athens Marathon twice. That's two more times than me and one less than Kostadis.

I feel the pressure, somehow...

Rollerblading update

Nick's been using his rollerblades for several days now. I no longer need M&M's to get him to skate, and today he was able to skate with a puck and stick.

And a video!

I declare rollerblade training a success!

Nick rollerblading

We bought Nick his first pair of "real" rollerblades. They are the BladerRunner brand that adjust several sizes so that I don't have to get a new pair next week when the kid's feet grow.

Fully padded!

Nick is a little intimidated by them, since they are big and heavy and roll really well (they have ABEC 3 bearings, which is fancier than what I have on my own skates). He was happy to roll along if I held his hand, but he was reluctant to let go and skate on his own, so I had to come up with creative ways to motivate him to practice.

I considered several obvious things first.

1. Assuming he'll just be so happy with his new purchase that he'll practice on his own.
   That ended after the first splat on the pavement.
2. Guilt tripping him to practice because "I got you this new toy and you should play with it".
   No I didn't even try that one, because, well, no.
3. Telling him "if you practice, you'll be better at ice skating, and they will let you have a puck and stick". While he admitted that he wants a puck and stick, that was not enough to motivate more than one trip up and down the driveway.
4. Jumping up and down, playing chase games, cheerleading and yelling "yay good job" for every single step.
   That worked better than everything else to far, but I was getting a harder workout than the kid, which admittedly was not the intended purpose of this acquisition.

As Denise Fenzi always says "it's not a motivator if they don't want it".  Now they in her case applies to dogs, but why should it be any different with my four year old.

Clearly my motivators were not good enough to convince him to keep trying in spite of landing on his butt every few minutes. So that lead me to my final solution: I got out a bunch of cones and baited them with M&M's. Voila: he's skating, he's happy, he doesn't mind that he ends up hitting the pavement every few minutes, doesn't whine for me to help him get up, and the occasional candy keeps his blood sugar up.

Once he gets better at the mechanics, can go faster without expending as much effort, and his confidence grows, he'll enjoy the process for its own sake (because the kid is a speed junkie), but for now, the dog training approach works wonders.

As a bonus, here's a video of Nick riding his big boy bike. 

Kipling at the Baylands

I guess the love of mud is a family trait. I did, unfortunately, miss the beginning where he covered himself head to toe in dirt.

When did my puppy get so big?

Holey moley, people! Who's this giant dog in front?

THEM.

He still weighs less than Polly. Because Polly has muscles. And he just has legs.

Took THEM for a hike today.

Starting to look like fall.

1.5 miles with a decent climb in the middle and barely any whining from the two-legged hiker.

If you are not the lead husky, the view never changes.

The lead husky.

Kipling swimming at the baylands

Conversation with the vet yesterday:
Dr Sams: Ok, he's cleared to be off leash some when you hike with him.
Me: Umm, he's a 9 month old labrador puppy. He has no brains. He does not get to go off leash because he doesn't come back.
Dr Sams: Um. Well. Ok. So, if you were to take him to the beach, and if he seems like he's behaving, you can let him off leash.
Kipling, did you pay off the vet to say that?

We didn't go to the beach, but we did go to the Baylands to swim. And Kip was let off leash, that is until he decided to run off and roll in the dry foxtails. That was the end of the off-leash adventure, but at least we followed doctor's orders.

I am pleased that the dog that thought deep water eats puppies went from this:

What is this stuff? Don't think I want to go in there! 

to this:

Maturity is an amazing thing. I figure three more years, and he can be allowed off leash when hiking too. His elbows have plenty of time to heal before then!

Santa Cruz

What can be better than poking sea anemones with a piece of seagrass to make them close.

Does this qualify as "harassing wildlife"?

Well, jumping into a giant hole in the sand might be better.

Wheeee! (followed by Splat!)

Or chasing seagulls.

Ok, this is definitely "harassing wildlife". But the wildlife deserves it
after it stole a whole bag of salami from our lunch box.

Lovely day at the Natural Bridges State Beach today. Full set of pictures in on smugmug.