Happy Halloween

This morning was Zachary's Halloween parade and party at school. I am so glad I am always able to attend these things for the kids.

After school we went trick or treating at the Otay Ranch Mall. They had a huge event with the local radio station. The kids went trick or treating at the stores and at the different tents set up down the middle of the mall. When we got home, we went to a few houses too. We just realized this week that Kailani's teacher lives on our street. Kailani really wanted to go trick or treating at her teacher's house. Unfortunately, she wasn't home.

Lady Broncos are #1

Today was the day Kailani's cheer team has been preparing for the whole season...competition! We got up really early (it was still dark) and were downtown by 7am. The girls did an awesome job and won 1st place. This means they will go to the regional competition next month. Although the regular season is officially over, we've got playoffs and another competition to prepare for.
All of our lady Broncos did well today: Flag - unfortunately did not place, Mitey Mite - 1st place, Jr. PeeWee - 2nd place, and Jr. Midget - 1st place.

 Before...

During...

After...

Harley-Ween

Today was Kailani's last game of the season. It doesn't mean we're done though. The team's record is 8-0, so we're moving into playoffs. Out of all 8 games this season, only one team scored against us and they scored only one touchdown. All other games were shut outs.
After the game we rushed to the Harley Davidson store for the USO Halloween party. We were late and just made it for the kids to trick or treat. They lucked out since they were last and got a ton of candy. We ate and the kids played games. We always have a great time there.

Say Boo to Drugs!

This week was red ribbon week at Kailani's school so they had a different spirit day each day to support being drug free. Today they got to wear their Halloween costumes to say Boo to drugs. I stayed at drop off to watch Kailani at the parade. She was still in her costume when I picked her up!

 

Tonight we went to dinner and church. The kids had pizza and watched a movie. The adults had dinner and listed to the pastor talk about the future of the church. It turned out to be a busy day!

Yoga for Hope

Today we went to a fundraiser for my friend Jan whose son has Tay Sachs disease. On the way, we stopped at a park to meet up with Lisa, a friend who I met in Hawaii. She brought her daughter Ella along and Kailani and Zachary enjoyed playing with her. It's always great to meet up with friends from our past lives:) I snapped a quick pictures of the kids playing while we were waiting.

The yoga fundraiser was very nice. Zachary had a difficult time being quiet so he and I spent most of the time away from the group. Kailani tried everything. She did awesome!

Game 7

Today was unusual in that Kailani's game wasn't until 5pm. Although it was nice to have the day to do things, it is always nicer to get the game out of the way early. The kids took advantage of the time at home to play outside. They pretended to be zookeepers.

 

The dogs wanted to play too!

While we were waiting for the game, we went to Toys R Us for their free Lego build. The kids each got a Joker robot. Kailani wasn't as interested in it as Zachary was, but they both built it right away.
The game was at Steele Canyon High School near Jamul, so the scenery was very nice. There were a ton of bees though, so it made it tough to sit in the stands. Of course the boys won 48-0. Even though next Saturday is the last game, it looks like there will be playoffs in the future.

 

 Zachary and Savannah have cheered for the Broncos together for the last 3 years!

Junior Paramedic

This morning, we got up bright and early to head to Kailani's school for "Hawk Walk" day. The kids who walked to school today got a prize. We headed to school early to hand out prizes. Kailani and Zachary both enjoyed helping hand out prizes. I was able to help out today because I had a special event at school that started later than our normal start time.
We had a PE field day for work, so I got to spend the day at the park. It's days like this that I love my job. How many people get to spend their work day at the park playing games?
When I went to pick Kailani up, the YMCA kids were going through a mini CPR training. They had gone inside an ambulance to learn about what was inside. Kailani wasn't ready to leave of course, so I got to take some pictures of her doing CPR:)

Pumpkin Patch

Today after church, we headed to the pumpkin patch. There are some really good pumpkin patches/farms, but most are at least an hour drive. I didn't want to make the drive, but I also didn't want to get our pumpkins from a pumpkin stations in a parking lot either. Someone told me about the pumpkin station in Bonita, which is a little more authentic than those in the parking lots. It was very small, but served the purpose. The kids each picked out some small pumpkins. They carved the little ones today. There's not much left of their pumpkins;)

We also stopped at the mall to purchase the kids' Halloween costumes. We have some events coming up over the next few weeks that we need them for. Kailani was set on being Ariel so we went to the Disney Store. Zachary wanted to be Superman, but at the Disney Store he changed his mind and decided to be Jake instead.

Cramming it all in

Today was one of those days that we had to go from one activity to another to be able to fit everything in.
Kailani had her 6th game of the season this morning. They played the Bonita Buccaneers and won 38-0. The parent who was assigned to bring a snack after the game brought pizza and cupcakes for the girls. The girls had a great time together.

From the game, we went directly to Otay Recreation Center for "Beautify Chula Vista." This was a community clean up event our Brownie troop signed up for. Kailani will get a patch for participating. Zachary loves participating in these clean up events!

We had a few minutes to stop home before heading up to Elly's house for Brayden's 4th birthday party. Elly was pretty much my first friend in San Diego and with our busy schedules, we don't have much time to get together anymore. We need to take advantage of birthday parties to get the kids together. We were only able to stay for about 30 minutes before heading off to our next activity.
Kailani had an extra cheer practice this afternoon at a gym. This practice was to give the girls the practice on mats like they will experience at competition. The girls know the beginning of their routine well. They'll have to work hard over the next 2 weeks to perfect the rest. The competition is on October 27. If they place in the first competition, they'll go to the regional competition on November 17.
We're finally at home relaxing:)

It's Friday!

I always look forward to Fridays. I have a shorter work day and it means the start of the weekend! Today I was able to run around and get some things done while the kids were still in school. Zachary had his first karate class at New Hope. Our church has a sports program and this is the first time we've tried one of the activities. This karate class is less "serious" than the one he did in the past. It seems so much more appropriate for his age. He had a lot of fun.

Since we had a rainy day this week, Kailani had cheer practice today to make up for a missed day. I hung out at the park with Zachary and Savannah. Savannah is the coach's daughter and she and Zachary have been buddies since the first year their older sisters cheered together. Zachary and Savannah are the same age; she is one day older:) I took care of Savannah today during practice. They had a blast running up and down the hill.

Welcome Fall

Yesterday was the first cool day we've had in a while. It was actually cold and rainy. We finally turned off the air conditioning and enjoyed the fire place:)

Today I was able to pick Bruno up at the animal shelter. I had to pay a $100 "running at large" fee. I also had to pay for boarding, a microchip, and shots (which he already had). We are very glad to have Bruno home and we'll make sure to keep all doors and gates closed and locked.

Poor Bruno

I came home from work today surprised to find a notice on our door from the local animal shelter indicating they had our dog. I couldn't figure out how either one of the dogs could have gotten out of the house. As we entered the house, we quickly realized that Bruno was not here. I immediately assumed I forgot to let him back in the house when I left for work, but I couldn't believe I would have done that. I checked the yard and I couldn't figure out how he got out of the yard if I had left him out there.
I listened to several messages on our answering machine. The first message, from 8:30am, was from a neighbor who said she had Bruno. The second message was from a woman (who I thought was the same as the first but found out later it wasn't) who said Bruno was going to attack her dog so she was going to have to call animal control. The third message was from an animal control officer stating that Bruno was at the animal shelter.
I tried contacting the officer right away but ended up leaving several messages. I called the woman who initially found Bruno. I was worried Bruno had done something to her dog. She said when her and her husband came out of the house this morning to go for a walk with the kids, Bruno was waiting by their garage. She said Bruno followed them for a 3-mile walk (without a leash). Another woman walking 3 dogs passed by. One of the dogs was a chihuahua and its barking scared Bruno. The other woman called me at that point and threatened to call animal control. The first lady said her and her husband would take care of Bruno if she just went on with her 3 dogs. Bruno followed the family back to their house and hung out in front of their garage. They put him in their back yard and ended up calling animal control when they had to leave their house because they didn't know what to do with him. I thanked her so much for taking good care of Bruno. She said he was such a sweetie and great with her little kids.
I finally got in touch with the animal control officer and he told me that he stopped by the house to see if anyone was home and our front door was wide open. Obviously, that's how Bruno got out. I can't imagine that I would have left the house without even shutting the door, but apparently that's what happened. Things get hectic in the morning and I guess I was focused on getting the kids out the door. I was not able to pick Bruno up tonight because the animal shelter had closed at 5. The animal shelter is right down the street from my work, so I will leave work at 10am, when the shelter opens, and go pick him up.
I am so glad Bruno is okay and that such a nice family took good care of him. I feel even worse that it's been pouring all night. It's possible that Bruno is in an outside kennel at the shelter. I have learned that my cell phone number needs to be on the dogs' tags. I will be going to new tags ASAP! I am very glad Holiday was in her cage today and that none of the cats escaped.
Poor Bruno:(

New Hope's 25th Anniversary

Today was the 25th anniversary of our church. The service was a little different than usual today. The pastor took us through a slide show of pictures and shared the story of New Hope over the last 25 years. He actually came down from San Francisco 25 years ago to start the church. They operated out of a local high school gym for 20 years and finally moved into the brand new building we are currently at in 2008. The church has grown over the years to an average weekly attendance of 660 people. Phrase 2 of the building plan will start soon and will add a second building. The kids really enjoy going. Zachary will start karate there on Friday. They have a children's sports program. Both kids will start practicing for the Christmas musical soon. We stayed after today's service for a celebratory lunch.