Father’s Day, June 2013

Having fun dancing with the Wii before the party starts. Vovo had fun doing it too… gotta get a Wii.

Joey, Jessica, Charlie, Pami, Lizzy, Mike

Can Alex be any darn cuter in that hat?!?! Both Joey and Alex had matching hats.

Of course Uncle Mike had to steal the hat, not once but twice… how old are you… you need to grow up dude (just kidding, we love ya).

The cousins are enjoying their dinner on the table that Mike built and Charlie & Lizzy painted the top with their special art creations… it turned out very cute!

It was also Hank’s and Jan’s birthday. Jan loves artichokes so we bought her these humongous chokes and wrapped them up as a joke gift… she loved them!!!

Lizzy’s Creations

This is a picture of Papa that Lizzy drew in June of 2012 when she was 4 years old. At that time she signed everything “Lil” (upper left corner). I’ve had it on my refrigerator for a year. We’ve received many comments from visitors asking WTF is that?!?!?!?

This is a picture that Lizzy drew for me on Father’s Day 2013 at the age of 5 years. It’s a lovely picture of Vovo & Lizzy and she named it “Girls Only” and signed her name “Lizzy”. She made it very clear to me to keep it in a safe place and keep it away from Papa and that he can’t touch it… us girls have to stick together. What a difference a year makes!!!

Don’t Give Up on Your Plants!
After a couple weeks in the winter of mid to high 20’s, it looked as though we lost this ficus that we have under the backyard patio. I cut off all the dead stuff and only left the few leaves that were still alive. After a few months of warm spring weather and lots of Miracle Grow, this is how the tree looks today. It’s coming back very nicely and I’m so happy we didn’t give up on it.

A Few Greeting Cards

Kaia F.I.T Roseville – June 22, 2013

This was our FANTASTIC End of Spring Adventure workout with all of these beautiful, strong and awesome Kaia women!! We had a hard workout but had so much fun at the same time. We were split into 7 person teams and here are just a few of the challenges…. push a car 1/4 mile, pull a fire hose, flip heavy tires, carry a team member on our back, pull-ups, slam balls, wall walks, thigh busters…. and the list goes on and on, but I think you can get the idea that we worked our butts off!!

Babysitting Charlie & Lizzy

July 5 – 10, 2013

Mike & Pami were off to Cabo for a long awaited and well deserved vacation, so we watched the kids for a week. Our time was filled with swimming, soccer, bike riding, golf, skate boarding, playing at the park, Chuck E Cheese (remind me NEVER to go there again), ice cream parlor, follow the leader, and crafts, crafts, and more crafts…. just to name some of the things we did.

These are a few of the craft items I brought from home.

Making flowers from tissue paper. It’s so simple and they are very cute.

We couldn’t miss the Saturday Home Depot kids workshop! Every time the kids complete a project, they get a badge and a certificate. Check out that Lizzy not only has her Home Depot apron on, she also wanted to wear her kitty ears.

Lizzy made this giraffe out of toilet paper rolls and it turned out so darn cute!

She also made a barn/house for the animals. We used stuff laying around the house; a paper bag covered with construction paper and she drew the house on it, cardboard from a case of water was used for the base, and a pipe cleaner became the door handle and key.

Papa timed Charlie to see how long it would take to knock down all the cones with his remote control car… accomplished in 3 minutes 8 seconds. He had fun doing it and we enjoyed watching him ‘driving’. Auto

Lizzy’s challenge was to see if she could go through the cones without touching them with her remote control car… she did a great job!

While Charlie had his golf lesson, Lizzy & I had a putting contest.

Dress up time Winking smile

The kids used a template to trace their designs, then painted their aprons. They were very excited that they got to use their aprons several times when they helped Vovo & Papa in the kitchen. They also wore them when painting other craft projects… just too cute!

This is a project board I made for the kids listing the crafts and our daily activities. Each time they completed a craft, they put a smiley face next to it.

These are ice cream cartons covered with paper and decorated with pipe cleaners and foam & wood shapes. I love getting creative and using stuff that’s already in the house. They worked hard on these and were very proud of their creations!

Swimming almost every day.

These are just a few of the crafts they made during the week.

Another toilet paper roll creation…

They made caterpillars using egg cartons. They painted them and used pipe cleaners for the legs.

This is a Russian Dancing Doll; the legs and arms move.

What would en evening be without dessert every night!! We got very creative and had something different every night that the kids got to decorate.

Thank you Charlie & Lizzy for a fun week that we’ll cherish forever, and hopefully you will too. Now Papa & Vovo need a vacation!!! LOL

American Century Championship

July 18 - 21, 2013

This was our 8th year as volunteers at the Celebrity Golf Tournament in Tahoe and we had a blast. We were teamed up with some really nice guys and most were great golfers.

The day before we started working, we golfed at Squaw Creek Golf Course. It was a beautiful day, even if we did loose about a dozen balls. The course was unforgiving and very much “target golf”.

Charles Barclay, NBA Hall of Fame
Charles hurt his shoulder while working out the night before the tournament started so he couldn’t play. But he did walk the course and mingled with the fans.

David Justice, MLB outfielder & designated hitter
A bit of trivia… David was married to Halle Berry for 4 years.

Greg Maddux, Former MLB All Star Pitcher

Herm “Coach” Edwards…MY BEST BUDDY!!
Football Analyst

Jerry Rice, NFL Former Wide Receiver

Kevin Nealon, Comedian & Actor

Larry The Cable Guy, Stand-up Comedian & Actor

Marcus Allen, NFL Hall of Fame Running Back

Trevor Hoffman-All Star Pitcher
Goose Gossage-Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher
Eric Gagne-Canadian Baseball Pitcher

Marcus Allen, Trevor Hoffman, Greg Maddux

Michael Phelps, Olympic Swimmer

Here I am at work at a Standard Bearer

Ozzie Smith, Baseball Hall of Fame Shortstop

Trevor Hoffman, All Star Pitcher

Trevor Hoffman, All Star Pitcher
Greg Maddux-MLB All Star Pitcher
Marcus Allen-NFL Hall of Fame Running Back

This was the volunteer party on Saturday afternoon. The managers are in the green shirts and us peons are in the orange shirts.

Lauren’s Visit to California

Lauren arrived from Arizona on July 23rd and stayed with us until the 27th. We had fun rafting, actually floating down the American River. We stopped for a picnic lunch at the beach and fed the ducks/geese along the way.

This was very interesting to say the least. The tree was filled with all different kinds of shoes… LOL. If you click on the picture and enlarge it, you’ll be able to see the shoes better.

Cold Stone & Jamba Juice… can’t beat that!!

This is a favorite spot in our house for the little kids to hide when we play hide & go seek. From the beginning Lauren wanted to see if she could fit into this spot and she did. So every year since we moved here (2011) she gives it a try. I think by next year she will outgrow this spot!!!

2013