Dude – you are 8!

As you can probably see, you are seriously fun right now. You are a total momma’s boy, you have your mom wrapped around your finger. You and I have a blast though. You’re out of the puppy phase and in that young dog phase where you just want to play all the time and don’t pee on the floor anymore.

Sports

Swimming

It’s not your favorite, but it’s good for you. Your mom is big on swimming for you both and you like it just don’t love it. Great in my eyes because the swim meets are brutal – they last like 6 hours and you swim like 3 times. That said, it’s really fun to watch you do it. You aren’t the best swimmer but it is very apparent you have the competitive drive. You get frustrated and pissed when you don’t win and it drives you to work harder which is great to watch. Will be interesting to see if you are still doing it in a year when I write this post, but you aren’t quick to give up on things so I am pretty confident you will.

Tennis

In a continued effort to play every sport that has ever been invented, you asked to start tennis this year. We enrolled you in a city camp where you played with other kids your age for a week long and worked on the fundamentals. You enjoyed the time, but it is clear you fall into the camp of a lot of competitive kids that you want to play and not practice. Unfortunately tennis isn’t one of those sports you just start playing matches in as it requires the basics (like knowing where to serve or how scoring works) before you can compete. You have shown continued interest in it though since the camp so we are exploring ways to keep you involved. You definitely have the strength and hand-eye coordination needed for it, but it will definitely test your conviction which will be good. Boppy and I went with you because he was in town and got to watch you smoke some other kids with your serve.

Fishing

The picture of you below is at Lola Creek, this really cool campground outside of Stanley. The campsite backs up to the creek so we can just walk down and fish whenever, so we do it a lot when we go there. You are still into spin fishing and not ready to fly fish yet but hoping you will try it soon – I don’t want to force it though so any fishing is good. I am going to plan a trip for us when you are probably 10 or so to do a dedicated fishing trip, probably with Boppy. I have been doing a trip with him every year since I was about that age, so it’s pretty cool that soon I will get to do that with you.

Boating

Bit of an odd trend here in that a lot of these activities involve water. Some great pics below of you on Slater’s boat that we go out on every summer. You can obviously swim now so it’s not only more fun but we also don’t have to worry about your safety as much anymore. Although you do spend more of your time sunbathing on the boat like a little boss which is hilarious.

Camping

I will let the pics speak for themself for the most part, but you have taken to nature and love being outdoors. We get out as much as we can with the trailer and it’s one of your favorite things to do. We spend a lot of time throwing the football or riding bikes, and of course playing with the campfire. You are becoming a help as well with the loading and unloading and helping out the girls. Like my little helpful buddy.

Dodgers Game

We got to have an incredible experience together that most people don’t get to have in their entire life. Aaron (or big fella, as you call him) works as a PT and has a bunch of clients that are celebrities and professional athletes. He hooked us up and got us on the field at a Rockies/Dodgers game in Denver this past summer where you got to meet the players, get a bunch of balls and watch batting practice among other things.

I also surprised you with the trip. One morning you got up like normal and had some breakfast, just like a normal day. After that I told you to go back a back for the night but didn’t tell you where we were going. I was able to keep it a secret all through the airport and on to the plane. Had to cover your eyes at times and plug your ears other times, but you got on the plan not knowing where we were going or what we were doing. Fortunately if I put a tablet in front of you and headphones on you there is basically no getting through to you, so that is what I did on the plane ride.

When we landed in Denver I started having you guess where we were – and shockingly you were able to get it pretty quickly. We then took an Uber to downtown to meet big fella as I told you about all the plans. We met Aaron at a restaurant and had lunch and then headed over to the game. Picked up the tickets and went through a special entrance well before the stadium was open to the public. As you can see by the pictures we got to go on the field and get right up to the players. Aaron has a client named Gavin Lux who got us the tickets and the on-field passes, and he came over and met us. He came over with another player, Chris Taylor (CT3), and we all got to hang out for a bit. They each gave you a ball – and you were of course the perfect little gentleman. One of the other pictures you will see is you and Dave Roberts, coach of the Dodgers. You got his autograph and were so cute about it. I think you left the field with like 5 baseballs, having met the players and couldn’t believe how big the field was.

We then stayed for the entire game. You cheered against the Dodgers (you hate the Dodgers, good boy) and was engaged the whole game. I of course loaded you up with snacks and candy and whatever else I could find, but it was the first time that you were really invested in the game. You learned the players, cheered at the right times and seemed to really not just enjoy the snacks but really enjoyed the game. After the game we went back to the hotel for the night, then flew back the next morning

I am obviously missing plenty of details here, but it is a memory I will never forget. So excited to do more sports trips with you in the future.

Animals

I have written before about your love for animals, and it continues. You have now not just got over your hesitation with reptiles, but as you can see love them. You held your first snake recently at Papa’s house in Sun Valley. It was in the backyard and I caught it. Your mom, sister, Damian and Papa all ran away in fear – but you hung with me. We caught a frog later in the summer as you can see and also had fun with that. The more we camp and the more animals you see the more infatuated you become with them.

Overall you are a super fun, active, sweet, caring, competitive little guy. I know parents say this all the time, but you remind me so much of me when I was little. Would like to think your mom and I are doing something right with you, and so far that appears to be the case. I am so excited to continue to experience you growing and evolving, and see what you take on next. I love you so much, and feel so lucky to have you around every day.

I love you more than all the world.

Love, Dad