Ocean View HS 01-31-18

We visited our first high school with Cecily tonight. Ocean View had an Open House for 8th grade students. Sports and Activities had booths set up, and we were able to take a tour of the school. The photography class looked amazing with giant Apple monitors for digital cameras and a very cool dark room with spinning doors for film cameras. They also had a large kitchen for culinary arts and a garage for autoshop. So crazy that Cecily will be in high school next year! http://pix.sfly.com/FJjaPy

Stephanie's Baby Shower 01-28-18

After selling cookies in the morning in our neighborhood, we headed up to Pasadena for Stephanie's baby shower. Cecily and Caren had fun taking pics of the macaroons, after guessing Stephanie's due date. Can't wait to see what day she is actually born and what her name will be! http://pix.sfly.com/_2gDdU

Girl Scout Cookies 01-27-18

On Saturday, Caren picked up their Girl Scout Troop's cookies. This year, Cecily is working hard to sell lots of cookies so she can use the money she earns to help pay for her trip to New York for bridging across the Brooklyn Bridge. Sunday morning, Cecily set out to sell cookies in our neighborhood with a little help from Sophia. http://pix.sfly.com/aTEGZ-

ivivva 01-24-18

Cecily was invited to participate in an ivivva design session at the Lululemon in Fashion Island with Francesca. The girls first did a quick workout with the other girls before heading inside to talk to the designers while the moms stayed outside to discuss ivivva with the designers from Canada. It was very similar to a focus group as they asked what we liked and didn't like about ivivva for girls. At the end, the girls all got a $50 gift card to use in the store. http://pix.sfly.com/OsBjm0

All-Star Soccer 01-20-18

The All-Star team played their last game this morning against Region 55 (Alvarez). Our team started out strong by scoring the first goal. But then they fell apart and ended up losing 1-4. We ended the tournament in 4th place (out of 5 teams). After the game, the girls signed pictures for each other and the coaches before we headed to Roasting Water for a final team get-together. Great season, Stormbreakers! http://pix.sfly.com/yg6R49

Puppy Graduation 01-17-18

Cecily and Caren have been taking Willow to puppy training at Petsmart for the last six weeks. Tonight was graduation night for Beginning Puppy Training. Willow passed all her tests and earned her certificate. She even got her picture taken with a graduation cap (although it's hard to tell in the pics). Next she will be moving on to Intermediate Training. http://pix.sfly.com/0vktqz

All-Star Soccer 01-14-18

Friday after school, Amelia came over so she could take some fun photos with Cecily. They had a great time taking pictures of each other near our house. http://pix.sfly.com/aw8HOG

This was the first weekend of the All-Star Tournament. We had a bye Saturday morning, so our first game was at noon against Region 117 (Gould). It was freakishly warm, and we played on a turf field. Our team ended up losing 1-2. http://pix.sfly.com/YnqhWk

Sunday morning, we had the strangest game ever against Region 5 (Seck). The center ref blew his whistle almost every 10 minutes, and each time we never knew who he was going to call it against or for. Before 8:30 am, he had given out two yellow cards with Cecily getting the first one! Apparently, she was carded for high kicking even though it did not look like it. Luckily, we still won the game 1-0. http://pix.sfly.com/1SvP2u

After the morning game, we all stuck around and enjoyed a Mexican lunch while we waited for our next game. The girls had a great time hanging out together, and they even got in a quick little photoshoot. In the afternoon, we had our final game of the first weekend against Region 56 (Ostovarpour). Our goalie had injured herself the day before, so today the girls actually had to play both games with no subs. Region 56 was a tough game as they had excellent players on their team. For a game against a hard team and our team having no subs, we did pretty well holding our own even though we lost 1-2. http://pix.sfly.com/KwGiwr

Hi-5 Tournament 01-07-18

Our All-Star soccer team played in the Hi-5 Tournament in Fountain Valley as practice for the All-Star Tournament. Grandma and Papa even came down to watch Cecily play. The first game was against the All-Star team from Region 254 Burbank. We had a lot of shots on goal but still lost 0-2. http://pix.sfly.com/2-azyq

The second game of the day was at 8 pm! Even though the fog started rolling in, our girls played hard and tied the All-Star team from Region 59 West Grove 0-0. http://pix.sfly.com/apvm1x

If we had played well, we could have played for a medal (1st-4th place). But we ended up only playing three games and wound up in last place - 5th. So our final game was against Fountain Valley, and we lost 1-2. http://pix.sfly.com/v-ei35

Universal Studios 01-05-18

Caren wanted to see the holiday decorations at Universal Studios so we headed there on Friday. Unfortunately, they were already dismantling Grinchmas, but we did get to see the holidays in Harry Potter world including the Hogwart's light show. Caren took Cecily on the Mandarin tram tour to see how much she could understand (only 1/4), then they saw the Animal Actors show where there was a dog that looked like Lumi. Even though it was crowded, we didn't try to do a lot and just walked around to check things out. Looking forward to coming back to see all the Lunar New Year decorations for the Year of the Dog! http://pix.sfly.com/abc2bG

Knott's 01-03-18

We renewed our passes and headed to Knott's for a few hours. Caren was hoping to see the Snoopy on Ice Show, but it was too late in the day. After going on the Log Ride and the Ferris Wheel, we grabbed some lunch in Camp Snoopy. Then we headed home so Cecily could work on her science project. http://pix.sfly.com/VDHp2W

New Year 01-01-18

On New Years Eve, Caren took Cecily and her friend Kaylei miniature golfing during the day and then they all went to the Conne's house in the evening for the party. Of course, Richard was sick and went to bed at 7 before we even headed over to the party. http://pix.sfly.com/4-Ofyd

Happy 2018! We spent time with Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Otto and had a nice ham lunch for the new year. Now we need to plan a time to take Willow out to Arizona! http://pix.sfly.com/my-kP5