Klimonology

Mother's Day at the Angels Game

We had the good fortune of being invited to go see the Angels game on Mother's Day from the Klein's dugout suite. My personal trip included walking an extra couple of hundred yards through the stadium looking for an extra Mother's Day sun hat giveaway that Gabi didn't get and finding Zac cotton candy. Failed in the first mission, but was successful in the second. Fortunately, Bob Klein had gotten a hat and was kind enough to let Gabi have it.

Everyone had a great time and we got to see a great game with the Angels coming from behind to beat the red-hot Indians!

What an amazing view! We were able to "chat frequently" with members of the Indians as they were preparing to bat. Grady Sizemore even commented that he had indeed called his mother for Mother's Day. We wrapped up the day in front of the Angels scoreboard that read: "Happy Mother's Day!"

Halloween Pajamas!

The kids in their Halloween pajamas from their Mimi!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! I spent most of the day and night of Halloween in bed sick with a nasty cold. Aidan had the same thing but somehow managed to go out for about an hour tonight. Here are some photos of the kids. Gabrielle went as a vampire, Aidan as a "Zorgon", Zac went as Spider-Man and Roya as a two-headed demon.

And the best part was when Jeanne brought Zac and Aidan home early...Zac comes in the door and yells upstairs, "Daddy, Spider-Man's home!" Too cute!

BU8 Bombers Go 3-0

Aidan's AYSO team the BU8 Bombers won again this past Saturday to push their record to 3-0. Aidan had two goals and an assist in the victory. I coach the team, but shoot some photos during the game as well. And after reviewing the photos this evening I had to share this one...I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to see this guy running towards me on the field...look at that crazy hair, the Ultraman hands and that long pointy tongue! Top that off with being built like a Mack truck and you can imagine what a sight it is to see him barrelling around the pitch.

That afternoon the entire family went to see the Region's GU10 Plus team take on Tustin. Unfortunately the game ended in a tie, but good fun was had by all. Later that day we all went down to the Home Depot Center to see the L.A. Galaxy take on D.C. United in an exciting game which the Galaxy won 5-2 on the strength of Landon Donovan's hat trick.

Shake, Rattle & Roll

So...we just survived our first earthquake. (Having already experience our first wildfire, we were due for our next California event.) Okay, it wasn't our first, in actuality earthquakes are pretty darn common around here. However, this was the first one that we could actually feel. And boy, could we feel it. I know, I know, you California readers have lived through plenty before. However, this was a first for our family.

Fortunately, all of the kids were in the downstairs office with me so we were on the slab and together. The earthquake registered a 5.8 on the Richter scale (which is termed "Moderate") by the USGS. Heh, literally, while I was typing this blog post, the earthquake was downgraded from a 5.8 to a 5.4. (See details here.) Everyone escaped unscathed, but one of Aidan's baseball trophies did not fare so well. 

The interesting thing for me was Zachary's reaction. The actual event didn't seem to bother him much, or at least he didn't say much, however, afterwards he was very upset by all the light fixtures that were swaying. I had to go around and try to stop the lights from swaying to settle him down.

Finally, Gabrielle decided that I had to take a picture of her recreating her face from the earthquake. Now, I can't attest that this is the actual face that she made while the earthquake was happening, but I can attest to the fact that it is a scary face, or, the face of someone who is scared. Something like that. :)

Surprise!

Tonight we had a joint surprise birthday party for Gabrielle and Aidan. While we had celebrated their birthdays back in June on the appropriate days we hadn't had time (with soccer, softball and baseball) to have a party with friends. So we invited a bunch of their friends and had the kids kept occupied throughout the day as Jeanne and I got things together here at home. Fortunately, our neighborhood has a wonderful pool complex with gas grills, showers, bathrooms and plenty of seating, so having 14 kids over isn't a problem (of course, I write this while they are all running around our house screaming like madmen (and madwomen). The cake was done by the local Albertson's using a collage that I created for the kids. It worked out nicely that Gabrielle's F.C. Blades uniform and Aidan's PONY All-Stars uniforms are a very similar shade of red. The kids spent the evening swimming and hanging out in the hot tub while I cooked up some tri-tip, hot dogs and hamburgers.

This is Gabrielle not long after she arrived. When she arrived and the girls jumped out and said "Surprise!" Gabrielle was actually left semi-speechless. Which, if you know Gabrielle, is quite something.

Zachary spent most of his time hanging out in the hot tub with the girls. I suppose he's on the right track already, eh?

As you can see from the above photo, Aidan pulls off a self-portrait here with the Olympus Stylus 720SW (a shock & water proof camera). We broke it out for the first time at the swimming pool to let the kids have some fun with it. It's actually quite a versatile little camera, unfortunately, the image quality leaves a lot to be desired in all but the most optimal conditions.

This is Gabrielle with her F.C. Blades teammates: Sydney (Squidney!), Ellie, Roya, and Gabrielle. Sydney also played with Gabrielle for me on the GU10 Gold All-Star team.

Daniel and Spencer, two of Aidan's good friends from school were at the party. Aidan had a handful of school friends over, but unfortunately, two of his good friends from his baseball team couldn't make it to the party.

Squidney demonstrates how she got her nickname.

You can find the full gallery of photos from tonight's party here.

Great Balls of Fire

We experienced our first real California wildfire today. Aidan and I had spent the day down in Westminster for a PONY Fall Ball baseball game. The Santa Anas were so strong that we had to stop play a number of times and the boys would turn away from the pitcher until the pitcher was ready. Little did we realize (not being native Californians) that Santa Anas like these generally precede wildfires. And boy did they ever. All up and down Southern California fires sprouted up. We knew that there were fires in other parts of the state, but this is the first time that one was this close. The real sad part about this whole thing is that the Santiago Fire was started intentionally.

After the baseball game, the entire family went over to a friend's house for a pumpkin carving party. Oblivious to what was happening outside, we carved pumpkins and watched movies until early evening at which point I went outside to get the car and saw the smoke rolling over the neighborhood. By the time we drove the 1.5 miles to our house the smoke had reached the ground and was billowing all around us. Jeanne and the kids evacuated, but I stayed around to snap a few more photos. The photo to the left here was taken from Irvine Boulevard facing east towards Santiago Canyon. You can find more photos of the fire here.