118. In her Brother's Footsteps!

Christina got an Award, at school, today! 

She received a Certificate of Achievement for her Excellence in Math! 

Way to go Christina!

We are very proud of you!

117. Fruit

Forgot to do my post last night... So here it is.

These "fruits" (i don't know what to call them) grow in our purple leaf plum tree, in the front yard.

Apparently, these fruits are edible! Either raw or as a jam...

Well in my case, maybe I can try them raw cause I doubt there are enough to make jam!

 

 

116. Christina's Self Portrait

Christina's Self Portrait:

Chalk drawing in our driveway!

115. Pesto Salmon with Green Beans

One of my favorite meal to make comes from "Jamie's Food Revolution", a book that Nicholas gave me for Mother's Day last year. It's called "Salmon Baked in a Foil Parcel with Green Beans and Pesto".

 

Start by trimming the green beans and wash them.

Then take a long piece of aluminum foil, fold it in half, and place a handful of green beans in the middle.

 

 

Lay a small salmon fillet on top of the green beans and spread 1-2 tablespoons of pesto.

Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Seal the aluminum foil parcel. For our family, I make two salmon fillets.

Place the aluminum parcels onto a sheet pan and cook over medium-high grill or in the oven at 400ºF for approximately 30 minutes.

Serve with some rice or your favorite side dish.

 

 

And for desert: brownies!

Bon Appetit!

114. Water

Christina doesn't like to drink plain water! She would much rather drink juice or even better, sodas! It's especially a problem in the hot California weather because it's easy to become dehydrated. So, on Saturday, she begged me to give her money so she could buy a snow cone. At half time, I sent her and Anthony to the snack bar to get snow cones and she came back with this huge cup filled with ice and a lot of sugary syrup! It's not the best way to hydrate but ice is water!

113. Header

I love taking action shots. Soccer photos are probably my favorites to take. I usually get some pretty good pictures during one game but sometimes I manage to capture the perfect shot. 

This is one of them! And to make things even better, it's a photo of Nicholas!

In soccer, headers are the most difficult to capture; It's all about timing!

I guess yesterday my timing was pretty good!

112. Side Bangs and Layers

Christina has been asking to get her hair cut for a little while now. She kept saying that she wanted side bangs and layers just like her friend from school. So I told her to find a picture and show it to me. We also talked about the fact that it has to still be long enough to pull up in a pony tail (because of soccer) and I reminded her that once her bangs are cut off, it will take a while for them to grow back.
But she was determined and after doing a quick Google search, she found a photo of Selena Gomez with the hair cut she wanted.
So, yesterday, I took her to the Hair Salon and she got it cut just like she wanted! She was so happy... She was smiling from ear to ear! And I'm glad she likes it because if she didn't,  I am certain it would be very dramatic!

111. Coach Allan

Coach Allan... That's my hubby! He wasn't always Nicholas' soccer coach; the first few years, Nicholas had different coaches. And when he started playing basketball, Allan didn't coach him then either. But this first basketball coach was so bad that Allan kept complaining and telling me what he would do different. That's when I told him that these people are volunteers and are doing their best. If he thinks he can do better, then he should coach! Since then he has been Coach Allan to so many kids!!!
Soccer coach (all three kids), basketball coach (Nicholas and Anthony), baseball coach (Nicholas). He has done it all! He has learned a lot over the years and has become a better coach. He is dedicated, patient and really knows how to motivate his players... Except for Anthony and Christina! No matter what he tries, for them, he is first and foremost Dad and it is difficult to be the coach's son or daughter.
So after talking it over, we decided that Anthony would be better off being coached by someone else. That's why he is trying out for a Club Team.
He is still coaching Christina; He is the Assistant Coach of her tournament team. But he was hoping that she would also join a Club Team. Unfortunately, the only Club Team for her age division is a little too good for her. She has been training with them for the past three months and this week, the trainer told Allan that if she joins the team, she would not get very much play time. So we decided that Christina will continue with AYSO and Allan will be her coach (at least for one more year). Hopefully it will be a successful year and both of them will enjoy it!

110. Another Meet, Another Personal Record!

Nicholas continues to break his own personal records; Today, he was running against Hart High School, in Newhall. He ran the 1600m and the 3200m. He was excited and nervous at the same time. The last time he ran the 3200m was at Azusa where he finished at 11:09 min. and with a medal. He ran the 1600m well but was saving his energy for the 3200m. He was running against the other two best Freshman from his school, a strategic move from the coaches to try and make all three of them more competitive. And it worked! Nicholas ran 2 miles under 11:00 min. finishing at 10:55 min! Way to go Nicholas!

109. Old Girl!

Catie is really getting old!

She will be fourteen years old this Summer

and she is definitely slowing down;

she is hard of hearing, 

she has cataracts in both eyes,

and her poor legs are probably pretty tired.

She still comes for our morning walk everyday, 

but I can tell that it takes a lot of effort. 

She has a hard time getting up, especially from the hard wood floor.

Going up the stairs is slow and labored,

and she sleeps all day long.

She still enjoys getting a good scratch behind the ears 

and follows me around the house as much as she can.

Allan thinks that she will pass before next Christmas...

I hope not! I hope that she still has a few more years to go.

But one thing is for sure, the second half of her life has been pretty good!

108. Peeps

Stopped at Walmart today, to get some groceries, and saw these Peeps. They immediately took me back to about 10 years ago, when I was the coach of the LA Express, an Adult Synchronized Skating Team. The Nationals were always in April, and around Easter.  One of the team's tradition was to decorate the doors of each skater's hotel room with posters and Peeps!

At first, it was just to show our team spirit... But over the years, it became a farce. Every year, I looked forward to opening my door on the second day to see how creative the Party committee had been that year!

So today, I couldn't resist buying a few of these (even though I am not a fan of this delicacy!). And when I came home, I took out my photo album from my years with the LA Express and started to reminisce. I coached the LA Express from 1994 to 2002. I met this amazing group only 5 days after moving to the USA! Although I am still in touch with many of the skaters, mostly via Facebook, I miss the collective group!

107. 6th Grade Promotion

I didn't take this photo. This is a scan of the Graduation photos that Anthony took at school. I typically don't buy school photos since I got my photography degree. But since this is a special year and a special event, I purchased this one. It's actually a decent photo of Anthony! Most of the time, his school photos are terrible; He never really learned how to smile or strike a pose and it takes him a while to relax in front of the camera. But his expression, here, is pretty good.

And yes, time flies; Anthony will be promoted this year. He will enter Middle School next year! It just seem like yesterday when he came into this world... He was my easy baby! Always sleeping, always quiet... How things have changed! LOL!

106. Ambidextrous

Taking a shot with the right foot...

What a weekend! With temperatures in the 90s yesterday and in the 80s today, it was a very hot weekend. Especially for Christina who had a soccer tournament! Yesterday was especially difficult (see post 105). Today was a little better with only one game to play and slightly cooler temperatures. The Green & White Dynamite fought hard and did well considering they are competing against girls one year older. Christina showed some toughness and played fairly well.The photos in this post demonstrate that Christina is pretty much ambidextrous; she will equally use her left or right foot to kick the ball!

And with the left!

This afternoon, Nicholas' soccer team had a scrimmage. I was impressed by how much Nicholas has improved his speed. He was a pretty fast runner to start with but was never very good at "exploding". Today, I noticed a big difference. It must be all the running practices and Track meets he has been participating in!

Now that the weekend is over, it's back to work and back to the routine. Until next weekend!!!

105. Heat

Christina's soccer team, the Green & White Dynamite, is participating in the Santa Clarita Showdown this weekend. They had two games today; one this morning which they lost 3-1 and one this afternoon which they lost by so many points that I stopped counting! It was very hot (in the 90s) and our team didn't do well in the hot sun! Christina played very well in the morning game and despite the heat, she fought hard the first two quarters that she played. Unfortunately, one of our player hurt her wrist during the second quarter and wasn't able to finish the game. The coaches had to make substitutions which meant that Christina had to play a third quarter in a row. Well, my little girl really needs her break and towards the end of the third quarter, she went down. 

I know she was tired and probably a little dehydrated; She doesn't like to drink water and I have to constantly remind her to drink more! I just wish she could have finished the third quarter without all the drama!

They have one more game to play tomorrow. The temperature is supposed to be much cooler (in the 70s). Hopefully they can have a good game... One that they can be proud of. I don't expect them to win, but we all want them to be competitive while still having fun.

104. New Growth

Thank God it's Friday! This week was very busy. I was busy at work and with the kids' activities: soccer practices, volleyball practice, music lesson, track meet, etc. It's hard to find time to take photos and post daily. It's also getting harder to find subjects to shoot. But today, I noticed that the two trees in the front yard are finally sprouting some leaves. They also have these clumps of... I don't know what to call these! One think is for sure, I had not photographed anything like this yet.


I am looking forward to this weekend. Christina has a soccer tournament: the Santa Clarita Showdown. It's a local tournament which means minimal traveling. Anthony and I have our second volleyball practice tomorrow and Nicholas has a scrimmage on Sunday. So it will be busy but fun! Plus, there should be plenty of opportunities to take photos!

103. Coaching

Today was Anthony's first volleyball practice and my first practice as a volleyball coach. I am not new to coaching... I coached figure skating for many, many years. And I am not new to volleyball either; I played in High School and also with Allan in a co-ed league before we started a family. So needless to say that it was a lot of fun. And Anthony said he had a lot of fun too which is the most important thing of all! We are both looking forward to the next practice and it looks like we are going to have a fun volleyball season.
Nicholas had a track meet today against West Ranch High School. He did OK in the 1600m, but did not improve on his personal best. But he had a great 800m race, with a time of 2:17 min., improving his time by at least 20 secs and finishing in 8th place!

102. Carb Loading

Nicholas likes to eat pasta before a cross country or track meet. But tonight was Valley View Elementary School's Round Table Pizza Fundraiser. So we had pizza for dinner. Since there was no left over pasta for Nicholas to take to school for lunch tomorrow, I suggested that he makes his own pasta. So he did... Now he has a nice bowl of pasta ready to take for lunch tomorrow. And he is happy!

101. Craving

Had a craving today

A craving for chocolate!

And with Easter fast approaching

It was easy to find some.

But my favorite kind of chocolate

Is the simple kind: milk chocolate.

So I bought some Hershey Kisses

And some M&Ms too,

And then my eyes fell upon

A bag of Jelly Beans!

So I bought all of it;

The Jelly Beans, the Hershey Kisses and the M&Ms

All of it to satisfy my craving!

100. Fire

When I was a little girl, figure skating was my passion. I loved it! I loved being on the ice, I loved watching skating on t.v., I just couldn't get enough. If I could have, I would have skated every day! There was a fire burning inside of me and the flame couldn't be put out.
Am I the exception? I don't see the same fire in my kids; sure, Nicholas loves soccer and running, but I never see him practice on his own. He goes to all the practices and that's enough for him.
With Anthony and Christina, it's even worse... They barely put in enough effort to get by. They both have great skills and if they wanted to, they could be very good soccer players. But that would require more effort and more practice time and they are just not committed enough for that. Is it because they haven't found the sport that they really like? Maybe. Anthony tried baseball and basketball also. But neither was the right sport. I signed him up for volleyball to see if that might be something he would like. And Christina really likes theater. And she is a pretty good actress. But that's not a sport! She also tried figure skating, ballet, gymnastic and none of these lasted more than a few months. The only reason she is playing soccer is because we told her that she has to play a sport. But maybe, like Anthony, she needs to try something else. Who knows... All I know is that I am disappointed that none of my kids have found their true passion. The one thing that they live for, like figure skating was for me. I guess they are still young. They still have plenty of time to find something that will ignite their flame!

99. Over

Spring Break is already over! It was great while it lasted but it is now time to refocus on work, school and everything else. I was hoping to go back to Whitney Canyon Park once more before the end of our vacation. But we didn't get a chance. The kids were busy again yesterday with all kinds of activities; Anthony went surfing in the morning. I signed him up for surfing with "Surf's Up" for last Thursday, but due to weather advisory, it was re-scheduled for Sunday instead. When I picked him up, he had a huge smile on his face! The instructor said that he is a real fish and was pretty good at surfing!
Nicholas had a soccer practice in the morning that ended with catered Panda Express for him and his team mates. He came home stuffed and also very happy.
Christina also had a soccer practice. It was actually a shooting clinic and she said she had fun even though she knew most of it because Allan had already taught her! I guess dad is not a bad coach after all!
The day went by pretty quickly after that and the kids were just happy to sit and relax. I was pretty lazy too and other than doing the laundry and cooking, I took a break! I even forgot to do this post or to take new photos for that matter... But today is a new day and I am determined to get back on track!

98. My Joker

Tonight at the dinner table:

Allan: Sweet heart, pass me the cookies.

Nicholas: I'm not your sweet heart. I'm the opposite of sweet heart.

Anthony: What? You're his sour kidney?

And everyone burst out laughing...

That's my boy!

Always ready to say something funny...

Definitely the clown in the family!

97. Older and Wiser

Nicholas and Rocky.

Both getting older and wiser?

Definitely true for Nicholas!

Depends on the day for Rocky!

96. Deja Vue

This is a photo of Christina, at Six Flags Magic Mountain, yesterday. She wanted to go on the Bumper Cars and when she found out that she was tall enough to drive one by herself, she refused to let Nicholas help her. I tried to change her mind. I explained to her that it might be better to have Nicholas in the car with her to help if she got in trouble... But she wouldn't hear it.
This photo was taken before the cars were started. It wasn't long after that her smile changed to a frown and finally to tears; she couldn't turn the steering wheel and therefore was stuck in the same spot the whole time. She blamed the steering wheel... But I know it was simply because she wasn't strong enough to turn it all the way to get out of the tight spot she was in. Nicholas tried to help her as much as he could from his car, but it was no use. When the ride was finally over, she was crying.
It was odd to watch her sitting there in the car trying as hard as she could to make it move! I seem to remember not long ago, Nicholas and then, Anthony being in the same position! And both of them also ended up crying the first time they tried to ride the Bumper Cars by themselves! Is this what happens to everyone who is barely tall enough to ride on their own?  I guess it's a lesson she had to learn, just like her two brothers. Hopefully, next time, she'll have better luck!

95. Roller Coasters

We went to Six Flags Magic Mountain today, as planned. The park opened at 10:30 AM and within an hour, the kids had already been on Tatsu, Viper and Goliath. The boys managed to get on 5 coasters before we even had lunch! It was a perfect day, with very few people and perfect weather! The sun came out by 1:00 PM and shone the rest of the afternoon, just in time to warm us up enough to do the water rides. Splash Down and Log Jammer are always big favorites and of course, the kids had to go on. They finished the day with Revolution, which had no wait at all. In fact, they walked right on. There was so few people that Anthony and Christina went on twice!
We got back home around 4:00 PM, tired, happy and already looking forward to the next time!

94. Mountasia

We went to Mountasia yesterday and everyone had a great time!

It's a pretty good deal too... $19.99 for 3 hours

of unlimited Go Kart, Bumper Boats and Miniature Golf.

Of course, the boys spent most of their time racing the Go Karts.

And since Christina needed a driver, Allan got to ride for Free!

It was a beautiful afternoon and the perfect weather too!

Plans for today: Six Flags Magic Mountain!

Hopefully the weather will still be good... the forecast calls for light rain!

Let's cross our fingers...

93. Narnia

Crossing the creek at Whitney Canyon Park.

No hiking today. Instead, I went to work for a few hours and did laundry.

We also watched the movie "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian".

I love the first two movies and can't wait for the the third one (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader)

to come out on Blue Ray/DVD.

Plans for tomorrow: Mountasia!

92. Whitney Canyon Park

This Park is located at the end of Newhall Ave, just below the Park & Ride.

On the second day of Spring Break, we took it easy; I made "thin pancakes" or crepes for breakfast, which is probably Christina's favorite! Allan watched the Lakers game and then we went for a nice hike. It was getting late and the "waterfall trail" at Placerita Canyon Park is a 2 1/2 hours hike. So we decided to try out a new trail: the Whitney Canyon Trail.

Put the camera on a fallen tree trunk and set up the timer... Voila!

Nicholas has been to Whitney Canyon Park with his Cross Country Team; they trained there by running on the "Beast Trail" which is mostly uphill. But from searching the internet, I found out that there is another trail there and that it also leads to a waterfall. So we tried it out...
It was a pretty easy hike and it crosses the creek many times. We didn't get to the waterfall though. As I said earlier, it was getting late. So after walking about 45 minutes, we decided to turn around. The kids were disappointed (especially Anthony). But we promised them that next time we will start early and will hike all the way to the waterfall. We might even try again sometimes this week... Who knows?

91. Spring Break

Today was the first day of Spring Break for the kids. Nicholas, Anthony and Christina, all have next week off. Allan took a week vacation and I will be taking a few days off also. Unfortunately, the wonderful, warm weather is gone and has been replaced by temperatures in the 60s. But that didn't stop Anthony, Christina and her BFF Sammy from going for a swim this afternoon.
Earlier this morning, we had a little family meeting and exchanged ideas about what to do during our time off; Six Flags Magic Mountain, Mountasia, hiking, and Griffith Park were all on the table. Of course, we would love to go to the beach... But the weather forecast doesn't look very good for the beach. But that won't stop Anthony from going surfing on Thursday. We signed him up with "Surf's Up", a local club that takes him from Santa Clarita to the beach and back for a day of surfing. They provide full wetsuit and a surfboard. Hopefully, the rain will stay away on that day!

90. Curls

Last night Christina begged me to put the curlers in her hair... You know those spongy curlers that you can sleep with? So I did!






Whenever I do this, it reminds me of when I was a little girl; my mom would curl my hair every Saturday night while watching a hockey game. All this so I could have "ringlets" the next day! And I was lucky if they lasted more than half a day!







And how long did Christina's curls last? Well there wasn't much curls left when she came home from school... But she was happy anyways!