More Pictures

Abbys Volleyball Season

Well, Abby played varsity volleyball as a Freshman. She did pretty well and the team made it to CIF play offs. They won the first team, but lost to the second team. The team is young with three freshman. Here are some shots of Abby.

Emily Christine

As we were driving down by the jetty we found a boat with Emily's name on it and had to take a picture. How often does one find their first and middle name on a boat?

Kayaking in the Chetco

My parents took us up the Chetco to kayak in the river. It was warm, in the 80's compared to the cool coastal temperature of the high 60's and low 70's. As desert rats, we enjoyed the cool breeze and the cold water. I even managed to get a little work out, kayaking up the river a bit and back down. The girls enjoyed going down a mini-rapid, can be seen by the photo's. Next year we will plan a 1/2 day trip down the Chetco River where we will encounter a couple of bigger rapids. It should be fun.

Feeding the Seagulls

One of the favorite activities I enjoy doing while I am in Oregon is to feed the Seagulls! :) I don't know why, but it makes me laugh so much. The day these pictures were taken, the wind was blowing pretty hard, so the seagulls managed to stay in the air for a long time waiting for their morsel of cheap white bread. When it is not so windy, they can't hover like they do here.

More Pictures of the Aquarium

Newport Coast

Yes, after a week of Arizona, we came home for a week, then headed off to Newport Coast, where the average temperature was 75 degrees. I adapted to the temperature change just fine. The girls were allowed to bring a friend. We spent 3 days at the beach and one day we went to the Aquarium in Long Beach. Abby got to feed a parakeet this sugar water they like to eat. The girls got to pet sharks and sting rays. The fish there were beautiful.

Montezuma's Castle

On the way to Sedona, we saw a sign that read "Montezuma's Castle". After driving a while, we thought the break would be nice and were curious to know more about this place. We were pleasantly surprised by what we discovered. Two castle's, built into the side of a mountain were abandoned quite some time ago. I don't know a whole lot about it, but you can click on the link to find out more. Anyhow, it was fascinating. We did not go to the well because of time constraints. The picture of the castle is taken from a telephoto lens zoomed in about 300 feet.

Slide Rock Arizona

Ok, so who goes to Arizona in July? Well, considering we live in the desert, it wasn't so bad. We even took a day and traveled to Sedona and Flagstaff, which was a bit cooler. The girls had fun sliding down "Slide Rock". I preferred to keep my skin, thank you very much. But they had fun, even after getting bruised up a bit. The place was packed. Unfortunately, my camera battery ran out just as they were ready to go down the slide. The pictures here gives an idea of what I am talking about. After Slide Rock, we went to the Observatory in Flagstaff. I got to see Saturn through the telescope. It was really cool. I even saw the ring around Saturn. It was a long day, but worth the drive.

Graduation Party!

Off with the dresses and on with the shorts! Time to dance and party. The 8th graders had a great time dancing to music from the 80's, 90's and current. Abby even won the Limbo. I did not realize she was that flexible. I guess her volleyball helped strengthen her legs as she was able to make it under the stick.

Abby's Graduation

Abby graduated from 8th grade with the Best Citizenship Award. We were so proud of her. The graduation was very nice.

Emily Get's an Award

Emily received two awards at her school. The first was the fitness award, which was given to students who could run/walk the mile under 12 minutes, do 10 sit-ups and 10 push-ups. I was surprised only 50 out of about 150 students were able to pass the fitness test. Emily also received the Presidential Academic Award with 24 other students in her grade. I was very proud of her.

Emily's Birthday at the Beach

Emily had fun with a couple of friends at the beach where they got to hang out, play in the water, visit Balboa Island. The day was concluded as they were having a make over. Unfortunately, they all ended up with burns. They were changing in the bedroom and were supposed to put on the sunscreen. But the cat was lost and they discussed putting on the sunscreen after they found the cat. Then it was time to go so they talked about putting it on at the beach, but then we had lunch and they forgot. I felt terrible as I should have checked to make sure they put it on. Of course, I did not know about these conversations until it was too late, thinking they put it on in the bedroom. At least the burns were not too bad.

Emily's Birthday

Emily's Birthday started with her friend, over for dinner and opening her gift from us, an electric scooter. Craig plugged it in over night so she could ride it on her birthday.

Presenting a Woman of God

We had a special evening planned for Abby honoring her maturity into womanhood. 32 people were present, including her friends and some of her family, to celebrate the event. The evening started out with swimming as people were arriving. Then we had a yummy dinner catered by "Grammie". After dinner, we gathered in the living room. Craig, Doug and Carlos all said wonderful things about Abby. George gave the closing prayer instructing her friends to lay hands on her as he prayed for her. The evening concluded with coffee and cake.

Abby's Turn

The action shots are much more difficult to get with Abby's level of play because the game moves so much faster. Most of these shots are not action shots. I did the best I could. I got a couple at the net and one back row. The action shot is a bit blurry, but the form is good! Notice how high she gets above the net. It is amazing how much different two years makes. The difference between Abby's level and Emily's level of play is huge. Saturday, I left the house at 5:15 to get to Emily's game in time for the 8:00 game. With only six player who were able to make it, Emily played all games. Her team won two out of three matches, taking each match to three games. Likewise, Abby's team won two out of three matches. Abby's team started the tournament as the first play seat and managed to keep their position even though they lost a match because the team the lost to lost their match in two games to one of the teams we won.

Emily's Turn at Volleyball

Emily is learning to play volley ball. Emily did very well with her serving and her bumps. Her under hand serve is very consistent and has a spin to it. Her overhand serve is pretty good too. She made most of her overhand serves and felt very confident by the end of the day. As this picture shows, she is not afraid to dig for a ball.

Stacie's Wedding

We attended Stacie's wedding, May 3rd, 2008. It was a very nice wedding. We enjoyed the time together with family.

Abby Spiking

Abby is number 11 and is playing in the front left corner. The video starts out with another teammate spiking. Then the ball is returned and Abby has a nice spike. I love watching Abby plays. Notice how she is constantly moving and on her toes. She plays outside hitter and move throughout the rotation. For an 8th grade team, they aren't bad. Abby's tournaments are two to three times per month. With spring break, we have had a nice break, but we will soon be on the road again. It is a good thing "Grammie" lives in the area near the tournaments. It saves us money and gives us time to visit.

More Pictures

I didn't want to mess up the arrangement of the last post, so I started a new post. A couple more pictures of Abby's trip should do it. At least she has a week off to recuperate from her trip. As you can see, the ten days she was on the East Coast were packed full of excitement and adventure. This is definitely a trip of a lifetime!

Abby Comes Home!

Well, Abby finally got home. They had to stay an extra night because of delays from the flights from Chicago. She came in 12 hours later than expected, which was ok with me because I didn't have to wake up at 2:00 in the morning to pick her up. She had a great time and brought back some cool souvenirs.

We download 253 pictures from her camera, plus the disposable she bought because her camera ran out of room. Here are a few of the pictures with Abby in them.

Liberty Bell and The Phantom of the Opera

Abby's day was filled from the time they got up in the morning until night. They visited the Liberty Bell during the daytime and then enjoyed a nice dinner followed by Phantom of the Opera. I got a surprise phone call from Abby who told me all about the Phantom of the Opera. She loved the musical. They were able to dress up a little bit for the event. Abby wore a cute skirt and sweater. Some of the girls dressed up with semi-formals, but Abby still fit in nicely with her dressy skirt. They all curled their hair in ringlets, which seems to be the fashion these days.

Some Pictures of Amish Land

I found a couple of pictures of Abby on the link. As of today, the website is having trouble. At least I was able to find these pictures of Abby. It seems like she is having the time of her life. She will come home on Thursday night. I can't wait!

Abby goes to Washington

As of current, I do not have pictures of Abby's trip yet, but I will. Abby's 8th grade class went to Washington DC and the surrounding states to visit the History of our Country. She has seen several memorials so far. She also attended a play on broadway called The Phantom of the Opera. I didn't get to talk to her much because I was not available when she called. But Emily and her dad talked with her for a while and she is having a great time. My biggest concern is whether or not I packed her well enough to survive the east coast!

I will post the pictures and let her write something when she returns. In the meantime, you can click on this link. There is even a picture with me in it!

http://teacherweb.com/CA/ChristianSchooloftheDesert/8thGradeHistoricStudyTour/t.stm

click on the link to the right with the other links to get an instant access to the website.

I talked to Abby tonight and she is having a lot of fun. She is keeping busy and they are all tired. She had a good attitude and is taking a lot of pictures.

Camp Forest Home

Emily took a picture of her friend trying to make a snowball. We were told it just snow and there would be lot of new snow. Well, the nights have been cold, but the days have been warm. Some snow is better than none!


Emily went up to Forrest Home for winter camp. She loved her cabin mates. Craig also went up as a councilor for the boys cabin. He had a great time with the boys and really bonded with them. Although Emily was expecting more snow, she still had fun.

More Volleyball

I love this picture because Abby is so far off of the ground. Her spike isn't bad for an 8th grader. She is pretty accurate and is good at getting her spikes over the net. Her next step is to get some power behind her spike. At this point, accuracy is more important than power. Besides, the power will come. Regardless, she is hitting the floor with her spikes. I'm impressed anyhow.

Valentines Day

I woke up February 14th to find a surprise I never expected. Craig has a hard time keeping secrets, especially in the areas of gift giving. Well, he surprised me pretty good with this spread, minus one bagel I ate before taking this picture. Craig bought me a new salad bowl, a cutting board, a knife that is so very sharp and one I have wanted for a long time, an ice canister, a much needed salt and pepper shakers, cheese, bagels and CHOCOLATE. Later that night, we had a nice dinner at California Pizza Kitchen where we shared a pizza and a salad so we could save room for dessert! We had a great time.

Science Fair Project

Emily won the science fair at her school, causing her to make it to the district. She proved that Rock Salt lowers the freezing point of water. She made ice cream in a bag to reinforce her hypothesis. We need to fine tune the board a little bit. Some of the judges wrote critiques about her project and my science teacher friend helped us know what to fix to make it better for district level. One thing we need to do is to validate the experiment by repeating the experiment two more times. Abby and I were glad to hear this because the ice cream is rather yummy.

Club Volleyball

Abby is playing club volleyball on the elite team. This years team is incredible to watch. Some of these girls play at the same level as the varsity girls did at my high school. Although Abby has the least amount of experience on the team, she is keeping up rather well. The pictures here include Abby spiking the ball. Although I missed the spike, you can see the ball cleared the blockers and she actually scored a point on this play. The other play is Abby setting. I love how she sets in the air. Notice both of her feet are off of the ground.

Student of the Month

Emily got student of the month for the month of January. I was so proud of her. I took the day off to get my car fixed, which worked out perfectly because I was able to watch her receive her award and take some pictures. We celebrated by going to the mall and buying some items from her favorite store, Limited Too. Emily got a webkinz called Maggie the Monkey and some shirts. I had a coupon for 50% off, which made it worth it. We also had lunch together. It was a nice mother/daughter afternoon.

New Years Day Eve

Well, after cleaning up from the New Years party, we cleaned up for my sister and family to come and visit for dinner. I defrosted a dream dinner from the night before and had the casserole cooking in the oven when they arrived. We laid out a spread of left overs from the New Years Eve party and waited impatiently for their arrival. They had been camping in the high desert for a week. Although we visited them last Saturday at their camp (see pictures below), we really didn't get to spend much time with them. The first words out of my sisters mouth were, "Can I use your shower?" After camping for a week in the desert, the motor home shower just didn't cut the grim. After everyone took their showers, we settled down for the evening, ate dinner, played a card game, and watch the season opening episode of Biggest Loser. The girls wanted to go in the jacuzzi so we set that up for them. So much fun. Then we sent them off at 10:00 at night so they could drive through L.A. freeways without the traffic. They were supposed to stop somewhere near Bakersfield. The advantage of driving a motor home is they could stop anywhere they want. I haven't heard yet how they are doing the rest of the journey, but they probably won't reach their destination of Brookings, OR until late tonight.

New Years Day

No pictures here. Just words.

We had a small group of friends over to the house last night. It was a very intimate party. The older girls were baby sitting all together. The younger girls stayed with us because we couldn't find a sitter for them. It turned out nice having them here. Craig had us do something special. After the first round of food was eaten, we gathered around the living room and talked about our goals for the year 2008. It was pretty special. Then he anointed us each with oil from Jerusalem and then we each took turns praying for our families. It was a special moment.

Afterwards, we play a game, that kind of flopped. Not everyone felt comfortable singing, even though the songs were from our era, the 80's. We flipped through the songs and managed to find a couple to sing. The singing came to and end when we heard this awful screaming coming from the back yard. Alley, our tabby cat was outside walking the walls. The neighbors black cat came to check out what was going on and it was on. A lot of screaming. We ran outside to rescue the cat, who is a scardy cat. We kept missing her, she'd run to the front yard, then to the back again. In the attempts to catch her and bring her in, she panicked and jumped over the pool. Well, she misjudge how far it was to the other side of the pool and landed in the pool. Consider the fact that it is winter and the pool is pretty cold. We didn't see her for about 1/2 hour later. As we were talking, David said, "Is that your cat?" There she was, trying to get in the slider. By then, she managed to dry herself pretty well.

In conclusion, we had a great evening of intimacy and fun. We rapped up the New Year watching the countdown from New York City. It was a nice time.

Jeep Ride in the Desert

We drove an hour east of here to meet up with my sister who was motor home camping in the high desert. Yes, it does get cold in the desert. We spent about four hours with them. My sister and I stayed in the warm motor home making soup while the girls rode off with their Uncle Skip in the Desert. Skip will send me picture later, which I will add to this sight. In the meanwhile, I will post what I have; one of my sister with her dog Sasha and the other of the girls and their uncle ready to take on the hills. Don't let the short sleeves my sister is wearing deceive you because an hour later, we were bundled up in warm clothes.

Candy Cane Lane

I can't believe I forgot to post this. This should be posted before Christmas and after decorating the house. Oh well. We went with our friends to a street otherwise known as Candy Cane Lane. It is fun to walk through because most of the houses are decorated with light like the one in the picture. It took us about an hour and then we went to Starbucks to warm up with hot cocoa.

Cat examining the tree!

Alley is curious to see what is under the tree. She was fascinated by the tree the day we got it!

Christmas Day at the Carroll's House

Christmas day at Craig's aunts house was a lot of fun. We ate breakfast and opened gifts. Then we played with Emily's singing game for playstation. It was a blast because we could compete against each other and all take turns making fools out of ourselves. Abby enjoyed playing on her waveboard. We even ran into to friends froom Palm Desert, the Cordova's, whose family only lived a couple doors down. Afterwards, we went to Craig's mothers house for Christmas dinner. We enjoyed the intamacy and unfortunately had to leave to return back to the desert so Craig could go back to work. It was a very nice Christmas.

Christmas Eve Stockings

We did something new this year. The girls got to open their stockings. They are old enough to know who really brings them anyhow. Besides, it was Christmas Eve and we needed to watch a movie, which was in one of the stockings.

Christmas Eve

Christmas was fun! We traveled to Orange County, where Craig's family lives. We drove to "Grammie's" house where we had a nice Christmas Eve dinner. Because Craig was not able to get off work until noon, we weren't able to leave in time to make it to the Christmas Eve service. When the girls arrived, they started decorating cookies with frosting. Grammie worked on making dinner. We decided that the cookie made was the favorite. I'm not sure who was the lucky person who got to eat it, but it wasn't me. I think Craig called dibs on this beautiful master piece.

Dad and Santa's Helper

My dad sent this picture that is just too cute. Sasha, my sister's dog is cuddled up with my dad, who "dog sits" for my sister during the day and when they leave for vacation times.

Decorating for Christmas

The Ostendorf family went out and found a blue spruce from Eastern Oregon at a vacant lot on Washington Blvd that was turned into a Christmas tree lot. THe man we bought it from reminded me of the loggers who used to come into the Forest Service when I worked for them in my younger years. The tree was much better than the dried out one from Home Depot the year before. We brought it home and set up it. Then the girls decorated it. It's nice to be at the stage in our life where the girls can do most of the work. My job was to get the lights on and the girls did all of the decorating. It was fun for them to find ornaments that they made from earlier years. They would squeal with glee as they remember when...

QOTSA

Well, I finally got the opportunity to see my cousin, Josh, in concert, at the McCallum. I felt like a Queens of the Stone Age groupie as I was surrounded by fans, only 5 rows from the stage. Although, compared to some of the fans, I was definitely out of my element. Craig accompanied me to the event. Even though I had not previously heard of the band who opened for QOTSA, Eagle's of Death Metal, I recognized some of the band members whom I met at Josh's wedding. I appreciated the band more than if I had not met them before. The high of the night for me was having the opportunity to take my uncle's back stage pass and go back to say Hi. I felt really important as I knocked on the special door leading back stage. I showed the guard my badge and I was in. It was cool. I said hi to Josh, wished him luck and got the opportunity to meet his keyboard player, which was cool being a keyboard player myself. I did take Josh's advice and wore earplugs. It was an event to remember.

Volleyball at Christian School of the Desert

Abby is serving for her team at Christian School of the Desert. This is her third year at playing volleyball. In the off season, Abby played Club and has started her second year at playing club where she made the "Elite" team. Her first tournament is January 12. Emily has also started playing club volleyball, but is not on a team that travels. Emily is busy learning how to play the piano, which is plenty for her.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving at the Ostendorf's house was small, but cozy this year. My mom came down from Oregon to be with us. My aunt and uncle also joined the scene. My mom, the girls and I enjoyed preparing the dinner, while Craig was at work. When he came home, we had a nice spread of Turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, salad, green beans and pumpkin pie. In the above pictures, Emily was snapping peas, mom was making stuffing and Abby was trying on Nana's apron.

Trick or Treat

The girls had a great time with their friends. They started out trunker-treating at Southwest Community Church and then finished off the night roaming around in their friends neighborhood. Abby hung out with 15 other 8th graders from Christian School of the Desert while Emily hung out with the little sisters and the mom's, who were keeping an eye on their adventure. It was a lot of fun.

Revolve Tour

Abby and I spent the weekend of October 13th in Anaheim for what is called the Revolve Tour. We stayed the night at "Grammie's" house, aka, Chris Ostendorf. We drove over with Kym and her daughter Chelcie. Check out their website, called The White's Blog, which is in the links to the right to see more details of the Revolve Tour. Yes, I "borrowed" the picture she took of Abby and I, but she has more details written in her blog. As a side note, she is one of the reasons I started my blog. So check out her bog to find out more information on what Abby and I experienced. It was very bonding between the two of us. Next year, we will take Emily and their Grammie.