A day of baseball at Nationals Park

Olivia got to see her first baseball game today. We went to Nationals Park in Washington, DC to see the Nationals play the Atlanta Braves. She loved the stadium and since she was one of the first 5000 kids to enter the stadium, the Nationals gave her a free "screech" mascot. She thought that was great! The weather, for the most part, today was fantastic! We took the Metrorail Green Line (Olivia loves riding the Metro) from the Greenbelt Station down to the park and got off at the Navy Yard Station and walked a short distance down Half Street to the stadium. We sat in section 228, row H, seats 2,3 and 4. The view was spectacular! She thought the race of the Presidents was great fun! Abe Lincoln won this time! Olivia also enjoyed playing in the maze/jungle gym play area that is there at the park. The fun was cut a little short by a rain storm that came through at the top of the ninth so we left early. Olivia got to see three home runs hit by the Nationals today! :-) Unfortunately, after leading most of the game, the Nationals lost to the Braves 6 to 3 in the 10th inning. Still it was a great day, a great game and a great time together as a family! :-)

Tom Allen

Where's my kid?!

Olivia had a half day at school on Thursday (yesterday) so since I was off I got the chance to do the "on time" pick up. I knew when I pulled up to the school and saw all the the parents in their cars in certain areas that this was not going to be easy. We have Olivia set to go right into the "aftercare" program as we both work and cannot pick her up on time. We just have to pick her up before 6:00pm and all we do is park, walk in the door, sign in and then go to her classroom and get her.
Well, the "on time" pick up is a huge process. As I said before, I pulled up to the school to see that the primary parking lot was completely full of cars of waiting parents and the secondary lot was completely full of cars with waiting parents. So I had to park down the street and walk up to the school. Olivia school is heavily secured with all of the doors locked from the outside and parents have to be buzzed in at the front and sign in. So I decided to wait out in the front of the school for my kid to come out. At 12:30pm the first bell rings and a whole slew of kids come out and are moved by the staff to the cars in the primary lot until 12:40pm. At that time the cars are allowed to start and the parking lot clears. At 12:45pm the second bell rings and a whole second slew of kids come out and are held at the cones by the staff and the Kindergarteners were brought out and held in a separate area. After the primary parking lot cleared of cars the staff waved in the cars from the secondary lot to the primary lot and it filled and the cars were turned off. As soon as the staff verified that all cars were turned off the second group of kids were released to the parents and the lot cleared. A third bell rang at 1:00pm and another group of kids came out and walked off the campus.
The whole time this is going on I'm thinking that this is "nuts" and I'm trying to figure out where my kid is. She didn't come out in the first group. OK. She didn't come out in the second group. OK. And she didn't come out in the third group. HMMM! I have to ask someone. I spied one of Olivia's teachers who was working the process of getting all of the kids to their parents cars so I went up to her and asked where Olivia was. "Hi! I'm Tom Allen. I'm Olivia's father. Is my kid still inside?" At this question she replied, "Olivia's is in aftercare right?" I said "Yes." She replied "Did you send in a note notifying us that you were picking her up on time today?" I said "No, I did not and that's probably why she didn't come out of the school." And I laughed. Her teacher told me that she would go in and bring her out to me. She brought her out and I picked her up and threw her up in the air a little and caught her and then we walked down the street to my car.
Daddy did it wrong!
Since Olivia is in "aftercare" it was not explained to us what the "on time" pick up process involves. There are three groups of kids: Car Pool 1, Cap Pool 2 and The Walkers.
I was supposed to send in a note explaining that I would be picking up Olivia and at that point she would have been flagged for Car Pool 2. All Kindergarteners are in Car Pool 2 or The Walkers (with parent). And I should have known to park in the secondary lot and wait to be waved in.
If this sounds very complicated then you really should have seen the process. Amazing! I'll know better next time when I have to do an "on time" pick up! LOL
On a small note, Olivia had a great second week of soccer practice which we went to at 4:30pm and they learned how to pass the ball to one another. She did very well. It's so cute seeing these small kids learn organized sports! :-)

Tom Allen

Beautiful Sunday!

Today was a fantastic day! The weather here in Central Maryland was outstanding! Beautiful blue sky and temps in the seventies! Olivia and I spent most of the morning walking around the neighborhood, going to the park and playing on the play ground equipment. We went shopping today at Target in Maryland City after I got my haircut this afternoon. I wanted to start checking out the Halloween decorations that are out this year. (I will start working on decorating the house for Halloween at the end of September. I go all out!) To top it all off the Redskins won today! They beat the Rams 9 to 7! Olivia starts her fourth week of Kindergarten. It's amazing how fast time flies.

Tom Allen

Olivia's cousin's birthday

Olivia went to her cousin's birthday party yesterday. It was a small affair, only six girls total. I had to work yesterday so I didn't attend. My wife told me it was beach themed! :-) Sand castle cake, beachball pinata, pin the fin on the dolphin, etc. Olivia told me they had a great time. Later in the evening the family had a get together for dinner and more cake at Grandma's house in Alexandria, VA. I was able to go as it was after work. The food and company was great! Olivia loves going to birthday parties! Who doesn't?! :-)

Tom Allen

I'm Officially a Soccer Dad!

My wife signed up Olivia to play soccer with the county recreation department a few weeks ago and she had her first practice yesterday. :-) Karen and I took her to the school where it was held and she had a great time learning how to dribble the soccer ball. Her team is Coed but mostly boys where there. (three or four other girls) This was no problem for Olivia as she fit in really well and tried to do everything that Coach Tim told her to do. The toughest part was the exercise where they were supposed to dribble the ball and then stop the ball when he blew the whistle. She kept stopping herself (as in freezing) and let the ball roll ahead. (The idea was that they should be controlling it). So those that let the ball roll on when the whistle blew had to take their ball to the back of the line and start over. This didn't discourage her and she took it in stride and is ready to go back next week. Next week they will focus on learning how to pass the soccer ball to another player. She really enjoys being active and trying new things. This bodes well for us as parents! :-)

Tom Allen

I'm Olivia's Dad

Hello!

My name is Tom Allen and I have the honor of being the father of Olivia! The title of this blog is the name that the children at Olivia's preschool gave me. When ever I would come into the school to pick Olivia up that's what the kids called me. "Hi, Mr. Olivia's Dad!"

I have not done this Blog thing before so I figured I would use this to start chronicling my kid. I talk about her pretty heavily on Facebook and Twitter but those are just short statuses. Anyways, I'll try to keep up with this one and go on a little more about the world's best kid who I happen to be the father of! :-)

Olivia just started Kindergarten two and a half weeks ago and she loves it! Please forgive me but I will be withholding the name of the school and its exact location for obvious reasons. She likes her art, music, PE and Spanish classes the best right now.

Till next time,

Tom Allen

(Mr. Olivia's Dad)