Spring 2011 Was Fun, Busy, and Crazy All at Once!

Father & Sons 2011. Nate and John were stoked for the Fathers & Sons Campout this year.  It was held at Briones Regional Wilderness in a really nice campground.

Get this. It's well known that since we are surrounded by often windy grass covered hills, they don't allow open fires.  However, this campground had a Viking-esque octagon thing with a big fire pit in the middle.  So, 3/4 of the octagon were walls, the other 1/4 wide open, and big vent like things out the top so the smoke could go out.   Very cool.  Of course, we made a huge fire, hunted and gathered.

A truck load of boys, unbridled. Fun!  (Don't worry, we only drove down the mountain to the parking lot).

I had to beg, plead and incentivize to get this shot.

Baptism. Our good friend Michael Kapetanic' was baptized last month. Really great guy. The boys thinks he is really cool too -- former Marine, rides a cool motorcycle, heart of gold, Croatian descent, but Bay Area native. He is a really nice addition to our church.  Our ward has had a number of baptisms, reactivations and such lately.  Great ward.

Recital.  Liza is cranking with piano.  She had her first recital a few weeks ago and was confident, polished, and professional.  Excellent bench posture, curved fingers, relaxed.  She's a pianist of promise.

John is getting better and better too.  Playing really well (powerfully I might add) with two hands, poised, confident.


Nate is taking a bit of a break from piano right now, so he didn't perform in this recital.

Pre-School Graduation.  It is with highest esteem and admiration that we announce that Liza has officially graduated from pre-school.  Would that all had a daughter like Liza.  Very bright, inquisitive and an excellent communicator.

Memorial Day at Golden Gate National Cemetery. Nate is  working on his Citizenship in the Nation merit badge so we visited a National Historic Place... in this case the ever beautiful aforementioned cemetery.  Kids fascinated to see all the soldier regalia.

 10 Mile Bike Rides. Nate is working on his Cycling merit badge, so we all get to ride bikes often. For one of his 10 milers we rode from the Dutch Windmill at the west end of Golden Gate Park , all along Ocean Beach down to Lake Merced.

 We went all the way around Lake Merced and back, arriving to a massive downpour. Latte rode in the bike trailer with the girls and loved it.

 

 Camp Herms ... Indoors.  Julia is the stake primary counselor over Scouting.  So, she is one busy gal. Each year there are six stakes of 11 year old scouts that get together for a campout at Camp Herms and to work on requirements through First Class. Lots of coordination. Lots of work. Lots of communication.   This year at the last minute there were torrential downpours so she had to coordinate everyone's efforts to move it all inside the Danville Stake Center.  Everything worked out great, but man that was a lot of work.

Cub Day Camp. As part of the Mt. Diablo Silverado Council week long Cub "Day" Camp, Julia ended up running the craft station, serving about a million boys.

She was expecting waves of 30 boys at a time, all week long, but it turned into waves of 60 boys, all week long.  So, she was working like crazy outside, all week long in high 90 to 100 degree weather, and on her birthday. On the fly with this confab, she pulled together craft ideas and supplies for double the number of boys than she was told to plan for. She is a saint, to say the least.

 Julia's 27th Birthday, or Thereabouts.  Phenominal day.  She spend the whole day in 100+ heat working a craft station for the scouts.  Pancakes had no baking powder in them--hearty they were.

 John's 9th Birthday. Ella and Charlie were sleeping over so the kids celebrated with awesome birthday pancakes, in grand fashion.

John the Shaman.  John's class put on an end of the year play called "A Rumpus in the Rainforest." 

In terms of dramatics and intrigue, it was all there.   John performed his Shaman role swimmingly, and was particularly adept at putting his theatrical prowess to good use.  Hard to find a good Shaman anymore.

A scintillating production indeed, and it's always good to have an extra Shaman around.

Swim Team. Let them swim. Let them get tired. Let Julia have peace of mind. All summer long the kids are on the San Ramon Aqua Bears swim teams. People are dead serious about their swim team here. What this means is that the kids, along with a gazillion friends from church and the neighborhood, get to swim A LOT!  They love meets, and competing with random other swim teams in the area. The Aqua Bears are actually in first place right now.

John is a power swimmer, actually quite fast.  Nate is speedy ... "like a knife moving through water", but he is competing in an upper division this year so he goes up against some really fast kids.  Liza has won a few hearts and heats of her own (with the kick board), and as of late she is swimming without the kickboard.  Caroline is going to get into it soon too.

They swim at the Royal Vista pool, really close to our house at the golf course, so it's really convenient and nice.  Julia spends a lot of time there, as do all the other families.  They basically set up encampments and roll with it.  Fun

Pleasanton Junior Football League.  Nate and John are officially in the PJFL The first time with pads on is an absolutely unforgettable thing for a guy.

For years there has been a red light on hitting each other.  Now, with pads on, it's a green light.  

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After Nate and John got their pads, they went and practiced nailing each other on the front lawn.

Of course, we had to take #75 out of retirement to do it, but it was worth it.  Surprisingly, John fits into my high school jersey.  Go figure. Nate is very proud of his Eli Manning jersey too.  They ended up drawing a crowd of kids, who sat there watching them pummel each other. Quite a sight in these parts.  Most kids don't have a brother almost their exact size to pound on.


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The news of all news is that Nate and John were placed on the SAME TEAM in their "intermediate" league--THE COLTS.  This will make family in Indiana (Thys and Anson) happy.  In their first practice (John now in a Cal jersey #13), it was HILARIOUS.  John was at noseguard and Nate played a rush on every play linebacker.  Both had some good tackles.  Lots of fundamentals to work on.

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One of the coaches is Greg Clark, a church member who played for the 49ers (#85) years ago.  Great guy and impressive coach.