Cousins

Guess which one got a sunburn? Sam didn't think he could get a sunburn so he didn't wear his swim shirt. cousins

Jr. High

I drove Patrick to his new school this morning. He's in the G.A.T.E program which wasn't a big deal in elementary school because the gate school is Vinewood, a block from our house. However, in Jr. High the school is in Stockton, about 8 miles away.

Patrick's Schedule:
Algebra: Took that my sophomore year in high school, and my senior year in college, last semester.
Spanish: Senior Year in high school. Que Pasa? Como se dece "C is a passing grade for Sean, but not for Patrick"
Social Studies: Where he will finally be socialized.
P.E./ Tech Lab: Alternates week to week. One week they move, the next week they nerd-ized on a computer.
Science: I remember one thing from 7th grade science. Actually I remember two. One I won't tell you the whole story, but it has to do with the secret question box that we were aloud to place questions for the teacher about maturation. One of the kids put a question in the box that we all thought there was no way in heck that she would answer.....She did. This same teacher had also had a mastectomy. The other day I remember was when she passed around her, I have no idea what the real name for it is? Hmmm. Should have paid a little more attention.
Language Arts: Is this what they now call English? Why can they call Spanish, Spanish, but not English, English? German is probably German. Interesting, probably trying to fool the kids into thinking it will be fun by including the word "Art" in the name of the class. Might work for some.

The Block Walk

They were all fired up to go to school. I remember dreading going back to school. We parents loved having all the kids in school, even if it was only for a couple of hours (Georgia goes half days, Kindergarten).

5th, 3rd, and Kindergarden

Off they go. Sam is the big man on Vinewood Campus when it comes to the Kelly house now. He will be walking the girls to school now.

Georgia's Backpack

Obviously Suzi helped her pick this out.

Georgia's First Day of School!

Oh she has waited for this day! As far as she is concerned she's been going to this school for years. She has spent many days a week going to school with Suzi over the past couple of years getting to know students, and teachers. Not the least bit of fear. "Bye Mom."

If your trying to find Georgia she is sitting in front of her teacher with the light blue shirt, and the white bow in her hair.

The Office

Hello from Boston! I'm out here on a work trip. Kind of excited about being in Boston, very sad my wonderful wife Suzi is not here with me. Seeing that it is the 24th of July, and her day of birth is the 25th of July.

On my way out here I watch an episode of "The Office" on my ipod on the plane. It is by far my favorite TV show. I don't get to watch it unless I Tivo it or download it from itunes.

The episode that I watched on the plane had me laughing so hard that I was embarrassed that I was laughing as hard as I was! I was in tears, and had to get up and walk back to the bathroom. The whole way back I kept laughing about the scene which started it, and I could barely see through the tears. I'm sure I was a sight.

Once I made it back to the bathroom, the steward took my head off for being out of my seat when the seat belt light was on. As I made my way back to my seat he decided to sharply remind everyone to remain in their seat when the seat belt light is on.

You know when I was a kid that tactic might, MIGHT, have embarrassed me. The "let's point out what he's doing wrong in front of everyone tactic." Instead it just gave me another reason to keep laughing. He was probably having a bad day because people like me don't live for watching the seat belt light.

Wow

It was so orange outside tonight that I had to run outside and take a photo.

Underwater Sam

Ummmm?

Yeah.....Ummm....better not mention this to Raul.

Tres Amigos

It feels like an "Endless Summer", but the kids will be headed back to school next week. We have definately justified living in California this year with the amount of time we've spent at the beach. Last week Suzi and the kids went down to the beach with the Halligan's, Brink's, and Judd's. Here are some photos at Sea Cliff State Beach July 18, 2007 shot by Megan Brink.

Faith

Georgia was praying at dinner the other day and she included a phrase that made Hannah laugh, it was "please bless the missionaries that they won't say anything wrong."

I must admit that I laughed to, but managed to keep it under my breath. After "Amen" Georgia immediately looked over at Hannah with a glare that could kill, and says "what are you laughing about." Hannah responded sheepishly "the missionaries won't say anything wrong."

Georgia replied "YES, but they won't now."

Answer to below Question

Oh it's one of my favorites! That's the ingredients to the barbacoa meat at Chipotle. Man that stuff is muy muy yummy.

If you haven't tried a barbacoa burritto at Chipotle you need to give it a shot.

They've got a pretty fun website too: Chipotle

Mmmmm...

Anyone want to guess what these are the ingredients to?
(Hint: From one of my favorite places to eat):
4 guijillo chiles
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon ground cloves
10 allspice berries
1/3 cup Mexican oregano
12 sprigs fresh thyme
6 garlic cloves
1 Spanish onion, roughly chopped
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1 (6 to 8-pound) beef roast
Salt and pepper
1 (2-pound) package dried avocado leaves

Good Night

Suzi's out of town in Santa Cruz with the Kids. I'm up at a very unspeakable time of night. Bad combo of factors came together:

1) Don't like being home alone. (Don't mind being on the road alone, but not home alone)
2) Shouldn't drink a soda with caffeine in it any time of day, but especially right before bed time.
3) Wanted to catch up on the blog.

11 Hours Later

I love this photo for some reason. We were just outside Lodi at this point. Look at Georgia, she's asleep with her head between her legs! That can't feel good. Everyone was pretty darn good for spending as much time as they did in the car without complaint. They weren't interested in breaks either. They just wanted to be home.

Headed Home.....

, but the cousins are coming along! Took this photo as we were packing. It was about 6am.

Cherry Hill

Packing in the Fun on our week trip to Utah. I don't think we sat still all week.

Puff

A Quick Hike Up Battle Creek Cayon

Beautiful day for a hike, just a bit hot.

That water fall is about a 70-80 foot drop, and they trail runs right about over the top of it. Made me a bit nervous with these three.

Beautiful canyon empty. We saw one other group in a 2-3 hour trip. Yet the trail head is right there in Pleasant Grove. Amazing, what I wouldn't do to have that trail head here at the edge of Lodi.

"Can we go back yet?" Was the mantra after a while. I had no trouble keeping up going up the hill. Coming down was a little harder.The boys wanted to stop and enjoy the water on the way down. We built a dam for a good 45 minutes. The water was painfully cold. My feet went numb within a couple of minutes. I had to pull them out every couple of minutes to jump start the circulation in them. Not sure how the boys stayed in it for as they did.

Red and Blue

I wish I could have been closer on this photo. It's very grainy from blowing it up. I was a long ways away though.

BBQ on the 4th at Grammy's

Soccer in The Park