Once again...South Lake Tahoe

Nothing better than a weekend with your loved one! Love you Melissa!

We love Tahoe!

A new tradition has begun! Monopoly at South Lake Tahoe! 

An afternoon at Landpark & the Sacramento Zoo

How could we NOT go out on this awesome Fall day!?! The weather was perfect for a picnic, yes we ate leftovers! Then headed across the street and to checkout some cool animals, no snakes for Derek!

Yep, we're officially the cool family at the park!

A Day at the Sacramento Zoo!

A little self portrait of Derek & Melissa! Where are the kids?! Oh they are running around the park!

A Day of Firsts in San Francisco

Of all of my years pedaling a bike, I have never crossed the Golden Gate Bridge on a bike!  After some encouragement from Valerie to take a day with Drew, the decision was pretty easy! Take Drew to the Marina District for a day on the bike! Off we went on the cold, yet amazing day in San Francisco.

 

This view NEVER gets old!

This girl is a trooper! She was totally under control at all time! Even a small climb didnt phase her! Look at her cute smile! She's doing the Winters Road Race next year! 

Once we rode across the bridge and back to the car.... 2 hours and 10 miles later. We picked up sandwiches and chilled, literally and figuratively, at the beach watching the boats, birds and even a big dog take a human size poo right before our eyes...hence why we wont have dogs!

The day was capped by a drive up a sweet hill to catch this breath taking view of San Francisco, that I have never actually been to either! The day was so amazingly cool! Drew could not have been any more fun! She's something else! Days like today make me LOVE being a parent even more! Thanks Valerie for the encouragement, Melissa and Brady for understanding us wanting to do our own thing and of course thanks to Drew for simply being YOU! You're mind blowing!

Old Sacramento Field Trip!

Headed down to Old Sacramento with my Photography students and had some fun myself! The objective was to shoot "bikes" but at 9-10am in Old Sacramento was pretty hard! Nevertheless...

Since we've been so far behind on the blog, why not throw in some summer shots?! This was taken by our kick butt friend Kristi Jouett in South Lake Tahoe! We spend a good amount of time, but not enough, with her during a weekend in June. Then in August she hosted Brady and Drew for a week, we called it, Kamp Jouett! The kids had a blast...more on that in a different post!

Where have "we" been?!

 Say what? the Blog is back?! Well, after a long break...unexplained break, we're going to attempt to bring it back into motion! 

 

Last night Derek played with his new studio lighting and explored a bit. Loads to play with and adjust and fine tune!

 

A huge thanks to Brady for helping Derek set up! Guess what, we might have a photographer in training on our hands!

Happy Valentine's Day Kids!

Every day we cherish the smiles, the laughter and pure enjoyment of each of you! We love you!

Kids get awarded!

Both kids received great awards this week! Drew killed it with her academic achievement in ELA and Math, while Brady was the only student who received the citizenship award plus perfect attendance! You rock kids! STAR prepping has begun! The reward was good ol Jamba Juice!

Coleman Valley via Joy Road

I have a found respect for Joy Road and Coleman Valley now that I have done them backwards! Wow! But super worth the effort and pain!

What a way to cap off the year! Cycling on Highway 1!!

Bodega Bay!!!

We're here!!

Shopping at Nugget

The Three Amigos headed to Nugget for the pre Bodega Bay trip shopping experience! We killed it! The kids switched from crossing off the list in the iphone Cozi list and the cart while Daddy pulled the items off the shelves! We were in and out in less than 30 minutes! Brady looked at the list and noted that we picked up 102 items! Can you say "Rainman?!?!"

Ice Skating?!

Look at what we saw downtown!

Brady Turns 9!

Our little guy is growing! Dude built a huge Lego set basically by himself on his 9th! You rock buddy! Check out Ains checking out Brady's work!

WOW! Where have we been?!

Life has been getting the best of us! With school in full swing, work schedules, daily homework assignments, four nights of soccer with a couple of games on Saturdays, Derek's off season training, photography jobs on the side, several parties: Canadian Day, October birthdays, Halloween etc....but life is GREAT!

Couple of weeks ago I had a shoot and needed a hand with the reflector, I recruited Brady and he did a great job helping me out in many ways! You have a job Brady!

What a GREAT soccer weekend!

Well check this one out, Drew's team got her first win this past week! Awesome for the girls!

Just prior to the goal that got the girls the win, Drew got tagged by a ball on her face, so she wasnt on the field when the goal was scored, but look at her face in this shot!

The pre-game "warm-up!?"

A few minutes later, we were watching Brady! This was a game that Brady will never forget!

Why? Because today Brady scored his first goal! Thats right! Brady was just in the right open spot when the cross came, unlike a couple of weeks ago, he made it! 

This weekend the family was invited to attend, a perfect day with games back to back, early and awesome weather! Thanks to Nana & Papa and The Orick's for making it to a memorable day for the kids!

Post game wrap up! Yup, Drew and Mila were beat!

Go Niners!

This past Sunday morning we got our 49ers gear on and had some fun taking a few shots during the game! Drew was excited to be wearing her first 49ers jersey! Got LOVE that right?!?! Go Niners and the awesomely cute girls!

Third weekend and the tables are turning...

The girls managed to look decent this past weekend! Some great signs of improvement! Awesome to see! They lost, but the improvement alone is a win!

 This weekend Drew played goleira for the first half! She did ok, someday she'll listen to her goalkeeper dad! Her true position is forward, shes got the "it" factor and plays a little pissed and aggressive!

As you can see, Drew still holds up a great smile!

 Brady's team basically got their ass handed to them...on a platter! The opposing team passed and managed the ball much better than the Tigers!

Poor Brady missed, literally, an opportunity, that players see once in one hundred games, to score!

A funny pregame shot! Love it!