Well, first of all, Alexa has a new gallery here. Check it out.

We spent a lot of time in the stores recently (Alexa just loves to shop!) getting her outfitted for 2nd grade. School starts soon. She's both excited, and (of course) wishes that summer vacation would last forever. Don't we all. She's going to California for her last week before school starts, then ... on with the "grind!"

She's had a great summer, playing around, swimming, tennis, going to the park, parties, sleepovers, just hanging out, and of course, shopping. :) It's been a really hot summer here in Boise, but she held up. We decorated her rooms (yes, "rooms," she changed rooms for a couple months to the smaller one, but moved back to her original one). Her reading's gotten so good that, before bedtime it'susually she who reads to dad instead of the other way around.

They grow up so fast...

Alexa graduated from the 1st grade! With splendor. She might skip a grade now, she's really that far ahead, but her mom and I are considering it. And we're thinking "not," but need to think about it.

She's "decided" she wants to be a "rock star," but dad isn't goin' for that. Along with that she wants to attend "Rock Star School," just in case. Nu-huh... She wants also to travel with her dad to Asia or to Mexico, so we might plan a trip to one of those places. She's traveled a lot in the US, but never overseas, so it might be a lot of fun (personally, I'd love to see Asia or Mexico, I've never really been to either). She also wants to go with her dad to close out moms house in Oregon, and visit relatives, and that will come up soon.

Alexa's agreed to move/sell to a new house. So we're looking. Someplace where her friends are, close to her mom, and easy to play around (our house now is just too... "remote"). However, she's picked out a house that would cost twice this one! She has NO sense of money! I think we need to look around a bit more, something this poor dad can actually afford! :)

Beyond that, she's just doing what all seven+ year old kids do, growing up too soon.

I probably need to clean up and put in some new pics of her here. Maybe later, but look for some new ones of her when I spend the time on it.

(Oh, and her dad turned 48. It's getting hard to just pick her up. I need to get back to the gym!)

Well, Alexa got her black belt in taekwondo! She was so proud! She's taking a break for a while, but I'd like her to continue. As her instructors always say, "she's a natural." But she's been doing it for almost 3 years, so a break is needed.

They had a tea-ceremony for the new black belts, repleat with candles and music, and gongs. She turned to me and said "Dad, is this a dream?" So sweet...

Well, Alexa turned 7 in November! How time flies... I admit I missed her birthday, which hurt me. But I was attending to Mom in Oregon. Sad times. Mom passed away. Alexa, along with me, gave mom's Eulogy at her Memorial in Oregon. (You can hear it here). I was impressed by her. How'd I get so lucky? Alexa was heart-stricken at mom's passing, a testament to her incredible compassion at her young age. She wore the dress Mom gave her for her birthday, and the jewelry we sought through that Mom kept.

Alexa's been accepted into the "Gifted" program in 1st grade (GART). Amazing, I was accepted to the "dumbfounded" group in school... :) She told me she was happy because "Dad, I like challenges". Wow.

I loaded a new video of Alexa doing her school play. I apologize because it's 30MB in size, so if you're on dial-up, you'll be "challenged." But it's cute. I had to jump through some hoops to get her back to Idaho in time for the play, but we made it, and it was worth it.

Added new pictures for Alexa's site (best if you have Macromedia Flash installed, go here if you don't). Ain't she cute?

She's got her "Decided Brown" belt now in Karate. At this rate she'll get her Black next May or April. She's looking forward to it. After that she'll probably take a break given her other activities (soccer, skiing, gymnastics, etc.)

She's in 1st grade now! She loves it, and told me the other day she "loves challenges." Too cool. She's doing great in school. "Top of her class," and all that.

And on "learning," it's just amazing to see how she's progressing! Literally, literally every week she gets demonstrably smarter and more "grown-up." Heck, as it stands today I can help her with her homework, but in two years? I need to bone up on the books, I think...

Not much new to report. Alexa just got her Phoenix belt in karate, she's close to getting her black belt (something Dad never did! Sigh...). And she finished her basketball, coached by her mom. See her team pic here, or her individual pick here.

Oh, she reads to me, each day and night. Amazing. I bought (for WAY too much money) the "eyeQ" program to help her (and her dad) to read better and faster. So far I'm impressed.

Alexa entered her first Karate tournament last month, and won a wonderful trophy for the effort. She took it to school today to show off. And she got her "Camo" belt, and joined the "Masters" club. She has her black belt, with her name embroidered in both English and Korean. She can't actually get it yet, they hang the belts on the wall as incentive. She's determined to become a Black Belt! She's also started sparring, but doesn't like it much, yet. I'm sure she'll come around though, and so far she's great at it.

We went to a birthday party the weekend before last, and she got her "haul" from the pinata'. Later, she came up to me and gave me her very last Tootsie Roll, and I asked her why: "Because I love you dad, you're the best dad in the whole world." Wow.

And last week she turned to me and said, "Dad, you ROCK!". Where she learned THAT from is an open question, but it was great to hear.

Aside from all that, she's swimming like a fish, and can jump off the diving board into the deep water without any problem.

And last, I've got her working out of a 1st-graders preparation book, and she loves "homework" and says it's all "easy".

I'm pretty proud of her!

Happy New Year from us both! We spent the Christmas Holidays in Oregon visiting family, and got back for the New Year (and I stupidly drove back with Alexa, just as the storms came in. We wound up stranded in Bend OR for the night, and Alexa thought it was a great adventure staying in the motel! What a trooper!).

Alexa spent New Years Eve at her friend Dylan's house for a sleep-over, and had a blast.

She's now taking karate, and loves it. This is on top of her current swimming lessons and soon, ski lessons. Plus, she wants desperately to be an actor, and her current love is to act out characters while watching movies ("Daphne" in "Scooby Doo" is her favorite), and she's pretty darn good. So we're tracking down acting classes for her. Watch for her on the Big Screen soon!

I created a new photo-gallery of her from pictures taken in late 2003, and you can see it here.

Alexa's teachers asked us if we'd want to consider an advanced class for her (quote: "She blows away all the tasks we can give her," "She should be in the 2nd grade!"). So she's now moved up to a class with older kids (a year or so) and loves it, and she'll learn a lot.

She's also learning cursive writing, and is teaching me to draw! I need the help, she's becoming quite the little artist.

Well well... Finally an update! Sorry for the hiatus, a lot's been going on.

After a year-and-a-half, there's just no way to write how much is new with Alexa. As you can see, she's going on five now, and is simply perfect, and getting "perfecter". Her mom and I love her dearly, and she loves us back. See her brand-new picture gallery here.

She skied again last winter, and is taking swim lessons now. She doesn't even mind putting her head under water! Alexa's at KASP, and is in the Super Stars class, now as the class leader! (With her friend Dylan).

For fun she likes hanging around the house (a "home body" like her dad), she loves movies and playing games on her computer, and when I can drag her out she loves the lake and river. Mostly, and still, she loves drawing and coloring. We make a lot of "books" together! And lately she's playing less with her beloved "Barbies," but still loves all things Disney, and wants to be a Princess when she grows up.

Whatever she becomes when she grows up, she's definitely my "Princess"...!

Not too much new to report. I've added some pictures to her current picture page, and here's a video clip (In RealVideo format, download here) of Alexa dancing in the park near Gramma Eve's house out in Oregon (for those who can manage a 6MB download, you can get the avi version here).

Oh, Alexa's going to take her first ski lesson this Friday! I bet she'll have a blast!

Alexa turned three last week. We had a series of parties and present-openings, starting with her party at Gymboree on Saturday (Nov 17th). She and a bunch of her buddies had a great time! Then on that Sunday she got with some of her pals who had a birthday-party-conflict for Sat, and opened some presents with them. And, on Monday, some of her day-care chums who couldn't make it gave her still more presents, so Monday night she was opening yet more gifts.

And of course, her real birth-date is Nov 21st, last Wednesday, so ... you guessed it, Mom and Dad and her grammas and grampa, who'd been holding out, gave her still more presents to open.

Might've set a bad precedent here, Alexa's going to be thinking from now on that her birthday is actually a birthweek! She had a blast. Check out some of her birthday pics at her photo page (Added photos at the end).

Alexa went to her first In-Theater Movie this weekend. We went with her friend Lindsey, Lindsey's mom and dad (Jim and Laura), grampa Arnold, and us, of course. What was Alexa's first movie? "Monster's Inc.". She loved it. Here's her ticket stub from the movie, if you're interested.

Added a few more pictures to her new picture page. Check 'em out.

The rats, btw, are doing well. Alexa decided to rename Alaska to "Bushba," so now we have Treeba, and Bushba. However, it appears that none of us are very good at id'ing the sex of a baby rat, we thought they were both boys, but it now seems that Bushba's a girl! Rats, I'm told, can have litters at five weeks of age, and can have 20 at a time.

We need to do something, fast.