Hola, hello friends and fam! Happy…Thursday, I almost forgot what day it was. As most Americans around the nation, we cancelled Spring Break plans but I decided to keep my time off and recharge, reflect and spend some quality time with my kiddos while Meghan gets work done. Because this is Ricky’s planned spring break, we are actually not doing many academic activities outside of 30 min of daily reading. We want him to be a kid and tap into his creativity and imagination during this time of social distancing. We had a great day yesterday, here is everything I did to keep a sense of normalcy.
The day started with sleeping in…it is my staycation! Shout out to Meggy who let me sleep in! I think I got up at 9:30 and it was glorious. To be honest the kids also slept in, otherwise, Meg would have gotten my butt up, book it! Upon waking up, I went into the living room and said good morning to my kiddos and gave them a kiss as they were chowing down on some breakfast. I went over to Olivia’s chair and signed good morning, more to come on this as we are going to take this time to accelerate learning sign. I had my morning fuel (coffee) watched a little Get Up! and then went upstairs to my home office area to check in on work. After ~30 minutes of work and checking in, I set up my new Turtle Beach Wireless headphones and played a quick session of Call of Duty. Yes, I am a gamer and love playing games. Like everything else, I find the balance to not over play in lieu of family time. Quick story on my headphones, I finally spent some extra money and got wireless as my last pair (not wireless) were destroyed. About 2 months ago, I had a brand new nice pair or TB headphones but after 3 days, I noticed they were not working. After a closer examination, I noticed one of my cats, probably Rizzo, chewed them up! $60 down the toilet thanks to Rizzo chewing it up like its cat nip. We have 4 cats by the way, 3 too many if you ask me but don’t tell Meg or Gracie that :). Anyways, Meg blamed me for not getting wireless to begin with so I went ahead and splurged a bit on brand new wireless headphones…they are money by the way.
After a quick gaming session, Ricky Bear like many kids loves watching “YouTubers” and he said he wanted to create a video for his Ricky Bear Tv station and I said perfect but you need to help come up with a script! He was confused by what that entailed. I then talked to the kiddos today about the importance of content and processes! As a producer in game development, nothing is more critical than fresh content and a process to get to the final content! I said the script and brainstorming phase is part of the process. I told them, in this world more than ever, content is king! It’s king in my world and in their world. People want instant satisfaction and they want fresh, brand new content and experiences. Yesterday, Ricky and Gracie fresh off watching Nacho Libre and with my screen writing skills came up with a script and we made some creative content! We created something together!
Here is the video! Enjoy! We are coming for that short film Oscar! More content to come. Ricky said show your kiddos and like and subscribe 🤷🏻♂️ More #CreativeContent to come! 🎥
I present; Daddy is a Luchador! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cxUlUbOTXE
After feeling like Ron Howard, we had a late lunch as a family. After lunch, Coach Rick time and we went outside and played some sports! Ricky got 50 shots up as he continues to practice with a heavier ball and 10 foot rims. Super proud of his work ethic and ability to make shots. His form is great. As I told him, I’d rather see airballs and misses BUT shooting properly and not jeopardizing his shooting form. His strength will come and mixed with his shooting mechanics, he’ll be a great shooter like his pops, ok, yes a better shooter than me. Then, we went to the backyard to work on some baseball drills. Yesterday was fielding day, so we worked on his throwing and fielding mechanics. We did some pop ups and worked on his footwork to track the balls. Then, we transitioned to middle infield drills with an emphasis on 2 bagger or second base. We talked about the importance of getting the lead runner, turning two is a bonus, footwork around the bag, becoming a first baseman in case of bad throws, and then glove to hand transfer for a quick turn. We even went over SS and how to swipe second base with his right foot, he thought that was a cool move and I was really impressed with him actually being able to do it after just seeing it for the first time. I used to totally whiff on the bag but most umps can’t see your foot and they assume you touch it and call the runner out, little trick of the trade;) I also found some time to practice with Gracie girl! We went over the defense ready position and worked on some grounders and throws! As a coach, I miss being out there with my team and coaches. Our season is currently delayed but I may start some virtual practices. If you need help with drills, hit me up!
After practice, I went on a run with Cubby our 100lb dog. Right before my run, I noticed a guy waiting on the corner. Turns out he’s my neighbor but we never met. He introduced himself and he went to shake hands and I was like ughh no sorry and he understood but I was surprised he even went for it. Anyways, I went on a run to blow some stress and enjoy the nice spring weather. I then took a shower, definitely later than usual but I did my daily prayer. Yes, my go to praying spot is the shower, which makes sense if you think about it. It’s private and a great place to reflect. After a quick shower, we had a nice dinner with the fam. Meg made my favorite, chicken parm! After dinner, we started watching Despicable Me 3. Once the movie was over, I played COD with the Sheriff of Noyes, not the real sherriff, inside joke here ha and some neighborhood dudes as the kids were getting ready for bed. I told my buddies, I only have an hour as Meg and I were planning on a night cap and a movie. The Sheriff was also watching a movie with his wife.
Around 9:15 we sat down, we both grabbed some bourbon and we watched Knives Out! We both really enjoyed it, great cast, great twist at the end, and an entertaining thriller/comedy. Finally, after a full day, a great day we went night night around midnight. We hope you are having a great spring break so far given the circumstances. Let’s keep praying, helping and looking out for each other. Don’t just use social distancing as a buzz word but actually do it. I hope this blogs provides some knowledge on CP, deafness and also entertainment during these weird times. Stay safe, stay healthy and May God Bless our healthcare workers!
