California 2016: Day 4 (Redondo Beach/Torrance)

It's been a few days since my last post, but for once, I have a sort of valid excuse: work! I haven't added up all the hours yet, but I think I worked over 40 hours last week. It's taken some time to get used to doing that after not having a job for so long. As a result, I'm re-learning how to balance my life. My goal is to post at least once a week, most likely on an off-day from work.

Last time we talked about hockey, Lucas had just wrapped up his sortouts. We found out later that week that he made the B6 team so he'll be playing B level for the 3rd straight year. That was good news since it would be a bit demoralizing for him if he slid back.

None of his teammates from last year are on the team, but a kid he befriended in power skating last year as well as another kid he knows through Zach are on the team so he's happy about that. Actually, the power skating kid (Cole) was the top scorer in Novice B last year so that's a good sign for this team's scoring chances.

Speaking of the team, they have a name. An embarrassing one. Well, to me as an adult, I guess. The coach picked 3 kids names out of the hat after the first practice and told them they were responsible for coming up with a name by the next practice. I wasn't there due to work, but it sounds like they initially were going to go with the Fire Hawks, which is pretty decent. However, the name then devolved into the Emojis. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, emojis are the faces/pictures you create with keyboard symbols. The most popular example being the smiley face :)

Lucas wasn't too fond of the name so I gotta respect his opinion there, but I guess kids will be kids, and it's a whole new world. If that's what they want, so be it. Anyway, they have one more weekend of practices coming up, and then his first game will be Sunday, Oct 9. Can't wait!

Now, let's get back to California pictures.

When last we left the California posts, Day 3 was coming to an end, and we were in Escondido. On Day 4, we drove back up to Los Angeles with a quick pit stop at one of my favorite fast food places of all time, In-N-Out Burger. We then headed up to Redondo Beach, where we would be staying for the rest of the trip.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it previously, but the main purpose of our trip was to see my grandmother, who has recently moved into an assisted living facility. We haven't seen her since Lucas was a baby, and since she's in her mid-90s, we wanted to make sure we got to see her again just in case something happens with her health.

She's staying in a very nice place in Torrance, about 10-15 minutes from where we were staying so we got to see about 4 times during the trip. We took plenty of pictures with her, in just about every configuration of family members possible. Below are the highlights.

Afterwards, we headed back to the Redondo City pier, where we walked around the shops and people watched for a bit. After that, Lucas finally got a chance to play in the ocean. He met some other kid who was there on vacation and they had a good time together, so much so that we had to drag him away.

We ended our trip to the pier with yet one more visit to a brewery, this time the King Harbor Brewing Company, which is right on the boardwalk next to the pier. Marilu and I sampled their wares while Lucas had ice cream from a shop a few doors down.

After that, we headed back to the hotel and relaxed, in anticipation of the next day's activities. Day 5 will be up soon with pictures from the Dodgers game.

Lots of News

There's been quite a bit of news since I last posted 10 days ago. Lucas has now finished his first 2 weeks of school, and things are going well. As mentioned in the last post, he's got a bunch of his close friends in his classes so that helps. In particular, his best friend Zach is now at school with him. Zach was at a French school before now, but his parents decided to transfer him over this year so both Lucas and Zach are pretty pleased with that decision.

The other big Lucas-related news is hockey! Sort-outs for Atom (ages 9 and 10) started last weekend and wrapped up a couple of hours ago. I think Lucas played fairly well and will be surprised if he ends up in something other than B. We should know by mid-week, when we receive the introductory email from his new coach.

Finally, in probably the biggest news, I'm working again! It's not exactly what I was looking for--that is, something in accounting--but it's a part-time job to help pay the bills while I continue to find the "perfect" job. This may come as a surprise for those who know me, but it's at Cabela's, the outdoors, hunting, fishing, etc store. A brand new one is opening up on Thursday, and I'll be there almost from the start. Although I say part-time, I'm actually going to be working enough hours that it will be virtually full-time.

My position, which is up front in customer service, is not my ideal job, but who knows, maybe I can get my foot in the door in the back office at some point. And if not, at least I'm bringing in a paycheck for the first time in too long.

I don't want to include pictures from California in this post since that would just make it super long so I'll close this out with a funny picture Marilu took of Lucas and me playing Risk back in June. Despite how it looks, I came back and handily crushed him. :)

First Day of School: Fourth Grade

Egad, it's been a while since my last post. July 24, to be exact. My apologies. I guess the blog took a summer vacation of its own.

Now that we're all back to a normal schedule, I'll start playing catch up. To start things off, here's a couple of pictures of Lucas from his first day of 4th grade, which started yesterday. Several of his really good friends are in his classes so that made going back a lot easier. He actually wants to be there!

The annual "on the front porch" photo.

And just to mix things up, waiting at the bus stop.

For last year's "first day of school" pic, click here. And for all the previous years, click here.Next up, I'll likely finish out the California vacation pictures and then I'll make it up from there.