Soccer @ Squaw Valley

Madison's spring competitive soccer team occasionally scrimmages a soccer academy team in Squaw Valley California. The venue is amazing, there is one large artificial turf field tucked away in the pine trees. There was a squirrel taunting Chili Dog most of the day, there were lots of birds in the trees too.

Olympic (Squaw) Valley was the location of the 1960 Winter Olympic Games so at the turn to the park where the soccer field is located, the Olympic flame still burns.

Madison plays right defense and mid field. Here she is getting ready to take the ball from the other team.




Another of Madison's specialties is the throw in. If you look closely, you can see the ball here in the upper left hand corner of this pic.



After the game some of the parents met up at Starbucks in Truckee for coffee. It ends up being a pretty long day with the drive and the game.

Not a bad way to spend a Sunday.

Slow Ride

This past weekend we closed out the holiday with a slow ride with the Moser's. We had such a busy weekend with the Chile roast that it was a nice change to just ride our bikes and spend some time with old and new friends.

We started by driving to the Moser's place in Gardnerville. From there, we rode about 3 or 4 miles to the Garcia's place near Douglas High School where we were treated to a bbq and refreshing beverages.

The kids played a game of tether ball in the back yard.









And caught a frog or two.













And played on the trampoline.











After dinner, we headed out for our night cruise. Most of the bikes had lights and the streets are safe, I don't think I even saw one car the entire ride.
Mike Garcia has a TON of cruisers in his garage so he loaned some to his friends that were there for dinner too. I think they are going to buy their own now.

At the park we ran into this wino, he was pretty friendly. We let the kids play at the playground until the lights (which are apparently on a timer) shut off and they came running to us. Funny how we could not get them to leave before that.

Since I did not want the wino to feel bad I decided to drink with him. Actually, that is our friend Jeff - and he really is not much of a wino he likes beer way more.

It was a beautiful night the food was fantastic as was the company. The Moser's did a night cruise almost every night the last month of summer. We are going to rig up all our cruisers with lights and do our own around our neighborhood. We could probably even sneak a few in this year before it gets too cold out.

Ruybalid Chile Roast

Fall is nearly upon us, time for the annual Chile Roast. This year it was held at Brent's sister Tracy's house in Sparks. It didn't feel much like fall though, it was HOT all weekend long. Friday night me, Brent, and our girls headed up to help Tracy set up for the weekends events. The party starts on Saturday at about noon although it was already going when we got there. The process starts with 25 pound bags of raw Anaheim Chile peppers imported by Brent's dad's cousin Randy from California. Here you can see our nephew Brit and his girlfriend Maddie roasting the chiles on the gas grills.

From the grills they are taken by runners (the younger ones) to the cutting table to have the stems removed and then drain before being placed into freezer bags for freezing to be used all year until the next roast. Here are Shayna and her boyfriend Jeremy working at the cutting table. Madison spent a better part of the day working the cutting table. At one point there was a huge mound of chiles to be cut and she was all alone and said to anyone who walked by "I could use some help here, anyone..." it was cute.

Of course in between all the work there is some fun to be had. It is nice to see the extended family and get caught up on what has been happening in everyone's lives. It is also time for the kids to play with cousins that they don't see but once a year. Here are Logan, Madison, and Anjeanette near Logan's snow cone stand. He is quite the entrepreneur he was selling his cones for "tips" during the roast.

Another of the highlights of the day are Aunt Louise's margaritas. She starts blending as soon as the roast starts and keeps everyone hydrated throughout the day. Here she and Brent are discussing which blender he is going to borrow to make a batch of his salsa.

The roast is held on Labor Day weekend so when it is Reno or Sparks we get to attend the Best in the West Rib Cook off. We don't go for the ribs, we go for the music. Our friends The Heather Combs Band were playing that weekend so we headed down to see the show on Saturday night. Here is Brent with Kevin who took care of us that night. He got us a table, and the band got us a parking pass so we did not have to fight the crowds. Kevin also bought all our drinks that night, he is way too good to us.

Remember the margaritas I mentioned? Well lets just say that, and some beer makes Brent a happy boy. Here he is with Shayna at our table while Madison and I are out on the dance floor.

This is our friend Jeff he is the trumpet player in the band. We love watching him play, he is amazing. He is signing a CD for Brent's cousin Richard, we told him that his name was "pain in the ass" it was pretty funny. There were also some plays on the name Richard ending in weed if you know what I mean. Good times.

Here I am with my sister Trish and nephew Brit, you can tell we have been sweating all day we are all shiny. It was fun to unwind after a day of hard work.

Lastly, here is my baby girl. I think she worked the hardest of em all that day other than the time she spent inside in the air conditioning playing on the computer of course. She partied like a rock star that night.

Next year the roast is at Aunt Martha's house in Concord...stay tuned.

Highlights of the Last Week of Summer

After the
Slow Rollers Poker Run she decided that she wanted a new beach cruiser for her birthday.



She picked the Black Betty which had to be ordered so it finally came on our second day of vacation. She and I had soccer practice that night so while we were at practice Brent went to the bike shop and got the bike and set it up for her to be surprised when she walked into the living room (that is her happy dance).

Because there is no summer camp the last week of summer, it has become a tradition for me to take the week off work and spend it with Madison.

Since she had her new bike we decided to go up to Tahoe and ride the bike path at Camp Richardson. Our friends Kristy and Charlie joined us and we made a big day of it. Kristy also got a new bike for her birthday so she was excited to get out there and ride.

We started the day with lunch at Sprouts, then some shopping at the Pearl Izumi outlet (husbands gave us each a list), a ride on the bike path, and finished with ice cream at the ice cream parlor. We had a bit of trouble loading the bikes so we got a later start than we wanted to but we did it and we were proud of ourselves for that.

We just got a new
movie theater in town and it has been a long time coming! The old theater was so gross that we would drive 20 to 45 miles to see a movie. I took the girls (Madison, Shayna, and Anjeanette) to see the movie
No Reservations
, it was pretty cute but predictable and sad at times.

We also did our back to school shopping and hair cut which was exhausting. I am not a big fan of shopping particularly when I HAVE to do it. So the girls and I headed out for a day of power shopping after Madison's hair appointment. We got an early start and did really well. We found some great deals especially on their DC shoes. We had a nice lunch and then finished up our shopping and headed home so Shayna could go to soccer practice.

Madison and I had so much fun at the Lake with Kristy and Charlie we decided to do it again but just the two of us. We ate lunch at Sprouts again, and I had to stop at the Pearl Izumi outlet again to get a jersey to match the shorts I bought earlier in the week. On our first ride Madison's seat was a bit too high and needed to be cut down so we were unable to finish the bike path. We took the bike to Dan and had it cut and now it is perfect. She was excited to finish the bike path and wanted to do it again.

This section of the bike path was Madison's favorite because it was like a natural tunnel.





We packed our beach towels in my basket so that we could hit the beach on our way back to the car from our bike ride. Because we rode our bikes into the beach, we did not have to pay to park. It was pretty cool to just ride up to the beach, park the bikes, and lay down our towels. Of course Madison made a friend in the first 5 minutes of being there. It was funny because the girls name was also Madison, they had the same cell phone, and they both had a tooth missing in the same place. They built a sand castle and buried the other Madison's little brother in the sand.

It was a great week but I have to say the best day by far was the last day, we can't wait to do it again next year.

Cooking Mama!

Madison used to help me cook dinner almost every night and then she lost interest. That was until she got a game for her Nintendo DS called Cooking Mama. She has been using a real knife since she was about 8 mostly helping me by making the salad.

On the menu that night was three cheese tortellini with marinara sauce, garlic bread, and green salad. Madison also helps me peel and press the garlic. She does not necessarily enjoy this job because it is hard for her small hands to get the leverage needed to press the garlic.








Like me, I think she enjoys the creative part of cooking. She likes it best when I give her a job and just let her do it on her own (shocking huh?).


That night I put her 100% in charge of the salad.

Here is the finished product, almost too pretty to eat.

One of her other favorite games is Cake Mania which I also got addicted to. So now she wants to be a pastry chef when she grows up. Now if I can only find a game that makes being a doctor or lawyer seem interesting to a 10 year old...

Sand Harbor with the Binghams

Our friends the Bingham's invited us to spend the day with them at Sand Harbor about a week before school started. We had never been to the lake with them and were in for a special treat. We met Todd through Fall AYSO soccer last season he then became Madison's basketball coach in the winter. Madison and Hannah hit it off right away and have been good friends ever since.

Todd is a big kid at heart and he has a LOT of toys. When we arrived at the lake we had to trek quite a ways to get to what can only be called "base camp". I could list the toys here but I think it is best illustrated with pictures.

Madison and Hannah started off the afternoon by building a sand castle. The sand was imported from the other side of the harbor by Todd and Hannah via the kayak. Evidently the sand at base camp was not architecturally sound for castle building.

Then it was time to attack the boys in the blow up boat with water guns. Todd shows Madison how it is done here.



Since the ground attack was not successful, it was time to take it to the water. Here are the girls and Todd preparing to attack by sea.

Then it was time for Madison to try out the remote control boat. Todd caught a crawdad with his bare hands which he then placed in the remote control boat and Madison gave a ride. He was later released back to the lake unharmed.

Shirlee and I also played paddle ball in the sand and our feet kept getting impaled by hidden stakes in the sand. Madison used the folding shovel to remove them for us. My feet hurt for days after that but it was fun and good exercise. There are no pictures of us because we are the photographers. I am sure we looked super cool doing it though.

After a beautiful day at the lake we headed back to town and our respective homes to clean up and get ready to regroup for a bbq at the new Bingham home. Todd and Shirlee are great hosts and a good time was had by all.

Good friends, good food, good times!

High School Musical 2

Just before school started the geniuses at Disney released the sequel to the smash hit High School Musical. I had the bright idea to have a premier party for Madison and her friends. Turns out, I was not the only one with this idea. Her friend Natasha also had this idea along with another of her friends. So she had to turn down 2 other invites!

We got HS Musical plates, cups, and napkins and had pizza and (root)beer. Everyone came to the party in their pj's a couple of the girls even had HS Musical jammies. When Shayna heard what we were doing she decided to stay home from her moms that night and invite her friend Katie over to watch the movie. The Disney channel had a countdown to the premier with the cast so the girls were excited about that. Evidently Zach is "hot" personally, I think he is too pretty for a boy.

How was the movie? It was ok, it picked up where it left off in the first movie I guess it is best compared to our generations Grease but is not nearly as good if you ask me. The numbers beg to differ it broke all sorts of records for a made-for-tv movie and I hear the 3rd installment is going to the big screen...I can hardly wait.

Madison goes to Theater Camp

This past week Madison attended Theater Camp at the Brewery Arts Center. They learned improv, all about sets, and musical theater. This is her and her friend Natasha from soccer they spent the week hanging out and even had a sleepover on Monday night.

On Friday they had a parents presentation to show us what they had been doing all week. The room that it was located in is called the Black Box Theater. The walls, ceiling and floor are all painted black which unfortunately is not very conducive for photography or videos.

The homework assignments for the week were to memorize poems and recite them the following day. Because we had soccer practice the night before, Madison forgot to memorize a poem for Friday so we stopped at my work and found one on the internet at a children's poetry website. It is called "My Mom's a Vegetarian".



The entire class performed the song I just Can't Wait to be King from the movie
The Lion King. They made masks and rehearsed all week. You can't see Madison in the video until about mid way and then she is directly in front of me, again the quality is poor due to the lighting in the room.



I think she had a good time and certainly was not shy while performing. One of the parents approached her after the performance and told her she was a great singer - that made her day.

Levi Comes to Visit

No, not Leipheimer Levi the dog. My dad was in the hospital for about a week (he is ok now) so we had the pleasure of dog sitting for him. Levi is about a year and a half old Chesapeake Bay Retriever and Pit Bull mix. His personality is so gentile and sweet and he fancies himself a lap dog.

As you can see in this picture above, he climbed up the back of the couch to get to me to sit in my lap. His body is so solid you can not even push him off of you.

Chili is a pretty good host for the most part. When Levi arrived he was a bit snippy with him trying to show him who was boss.

It is funny because Levi is still a puppy and Chili is finally not a puppy so typically when we have puppy friends over he drives them insane by mauling them and always wanting to play. This time, he was the one being driven insane.

Chili shared his bed, and his favorite toy with Levi - sort of. Levi was making this skull squeak and when he finally dropped it and came to sit in my lap Chili picked it up, brought it over to him squeaked it, growled and then walked away as if to say "hey pal, this is MY toy".

Dad got out of the hospital on Wednesday afternoon and came to get Levi on Thursday while we were at work. We were sad to see him go but happy that dad is ok and back home.

Do Not Drink and Dye

So here is the deal, we were at Robin's house for a bbq last weekend and somehow we got on the subject of the pink in her hair. Somehow Madison ended up getting two streaks in the front of her hair and somehow I was talked into putting pink in my hair. The details are sketchy but pictures do not lie....needless to say, Madison's is almost gone and mommies is still bright as ever.

I was pretty nervous to go into work on Monday but I laid low for a few days until finally my boss saw me and just laughed. Of course this was also the week I had a neighborhood watch meeting, had to meet the parents of the soccer team I am coaching, etc.

It is pretty funny how people judge you based on your appearance, somehow people think I am more approachable with pink hair and we certainly can't have that! I think the girls on my soccer team think it is pretty cool and makes it all worth it.

Sunday on the Flume

A couple weeks ago Brent and I did the
Flume Trail for the first time this
season. We usually try to do this trail at least 4 or 5 times per summer but since we got the road bikes we have not been mountain biking nearly as much.

This is Max Jones in the background talking with Brent. Brent and Max play soccer together on a masters team (over 40) on Friday nights. As you can see here, they are in deep conversation about bikes. From what I understand, Max built the Flume trail and initially it was an illegal trail but thanks to his advocacy, it is now a legal and very widely known multi-use trail. It is open to hikers, horses, and mountain bikes in the summer and in the winter it is used for cross country skiing and snowshoeing.

There are also cabins available to rent. Brent and I actually stayed in the Wildcat Cabin one year for our anniversary. This was before I was such a biker and we had to pack our gear in on our backs. Lets just say I was crying when we arrived to the cabin and too tired to even make it to Marlette to see the lake! Times have sure changed...thank god.

We started from the parking area at Spooner Lake and headed up to Marlette Lake then took the trail clockwise around Marlette to the Flume then up a crazy amount of switchbacks and back down into Marlette for the decent back to the car. In total it was about 22 miles of goodness.

This is the other side of Marlette Lake once you are on the Flume. The trail is right at lake level here.





Here is the view of Sand Harbor from the Flume. This section of the trail is one of the most photographed of the entire route. It is a single track section that is way up in the mountain with a large drop off on one side. Our dog once chased a squirrel and fell down this section and Brent had to rescue him.

There is one section of the trail that has to be walked because it is too dangerous to ride. It was here where some dumb college kids tried to run me over because I was walking and they were not. I had to tell them that they were supposed to walk this section and they looked at me like I was retarded. Then they walked the section and realized why. It was these same college kids that I passed that were walking up the steepest section of the climb from Spooner.

Here I am climbing yet another hill. This is one of the more challenging rides that we do fitness wise, it will definitely max out your heart rate.

Here I am at the crossroads near the end of the most awesome section of downhill single track that is on the Tahoe Rim Trail. This is the reason we climbed the crazy amount of switchbacks so that we could come down this section rather than climb it.






This is a vista where you can see both Marlette Lake and Lake Tahoe. We took this picture using the delay setting on the camera, got the horizon a bit crooked which reminds me of a Todd Snider song...It's a Crooked Piece of Time that We're Livin In...

The wildflowers are still in bloom in sections of the trail. This is the last little climb out from Marlette Lake to the downhill that takes you to Spooner.

The hardest part of this trail is the climbing but there are several ways to do the loop and there is even a shuttle if you only want to do part of it. This recreation area makes me thankful I live where I do. It is only 20 minutes from our house and absolutely gorgeous.