Greetings from Jamul, CA

We arrived in sunny San Diego Friday afternoon. Donna picked us up and drove us back to the ranch. It's always beautiful here, but especially so in Spring time after they've had some rain. The fields are green and the flowers are blossoming. It's really spectacular.

We had a relaxing afternoon, watched a couple of the Sweet 16 games, then enjoyed a delicious swordfish dinner that Donna had prepared. After dinner, we watched more basketball, then Matthew, Victoria and I went for an evening swim. We were all tired and in bed by 10:15.

Here's the view we woke to this morning...

The 'back 40'. Backdrop to Karri and my wedding reception (19 years ago).

Swollen orange tree means fresh-squeezed orange juice for breakfast!

Bill (Pop-Pop) had arranged for Jessica - a woman who helps tend to Donna & Bill's horses - to come to the ranch this morning to give each of the kids a riding lesson. Jessica is wonderful - patient, with a calm, nurturing disposition. Victoria really enjoys taking lessons from her and so was up and ready to go while the boys were still rolling out of bed.

Victoria's riding Bo under Jessica's watchful eye

Teaching Bo who is boss

Donna (Mimi) and Mr. Fluff watching Victoria ride

Karri decided to give (old, reliable) Chuck some TLC...

You can take the girl out of the ranch...

Thomas running Bo through the paces

 Bo was having problems from a recent leg injury, so Matthew got to ride Chuck...

Matthew on Chuck

Nudging Ol' Chuck into a trot

After riding, Matthew and Victoria were ready for a swim.

"I promise I won't flip you Victoria"

 Karri and I joined them for a bit - so refreshing. Thomas decided to relax in the sun.

Future's so bright...

We're having a relaxing afternoon. Thomas wanted to put his learner's permit to the test of California driving, so he and Karri are out running a few errands while Matthew and Victoria help Mimi make cookies and climb the rock formation in the back yard. We'll probably catch some more March Madness and enjoy happy hour. Mimi has a lamb dinner planned for tonight that I'm sure will be delicious.

Tomorrow, Easter Sunday, we are planning to go to mass at Mission de Alcala of San Diego - the church where Karri and I were married. We've never taken the kids there. I'm excited to see it.

Monday Miscellany

We enjoyed another weekend of nice weather. It was great to be outside enjoying a bit of sun (when not inside watching March Madness). Hard to believe that fresh snow was falling on most of our relatives in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.

Conflicting sports schedules meant divide-and-conquer on Saturday. The results: 3 victories, 0 pictures. Sorry.

I took Victoria to her volleyball match in Sammamish - about a 40 minute drive east of our house. We spent more time getting to the gym than the entire match lasted. But it was fun. The girls played really well and won 2-0.

Karri took Matthew to his lacrosse game in Shoreline - about a 30-minute drive north. Sounds like we dominated an undersized team, 13-0 (I think). Matthew got his first goal of the season and really had fun.

Then we met back at the kids' school for Matthew's volleyball match. We missed the first game, but arrived in time for him to play most of the second game. Another 2-0 win.

Thomas has basketball practice on Saturday. Their first tournament isn't for 2 more weeks.

My nephew, Tim, and his wife, Eang, stayed with us last week. They are moving from an apartment to a rental house (both in West Seattle - close to our house) and the timing left them 'on the street' for a week. It was fun to have them here.

Tim got up Sunday morning and ran the Mercer Island half-marathon, got home a little before noon, showered, then headed over to unpack their new place. All this while I was barely on my 2nd cup of coffee! Ahh... youth.

Sunday afternoon, Karri and I took the boys to see 'The Life of Pi' (Victoria went to Tim & Eang's). We had wanted to catch it on a big screen, rather than watch it at home. I'm glad we did. The cinematography was really amazing. I enjoyed the story, though didn't love it. 3.5 stars (out of 5).

I also managed to cut my grass this weekend - 2nd time this year. Our yard looks it's best this time of year - reaping the benefits of all the Spring rain.

Blue sky, green grass

We leave Friday morning to spend Easter in beautiful San Diego with my in-laws. Always fun. We are anxious to see Donna (Mimi) and Bill (Pop-Pop).

Whacky Weather Week

I cut my grass this weekend for the first time this year. It was sunny and warm - definitely felt Spring-like.

Then Mother Nature decided to have some fun with Seattleites.

We had unusually heavy rains on Monday and Tuesday - the kind you hear pounding on your roof and windows. Today (Wednesday) - the first official day of Spring - started out cold and gray, but then turned sunny and started warming up. Next thing I noticed, the wind kicked up, the skies darkened, and torrential rain was falling at a 45 degree angle. Five minutes later, it was sunny again. That happened a few times, with sunshine eventually prevailing by late afternoon.

Around 6pm, I took Jack for a walk through Lincoln Park and down to the beach.

Waterfront path in Lincoln Park

Bright sun!

Now the local weather forecast says we may get SNOW tomorrow morning. I'm not banking on it, but if we do, that will be our first snowfall all year. Crazy. If, by chance, it does snow, it looks like it won't stick around for long. We're forecast to be in the 40's by mid-day.

Of course, the kids are hoping for a blizzard.

The Rat King

Matthew performed in his school play, The Pied Piper, last week. The kids did an amazing job. The drama teacher put a modern, fun spin on an old fairy tale and the kids really embraced it.

Matthew played the role of 'The Rat King' - leader of the rats that have overrun otherwise sleepy Hamelin Town. He and his 'pack' spend the beginning of the show frightening the townspeople and reveling in panic they've caused.

The Rat King

I mentioned a 'modern spin'... The rats enter the scene dancing (quite well, I might add) to Bob Marley's 'Rat Race'. Nice touch.

The party doesn't last long though for the rats. The Piper comes along and saves the town - entrancing the rats with his flute and leading them to their death in the river. Ahh... fame is so fleeting. The rest of the show (spoiler alert!) involves the mayor and townspeople learning a lesson about keeping your word - and paying the Piper the fee they had promised him.

Matthew really enjoyed the show - his first drama production. Our school offers drama as an elective for junior high students and Matthew decided he wanted to give it a try. They've been working really hard, especially the last few weeks. And it showed in their performance.


With fellow rat - Roman

Karri volunteered to help a friend of ours, Kristen, with makeup before the Thursday night show. Kristen couldn't make the Friday show, so Karri did it all herself - a quick study!

Nice makeup job!

One of the parents videotaped the entire show and posted it to YouTube. If you want to catch a glimpse of the rats making their entrance to Bob Marley, fast-forward to 12:10.

Happy (belated) Pi Day

It's been a full week of activities. One quick anectdote...

Every year the kids' school recognizes 'Pi Day' on March 14th (Pi = 3.14... get it?!). They use it as an opportunity for kids to have fun learning about the the ratio of a circle's circumference to it's diameter (a.k.a pi). The kids can choose from a number of projects that involve pi - ranging from memorizing the first 50 digits of the pi's numerical value (a couple of Matthew's classmates did so this year) to baking a pie and measuring its diameter and circumference. The last 2 years, Matthew has opted for the latter. Sunday he had a couple buddies over to make apple pie.

Hard at work

Matthew's buddy Eli (little guy in the middle of the above picture) did an impressive job as master chef - making the crust from scratch, rolling the dough, and instructing Matthew and his buddy Brendan on apple cutting peeling and cutting, etc. They ended up making two pies (one to enjoy immediately, one to take to school) and had a little left over for apple crisp. Check out their creation...

A pi apple pie! Mmmm.

Everything turned out great. We all tasted the 'extra' pie after it came out of the oven and we sent the leftovers home with Matthew's buddies. The apple crisp was gone the next day - delicious warmed and served with vanilla ice cream. The main creation went with them to school for their class celebration of Pi Day - a sugar feast that, I'm sure, teachers just love!

Matthew is also performing in the school's production of 'The Pied Piper'... he's the Rat King. Great stuff. First shows were yesterday. Finale is tonight. I'll write a 'review' with pictures this weekend.

Hectic Spring Weekend

Busy start to the weekend...

Friday night, Victoria and I attended the annual Father-Daughter Glow-Bowl hosted by our school at West Seattle Bowl. It's a great event for all grades (K-8).  We take over the entire place (30+ lanes). They turn on the black lighting and turn up the music. The girls wear white and/or sparkly clothing and write on themselves with highlighters so they 'glow' under the black lighting. They really get into the bowling at first, but interest usually wanes after an hour or so - once the pizza is served. After that, it's dancing and general silliness for the girls, while the dads finish off the open bowling frames. It's a great opportunity for the dads to connect too (over pitchers of beer, of course).

This year, we 'adopted' two of Victoria's best friends, Emma and Natalie, whose dads were both out of town for the weekend.

Emma, Victoria and Natalie 

Her Grandpa and Great Uncle Frank (Euclid Elks Bowling legends) would be proud!

Thomas had basketball practice and slept over at a buddy's house. Matthew had volleyball practice and then he and Karri went out to dinner together, came home and watched a movie - a fun mother-son bonding night too.

Saturday has been a whirlwind of kid activities... as usual.  Victoria had a 9am volleyball match (lost in 2 games, but played really well). Thomas had basketball practice, followed by a driving lesson (yes, in the 'Student Driver' car). Matthew had a 2pm volleyball match (won in 2 games!) followed by a 3pm lacrosse game!

This was his team's first official game. They played Lakeside middle school, whom we heard have a really good program. We got there after the game had started (due to the volleyball match) and expected he would have to wait to get in the game. Before Karri and I could get situated on the sideline, he was in the game, had picked up a loose ball off the face-off and was running up the field toward the goal. So much for warming up!  He had a great game - no goals, but was 'in the action' and had a lot of fun. And we won - 8-4!

Waiting for the face-off

On the attack

Each game ends with 'Honor the Game' - both teams meet at midfield and each coach compliments the opposing team, then awards helmet stickers to 2 or 3 opposing players they felt played particularly well or showed outstanding sportsmanship. Very cool.

Post-game player photos

Did you happen to notice Matthew is squinting from the sun?! Not something we expect this time of year in Seattle. It's been a beautiful weekend and is supposed to continue through Sunday. Karri got out for some yard work today. I plan to cut the grass tomorrow. Our cherry tree is starting to blossom, leaves are sprouting on our hydrangeas, and buds are formed on our lilacs. Ready for Spring!

Quick Update

I've struggled to find time to post. Thought I'd give a quick update for those keeping track at home...

Karri and my Mexico adventure ended much too soon! We had a fantastic time with plenty of rest and relaxation. We need to find a way to do that more often. Until we do, I guess the pictures will have to suffice...

Ahhhh!

We jumped right back into the fray upon our return. We got back Thursday night, both of us worked on Friday and then we had a full weekend of activities. Fortunately, Donna/Mimi was able to stay with us for a few extra days. She and Karri got some mother-daughter time Friday night over dinner at Phoenecia - a wonderful restaurant on Alki Beach here in West Seattle. Donna had an early flight out Saturday morning (the same flight Karri and I had taken a week earlier... 6:50am departure!) to San Diego, where Bill/Pop-Pop joined her and they boarded a plane for their own turn at R&R in Puerto Vallarta!

We are so fortunate that Donna was willing and able to come up and stay with the kids. They all had a ball, as usual. 

The rest of the weekend was filled with kid activities: lacrosse practice, volleyball games, basketball practice, ski bus to Crystal (for Thomas), etc. I wasn't very good about taking pictures, but snagged a couple with my phone during Matthew and Victoria's volleyball games.

Middle blocker

Ready for action!

Matthew had his first ever lacrosse game... an intrasquad scrimmage. He really enjoyed it and, I must say, did pretty well considering he's played the game less than 2 months. His coaches appreciated his effort and recognized him after the game for his attitude and hustle - presenting him with a sticker to add to his helmet. Pretty cool.

Saturday night, Karri and I went to a team outing with some of her co-workers. We went to see Cirque de Soleil's 'Amaluna' - a live performance under a 'big top' tent in Redmond (10 minutes east of Seattle), then to a delicious dinner at Koral in Bellevue. Neither of us had been to a Cirque de Soleil performance. We both enjoyed it very much, though both agreed it's not high on our list of things to do again.

We've had chilly, but Spring-like weather in Seattle and have even seen the sun a bit. Monday evening, Karri and I took Jack for a walk through Lincoln Park and got to enjoy a nice sunset.

Snow-capped Olympic Mountains in the distance.

Beautiful sunset!

Happy dog!

That gets me caught up again. Hopefully I'll get back into the habit of posting more frequently!