The Lopez Life

Good-bye March!

March has been a big month for birthdays around here.  I love March, but I am happy to say GOOD-BYE!!  It was a crazy busy month.  We ended the winter basketball season, celebrated a lot of birthdays, went to California for Spring Break,  saw a lot of old friends and family while we were there. Oh....did I mention I was very sick all month??  LOL!!!  I know I complained about that a lot.  Sorry. 

So we ended the month going to a surprise party for a very good friend.

 

Last week Dave turned 46.  I think he looks fabulous for his age. He works out everyday and sometimes twice a day. 

 

This past weekend Robert had baseball tryouts and we hope to hear from his coach sometime this week.  I wanted to change my blog theme.  Since Robert is starting his season and also MLB starts I thought I'd do a baseball one for awhile. 

I seriously need to catch up on my Project 365.  I have all my photos taken, just very behind on the album. 

Well better get moving.  Robert has choir tonight and I am going to waste time at Target while he's at practice.

A new week

WOW!  Have you ever been sick for a whole month?  I just was.  Today I feel great!  I woke up today with my good old energy back.  I never want to be sick like that again.  The worst part is not having a voice.  It is almost all back and I feel great.  So here's to a great new month with being healthy. 

It's windy here again today.  I hate this time of year.  We get these high winds and it's just so bad for allergies. 

Tonight is the junior baseball draft.  We should get a call this week and find out what team Robert is on.  We hung out for the whole tryout Saturday afternoon and saw so many kids he's played with in the past.  Hopefully he'll know at least one kid on his team. 

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from the batting cages.  Have a great day!

 

That week flew by!

Wow....this past week came and went fast!  I really meant to blog the next day and just didn't.  We were just getting back into a routine and getting caught up here at home.  Still not all caught up, but we are getting there.  This was the first week back from Spring Break and report cards came out.  Robert had a great report card.  I had bunco on Wednesday (didn't win anything, but had a lot of fun).  Thursday was Dave's birthday.  We went out to the Outback Steakhouse for dinner and then watched a movie.  Yesterday Robert and his friend, Gus went to the batting cages and practiced some basic stuff.  Gus' dad went too and he's a great coach.   We didn't get home until 7:00.  Jan came over and we had pizza.  In the end Gus and his dad ended up coming over, Kylie's mom dropped her off and we all sat around and talked.  Dave made his salsa last night so everyone's eyes were burning. haha!  This afternoon Robert has his tryout for Jr. baseball.  Practices will start in one week.  I am excited to see what team he'll be on and who his coach will be.  Ok this was a long paragraph and not even a proper one.  Here are some more photos from our vacation.  

Korbel Winery:

       

 

Redwood trees.

 

The brandy tower.

 

I love all this English Ivy.

         

Robert wine tasting (with grape juice).  All of us adults were wine tasting and then I noticed Robert at the end of the wine bar doing some tasting himself.  Our guide was so nice to think of the kid on the tour. :)

Well I better get to mowing the lawn and blowing some leaves.  We had a real bad wind storm Thursday night and it's a mess outside.

Vacation

I am feeling a lot better this afternoon.  I just hope I continue to feel better.  So about vacation...... a side from being sick (both Robert and I) we had a great time.  Robert ended up getting sick while we were driving and was in bed for the first two days we were there.  After that he was fine.  I felt sick the whole time, but only had one bad day and that was on Tuesday.  I spent the whole day in bed.  Luckily, Dave never got sick.  Mostly it was this horrible cough I had.  Everything was blooming in Healdsburg and it just did me in.  Ok ready to see some pictures???

Here's Jamie and Vern.  They are so cute together.  We are so happy Jamie has found such an awesome guy.

   

On Saturday we had a birthday party for Dave's parents.  It was a small gathering since Dave's dad is still not feeling himself.  It was a fun party and it was great to see most of the family.

 

Here's a photo of my in-laws.  My father in-law has lost so much weight.  He is eating well and starting to take walks so hopefully he'll start to gain some weight.

The weekend we arrived they were having a wine festival in Healdsburg.  The town was all decorated and all the wineries were open. 

 

We also drove to Sonoma one day and did some shopping.  This was the coolest store.  It was full of old vintage candy and games.  I love the name of the store.

 

On Wednesday we went to Bodega Bay. The ocean was gorgeous!  At first it was so foggy, but by the time we got to Goat Rock it was gorgeous.  Warm and sunny.  We stopped at the place where the movie "The Birds" was filmed.

The school house.

 

The church

 

 

See how foggy it was at first.

 

   

 

 

Ok I have made this a very long post so I will end for now.  That way I have a reason to blog tomorrow. ;)

Good night.

One picture

I only have one picture to share.  I am still not well.  My voice is still not back and I have a couple of other medical issues.  Scheduling an appt. to see the doctor today.  I will share one photo of us at Korbel winery.  It's a self port. so it's pretty close up.  Here's to a much healthier week for everyone. :)

We're home!

 

Made it home around 6:30 last night.  Still tired, have TONS of laundry and unpacking to do.  We have a little gathering to attend to tonight - so I need to go do some shopping for that.  I really hope to post some pictures tomorrow from our trip. 

Hello from Healdsburg

Hello.  We made it just fine.  It took 13 1/2 hours to get here.  It's been rainy for the past couple of days.  But, it's still so gorgeous and very green here.  I'm just keep taking in all the beauty in and telling my family how lucky they are to live here.  They look at me like I am weird.  Most of Dave's family has been to AZ, but some have not, so they just don't get how much different it is. 

Today we drove to the town of Sonoma and did some wine shopping and shopping at a few favorite stores we like to stop at while we are here.  

Dave just drove up to the next town to visit his Uncle.  I stayed here with the kids.  They wanted to play some video games after being out with us all day.  Plus....it's raining so they can't go outside.  I wanted to get some rest.  I still have this cough and just need to rest.  Poor Robert got sick on the drive here and was in bed for the first two days we were here with a little fever.  He's ok now.   

Well that's all I have.  Sorry....no pictures.  I don't feel like uploading them right now.  I will after we get home. 

Bye. :)

Howard's Barber Shop

Howard's Barber Shop has been around since 1968.  That's 40 years!  It's in a strip mall near where my mom and dad used to live and where I grew up.  My dad has been going there since we moved here back in the late 70's.  When we moved back here Dave started to go there and Robert had his first hair cut there by Manny.  He was around 18 months I would guess.  We even have it on video.  I have maybe been in there once since that first hair cut.  Dave or my dad always takes Robert.  Well today I took Robert since Dave wasn't going to get home in time.  That place hasn't changed a bit except it's just gotten older.  Same bench for customers, same barber chairs....everything looks the same!   It's by no means a glamor beauty shop, just your average men's barber. When we walked in I thought Manny had died his hair blond, then I realized that he's just gone gray.  Last time I saw him he had black hair.  I did get snap a picture for my Project 365.  Robert didn't even know I had taken it. :)

     

See how old this place is?  It really could use a makeover. 

Well we are pretty much all packed.  I still have all day tomorrow to work on stuff if needed.  We won't leave until around 8:00 pm when Robert gets out of the dance.  Tomorrow is also field day.  I am sure Robert will pass out in the car shortly after we start driving.  I plan on watching movies and hoping to stay up for the whole trip.  Usually by 1:30 I just can't stay up anymore. I think I am going to drive first and let Dave sleep since he can sleep anytime of the day and anywhere.   

I will have my laptop and access to the internet while we are gone so I am hoping to post pictures if I have time.  If not, we'll be back late next Friday.

Getting ready

I am almost half way packed and ready to get things in our suitcases.  I really hate getting ready to go on vacation.  I feel so overwhelmed and don't know where to start.  But....once it's done I can't wait for us to hit the road.  We are leaving Friday night after Robert's school dance.  I found this cute vacation check list pad at Micheal's awhile ago and it's the best!  I've been checking things off.  I have all of our electronic stuff ie: iPod's, chargers for everything, car TV, DVD's, cell phones, laptop and so on all ready to go.  This is my Project 365 photo for yesterday.

 

Tonight my sister and her family and our parents came over for dinner and cake.  We celebrated Matt (6) and Robert's (13) birthday.  They may be 7 years apart, but they get a long so well.  Matt LOVES this lighthouse we have to the corner of our backyard.   Dave has a few army men on the ledges of the lighthouse (yes, my husband is a big kid).  The lighthouse has a light that spins at the top at night and a sensor that plays the sounds of seagulls.  Here's Robert playing with Matt and adding more army men to it.

 

So for Matt's birthday we got him his own lighthouse. 

   

Robert with his new headphones (now I can have mine back) and an iTunes gift card. 

 

 

Two birthdays down and just a few more to go this month.  Dave's dad, Dave's mom and Dave's. 

Well I better get to bed.  Tomorrow I need to be super productive and get almost everything done.  Plus, I need to take Robert to get a hair cut after school.  Dave is flying to Honduras so he's of no help tomorrow. 

Happy Birthday, Robert!

Dave and I cannot believe he's 13.  We have a teenager!  Dave worked until 7:00 today so we went out for a late dinner.  My mom and dad met us for dinner.  We went to NYPD Pizza.  That's Robert's favorite place to eat.  Here are a few of the pictures I took tonight.

 

If you have never seen this movie....it is hysterical!!! 

 

My dad put one dollar in Robert's card.  He told Robert you should always have at least one dollar in your wallet.  It was cute.  They gave him new clothes and his favorite cologne.  After, he asked me where the rest of the money was.  LOL!  We laughed at that one! 

 

 

We got Robert a wireless connection for his X-box live.  He is finally out of my scraproom and playing X-box live in his own room.  I cannot wait to get my scraproom back in order! :)  We also got him this kit for his PSP, a new basketball net (his is falling apart), the movie and his room re-done. 

 

Robert with grandma and grandpa.  He's as tall as my mom.  Once again no picture of Dave and I.  That is something we'll make sure we get a lot of when we are in CA.  More photos of the three of us. 

Just one more party to go.  On Wednesday, we'll celebrate Matt and Robert's birthdays together.