Miscellaneous Life Shots (Jan '10)

Here is a collection of random photos taken over the last month of the various random activities that make up our lives:

Lando has been working with Dad to learn some appliance repair... hopefully not for a lifetime trade, but it may come in handy to hep pay bills & supplement income. Here he is installing our "new" dishwasher (a hand-me-down, but NEW to us :)

Miss M and her friends on "twin day" (although, they made it "triplet day") at Jr. High. They won 2nd place!!!

Scroll down to the bottom of this entry and you will see them - a few weeks later - with their crazy make-up & hair for their drama production.

We went to a football-play-offs-watching-day at Frank & Dawn's... FUN!

We invited the whole clan - and, to my GREAT delight, they ALL came! Jade & Sar, Lando & Emmy, Deevs & Katie, & Miss M (and Tessa was there to hang out with since it was her house).

Chargers lost to Jets and our beloved Vikings (Go Favre!) beat the Cowboys (sorry Dawn :(

(Tho' they would go on to lose to the Saints who won the Superbowl this year.)

"The sensation that is sweeping the nation!"

"The blanket with sleeves!"

"Blankets are OK,

but they can slip and slide -

plus your hands are trapped inside.

The Snuggie™ Blanket keeps you totally warm

and gives you the freedom to use your hands!"

Yes, I finally succumbed and bought a Snuggie (as seen on TV)...

Check out the remote control in the pocket!

Deevs & Kyle at the Kill Ball tournament - their team all dressed as scouts.

Miss M & Lando just hanging around the house (Lando was still home on 6 week winter break)

Sunday, Game Night! (Balderdash, this time.)

Miss M & friends ready for their roles as Hip Hop Faeries in Shakespeare's

"A Midsummer Night's Dream"

Deevs' Football

Deevs' first year of football may be his last, but he WAS on the team as a sophomore. It was his first year coming into a new school and trying a whole new sport (first time he has ever played tackle football!).

They won the championship and are going on to CIF (they made the finals!!!).

(Look for him in the photo - the farthest right play, next to coaches - he's #21.)

He is looking forward to playing soccer.

Football Ends

We (or should I say "Lando") played in the semi-final CIF game last night.  

We (or should I say "they") dominated the whole first half and were up at half-time.  

You could tell by the energy between the 2 crowds that both we & they actually believed we might win.

A few BAD calls and a few missed conversion opportunities later and we were neck & neck.  It was CLOSE to the bitter end.  Yet in the end, it turned out that we couldn't overcome all those bad calls and missed chances and we lost 27-22.  

And we are out.  

And football is over.  

It was a one year wonder for our family and we loved every minute of it!

St. John Vacation - Day 11

Our last day of vacation started early, 7:30AM.

Our alarm went off and we hopped up and started packing and tidying.

D had washed all the muddy evidence of off-roading off the jeep the evening before, so it was all house stuff.

Laundry, dishes, packing, putting stuff  away etc.

We filled the bananquits sugar water one last time (by now, they had invited ALL their friends!!!... it was a bananaquit PARTY!)

(I know, this is a terrible picture, but I wanted to show how MANY there were.)

We said goodbye to our view and the house and the island and headed off to the car barge.

We got in line and the timing looked GREAT!  We had guessed (and if you guess wrong, you could be waiting a LONG time for the next ferry.)  We were maybe the 5th car in line... the car ferry fits probably about 20-25.  We got on and departed pretty quickly.  We were chugging away from STJ by 8:45.  

We got into Red Hook and Dad (D) expertly maneuvered through traffic to K-Mart where we purchased a new duffle bag to check (we ALMOST didn't make the 50lb. weight on the way here, and we didn't want to go through that again, so we decided to just check 2 bags this time).

The we picked our way through Charlotte Amalie back to The Green Iguana.  

Sue let us check in early (10:15), which was REALLY nice.  We put our bags in our room,

 got swimsuits on, and were heading to Magen's Bay by 10:40 and on the beach by 11:00.  (Again, nothing short of miraculous left-hand driving by Dad!!!)

Magen's (pronounced like the girl's name Megan) was a big bay, crowded with cruise ship day-trippers.  But we could walk down far enough to get away from it all.

The day was nice enough but we sure missed our beach chairs :o(

We swam and read and napped.

We ate lunch at the snack bar the swam, read, and napped some more.

All in all a perfect last day.

We met a young couple from Iowa on the beach and were able to give them some tips and encouraged them to make a day trip to STJ for the day.

We had to go find gas and TRIED to go shopping for a few souvenirs but parking proved to be a nightmare, so we gave up and went back to the hotel and showered and got ready for dinner.

We went to Cuzzin's (local, Caribbean fare) with another couple who was just BEGINNING their vacation and staying the night at Green Iguana.

Our flight is super early in the morning (be at the airport checking in at 6:00AM).

We will be at LAX by 3:45 if everything goes smoothly.

Then we jump back in to high speed life with Lando's CIF game up near Magic Mountain on Saturday night and Miss M's round of 32 League Cup game Sunday.

After having a nice long break, this actually sounds like a fun way to spend the weekend... we are looking forward to it!

Love you!!!!!!!!!

Hallow E'en

This was kind of a WACKY Halloween with Lando's Football game scheduled for 

Halloween Night!

Miss M, Jade, C, Grammie, & Grampie all came to the game with us.

Devo went to Stoop's and handed out candy and watched movies with Stoop's dad.

Miss M's soccer, costume COSMIC BOWLING party.

Miss M's costume.

Football Fans

Look who was top 5 in the county for Receiving yards!!!!!!!

2 fans reading about Lando in the paper (heehee).

Football Fall

Oh my GOSH!

Varsity football is a whole new world and we are having the best time with it... what fun!

Winning is especially nice.

And having Lando actually playing 

(instead of being 3rd string as it looked like he was going to) is even better.

Then, having him score 2 touchdowns in two games is EVEN BETTER!!!!!!!!!!!

Every position in football is so valuable and necessary, but is sure fun to have Lando playing offense - in a position to even GET to score... let alone score.

WOW!  What a treat!

He is having the most AWESOME time.  

He is really regretting having not played for all of high school until walking on as a Senior.

He is now wishing he could play in college.

GO BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   

Deevs, S, D, Jade, C and her little bros.

Mom, Dad, Jade, C and little bros, Miss M

Lando (#41)

Big Blue wins again!