Blessed Realm

Today was OCFA’s annual picnic.  Cassie and Luke went with me, but Kevin had to work and Cyndi and Emily weren’t feeling well.  It was awesome.  It was held at the park next to Wild Rivers in Irvine, and may be the last time at that location since they want to build apartments there instead.  Supposedly, they’re going to tear down the Wild Rivers, the park next to it where we were at, and Irvine amphitheater too.  All to build more apartments!  I’ve seen a lot of shows at Irvine amphitheater - most memorable RUSH several times.  

In this picture, Luke and Cassie did the rock climb together.  They did pretty good too.  I should’ve taken a picture of the food tables because they were awesome too, and I did partake generously of the fine burgers, Polski’s, corn dogs, and all the associated wonderfulness that goes with.  Sunday about noon, Sept. 18, 2011.

Cassie at goal in their first game of the season this morning.  She played really well and they won 8 - 5. Chapman field.

One of the cool Fire Trucks at the fire station.  This one has a 100’ ladder that needs an Engineer in the back - tiller - to steer the truck around corners.  I’d like to do a ride-along with these guys in that truck one day.  Sept. 11, 2011

Moment of silence at 9:06am which was the time (New York) that the first tower fell.  There weren’t that many people at the ceremony, maybe 20 plus us.  It was very nice though and important I think for our family to be there.  Sept. 11, 2011

We went to Fire Station 17 in Cypress for a 10 - year memorial service for those who died 9/11/2001.  FS17 is the closest OCFA station (my employer), and they often come into our neighborhood since they do mutual aid to our part of Garden Grove.  This is the station that also helped Grandma (who lives in Cypress about 1/2 mile from us) when she called 911 for Grandpa and also another time when her oven caught on fire.  Nice guys and it is our newest station that just replaced their old one from 1951 or something like that.  My staff worked a lot to get the radios, computers, and  so forth installed and running.  Sept. 11, 2011

Pacifica played a water polo tournament today at Santa Ana Valley High School.  The school facilities were so much better than what Pacifica has.  I don’t get it - we’re supposed to have a well-performing school, but the school is practically falling down and the pools are 40 years out of date.  When Pacifica plays home games, we have to play at Los Alamitos military base at their awesome olympic pool since our facilities aren’t up-to-snuff.  That is fun though as sometimes a jet rips by, or somebody is out practicing guns and stuff and you hear a .50 caliber machine gun going off.  This is Luke’s last year in water polo.  He’s a senior and we’ve really enjoyed going to the games for 6 - years with him and Kevin.  The game was delayed an hour during the 2nd period because of thunder and lightning storms.  On the way to the game at 7:15am, there was freak thunderstorm that dumped rain and hail!!  We were on 405 south and everybody hit the breaks and started freaking out.  It was fun.  The hail was the size of marbles which is really, really unusual for around here.  Kept getting lightning, so we had to get everyone out of the pool at one point.  Not too safe in the water with nasty bolts of electricity falling out of the sky.  Unfortunately, they lost both games, but Luke played really well. Sept. 10, 2011

Haley making sure Kevin is feeling OK.  The rest of the kids are goofing around in the back ground.  May be one of the last pix of Scott with his disciple look since he’s starting a new job and has to look presentable!!  I like it and say go old school apostolic on ‘em.  Sept. 4, 2011

Kevin, Emmy, and Cassie goofing around at the Beach at FHE night.  Lots of fun and nobody got hurt.  Noland loaned us his families beach parking pass again - saved me $15. I think we’ll have to go halves with his family next year if they get one.  Sept. 4, 2011

Emmy wanted to take a sunset picture, so we went to the beach Monday night for FHE and while the clouds were not as dramatic as the previous night, we did get some fun shots.  Had a few extras with us, Haley (Kevin’s girl friend), Nolan and Scott from next door and across the street.  Fun times and we thought we would take a family shot.  Bolas Chica State Beach, Sept. 4, 2011

Cassie and her cousin Kole are only about 3 months apart age-wise (she’s younger).  I’m so glad that my kids get to grow up with their cousins, and there’s a lot of them.  When we tried moving away and living on the east coast in the late 1990’s, family is what I missed most.  We were fortunate that my Dad’s brothers and sister lived close by to us in New Jersey, but I missed my mom and dad and immediate family.  Mostly though, I didn’t want my kids growing up not knowing their cousins, so even though we had just watched our brand new home be built, then moved in, I dragged us all back to California.  Cyndi supported the move, though I believe she truly loved New Jersey.  I thought NJ was a great place to live with our house that was twice the size we have now, living in the country-side, New Jersians were great people, and the pizza was OMG (that’s oh my gosh) incredible.  And can I say how much I miss the Pork roll’s!?  Anyway, Cassie loves her cousin!  Halloween 2009