Our Trip to Redondo Beach

Here are some highlights of our trip to Redondo Beach and to see LA Galaxy vs. Seattle Sounders...

Lexi in the car on the way down.

Boys getting ready for the beach

Lexi on the beach, not going in...


Catching a wave.

My surfer boy!!!


Redondo Pier


Lexi and I on the Ocean Racer Boat

We saw seals while out on the boat

Beautiful View


After spending all day on the beach, Lexi and I went back to the hotel to clean up and head to the game. It was a great game with Seattle winning 2-0. David Beckham received his first red card in MLS and was ejected from the game along with Lewis from Galaxy and Marshall from Seattle.

The Home Depot Center Entrance

First in line to get in

In our seats with her new Galaxy tote bag

This is the view of the field..

Seattle Crew making their entrance

Zakhauni and company from Seattle


Landon Donovan who was suffering from Swine Flu and the rest of the non starters for the game. This is Lexi's favorite player. He did play the 2nd half.

David Beckham making his own entrance

We went back to the beach before heading home. The boys were worn out from the 9 hours they spent in the water the day before so they were only in it for a little while. This is the last picture I took as we were leaving.


We had a wonderful time and didn't want to come home.

End of Summer

With summer coming to an end and practices starting up again, I am looking forward to a couple of trips. The first is to LA in the middle of August. Lexi's favorite soccer team is the LA Galaxy and her second is Seattle Sounders. It works out that they play each other before school starts and I was lucky enough to get really good tickets for a small price, so we are going. She is so excited to finally see her favorite players live and not on TV as she watches them everytime they are on. We are going to tape the game at home so we can watch it when we get back. If you are flipping the channels and come across the game between these two teams, look for us in the stands.

She isn't sure who she is rooting for that day but either way, her favorite team wins. She wants to be there early to see the warm ups and has found out that they are giving tote bags away that day so we will have to be one of the first 10,000 to the stadium, I feel a long day of soccer is ahead of us.

Originally it was going to be just her and I that went but then my sister in law decided to take my nephew and Frank to see the ocean and it happens it is the same weekend so we are going to ride down and stay at the beach. It should be a really fun trip and a nice get away before school starts. Tyler is a little bummed because he is staying home with his dad but they will have fun together.

My next trip was to Seattle but that is postponed for now. It was a solo trip for me with no kids and hopefully it will work out that I can go in October or sooner but more than likely October....I was really looking forward to some fresh seafood and enjoying the pacific northwest.

Happy Birthday Monkey

Wow, I cannot believe that you are 9 years old. It seems like just yesterday that we were driving to the hospital at 100 miles an hour since you had decided not to wait until we got to the hospital to come into this world. I never heard you cry when you were born but boy you sure have made up for that since then. You had a rough start but I will never forget the first time that I finally got to see you with your eyes that were swollen shut from the blood vessels being broken in them and how much you looked like your brother.

You make me laugh each and every day and I thank you for that!!! I love your stories and jokes and my favorite will always be the first time we met Old Man Jenkins who was in China. I hope that you never lose the ability to make us laugh. You are adventerous and a daredevil and I love seeing the world through your eyes.

I hope that you have a wonderful birthday Monkey and just know how much I love you.

Mommy

Another 40th

When I was a kid, 40 seemed old but now that I am there (almost), it isn't old at all. Most of my friends turn 40 this year and today another one of my closest friends celebrates this milestone. This person came into my life when I was a freshman in high school. We both were the new kids in a class that was mostly kids who knew each other since kindergarden. It was a tough transition for both of us and I think that is part of the reason why we became such good friends. There were situations that brought us very close and I was even lucky enough to go to prom that year with him (even though at the time he didn't realize this is how I felt). He was someone that had big dreams and has been fortunate to achieve many of them and I am so proud of him. We remained extremely close friends throughout high school and the year we graduated, we were involved in a serious crash. He held my hand and kept me calm until we went to the hospital all the while in pain himself. I didn't see him again after this day as we both went our separate ways to different hospitals and then eventually on to college. We kept in touch here and there through the years and yet even with the distance, we somehow found each other and when we did talk, it was always easy and we picked up right where we had left off. We remained close friends and now with the age of technology, he is a big part of my life once again and I am ever grateful for that!



Happy Birthday my dear friend, since you didn't want anything, here is my gift to you. I hope that the next 40 years are as great for you as the last 40 have been, and thank you for being in my life once again.

Happy 40th Birthday

40 years ago today, a very special person in my life was born. I didn't know her for the first 10 of her years but once we met, we became instant friends and were inseperable. The day we met I will never forget and I am so thankful that she has been apart of my life for 30 years. Through good times and bad, she never gave up on me and has always been there for me. She is an amazing mother and a great example as a person. When we were little kids, we dreamed of living next door to each other and raising our kids together. I am fortunate enough to say that in some respect this did happen. We don't live next to each other and lately haven't seen enough of each other but our kids were together when they were little all the time. Even though I don't see her much, that doesn't mean that she is not always close to me. I know that no matter what, she is just a phone call away and would drop what ever she was doing to come over if I needed her to and has done just that for me and I would do the same for her.

Happy Birthday Neece, I hope you have a wonderful day and know that I am thankful each and every day for you being brought into my life because friends like you don't come around very often.

5th Grade Graduation

This was Lexi's 5th Grade Graduation Dance with her best friend Rachel who is standing next to her in the Kindergarden Graduation picture below. Wow, how much they have changed and grown in to beautiful young ladies. I cannot believe that they start middle school in the fall.

Happy Birthday Lexi

Kindergarden Graduation 2004




11 years ago today, I was blessed with a beautiful baby girl. She was overdue like her older brother but worth every minute we waited. I was so happy that she had dark hair but was afraid it would eventually go lighter which it didn't. Her eyes are the color of the water behind her in the picture and she has the most beautiful soul you will ever meet.

Lexi loves to read and has a quest for knowledge. She also loves to shop and is a girly girl but then she also loves soccer which is why we call her soccer queen. She would spend everyday either playing or watching if I let her. Her favorite treat is Starbucks.

She is one of the nicest people you will meet and some days is too nice to her brothers. She did inherit temper from both sides but luckily she is like her dad and it takes a while for it to come out but when it does, WATCH OUT!!!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl and thank you for being who you are and making me proud of you each and every day!

Love

Mom

New Moon Countdown

Disneyland, Soccer and the Beach part III

After the tournament was done on Sunday, we had promised the boys that we would take them to the beach.

This is from our hotel

The weather had cleared up and it was really nice but the water was COLD!!! The kids didn't care, they had a blast.

Sunset on Laguna Beach

Disneyland, Soccer and the Beach part II

After getting to our hotel in Dana Point around 11pm, Lexi and I had to be at her team meeting at 6:30am. I left everyone else and took her to the game for warm up and then went back and picked Daddy up. It was pouring rain once again so the girls learned how to play in the rain and what it is like to have a wet, slick ball to kick. After the game, we went back to the hotel to dry off, eat breakfast and pick up everyone else to go to the second game.

Here is Frank still able to text even in the rain.

Here are some pictures of Lexi from the weekend.

This is her after the 1st game, sleeping on the way back to the hotel.

Disneyland, Soccer and the Beach

Lexi's soccer team travelled to Laguna Beach for a soccer tournament last week so we made a family mini vacation out of the trip. Originally it was going to be just Lexi, Grandma and I but then I found a great deal on tickets to Disneyland so we decided that we had to take the boys because I would be too guilty without them and then at the last minute, Daddy was able to get the time off from work and go with us too. We did not tell the boys about Disneyland, we wanted to surprise them. We left home at 5:30 in the morning and headed to California. I had been watching the weather and it said that it was supposed to be cloudy with a chance of rain in the morning but boy were they wrong!! The sky was clear until we started to drop down into the LA valley. The boys did not figure out we where we were going until we were almost there. Here is a picture of them finding out.

We got to the park around 10:15 and the longest wait we would have all day was the tram from the parking to the parks.

Here are the boys as we headed to Disney's California Adventure.

After getting into the parks, Grandma went to find rain ponchos, umbrellas and hats (thank you Grandma!!!) because the clouds had opened up and dropped a downpour, the rest of us headed to ride Tower of Terror. It was a great ride and there was no lines for any of the rides. We would wait a few minutes and then get right on. Fastpasses were not necessary and we had a fantastic day. After spending a couple of hours in DCA and having ridden all the rides there, we headed to Disneyland. Here are some pictures from the day.

this is on the pier at DCA.

We ran into Tigger just as he was coming out to say hello so we didn't have to wait for him either.

Kids in Jail in Toontown

After a long day and riding everything, we decided to call it a day. We were all sore, cold, wet and hungry but had a fantastic day. I was a little sad walking down Mainstreet because I had looked all day but had not found Mickey. Just before the exit, Tyler had to go potty and as he and Grandma walked down the alley, I heard him yell, he had finally found Mickey and Minnie for me.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

Next to come is the tournament.