She's a natural with the younger men...

We just got back from an amazing weekend at Costanoa (really amazing yuppie camping by the sea) where Lea spent some of the time hanging with one of the younger boys that was on the trip. This is a bit of a pattern with her as she really like, and is really good at, entertaining younger kids.

I also had a blog comment from our friend Darren which included video of Lea playing with his son Ryan the night of the birthday basketball game. She is really cute in the video and so is Ryan, dancing around at Darren & Carol's house.



BTW Lea comes by it naturally as there is a fair bit of "it" in the family...

Lea's Big Game Birthday Tradition

Yesterday my good friend Darren and I had an early birthday celebration with Lea's in what has become somewhat of a tradition, we went to a big-time basketball game together.

This was the third year in a row and we went to see the Stanford Women's Basketball team crush the Oregon St. Beavers 82 - 48 and it wasn't really that close! Standford has an amazing team and they are so well coached which is why they are 25-1.

We had a great time (kicked off with some playtime with Ryan, Darren's son at their house) followed by heading to the game for some hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, cotton candy, yummy!

We had great seats and the the crowd was really into it because it was the last home game for the seniors.

We also got to see a little women's softball being played on the campus as we waled to and from the game which was great.

Early Happy 8th! Birthday Lea and thanks for a great time Big D!

Roller Skating - Take Me Back!

We enjoyed our Presidents Day holiday on Monday and decided to take the kids for something fun last week so we decided to take them roller skating.

To my surprise there are still roller skating rinks in business not to far from our house. We went to Cal Skate Milpitas and this really Melissa and I back about (ahem) 25+ years to the days of middle school. This place looked like it hadn't changed in that long!

The skating came back to Melissa and I fairly quickly I am happy to say. The kids had their own stories, Julia was up and skating pretty quickly, Lea took a little longer but was eventually out in the rink although moving slowly and Nicolas, spent most of his time working his way around the wall.

The rink had all of the qualities that I remember from those Saturday nights: large rink, colorful lights (including disco ball), thumping music, disgustingly dirty floor and very greasy food!

All in all we loved it (well OK I did) and it made me feel like a kid again!

Ski Week??

The kids have off from school this week and I wasn't really sure why. In fact they asked me this morning if they had the entire week off because of Presidents Day and I was pretty sure that was not it.

Then when I got to work I was speaking to some of the other parents and they said "are your kids off for ski week too?" And it hit me that, the kids are off primarily so that we can drive up to the awesome ski locations up in the Sierra! Is this a conspiracy between the ski resorts and the schools??

Very strange, and even worse, we aren't taking advantage of it! No skiing (yet!) this year.

(NOTE: the picture of me skiing, NOT)

Nicolas's good week

This past week has been a very good week for Nicolas. He won the "megaskill" award for trustworthiness which was really cool. This means he was selected from across all of the kindergartners and is really a monthly award. Here he is in the picture with another winner.

Additionally he also was the Star of the Week in his class. As the star of the week he got to be the line leader, he got to work the calendar not sure what this was but he was excited), and was also a special teachers helper.

Joyce Gordon Gallery Opening!

Just a quick post to say that Melissa had a successful opening to her 2nd art show last Friday at the Joyce Gordon Gallery in Oakland. I was able to join her Friday night after returning from a business trip to San Diego.

It was a great event shared with many other artists and patrons. I was very proud of Melissa for being included in a group of such talented artists! I thought her work was the best there (of course I might be biased) :)

Here is a link to some pictures from the opening.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=202208&id=578330169&l=afeba67355

Wild Times with Wild Zones

I took the kids out for a bike ride yesterday (yes Nicolas rides that well now) and we ended up riding down the levy near our house to the Ulistac natural area and had a wonderful surprise! We found a group from the Wild Zones who were setting up or some serious fun for kids.

The Wild Zones is a non-profit and according to their website: " Wild Zones are places where adults, children and adolescents can co-create a new form of public space that is dedicated to unstructured free play in nature. Wild Zones differ from parks and nature reserves because they offer opportunities to alter the environment rather than leaving it untouched."

This activity took me right back to my childhood where we had plentiful woods to play in around the houses I grew up in and where "be back by dinner time" was the primary rule of summer.

They encouraged the kids to build forts, explore, play in some very sticky mud etc. I built a tepee with the kids and they explored around in the woods and the other forts that were being built. Melissa brought a picnic up and we all hung out and had a blast (I am again reminded that I did not take any pictures of Melissa)

In all they had around 50 people (kids and adults) there before we finally headed back home. I signed up for their newsletter so that we can be ready the next time they are having an event.

Happy 90th Birthday Pop Pop!!

Happy 90th Birthday Pop Pop!!

As they say it's not everyday you complete 90 rotations around the sun! (well I guess that is true about every birthday but still!)

It is certainly a wonderful milestone and we here in California are sending you the biggest 90th Birthday cheer ever!

Happy Birthday to you!!

Love,

John, Melissa, Julia, Lea, and Nicolas!

Melissa Goes to Philadelphia

Melissa has had another major milestone with her blossoming art career, her artwork has been accepted in a juried art exhibit in Philadelphia (I'll explain why Philly in a moment) yeah Melissa!!

This means that a panel of judges looked at her art and all of the other submissions and she was amongst the 18 selected for the exhibit at the White Stone Gallery . The exhibit itself is entitled Fine Art & Faith. The theme of the exhibit was what inspired Melissa to submit to a gallery all the way across the country in Philly.

You can see her listed with the other artists by clicking here.

The exhibit will run from March 5th through March 28th and the winning entry will be shown for a year! I think there is also prize money but that of course is not the point.

We are all really excited and I'm super proud of her and can't wait to here how the event and showing will go.

If I can get a digital picture of the painting she submitted I will add it to the post later.