Shopping for the Prom

Cheryl has never been to Prom and she missed Winter Formal this year because of our Mammoth vacation, so I told her we would go all out for Prom this year (her senior year).


We started with the dress. We went to the Jessica McClintock outlet in Montclair. That's about 60 miles away. It was well worth the trip. Cheryl was looking for a short dress, and they had lots of short dresses. BUT the best part is that all short dresses were on sale this weekend for $20! Every single short dress was $20!!! Here were Cheryl's two favorites. She decided on the silver one. She sure has grown up a lot in the last year... last year she would have definitely picked the orange one.


Since we made out so well on the dress, we decided to go crazy on accessories! Well, not too crazy... the hair ornament is Swarovski Crystal, but the place that we bought it from will up-do her hair the day of the Prom for free! The earrings were from Chloe's. We searched and searched for silver shoes. Cheryl couldn't find anything that she loved, so decided to wear the black shoes she already owns.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there! I made a card for my mom. My sister-in-law is picking up her present. She said she got the easy part. I told her I had the easy part, LOL! I haven't made a card in ages and it was fun! Can you believe it took me all day? I am way out of card making mode.

Here is my Mother's Day present from my hubby. He's in the kitchen making breakfast as I type this, AND he sharpened my garden clippers this morning (I asked him to do that about 3 weeks ago). That's so sweet. My son is doing is homework today with no arguement... greatly appreciated! My daugher is still sleeping. She was coming down with the cold that my son brought home to share. For lunch we are picking up Pollo Loco and heading down to my mom and dad's house.

I hope everyone has a great day!

Weekly Sports Report

Chris had two away games this week. Saturday was against San Clemente. There was an accident on the freeway and about 25% of the team was late! Also, their goalie had been red carded last game, so was not allowed to play this game. It was sad for them... they played hard, but lost 0-3.
Sunday they played a team of BIG boys in Foothill Ranch! Look at Chris against the player he was marking. Most of these boys drove themselves to the game, and had serious facial hair. I thought the team was going to get killed! It was a very physical game, but they won 4-1!... and they fought for every single one of those points!

The season is over! Cheryl is sooooo happy! LOL! They were handed two more losses this week. Against Tesoro, they lost 7-9. Against Aliso Viejo, they lost 9-14. She doesn't care... the season is over! Now I just need to finish the video show for the Lacrosse banquet and we are DONE! No more Lacrosse... ever!

Still Running...

Chris and I start training for the Disneyland half-marathon... through the "Happy Mouse Kingdom" (LOL!, that's from the "True Meaning of Smekday," the book I'm reading now.)
The half-marathon is Sunday, August 31. The training program runs 16 weeks, so we start training next weekend!

I'm one fourth of the way to Woodsfield, OH... I just crossed the border into New Mexico, passing through Zuni indian territory. I don't think I'll make it to Ohio by Christmas, as I originally planned {pout}, but I'll keep trying!

Chris's Running Playlist

Here is the music that Freshman runners listen to, or at least, my Freshman runner:

Cheryl's Big News

Cheryl got an acceptance letter from Cal State Dominguez Hills. Actually, CSDH was her third choice (her first two being Cal State Fullerton, and Cal Poly Pomona). But, it is very exciting that things have finally started happening for her. She called Cal Poly Pomona and they told her that she would hear by middle of May. She hasn't been able to get a hold of anyone at Cal State Fullerton yet, but she is going to keep trying. We took another trip to Cherry on Top to celebrate!

Weekly Sports Report

I have no photos this week... I'll expain why...
Firstly, soccer! Galaxy defeated their in stadium rivals, Chivas 5-2! What an amazing game! Landon Donovan (whose photo you saw last week) scored three out of the five goals! Then Alan Gordon came in and scored 2 more in a matter of minutes! We really like Alan Gordon. He tries so hard... We saw Tom Cruise at the game, but I didn't have my camera with me.

Chris's track meet didn't go very well. He got a cramp during his two mile run and finished in 12:07. He may have been disqualified from competing in CIF next week, we'll have to see. I wasn't at the track meet; I was on jury duty.

Chris's soccer game today was very exciting; so exciting that I forgot to take pictures. Chris assisted a goal! He made a beautiful pass through the midfield to the striker, who scored! We got ice cream tonight at Cherry on Top to celebrate. Unfortunately, he also took a player from the other team down in the box. The PK that Chris caused, along with a red card offense by another player on his team, resulted in a 2-2 tie.

Cheryl's Lacrosse game was another loss to Sage Hill High School 6-7. I hear it was a very close game. Again... I missed it because of jury duty.

Cheryl's coed soccer team, Team BOB, lost Thursday night 4-2. Again, I wasn't there, but she said she saved a goal. Other than that, no other highlights.

Yep, I was on jury duty... It was a DUI. The lady had alcohol and meth in her blood; and she failed the field sobriety test. She was also violent, uncooperative, and was cussing at the police. The trial resulted in a hung jury! It's very frustrating! I feel like I just wasted a week and a half of my life... That's our judicial system in action...

Weekly Sports Report

Let's start with Soccer.. The Galaxy tied Houston Dynamo 2-2. Both goals were scored by this guy... Landon Donovan, co-captain of the LA Galaxy with David Beckham. The kids were invited to a private autograph session with Landon and Miss Galaxy after the game... Thanks to Joy Fawcett!


Chris's team won their soccer game against Ladera Ranch, 2-1. The last time they faced off against this team they tied 3-3.

The Capo Lacrosse team lost both of their games this week. The first game against Tesoro was 7-17. The second game against Dana Hills was 8-9. Cheryl's counting the games until the end of the season... only three more to go!


Chris's track meet this week was against Mission Viejo High School. He ran the 3200m again (that's 2 miles). His time wasn't that good, 11:58, but he still came in third Frosh/Soph for Capo. He's been invited to run in the CIF Preliminary meet in a couple weeks.

Magic Mountain

I was beat... There's nothing like trying to keep up with four teenagers in an amusement park, LOL! It's the last day of Spring Break. I had to work... the only day I was able to get off was Friday. So, on Friday we headed off to Magic Mountain. It's the kids' first time there, and we let each of them bring a friend. It was a 2 hour drive and a beautiful day in Valencia. It was in the 90's. Perfect for those drenching water rides.

Here are the boys... don't they look like they're too cool? LOL! They're both 15yrs, and we set them loose in the park with money for lunch and a cell phone. The boys rode every roller coaster in the park... some of them twice.

The girls are 17 and 18yrs. They, surprisingly, stuck with us for most of the morning. We headed to Tatsu first, but it wasn't working. Then we headed to Viper. My hubby, Jim, loves roller coasters, but he gets motion sick. After Viper he had to take a rest, and the girls took off. They got stuck in line a couple of times (once when someone got a bloody nose on the ride and the operators had to clean it up, and when Tatsu broke down again). They didn't hit as many rides as the boys, but they did get on all the "must-ride" roller coasters. Jim and I only did three roller coasters and a couple of the water rides. BUT, We saw Bugs Bunny in the Surf's Up parade. LOL!

Here are the kids riding Tatsu... They're in there somewhere... LOL!

Book Review

Time for another book review, before I forget all the books I read this month...

"24 Hours" by Margaret Mahy was indeed an entire book that takes place in 24 hours. It is about a good kid, Ellis, who is swept away by a sequence of events, and falls in with the out-crowd. He learns that the out-crowd are not bad kids, just misunderstood. Even running with the bad crowd, Ellis can't help doing good. The moral is: Money does not make the person. I really didn't care for this one. It was way too slow.

I was on a Margaret Mahy roll! The next book I checked out of the library was "Alchemy." To my surprise I already read it (I hate when that happens, LOL!) I liked it the first time I read it, but not enough to want to read it again. A boy gets entangled with a magician who is trying to steal another girl's powers. It has been a long time since I read this book, so I don't remember all the details. I remember that there was something about the universe unraveling. I guess since I didn't want to read it again, after I already read it, should give you the hint... I don't recommend this one either.

"Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman brings to life the fantasy world of London Below... which is a very bizarre world. If you cross Alice in Wonderland with the Brother's Grimm, then you have Neverwhere. Richard Mahy, an insecure loser in London Above, drops into London Below and finds in him a strength of character, honor, and courage that he didn't know he possessed. I did enjoy the references to real life (above ground) London, and how he twist and turned it to fit London Below. If you like adventure, bizarre, and are a little disturbed; this is the book for you!

I love all of Cornelia Funke's books. "Dragon Rider", "Ink Heart", and "Ink Spell" being three of my favorites. "Igraine The Brave", was a bit of a disappointment for me. It was, well, uninteresting. There are giants, a talking cat, magicians, and magical singing spell books. There are good guys that are very good, and bad guys that are very bad. Good things only happen to the good guys, and bad things only happen to the bad guys. I can see this book appealing to young children, maybe as a great read-aloud bedtime story. Since nothing bad happens to the good guys, it won't give the little kids nightmares. So my recommendation is... great read aloud for little kids; right up there with "My Father's Dragon" and "Toad for Tuesday."


At our house, we are big fans of Jack Prelutsky's poems (more so than Shel Silverstein). This is a fun rhyming poem... not about a kindly wizard, but a wizard who you'd want to watch out for. The poem is set off and enhanced with amazingly beautiful illustrations by Brandon Dorman.

This was a wonderful, charming retelling of the Brother's Grimm tale, "The Goose Girl." A wronged princess, and evil lady in waiting, and magic powers... what could make a better tale? Ever bit as good as "Princess Academy."

Well that's it for the kids' books. I also ended up reading a supermarket romance novel, which I won't mention here. This is a family blog... LOL!

Crystal Cove State Beach

I love running at the beach, but I've been avoiding it until I felt my leg was healed. Here is another beach I run at. Welcome to Crystal Cove State Beach. It's a deserted beach... no surf here, and it's too long of a walk down to the beach for the casual picnic-ers. The only one's you find here are the occasional walkers and runners. The length of my Crystal Cove run is 7 miles, the same as my Trestles Beach run.

Here is the view from the parking lot. You can't even see the beach from here, but the wild daisys are a beautiful sight.

You can see it's a long walk down the cliff to the beach.

Here's a view of the tide pools from the trail. A lot of school field-trips will come here to view the Marine Life. At this time the tide is on its way in.

A nice view up the coast to Newport Harbor. The harbor is huge, with no commerical traffic. A lot of superstars have houses on the islands in Newport Harbor.

Here is a nice view of Crystal Cove... or is it Emerald Bay... Hmmm, I'm not really sure.

See all the things littered all over the sand? Those are shells, big ones! Mostly, mussels and scallops.