Starting Out Thanksgiving Right

For the second year in a row, we started out Thanksgiving by running in the 3 mile Torrance Turkey Trot. John blew us all out of the water with his time of 22:37. Lauren came in next at around 26 minutes. My time was not note-worthy, at a couple minutes over last year's time, and Jason had to walk most of the race due to a twisted ankle. He did run half of the first and last miles, though, and came in right around 42 minutes. I gave extra credit to my students that ran for PE so it was fun to see several of them there. Now we feel justified to overeat today because we already worked it off. We wish you all a happy Thanksgiving.

I'm an Aunt - Again!

Eric and Christie had their baby on Monday at around noon. His name is Jesse Leo Parry and he weighed 6 lbs 8 oz and is 20 inches long. I hear Christie is doing well and Eric is a very proud dad. It is killing me not to be there to see little Jesse. Thank you Eric for the pictures.

One Down, One to Go!

Lauren's soccer season officially came to an end on Saturday. The girls played their hearts out to a team that beat them just a couple weeks ago. Lauren's team scored first with a beautiful goal in the opening minutes of the game. The other team came back towards the end of the first quarter to tie it up. They scored again in the third quarter, and we tied it up in the fourth quarter. Because this was a play-off game, they could not leave it in a tie, so they went into overtime. Everyone played so well. Shots were taken on both goals and the girls all hustled like I have not seen in a long time, but the other team ended up with a goal in the first overtime period and got the win.

Jason's team played their last game of the regular season yesterday. I got to see the first three quarters before I had to go take Lauren to her game. I am always impressed with Jason's skills when I get to see him play. He played goalie the fourth quarter and from what I hear, he did very well. He did not allow any goals! (Jason is in the white goalie shirt in the picture.)

The Great California Shake-Out!

Last week California had a huge earthquake simulation drill. Most schools, several businesses, and almost all emergency agencies were involved throughout the state. As a teacher, I dread this day. The kids just do not come back from an drill and sit right down to learning. It takes a lot to rein them in again. I was approached by one of my administrators to supply a couple students to be "injured" during the drill. I volunteered one of my students, and Jason. Well, Jason was awarded the "head injury". He was rescued from the classroom and wrapped up, but he succumbed to his injuries and was "blue blanketed." We have given him a lot of grief about this. At dinner that night we joked that we did not need to set a place for Jason as he was no longer with us. He does not always appreciate our sense of humor. Anyway, this brought up a couple things to discuss. What does Lauren do if there is an emergency? John and I are mandated to stay at our schools until the students are taken care of. We let Lauren know, for the first time, who is on her emergency release card. Those are the people that can pick her up and sign her out. We also had to find out if she would be allowed to come onto my school's campus in the case of an emergency to stay with Jason and me. I say all this as a reminder to you to see if you have had the simple discussions that we had put off.

Game Cancelled on Account of Air

John and I sat watching Lauren's first play off game Saturday. I was so excited for a couple reasons. First, Jason's game was not for a couple hours and I could actually see one of his games. Second, it was very warm outside (90+ degrees) and I was wearing shorts in the sun. Then John asked me if I could smell smoke. The only smell I could smell was the trash nearby. A little later we noticed a huge wall of smoke moving our direction from the Orange County direction. There are a couple of fires between where we live and the Palm Desert area and the strong Santa Anna winds are pushing all the smoke in our direction. One of the girls on Lauren's team had an asthma attack before the game was even over. If you have been following the soccer results you won't be surprised to hear that Lauren's team lost by a large margin. Since play offs are double elimination, we have another game to go before her soccer is over for the season. Jason's coaches decided to forfeit the game because of the number of kids on the team that have asthma. They didn't want to risk the health of the kids. Luckily, Jason's division does not start play offs until later so it was just a "regular" game that they missed.

By Saturday afternoon it was "snowing" here in Southern California. The ash is raining down and making it look like snow. The whole "snow" effect might be a little more believable if our temperature had not topped out at 93 yesterday with the same predicted for today. John has made himself available for life guarding, so if you go to the beach today, tell him HI!

Another Sports Filled Weekend

Soccer was the same for both kids this week. (Another one in the "L" column for each.) But they looked great. It was so nice to see Lauren fight to stay in the game when the coach needed someone to sit out for the 4th quarter. She used to be the first person to say, "I'll sit out." Now she stays in for the whole game and plays hard the whole time. She is a trooper. Jason also plays his heart out.

Lauren had a swim meet this weekend also. She only swam Sunday because her age group swam at the same time as her soccer game on Saturday. She swam the 100 Breast and the 100 Back. She has not had an official time in the backstroke yet, so she was entered with a no time and did very well. She was ranked in the breaststroke, and bettered her time by about 1/2 a second. We are just impressed that she was able to swim at all. The wind was terrible at the meet and kept the pool very cold over night. While Lauren was up on the blocks for the breaststroke, a huge gust of arctic wind swept through making everyone groan, and most of us were dressed warmly. I can't imagine how it felt to her, in just a swim suite, wet. She felt much better after she got home and had a hot shower.

WOW

As I browsed the blogs I follow this morning, I was impressed with the eloquent words of my cousins about our new, historical president. I, also, am trying to impress upon my children how important this is. I think of my friend, Lyn. Her daughter, Savannah, a grad student in journalism in Chicago, was there, in the park, with a press pass, last night. How impressive would that have been? I was very emotional just watching it on TV. I am glad that Tina Fey got her wish and does not have to "do" Palin for the next 4 years.

Possibly the Last Soccer Update

This may be the last soccer update. Each week it gets more and more difficult to find a way to say both teams lost again. Both teams lost by a wide margin this week. It has really been a long time since the kids were on a winning team. They enjoy playing so much, though. I know Lauren plays for the social aspect of it. I took a couple pictures of Lauren playing and some even turned out. John was at Jason's game and couldn't really take any pictures due to his whole coaching thing. Maybe next week.