Tuesday, July 31, 2007

2SCD Photo Challenge

The challenge posted by Julie and Kate was to create a self-portrait and use the artsy Photoshop filters on it. Here's mine.... I love this! My wrinkles don't show! Hahaha!

I'm getting a bit of a cold. My son has been sick all week. His cross country coach said that this would happen to a lot of the boys because of the high physical stress.

So no running for me yesterday or today, and I'm taking Cold-eze like crazy! I'm trying to get over this before we leave for the Colorado River on Friday. We are going river rafting through the Grand Canyon!

Friday, July 20, 2007

Book Reviews - "Lightning Thief" and "Snow Spider"

Lightning Thief is the first book in a GREAT new series! Turns out that the old greek gods are alive and well (they are afterall immortal).... AND having kids! This book is about a modern day New Yorker named Percy. Percy never knew who his father was. What a surprise when he enters 6th grade! He vaporizes his pre-algebra teacher, learns his best friend is a satyr, and is almost killed by a minotaur before his mother manages to get him to the safety of Camp Half-Blood--where he discovers that he is a demi-god. There he's sent on a quest to recover Zeus's master lightning bolt before the gods start a war! Fast, Fun, and a great read!

Snow Spider is the first book in a trilogy by Jenny Nimmo, the author of Charlie Bone. On Gwyn's 9th birthday, he learns he's a magician. With the help of a magical snow spider, he works to bring his missing older sister home. Charlie Bone was a fun well written series. I was expecting more from this book, it is definitely written for younger elementary reading. I won't be reading any more from this series...

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Book Review - "Faerie Path" and "Silverwing"


Welcome to the "Princess Diaries" with a fairy twist. In "The Faerie Path," Anita finds out that she is the long lost fairy princess, and she has the special power to travel back and forth between the mortal world and the land of Faerie. As she tries to stop the evil fairy, Lord Drake, from taking over Faerie, she finds herself forced into marriage to him. As in all Fairy Tales, all ends well; but there is definitely going to be a sequel as Anita heads off with the dashing Eric to find the missing Queen. This book is predictable, as most kids book are, but with enough romance, action, and suspense to make it fun! I recommend it to fairy loving girls 5th grade and up.

We switch from Fairies to Bats! In "Silverwing," Shade, is a small Silverwing bat, self-entrusted with the quest to find the meaning of the metal bands worn by some of the bats. These bands were given as "gifts" by humans... but what do they mean? Are they a good omen or a curse? With the help of a "banded" Brightwing, Shade battles the freezing cold, villain owls, military pigeons, rats, and evil jungle bats (escaped from a zoo), as he tried to catch up with his migrating colony... and draws closer to the truth about the "bands." This is a fun read with lots of suspense and action! This is another book with a sequel. I recommend this for boys 4th grade and up.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

The way I see it....

The best way to keep going, is to never stop!
- Cobi Jones

Monday, July 2, 2007

Let's ATV

We had such a fun time! It started with a night in San Diego and an early morning drive down to the border. The tour group, "Let's ATV" picked us up at the "Last Exit USA" and drove us down to Primo Tapia (that's about 10 miles south of Rosarito), in a cushy, air-conditioned van.

All the ATVs and riding gear were waiting for us right on the beach. The friendly guides made sure we all knew how to operate our ATVs and set us loose in the sand dunes. That's my husband in the photo above with the ocean behind him... what a beautiful spot!

That's my daughter (17 yrs) in the photo above riding across the sand dunes. The guides were always watching, making sure we were safe. They were also assessing our ability to make sure they felt confident enough to take us trail riding in the afternoon.

That's my son (14 yrs) in the photo above. He asked me if I noticed that the guides always seem to be watching us when we get stuck. Hahaha!... and we got stuck a lot! Me more than anyone else in the family.

After an entire morning on the beach, we drove into Primo Tapia to a great little taco stand! The guides took our order and brought us food.

The tacos were huge, and tasted great! There was a whole selection of toppings for the tacos... YUMMY! Here's us feeling silly after filling our stomachs.

We passed the beach ride of the morning and graduated to the coastal trails. This place is called "The Cross." Our guide, Marco, told us that local ranchers used to gather here for mass before hitting the trails.

That's me! Actually, I'm not moving, but it makes for a nice photo anyway. You can also see part of the trail, that we came up, behind me.

We had some great views! Look how far we came! We started all the way down there by the beach!

Our last stop was a riding track, with turns and bumps to jump over. I think this is our guide Marco. It's hard to tell... everyone looks kind of the same in the riding gear. LOL!

I think this is our other guide, Alberto. Marco lead the group and Alberto had the unglamorous job of bringing up the rear, through all that dust.

I didn't ride the track... my hand and thumb were so tired I was having a hard time holding the throttle lever. But, my son gave it a go! Look, he got his front tires off the ground!


We highly recommend this tour group! They are very professional and very friendly. If you are looking for an ATV tour, visit: http://www.letsatv.com/

Thursday, June 28, 2007

On our way to... Mexico!

Well, seeing that we live in Southern California, it's not that big of a trip. Mexico is only a couple of hours from here. But, we are going to have a great time!

As a Father's Day present, I booked an ATV trip in Mexico for the entire family!... and we leave tomorrow! We are all looking forward to it. My hubby has driven ATVs on several occasions, my kids have both driven a couple days last fall, and me... well, I've ridden on the back of my husband's, but have never driven one myself. Yikes! This should be exciting! I'll post again when we get back and let you all know how it went.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Chix Meet - Jane (Whoopsie Daisy!)


It was so much fun! I got to meet one of my favorite online friends, Jane! She was down in my area on a family trip to Disneyland. My daughter and I drove up to meet her at a local Starbucks. Speaking of that... we got lost! You would think that Starbucks would have correct directions to their stores posted on their website. Well, I digress... Jane is a wonderful person, even more wonderful than she is online! We talked non-stop for an hour before leaving her, and even got a little peek at the Disneyland fireworks that were going off as we were sipping Starbucks on the patio. We tried calling the Chix cropping in Virginia, but we just missed them. If any of you other chix are in the Disneyland area, let me know! I know where the Starbucks is now! LOL!

Book Review - Alfred Kropp and the Seal of Solomon

This is the second book in the Alfred Kropp series. My daughter says it's scary... my son and husband love it. I think it's creepy in parts, but something that would really appeal to upper middle school boys. Alfred Kropp is set in modern times. He is a 12 yr old direct decendent of Lancelot and as a result he reluctantly gets pulled into paranormal events and bumbles his way into saving the world (and dealing with girls)... the paranormal Forest Gump. There is a lot of sword fighting (he is the decendent of Lancelot) and lopping off heads... if you can deal with the violence, this is actually a fun book. I ended up rooting for the loveable "big headed lout."

Book Review - Maximum Ride - School's out Forever


This is the second book in the Maximum Ride series by adult author James Patterson. It's a sci-fi book about genetically altered kids, who's DNA was mixed with that of birds... so they have wings and can fly and are supposed to save the world. They haven't saved the world yet. Maybe they'll get around to that in the next book. I'm still not sure who the good guys are and who the bad guys are yet. It's all very confusing. This is a Young Adult book... I recommend it for late middle school or high school aged kids.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Book Review - Beauty

I'm a big fan of fairy tale retellings. I loved Ella Enchanted. Ella Enchanted is one of my daughter's favorite books; which is saying alot, since my daughter is so not a reader. I picked up this book expecting a fun light-hearted retelling of Snow White. But, what I got was a creepy book... a very disturbing little man, imprisoned/poisoned girls, lots of thowing up, and a princess who is going to rule a kingdom some day (even though she's so stupid!). I hate books about girls being stupid and living happily every after! I think it sets a bad role model for girls today... and where are the seven dwarfs? (LOL!) I recommend you give this book a miss.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Another 2SCD June kit layout

A poll I did at 2SCD told me that the ladies there are inspired by simpler designs. Of course, as a member of the DT, I want to be inspring! So, here is what I hope is an inspiring layout done with the 2SCD June kit. Everything I used is from the June kit except for the blue circle and blue brads (which I used to match the photo). It wasn't sunny this morning, so you can't see the cardstock and letters sparkle, but these are gorgeous!