Here is what I wrote:

The first thing George did was go to Amazing Jake’s Next, we made St. Patrick’s Day cards with Mama. On Saturday, we went to McDonald’s with Papa. Lastly, we went skiing at Eldora with my Gramps. We had a great week!

I was the second to last kid in my class to have a week with George. I hope he has a fun last week!

On the magic carpet at Eldora

You can see all of my pictures from my week with George on Flickr!

We played on the same side of the net, and I hit it past my Papa a ton of times. I had a lot more fun than I thought I would, and I look forward to playing again.

Here’s a short video of me hitting the ball when we were almost done:

Here’s what I say in the video, after I make the shot: “I’m a star… who’s gonna try to defeat me, man?”

Tobey gives thumbs-up after swimming the width of the pool

My sister got me off to a great start last summer and taught me a lot. My Papa spent a lot of time with me in the pool late last summer while we were in Florida and I started getting close. Early this summer, my Mama signed me up for some swim classes at a rec center and I started to remember what I had learned.

This summer, we joined the neighborhood pool and I’ve been practicing and trying hard to reach with my arms and kick. A weekend in Texas with my cousins was great because we spent a lot of time in their pool and at their lake house – I played a lot in the water with Jack and J.T.

Yesterday, I realized I could do it! So, I put on my goggles, took a few deep breaths and then swam the width of the pool! It was a great feeling… and tiring! Today, I did it again, and here’s a video of it. The video is a 62MB download – so I hope you have a fast internet connection that you can watch it from:

Or download the full high-res version: Tobey swims (54MB)

Swimming sure is a blast!

For Halloween this year I dressed up as Raphael, one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – my favorite.

This is my fourth Halloween, and so far I have always been a superhero. When I was not yet one year old, I was Spiderman in Florida when the Lockwoods took a family vacation with us. The next year I was Dash, one of the Incredibles. Last year, I was Superman.

For awhile this year, I really wanted to be General Grievious – one of my favorite Star Wars characters, even if he is a bad guy. I think he’s really cool because he swings four lightsabers at the same time!

Tomorrow night, Grammy and Gramps are coming down to go trick-or-treating with me, and my friend Alex from across the street might join us. He’s dressing up as a vampire.

Happy Halloween!

This week, I started Tae Kwon Do (or Taekwondo) at a nearby ATA Family Martial Arts center run by Mr. Stan Shields. He is a 4th degree black belt.

I learned three Korean words during my first class, and I also learned a high-block, a punch, and a kick. Mr. Shields said that he was very impressed with how quickly I learned what he taught me. In my next class, I can earn a white belt and a uniform if I can show him the same moves again.

When we were in Michigan a few weeks ago, Aunt Tracy brought a bunch of Jack’s old clothes for me.

Almost everything fit, and they all look great. I had a lot of fun trying them on last night and running around in the shorts to “test that they’d stay up”!

Thanks cousin Jack!

Yesterday, I went with my Papa over to my neighbor’s house. His name is Pat. He has an HO gauge train setup in his basement. He had two diesel engines pulling more than 10 freight cars.

Upstairs, he had a black steam engine in a box (display case) with a coal car, and a caboose.

Banana pants,

Tobey

My Papa says its official – and I no longer need to be rewarded for my efforts. I guess that’s okay, I’ve received a few Matchbox cars, stickers, and other toys along the way when I did well. Lately, I can do nearly all of it by myself, and don’t need much help at all. My Mama and Papa seem very excited and proud. I’m just happy that they don’t have to bug me about it as much now.

As a final reward, Papa got us these cool remote control cars. We can both race them at the same time.