BEACH VISIT

I just finished reading on my friend's blog how she and her husband took the day off and visited the wharf and whatever in sunny New Zealand. Sailboats and tourists in t-shirts filled the photos.

Okay, here are my photos from yesterday and today. My husband and I took the day off too and headed to the coast. Funny, it didn't look at all like my friend's day. No sunshine for us...just dark skies and cold rain. This time of year, I would rather be in New Zealand!

PIG'N PANCAKE: Definitely our favorite place for breakfast when we visit Seaside, Oregon.

In spite of the rain, some crazy tourists rented unique bicycles and wheeled around town. I snapped this photo from the warmth and safety of my car.

Steve and I enjoyed a great dinner

when we arrived in Seaside Friday evening. This coastal town is pretty empty during the winter so we lingered for quite awhile at Girtle's Seafood & Steak Restaurant.

Seaside, Oregon, marks the end of the Lewis and Clark trail, and it's really pretty cool. We visit most often during the winter season, and will probably visit again on my birthday at the end of January. Sure to get plenty of rain then too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Yep, today is Stephanie's birthday and she's shining brighter than a new penny!

Groggy Stephanie opens presents from the parents.

Peppier with the puppy after shopping with her brother and sister at the mall.

Stephanie enjoying her birthday dinner at a local restaurant.

In deed, children are a gift from God!

The Two of Us

Our most recent shot together.

We were at a birthday party and decided to splurge and we spent a token to have Chuck E Cheese sketch our portrait. Not too shabby!

It's Christmastime...almost

In August we dropped Mitchell off at college in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Okay, we actually parted ways on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon as we handed him off to the Albuquerque family. Yesterday he came home for Christmas (and semester break) and he brought his grandma (Steve's mom) with him! What a treat to have mom for the weekend. At church this morning, Pastor Larry honored those with birthdays in December and it was so cool when mom (Dec. 23) received a surprise gift. Stephanie got one too as her birthday is Dec. 26.

Another treat came when Steve sang "Drummer Boy" during service. Mitchell played along on his guitar and Stephanie was featured on the drums. I knew that they were going to do "something" -- they had to run to rehearsal as soon as Mitchell got off the plane -- but I had no idea they were going to do what they did. It was beautiful. I was speechless.

Mom is the one through whom we got our dog, Meeko. Meeko is now 6 months old and I think he's totally silly! He's a 5-pound ball of fluff -- a toy!




Mom got some good photos of him in his Christmas sweater and in his Santa costume. Good thing he's an indoor dog as the other dogs in the 'hood would be teasing him.



He's cute though, eh?

Mom also brought some photos with her from New Mexico. The top dog is Reno, Meeko's father, and the one with the freaked out fur is Abby, Meeko's sister. (I dig the spiked look.)

Merry Christmas, y'all!

As embarrassing as it is, I've joined the elf team. Click the link to see me dancing with my bad self. Be sure to have your sound turned on.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1249161850

Feel free to elf yourself!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

You play like a GIRL!

I so enjoy how my girls are involved in sports.

Stephanie participated in the local "Hoop Shoot" (free-throw shooting contest), and after sinking five out of five in a shoot-off, she walked away with third place. It was so cool!

Unfortunately I was helping out on the court so I could not jump up and down and scream like a crazy mom. I had to play it cool.

We also celebrated the end of volleyball this month. Both of my girls played this fall -- Stephanie for the middle school team and Catherine for the high school team. Both teams had wonderful coaches and enjoyed victory after victory. (Punctuated by some character-building defeats.)

Coach Michel Ann presents a "Skor" bar to her number one scoring server. Stephanie has a powerful serve for sure!

Coach Jaimie presents keyring lanyards to co-captains Catherine and Myriah. Catherine also received "Most Inpirational" award for her enthusiasm on court. The kid played libero most games -- a very active and demanding position.

(I do believe that Stephanie learned her powerful serve by watching and following her big sister.)

I'm very proud of my girls, not so much for the athletic abilities, but for the teamwork they practice and the enthusiasm they show.

*\o/* *\o/* *\o/*

The girls also participated in Cheer Clinic this past month. Catherine is a cheerleader and with the other girls from school, put on a clinic for young girls. While Catherine helped lead the clinic, Stephanie learned a lot as a participant.

Stephanie and Catherine team together for a cheerful morning.

Mabrie got in on the fun as well!

(Remember our buddy, Mabrie? She and I did a lot of hiking together this past summer.)

911 Math Call

25 divided by 5 equals 14?

For a great lesson on dividing 25 by 5, check out this clip from Ma and Pa Kettle.


http://www.youtube.com/user/lyled

CLATSKANIE TOURNAMENT

What a day...our volleyball team broke its losing streak!

And almost took the tournament trophy home.

Coach Jaimie takes a timeout during the Scapoose match to instruct the team.

The girls took the first game of the match handily and had to battle from behind during the second.

They pulled it off, winning the second game 26-24 and thereby winning their first match EVER.

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When we started our sports program at Three Rivers Christian School last year, our first game was when our volleyball team competed at the Clatskanie Invitational Tournament in Oregon. The girls had heart even though they didn't get a win. They hardly knew how to rotate positions and not everyone could get their serves over the net.

Today we returned to the scene of our beginnings and proved that we are a different team! After winning the first three matches (yes, the first wins ever!) the girls made it to the finals against Seaside. How exciting!! While Seaside took the first game, Three Rivers took the second game making a third game necessary. The final score of 17-15 allowed Seaside to take home the tournament trophy in the "overtime" victory. It was such an exciting day of volleyball!!

Celebrating a point.

< Leah and Myriah conspire at the net.

Check out the math in this set up!>

BACK TO SCHOOL

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

Tradition, remember, dictates that we take a photo in front of the house on the first day of school. Today was a little different as we took our photo without Mitchell this time.

Catherine and good friend, Nicole, hook up first hour in Bible class.

Stephanie strikes a pose! She's ready to rule the school.

WHAT AN ADVENTURE!

We have made it home safely with lots of wonderful memories.

It was great to travel with family and friends and God as our guide!

WYATT

MABRIE

LILY

THE MALDONADO FAMILY

ZION

This is the view we were treated to as we drove from Kanab, UT, into Zion National Park.

Checkerboard Mesa was one of the first structures to catch our attention.

The Maldonado foursome poses at the base of Checkerboard Mesa.

Along the journey somewhere in New Mexico, we talked Brice into buying a cowboy hat. Pretty cool cowboy with his little girl.

Weeping Rock is a solution niche in Zion National Park. A strata of red sandstone sits above and has absorbed water from rain and snow throughout the ages. As the absorbed water trickles down through the porous rock, it meets an impermeable layer of slate and moves horizontally to the edge of the cliff. The solution running down the side of the cliff finds a crack to enter and after a great deal of time causes the crack to increase. Gravity then helps the rock fall, leaving a chunk missing from the side of the cliff…this is the niche. Here at Weeping Rock, water continuously flows down the cliff and trickles past the niche opening.

Steve pantomimes his location.

The water flowing over the red sandstone leaves it moist enough for us to paint our faces. Wyatt takes it as war paint!

Wyatt continues his war cry long after we left Weeping Rock.

There is a great amount of vegetation in this section of the desert area of Utah. Brice and Lily lead the hike to the Emerald Pools.

A critter posed for us along our hike to the Emerald Ponds.

At the lower pool, this structure caught my attention. A piece of red sandstone stands vertically.
What happened here? It looks as if roots of a fallen tree hold the rock upright.




At the hotel in Springdale, the Gateway to Zion. Temps ran over 100 degrees and the view was beyond beautiful.

Catherine applauds as Stephanie successfully floats on her back. Steph loves the water but like her mother is unable to swim. After some coaching and encouraging from her dad, Stephanie floats on her own. A proud moment!!








Steve leads Lily on a cruise around the pool.

Moving with turbo power through the shallow end of the pool.

Catherine captures the waterbaby for a few minutes.

Steve and Brice served as sea monsters taking kids forth and back through the pool.

Lily has developed into a waterbaby.

The sea monster surfaces to surprise Mandy and Lily. Frightening? I think not!