Happy Birthday, Love

Last year I posted the year-in-review for Wes's birthday. Here's round two:Did a little horse whispering at the Styles' last August.

He mastered hand-eye coordination, by catching a mouse in a box.

(And I was too scared to take a steady photo).

He got Tigers playoff tickets.

He met his new niece, Gracie in October.

He had his own clone in December. . .

and immediately initiated him into the strange activities of our family.

Then he got Colts playoff tickets. (Noticing a trend?)
And celebrated a Super Bowl victory with a colts-geared family.

He discovered his inner-Martha with the Strawberry Tart.

And proved that he's still got it with Steve and Jeff "The Physique" Lampi.

Happy Birthday! We love you.

Weather in Tahoe

80's by day; 40's (upper) by night. Can't wait.

Dr. G's minute of fame!

GO GREEK ONCE A WEEK BABY!!!

So check this out: So, Steph and I + ninos were up at the lake this weekend and her Dad shared with us a clip of an upcoming primetime presentation in November aired on channel 7 ABC in Michigan (provided funding comes through) called "OUR GREEK STORY." It's pretty cool...like this filmmaker guy has already filmed and aired "Our Italian Story" and "Our Polish Story" which celebrates the beautiful ETHNIC diversity and histories of immigration to America. And the Doc gets a cameo. See if you can spot him on the tralier: http://www.ourstoryof.com/greek/trailer.html

Anyways, much love and hit up some gyro and dip some bread in olive oil to toast Dr. Georgiou and his efforts as Greektown's President! He has so much pride in Detroit and I am proud to be from its suburd.....Brighton HA! right! LA can't even touch the ethnic rich fabric of the D-town!

I'll be posting something else of a different matter soon....catch you cats in Tahoe.

More Important Tahoe Updates

While Gracie takes her mid-morning nap I thought I'd use my few free minutes to post some info including maps for all to print out. Only 3 weeks away and after watching the Celebrity Golf tournament on the shores of South Lake Tahoe yesterday, Abigail and I are both itching to head north! We're planning on getting to the cabin on Monday the 6th to get stuff set and ready for everyone. Since most everyone else is landing/arriving on Wednesday, Abigail has volunteered to prepare dinner for the cabin that night. There will definitely be a mountain/cabin theme to be sure! Here's some other important info:

1) How do I get to the cabin?
We're all coming from different directions with some from LA/OC and some from SF so I'll post a more general map here
and a more specific map here
It's basically one of only two cabins on Hupa Rd and it's the last cabin in the back. If you get lost in transit, call me at (626) 536-8014.

2) Pack and Plays for Kids
I've been able to secure 3-4 pack and plays for the kiddos to sleep/play in. I'll assume that Cash and Greyson will need one, and I heard that Eden will have his own since he'll be in SoCal earlier that week. If I'm wrong on any account, please let me know.

3) Appropriate Clothing
No, this is not a pre-S.I.T.S. talk about how moddest is hottest...Gracie's got a cute two piece that would have gotten her sent home. This is about the fact that you'll want to throw in a jacket or sweater, because even in August, the nights at 6,200ft have been known to get a little cool.

4) Bedding
If everyone could just throw in a set of sheets, that would probably help cut down on the amount of laundry we have to do on Sunday. There are plenty of blankets at the cabin we can use, but it'd be a good idea to thrown in a set of sheets. We'll check the pillow situation when we get up there and let everyone know what to pack. There are pillow, but I can't remember how many.

If you have other questions that I'm not thinking of, post it on this blog, as I'm sure I'm forgetting something. See you soon!

Baby's First Race

Over the past weekend we ran a team marathon with Becky's sister Kristin and her husband Mike. This marks the official start to the running career of our newest addition. Becky ran a 5 mile section of the marathon and did great. Minus a 20 minute delay on our last exchange (due to the shuttle driver's fault) we would have come in 27th place overall, out of 80 teams. Not bad for our first team relay. It was fun had by all and we already are shining our shoes for the Bellevue marathon sequel.

From a Gladiator, to a Golden Bear- thats right, after a long week of contemplating, I have accepted a job about an hour away from Glendora as the Activities Director of Temecula Valley High School. This job is going to be such a great experience, as I work toward an administrator. The actual job is teacher/administrator. I will teach one class of Spanish, one class of leadership, and then the rest of the day will have an office and be on the administrative team. I guess that the one dance I went to in High School paid off, since I will be incharge of all the dances at TVHS. Norm...any help???
The only bummer is that we will have to move closer to Temecula, thus distancing ourselves from J&A and Andrew, yet will still be close. Also Becky will now need to leave the Homework House after a great 2 year run, thus giving her time to be a mom as we start a new chapter in our lives!
Thats whats new in our 626.

Ode to Magic Shell

We had another warm summer evening last night and so after putting Gracie to bed I set out for Vons with a craving for cold ice cream. Needless to say I came back with some Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough...what else? But, while purusing the ice cream freezer, I can across a shelf that took me back to Thursday nights with The Cosby's and Family Ties. Magic Shell. I had almost completely forgot about this mysterious goodness. I paused and picked up a bottle to see just what it was made of remembering how I used to put ample amounts of it on the creamy goodness. The back label informs you that this stuff is packed with nutritional magic. It has 16 g of fat and 210 calories in a 2 Tbsp serving. I remember using at least a quarter cup = 4 Tbsp = 32 g of fat = 420 calories. Throw that on top of at least a cup of cookie dough ice cream = 18 g of fat = 360 calories and you get the picture. 50 g's and about 780 calories. But, hey it made Theo that much cooler and Skippy that much funnier. I say we all indulge in Tahoe. Who's in?

5k

Felicidades to Wes, Steve, and Jeff for running the Brighton Hungry Duck 5k on Wednesday. The race raised enough money to provide something like 160,000 meals to Livingston County through the food bank. We all carbed up with them the night before (courtesy of Debbie and Shea), but perhaps it was those pre and post-run coffees at 7am that helped them push it that last mile.

Michigan 4th of July

We've had a lovely extended weekend in Michigan to celebrate the War of Insurrection (if you want to know ask the over-bearing employee at the Copper Pickle in Howell). Sunday we all went out for a friendly golf game (Cash and I enjoyed the view from the cart). Unfortunately for Wes, Bill challenged him to a duel and ended up playing the game of his life. Par. 11 shots ahead of Wes. Ouch. The competition was relatively friendly, other than Wes muttering, "Cocky" between his teeth after Bill put his club in his "hip-holster" following a killer putt (and another killer putt . . . and . . . another killer putt). But the real award goes to Lena--not only for getting Bill out on the course more often but also for playing her best game yet! Three cheers for Mama Gaines!


And now . . . Bill playing golf:

And Wes playing golf:
(I couldn't resist that one).