End of the Season Volleyball Tournament

Sidney's volleyball team, the Panthers, finished the season up with the end of the year tournament. They played great, but ultimately were eliminated in their second match.

It was amazing to watch how much these girls have improved over the course of the season. Early season games it was a challenge for them to get it over the net and if they did, they usually scored because the other team struggled just as much. By the time this tournament rolled around, we were watching exciting rallies go back and forth. It was kind of funny to watch all the parents get stressed out watching the games, us included. 

Sidney really enjoyed playing volleyball this year and I hope it is something she continues with once we move to California. It's great for her to be involved and will be an amazing opportunity for her to meet new friends.

Mother's Day 2011

Mother's Day this year was an absolutely gorgeous Colorado day! It truly felt like summer with temps in the mid 80's.

We invited my parents and sister over for a Mother's Day brunch. Angie and I made a couple brunch dishes and of course had Marie Callender's pie's (Lemon Meringue is my Mom's favorite).

We were able to sit around a talk for a bit while the dishes were finishing cooking. It's been a long time since we've had the opportunity to do so.

We gave Mom a family picture with all the girl's included in a nice frame. Today we were also able to get a nice picture of my Mom, Dad, Nancy, and I all together. It might be the last time we get the chance to do so for a while. It turned out to be a great day.

Last Volleyball Game of the Season

Today was Sid's last volleyball game of the season and I got some pretty good pics so I figured I'd put them up.

The girls played AWESOME today, winning all 3 games for the first time this year. They have all improved so much over the course of a couple months. The first few games there weren't many rallies, but the last few have been nail biters. 

The regular season is over, but the girls do get to play in a tournament next week which should be fun!

Doing a little catching up

I figured I owe it to the blog to do some catching up and at least post some pictures of things we have done in the past few months.

Sidney took up volleyball this year and has really enjoyed it. It's awesome to see how much she has improved over the course of the season. The season will be wrapping up in the next couple weeks, just in time for us to move. Here are some pictures from earlier this season. Some of the pictures are a bit blurry, so I'll be sure to get a few more in the last couple games.

Angie and I have had a few outings with our good friends. We're truly going to miss them.

And this past weekend Alex came up from the Air Force Academy and joined us for a chilly night at Coors Field for a Rockies game.

From Rockies v. Pirates

Wow it's May already?

OK OK OK

Absolutely no excuses. OK I have excuses, but you may not buy them. Things are a bit crazy at the zoo. In fact I'm not so sure we can call it a zoo anymore. We're down to Howie and Kitty as our only pets.

In other news, the zoo is on the move. After being recruited for the past few years, we've finally agreed to take up our roots and move to Beverly...Hillbillies. Actually we're moving to San Jose, but everytime I think about it, I hear the Beverly Hillbillies theme.

We made our final decision at the beginning of the year and have been overwhelmed by move stuff since. We actually don't have much to do since Google gave us an amazing relocation package, but we still have lots to arrange. A few weeks back Angie and I spent the week in the Bay Area finding our new home. We found a great neighborhood in Willow Glen (San Jose) that is going to be perfect. It met all our requirements and even has a dog door to the backyard for Howie. He is going to love it!

Since our house hunting trip, we've been very active in move preparations. We're shipping both our cars, but are going to rent a minivan and drive out over a few days. I'll commit to blogging about our adventure.

In other amazing news, Alex will be graduating from the Air Force Academy Prep school in a couple weeks. She will be moving up the hill as a Freshman cadet this Fall! We're very excited. She gets a few weeks off after graduating for vacation before reporting back for basic training. Busy girl! We are so proud!

I'm not going to end this post with promises of regular updates, but I will definitely try. I already committed to blogging our move road trip adventure, hopefully from the road, so look for more news on the moving zoo in early June!

Happy January

Now that the holidays have passed it's time to catch back up with the blog. It feels like we've had so much going on over the past few months. Of course we had the holidays, which we kept pretty low key this year and just spent it at home together.

Angie has been very busy with work. As many of you know, she recently went to school to become an esthetician and she has been working for the past several months at a spa not far from home. She loves it! Earlier in January, she was able to take some time off to go back to Iron Mountain to attend Grandpa Marv's birthday celebration. I've included some pictures of the event courtesy of Roxann (Lady Jane).

While Angie was out of town, I got to play Mr. Mom to Sidney running her to school, her friend's, and everywhere else she needs to go. She is one busy girl! I think we both enjoyed being able to spend the time together.

Way too Long

So it's been waaaaay too long since my last update.  I can't even begin to recount all the events that have gone on during the past 6 months....really? It's been that long? Sigh.  Anyway, the good news is I am renewing my commitment to keep this blog up to date.  Maybe I need to work on a means to fine myself when I go too long without posting.  Maybe a token amount to our family fun fund?

 I blame Facebook...really I do.  But now I've even been neglecting posting there.  So back to the blog I come.

I won't go into details of all the goings on over the past 6 months, but suffice it to say we had a fabulous summer, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and everything else.  The zoo is very much looking forward to the holidays and while we aren't trekking away from home, each of you will be in our thoughts.

I promise to at least have a Christmas posting, if I don't provide one before that.