More Summer Night Water Polo

The Santa Fe Christian Eagles were the opponents for tonight's junior varsity summer league game.  Dakota and his team controlled the game from the onset.  Although not as challenging, this was a great opportunity to develop our less experienced players.

 

 After the game, Dakota asked if we could stop at The Hamburger Factory for dinner.  Jessica had come out to see her little brother's game, so, we took the opportunity to extend our visit with Jessica.

 Jessica & Dakota

PapaBear & MamaBear

Our Independance Day

Fireworks.  I just love fireworks.  Growing up, my brother and I so looked forward to the fireworks stand that would set up at the end of our street.  We would run down to it as soon as we heard it had set up, and peer over the plywood counter taking in the smell of the firework powder as we looked through the wire mesh at the colorful array of fireworks that came in so many shapes and sizes.  We didn't have much money growing up, but my father always made sure we had some fireworks for the 4th of July.  Sparklers were my favorite! 

 Sun sets as we patiently wait for the fireworks show.

These days, due to fire regulations, you are not able to buy fireworks in San Diego, so we rely on our local fireworks shows in celebration of the 4th of July.  This year, we decided on seeing the fireworks show at Poway High School.  Poway is a great little town in the north county, and is known for their family and community atmosphere. 

As a photographer, taking what I had learned from my IFLC instructors, my goal was to capture some great shots of the fireworks and hopefully, get one of my children to cooperate and pose for me with the fireworks in the background.  While waiting, I put my set-up together and had my children pose for test shots to help decide on my in-camera settings.

The first child was not too enthused about the whole thing and stood there in a very obligatory fashion.

 

 The second child had no reservations in showing her displeasure at the request.

 While the third child embraced the experience by dancing the macarena and the YMCA dance.

After the test shots, we entertained ourselves by creating flashlight art photography using some multi-colored led flashlights.

 Writing our name.

 Multi-colored shapes.

 A heart.

 Look!  Dotted lines!

And before you knew it, the fireworks show began and my camera started clicking . . .

The grande finale! 

Hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend with family and friends.  We had a memorable one caught in photographs!

Race to the Fair

The theme of this year's fair was "Race to the Fair".  Our family has a tradition of going to the Del Mar Fair together every year.  We usually start the day by taking a family picture before going in.

We then make our way through all the exhibition halls.  This year, we started with the Crusin' California exhibit where they had so many beautiful antique cars on display.

 

One of our traditional stops is the beef jerky stand in Bing Crosby Hall where the girls get spicy pickles to share and Dakota gets his pick of beef jerky.

After crusin' through the exhibition halls, we staked out a table large enough to seat all six of us.  Working as a team, we took turns buying our favorite foods and standing guard over our table.

 PapaBear and I took the first shift at the table while the children paired up to buy their lunch picks.

 Ana and Alia came back first with some deep fried shrimp and a shrimp cocktail to share.  Delicious!

 PapaBear decided to get his lunch from Pink's Hot Dogs where he bought a Marilyn Monroe hot dog.

 

I went with my yearly favorite -  crawfish and calamari!  Also bought some mussels to share with everyone.

 

Dakota decided on buffalo wings and a chili dog, while Jessica went with a chicago dog.  So many choices!  After lunch, we were on to having our faces painted.

 

Ana went with a pink and red swirly design.

 Jessica, a lightning bolt.

Alia, a blue purple combination.

 

And I went with a blue purple with glitter design.

After our faces were well decorated, we were on to the fair rides where the kids slid down the large rainbow slide then took on some more stomach turning rides which even left me a bit queasy and I wasn't even on the ride!

 Dakota and Jessica going nose to nose.  Still can't get over the fact that he is now taller than her.

We finished our fun day at the fair by taking group pictures in the garden display area.  We also made sure to take home some fudge from the Mackinaw Island Fudge stand.

Another memorable family trip to the fair!

Water Polo Summer Days

If you haven't notice already, our summer days and nights are filled with water polo practices, league games and tournaments as Dakota's team prepares for their participation in the Junior Olympics 2011.  This weekend, it was the Poway Valley Invitational on Saturday followed by the Northwood Tournament Series on Sunday. 

Summer Tournament Series

The Sunday water polo tournament series continued with four games in Orange County on Father's Day.  Unfortunately, PapaBear was not able to join us on the pool deck as he had thrown out his back and was confined to home.