Weekend Recap

Hey kids,
Daddy here. This weekend was the annual Walk for Life in San Francisco. Alex has been to the Walk for Life a couple of times but the rest of us had never been. Father George called us on Friday and told us there were five seats left on the bus if we all wanted to go. It seems like it was destined. So, bright and early Saturday morning we got up headed to church and got on the bus. To say the seats were cramped, would be a massive understatement. To say the guy sitting in front of Mom was annoying, would be a monumental understatement but, we were there for the greater good so we forgive and move on. Be with a billion, really?! Ok, now I'm moving on. We arrived in San Francisco and went to our designated spot. I think the rough estimate put 55 thousand people there!

There were a few guest speakers but eventually we began walking. Father George had told us there would be many protesters and not to engage them. Alex, Veronica and a few others were hoping to see some crazies and we did. How about the lady screaming about her abortion? How about the "It's safe to leave the church" guy? One of the things I thought was neat was as we passed by a construction site all of the guys working on the site put their tools down and applauded us. That was awesome. It was also cool to see San Francisco all decorated up for the Super Bowl. We did however see a guy wearing all of his Seahawks gear. As I pointed out to Alex his team is watching from the same place that our team is, the couch. Alex got a little touchy because Brooklyn and Abeni Figueroa tried to monopolize my time, that is when mom wasn't physically having to restrain Ab from dealing with protesters. We eventually made it back to the bus and headed to get something to eat. Father George treated and we went to IHOP. We are so very blessed to have such a wonderful spiritual leader in Father George and I'm also proud to count him as a friend. We got back on the crowded bus and headed home. They decided to play a movie on the way home and that movie was Nacho Libre. I think it's one of the worst movies I've ever seen, but as I couldn't hear most of it it's hard to say. The only thing I know for sure is the only people laughing out loud was the guy in front of Alex and his kid who is sitting behind me. Ok, now I'm done. We eventually made it back home safe and sound. Hopefully, next year if we get to go will get a little bit bigger bus. If not, we will make it work. I'm glad we all got to go. I love you guys,

Daddy

Monterey Trip

Hey kids,
Daddy here. You guys get to go on so many great field trips every year, I wish I could go to all of them but alas I have to pick and choose carefully which ones I am able to attend. This year, mom and I made the decision that I would be attending and chaperoning the 6th grade field trip to Monterey. So after getting fingerprinted and taking an online test assuring that I wouldn't let any kid light himself on fire, I was ready to go. Wednesday night Jake and I packed up our stuff and set out early Thursday morning to begin our trek. We met the rest of the 6th grade class at the school at 6:15 and riding in Moya with Jake and I were Rudy and Patrick. We decided not to caravan and just let the chaperones find the quickest way to the aquarium on their own. Mike Palmer and I stayed fairly close on the trip down and decided to get gas and snacks at the same time. The right down was pretty uneventful because the boys just kept their nose in the iPad the entire time. Except one we went over the bridge near Benicia and they saw all the decommission warships. Then, as we got closer Patrick's excitedly said hey there is the ocean.

Christmas & New Year 2015/2016

Hey kids,
Daddy here. The past couple of weeks has been super crazy, what with the holidays and such.

It started on Christmas Eve. I took the day off and had to wrap up some last minute shopping (get it, wrap up!? lol). In the evening, we headed to the Christmas Eve vigil Mass at church. Alex was one of the lead servers and Jake served as well. Izzy was a little angel (literally, not just sitting there quiet). Grammie, Papa, Jula, and Violet joined us for the Mass. We get so tied up in all the gifts that sometimes we forget the greatest gift of all, God's love. Always remember that God loved us so much that He sent us a savior in Jesus and that is what this special time of year is all about.  After Mass, we headed home for our annual Christmas Eve dinner at our house. This year we had a full house with the five of us, Grammie, Papa, Tia, Uncle PP, Great-grandma Dorthy, Jula, Violet, Uncle J, Henry and even cousin Josh! Sadly, we did not have our traditional crab this year, due to the drought. Rest assured, Mom and Grammie made sure we still had plenty of good stuff to eat. We did have one brand new thing at this years dinner. Jake set his fabric napkin on fire. I certainly hope this will not become a new trend. Later in the evening, Mr Brace came by to pick up Al so he could be an angel at the 10 p.m. Mass. I'm so proud of you, Al for being there when your church needed you, even though you didn't want to. That shows such strength of character. Mom and I got all the dishes cleaned up and made it to bed before Santa showed up.

The next morning, I think you guys woke us up about 3:18 yelling and screaming that once again, Santa had paid us a visit. Mom made a pot of coffee and we headed downstairs to see what the big guy left us.



Everyone seemed very happy with their haul. Al's final gift was a Drone! Sadly, it was coming from China and would not be here till the 8th of January. Jake got a fitbit and Izzy got Gracie and an EZ Bake Oven. I got a bag of Mom's underwear, oops! In reality I got the Star Wars book, Aftermath. Mom got some kitchen stuff and some gift certificates from you guys. It was another great Christmas with the MansClan. We  had a few minutes to look over our stuff and then had to head out for the second part of our Christmas day celebration. We got dressed and headed over to Grammie & Papa's house. Papa made Mom and I his famous Bloody Mary's and Jake and Izzy passed out the gifts. The party continued all day and well into the evening. We watched some football, had dinner and decided to spend the night.

The next morning, we had a nice slow morning and watched some movies. We eventually headed home to play with our new stuff. A nice, relaxing, easy day. Is it only Saturday?!

Sunday morning brought us to Church and back home for another lazy, totally awesome day.

Monday we got a few surprises. First of all, Al's drone got here, weeks ahead of schedule! So we flew it around the house for a bit to try to get a feel for it. I tell ya, that thing is harder to fly than it looks. The second of the awesome surprises was that Becky & Eric were coming to Redding to drop off David and wanted to know if Alex could come back with them and spend a week at their house. We debated it for a bit, but Mom and I decided to let you go, Al. I can tell you now that as much as you wanted to see your friend, I really wanted you to stay with us since I don't get enough time to spend with you guys. One day you'll be grown and gone and I just want to make sure we have enough time together while you're still under our roof. I often lament about how little time there is and how quickly it goes, but I truly love spending time with Mom and you guys more than anything else in the world.

Anyway, Al left for a week in Danville and Jake, Iz, Mom and I had a great time too. On Tuesday, we went to see the movie, The Good Dinosaur. It was another awesome Pixar flick, and of course, a little sad. We went shopping at JC Penny for Jake.