Palm Desert

So moving backwards here...this is the second half of the trip.  Are you following so far?  Ha!

Last week Morgan, Jack and I flew with Jenifer and Arianna to So Cal to spend the week out in Palm Desert.  108 degrees.  Hot.  But a great visit and some fun activities thrown in the mix.

On the drive out to the desert we saw a billboard for a local hotel that looked like a fun place to entertain the kids.   One of the pluses of visiting the desert in the summer is the cheap room rates.  Rancho Las Palmas is an awesome resort.  The rooms are recently remodeled and the swim area referred to as Splashtopia is geared toward families.  We got a room with easy access to the Splashtopia area which made coming and going easy.  There was a huge pool, lazy river, a couple long slides, a beach entry pool and a water park.  It may have been 108 degrees, but this was a great way to cool off.

And Jack went down his first slide. He barely made the height requirement, but he was fearless and went again and again.

The last night we went to the Palm Springs Aerial Tram.  I'm not sure why after living most of my life in Southern California I never managed to do this, but this was great.  First of all as we rose 8,500 feet we went from 100 degree weather to 70 degree.  Ahhh, natural air condition how I have missed you!!  The tram ride? Awesome-it rotates so you get spectacular 360 degree views.  At the top?  Amazing.  Talk about a contrast in terrains.  And again more views.

Backwards Week

Long neglected little blog...

Sleeping in our own beds, catching up around the house, and enjoying the last half of summer-that is what on the agenda this week.

Our summer so far has been busy.  I like busy, it keeps everybody from whining and gives me an excuse not to get everything on my to do list done.  But there is something to be said for having a lazy day or two.  And that is exactly what I have planned this week.  However, I'll catch you up on our busy-promising to share a little every day for the rest of the week.

I think I'll start backwards.

On Saturday, Morgan, Jack and I flew from So Cal to Sacramento (and might I add that Sacramento may just have the nicest airport I've ever been in!) and were picked up by Chris, Garrett and a soccer friend for a weekend tournament in Elk Grove.  We had just left the desert, so I was very much looking forward to a weekend in the low 90's!  But low 90's on an AstroTurf field is more like 100-sigh!

Once again, I'm the team photographer, so escaping under an umbrella from the heat was not an option.  But at least I wasn't running around, it was tough in that heat.

This was Garrett's first tournament of the season.  They came in third which sounds impressive, but it was a pretty small tournament.  They only had 3 goals scored on them and they scored 3 goals in four games.  So not a lot of excitement.  But Garrett did get 2 of the 3 goals so he was happy. 
We ended up in the consolation bracket against against the Ptown team.  Trust me, we were all scratching our heads that we had to wait around for a 4:30 game to play a team from our own city.

Jack has been coming to Garrett's soccer games since he was a couple weeks old. Of all the teams Garrett has been on, this is the first year there is a little boy the same age as Jack. Jack was thrilled (and we were thrilled that he would be entertained). This is a definite bonus to the team this year.

We did not get home until 7:00 on Sunday and let me tell you a bed has never looked so inviting.

Just a sneak

 

So many pictures...just giving a little taste of our vacation.  Piles of laundry await, so will share more later.

Congrats!

Cheer season wrapped up on Sunday with a 2nd place finish at the USA Jr. Nationals at California Adventure. The girls did such a great job and were so close to first. Can't be disappointed when they had such a great experience.

February 12

1. My poor sick little one. Day 3 of some type of flu, his fever ranged from 98.6 to 104.7 today.
2. Chris took a pity trip to buy Jack a little something to cheer him up-a garbage truck which he loved.
3. That would be Garrett driving. He's doing really well and I'm now the passenger most of the time I'm in the car with him.
4. Garrett's high school soccer team had a post season picnic. Beautiful day outside and the boys played some type of game for 3 hours.
5. Garrett with his two buddies, Andrew and Chet, were the victors of the game today.
6. Kind of a down day for Morgan. She had been sick this week so I've kept her isolated from Jack and being busy with Garrett's activities she had Facebook to keep her company.
7. Still had time to cross things off my 40 bags in 40 days list. I'm falling a bit behind, but even today I got a couple more things accomplished.
8. Moving on from Facebook, Morgan painted her nails, listened to music and surfed the web. Not a very exciting day for her.
9. You don't know how excited I am to dump this box of cords in the trash. I don't have a clue what any of them go to and frankly, they are such a mess I could never find the cord I was looking for.
10. Garrett in the last game of the winter futsal session.
11. His team had a 7-4 victory and won the championship.
12. Late dinner. Stopped to pick up dinner at La Salsa.

Follow Up-40 Bags

So it's been 40 days since I said I was hopping aboard the 40 bags in 40 days challenge. Did I do it?

You bet your sweet patootie I did! And boy, does it feel good!

I ended up convincing 4 other friends to join me and that was great motivation along the way. I think we're all going to go out and celebrate and share our accomplishments.

So, 40 bags-where did they go?

Well the trash cans were full each week.
But I have to say, I have a much easier time parting with my belonging if I know they are going to a place where they can be used. So here's where some of the bags went.

• My niece Arianna got a box of adorable clothes that belonged to Morgan and she has a bag here that I'll be passing off to my mom to bring to her in person.
• The SPCA got a bag of older towels and blankets that they use for the animals.
• Charities such as Salvation Army, Goodwill, and Shepherd's Gate got clothes, shoes, household items, toys, and furniture.
• I found a box of Garrett's shirts that were barely worn, some still new. And while I could have passed them along to a charity above, there's an upscale thrift store that supports the American Cancer Society. I think it's a worthwhile charity and know they would be able to get some good prices on the clothes. I added some tablecloths and other items I knew would sell well.
• I consigned a bench and two table lamps.
• We took many old cans of paint to the hazardous waste recycling plant.
• We recycled a big container of batteries.
• We donated a lot of old electronics to an E-waste fundraiser.
• I sold/gave away items through The Mother's Club.
• I brought a large bag to Office Max to have papers shredded.

I wouldn't say it was hard coming up with my list of 40 items. But as I moved through different areas of the house and garage, I realized my list could have been much so longer. So going to take a bit of a purging break and then tackle a few more areas.

Competition

So I heard on the news this morning that there was a big football game yesterday.
Really?
Just kidding, we spent the day at UC Davis at a Cheer competition. Priorities people, priorities :-)

If you recall, their last competition they placed third and this week placed second. Next stop, Nationals at California Adventure in a month. I predict a lot of practices ahead, they are coming in as the defending champions and want to repeat!



I found a real nice girl who took the video for me. Morgan is in the last stunt on the right. I don't know much about cheerleading, but her coach she can do that stunt better than most high school girls. I'm just glad she didn't fall!