Blue Angels Team Party

sball1-710275Today we celebrated the close of a great softball season. We made it to game 3 in a double elimination playoff and had a great time every step of the way!
I could not be more proud of each of these angels as they all showed great sportsmanship even during tough games. I won’t soon forget their smiles, or the ringing of Aaliyah’s voice…

We celebrated with a pool/pizza party and they all found it very funny pushing me in the pool at every opportunity (I owe you one Elle!) Thanks to all of you parents for your assistance this season!

The 2008 Blue Angels

Sball-Team-2008-748809As this year’s softball season nears and end, I can report that aside from our 2-8-1 record, we have had a great time! Our last regular season game is next week and we are already planning our team swim party.

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It has been a joy to get to know each of these girls and watch their improvement over the season. Trish and Jill, I can’t thank you enough for your meticulous scorekeeping. I can honestly say that I learned something from each one of these girls.  As for Katey, I am SO proud of my little 3rd base girl.  I will never forget the look on her face as she caught a game winning pop-fly or the night she made her first double play.
Thanks for a great season and great memories!

Mount Ord

_KRN6552-730287Today we set out for an adventure to the top of Mount Ord.  We parked at the base, then took the quad trail which is about a 35 minute trip to the top.
Along the way, Katey spotted a lady bug (from a quad moving at 25mph) to the side of the trail so we stopped and initiated the adoption process.  From there, the four of us (including Roxy the lady bug), ventured to the top only to find a locked gate at the base of the tower…  I am sure Janet Napolitano had something to do with access to the fire tower being blocked and will make sure I vote accordingly the next time we elect a Governor.  In any case, we had a junk-food picnic at the top anyway.  It was a great afternoon together.

Happy Easter!

_KRN6417-736471After a fun-filled week in California, we arrived home just in time for Easter. We spent last night coloring eggs and baking cookies (which turned out to be pretty good!).

This morning, we had an Easter egg hunt and then got ready for church.  It was a great day!

American Girl Place – LA

IMG_0037-797574Admittedly, I have never put curlers in anyone’s hair before so when Katey asked me to help her curl her hair the night before our trip to the American Girl Place in Los Angeles, I wasn’t sure she would be happy with the result.  I reasoned that if I am able to weld, I should be able to put a few curlers in for my daughter… I was wrong!

 

IMG_0053-752598I’m not sure what chemical process failed.  I called my cousin Megan who lives in a nearby city and she saved the day!  She used something called a hot curler and got us on the road to the AGP – with curls. THANK YOU MEGAN!

 

 

We arrived shortly after they opened and were soon greeted by our “personal shopping assistant”, Brenda.  If you’re a 9 year old girl who likes American Girl dolls, this place would be like heaven.

2 floors of everything you could possibly imagine and even separate rooms dedicated to the theme of each of the character dolls.  In any case, we signed up for the portrait studio first and then proceeded to the salon to have “Jessica” and “Samantha’s” hair done before picture time.  Katey and Lauren then spent time shopping for dresses to match their dolls.

_KRN6344-749680After the portraits were done, Katey and Lauren once again joined forces with their personal shopping assistant, Brenda, who incidentally had no concern whether I would still be able to afford to send my daughters to college after this trip!

 

 

_KRN6398-770736We were then seated for a 4 course lunch complete with special chairs and place settings for their dolls.  Guess what we did after that?  Right.  More shopping before our final appointment for the day, a theatrical review of each of the doll characters.

 

I do have to say that the theater was the best way to finish our time there.  On the way back to the hotel after our 9 hour day,  Katey commented “Dad, this was the best day of my life”.  Worth it!

Knotts Berry Farm

_KRN6235-774299Today was the first full day of our spring break trip and we spent the day at Knotts Berry Farm.  Katey and Lauren had a great time and if I’m not mistaken, we covered all 160 acres 3 times in our 10 hour visit!
Lauren, being several inches taller than she was on our last visit, was able to enjoy some of the “big girl” rides, her favorite was The Sidewinder.  Admittedly, the Sidewinder left me feeling like I was going to hurl but it was worth “taking one for the team” to see the excitement in their eyes.
Katey’s favorite was The Jaguar.  She set a world record for consecutive rides and longest sustained smile!  By the days end, they had earned enough stuffed animals to start a zoo!  It was a great day and we are looking forward to the rest of our spring break adventure…

Spring Break

Today we departed for California to begin our spring break adventure.  We noticed these wild flowers along the way and decided to stop and “fertilize” them.  In order to add culture to the otherwise red-neck experience, Katey decided to break out the viola and serenade the desert with her rendition of “Bile ’em Cabbage Down”.  I will add updates from our trip as I have opportunity.

Robocut

I’ve been getting tired of making the trip to Supercuts every 3 weeks only to spend 30 minutes listening to a bunch of women speak Spanish except to ask me “where I work at…”

I’ve been dreaming for years about inventing a home hair cutting system that would incorporate a self-contained collection system with a vacuum driven blade and adjustable lengths.  I did a little research and compared the Flowbee and Robocut systems.  Both operate around the same principle however, the Robocut appeared to have the horsepower I was looking for. Interestingly, both web sites appear to have been designed in the mid 70’s.  Take a look at this guys teeth!
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Anyway, I ordered one and it just arrived.  I decided to watch the included DVD and afterwards, wished that I hadn’t. I decided to include the video here as I don’t have the words to describe it…

If you’re still reading this after that video, I don’t know why. Anyway, I broke it out yesterday and decided that at the risk of a complete hack job, I was going in. I followed the directions in the supplied booklet, oiled the blades, and set the cut length at 2 inches.  This is what the whole set up looks like:
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My conclusion:  This thing works!  I was done in 15 minutes, no mess, and saved $8.  I have estimated a return on my investment right at 19.75 months.  I am going to try it out on Pokey (the dog) next week and will update the ROI calculation accordingly if it works.

An American Girl Day

_KRN6201-752217The day started early with Katey and her friends deciding to convert every square foot of our home in to something relating to American Girl.  It was a beautiful day today so they decided to borrow my camera and take pictures of their dolls.  Lauren was able to get in the action as she was given temporary custody of “Julie”. After everyone left, we went for a bike ride to the Orange Patch which I’m sure is the last, true general store in America.