Kids weekend

A few photos of the kids while Papa and Papu watched them. The kids ate at there 6 favorite restaurants and Shane was loving it- Food!

Repeat

My soccer team made it to the finals again and were we stuck playing the same team that we beat last session for the title. (the ones who accused me) Only difference this time is that they recruited 2 more really good girls and we had already lost 1 game and tied 1 game this session. The game was so intense that at half time they added another ref to the field. The score was so close the entire game, back and forth and when the whistle blew it was 6 to 6 ( I had 3 goals). It went to penalties and we Won! We went out and celebrated our victory that night all sweaty and gross. I still have an adrenaline rush!

Molly’s Birthday--Paso Robles

To celebrate Molly’s 35th Birthday we left the kiddos behind (Thanks Papa and Papuu) and ventured North to Paso Robles wine country.  It was our first 2-night trip together without kids in over 8 years. 

Day 1

On the way we stopped at Firestone Walker brewery near Solvang for “lunch.”  Here is a picture of the lineup.  As we neared our B&B we realized that we still had a couple of hours to kill before check-in, so we stopped at a little boutique winery called Kiamie.  We became fast friends with Greg, the winemaker, who invited us to come back the next day for chicken enchiladas and visit Tolo cellars next door.  

We stayed at the Justin Winery bed and breakfast (as seen in the distance behind Jesse’s head).  Our townhouse was incorporated as part of one of the fermentation warehouses, which looked like your basic warehouse on the outside, but once you were inside it was a plush French cottage. 

Hailey drew Molly a picture to go with her present.

 

We celebrated Molly’s birthday dinner at the winery’s restaurant called Deborah’s Room…and it was just that one cozy room maybe 20ft x 20ft with four tables.  The menu was a flexible choice 5 course dinner.  At first glance, nothing on the menu appealed to our appetites, but everything was out of this world good.  We both even had our first raw oyster. 

Day 2

We woke early the next morning and went for a run through the vineyard, ending at Debora’s room for breakfast.  At 10:30 we took a winery and cave tour (all of which was within 100 yards of our room), followed by wine tasting. 

We then set out to find Paso’s only distillery where they use 100% grape juice to make fine sipping vodka and gin.  We then headed for a local mercado for carne asada tacos on our way out to Tobin James winery. 

On our way back to Justin, we stopped back in at Kiamie and Tolo Cellars (pictured below).  We missed the enchiladas, but had a great time talking with the Tolo winemaker, Josh and his girlfriend Michelle.  We were their last customers of the day and they were headed into town for dinner and a movie, so they invited us to come along.  We had sushi and saw “The Hunger Games” at a 21+ theater.  A great way to end a very fun day.

Day 3

The night brought heavy wind and rain, but the morning was crisp and sunny.  We walked through the vineyard to breakfast at Deborah’s room and back.  After packing up, we sat on our balcony in the sun and listened to the chorus of song birds.  It sounded like one of those nature tapes, the shear number of birds was amazing. 

We had so much fun talking, exploring, and making each other laugh.  We both agree that these were the best 3 days or our life together. 

Loofah

I came into the bathroom because Shane said he needed a tampon.  I looked at him with a funny face and said, “What?”.  He said he needed a tampon.  I gave him a look and then he realized what he was asking for and started to laugh.  Shane said, “you know, that thing you use to scrub your armpits with!”  “OH” i said relieved.  I didn’t know he even knew what a tampon was.

Palm Springs –March

Annual birthday dinner at Mikados

 

Hailey being entertained by the chief

 

Shane entertaining himself

Papu doing what she does best, catching food in the air

 

Papa showing her up

Pool time

 

A tough volleyball match and

 

the stiff competition

 

Shane was all about shooting hoops.  I (Molly) tried to “verse him” as he would say,  and he killed me.  He’s got some moves

 

For whatever reason, Jesse told the kids to stick their heads out of the sunroof and wave to everyone as we drove back to the room.  They saw some maids driving a golf cart and yelled, “Ranger!” and ducked down. Goodie-toe-shoes

 

There were tons of cottontail rabbits outside our room.  Shane would chase them……

and Hailey trying to love them

Shane's report card

Great job Shane!

PAC-12 Tournament

Shane has become obsessed with watching basketball.  When I come home from work, he immediately asks if we can watch basketball tonight.  I decided to take him to the first round of the PAC-12 tournament at Staples Center.  We got to see two games for the price of one: WSU vs. OSU and UCLA vs. USC (the good guys won).

We bought seats in a 12-person box from ticketcity.com and had the box to ourselves for the first game. Only 2 people joined us for the second game. It was great!  Shane loved scanning the barcode on the tickets to open the door.

In the box

Between games we walked around and found the Verizon booth, which had the actual tournament trophy in it.  I ask if we could take a picture with it and the guy nervously said “yes.”  If he knew that Shane is capable of spilling an unopened can of soda all over the place, I don’t think we would have got this picture.

Ringer

My soccer team beat one of the best teams in the league. After the game a few of the girls on the other team went to the office and accused our team of bringing on a 20 year old ringer. We do play in a 30 and over league, so they checked my birthday to see if i was legit. Feels Good!

Vegas Baby, Vegas!

While 45 of our neighbors went skiing during Ski Week, we went to Vegas. We did family version and we were still busy seeing and doing stuff the whole time. We hung out at the pool and jacuzzi everyday to relax because of all the walking we did. We had great meals, 2 buffets that Shane ate his moneys worth. It was a nice little getaway from reality...pirate ships, volcanoes, pyramids, water shows and all the theme hotels.

Here the kids are in an arcade where Shane hit the jackpot playing Wheel of Fortune!

A little taste of Italy, the sky is fake and we are inside in a mall

Jesse and Shane went on a crazy simulator ride that Shane said was “Awesome” twisting and turning upside down

A very common attraction in Vegas--escalators are on the streets, flat ones on bridges, and everwhere in the casinos. The kids loved playing on them, especially going the wrong way

The ridiculous 4 story M&M store that had a 3D movie, who knew?

Smile kids, the Eiffel Tower! They just wanted to go in the candy store that was behind them.

We went to a one man show and it was hilarious to say the least. I pointed to Jesse when he asked if anyone could juggle. I think Jesse was on stage for 1/2 the show while the guy sat down next to me to watch Jesse.

Hailey couldn’t stop laughing during the show, neither could I. But I was laughing at all the jokes that went WAY over the kids heads!

A cool chair in a bar

The Mirage Hotel (where we stayed)

Getting ready to watch the Bellagio watershow

Thanks Vegas!

Kid Swap

We did a little kid swap last week because we wanted to go to the UCLA basketball game and knew Hailey wouldn’t enjoy it. So we switched kids with the Wada’s and got Kyle for the day. Hailey was so excited to ditch us and hang out with Calvin and the rest of the Rancho Vista kids. They pretended to be brother and sisters and held hands according to his mom. She attended opening day for baseball and got to see the parade and do all the carnival games. Here is Calvin and Hailey on the jumpy

Hailey had so much fun that she wouldn’t even talk to me on the phone when i called. When we came to pick her up she wanted to stay longer at the Wada’s house, even after 6 hours with them. Talk about independent Here she is with Mischa

Here are Shane and Kyle at the UCLA game which was so exciting, down to the last 1.5 seconds of the game. It brought back so many great memories for Jesse and I, we attended all the games back when we were in school. We were yelling and cheering and of course doing the 8-clap. So Fun!

I told the kids to give Josephine Bruin bunny ears, Kyle listened. It was so neat to see how into the game the boys were. Shane even said he likes basketball more than soccer now!

All i want to do is go back to another game. Go Bruins!