Breyer Law Offices

Karina can almost always be found with something related to Dora the Explorer. Yes, it is still her obsession. Currently, we have a Dora lunch box and a Dora ice pack that we have added to her collection. When she gets to watch Dora on TV, I have to say so myself, it is very cute, because she does the Karina Breyer happy dance. Her swim teacher recently saw it and made sure she got additional praise on something so she could see the Karina Breyer happy dance again. (Editor’s Note from Mark: She also does her Karina Breyer Happy Dance when she gets out of the car and is ready to go into her school. She stands outside the car and does something different every day . . . and it is always funny. Sometimes she yells she loves me, sometimes she says she loves Cade, sometimes she dances . . . but she is always entertaining when she leaves my car and is about to head into school.)

Infant survival classes are something every parent should consider. Due to the nature of Arizona’s hot climate, many households have a pool which can be fatal for children. Michelle Barker the owner and instructor of Swim Now in Phoenix is very compassionate about what she does. According to Michelle parents can prevent infant drowning by simply taking the time to enroll their children in any infant survival course.

Children can start taking swim survival courses as young as 6 months old. Children 6 to 12 months old are taught to swim under water while holding their breath, and to roll over on their back and float without assistance. Children that have fallen into a pool are often taught to float on their back until they can be rescued by an adult. Children ages 1 to 6 are instructed to float on their back and rotate to swim in order to reach the edge and get out of the pool. An infant survival swim instructor will assess your child’s age and ability and place them in an appropriate swim course. Swim Now currently enrolls around 40 students each summer.

Talia’s chore in the morning is to feed Cade. Poor Cade has had a cold the last couple of weeks but he is still crawling around and for the most part happy. He is even starting to pull himself up.
(Editor’s Note from Mark: Cade is now learning how to feed himself. Well, maybe it is better to say he is enjoying not feeding himself. Whenever you put something in front of him, he will play with it but will not try to eat it until you pick it up and start to give it to him. Then he looks like a cartoon penguin getting a fish . . . mouth wide open looking at you waiting for you to put the food in his mouth.)

Talia has a unique way of feeding Cade. She gets the baby food jar and then she takes a spoonful for herself. Then, after she has enjoyed some of the baby food, Talia gives Cade a spoonful. Since she wants some for herself, she insists on only bananas. Why bananas? Because the banana baby food tastes much better. Talia (and the other kids) refuse to feed Cade if they have to give him any other food. They say the other food smells bad. I have to agree with them. Ever smell or taste squash in a baby food jar? I don’t know how those babies eat that stuff. (Editor’s Note from Mark: Talia’s newest favorite thing to do is jump rope. She wants two people to swing the rope while she jumps. She has gotten very good at it, and also blames me for swinging the rope to fast when she doesn’t jump the rope. Interestingly, Alexis also blamed me the one time she was jumping and I was swinging the rope. I guess the apple really doesn’t fall too far from the tree!)

The failure to stop after causing an accident, also known as a hit and run, is punishable by law and also often devastating to the person that has been injured. According to Arizona law, a driver who is involved in an accident resulting in death or serious personal injury as defined in section 13-105 and who fails to stop or comply with the requirements, is guilty of a class 4 felony. If the driver caused the accident and fled they are guilty of a class 3 felony. Class 3 and 4 felonies involve anywhere from 2 ½ to 3 ½ years in prison. The state will revoke the driver’s license or driving permit of anyone that is convicted of failure to stop.

Being involved in an accident can be a very traumatic experience. To avoid serious criminal penalties all vehicles involved must remain at the scene. After an accident you should park as close to the accident as possible or in a safe area near the accident. Before assessing property damage check to make sure everyone involved in the accident is okay. If a person is unconscious or complains of head and neck pain do not move them, unless the car is leaking gas and you fear they are in danger of a fire starting. You should then call the police, no matter how little damage may be done. Next, exchange information with the other drivers involved in the accident. Obtain their name, phone number, address, driver’s license number, license plate number, and basic information. Do not apologize for anything at the scene, because the accident may not have been your fault and you can unintentionally take legal responsibility. Also, if any witnesses are available, ask them what he or she saw. Get their names, telephone numbers, and addresses if possible. As soon as possible a person involved in an accident should notify their insurance company of the accident. If you have been injured, keep track of your medical treatment and take pictures of your injuries and property damage.

If you have witnessed a hit and run please call our hit and run tip line, you could get a reward if your tip leads to the successful capture and conviction of a hit and run driver! Call 800-6-Hit-N-Run.

Karina has a new love, Dora, and her new baby doll. She got very upset when Pierce, our 5 year old, threw the baby’s food in the trash. I don’t think Pierce quite appreciates how important all the little things are that come with a baby doll. Karina let Pierce know that “Nobody likes you Pierce. Everybody hates you.” after she retrieved the baby doll’s food. Pierce did not seem to care at all which I think got Karina even madder! Pierce loves playing with Karina and his new baby brother, even if he does not understand the importance of fake doll food. (Editor’s Note from Mark: Karina and Pierce usually get along really well. As far as vacation, they both had their share of fun. We spent some time at a water park filled with waterslides for all ages with the whole family. The lifeguards have a whistle for when someone was doing something that was against the rules. Who would’ve thought our three year old girl Karina would get whistled? She went zooming down the slide in a kids’ area without waiting for anyone or anything and over comes the lifeguard whistling and pointing at my daughter to slow down! As for Pierce, he got braver and braver during the time at the water park. At first he stayed in the small kids’ area but before you knew it he was going on bigger slides over and over. However, one of the most fun times he probably had was when his biggest brother, Zev, took him to play miniature golf—just the two of them taking time out at the water park to mini-golf together. This trend was repeated the entire time, with just about every kid in our family getting teamed up with an older kid at some point or another so that Zev, Kailey, and Tate probably had time alone with every other kid in the family except for Karina and Cade, who were too small to go on the bigger slides. Being with Kailey was one of the favorite parts for Talia and Pierce. They were both too short to be allowed on the biggest slides . . . except when they were with Kailey who snuck each of them on a big ride with a combination of stealth moves and chutzpah!)

1. New or Used? Buying a motorcycle that fits both your needs and price range is a necessity. A new bike will have a warranty and provide peace of mind and reliability, but will also cost significantly more. A used bike may be a better value if it has not been ridden very often. Used bikes are also a great idea for beginners worrying about scratching or denting the bike while practicing.

2. What will you use the bike for? If you are purchasing a bike for transportation needs, such as driving to and from work or road trips. The bike would need to have a comfortable seat and provide good gas mileage. If the bike is more of a toy for weekend joy rides you may want to consider different styles and models not available for an everyday bike.

3. Skill level? This relates to whether or not to buy a new or used bike. If you are a beginner you should stick to a smaller and slower bike. Having a big bike with a big engine may not be necessary for a person just starting out.

4. Is the bike the right size for you? In order to find the correct size of bike a customer should sit on the bike and take it for a test drive. Having an idea of the type of bike you want may change drastically once you are actually riding it.

5. Long term investment? When buying a new bike it is important to consider maintenance costs, necessary equipment like a jacket and helmet, and insurance fees.

Ariella, our 8 year old, has decided she likes being the “big” kid. With the boys away and Kailey at dance, Ariella becomes the oldest. She has lots of school folders and songs that she teaches the younger kids. The only problem is that this entails a lot of yelling. She would call it chanting but I call it lots of noise. She has a little bit of Mark in her because she likes people to listen to her…maybe she’ll be a trial attorney one day where the jurors will be required to listen to her. (Editor’s Note from Mark: Well, jurors are not actually required to listen to me but at least they cannot get up and leave like Ariella’s siblings can when she is teaching them. Ariella is fantastic as a helper with her siblings or otherwise. On our family vacation we all flew to Boston. (Side note – if you see 8 kids and two parents together on a plane, sit as far away as you can) Ariella offered to help the flight attendant and went around collecting trash from the passengers. The flight attendant then thanked Ariella twice during the flight for her assistance and gave her a little crown made of peanuts as a thank you gift!)

Kailey, the baby, and I went to California for the weekend for the National Finals of her dance competition. It was a lot of fun . . . although traveling with a baby is not exactly “fun” in the normal sense of the word. The car rental place was out of Garmin GPS but I managed to get to all my destinations and even back to the car rental place without getting lost. I thought this was pretty miraculous. Kailey even came home with some trophies. (Editor’s Note from Mark: Well, she didn’t need a Garmin but she seems to have forgotten she called her loving husband about 5 times for directions. Kailey did not just win some trophies, she and her team did fantastic and won some top prizes. She has danced for a lot of years but rarely has she had such great results both from a team and individual perspective. We are really proud of her for all of her hard work doing something she loves. As for the baby, Cade, he decided to do everything for the first time in the 5 days I did not see him. He started crawling for the first time, started growing his first tooth, he even started making some new noises. He did so many new things while I was with the other kids, I half-expected my six month old to walk out of the airport, up to my car, and say “Hi, Dad” when he returned. Five days away from a teenager is like a mini-vacation at times, but five days away from a baby and you can miss so much!)

Zev, 14, and Tate, 10, had an amazing time at camp. They were at an overnight boy’s camp for one month. I got 10 letters from Tate so he is on my A list. Zev says he sent 10 letters as well which is interesting because I only received one letter that had about one sentence on it… although the sentence was that he had the greatest mom! Zev is pretending that the post office messed up. I don’t understand why Zev wouldn’t want to spend his free time writing to his poor mom who missed him so much!

It should be noted I did give some incentive for Tate to send 10 letters – told him he gets to have a mini fridge in his room… apparently incentives do not work well with Zev – maybe it has something to do with being a teenager. (Editor’s Note from Mark: Tate was very smart with his letters. Each letter had about two lines on it but Alexis kept getting to open a new letter from her 10 year old; so he spent very little time writing but made his mom very happy. As for Zev, he wrote one letter without being forced to do so, that is one more unforced letter than last summer. I say we focus on his stunning improvement in letter writing as opposed to his relatively small output. The boys loved some parts of camp. At one point the entire camp is broken down into 10 teams and they spend 5 days eating and competing with their team against the other 9 teams. The Breyer boys ended up on the same team (not usually the case, just luck) and competed together—a pretty good experience, except for the fact that they were still mad at each other for losing the tug of war . . . even though the Breyer Boys accounted for about 10% of the entire team that lost.)

Last but not last least, the baby, Cade. Cade is enjoying life and being bounced around 6 other kids! Zev is not interested in holding Cade but all the other kids have been fighting over who gets to hold Cade. Anyone who thinks number eights don’t get attention should come to our house! Of course number eights don’t get referred to by name…only by number!