Pre-Italy Update

Day -1, Seattle

The day is almost here, we are less than a day away from flying to Italy and a two week vacation. We headed up to Seattle this afternoon with childhood friends (second parents) of mine, Danny and Janet, braving the traffic and eventually enjoying a nice dinner at The Olde Spaghetti Factory near the Seattle water front. Riding with Danny and Janet reminded me of my teen years traveling on various vacations with them and their daughter, and of course, Danny making "the kids" drive. It was like a long test drive in a Honda Pilot, a car we may be looking at in the near future. It was a nice visit with two people we feel lucky to have as a part of our life, and we thank them much for their generosity in delivering us to our hotel before our trip. Of course, I did not think to get a picture until after they left, but here is one of us in our hotel before Thursday night. We had a glass of wine to unwind and then headed back to our room to wind down and get some sleep before the LONG trans-Atlantic trip. More updates to come. Ciao.

Summer 2009 is here!

Last Day of School & Lanna's B-Day Party

On June 12th school was finally out here in Longview and 3 out of 4 people in our house were beside themselves with excitement. We celebrated Lanna's birthday by having five 8 year old girls over for a barbeque, trip to the movies to see Up followed by a sleep over. (Lanna's birthday is not until July 2nd, but since it is so close to the 4th holiday and she'll be out of town on July 2nd, we decided to celebrate early.) Lanna had a great time, as did the girls, and they all enjoyed playing with her birthday gift of Bendaroos, making all kinds of shapes, sticking them to the wall, and even using them as hair accessories! Happy birthday Lanna.

Birthday cake and bend-a-roos

Timber Barons Select Soccer

Maggie was recently selected as a member of the girls U-11 Timber Barons Select soccer team. We are now officially "Soccer Parents" and will have plenty of weekend trips to various games and tournaments. Their team recently had two friendly games against two teams from the Vancouver area. These teams had been practicing for several weeks, while our team had two practices prior to playing the games. The team didn't even have uniforms yet, just white t-shirts and black shorts. The team did great and managed to win the first game and tie the second game. So far Maggie is really enjoying playing and looking forward to the time when she will get to stay in a hotel for tournaments (hopefully not too soon.)

Maggie showing her soccer stuff

Summer Vacation

Maggie and Lanna left Thursday morning for Indianapolis, IN with Nanny and Grandpa, Aunt Jill and Cousin Jo. They were very excited to be heading out in the truck pulling the 5th wheel and all the adventures that await them. Dan and Carol leave in a few days for Italy and are getting excited themselves. We hope each of you has exciting summer plans of your own.

The Ruiz Family pre-vacation 2009

1st Communion and Ft. Stevens

First Communion for Lanna

Lanna had her first communion on May 9th at St. Rose Catholic Church, and also had the honor or performing the first reading during the Mass. She did great and looked beautiful in her dress. It's hard to believe our little girls are both growing up so fast and have one more rite of passage under their belts. We finished the special evening with dinner at a steak house with Nanny and Grandpa and Lanna's Godparents, Danny and Janet Jacobs. Great job Lanna!

Lanna's reading, as filmed by Maggie.

Of course, it would not be an event for Lanna without something funny Lanna said. As the Eucharistic Ministers were lined up to receive communion, Lanna asked Dan "What are they doing?" Dan said "They're getting ready to take communion." "You mean they've never had communion before either?" Lanna asked?

Lanna and Maggie after 1st Communion.

Camping at Ft. Stevens

Wreck of the Peter Iredale.

We kept our tradition of camping on Memorial Day by heading to Ft. Stevens on the Oregon coast. We have heard much about this great state park, and it did not disappoint. We had great fun biking, hiking, swimming, geocaching and exploring the old fort itself. As a part of the Memorial Day festivities, voluteers were raffling off the opportunity to fire a Howitzer 105 mm gun or a Parrot Cannon. (I am sure there was more involved with the description of the other gun, but I didn't pay much attention.) The girls each bought a raffle ticket, and Maggie was the lucky winner. She had the honor of pulling cord and firing the 105 Howitzer gun. It shocked us all, but Maggie, and was a sight to see. We really enjoyed ourselves and hope to go back soon, perhaps for Labor Day weekend. We managed to find a few geocaches, looked for a few we could not find, but had fun in the adventure none the less.

Maggie pulling the trigger.

Kid Quotes

The girls were watching iCarly one day and Carly was caught by her brother smooching on the couch with a boy. Dan said to the girls "What are you going to do when I walk in on you?" To which Lanna replied "Oh, were not going to do that at home." Yikes! Are we in trouble or what?

Happy Memorial Day!

Father-Daughter Ball & Maggie is 10

Winter Sports

Winter sports have finally finished in our household and we are now into spring sports. Only, someone forgot to tell Mother Nature that we would actually like to have spring weather to go with the sports. A few action shots of the girls during basketball. Maggie's team was the Chili Peppers and Lanna's the Tigers. The girls had a great time and again showed improvement from the beginning of the season to the end.

Father Daughter Ball

In February, Dan and the girls attended the Father-Daughter Ball. This is a well attended event and there are four separate events because of the demand. The girls had a great time dressing up and having a special evening with Dad. We all went to dinner at JT's Steakhouse first before they headed off to the ball. (Mom headed to the MMHS basketball game with some friends where she actually was able to watch the game and did not have an obligatory stop at the concession stand.) There was lots of dancing and the girls loved taking turns to dance with dad. They had a nightcap of Coldstone Icecream before heading home, and are already talking about next year.

World's Toughest Cowboy

Dan worked the World's Toughest Cowboy competition in Portland again this year, and we were fortunate enough to attend courtesy of Dan's friend. In addition, Jill, Tina, Cole and Jo were able to attend with us, which made for a great evening. As a bonus, the kids all got cowboy hats to wear. Lanna, of course, was ready to step into the role as cowgirl right away.

Cole, "Cowgirl" Lanna, Jo & Maggie

One Decade in the books!

Maggie turned 10 on Thursday and commented that she is now one decade! Wow, we can't believe she is that old already. She is maturing into a wonderful young lady and is a joy to be around. We made a rainbow cake for her birthday and she loved it. I will not be leaving my job as an engineer to enter into the baking business, as you can see by the lopsided cake. However, the cake still tastes wonderful and looks great inside. Maggie loved it. She received a new camera for her birthday, and some of the pictures on this post are courtesy of her.

Rainbow "Leaning Tower" of birthday cake.

Free Saturday

We actually have a whole weekend free from activities and sports! So what are Dan and the girls doing? Playing Mario Kart on the Wii. (Okay, Mom played some too.) Heading to Portland for a family day later.

2009...so far

It is already halfway through February, and before we know it Spring Break will be here! Here are a few things going on here.

Assembly Leader

Maggie was selected by the school principal to be the assembly leader in February, along with another boy from her class. She was very excited to stand in front of the whole school and lead the assembly. She did a great job and was asked by the principal "to remember us when you are famous". In addition, she was awarded an academic achievement for her school work, the only student in the 4th grade for the month of January. All her hard work is beginning to pay off. Way to go Maggie!


Valentine's Day Dinner

We actually went to OMSI on Valentine's Day and saw the Da Vinci exhibit, which was very neat for everyone except Lanna, who was bored while we read the history boards before we even made it into the exhibit. We went to dinner afterwards and had a special dinner at home the next day. The girls wanted to make a special dinner for Dad, with the help of mom, as seen in their National Geographic for Kids magazine. We made heart shaped pizzas with arrows through them, and strawberry sorbet for dessert. The pizzas came out looking more like gooey ducks than hearts with arrows, but they had such fun making them. Maggie is wearing the hat and apron from the cooking basket Lanna won at the CVG carnival. They each bought raffle tickets to put into the jar for different prizes, and imagine Lanna's surprise when her name was called for the cooking basket. Needless to say, we have been using many of the great items that were in the basket. And I think Maggie has enjoyed using the goods more than Lanna so far.

All smiles as they prepare the dough.

The girls are in awe as mom "tosses" the dough.

Maggie making the hearts and arrows.

The pizzas before we bake them, as displayed by "chef" Lanna.

The finished product, some already eaten.

Protozoa anyone?

Basketball in full swing

YMCA basketball is in full swing, and will be finished next month. I am coaching Maggie's team, which is all girls and is doing well. Maggie has really been working on her dribbling and shooting, and has become quite the point guard. We are the Chili Peppers, partly because of the red jerseys, and partly because they are "hot".

Lanna plays on a 2nd grade coed team, but is comprised of mostly girls (7 girls, 3 boys), who out height the boys by quite a bit. She and Maggie have been attending open gym on Friday nights at the middle school (we are so pathetic we have nothing else to do on Friday nights). The dad of one of Lanna's teammates has been running the open gym doing dribbling, passing and shooting drills with the kids. He has done a fabulous job with the kids and we can already see improvement in both the girl's play. Lanna played great this last Saturday as a result I am sure of the extra touches she has been getting at open gym.

Random Stuff

Lanna: "Scout is a bug. Scout is a bug."

Maggie: "Scout is not a bug, she's a trout."

Just for the record, she is not a trout, she is a cat, but cat doesn't rhyme with Scout.

Dan got a new ringtone for his phone, which is the sound of Chewbacca from Star Wars. You can tell when his humor has rubbed off on his kids when he played the ring tone and Maggie said "Mom, did you say something?"

Our house was blessed with its first TP-ing last night. We woke up at 12:57 a.m. to the sound of the doorbell ringing, at which point I thought "The house is on fire." We then went to the window to see toilet paper drapped high into our trees and over our bushes. It was cleaned up early the next morning, with the exception of a few strands too high to reach. Unfortunately we did not think to get a picture until after it was cleaned up. We do, however, know who did the deed and can now plot our revenge!!

Snow-Christmas-1st Reconciliation

White Christmas!

Christmas came with a flurry of white this year, literally! Dan, Maggie and Lanna were out of school three days early with the arrival of several inches of snow. We were all excited for the beautiful white powder, sled rides and warming up with hot cocoa. The hill out of our street is fairly steep, and during snowy weather we have learned to park at least one car on the next street up, otherwise we will be stuck with out a car to drive. The snow plows don't come into our cul-de-sac so driving out is impossible. After several days of snow, with icing in between, our street was perfect for sleding, but impassible to vehicles. The Schwan's Man was foolish to drive down but unable to get back out. His truck was parked on our street for two days before a large tow truck pulled him out. The girls (and mom and dad) had a great time playing in the snow, sleding, making snowmen, and all the fun things you do in the snow. After a week of the snow, however, even they were tired of it.

We had about 6-inches on Christmas Day alone and I heard the girls groan "Not more snow!" I don't think I have ever heard that. But after two weeks of walking up to our car and driving with chains, we were all glad it finally melted away. Driving on snow with chains is fine, but when you hit clear pavement, it's like driving in Fred Flintstone's car! Christmas Day was a low key affair at our house with presents in the morning, A Christmas Story to watch over and over, a trip to the movies followed by a nice turkey dinner.

Lanna showing off her Top Chef game.

Maggie with her make-up...is she really old enough for that? No!!!

Look what we found under our tree.

1st Reconciliation

Lanna has been going through 1st Reconciliation classes, and last weekend she had her 1st Reconciliation. She was excited for this day and did great. She is now getting ready to take her 1st Communion Classes and will celebrate that sacrament in May.

Lanna's Art

Lanna's class made a family picture and then wrote a story about the picture. We have a frame where we display the a piece of the girl's art for a while, and this is our current display. Just for the record, Dan is not as old as she says, and Carol is not as young, but at least she was closer to my age than Dan's.

Who knew I was a mail order bride?


Goodbye snow!

We leave with this picture of the "Gianormous snowball" the girls made which lasted for days and days after the snow melted. Perhaps we will have snow later...much, much later!

Christmas Time

How to pick the perfect Christmas Tree, Ruiz Family Style...

First, walk through the tree farm looking at each one.

Some are a little too big...

Some are a little too small...

Found it!!

Take obligatory family picture in front of tree.

(Thank Heavans for camera timers).

Cut the tree, with child supervision...Timber!

Throw it into the back of your truck!
(A borrowed truck is best - :-)

Visit with Santa.

Pet (and herd) goats and llamas at petting farm (no pictures, :-(

Take the tree home, place in your house and...

Viola!

Your tree is ready for Santa's visit.

Merry Christmas.