Day 177

All Manual. I'm learning how to use my camera. I took this picture with my camera on manual. It's just a plant, but the settings on my camera were correct for the available light. I think... 

Day 176

Heading to the Giants game. The guys went to San Francisco to the Giants vs. Rockies game today. They had a great time and the Giants won. The Giants are now in a tie with the Rockies for the wild card. 

I learned in my photography class today, after this photo was taken, that bright sun is not the best setting for photos...duh. I now know that I don't know $#it about photography.)

Day 175

Soccer Seeding Tournament. Eli's team, the Earthquakes, played in a seeding tournament today. They won 3 games and tied a fourth. It was 105 degrees. Here Eli had just headed the ball. 

Day 174

Beautiful Sky. Eli and I took Tristan to the American River this evening after dinner to show him around a bit. I was able to capture the beautiful evening sky. It is not often that we get this type of cloud cover during August. It looks like a water color painting.

Day 173

How do you get leaves off of an elephant? With a leaf blower, of course.

Day 172

In keeping with tradition...Today is Tristan's first day of school, so he gets his photo taken outside the front door. He was a good sport about it. Good luck on your first day of school and your first full day in the United States.

Day 171

Goodbye and Hello.

Hannah left early this morning for her year studying in France. We had some tears, but we also had some smiles. 

Tristan, our foreign exchange student, arrived today as well. He is from France. In fact, Hannah is staying in his home in France. Here he is smiling after his first meal in our home. That is always a good sign.

Day 170

First day of school tradition.  It is tradition in our family to take a picture on each child's first day of school. Here is Eli on his first day of 7th grade. 

Day 169

A new chapter. I started school today. I know it's Sunday, but this is the only possible day of the week that I could take a class and be reasonably sure that I wouldn't miss any days of school due to my work schedule. It's a photography class. I'm really hoping to improve my skills. I'm also pretty sure I'm the oldest person in the class by at least 20 years, which should make for some interesting observations. Stay tuned.

Day 168

Hannah's final preparations. How do you pack for a year abroad? Very carefully.

Day 167

The story of Demi. She's Hannah's best friend and her name isn't Demi, its Amber. I call her Demi, because when she was a Junior in high school, she dated a Freshman. I mean, really, who does that? The name stuck. Hannah and Amber have been inseparable. Amber is a sweet and loyal friend to Hannah. They are dreading Tuesday, when they have to say goodbye for a year. Demi, I know how you feel.

Day 166

This sandwich came with a warning. My sister-in-law ordered this crab sandwich at a local eatery. The waiter felt the need to warn her that it comes with the legs dangling out of the sides. Others who have not received the warning apparently have freaked out at the sight of this sandwich in the past. Now, if you have to warn someone, maybe you should consider, I don't know, maybe chopping up the crab before you serve it. I'm just saying...

By the way, I tried those sweet potato fries. They are delish!

Day 165

Hannah and Matt spending quality time together before Hannah leaves for France in 5 days.

Day 164

Soccer practice. Soccer season is just around the corner and Eli is working hard. I think there is something not right about playing soccer in 100 degree weather. 

Day 163

Mike's favorite beer. A more accurate title would be One of Mike's favorite beers.

Day 162

Merci Beaucoup. I made some thank you cards for Hannah to take to France. 

Day 161

Fan etiquette. Basketball fans aren't like hockey fans. Hockey fans wouldn't dare walk down the aisles during play. Ushers hold these signs up at the top of the aisles during play as a gentle reminder to guests. 

Day 160

Seeeeee. One of the first words, Brandi learned as a toddler was, "see". She would say it out of the side of her mouth like Popeye. It was so cute. We would be in the grocery store and all of a sudden she would point up and say, "Seeeeee". People would look up to see what she was talking about. We found this little figurine, years ago and bought it because it reminded us of Brandi's quirky little way of saying "see". 

Day 159

Hannah and her buddy, Emma pounding out Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star on the piano. Emma is a kick.

Some Emmaisms:

"A one, a two and a one two three hit it..."
and
"Hannah's Mom. Where is her?"
and
"Lets go play tard." (guitar)

Day 158

Do not buy this chair! It's too soft and too comfortable. We made the mistake of buying two of them. Now two people in our family can lounge around all day at the same time. In fact, I'm surprised that I found one empty. To quote Linda Richman*, "It's like buttah!"

*Played by Mike Myers in the SNL skit Coffee Talk with Linda Richman

Day 157

Photo 1 - I was fortunate enough to capture this sweet photo of my sleeping son. All kids are sweet when they are sleeping. This guy is sweet when he's awake too.

Photo  2 - Big changes. Eli attended 7th grade orientation today. He received his class schedule and locker assignment. There were hundreds of kids there. His class last year consisted of 9 kids. This will take some getting used to. For me too.

Day 156

New pub table. We bought a pub table for our family room. We like to play cards and board games and thought a pub table would fit in nicely. Deal me in.

Day 155

A little to the right. Eli attended his friend's birthday, bowling party yesterday. Here he is willing his bowling ball to move to the right with his body language. The ball did not respond.

Day 154

Zac's Stacks. Zac is attempting to fill out paperwork to obtain his G.I. bill for school this fall. He has to account for all of his time in the military. Every minute. Do you remember where you were in October of 2002?

Day 153

Plugged in. Eli playing an online video game with Max, who is in the next room. They are talking over Skype. 

Day 152

IOU. The State of California sent Zac an IOU for $11.00. If the situation had been reversed, Zac would be assessed a penalty and interest would accrue until he paid up. Makes you wonder.

Day 151

Another day, another last minute photo. Rod Stewart wouldn't have been my first choice for photos today, but I realized that I hadn't taken a photo and well, he was there. He is singing my favorite Rod Stewart song, "Forever Young". I wish I would have gotten a picture of him in his 80's acid washed jeans. Now that would have been a treasure.

Day 150

Off to the French Consulate. Hannah has to appear, in person, at the French Consulate in San Francisco in order to obtain her student visa. She was instructed to wear her Rotary Blazer. It's not really the most fashion forward clothing item. It's actually a mens blazer with the sleeves shortened. In fact, I'm surprised the French even approved her visa after seeing it.

Day 149

The story of "12". Eli had a classmate who had an unusual and endearing way of pronouncing the word, "twelve". He shared the pronunciation with us and it is now part of our vernacular. Now when we see a twelve anywhere, we take note and say "twellllve" while crossing our eyes. 

Day 148

The bag ritual. Passengers staring at an empty baggage carousel. Don't forget, "Many bags look alike." Heck these are all invisible. I wonder what they would have done if I had walked up and picked up my invisible bag. Would they have started to panic that their bag hadn't made it onto the plane? 

My apologies. This is what you get when I'm starved for sleep.

Day 147

Our hotel. I didn't take many photos today. I was too tired. But I did capture this picture of our hotel sign from a terrace. 

Day 146

Dinner at Tequila Jack's in Long Beach. Caught this little bird peering over the table umbrella. There were lots of tiny birds all over the place patiently waiting for anyone to drop a scrap of food.

Day 145

Jetblueing to Long Beach. Taking a trip to a leadership conference for my Close To My Heart scrapbooking and stamping business. Three days jammed full of classes and the unveiling of the Fall/Winter Catalog. It's kind of like, "The new phonebooks are here! The new phonebooks are here!" times 100.