Monster Weekend!!

Hey kids,
Daddy here. This weekend was big. It started Friday night when the boys and I made our annual trip to the Monster Trucks. This year it was in Redding, which was awesome for a short drive. We met Jake Mangas and Coby at the event and settled in. CR Gibbs was serving dinner, so that was wagger. The venue was a lot smaller than Red Bluff but I think it was another great night for us. On the way back to the car, what do you know, Alex finally caught Squirtle!!
Saturday morning Alex had to be at the church at 5 am for the youth group trip to 6 Flags. So, Al and I got up at 4:15 and got there. Gabe ended up not going because he got sick, which pissed Alex off. He ended up hanging out with Ryan and had a great day. Back at home, it took me forever to fall back asleep and when I finally did, Mom woke me up to scoop poop and mow the grass. We had lots to do to prepare for the Big Top Party. We got the finishing touches on everything and people started showing up. It was a bit into the party and we were wondering where the Reagan's were. We found out that they had been involved in a car accident! Mr Donaghy went to check on them and they eventually made it to the party, no injuries. It was a miracle. The party was awesome.  The face painter was great and everyone had a great time. Once all the temporary company had gone, the family started rolling in. Once again, we had a full house. The Clickner's, the Reagan's and all our family were all here. I have to say, I think my favorite sound in the whole world is that of my family just hanging out and laughing and talking. It really does make me so very happy. I cooked up some sausages and we had dinner. Once the second party had wound down, we finally made our way to bed. Izzy and I fell asleep in our bed.  Not long after, I got a text from Al saying he was at church and needed to be picked up. It's 1am now. Off to get him and then back home to bed. Al asked me on the way if we could sleep in in the morning. Nope, Daddy is doing both readings at 9.
The next day, we groggily headed to church. Jake served and I did both readings and all the announcements. Father George was back and told us about his trip to Italy. It's pretty amazing that he got asked to serve at the canonization Mass for Mother Theresa. After Mass, we came home for a lazy, football day. Not Ling after we got home, Tia and Uncle PP stopped in so Uncle PP could fix a sprinkler that he'd broken the night before. While he was here, I asked for his help in fixing the stupid wiring problem in the bedroom and we got it all dialed in! As soon as they left, we got a text from Rachel who was in town for a visit. So, she came by and we had a nice visit. After she left, Mom and I took a quick trip to Home Depot for the light bulbs and came home to crash. It was indeed a Monster weekend. I can't wait for our next adventure. I love you guys,

Daddy

Izzy's Weekend

Hey kids,
Daddy here. This weekend we had a greattime. Friday night, I got home from work real late and was very grouchy, but sitting by the pool withMom for just a few minutes can do wonders for my attitude. I'm so very thankful for her and for youguys in my life.
Saturday was Mackenzie's party, so we got some chores done and Mom, Izzy and I headed out while the boys stayed home and played xbox. It was a Star Wars party and Cory and I helped the kids put their lightsabers together. We had a blast. Eventually, we got hot and hungry so we went to Mary's Pizza Shack for dinner. We got a meat call one for the boys and headed home for a hang out and a swim. We all love hanging out and laughing, it was great.
Sunday, I got up around 5:15 and enjoyed the early morning. I don't usually get to do that, but watching the sunrise was pretty awesome. Before I know it, the birthday girl had rolled outta bed, looking dazed and adorable. Mom was the first one to wish you a happy birthday and she said, "Oh I forgot!" I gave her the traditional morning squishy and told her I loved her. Mom then reminded me also that it was her birthday, lol.  What's the morning was actually started, we showered got dressed and headed for church. On the way to church Kama Dragonite popped up on the mini map and Jake freaked out! I was sure that he would not show up, but I'm pleased to say that I was wrong! Mom and I both caught him but he ran away from Alex, :-( we got to church and Jake was the second reader. I know I say it a lot, but man, Jake was good. I don't mean good for a kid good I mean good better than most adults good. Very impressive Steve-O. After church we headed across the street for the Knights of Columbus breakfast in the cafeteria at school. We had a wonderful breakfast with our friends and family. Then we headed out to Target to let the stinky pick out her birthday present. She picked out a Jeep for her American Girl dolls. We then headed home to relax before heading out to dinner at Red Robin for her birthday dinner. What a wonderful weekend it's been, I look forward to our next great adventure. I love you guys, Daddy

Weekend Recap

Hey kids,
Daddy here. This weekend was Labor day weekend and so we got an extra day off. We started the weekend off by attending a recitation of the Rosary for Candi Keller. On Saturday, we went to her funeral at church. The church was completely packed. It was a wonderful tribute to a wonderful woman's life. I've only been to a handful of funerals in my life and there are no fun. But we're not there to have fun we're there to show our support for the family. Mom and I hugged Jeff and her parents and told them how sorry we were. When we came home, I just wanted to spend some time with you guys. You never know how much time we have with our loved ones and that's one of the reasons I write this blog . So you guys will always know how much Mom and I love you. I love you guys ,

Daddy

Weekend Recap

Hey kids,
Daddy here. This weekend was Labor day weekend and so we got an extra day off. We started the weekend off by attending a recitation of the Rosary for Candi Keller. On Saturday, we went to her funeral at church. The church was completely packed. It was a wonderful tribute to a wonderful woman's life.
Saturday was her funeral. I've only been to a handful of funerals in my life and there are no fun. But we're not there to have fun we're there to show our support for the family.

UFC 202

Hey kids,
Daddy here. This weekend Sara and DeanO came to visit and watch the UFC fight. It was the second match-up of Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz. Diaz won the first fight and I was really hoping Conor would win this one, not just because he's my current favorite fighter but I always like to see them even the score. We had a few beers, we had some dinner, and settled in to watch the fight. I tend to get a little bit excited when I watch the UFC fights, which is why I didn't want you guys watching it with me but I let you stay up anyway. So, I'm sorry for what you heard that night as I have a tendency to scream at the television during a UFC fight. All in all it was a pretty good fight although there was a little too much dancing around and not enough hitting in the face for my taste. We took it easy on Sunday and Sarah and Dean ended up going home around 1 in the afternoon. We got the house cleaned up headed off to church and hit MOD Pizza on the way home. I love that place. I even got a Mega Mod so that I'd have some mod for lunch this week. We'll see what the next adventure brings. I love you guys,

Daddy

First day of School 2016

Hey kids,
Daddy here. Today was the first day of school for the 2016-2017 school year. Or as Izzy called it, the 2016 minus 2017 school year. This year Al is taking zero period so he has to be at school at 6:45, ouch! Mom is gonna take him in and hopefully get a few minutes alone to get her day planned. I'll be taking Jake and Izzy to school. After we got all ready we had to take a pic.

It cracks me up that's you can't even read her sign, lol. After work, I asked you guys about the first day and you all seemed ok with it. Iz is happy in third grade, Jake is happy in 7th and even Al seems pretty happy in 10th. Mom also had a great first day in her new class. I'm so glad you guys had a good first day. I can't believe you're so big already, but I'm sure this school year will bring many fun adventures and memories. I love you guys,

Daddy

Dad and Dude day- Al version

Hey kids,



Daddy here. So, as per usual we did our second round of Dad and Dude day yesterday.  This time Al was the man of honor. I wanted to hit the driving range, so we did something that I've never done in all of our years living in Redding and that was to go to aqua golf. Driving range overlooking the river so that you can hit your golf balls right into the river.

 It was totally awesome. On the second-to-last ball for both of us I went first and hit an absolutely killer shot I followed up with an equally killer shot of my own. We hesitated for a moment thinking we should not hit our last ball for fear of going out on a duck. That was a fleeting thought however and I quickly lined up to hit my last ball. It was a terrible shot and didn't go very far. All lined up for his last shot and similarly tufted. We said our last shot was the equivalent of finding Pidgey. When we're done at the driving range we both found ourselves absolutely starving so we headed up to Dill's Deli.

We each got a dirty Pig  and it was exactly perfect with our bellies full we headed over to GameStop From there, we headed over to GameStop because Alex wanted to buy Call of Duty used had he found one for 10 bucks! After GameStop, we headed to the movies to take in Suicide Squad. I've heard a lot of people bitching about the quality of that movie but I'll be honest, I thought it was pretty awesome. After the movie we checked out a few more places to hang, but everything was closed. We decided to head over to the Sundial Bridge and hunt for Pokemon. We didn't catch anything good comma but as long as we get to spend time together it was totally worth it. We got home kind of late comma and headed to bed. Another successful dad and dude day on the books. I love you guys,

Daddy