February 2011

On February 1st, Danielle, Austin, and I went to the Orpheum to to see Mary Poppins. They had seen other plays at our children's theater, The Rose, before. However, this was their first Broadway-style production. It was so magical to watch their reactions to the gorgeous set, the music, and the special effects. I will never forget Austin sitting with his eyes and mouth wide open as Burt walked up the wall, across the ceiling, and back down the other wall. We couldn't stop singing "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" for weeks. We loved it! Throughout January, February, and part of March, Luke took some sports classes at the community center. His first class was soccer. His second class was called "All-Stars" in which they rotated between different sports during the 4 weeks. He was great at all the sports, but he definitely enjoyed the "track" portion the most. During that rotation, the kids were able to go upstairs on the suspended track and do various races and relays. During normal hours, only kids over 8 years old are allowed up there, so it was a special treat for him.

When Wyatt and I weren't watching and cheering Luke on, we played foosball, air hockey, ping pong, and hung out at the library next door. He and I had fun spending some one-on-one time together each week.

Luke, Wyatt, and I were able to attend the Valentine's Parties for Danielle and Austin's classes at school. It is always fun to see their classrooms and watch them interacting with their friends and teachers. They go to a great school.

The next week, Jeff and I were off to Pebble Beach for our first-in-a-very-long-time trip without the kids. Chevron invited us to a special retreat with a few of it's corporate customers for a four-day weekend. We flew into Monterrey, CA early on a Friday afternoon and were spoiled the entire time. We stayed at the beautiful Casa Palermo. Below is a picture of the courtyard right outside our villa. We had our own private hot tub in our "backyard" and a gorgeous wood-burning fireplace we kept lit anytime we were in our room. We had breakfast in bed every morning we were there.

This is the view looking back at the 17th-hole on the main Pebble Beach golf course.

One afternoon, we were given a complimentary Lexus convertible to go exploring. We were able to enjoy beautiful views like this along 17-mile drive.

We were also able to see "The Lone Cypress", which is one of the well-known icons of Pebble Beach.

Jeff went golfing to a different course each morning we were there. While he enjoyed playing Spyglass and Spanish Bay, Pebble Beach was definitely his favorite course at the resort.

While Jeff was golfing, I went to the spa, had brunch and shopping with the ladies in Carmel, and spent time taking walks around this gorgeous property. Below is a picture of my favorite room at the spa. It is called "the sanctuary." It has a huge fire in the middle surrounded by reclining chairs and pillows. It was a great place to relax before and after each of my appointments at the spa.

In the evenings, we had scrumptious dinners with our new friends. One evening, Arnold Palmer joined us for dinner. He spoke to our little group for a while about golf, his life, and what matters most. He was very genuine, and we really enjoyed meeting him.

While we were gone, the kids were in great hands. My mom and my sister Crystal flew in to entertain and take care of them. The kids were completely spoiled and had a memorable time hanging out with their Aunt and Grandma.

One of the days we were gone, Danielle participated in Math-O-Ween at school. Each child in her class was assigned a math vocabulary word to dress up as. She was a bar graph.

The kids were also privileged to meet their new cousin, Roxeanne, while we were gone. They were completely taken with her. She is such sweet, beautiful baby. Luckily, I got to meet her too when I got back from California.

By the end of February, Austin's basketball season was in full swing. At the beginning of each game, the two teams run out of a smoke filled tunnel with their coaches while the announcer calls out each child's name. As you can see, Austin didn't mind the attention one bit.

He is a great little ball player. He averaged about 8 shots per game, with a little over half of them making a basket. Here are a couple of his points from one game.