20th High School Reunion

It's about time that someone catches up on a few blog posts.  This one goes back to last October when we celebrated the Antioch High School Class of 1994's 20th High School Reunion!

It was a blast catching up with friends some of which I've seen over the years, but many I haven't seen since walking the halls of high school or graduation.  Dave and I helped set up early on, so we didn't get to join in the pre-reunion fun taking place at a nearby hotel.  We were able to join after the reunion - when I'd had more than my share of drinking.

Here are a few photos.

My name badge with my senior portrait

Photo Booth Fun

Jeana, Irene and I - more photo booth fun

Me, Jason & Heather

Jeff & I

Chad & I - before the Fireball shot

Jenn, Me, Andrea

My DD & I

Ladies Night: Andrea, me, Heather, Irene

The HS gang at the hotel after the reunion

 Rumor has it they're thinking about having another one for the 25th....

Cabin Fever

The past month has been a rough one in our house with both Dave and I hit by this brutal flu/virus. I was working from home for 2 1/2 weeks and Dave was bedridden for a good 4 days and we are just now getting back to normal.

That means poor Drew has been left to fend for himself for much of this time. So this past weekend when it was nice Dave and Drew joined our neighbors at a couple of local wineries (I stayed behind to sleep because I'm not quite 100%).

It looked like they had a great time!!












Dave and our neighbor Julie.



Drew overcame cabin fever - whew

What a Zoo!

Here's some math for you... 3 friends from high school + 4 kids = A Zoo!  Literally.

We made our annual trek to the Oakland Zoo on New Year's Eve with my high school friends Irene and Heather and our kiddos.  Heather and I started this tradition about three years ago, and Irene joined us last year.

Here the boys enjoy looking at bugs...
L-R: Nikos, Kingston, Drew

My not-so good attempt to catch a picture of all four of them at the alligator exhibit.
L-R: Nikos (age 5) Kingston (age 2 1/2), Olive (age 3 1/2) , Drew

Thankfully no kids were lost or fell into the exhibits this year.  (Last year Drew ran ahead and got lost at the playground scaring everyone half to death).

Drew and Nikos climbing on the frogs posing for the camera

We made our rounds and managed to stay at the zoo for about three hours before they all started whining almost on command.  So we made our escape, and tried to capture one final photo of everyone.

Clearly cooperation for photos is not their strong suit....

We're mean moms because we they were "starving to death",  "wanted to ride rides"... pick your complaint.
L-R: Drew, Olive, Nikos, Kingston

Niko cracked me up, he said he refused to look at the cameras because he thought the pouting would get him on the rides. It didn't work for him any better than it did for Drew.

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.

Our 18 Year High School Reunion

It was kind of a high school reunion weekend of sorts - our 18th to be exact (I'm shocked that it's been that long already).  We all got together for the closing of Brenden Theatres - which I'll get to posting about one of these days - but we had to drown our sorrows in wine and beer first. 

We started out drinking beer at The Hop Yard in Pleasanton of course we were like the group of friends from St. Elmo's Fire (I forget who mentioned that, that night) but it really was.  We just ate, drank and had a few laughs. 

You know when you can go a few years without seeing some of your friends, but you can pick up right where you left off... yeah that's us.

After the Hop Yard we moved over to The Vine in Danville for some wine drinking and to see another former classmate who was running the "show".  That's where we managed to snap a ton of pictures.

 

L-R: Rich, Tsan, Jenn, Fergal, Kristin (mostly hidden), Heather, Jason, Me

L-R: Jason, Fergal, Rich, Tsan, Heather, Me.

Kristin was cool enough to open some champagne for us all to enjoy - and it was really good!  I don't normally do champagne after a bad drinking experience.

We moved tables away from the loud music and enjoyed a TON of laughs and posting on facebook.  I believe there was even a discussion about how ridiculously long Heather's tongue is.

L-R: Fergal, Heather with her long tongue, Jenn

L-R: Heather, Jenn, Kristin

L-R: Jenn and Tsan the former Mr. Panther (our high school's version of Homecoming King)

L-R: Tsan, Me, Jason

Heather and Fergal - I believe they were posting pictures on Facebook or perhaps trying to find Jason on Facebook (he finally caved to peer pressure and joined that night).

Rich (our class president) and Jenn.  (hey Jenn, notice I didn't show the crotch shot picture? ;) )

 Heather and Jason.

Final shot of the night.  L-R: Jason, Tsan, Me, Rich, Jenn, Kristin, Fergal and Heather

And because we clearly didn't drink enough wine that night, we ventured out to Livermore and Cuda Ridge winery (the latest winery we joined) and tasted a flight or two and then hand a bottle to go around while everyone looked at pictures from our high school days.  We were on our way to the Brenden Reunion and needed to get our buzz on - that and purple teeth.

The folks at Cuda Ridge were nice enough not to panic at our group - of course I was rude and didn't call ahead - but they put us in the barrel room so we could taste, chat and not get in the way of other tasters.

L-R: Me, Jenn, Tsan, Elaine (Rich's wife), Rich, Fergal, Heather, Jason and Drew was there but not tasting.  Dave would be the man behind the camera.

This was seriously one of the best weekends in a while, and there was still more to go!

Kids Day at the Winery

So it was kids day at the winery this past weekend.  Well not literally, but we made it one.  We recently met our neighbor and the kids have been inseparable since.  Technically we met them, but haven't had the chance to really chat - until President's Day.  That's when we found out our neighbor's Uncle owns one of the wineries we're members at.

On Friday we all had dinner together and made plans to have a picnic lunch at the winery and we got the royal treatment after some wine tasting.  The kid who are always welcome to roam the vineyards took the opportunity to run amok around the gazebo and anywhere their hearts felt content.

Our neighbor also invited a friend of hers and her 3 year old son to join in the fun.

The boys enjoyed throwing rocks into the creek and the tunnel the bridge made.
L-R: Christopher (our neighbor), Drew, Dylan (our neighbor's friend)

The three musketeers:  L-R: Christopher, Drew, Dylan

They were even given some bribes to behave/keep quiet.  Lollipops!  Here they're looking at some cool birds - I believe this was a hawk.
L-R: Drew, Christopher, Dylan

Then we ventured off to another neighboring winery to do some additional tasting.  Well the adults... here's what the kids did. (Dylan and his mom left we made plans to meet up with them at their house for dinner)

You know these two....

And then here we are with our "new" neighbor Julie.  We love her - she's normal (well as much as we are anyway) and  she's a great person who has a kid the same age as ours - technically about 9 months younger.  The boys are attached - all they do is talk about getting together.  It's so stinkin' adorable! 

Both Dave and I (our neighbor Julie too) remember having neighborhood friends to play with, we didn't have that until now!  We feel lucky to finally have crossed paths... and yes we toasted to that!