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par·ent (pâr'ənt, pār'-) Pronunciation Key
n.

One who begets, gives birth to, or nurtures and raises a child; a father or mother.
An ancestor; a progenitor.
An organism that produces or generates offspring.
A guardian; a protector.

Look at the above definition. Kind of scary when you look at it in those terms. It seems like there should be some sort of test or license you should hold before starting into such an adventure. I mean guardian and protector, those are some serious responsibilities.

When you look around you see too many people figured out number 3 on the list. But never got the whole concept down.

But either way being a parent is a pretty big responsibility. And I think some take it a little too serious. While we have to keep our kids from getting a Darwin Award, we can't be over protective. That will lead to someone that will poke their eye out with a stick once they are old enough to play with it.

But I think some of the best toys for kids or at least Ava at this point are some basic hand tools. I went and bought her a screwdriver set, pliers, tape measure, hammer and a tool box to keep it all in.

So far I built her a little tool bench that she can work at while I mess around making some guitars. But on her bench she has a oak plank with some holes drilled into it. The plank is fastened to the workbench. And she gets to screw some nice Phillips head screws into the board. Which she does quite well.

Last week we got a chance to practice with the hammer a little bit. I get the nail started for her and then let her bang away. The thing I taught her is keep your supporting hand AWAY from the nail you are about to hit. So far so good, no finger strikes. Is she going to do it one day ? Sure she is, but then you will remember to keep your hand away from the nail or whatever you are about to hit with the hammer! Good life lessons are learned in a garage !

I don't know I am sure there are some of you out there that think girls should be playing with Barbies and tea sets. While I would never discourage those things. (I love tea parties with Ava) I would never limit her to those things and I want to show her all the cool things there are to play with in life.

HOLY CRAP I forgot how much fun those things are. On recent trips to Disneyland we have been poking into the Lego store to play and pick up a bucket (12.99 for a 32oz cup size pick your parts) and I must say I think I am becoming addicted. Ava loves them and since her birthday coming up in May we will be going to Lego Land with Grandma & Grandpa. We will be buying season passes to be able to go all year long !

The only thing better than Legos might be an Erector set. Do they still sell those ?

I don't think there can be a better thing you can do with your kids than to cook with them. I really enjoy cooking myself and take as many opportunities to bring Ava into the kitchen as much as possible.

Well now that we have had time to adjust a little I have time to sort through the pictures and reflect how different things are. And our approach to the second child. And boy things are different.

The biggest difference is we knew what to expect. I mean you never really know, but this was more of a been there done that thing all the way around. When we walked into the hospital both carrying our coffee and Julies bags pretty calm the nurse knew we have been here before.

Julie felt some labor pains the night before. She really felt them around 3am. Enough to keep her up, she decided to let us sleep so it would be easier on everybody if we waited till later. (Talk about calm) But with weekday traffic it might have been better to leave at 3am. But even with the traffic we still had time to grab a quick bite to eat at a Burger King. We figured once they admitted Julie it was to be a strict diet of ice chips.

But bottom line is we were in by 9am and Tyler was born 3:20. Things really could not have gone any better!

Hmm pictures....well I dont know where to start. If you scroll to the bottom you will see the debut pics. But since that time a month has passed and we have done a lot of pretty cool thing. Like going to the Duck Park (aka Polliwog Park), Aquarium of the Pacific (Twice), and of course DISNEYLAND.

And YES Tyler went to all these places. Here again we come into the differences. Babies are not as fragile as I thought they were. They are pretty resilient beings. I mean don't drop or hit them EVER. But they will survive outings that some people would think extreme. Like to the public places we have been. And if after the Flu bug that hit me I think Tyler's immune system has been fortified with all the right juju to keep him healthy. Cause that thing had me in a coma for about 3 or 4 days.

Ok enough of the talking here are some of the pictures we have accumulated over the past month or so. I may throw in a couple older ones just for reference.

Well Tyler is home and all went as well as possible ! Julie poped him out at 3:20pm on Feburary 8, 2008.

Well I have really been neglecting the website lately and it shows. I have so many pictures piled up I don't even know where to start.

But first things first we found out that Julie will be having a BOY ! ! ! The bad part is we have to buy all new clothes. The good part is we get to get rid of a lot of Ava's clothes she wont be needing anymore. We will have to sort out the stuff we will be handing down to Elie and the things that are signature Ava things that we will save for her.

As far as the news of a boy we are excited either way. We really have no intentions on treating either one of them differently. They will both be exposed to huge doses of music and working with their hands and minds with as little TV as possible. And the best thing is both will have a workbench in the garage to help build and fix things.

Anyway lets get down to the latest adventures. We still spend a lot of time at Disneyland. I will toss some of the more recent visits up. But the biggest thing is Ava went to her first Airshow.

It was at Miramar MCAS (Marine Corps Air Station) you know Top Gun........well it was Top Gun till they decided to close that school. But either way it was just about as perfect as you can get. It was high clouds so the weather was nice and cool but the clouds high enough so the Thinderbirds were able to perform a full show. And I must say it was quite a show with some really fast passes with the afterburner lit.

The second day was spent at the San Diego Zoo. I must say that place is a really nice zoo ! Los Angeles Zoo should take some notes. So Ava got to get up close and personal to a lot of different animals. Luckily the dangerous ones were behind some glass or a large pit. But as close as I would want to get.

And for the last part just to get some pictures up here is a mix of out visit to McGraths pumpkin patch in Oxnard mixed in with a Disneyland trip with Grandpa.

Well I guess if your going to go see your first movie in a theater it might as well be one geared for kids. And if its done by Pixar you know its going to be good. And man is the El Capitan geared for kids. If your looking for a kid friendly environment this is the place. I can't wait to go back.

The tickets were given to us by one of Julies co-workers (Thanks Roy). And I am glad we went on the day we did. Hollywood on a Sunday morning is the best time. The creeps have not had a chance to wake up. Although around the Kodak Theater it has been cleaned up considerably.

Ratatouille turned out to be a great movie. Not to mention the great little show before hand where Mickey & Friends put on a little live show.

Oh yeah and I almost forgot the organ player. That guy was freaking AMAZING. I would have paid 25 bucks just to see him play. All the switches and knobs operated by his hands and feet and I could have sworn he flipped a couple switches with his teeth !

But anyways he played the WHOLE Disney catalogue pretty much from memory. There was no sheet music or even a set list from what I could see. He was a truly an amazing artist.

Life has been a lot of fun. Ava has been doing some pretty cool things. And I have the pictures to prove it. The one above is Ava with Grandpa at Knott's Berry Farm. Was a very fun day but that place is starting to go down hill. But the chicken dinner place is still AWESOME !

Ava has taken a liking to making pancakes and cappuccino's (steamed milk with chocolate powder) in a little espresso cup. She's gonna be a good barista one day. She has the basics down already. But anyways here are a couple of pictures of Ava showing Sparks how pancakes are made.

Its not everyday you get my Dad to the beach. But all you have to do is tell him Ava is going and sure enough he's going to the beach too. First time in 30 years !

I must say Hawaii is really something you have to see for yourself. To say it is beautiful is an understatement. For me the uniqueness comes from the lava flows that make up the island. They are everywhere and they are beautiful. You can just imagine it when it was all being created cause it is pretty much frozen in time.

Ava loved the plane flight over here. She was mostly good, aside from the seat kicking she did to the grumpy old lady sitting in front of her. But for not even a 2 year old she did well. The way I figure it is the cranky lady in front of us did something in her life that put Ava behind her to kick her seat. Karma can be a tough pill to swallow sometimes.

Auntie Joey and Uncle Scott were waiting for us when we landed. I don't know who was more excited Auntie Joey or the cranky lady to be off the plane !

We are staying at the Sheraton Keauhou resort. I would not hesitate to stay here again. Its away from the tourist areas and is just a little quieter than other places we could have stayed. Not to mention Ava LOVES the swimming pool here.

08/30/08

Welcome to Tony, Julie, Ava and Tylers website. This is really a page for family and friends to keep up on all the things going on. Since time flies SO fast its hard to keep up with everyone. This way you can never say or thing "I wonder how Ava's doing?" just drop by and find out what’s going on!

To keep the homepage on the small side I have created a Adventures History (and Adventures 2 & 3)so you can see all the past pictures. Its really fun to see how fast Ava's really growing and thriving in the loving environment that we (including family and friends) are able to give her.

Since people (I use that term loosely) decided to use my last guest book as a spam zone for casino and porn sites (Not that I am against those sites, just not on my site) So I need to figure out a way to make a password protected guestbook.

Feel free to browse around the site. If you have comments or questions please drop me a line at jtscira@yahoo.com.

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