CHOC Walk

Every year La Purisima School has a team that joins thousands of people for a 3 mile walk through Disneyland and California Adventure to support CHOC Hospital.  We have gone the last few, and are making this a tradition.  This is the second walk for a cause my boys have done this year.  I am incredibly proud of them.  This requires them to get up at o'dawn early and go walk 3+ miles, usually after waiting a long while for the event to start.  But they are troopers and really understand the significance of what they are walking for.  As in the Revlon walk, my Aunt Irene joins us for this event as well.  This is fun because it is through Disneyland, and it's with a lot of their friends from school, so they have a great time.

The team asks us to wear our Cavalier spirit clothes -so Zachary is wearing his home football jersey and I am wearing his away jersey - fits perfect!  And yes, it is pretty dark at the start of the walk. Disney needs us to get through the walk and out of the park so they can open for all the paying guests!

Notice the banner on the team behind us - Zach's Team - had to get a photo of that!

 Nicholas and his buddies are proudly carrying the banner

Fiona, Maggie and Nicholas.  The second grade class had the most walkers of any grade at the school

The whole gang

After the walk - we are proud of the efforts made and the money raised for a great cause today

The fronts of the jersey's to read La Purisima Cavaliers

The Pumpkin Patch

Irvine Regional Park has a great Pumpkin Patch - there is a hay ride, a maze, bouncy houses, and lots of pumpkins all over to really give you that farm fall feeling.  We ran into some friends from school - Hunter in Pre-K, and his big brother Andrew.  Andrew is in 1st grade, and is Zachary's buddy at school (the older kids are paired up with the younger ones and sit with them at mass to help the teachers out)

This one is just too cute

Silly silly

Taking a hay ride on a tractor - fun for us city folks

The kids act very crazy when asked to!

Zach and Andrew

Katie and Hunter

Katie and Hunter in Frankensteins lab

Cancun

Every year NSG takes the top Interns on a fun (and little crazy) trip to Cancun.  For Johnny and I it is also a chance to get away and just get to relax and party a bit - sans children!

I get to hang out with all the great people I work with, and party like a rock star for a few days (before I come home and collapse!)

At Club Bull Dog with Jason and Spencer. They had this freezer room where you could have a tequila shot in a little glass made from ice.  It was refreshing for a moment after workin' up a sweat dancing, but then bbrr...

At the Welcome Night party with my hubby

The Awards Banquet is the highlight of the trip - all the hard work everyone has done all year is celebrated by the whole company.  Here is Kevin and Chad

And Ron and Nancy

Ready to go take over Coco Bongo with Taylor and Lauren!  That place is legendary.  We were there until (YIKES) 5am!!

And finally, ready to head out, but not before one last photo on front of the beach - such a beautiful place

Disney Half

For the third year in a row, I ran the Disney Half Marathon.  Like last year, my running buddy Valeria ran with me.  This year we were joined (sort of) by my friend Jacob from Vistage and his buddies.  We met them for photos before the race and then saw them aftewards - but Jacob runs too fast for us, so we didn't see anything but dust for the race.

HOWEVER, it was a great race, Val and I both got PRs!  While this is supposed to be more of a fun race than anything esle, we ran pretty hard - my time was 2:17 - and Val's was 2:14!  We rock!

Yes - it is dark when you start running - I think we are all certifiably nuts to be up voluntarily at this hour!

We are ready in our running skirts and hats - I love Valeria's Minnie Mouse ears she pinned on her hat!

Even though we didn't take too many photos this year (last year we stopped everywhere!) you HAVE to take a photo as you run through the castle at near dawn.  It's really cool to be running (one of my favorite things to do) through the Happiest Place on Earth early in the morning.  It's quite an experience.

And since this is Anaheim, you also get to run through Angel Stadium.  Last year they had a game that day so we had to run around the stadium - this year we got to run on the warning track.  They have the jumbo tron going so you can see yourself up on the screen - that was awesome.  And there are a gazillion girl scouts cheering you on.  My friend Trisha and her girls managed to find me amongst all the thousands of runners - she said it was the red ribbons on my braids!  My braids are my trademark hair-do when I race.

Here I am with the Angel Girls - now they are fresh and pretty, and I'm all gross and sweaty, but it was fun regardless

Here we are after the race - Disney gives you some serious bling for the medal!

And the after race toast - the reason I run (LOL)

First Day of School

I can't believe summer is over and it's time to start a new school year already.  This year Katie joins her brothers at La Purisima.  We now have THREE kids going there - yikes!  Zachary is in 7th, Nicholas in 2nd and Katie in Pre-K.  It is going to be an exciting year - Zachary will be on Student Council and continue with band and sports, Nicholas is set to take his first communion this year, and there will be some changes in store for our baby girl as she adjusts to a more formal pre-school environment.

As has been the tradition, on the 1st day of school I like to take a photo of the kids in front of the house so we can see how they grow year after year

Here is Nicholas with his friend Jacob, and then with Miguel and Tommy

And with Sophia, Shannon and Maggie.  Nicholas is definitely popular with the girls!!

Nicholas and Fiona are neighbors for the 1st day of school

Zachary had a big role to play the first day of school, celebrating all the birthdays from the summer.  As the Commissioner of School Spirit it is his job to do all things fun - definitely in his element!  When they announced the student council, he got one of the loudest cheers from the student body.  It is going to be an exciting school year!

My little girls first official day of Pre-School.  I hope she is going to have a good time - it's hard to believe how quickly she has grown

But it looks like she is going to fit right in - playing on the swings with her friend Samantha

Tata Turns 98!

Johnny's grandfather celebrated his 98th birthday in August.  We are so blessed to have had and be having so many special years with him.  He is am amazing person with such a warm and kind spirit. We made sure to take photos with the family and Tata to commemorate his special day.  Then we dove into the wine cake!

Tiffany, Isaac and Alina (his great great granddaughter)

With his grandchildren, Johnny, Cynthis and Yancy

And his daughter - Tita and Nato

Beach Day with Tim Salmon

In addition to going to the Angel Game with Tim Salmon, we got to spend an afternoon at his place in Newport Beach with the kids playing catch.  What a fun time to get to throw the ball around with a major league baseball player!

He posed for photos with the family and the kids were thrilled that they got a chance to meet him too. It was a beautiful summer day at the beach.  Katie had a great time splashing in the ocean