Latest Haps

A lot has happened since I last blogged about Courtney having an agent interested in her, so here is what has happened in life since I last wrote.

We left to go camping with Traci's family a week ago Friday. On the way up to Lopez Lake, we swung by LA Models / LA Talent and dropped off the signed contract. Courtney is now officially represented by them and they are looking for something for her. No news yet, but they've called a couple of time already with questions so we know they're looking around. We are however, awaiting the arrival of Courtney's renewed work permit. That's the only thing left they need from us at this point. It's a waiting game now.

Lopez Lake was fun. We were there Friday through Monday. The worst part was all the bees and wasps. It was crazy and made it unenjoyable at times, especially when we were actually at the lake on Saturday. However, I think we kind of got used to it after a while and wound up having a good time. On Sunday, we went to the water park that is up there at Lopez Lake and that was tons of fun, especially for the kids. We took lots of pictures of course. I doubt I'll post any here, but keep checking...you never know. They had a kiddie pool area, which is where we spent most of the time. They also had a couple of water slides. One was like a halfpipe where you drop almost straight down in a 1-, 2- or 3-person inner tube and just go up and down the two sides of the slide. Then there was a traditional water slide. Courtney wanted to try it so I went down it with her. It was fun. We drove back home on Monday and life was back to normal.

As a matter of fact, it was so back to normal, that on Tuesday, while I was enjoying a relaxing vacation day, we had a nice little earthquake. Gotta love California! We hadn't one in quite a while. This one was centered in Chino Hills, which is about 20 miles from Whittier, and measured 5.4. (I've seen quite a few people blog or do postings about the earthquake and most of them said it was 5.8. That was the original magnitude, which was revised a short while after, as most earthquakes are.) It was a fun earthquake for me. I enjoy them as long as they are not too violent. I was in Office Depot when it hit, which was an interesting experience, watching everything sway when it hit. The baseline I use to compare all earthquakes to is the 1987 Whittier Narrows Earthquake. I've lived in Whittier for all but about two years of my life (the first 13 months of life and the first 10 months of marriage, when the driveway into our apartment complex was the border between La Habra and Whittier). That was a 5.9 and it shook like crazy. It didn't last as long as this one in Chino Hills, but man! The shaking was vertical and very intense in the 5.9, but of course we were very close to the epicenter also, which makes a difference. I could go on about earthquakes because they fascinate me, which I think is courtesy of growing up with a dad that was and still is very fascinated by them, (as a matter of fact, he put together a 10-page paper on the Chino Hills quake just for fun recently...must be nice to be retired!) but hey, that's what makes me a nerd!

This past week brought about another move at work. So now I'm on the 7th floor instead of the 17th floor. I was almost wishing I had been at work for the earthquake since I would have been on the 17th floor at the time, but oh well. I'm sure I'll have another chance eventually. I expect it to be nicer on the 7th floor since there are fewer people (half the floor is training rooms, the other half is offices and cubicles) and they are more professional than the contractors on the 17th floor (between the language and belching and people working in shorts and t-shirts, it just wasn't what I was used to).

So after a short 3-day workweek this past week and a 4-day workweek this coming week, I take another week off as Traci and I head off on a cruise with Traci and her cousin Bryan and his wife Shauna, with no kids! This will be my first cruise ever and I am excited about it. We'll be going to San Diego, then Catalina, then Ensenada (Mexico) and then back home. It's always nice to have some alone time with Traci. It always helps us re-focus on each other, which is important for any marriage, in my humble opinion. The girls will be splitting the week between grandparents so they should be ok.

Oh, and of course, I'm extremely excited about the Dodgers newest player, Manny Ramirez! They are calling the biggest mid-season/trading deadline move the Dodgers have ever made, and I might be inclined to think so, even though I've only been a fan since the mid-1980's. Needless to say, I bought tickets Thursday night for last night's game when Man Ram made his Dodger debut. There were 55,239 people in attendance and we were all intense with his arrival. he got a number of standing ovations from the crowd. I love being at games like that, it's always a very memorable experience and lots of fun. He went 2 for 4, but the Dodgers lost the game 2-1. It almost looked like a scripted game when he came up in the bottom of the 9th inning with Russel Martin on first and the Dodgers down by one. Unfortunately, he grounded into a double play, and needless to say the crowd was really into it when he came to bat, realizing that if he hit a home run, the Dodger would have won and it would have been because of him in his debut. But oh well, baseball is a humbling and unpredictable sport. However, he did hit his first Dodger home run tonight. I'm hoping he can help us get past the Diamondbacks and into the playoffs for the first time since 2004. We've got 7 weeks left in the season and it should be interesting.

Exciting News!!!!!!!!

If you've read my blogs in the past, you may know that Courtney took an acting class (for kids) last summer/fall and has been meeting agents periodically as a result. You may also know that she had a callback today, which typically only happens when they are interested in possibly representing them in the industry. Well...

The agency she met today (L.A. Models/L.A. Talent) gave us a contract to read/review and sign if we would like. They want to represent her (be her agent)...and not just in one field!!!!!!! They want to represent her for print, commercials and TV!

It's very exciting as there is a lot of potential with this, but at the same time I feel the need to be very cautious as this is all something new and unfamiliar to us. You can bet that we will be going through the contract very thoroughly and writing down any questions we may have as well as seeking opinions from those that have experience in this area. Fortunately, one of my friends from high school, who we still keep in touch with, grew up on TV on "Days of Our Lives" and "Full House."

Unfortunately, I couldn't go with Traci and Courtney today because I had some training I needed to go to at work. But from what Traci told me, it sounds like Courtney was in full extrovert/entertainment mode when she got there, making those around them in the waiting area (including one of the agents) laugh. Apparently she was telling a story she made up about a skunk...she has been on a skunk fix lately, I'm not sure why except maybe for "Over the Hedge."

If you pray, pray that Courtney will enjoy whatever may come from this and for us as parents to make wise decisions. You can bet that if she lands a gig, you will be hearing more about it.

The End is in Sight

It appears I have survived the time without Traci. She will be landing around 12:45 tomorrow afternoon and another uneventful day was enjoyed at the Steinman house today. It actually was a pretty good day. I was able to vacuum and the girls were a big help, wanting to help me clean. Courtney got her toy broom and dust pan while Skyler got her toy mop and helped me push the vacuum around. Courtney also cleaned up her room, which is something she has been voluntarily doing fairly often lately. No objections from the parents, that's for sure! There was a little of Courtney's attitude today, but nothing out of the ordinary.

We went over to my parents' house for dinner and to see pictures from their 3-week vacation which they just returned home from today. We also did a trip to Home Depot this morning to get a new hand shovel (I bent the last one) and a sprinkler to replace one the city installed when they built storm drains along each side of our front yard. I have to admit, I am insanely interested in the automatic sprinkler system and enjoy making simple repairs, such as replacing a sprinkler. Just another of the those odd, nerdy things that makes me who I am. (Don't get me started on what I call the world's best sprinkler that I bought a few weeks ago at Home Depot to water the lawn while our sprinkler system needed a bigger repair. Traci can tell you how happy that sprinkler made me.)

Tomorrow should be a good day with Traci's return. After church we'll grab lunch and head to LAX to pick up Traci. I do love all the time I get to spend with the girls. It makes me appreciate what a gift from God kids really are. And between both girls getting stung by (stepping on) bees within a half hour of each other at a birthday party a few weeks ago while only I was with them (Traci was at her cousin's bridal shower) and all the drama this week, I think I'm getting the hang of this parenting thing.

Enough Drama Already!

So in my post a couple of days ago, I was hoping that the drama was over and that things would be less eventful while Traci was gone. Next time, I'll keep my mouth shut...or fingers still in this case. More drama tonight, again, with Skyler. It has been a rough week for her to say the least. First the corneal abrasion, which is healing just fine, and tonight it's her left hand.

I took the girls to Disneyland after their naps today to have some fun and see if they were doing anything special for Disneyland's birthday (they didn't, at least not while we were there), and have a great time. We went on the Nemo Submarine ride at the insistence of the girls who didn't mind a long (45 minutes) line. After that it was on to Snow White and Mr. Toad and then home.

We get to the car and they get in on Skyler's/passenger's side. Since we were close to the elevators and escalators and I was going to have them change into pajamas before we left so they could fall asleep on the way home, I closed the passenger-side automatic sliding door, which was facing the direction of the escalators and elevators, and open the one on Courtney's side. As I get behind the car heading to the other side, I hear a scream from Skyler that no parent ever wants to hear coming from one of their kids. As I come back around, I notice the door is shut, but not completely, which is not supposed to happen because of the safety feature on the automatic doors. Needless to say, the door shut on her hand and I will be calling Honda tomorrow. (I love the car and Honda in general, but when something like this happens, it needs to be brought to their attention, especially when it doesn't function as it is supposed to.) Mentally, I freak out and open the door immediately as soon as I realized what happened. When it opens, she is letting her left arm just hang, which doesn't help with my mental state at that time and I begin assuming the worst (broken hand, wrist or both). Her pinky is rounded normally (bent at all knuckles) but bent back at the knuckle to the hand, like an arch from the hand, while the rest of the fingers are straight. (That is probably a bad way to describe it, but it's the best I can do.) On the middle of the top of her hand are two pinch marks from where the door closed on it. In general, I thought the worst when I saw the hand/wrist area at first. After a minute of just looking at it because I was too afraid to touch it, I felt it gently and asked her to squeeze my finger with the hand and she didn't. Then I asked her to make a fist like mine, and she was able to do that. Good sign #1! Also, when looking at it, it didn't appear that anything around the wrist or lower arm was bent where it shouldn't be and there was no immediate swelling or redness (it was white at the pinch marks). I was also able to have her grab her stuffed kitty with the hand that was hurt so I was feeling a little better, but still figured we should have it checked out at Urgent Care. They close at 10:00 and it was about 9:15 at this point. We get her and Courtney strapped in their seats and take off.

We checked in at Urgent Care around 9:50 and nobody else was waiting so they took us right in. Long story short (well, maybe not) is it appears to be just a bruise. She was using the hand normally, applying pressure and everything, and the doctor wasn't concerned once he saw how well she was using it. It still had not swollen at this point and she actually fell asleep on the way to the doctor's office (another good sign)! I gave her some Tylenol and she went to bed with no problem. I'll look at it in the morning and hopefully all I will see is a "beautiful" bruise on her hand.

I sent Traci a text once we were home and the girls were in bed and she called quickly. It was nice to talk to her because I was so shaken by the whole thing and it helped calm me down talking to her. I wasn't sure if she would still be up at 12:30 a.m. St. Louis time, but she was. Thank God for that.

So with Skyler's final follow-up appointment for her eye on Monday, and needing to take Courtney in tomorrow for an ear that is painful to the touch for her, the daily doctor visits continue. With all these visits so close together, Bright Medical (sorry, it's Bright Health Physicians now) is going to think I beat my kids! That's all I need. Hopefully tomorrow goes a lot smoother. We just have Courtney's last swim class (assuming it's ok with her doctor) and dinner with the in-laws. Should be uneventful, but the way things have gone so far this week, we'll probably have a big earthquake or something. Whatever...at this point, I say bring it on.

On a more positive note, one that I have forgotten to blog about so far, is that Skyler is potty-trained! It's amazing how it took Courtney over a year to fully master that and it took Skyler all of about a week and a half. Tonight she went to Disneyland in panties (and clothes too, you weirdos...I know some of you would say something) and she did fine. Of course 5 minutes after we started eating dinner she and Courtney said they had to go potty. So we packed up dinner (at least theirs came in boxes...mine didn't, so it sat in the stroller seat) and went to the bathroom to perform the rare bathroom hat trick. (I'm not explaining that if you can't figure it out.) Just another challenge in a challenging week so far. At this point, I think as long as nothing blows up, I'll be ok.

Quick Skyler Update

Skyler's eye is healing fine. The hairline scratch going to the middle of her eye is gone and the large scratch in the white is a lot less. Just one more appointment on Monday to make sure that there is no foreign body in the eye.

A Tolerably Crazy (Good and Bad) 24 Hours

Here I am, my first afternoon with just the girls and without Traci. Fortunately she was involved in some of the stuff going on, but I hope it gets a little calmer before she returns. I may go crazy if it doesn't.

The oddly crazy kicked off around 6:00 last night when Courtney and Skyler were playing like they usually do and Skyler got hit in the face with one of their plastic purses. Turns out she didn't just get hit in the face, but in the right eye. She cried and when I had a chance to look at it (Traci held her for a little bit), I could see three red dots on the white part of her inner eye. When I had a chance to look at it even closer, I could see that the eyeball was actually scratched. Upon letting her know what I could see, she suggested calling the pediatric advice line and so I did. When they eventually called back (around 7:30, after a second call from us), they recommended that we take to urgent care to have the eye examined. Traci was at the store at the time so I wasn't able to take her until she got home around 8:30. Fortunately, urgent care wasn't busy and we were seen within about 15 minutes. The result: corneal abrasion. (The doctor said there should be no permanent damage to her vision.) Considering everything they had to do just to see the damage to the eye (numbing drop, then dye to be seen by black light to see damage which showed considerable but unconcerning scratching to the inner white of the eye and a hairline scratch right to the middle of the eye, then rinsing out with water and then a pain medication/drop) she did extremely well. She wound up walking out of there with an eye patch/band-aid (arrrrrrgh, matey!) and three stickers. The patch was for added protection of the eye, which the doctor said should be healed by today. We have a follow up appointment at 3:10 this afternoon. From what I could see this morning, it already looks a lot better.

Traci left for St. Louis this morning for PartyLite's National Convention. Her flight took off at 6:10 this morning, so we, including Courtney on her own, were up at 3:00 am! We dropped her off at LAX at about 4:30 and were back home about 5:15. All three of us managed to sleep another hour and a half, which is why I'm not sleeping right now. She has landed and I just got off the phone with her from her hotel room. All is good.

The girls had their gymnastics class this morning (a summer class through the city) and it was really fun to get to see them doing so well. It makes me a proud daddy!

Then during lunch, to cap off this crazy time so far, we get a call from LA Models, whom Courtney met at the school (ICA) where she took an acting class last summer/fall. She has a callback on Monday! This will be her second callback with an agent. (The other was with Clear Talent where she is welcome to come back for another callback anytime.)

So now I let them nap and wait to take Skyler to her eye checkup in about an hour and a half.

Tidbits

It's been a while, so this is a general update kind of posting...

Traci and I did a date night to a Dodger game Thursday night and I think it was the first time since we've had kids that we went to one together without them. It was fun, although the Dodgers lost 4-3 in a 4-hour, 11-inning game. It was fun, though.

We did a day trip to San Diego with our Sunday School class yesterday and it was a lot of fun while we were down there. The drive down and back were pretty bad as Courtney threw a fit on the way down and Skyler on the way back. However, actually being down there was fun. We started out at the Sey's home, who are/were in our Sunday School class before they moved down there a little over a month ago. We then headed to Old Town, which is a part of SD I hadn't been too. We had lunch (Mexican food) and then headed to Coronado Island for some sightseeing. First thing we did was get some ice cream, which pretty much cancelled dinner plans. Then we headed over to the Hotel Del Coronado. We actually hit the beach first, which the girls loved! Courtney got more wet that we wanted, but oh well. Then we went into the hotel to look around a little bit, but not being air conditioned (at least in the lobby), we headed out into the courtyard where there was a small wedding being performed, and by small, I mean with clergy, bride, groom, photographer and guest, there were maybe 10 people total. It was cute. At that point, we decided we should head home as we did a ton of walking, and a lot of the time I had one of the girls on my shoulders.

On July 4th we headed to some family that we really never see even thought they just live in La Mirada. They apparently are Angels fans as well, but a comment was made that made me proud to be a Dodger fan. She said that she never goes to the games when they play the Dodgers because the Dodger fans are too rowdy. That's right, you better believe! We are loyal to our team regardless of how they do! Where were all the Angel fans when they were a losing team?!?!?!?! (Props to my wife's immediate family for being fans in the lean times, before they were any good. Although I like to think that they have become more vocal fans since I stepped in to the picture as a Dodger fan...always representin'!)

This will be a nice work week as I only work Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday, Traci leaves for St. Louis, for PartyLite's annual National Convention, which will mean some quality daddy time for the girls. There will be no shortage of things to do as Skyler has swim class on Thursday, Courtney has swim class Thursday and Friday and they both have gymnastics class on Wednesday. I am planning to take them to Disneyland on Thursday since it's Disneyland's (53rd) birthday that day. It will be fun though. I'm looking forward to the time with the girls. Wednesday will be a bit brutal though as Traci needs to be at LAX in time for her 6:10am flight. (The convention starts Wed. night.)

Bad news came to us regarding our friend who had seemingly fought and won a battle with cancer. Because of the rare type of cancer and it's ability to recur, she is required to have cat scans every three months. She just had the first and the results do not sound good. She meets with an oncologist tomorrow and it's just really tough to not know what the future may hold. Needless to say, there will be plenty of prayers headed her way.

The wife is done with Wii Fit so I'm off to beat her at some game! Oh nevermind, Skyler just woke up...lucky for the wife.

Failure

The time finally came where I failed a song on Guitar Hero. The first song I have failed is the one where you battle Lou. It's only thing between me and conquering/completing easy on GH. It happened last night. I have to admit that that's not bad for someone who has only played two instruments in his life, both because he had to for school: a recorder in music class (in 7th grade I think) and some other stringed instrument like a horizontal harp for some performance our music class did that same year.

Yes, this is what has become of my blog. I am writing about failing a song on the easy level GH. What does that say about me? Wait, don't answer that question!

Terrorfying

Me and the family headed to DCA (Disney's California Adventure) yesterday and Courtney tried three new things (compared to one for the rest of us). The one we all did was the Brother Bear Adventure Trail. It was fun, and a good workout, and it let the kids get some energy out.

That was done just after Courtney and I did the Grizzly River Run. That's the ride where you white water raft and get nice and wet. We both got wet, but not soaked. It sure felt good, though. You can see the picture below of the raft we were on (we are the two seats in the bottom right of the raft although it's kind of hard to tell it's us) and once we had just gotten off.



















Then came Courtney's biggest, scariest ride experience so far. She wanted to try the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Traci and I thought she might be too scared to go on it after seeing it and us explaining it, but she insisted she wanted to try it. After assuring her it would be scary but that I would right next to her and she would be safe the whole time, she and I got in line. (It said it was a 25 minute wait, but it was more like 10-15...very short!) I thought she was getting scared while in line as she wanted me to hold her and she seemed to be holding on to me during the part where you're in the library watching a brief video of history about the hotel. She screamed a little with everyone else and when we got off, she said she liked it and showed a smile. What a big girl! Her summary: she saw stars and then dropped/fell (I forget what words she used) really fast. A picture of us before we went on it is below. Side note: this was only my second time going on it.



















On a completely unrelated note, we were at the Brea Mall today and as we were leaving, we walked by a Victoria's Secret store. Traci and I kind of looked at each other and wondered what Courtney might say if she saw the store. Well, she didn't disappoint. She got my attention and said, "Daddy! She [the mannequin] has the same hair as Hannah Montana!" God bless her.

Seriously with the bees!

So the marathon day is near the end as Traci went to her cousin's bridal shower and I took the girls to two birthday parties.

The first one was rough as both (yes, BOTH!) girls stepped on bees, about 30 minutes apart or so. Sky stepped on one first, about 5 minutes after the first bee-sting casualty of the three that happened, on her left pinky toe. She cried but didn't totally freak out, which kind of surprised me since this was her first sting. Fortunately we discovered she is not allergic to them. After about 20 minutes of off and on ice, she was ready to play again and was much more cautious about wearing shoes on the grass.

Then came Courtney's third bee sting experience in her 4+ years of life (all of which she has stepped on). Again, she didn't totally freak out like she did the first two times (maybe she's getting used to it now?), but she did certainly cry quite a bit. Her stinger went in the ball of her foot. (On a somewhat twisted note, it was a little interesting to see the bee guts/intestines/whatever the poison sack on the top end of the stinger is attached to in the bee.) She took a little longer to recover than Sky, but that's not surprising considering their different personalities. After some ice and a band-aid, she was ok. Both were given Benadryl as a precaution before bed. So it should be a good night for all!

Eventually we left the party and went to pick up my parents for the second party, which was in Corona. And when we pulled up, the car thermometer was reading 111! (Side note: the high in Whittier yesterday was 102.) What's up with that?!?!?! Anyway, it was a fun party and it was made more interesting by the strong winds that flipped and EZ up, as well as a table with chairs and umbrella. The girls had a ton of fun. And thank goodness for sunscreen as they went swimming at both parties, very appropriate for the weather.

I also heard from a second friend today that can't go with me to the Dodger game on Wednesday. I had to buy the tickets when I saw they were field level between 1st base dugout and right field foul pole in row C and only cost $25 (plus service fee...freakin' Ticketmaster). So I have a few more options to explore before I wind up going by myself, which I will do if need be.

Anyway, I need a shower. It was really hot today and I was sweaty and had sunscreen. Definitely not the way I want to go to bed tonight.