The Cake

Miles had a good birthday! He wanted a cell phone. We said no. He asked for an ipod. We gave in. Now he has an ipod. He kept saying "can we open presents?" Brian and I were laughing because we wanted to say "can we open present?" Luckily he wasn't disappointed in only having one gift. He was actually very excited. It didn't even have any music on it yet, but he sat around playing with it all night. We think we might get them for all our kids now if it means they walk around with headphones on and don't talk. We may be on to something. Gage gave him a gift too, he wrapped up a piece of bark he found outside and very genuinely thought Miles would enjoy it. We had a family dinner after Cole's baseball game (the joy of large families, somebody always has a game to ruin the plans). We ate a lame b-day cake. I cannot believe how unbelievably bad my cakes are getting as the years go on. In the beginning I used to make some amazingly cool cakes. Last night was a white cake in a pan with orange frosting I attempted to draw a basketball on and it turned out to be an orange baseball because I did the strings wrong. The boys all corrected me after making fun of my cake. Then I put Shay on the counter to watch me finish and left her sitting there while I grabbed the candles. I do this all the time (leave her sitting on the counter) and she is always fine. In my defense, I did tell Brian to come watch her and Cole was standing right by her. Of course Brian claims he didn't hear me and Cole said he was busy unloading the dishwasher. Anyway, she proceeded to help herself to the cake, erasing Happy B-day and then somehow fell flat on her face on the hardwood floor leaving an enormous goose egg. I felt bad, but made sure I let Brian and Cole know they each owned at least 25% of the blame for her fall. We finished out the evening by watching the home video of me giving birth to Miles. Very G rated, but everyone wanted to know why Miles' head was so cone-shaped. "What makes it like that, mom?"

Miles' 11th Birthday

Well, some deranged lunatic (not to point fingers, Lisa) let Miles invite 15 of his friends over for a birthday party last night. I didn't even know he KNEW 15 kids, let alone could call them friends. All in all they were actually very well behaved...for escaped mental patients that is. They had a rousing game of tackle football, which only resulted in 3 broken bones, 2 black eyes and 10 gallons of mud being tracked back to our home. Pretty minor, all things considered. We then proceeded to consume a side of beef for dinner and keep the entire neighborhood awake until late, listening to the lovely strains of head-to-head Guitar Hero III competitions. I'm sure all were glad when we finally wrapped it up and sent them home. Miles made a small mint in birthday present money since most kids just give cash now days to make it easier.

Lacrosse

Miles picked up a new sport this Spring, he's now playing Lacrosse (he bagged the soccer and baseball teams this year around, a friend of his talked him into playing Lacrosse instead.) He's actually really loving playing, and has picked it up quickly. He's even already scored in one game, quite an accomplishment for someone who had never held a Lacrosse stick until just a few months ago. This is Miles delivering a forearm shiver to the opposing team. He's not afraid of mixing it up (and has the yellow penalty cards to prove it!) Of course the way Miles changes his mind, he'll be doing water ballet next year or some other obscure activity. He seems to gravitate from one sport to the next, whereas Cole is convinced he's already NFL bound!

Beijing, China

Lisa and I just got back from a week in Beijing China, where I was traveling with the US Olympic Fencing team to the Good Luck Games. This was the dry run for the Olmpics, so that Beijing could make sure all the bugs are worked out before hand. It was only a small team, so we had plenty of time to take in the sites of Beijing, or at least those that we could actually make out through the pollution induced haze. It was definitely an interesting experience, especially feeling like a minority for the first time; and also finally being a tall person! We went to the early morning flag raising at Tianemen Square, and were probably the only Caucasians in a crowd of many thousand Chinese. We were able to see the Great Wall, the Ming tombs, the Summer Palace, Tianemen Square, Mao himself reposing in his crypt, the Llama temple, and sampled many wares and food at the night market in downtown Beijing. Adventurous Lisa even took the subway around by herself, and found her way to the only branch of the church in Beijing for Sunday's services. We sampled many authentic Chinese dishes, included KFC (yes, we really did, no other places were open late when we finished one of our shopping trips to the knock off emporiums.) All-in-all it was a great trip and an interesting experience to see another part of the world. We brought back many souveniors, the main one being all the crud in our lungs from breathing the industrial fumes of the city! I think we lost 5 years life expectency in that one week! And yes, the below picture is of cooked lizards, seahorses, bugs and snake. Yummy!

Disneyland

The family just got back from a week at Disneyland, and we all survived! And that included an 18 hour power through the night drive home. The kids did great and we had a blast with Lisa's siblings and their families, along with Grandma Gayle. We did Disney, Seaworld and a day at Huntington beach, where Josh, Alex and Brian did their best to drown themselves in the very cold surf; and I do mean cold! I think by the time we got out, I couldn't feel my extremities. Or maybe it was because I was holding Alex's hand instead of my own...hmm...maybe? Everyone had a great time on all the rides, sights and hanging with their cousins. Cole and Riley were as inseperable as they always are when they get together.

Redwoods

On the way to Disneyland, we stopped off at the Redwood Forest to see some HUGE trees. It was good diversion from the long drive and we could get out and stretch our legs in the forest. Gage wanted to bring home every stick he found along the path, so now we have our very own redwood tree in our back yard! The kids especially liked the tree that you could drive your car through. Well, some cars, not the mondo Sequioa with car top carrier and crap busting out of the windows after being loaded down for the massive exodus. But we could at least walk through it and watch a Mini Cooper squeeze through!

Bird Girl of Alcatraz

While at Alcatraz, Shay channeled the infamous Bird Man. She had them doing her bidding in no time, stealing other peoples candy and bringing it back to her! Actually during the course of our tour, we found out that the Bird Man actually never had his birds at Alcatraz, only at Leavenworth. They made him leave them behind when he was transferred to Alcatraz. So Shay is the true Bird Person now!