SofiandNatalie.com

With the new school year started, many of us have already seen our fair share of fundraisers, but I wanted to take a moment and encourage you to consider supporting Sofi and Braly Elementary in their effort to raise funds for special programs and materials that aren’t in their regular budget.  The school earns a large percentage of every dollar you spend, and, of course, Sofi has a chance to win some really great prizes.

Fortunately, with the power of the internet, you don’t even have to leave your home.  Simply go to www.cherrydale.com to see the exciting collection of gourmet chocolates, beautiful giftware and assorted gift wrap and accessories. If you like, you can buy or renew one of your favorite magazines too.  By clicking the above link all the school’s information should be entered automatically, but just in case the information you will need are as follows:

Student ID#: 61043
School ID#: 157806
www.cherrydale.com

This fundraiser will be running from September 25th through October 9 and your support is greatly appreciated!

Papa

I’m way behind in writing about some of our recent adventures, but thought that I would take a moment to catch everyone up on our recent New Brighton State Beach camping trip.  For those that haven’t heard of it or visited, it’s south of Santa Cruz and is touted as a beach-side campground, which is probably about as accurate as one can get.  You don’t get to sleep on the beach, but it’s a short walk from the campground and adds quite a bit of fun to what otherwise might just be a trip into the forest.  Hopefully the pictures and following story will share a little of the experience from our perspective.

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Easter was an absolute riot this year.  The girls are finally getting into the holiday spirit (mostly because they realize that every holiday comes with some little gift for them), and they were reallyexcited about Easter this year.  Of course, because we don’t practice religion, they only think of it as the Easter bunny and candy and toys and fun, but that’s okay with me.  It’s just wonderful to see them enjoying the moment and the excitement that they get from the anticipation.  This year it was a whole week of excitement for putting out their baskets in preparation for the bunny to come and fill them up.

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What an awesome weekend!  After an invitation and very little negotation we decided to make a trip down to Preson Ranch this weekend.  And What a great choice that was.  The weather was outstanding.  The children were (for the most part) very well behaved and the company, as always, was marvelous.  For those that don’t remember from the previous post, Preston Ranch is the family home of Jean and Victor, our friends in Paso Robles (which also happens to be where the ranch is).  It’s a log cabin and vineyard atop one of the taller rolling hills which offers commanding views and beautiful views of the mountains, other vineyards, and the city of Paso Robles.

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The “holiday season,” the time between Christmas and January 2, is supposed to be a time of rest, relaxation, family and fun.  It certainly was for us this year, but all the “free time” that I thought I would have is gone and the season is now behind us.  Sadly, for someone that was considering “live blogging” their Christmas morning, Papa is finally getting around to posting in their blog to talk about the day.

Santa came to our home with a very generous set of gifts and the girls got a great big kick out of the decorated tree and cookies, water and carrots (for the reindeer) that were consumed between the time they fell asleep and woke.

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The girls seemed to have a great Friday, which included a trip to Cosentinos, the local market, followed by a chocolate milk shake.  Yummy.  Cosentino’s has a wonderful down-home attitude and some of their stores have these smaller, children’s shopping carts.  The girls can’t go in there without running to see if they’re the kids that will get them today.  Some days this have to share.  This day they each got their own, and as you can see they filled them to the brim before putting their foods up onto the counter.

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Coming back to work after spending a weekend with the family is always difficult.  For a variety of reasons, this one more than most, but fortunately I have a countless number of photos to keep me company and remind me how much fun we had these past few days. 

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Trick or Treat!  The doorbell just rang for the 100th time tonight and the costumes keep getting better and better.  Of course, I think that my puppy and kitty were the two best costumes out there, and the sheer excitement that Sofi and Natalie showed tonight is nearly unrivaled.  Even now at a little after 8:00 they’re still hyped up and raring to go – running to the door every time someone comes up, eager to hand out the treats that we’re giving out.  Very fun.

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“Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate.” – Sandra Boynton

Success is rewarded in many ways and I was recently rewarded with a box of Chocolate Fudge Mint Cookies (think Girl Scout Thin Mints for an idea of how good they are).  The gift came from Cathy Spencer, our director of training at Rockcliff, and while it was completely unwarranted it was definitely appreciated.  Like most of the good things that I get at the office, I took this home with me.  I should have taken a picture of the box, but it’s a shiny silver deal with a ribbon on the top.  Not even knowing what was inside - the shiny box and ribbon had the girls very excited.  Imagine their surprise to find chocolate inside?!?!  Thanks, Cathy, they loved the cookies!

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