Boys Week - the aftermath

So Friday night I am out in the office uploading pictures and blogging about all the boys activities and patting myself on the back that we made it thru the week without any incidents - but WAIT . . . . I go into the cottage to check on the bachelor pad and find that Kyle has found a hairclipper kit in a cupboard there somewhere and has volunteered to let the boys cut his hair. Hair is everywhere and the boys all think this is quite hilarious. I think they just didn't know when to stop. Kyle ended up with a VERY short haircut. (these pictures are to document that he had a smile on his face at the time and was a willing participant - and he was the one that found the hair trimmer set)

So what do you do when your buddies have just given you a mairne buzz - why talk someone else into becoming the next victim of course -(notice Kyle and his buzz and now he's happy to jump into the barber crew and get to work on Landon).

At this point Kyle's hair is already gone and John and I have wanted Landon to shorten up his sufer hair for a while now so I figure this is a golden opportunity for us - and I stay to click pictures of their impromptu activity.

I've never seen boys have so much fun. Wish you could have seen how they were cutting their hair - it was so random it was hilarious. They pretty much had no clue what they were doing - but they were having fun doing it.

So I let them have their fun - boys will be boys right? I took one last picture of the boys in their bachelor pad messs and went to bed wondering when I lost control - or if I ever really had it.

These boys crack me up - what they think is funny - like hucking each others shoes into the creek, whip creaming each other at night, and shaving heads. Guess that's the good life for a 14 yr old boy. They definately made some memories together.

Boys Week - Day 5

For our last big day I took the boys paintballing at a place in Sacramento - here they are with their first teams - all geared up ready to do battle on the first course - Michael and Tanner-

On the first course they ran thru these plastic obstacles/blockades to advance on the other team. Once you were hit you called it and stepped out of play. First team out loses - the boys had each field to themselves and a ref just for them. It was the perfect set-up for first-timers.

With each round they got more and more into it - and were soon running and sliding in for cover.

Green marks the spot - Johnny took one on his face mask - luckily they were very cautious and strict about the boys keepiong all their protective gear in place at all times.

Resting between matches - it was over 100 and they would come in for drinks and to stand in the misters and refuel.

Ready to go at it again on a new course.

The owner asked if the boys would pose with the refs for a picture to post on their website. They're trying to attract the younger players. They boys thought it would be cool to be posted on their website.

Landon's battle wounds - green paint hits and a few bruises

The boys at the end of the day - they wanted to keep going and so they played until they were the last ones there and the place was closing. That was 6 hours in the heat - they were tired but all said they thought this was the funnest day of the week. I was happy with no more serious injuries than some bruises and the boys loved it.

Boys Week - Day 4

Thursday we started out at Boomers in Livermore - where the boys golfed, played lazer tag, and drove race cars . . . The extra kid in the green shirt is Ben Alexander - who they all knew from basketball camp.

They were all quite cooperative with providing me with Kodak moments whenever I asked -

the racing was their favorite. Then we went over to Ben's house to swim. He has a fun slide and the boys tried every possible way down . . .

Then they strated coming down in clumps and crashing each others chains . .

Another successful day - the boys had fun AND no heads or necks were broken.

Boys Week - Day 3

On Wednesday our first stop was the Mystery Spot in the Santa Cruz mountains.

everything was leaning and defying normal gravity at the Mystery Spot.

Then we went to Santa Cruz beach - where they had fun . . . playing football in the water

and burying Kyle in the sand . . .

Mission accomplished - another fun day!

Boys Week - Day 2

Today was our one Concord Day - The boys played basketball, Wii, swam at Kyles pool, and played lazer tag all over the backyard and through the creek.

Every night ends with Kick the Can in the dark - until we eventually make them go into the cottage - their bachelor pad for the week.

Boys Week Day 1

Our first adventure - fun at Dunes Beach - Half Moon Bay Hamming it up for the camera-

Boys will be boys . . . . slinging seaweed

The boys went body surfing in the freezing ocean - brrrrrrrr!!!!

After the beach we stopped at the Chowder House in Half Moon Bay for a late lunch.

These boys LOVE to eat - the waitress brought us out 4 or 5 (I lost track) loaves of sourdough french bread which the boys devoured along with their big bowls of clam chowder.

After lunch we headed into San Francisco where we sent to the Metreon and saw Kung Fu Panda on the big IMAX screen. Good fun!

Blogging advice anyone?

So this was supposed to be the last picture on my previous post. I of course posted it first and posted my whole trip in reverse so it could be read in the order I wanted. Then when I was trying to reduce the big spaces between my captions and the photos this picture up and disappeared on me. Is there a way to "insert" a picture into your blog post? Would I really have had to start all over again to get it to read in sequence and be at the end where it belonged? This is not the first time this has happened to me - so is there a solution I don't know about? This never happens when I scrapbook :) I think blogging is great - I just need to become a little more savvy at it so that I don't get frustrated. I look forward to any and all advice. Thanks!

NYC Trip

I decided I needed to dash to NYC to take care of some business - the thought of sitting alone in my hotel room at night were not very appealing so I asked Tiffany if she would join me. Luckily she had just finished up summer school and had a little break from work. So I was able to turn my business trip into a fun trip as well. We only had 21/2 days in the city - and the majority of that time I was doing business stuff - but we squeezed in a lot of fun stuff too. I have fallen in love with NYC. I wish I could move it on the map to where LA is - I'd be going there all the time! It is so diverse and interesting. This trip just wet my appetite to go back for more. We stayed right in Times Square - which luckily for me was right next to the garment district where I spent my days and we had the theaters and great restaurants all close by.

Most of my 2 days were filled with shopping for wholesale fabric sources, garment labels, sewing factories, pattern graders, etc. Very tedious and unglamorous. Tiffany did a little exploring on her own and I got to go join her late one afternoon to walk around the city somewhere besides the garment district. Here we are at Rockefeller Center.

We just had 2 nights there but we made the most of it and ate at two great restaurants and saw 2 shows. The first night was Cirque du Soleil - it was very cool.

This so beats sitting alone in my hotel room eating a snickers bar - which is what I would have been doing if I didn't have Tiffany with me to go out with. Our dessert was a chocolate mousse with marshmallows and blueberries. I've never had anything like it before. Incredible!

Tiffany and I went to see "Mary Poppins". The production was beyond all my expectations. It was the most elaborate set I've ever seen, the actors were fantastic, costumes amazing, and the whole thing was incredible. I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone. It was awesome!

I have the unique ability to home on on any Parisian cafe anywhere. This one was wonderful. Check out Tiffany's morning hot cocoa.

I had taken a cab to NYC chinatown on Wed. and while we were stuck in traffic I asked the cabbie where we were. He said it was Soho. Wow - designer boutique heaven!!!! It was so cool - I told Tiff we had to go back - so with the whole whopping 2 hrs we had after my Wed. morning fit check before we had to head to the airport we went to Soho and window shopped. I'm definately going back for more.

It was so fun to spend time with Tiffany - we had a blast! I can't wait to go back.