While Mommy Is Away....

So while Mommy is away, the boys will play....

...or get trapped in a net.

That was Drew at soccer on Saturday morning.  Dave assures me they were playing a game and no children were harmed in the taking of this picture.

And clearly keeping up with Daddy all weekend is tough stuff...

I guess they had an especially busy day (I think they said this was Sunday) and Drew was out cold before I could talk to him that night after work.

While it was nice to get a full night sleep without interruption in a King sized bed I didn't have to share with anyone... it sure was wonderful to come home.  It's so funny how much you notice little changes in your kids even after being gone only 4 days. 

Video - Sunday School Performance

While I was away in Seattle for work Drew had to perform during church for the congregation. The Pre-K through 5th graders sang "This Little Gospel Light of Mine".  Dave was able to capture a video of the rehearsal - not the performance because he was ushering.

Here you go - (Drew is in front right wearing a green shirt and khakis).



For those who aren't seeing the video because you're reading this via email - here is the link.

Back to the Emerald City

About a month ago I was in Seattle for work and I'm back in the Emerald City now. I actually get to head home today!

The weather wasn't as cooperative this trip - living up to the wet stereotype for this region. But I did get to squeeze in 2 outdoor runs - one on Sunday and today just before it started coming down.

Here are a few pictures from these runs along the waterfront.




Space Needle from "Sculpture Park" (this city has TONS of sculptures)



Return run from Pier 91. You can see the Space Needle (which recently celebrated it's 50th Anniversary), a cruise ship to the right at pier 66 and far right I think you can see Safeco Field.




The bottom of the Space Needle hiding from the rain. After my run I did some shopping inside, but didn't go to the top. I don't think the other folks would like to be trapped with my post-run "perfume".

And here is a shot from this morning's run.




You can see some of the mountains across the Sound and through the clouds.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Mommy's Serenade

Being the only female in our house sometimes has its downfalls.  Boys are gross. Boys have a weird sense of humor.  Boys like farts.  I'm now the "proud" mother of a boy who learned a new "trick".



The video is here for those that only read the blog via email.

Yes that is Mommy's Serenade. 

I suppose that's what I get for forcing Dave to give Drew a bath....

Mother's Day 2012

The last few weeks have been rather hectic at our house and this past Sunday - Mother's Day was no exception.  I was tortured blessed to see Drew wide awake at 4:30 that morning.  (He had a massive allergy attack the day before and was asleep at 6pm).

Well since Mother's Day apparently means Daddy gets to sleep in, I got up with Drew and put the TV on (yes I'm a stellar parent at that early hour) and tried to go back to sleep.  At 6:30 I gave up and just started getting ready for church.  Dave continued to sleep until about 7:30.

After I got out of the shower the boys found me in the bathroom anxious to give me my mother's day presents.  I told them as soon as I was dressed I would come and open them.  It was a card from Dave, and this is what Drew was so excited to give me....

He brought this home from school that Friday...

The card is apparently a picture of Drew making a face, and in pencil below it says Mom.  Inside it reads:

It reads:
Mommy I love you
for all the things you do
I'll kiss you and hug you
Cause you love me too!
You feed me and need me
to teach you to play.
So smile cause I love
On this Mother's Day
Love, Drew
2012

And here is what was inside...

 My own little flower!

He also gave me a Barnes and Nobel Gift card which comes in mighty handy with my Nook!

After church, I started to try and clean up the house, but gave up when Drew was just wrecking it some more playing Angry Birds.  So I decided since I was up before the sun rose I could take a nap.  I figured the safest spot for a nap was in Drew's bed.  Three hours later I awoke feeling like a new human being.

We hung out with our neighbors for a bit before Dave started making dinner.  Bless his heart he was so proud of himself for having 4 burners going on the stove making me a very nice dinner - Cajun Chicken Pasta with Shrimp scampi on the side.  The special treat for me was I got to do all of the dishes.  I suppose I didn't have to cook or come up with the dinner plan so at least it's something.

C'est la vie.  I guess beggars can't be choosers right?

While I sound ungrateful, it really was a nice Mother's Day.  Right up until the time when Drew gave himself two fat lips after falling out of bed, and I had the "pleasure" of sleeping with him in his twin sized bed for the night because he was waking himself up every 30 minutes or so when he changed positions.

At least I have a healthy family this Mother's Day!

Treat for a Trooper

Sometimes good intentions don't turn out the way you expected.  Case in point, last month when we intended to hit up the Stockton Asparagus Festival one Saturday afternoon, promising a certain 4 1/2 year old some rides.

Because we were headed to Stockton we decided to hit up one of our favorite wineries - Macchia outside of Lodi.  While Mommy and Daddy had wine Drew played with our phones under a table

We rejoined that winery - woohoo!

But the bad news about leaving this winery, Drew's eye became irritated presumably resting on the carpet either by dust or dog dander (they have a pooch running through the winery).  So we needed to hunt down a drug store for some Benedryl since his eye was swelling shut rather quickly and we  promised him a trip to the Asparagus Festival.

We finally found a Walgreens and  dosed him with some "drugs" and headed off to Stockton.  Well we found the Asparagus Festival and holy crap - it was packed!  Dave and I didn't want to battle the crowds to get to the rides.

Thankfully on our way up we spotted a little carnival in Tracy at the mall.  We decided Drew wouldn't care whether he was at the Asparagus festival or the mall - he just wanted rides.

We were right!  We told him he could go on four rides (carnivals are such a rip off).  He picked the kiddie airplane ride...

Kiddie Roller Coaster

Swings...

And the slide

We got roped into a carnival game too - the carnie promised him 1 free dart to throw at the balloons.  He missed and they gave him a dart.  Ten Dollars later Drew got a prize.  Of course they don't tell you the cost until you're already roped in and it's too late.

Well Drew won "Freddy" his new pal.  I apparently didn't get a picture of him that day with Freddy, so I'll have to have a special post dedicated to Dodger Dog's best friend.  The three of them are inseparable now at bedtime.  So I guess it was money well spent. (we think Drew was so proud of himself for winning "Freddy" by himself that he has taken to him the way he has)

So while it wasn't the day we intended, it ended up being a great afternoon after all.

Run, Walk, Honor

Ok my blogger slacking days are hopefully over now that I have a brand spanking new working laptop.  So I'm hoping to catch up this week on some overdue posts. 

As I've done the past four years, I spent our Anniversary weekend participating in Pat's Run.  This year I was joined not only by Dave (this was his second year), but Drew as well at the San Francisco shadow run.  The main attraction is at my alma mater Arizona State where 30,000+ runners and walkers cross the 42 yard line to pay tribute to the fallen Pat Tillman.

At the San Francisco turnout there were somewhere around 50 people - mainly alumni and their families - running the 4.2 mile route which takes us from the Marina Green to near the Golden Gate Bridge and back.

You can see Drew in his black Kids Run Shirt to the left of the NorCal sign.  Dave and Drew are just behind him (you can click to enlarge the photo)

As you can see it was a gorgeous day in the City on April 21st.  In fact on the run it was blisteringly hot for this mama who pushed Drew in the jogger.

Drew is ready to get started.

 Here is a video taken by the local NBC station of the start of the run:



You can see Drew and us around :25, Drew running around :33 and Drew playing "elevator" in the background during the interview.


Daddy ran ahead of us, since I was pushing the stroller.  Drew started out running but his "legs got tired" about 100 yards in.  He didn't want me to bring the jogger, claiming he could run the whole time, but thankfully I didn't listen. 

Because it was warm and I was pushing the jogger with a 36ish pound kid, I took a few water breaks.

Water break # 1 about 1.5 miles in with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge

Pit stop #2 near the turnaround point so about 2 miles in.

 And here comes Daddy (left side of the picture in the read Pat's Run shirt). 

 Daddy took a brief water break to snap a picture of Drew and I

And we all made it across the finish line!  Drew didn't want to run the final 100 yards, so I pushed him to the bitter end.  My final time wasn't great 55:16, but not bad for the first race of this size pushing Drew.  Dave finished about 4 minutes ahead of me I believe.

Because it was such a beautiful day we just enjoyed the sights after the race at the Marina.

Drew was intrigued by Alcatraz (and trying to find crabs on the rocks below)

Victory shot of Dave and I

After the race we were trying to figure out what else we could do that didn't involve a lot of walking/hiking - Dave's feet were bruised from the run.  So we ended up at Golden Gate Park.

We hit up a "spinner" and a playground.  We wanted to go to the Japanese Tea Garden, but it appears everyone else in the Bay Area had the same idea - hit up GG Park - because there was ZERO parking that afternoon.  So we decided with a wounded Daddy and a hungry Mama and child we headed back home for some grub and much needed showers.

Gone But Not Forgotten

I apologize for being a slacker on the blogs, but I kind of have an excuse - not that you want to hear it.  But the last few weeks have been really busy, I had to travel for work then my computer bit the dust.

So I'm finally getting around to posting a few long overdue blogs.  This one is a farewell to a piece of our family's past as well as a treasured "landmark" in the area where I grew up - Brenden Theatres closed their doors forever on April 15th after 22 years of serving the community.  This was the original Brenden Theatre - which has grown to several other locations in California, Las Vegas, Arizona and Colorado.  The lease was up for renewal and Brenden decided not to renew.

There was something to say for Brenden in it's glory days - which I like to think was when I worked there in high school and during a few college breaks - but it was the only place in town to watch a  movie for years.  It was a great atmosphere, the people who worked there were cool and it was about the only thing to do in town.

Thanks to a few former employees and Facebook, word got out about the closure and on April 15th, those of us who worked there from 1994-1996 were able to get together to say goodbye and catch one last show in Stadium 1.  It was like a high school reunion, but better!

There were roughly 50 of us - most of whom went to various high schools in the area - so we all caught up when we first got there, enjoying some of the foods from our favorite restaurants we often had on our breaks, had beers, saw a slide show of pictures of all of us from 18 years ago, and then watched Pulp Fiction - which was a popular flick while we all worked there. 

This place was amazing to work at back in the day.  While it was the "hot job" to have in town because all the "cool" people worked there and the movie perks were pretty cool - the management was also extremely patient and understanding of our studies.  As I mentioned virtually everyone who worked here was in high school others were in college - so we were all engaged in studies.  Brenden made it a priority to encourage good grades and allowed you to bring your homework to do during the "slow" times and even helped arrange tutors on staff if needed (I did use that for math my senior year).

 

L-R: The back of Matt's head, Anthony, Jenn, Heather, Jason 

 L-R: Amy, Aaron, Kendra, Danny

  

L-R: Brian and Brian

Jenn thinking she can still work the reg

 L-R: Me, Mr. E (who looks exactly the same as he did when he hired us) and Matt

Yes Brenden was a family affair - all three of us (Matt, Lisa, and I) worked at Brenden for a time.  Sadly my brother was even my "boss" for a summer and trust me he took full advantage.  If you've ever wondered about my Mom's email address - it stems from the fact we all worked at the theatre (she created the account while Matt and Lisa were still in high school).

 L-R: Jenn and Matt
Jennie's brother was actually the one who trained my brother on the police force.

This "reunion" was a great way for everyone to catch up and shoot the breeze for a few hours.

 Heather and Mr. E - I believe Heather is grabbing his ass, something we all wish we could've done back in the day.  And for the record while he could've had girl he wanted, Mr. E was nothing but appropriate with all the hormonal teenage girls.

As expected the theatre brought some couples together, and a few of them even got married!  But for the most part it helped create an amazing bond of friendship with so many of us.  

Jeremy using the broom and scoop cleaning up a popcorn spill for old times sake.

Since the theatre was going to be gutted for the new movie company moving in... some of us left our mark on the old arcade window.

Below is Mr. E signing...

 And a few of us even took souvenirs of the place - I only got a couple of movie posters for Dave (including the Avengers and my friend Fergal snuck in a Hunger Games poster).  You can see below Matt took a theatre sign - but he also had a movie reel.

L-R: Mr E., Sam (he ran projectors), Matt, Me, Brian, Heather, Fergal

It was a bittersweet night - to say goodbye and yet hello.  Thanks to Facebook many have reconnected again and there are plans for other gatherings in the future - maybe a poker game or two. 

But it appears my son will not be able to work at his Mama's "alma mater" theatre after all...

(that was in 2008 when Drew was 9 months old)

I can only hope he finds a great place to work in high school and a great group of friends just like I found.  While the original Brenden is gone, it will live forever in my memory and hold a special place in my heart.