Turning off comments (revised)

I've been getting a lot of spam comments on my blog lately so I am going to turn off the comments feature until I can see if there is a way to prevent it from happening. Basically it seems that automated programs have found my blog and are putting ads for products in as comments and it has become annoying. If you have a real comment about one of my posts then you know how to reach me.

I guess I should have looked at the settings first, seems I can force someone to have a registered account and moderate comments on older posts so i am leaving them on just tightening the restrictions.

Artsy week

This past week has been really special because I've been able to spend so much time with the family. One of the things that has made it so fun is working with Melissa on some of her art projects and this was a particularly artsy week.

We started by dropping off her picture in Los Gatos for the art show there. I helped with the display samples for the competition for the Milpitas senior center. We went to Livermore so that she could survey the space at the Livermore Presbyterian church where she is doing some commissioned art for the sanctuary. And today we went to Oakland to pick up her work from the Joyce Gordon gallery and went by the opening of the Los Gatos show.

So all in all it has been an amazing past several days and I am so glad I have been able to experience it with Melissa!

Speedy Lea

Lea has been playing a lot of softball over the last few weeks. I know this because I have been to every practice and game and we have been together a lot (which is good!)

Last Saturday was picture day (i'll post them when I have them) and they also had a fund raiser for the league which was called Jamboree. It was a pretty simple affair with three different activities designed as a competition with the winner getting a gift certificate. The fund raising part came from the fact that there was an "entry fee" of $3 for each kid to participate in the Jamboree. The three activities were running the bases, throwing and hitting a softball. Each girl in the league with the fastest time around the bases, farthest through or longest hit would win a $20 gift card to the local baseball and softball supply store.

Well it turns out our little Lea is pretty speedy because she was the fastest of the 50+ girls in her league!! This is pretty significant because the league is for 7-9 year olds which means Lea (having just turned 8) ran faster than all of the 9 year olds in the league and I know there are some! She used the money to buy herself a new batting helmet with face cage (which are required by the league).

Mega day for Lea

I've been very lucky over the last few weeks because during my time off I've gotten to do lots of things with the kids that I would normally miss. For example last week I was able to go on a field trip with Nicolas over to the local hotel and he was VERY excited to have dad along instead of mommy. He held my hand almost the entire time!

Another thing that I was able to attend was one of the megaskills award ceremonies over at the kids school. The reason we went was that we had a heads up from lea's teacher that she won the 2nd grade megaskill award this month for empathy. The megaskills program recognizes a few kids from each grade for demonstrating key life skills (Nicolas and Julia have each won the trust award). It was great to be able to attend the event for a change and to actually see her go up in front of the entire school and accept the award and we were of course very proud of her! Here is a picture of her with her certificate.

Buuuusy weekend!!!

This past weekend we were so busy I didn't even have a chance to blog about a couple of very important things. Being that I am in the middle of my vacation time I can see why retired people I know tell me they are more busy now than when they worked!

Here are the highlights from the schedule:

Friday afternoon we went to see the Cirque du Soleil - Ovo show. It was an incredible event with amazing tricks, acrobatic feats, music, lights etc. If you have not had a chance to see a show I highly recommend it. Afterwards we went out to dinner in San Jose.

Saturday morning (adter I went for a 5 mile run) Lea had her second softball game which consumed more than three hours, but the good news is they won and Lea had 2 hits and 2 runs scored! She is doing very well for her first season!

Saturday afternoon we hurriedly ran some errands.

Early Saturday evening we went to a murder-mystery play where participated in the play. The setting was a steam ship crossing the Atlantic in 1941 on the days following the declaration of war between the UK and Germany. I played a German engineer and Melissa played a cabaret singer. We dressed up in costumes as did everyone else and had a ton of fun. Neither of us solved the mystery but we sure had fun trying. We got back to the house very late so the kids were beat to say the least.

Sunday morning (after I went for a 6 mile run) we celebrated Lea's 8th birthday with a made to order breakfast and presents and cards. It was fun and she thanks everyone for the nice gifts.

Sunday afternoon we had a small group meeting with some folks from Church and then Sunday evening we went out to birthday dinner at Red Robin.

Whew, I think I need to go back to work to rest!!!

I'll post some pictures from Lea's games soon.

Summer hot?

Ya gotta love "winter" in California. Today was a warm but not hot day but even still Nicolas and Lea insisted on running through the sprinklers in the backyard! We of course obliged them.

Click here to see more pictures.

Lea's First Softball Game

Last night Lea played in her first ever softball game. It is a real pitching league (although there are no walks) and all the players did really well. Lea's team, the Red Hotz, played well and although they don't keep score they won 5-0! It was a fun but a little long game which started at 6 and didn't finish until 7:45.

The season is now in full swing and her next game is Saturday. After that it will be 2 per week until the end of May, so many games to go!

You can see a few more pictures from the game by clicking here.

Happy 10th Birthday Julia!

Today is an extra special birthday for Julia, her 10th!! As I have blogged about in birthdays past they seem to go so fast but this one make us think back and reflect even more. 10 years ago we were in Australia, hadn't even been married a full year and were excitedly awaiting Julia who, true to form, was a few days late. :)

We are going to have a nice quite family party tonight with special guest Granne, and then a big sleep over party next Saturday with 10 friends and a puppeteer.

For now we wish her Happy Birthday and many more!