Trip to Huntington Beach June - First Day

I took a 5:45 am flight out of Rochester and arrived in Los Angeles around 10:00 after a flawless connection in Chicago.  Weather when I landed was typical:  70's blue skies and no one can remember the last time it rained.  Galen picked me up and we got to the house around 11:30.  After a walk to Trader Joe's for lunch fixings, I got a tour of the yard including a very impressive vegetable garden with several corn stalks that tower over us all.

Maggie dances in the hole in the middle at Cherry-on-Top

We walked to the grade school to get Maggie and Thomas, the nine-year-old twins who celebrate their birthday this Saturday.  It wasn't long before someone suggested a trip to Cherry-on-Top for a little treat.  No, it wasn't me but I gladly went along with the idea.

Robert and Henry had gotten home just before we left.  It was great to see them both.  More about them and their activities later.

The weekend will be filled with activities beginning with a six girl sleepover Friday night.  On Saturday Galen and I are taking Thomas and two of his friends to Soak World, a water park while Maggie has a makeover party at home.  Some time this weekend, it looks like I will be taking Robert and Henry to see Prometheus, thus completing a karmic circle that began with my taking the three oldest to see Alien when it first came out.

See some more pictures in the trip album.

Trip to Aurora May - Fourth Day

Bill with Brock, Braden, and Brady

Today was Mother's Day and tomorrow is Eileen's birthday.  So it was a very special day for her.  We made a bagel run to Einstein Brothers in Naperville which gave me a chance to a see a bit more of the area.  It was surprising to me to learn that Aurora is the second largest city in Illinois with a population of almost 200,000 and that Naperville at 150,000 is the third.  These are quite substantial cities with plenty of resources and especially impressive schools, at least the physical plants are certainly impressive.

Brock inspects tortoise.

After our bagel brunch, we made a visit to the Aurora Zoo.  Yes, they have  their own zoo located in Phillips Park, a five minute drive from home.  The park also includes a golf course.  The zoo was perfect for a Sunday visit:  There is no admission fee.  It is small, easy to get around, and close to home.  We spent about an hour there which was just right for everyone.

After the zoo, Brendan and I took the boys to the Naperville Skate park where Brock skated and Brady rode his scooter.  This is a very nice facility with high quality wood ramps and a lot of them as well.  There was only one other skater when we arrived so it wasn't as much fun for Brock as it would have been with other kids to ride with.  With soccer and baseball, he doesn't skate as much these days but that will probably change once he connects with some other kids that do.  Again the facility was quite impressive in a larger park adjacent to a high school campus that looked like a small college.  Below is a time lapse photo sequence of one of Brock's skate board tricks.



We got back home in time to watch the Royals finish taking the three game series from the White Sox and then the conclusion of the Players Championship.  Eileen's niece, McKenna, drove out from Chicago for dinner and a visit.  We ended the day watching an episode of The Celebrity Apprentice.  Tomorrow is my last day here.

Watch a video of Brock on a half-pipe.

View the updated photo album.

Trip to Aurora May - Third Day

Brady and Brock waiting for The Avengers.

Woke up to a chilly and rainy day here on the edge of the prairie!  We thought Brock might have been invited to help out another soccer team in goal but that didn't materialize.  Eileen had drive to Indianapolis for the graduation of her niece and godchild, May Bridget, from Butler University--you Jayhawk fans will remember Butler.  We just stayed around the house till late morning when we went to see The Avengers.  We went to an 11:00 show and with the popularity of the Marvel franchise and the crummy weather, it was almost full.  I had used Fandango for tickets for the first time and was glad I did.  This of course prompted a call from my credit card company where I have an automatic internet purchase alert for the card I use for travel.  Glad to see they are on their toes.

We got home after the movie, had some lunch and watched the Players Championship hoping to see Tiger make a move which he didn't.  On the other hand Kevin Na certainly did.  In fact, he makes a lot of moves on the tee box.  Looks like a nervous wreck and an absolute mess and then puts it right where was aiming.  Should be an entertaining final round.  Perfect way to spend Mother's Day, right?

Both Brock and Braden had soccer matches starting at 6:00.  It had now gotten colder, started to rain a little and the seemingly ever present wind strengthen.  Lovely spectator weather.  I got a lot of nice sequence shots of Braden who scored a goal and had several nifty moves through the game.  Goals I understand; all those nifty moves are a bit beyond my untutored knowledge of the game.  Her team won the game handily and she had a lot of fun.  She plays hard and well.


There was some comic relief after the game as Brock arrived from his game on another field.  Brady who is so patient attending his brother's and sister's matches began a little horseplay with Brock.  Take a look.

View the video of Braden's soccer match.

View the updated photo album.

Trip to Aurora May - Second Day

The day began with a trip to Brendan's job site as he checked on a framing crew and generally made sure that the task for the day were well in hand.  It is an impressive development and I am always proud to see the work that Brendan does providing quality homes for families.  Unlike his other situations in Cleveland, Detroit, or Cincinnati, he lives just minutes away.   He often comes home for lunch!  However this Friday, he was taking the day off so we could play golf.

This was the first time out for both of us this season.  We played at a very nice facility which was part of a golfing community that had been developed during the height of the housing bubble.  As a result, there were very few homes close to the fairways--always a good thing when playing with Brendan.  Also the rates were very reasonable.  They also had an implemented a simple innovation that proved beneficial to me.  They had several tees including silver which on some courses might have been red.  I took advantage of them and probably played my best round of golf.  I had four or five birdies including one on a par four.  Unfortunately I came up a little short on energy and we had to drive by number 18 in order to get some food in me.  I now know why "senior" players always carry some granola bars in their bag.  Nonetheless, we had a great time.

We got home in the early afternoon and watched the second round of the Players Championship and got to see Tiger come from not making the cut to well under the cut line.  It is always fun to watch good golf just after you have played.  It gives you a greater appreciation for what these guys can do.  Once all the kids got home from school, we got ready for Brock's soccer game except for Braden who had soccer practice.

Brock had two assists in the first half from his mid fielder position and then played in goal for the second half.  He plays with energy, intelligence, and joy.  It is a real treat to see.  As you can see, he likes the European look with the head band and flowing hair.

Here is a set of video clips of his time in goal.

Take a look at the updated photo album.

Trip to Aurora May - First Day

The clock reads 3:45 am

This is my first visit to Brendan and Eileen and their new home in Aurora IL.  With the three kids - Braden, Brock, and Brady - they moved here in January as Brendan returned to work for Ryan Homes.  Aurora is about a 10 hour drive from Rochester, so it was a better choice to fly rather than drive.  It seemed like a better idea a month and half ago to fly Southwest out of Buffalo to save a few bucks.  that would have been a good idea were it not the 6:00 am departure which meant that I needed to get on the road there at 3:45 am!

Pretty Braden

It all kind of worked out OK.  I had a nice wait at Midway while Eileen made her way through rush hour traffic to pick me up.  I had a nice conversation with Meg in Appleton WI just three hours or so north.  Things are going well for her and I confirmed that her final home "bout" with her Roller Derby team will be this Saturday and it will be streamed.  We are all planning on watching it here in Aurora.  Once I got to their new place, I crashed and took a two hour nap.  After a late lunch with Brendan at Red Robin, we returned home and bean to get ready for the afternoon activities:  getting the kids from school and getting the kids set for athletic activities.  Braden had soccer practice and Brock had a baseball game.  Brady will begin baseball next week and then football in the fall.

The major event today was seeing Brock play baseball.  He is nine but this is his first year.  he is a gifted athlete and very coachable...and, I should say, he has a knowledgeable coach in his Dad.  It was wonderful getting back on a Little League field and watching Brendan interact with his son in that context.  He retains that sense of humor which we all love even with this game and his son both of which he loves dearly.  Brock played well and enjoyed the game.  His team is named the Knights after the Charlotte AAA team and they played the (Rochester) Redwings.. ironically.  The Knights lost but that's baseball.  Brock had some nice plays in the field especially fielding a hard grounder from his second base position and throwing the runner out at first for an inning ending play.

The game was interrupted by a cute little dog that got away from its family and led everyone on quite merry chase before its owner finally napped the little rascal.

We returned home to scrumptious Mexican meal prepared by Eileen and some chocolate and peanut brownies that Braden made.  Brendan and I plan on playing golf in the morning.  It will be the first time I have swung a club this season.  Should be interesting.  Brendan needs to get some course time since he has been invited to play Medina Country Club in a couple of weeks.  That is the site of this year's Ryder Cup.  A challenging course...but we are tackling a local layout of considerably less difficulty.  It looks to be a warm and sunny day.  Then Brock has a soccer game in the evening.

Take a look at the photo album.

Trip to Pleasant Hill April - Day Four

Sam went to school; Julie went to work; Sean had several telephone conferences.  So marilyn and I took off to do some sight seeing.  First we went to the new Oakland cathedral, Christ the Light.  It is a very dramatic structure that is in the form of a fish.  This was interesting to me since the church across the street from my high school and college was St. Francis Xavier which is also in the shape of a fish.  Since it was there when I started high school it must date from the late forties or early fifties.

We spent a little over an hour in the church and in the mausoleum below.  We then decided to go over to the City and Maiden Lane where we spent a significant amount of time in Britex, a fabric store.  We then hustled back to Pleasant Hill where we did some gardening in Sean and Julie's back yard.

It will be an early night since our Bayliner car shows up at 4:00 am to take us to SFO for our 6:00 am flight.

click here to view the updated photo album.

Trip to Pleasant Hill April - Day Three

So this is another reason why we are glad that we are in California and not back in Rochester.  this is a radar map of the winter storm that is about to engulf the Finger Lakes.  It should generate around 8 inches of snow with wind gusts up to 45 creating power outages and other nastiness.  Here in Pleasant Hill, meanwhile, it will be in the lower seventies with blue skies.

Sunday we went to Mass after a breakfast of Julie's special french toast casserole...with warmed maple syrup of course.  This was Sam's first  post first communion communion.  As luck would have it, he was chosen to carry down the wine in the offertory procession, something he has been wanting to do for some time.

We came home relaxed in the backyard and, oh yes, ate some more.  Then it was off to soccer practice followed shortly by baseball ball practice.  Both of these are part of the YMCA program.  I was impressed with the coaching of both which was done by the same person.  The drills were well conceived and the coaching patient.  Sammy participated well and seemed to enjoy both the activity and his team mates.  We adults were trying to keep in the shade since the sun was glorious but unrelenting.  I even went out to buy some sun block since this was the first time in six months that my skin and Marilyn's had actually been exposed to legit sun light.

As with the nature of the game, baseball practice had more lulls in the action.  Just to complete the picture, there were even some outbursts of  "Little League parents" behavior.  It took me back to San Diego and some of those sun-drenched bozos.

After practice, we stopped at a Seven-Eleven to get Sam a Slurpee... that brought back some memories...while Julie and Marilyn went to pick up some barbecue for dinner...yes more food!  After a walk around the neighborhood with Marilyn, I turned in early so I could get up early and provide all my readers with this summary of our third day.

Click this to view update Picasa photo album of trip.

Click here to view baseball batting video.