Sarah's 10th Birthday

I have been way behind on blog posting, like over a year behind.  I've decided to start back up again because I think it is a wonderful way to journal what goes on in our lives and I think (hope) that one day my girls will love to look back and read about all the things we did.  So in the spirit of #TBT, I am going to post for a bit on what we have been up to so far this year.  Starting with Sarah's 10th birthday back in January!

How is it possible that my first born is 10 already?!  To celebrate we did a Glow in the Dark/Neon party at the house with some of her friends!  Of course we did it later in the day/evening so they could have fun with the glow part of the party.  We ask everyone to wear neon or white so the black lights in the house would make their clothes glow!  They had such a fun time being silly, playing a few games and decorating T-shirts with glow in the dark paint!  Enjoy some of the photos from the party and my little Top Ten list about Sarah that I made to commemorate the occasion!

 
-->

Top 10 Reasons I Love Sarah

10.  She shares my same love of Starbucks and any thing salted caramel!

9.  She is a talented Irish dancer and watching her dance makes my heart sing.  She is proud of her Irish roots and it shows!

8.  Sarah told me recently that, “Italy must be heaven”.  I can’t agree more.  She thinks it’s because you can eat pizza and gelato to your hearts content!  Just wait till she grows up to really enjoy the finer things Italy has to offer!

7.  She has a love of travel and learning about different places and cultures.  This is one of the most important things Charlie and I wanted to teach the girls.  So far in her 10 years she has visited Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Australia, and New Zealand.  Her favorite states are of course Hawaii, California, and Texas!

6.  She loves animals and has a soft spot in her heart for them.  She would be a vegetarian if she didn’t love bacon and filet mignon so darn much! 

5.  She is a quiet girl and always tries to do the right thing.  However, put her in a room full of her friends and she comes out of her shell and can be the life of the party!

4. She loves her California roots.  Although she has lived ½ her life in TX, she was born in Riverside, CA, and I love that she loves this state.  I am so blessed to be able to raise her near the ocean and the beauty that California has to offer.

3. She loves her family, even her little sister who annoys her most times.  She is very close to her grandparents, her cousins, and her aunts and uncles.  She loves getting together with family and celebrating the holidays.

2.  She thrives in school and LOVES it.  She is the only child that I know that cries on the last day of school.  She loves learning and it shows through her many talents.  She loves to read and is a great reader.  I find that the most intelligent people are the ones who read.  Case in point, her father.  So glad she followed in his footsteps and not in mine.  Flipping through magazines and scrolling pinterest  does not intelligence make!

1.  The #1 reason I love Sarah is that she is mine and I see so much of myself in her, so much of her dad in her, so much of my mom and Nana in her.  She is a perfect mix of so many wonderful qualities and that I am sure will lead her to do great things, be loved by others, and have a happy and fulfilled life!  My sweet Sarah, my first born, will always have my heart.

Golden State Feis - San Francisco

This past weekend we traveled to San Fran for an Irish dance competition.  This would be Sarah's 1st time competing as a preliminary champion.  I think we both had a lot of nerves going into this.  Although I knew she could hold her own in the competition, you never know how good everyone else is going to be and you want the whole experience to be a positive one.  Thankfully, she did very well and ended up placing 3rd out of 7.  So we were both very happy and it made for a fun weekend with lots of smiles!  She also placed 3rd in her Treble Reel special.  So very exciting to have completed the 1st prelim and now we look to the future and try to go after that 1st win.  In Irish dancing she needs to win 2 times in prelim in order to move up to open champion.  Open champion is the highest level you can go in Irish dancing. 

San Fran is such a wonderful city and it is even more spectacular when the weather is great.  We had a wonderful weekend and had so much fun seeing the sights!  Here are some pics from the weekend.

 

Pier 39 - They love the carousel and shopping for "junk"!  I love the food.  Crab was had for dinner.

 

Our view of Union Square from the hotel room.

The Golden Gate bridge is my favorite.  We drove across it to get some photos and have lunch at Sam's in Tiburon and then we did a boat cruise to view it from the water.

Boudin Sourdough bread

Ghiradelli hot fudge sundae.  My salty caramel hot cocoa was great too!

St. Patrick's Day 2013

Once again the weekend of St. Patrick's Day was a busy one for us.  We had shows in a few places around the South Bay.  Including here in our own backyard, Hermosa Beach.  The annual parade is always a favorite for my girls.  This year Lauren walked with her musical theater group.  Here are some pics from the weekend.  They include making a leprechaun trap and making cupcakes!

Feis Fun: Early 2013

Going into 2013 Sarah's goal was to get out of prizewinner and the "grades" and into the preliminary champion level of Irish dancing.  Secondly, she wants to dance her best at her first Nationals this summer.  Regardless if she recalls, because the competition will be very tough, she wants to dance well and enjoy the experience.  And finally, she wants to recall at Oireachtas again and hopefully place higher than 15th.  We are happy to say and so proud that she has accomplished goal #1 and will be competing as a preliminary champion at her next feis in April.  Here are some highlights from the feisanna so far this year.

Feis in the Desert, Chandler AZ - January

 1st Place N/PW Slip Jig Special U9

Feis Orange County - February

 1st place N/PW Treble Reel Special U9

Feis Rinnce Conejo Valley, Westlake - March

 5th N/PW U10 Slip Jig Special

5th N/PW U13 Treble Reel Special

8th Junior Tramore U13 Reel Special

14th St. Patrick's Day U13 Special

Ski Week in San Antonio

 There is actually no skiing in San Antonio, but since we are not ski people, we decided to head down to S.A. and visit Opa and Myrtle.  Daddy was in Daytona and the girls always have such a blast visiting the city.  It really is a great place for families and kids.  February is actually a pretty mild month and the Stock Show and Rodeo is in town.  Here is a look into our time there!

First thing we did when we landed was head down to the river walk.  It was a perfect 70 degree day so we had a little Mexican food at Casa Rio, one of our favorite spots, and enjoyed the afternoon.  The girls got ice cream and we enjoyed walking around.

 

We then went back to the house.  Lauren with her Opa.

 

The next day we headed out to the Stock Show and Rodeo.  I remember growing up going every year to this.  For 2 weeks you can go and see all the animals, ride the carnival rides, and see a rodeo every night.  The girls don't get much of the country experience I grew up with so I thought this would be a great activity for us to do.  They LOVED it.  They had fun seeing the animals (although Lauren refused to walk through the cattle barn.  She about passed out from the smell!) They enjoyed the rodeo, too!  Sarah was a bit sensitive to the calf roping and any competition that involved strangling or wrestling an animal, but she is my very sensitive, free spirited California girl, so  I wasn't surprised.  On a related note...she has often talked about going vegetarian because she can't stand the thought of the animals being killed, but then she always says, "But bacon is so good!"  I have to concur.  So is Thanksgiving turkey, steak and lobster, and that good ole In n Out burger!

For our next outing we headed out to Natural Bridge Caverns and Wildlife Ranch.  This was a new experience for all of us and I HIGHLY recommend it.  The animals at the wildlife ranch were amazing and you can get super close to them and feed them.  The caverns were also way cool.  Lauren was a little afraid to go into the caves because they were dark, so Myrtle stayed above ground with her.  Sarah on the other hand, loved it and it was really awesome!

The last day we went to Gruene for a little shopping and Landa Park in New Braunfels so the kids could play a little.  Great little park that is even better in the summer. Here is Opa with his grand-daughters.

One more night was had eating out for Mexican food.  This time we went to Mi Tierra.  A San Antonio landmark.  Great food, atmosphere, bakery, and it NEVER closes! 

Flying home....oh look,  you can see where our house was when we lived in Riverside from the plane!  Next to that reservoir. Almost ready to land!