The Name Board

Some of you may remember back when Max was still a little bean, the name board. Well it's back. The name board is a bulletin board in our dinning room where we post the name ideas for blueberry. Since we are not going to know the sex of the little one until the big day, there is a side for boy & girl names. The board is open to your suggestions, just e-mail, text, or whatever to Sarah or me and we'll post them on the board.

Since this post is a tad short I'll just throw in some pictures of Max.

Its a lemon

Roughly 6 months to go until bean makes his/her debue. Actually Sarah has taken to calling it blueberry instead of bean. But this week marks the first week of the second trimester. Sarah swears she can feel it kick already, and according to some web-sites that is possible. To keep track of the progress, on my nifty little iphone (all the cool Tokola's have one) I have a program that keeps track of the gestational age, countdown, what trimester we're in, and it also gives about what it's weights and size are along with a fruit/veggie equivalent. Right now we're a lemon.

Sarah has been prepping Max, telling him he is going to be a big brother soon, the Kanicks also bought him a doll so he can get use to the idea of taking care of a little sibling. Max has been quite proficient at pointing out other babies. If he sees one he point and say "baby" in his own little max way. But I'm not so sure he has quite made the connection to his soon to be little brother/sister. Max is taking Sarah pregnancy in stride, at this point the blueberry belly offers excellent lower lumbar support for max's story time.

And they're off...

About a week ago our little town of Fircrest held its 3rd annual 5k "watch your speed" fun run. I know, a few of you would debate the terms "5k run" and "fun" being used in the same sentence together. A few others were also quick to point out lacking a certain Uncle John but he'll get heckled for that later. Well aside from the missing Lemming, a few of us did go out and despite the rainy weather completed the race. The participants were Nick Steier (32:39), Reid Benson (31:35), Jenny Bridges (27:03), Jean Bridges & Max Bridges (hey at least they finished), and Jeff Bridges (19:36). Sarah and Alex were there to cheer us on, and as a added bonus Alex makes a handy stretching post. Hey if you have a talent go with it I guess. Since the race was in Fircrest, we just waddled over the our house afterwards where Sarah and I made breakfast for everyone that came over.

Max not really feeling much fatigue after the race took advantage of the extra attention available at the house after the race. Right below we see Max wrangling Nick with a book. It took Max about .5secs to wear Nick down.

All in all, I think all of us had a good time. And hopefully we'll do it again sometime. Maybe a few more will step up to the start line and join us. Cough "uncle John" cough.

Halloween Jedi

The force is strong with this one. This Halloween we went with a Starwars Theme for our costumes. Max as you can see went as Yoda. Sarah made the hat, robe and feet. If you saw him from the back it was pretty convincing when you add in Max's little waddle walk he does. When he crawls it look very similar to Empire Strikes Back when Yoda was crawling in his little hut.

As you notice Yoda has honed his light saber skills to near perfection. He also has a walking stick he was fond of.

And what would Starwars be without the epic light saber duals. Here we have The dark lord of the Sith himself; Darth Popi. Standing against Darth Popi is Yoda and his padawan. Yoda stepped in just in time with his force powers to save the young Jedi.

Actually what Max is after is the Iphones we each have in our hands as we dual, we each downloaded the light saber web-app to add some sound effects to our battle.

Unfortunately we do not live in that galaxy that is far, far away. Our version of the force, does indeed flows though us, but.... you guessed it is Starbucks. Its where all the cool Jedi and Sith hang out.

The Return of Bean...

Max's reign as lone child ruler of the house will soon be coming to a close. In roughly seven and a half months Max will have a new brother or sister to play with. Due date being something in the neighborhood of May 9th. Now I know some of you may feel intimidated, like Reid or Jenny another May b-day hogging some of your glory. Well... its true, and to top it off the new born will be way cuter then you too.
But it won't be all fun and games for Sarah and me this means I'll have to be dusting off some of the baby equipment we just put away in the attic, and Sarah will have to stick to virgin gin and tonics for a while. And I'm not evening going to try and think about packing our Ion for Otter Crest with 2 little ones.

PS: JJ if you are still needing any "how to" tips give me a call, I'm batting 2 for 2 over here. Would be more then happy to give you some pointers.

Onward and upward to Covington

Well I bid adieu to my old Tacoma Costco. For the past few years I have been a PM stocker/fork lift driver. Closing the warehouse nearly every night for the past 3+ years. What draws me away? A new Costco is about to open in Covington, a community to the north. About a 30min drive from our house here in Fircrest. The new warehouse manager for Covington is the same one I had here in Tacoma, so he agreed to take me along with a promotion to supervisor of the gas station. So I'll be running the new 16 pump, 90000gallon gas station.

The folks here in Tacoma were nice enough to hold a going away party for those of us departing to the new building at the local Azteca restaurant. My old department did something a little more personalized for me on my last day...

This is how I found my car when I left the building on my last night at the Tacoma Costco. Now I knew something was up that night, some coworkers were asking to borrow my register keys, I later found out there were hoping to find a locker key on my key chain (my locker is a combo lock to which they found the key to in the form of a bolt cuter). After borrowing my car keys they moved my car and wrapped it up for me. But they weren't done yet...

After unwrapping it, I found that my car now had a cream filling or at least a plastic one now. They stuffed about 5 Costco shopping carts worth of plastic wrap in there. It took me about half hour to get my car clear of all the extra baggage it had taken on.

It was nice to see people say they would miss me. Though I think that part was more of a formality, the truth later came out that the one they would really miss is Max, over all I had more comments that my ex-coworkers would miss his blue eye and cute smile much more then my mug. *sigh*

It's quiet around here....

It is that time again. The time where all the Tokolas pack up and high tail it to the beach. This year Sarah and Max went off leaving me here by my lonesome. Its rough, not being woken up at night. That kind of thing can wear on ya, leaving you rested and energized the following day. Not sure if I can take much more of it. After taking care of a few details here in T-town, I'll make my way down south just for a few days, someone has to keep Uncle John running, H2C is only a week away.

My new toy

For our anniversary, Sarah bought me a ipod nano along with the Nike+ chip and sensor. Its pretty cool, I attach a chip to my shoe laces and a plug goes into the ipod. Then my run info goes to nike's website where you can challenge other folks to run and join teams to compete with one another.

It has the best of both worlds, on one hand you are out running and getting buff. On the other hand you still get the gadgety side and get to fiddle around on the web. A nice combo of jock & geek. Now I just need to get Uncle John to get one, then we could smack talk each other in cyber-space, yippee.

A Calm Returns to Tacoma

Sonja & Jordan's wedding went off nice and smoothly. The days prior to that.... more like a circus. It was nice to get to visit with the whole family again, and be introduced to the new members of the family.

The bachelor party started off the wedding festivities (at least for us guys). It was a nice laid back gathering at Jordan's new house. BBQ and beer keep us going though the evening. Some of the party goers got a little down and dirty. Xander & Quentin were particularly fond of the caves (hedge bushes) in the back yard. Once we had our fill of hot dogs we moved inside to the poker tables. We divided up between two tables. There are some things that are just a given when Tokola's play poker 1. JJ gets loud 2. Geoff ends up with a large pile of chips. Both still held true, though something did happen that as far as I know is a first for the event. I actually came out ahead! I had to take a picture, this is about half way into the night. My only regret is that none of these chips came from Uncle John's wallet. Oh-well there is always the beach.

Max spent the first few days with Grandma and Grandpa and rejoined us the day of the wedding. At first the was content just sitting in dad's lap but once he figured out there was a echo in the chapel he felt compeled to add his own vocals to the special moment. At that point we decided to watch the rest of the wedding from the lobby. We were not alone for long, by the end of the wedding Zoe, Xander and Bianca (Sherri's baby) were all in the lobby with Max.

The reception was at Fircrest Gold club, getting to be a Kanick tradition. We laughed, some cried, good times were had by all. The Tokola's dominated the dance floor, then we sent the lovely couple along there way to honeymoon in Hawaii.

When Sarah and I arrived home late that night we were a little surprised to find the newly weds in our drive way. Something about a slight cheese odor emanating from inside the car.

Max at Costco

Every now and then Max comes and visits me at work. I think he may even be getting to know the place a little bit. He knows when he comes in that I'm somewhere around and starts looking all over the place. He loves my name tag, so we made him one of his own. Max also has a keen interest in my radio and tries to get at it whenever possible.

Max thought he would try his luck on daddy's forklift, though in the end he just wanted to play with my radio some more.

And we're back...

I know what you're saying, " I didn't even know you were gone". Well for the past 4 days Sarah and I were enjoying ourselves down in Disneyland. Just the two of us, it was the longest we have been away from Max. We had a blast, a new ride has just been opened in California Adventure, called Toy Story Mania. Its an interactive blaster ride/game. Loads of fun, that is once you get though the line which at times is over 2hours long. To make the time go a little quicker, Disney added a companion to keep you company. The one and only Mr. Potato Head. He sings, dances and pokes fun and the folks around him. The long lines did have one advantage, while all those folks were waiting there, it shorten the lines on other rides a little.

Disney also updated some of there other faculties. Small world was shut down for a remodel, so we were spared that lovable song that we all know and love.

WARNING!!!! Stacy you may want to skip this part if James or Q-dog are near you. The Star Trader, the store right next to Star tours with all the starwars stuff has added a new feature that had all the little padawans lining up with dads in tow. A make your own light-saber station. You could pick your blade color, handle type(not sure how Q-dog would react to a anakin/obi-won handle hybrid), one sided or two. A dangerous place for any potential Jedi 3years or older.

All in all it was a good trip, and we both escaped with out a sun burn (a improvement upon our last trip down south). Though over the next two weeks we may wish we were back in Disneyland.

Max spend the time with the grandparents. The Kanicks took him to see the Point Defiance Zoo, while the Bridges added some

Max set free

Today Max and company paid another visit to the Mary Bridge Children center. It has already been 4 weeks since he first started sporting the latest fashion in fiberglass. But as is the case with most fashion fads this one has now gone the way powdered wigs and whale bone corsets. Its a simple enough procedure. They have a little power saw that slices the cast right off, and since we live in the 21st century we have the technology that allows us to use power tools even on squirming little babies at no harm to them, woot.


No doctor visit would be complete without Max adding some sort of lung exercise. Though this one was more like the competition that the previous exercises were building up to. Gee golly gosh, that kid got some lungs, it won't be long before Max is whooping up on both Uncle John and me in the Hood to coast.


For the finale to this ordeal was a bath, which Max actually enjoyed. He missed being able to splash around. Kind of hard when all you have are wet sponges for the past few weeks. He is already back to cruising around like the past 4 weeks never happened. Another plus to Max having his cast off is both Sarah and I will no longer have to endure every stranger that passes us by wanting an explanation on why a infant could have such an injury.

Sound to Narrows

This one goes out to Uncle John, got to get my smack talk in as we build up to the beach. Today I ran a 12k in 53:17. Hope you're puting your miles in too, be ashame if you couldn't keep pace with Cole and me at the beach.


I already know what you are going to say, and I say "Bring it on"

Max invades the mall

On a recent outing to the Tacoma Mall we let Max loose in the kid's play pen right next to the mall food court. It has various foam objects for kids to climb over and a play house with a slide.

At First Max was a little hesitant but that didn't last long and off he went. Max enjoyed the slide but due to the constant onslaught of other kids we were not able to use it as much as I'm sure Max would have liked to. On the few times we did get Max on the slide I had to hover right over him, the other kids were not to keen on looking out for Max and frequent pile up occurred at the bottom of the slide. Afterwards we packed up and shared a Jamba juice, banana berry i think it was. I can't remember for sure, Max had most of it anyways.

Its almost here....

The wait is nearly over, not exactly sure what I'm referring to, but is applicable to a number of events closing in on us in the coming summer months.

For starters we have Geoff's magic show "Hypothesis" opening June 13th going through the 15th. Get in to see him while tickets are still cheap, once he is famous he'll only have so many family tickets to hand out. Only two weeks after that Sarah & I high tail it down to Disneyland while Max gets to take his own little vacation in the country with Grandma and Grandpa. After our return I'm sure it'll be nothing slower then high gear for the next two weeks as we make all the final preparations for Sonja & Jordan's wedding. It'll probably seem like we just finish taking the decorations down when its time to pack up for Otter Crest and are flapping around to a chicken beat. Well that's about the next three months in a nut shell. Hang on, we're in for some chop.

Showers, magic, & pineapples

Ahhh summer a time of rest, relaxation and naps in the shade, and if you are caught doing any of these things you are likely to be roasted on the spot. Time is getting tight for a number of major events. Geoff's maigc show "Hypothesis" is nearly upon us. Sarah, Anna, and George have been putting in a great deal of effort getting everything in order. Max will again be doning the pineapple outfit. Geeze I hope all this fame doesn't go to his head.

Sonja's Tacoma wedding shower has come and gone. With less than two months to go the roller coaster ride is bound to only get faster until the big day arrives, at which point everything will go efing smoothly and according to plan. I even typed that with a straight face. At this point the lovely pair are attending a couple's retreat for the weekend.

Our peg legged little one has grown use to his cast. Which is now adorned in signitures and artwork. He is now putting weight back on that leg. Sarah has tried a few different methods to even out his asymetric height gain from the cast. She recently went out and bought the thickest soled shoe she could find for his other foot. Geoff's girlfriend Terri brought over some self adhesive foam to try and give his slick cast some traction on the hardwood floor. Its still a work in progress.

Up to speed

For those who have not heard yet, our little guy Max had a little stumble over at a friends house. Resulting in a fracture of his fibia and possible tibia.

I had a hard time seeing where the actual fracture was on the x-ray. It is at the bottom of his shine bones but not on the growth plate. The doctor said this should not impede his development at all, whew!

As is the case with most medical occurrences, more time was spent in the waiting room than the actual medical procedure. Though Max sure didn't mind, you would have hardly known he had any sort of fracture the way he was cruising around the lobby. Max was quite fascinated with the stain glass art work. But all good things must come to an end, for after an hour and a half in the lobby or in other terms nearly a full viewing of "The Incredibles" we were finally called to see the doctor.

Oh boy! was Max not a happy camper from here on out. From previous check ups Max has developed a healthy dislike of anyone resembling a medical practitioner and has the lungs to let you know it. Luckily the nurses who put the cast on were very efficient and quick. In just a few minutes Max was sporting the latest in green fiberglass fashion and we were on our way home. Max hardly seems bothered by his new found accessory, he zooms just like he did before, except now he has a battering ram attached to his foot.

Joining the mix

...but all the cool kids are doing it.
And with that Sarah & I are jumping on the band wagon. From here we hope to keep folks somehwhat up to speed on the happenings that are going on in our little yellow house in fircrest. Jeeze I hope that not infringing on anyone else. Ok ok we admit its just another platform to plaster a bunch of pictures of Max on the web.