Filed under: Band, Cheerleading, Family, Football, Football Injuries, High School, Kids, Life, Marching Band, Photos, Sports, Success | Tags: Band Competition, Football Injuries, LVHS, Photos, ULYFL
Zachary had a couple of great games this past week. Wednesday night the ULYFL Giants played against the ULYFL Bandits. The Giants won 20-6. It was a fantastic game and gave the boys a sense of “we CAN do this” which was needed after their first game loss to the LLFBL Rams. Saturday night the Giants played against the ULYFL Titans and won again, 8-0. The score would have been 20-0, but we had two touchdowns called back for some pretty stupid penalties. One was recalled for blocking from behind, a silly mistake. The second was recalled for holding, an even sillier mistake but it happens. The coaches were not too pleased about the penalties, but I think the boys were actually feeling worse about them.
Zachary on the move!
(Zachary is on the left of the photo with the long blue sleeves.)
Zachary was moved to a different position in this game and had quite a few important tackles. He was hurt during one of them in the second quarter. (more…)
The holidays were a busy time for us. We celebrated Christmas with the kids a day early so that we could catch our flight to British Columbia very early in the morning Christmas day. All went well with our flight and we arrived safely, with all our luggage in Vancouver, British Columbia on the afternoon of Christmas. Our family met us at the airport and the holidays began.
We all stayed at my sister-in-laws house in West Vancouver. Luckily, it’s a big house, so her 5 (plus the occasional girlfriend or friend of the kids staying over), my five, and my mother and father-in-law, all fit well together without stepping on too many toes. (Good thing there are 5 bathrooms!) 
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Filed under: Exciting, Family, Football, Friends, Halloween, Hauntings, Kids, Life, Photos, Success | Tags: Candy Bars, Football Playoffs, Halloween, Pumpkin Carving, Trick-Or-Treat
This year we are continuing what has apparently become a tradition at our house. For Halloween, we have always decorated the yard and house. We have always carved some pretty cool looking pumpkins. We have tons of decorations that jump, shake and “boo”. We have a graveyard and strobe lights, black lights and fog machines. Each year brings a new decoration or two. This year we lost a few mini lights, but added a couple of ghouls. Over the years, our pumpkin carving has gradually increased. Last year we had about 22 pumpkins carved with many designs. I remember Steve Irwin, Mt. Rushmore, album covers, etc. With the drought this summer, we only bought 20 pumpkins to carve this year. They were so expensive compared to years before. That and time to carve limited us to not having more than last year. Unfortunately, my oldest dropped one of the pumpkins and another must have been some type of pumpkin-gourd mutation because no knife that I owned would cut into that hard ass gourd.
Happy Halloween!
Anyway, so we started carving last night. The designs are not as intricate as they have been in the past. Hopefully, we will not disappoint the neighbors who come each year to see them. We just didn’t seem to have the time we usually have to get it all done. Today we carved a few more and set out all the decorations, minus a few bones and webbing which we saved for tomorrow morning.
I had to leave quite a few pumpkins uncarved and go to my son’s football game. A couple of friends of mine finished all the pumpkin carving (thank goodness) tonight, 18 pumpkins carved! A HUGE relief and task accomplished for me. They did this all while I was watching my son’s football game. The Oarsmen vs. Mustangs Playoff Game.
Filed under: Cheerleading, Family, Football, Kids, Photos, Positive, Success, Teams | Tags: Football, touchdown, win
Just like any other Saturday, we got up early, grabbed some coffee and headed out the door for a day of football and cheerleading. My youngest had the first morning game and the girls did their routines well. One of the stunts fell during half-time, but the bases caught her and the dance continued without a hitch.
Today was also my day for concession stand duty at lunch time. There were 4 other Moms from my son’s football team, the Oarsmen. We had fun, although it was busy and hot! I was in charge of hot food (burgers, dogs & pizza). The funny part about that is they serve Domino’s pizza! I will have to show the league the error of their ways and nab that contract for next year! 
Right after my stint in the concession stand was over, the Oarsmen vs. Redskins game began. The boys had been working so hard this week at practice and were mentally and physically ready for this game. They wanted it bad and they got it! The result, the final score 21-0. Way to go Oarsmen!!! I am so super proud of the whole team. To see the details of the game and some more photos, keep reading!
Filed under: Cheerleading, Football, Kids, Photos | Tags: Cheerleading, Football, Teams
Just some brag photos to share with you. First, let me say that I just love the camera that I got for Christmas, right after football season was over last year. Second, my son’s football team played very well last Saturday. The boys really held their own and allowed no points. The game resulted in a 0 to 0 tie. There is no overtime until playoffs. Anyway, here are my high lights by photos of Saturday’s game. Go, go big O!
The first picture is of my son #45 (on left side of tackle) and a coach’s son sacking the quarterback.
Filed under: Beach, Family, Jamaica, Kids, Life, Montego Bay, Photos, Summer, Travel, Vacation
I have been procrastinating writing this, as it’s like ending the vacation all over again.
Thursday morning started off with the breakfast buffet and coffee. My son had left his flip flops somewhere on the resort the day before, so we decided to walk across the road to the strip mall. Some souveniers and flip flops were the goal. The strip mall must have had at least 20 stores, all with someone outside encouraging you to come and look. “Free to look” they will say. If you are polite but say you are not interested, your wishes are respected and you are on your way.
We found some flip flops for the boy and a few other touristy things. Next to get a cold drink from the convenience store. As luck would have it, we found Jamaican Patties there, something we really wanted to try. Beef for the hubby and oldest, curry chicken for myself and the other two kids. Turned out to be such a treat, as they are really good. Not to mention, Patties are very inexpensive, so it makes them even better. (more…)
Filed under: Family, Jamaica, Life, Montego Bay, Negril, Photos, Summer, Travel, Vacation
(Again, if you press play on the right of the screen, your mood will be set!)
Monday June 16, 2007 started off with the hubby, my youngest and I heading to the buffet for breakfast and coffee. The older two kids slept in a bit later and joined us after a bit. The five of us had scheduled a glass bottom boat tour for mid-morning and we were excited about what we might be seeing. This tour was offered by our hotel for a cost, but since we are Holiday Inn Priority Club Members we were given a 50% discount. That turned out to be a great deal, only $32 for a family of five! (more…)
Filed under: Books, Hauntings, Jamaica, Legends, Love, Montego Bay, Photos, Travel
On Tuesday, July 17, 2007, we had another tour planned with our driver Winston. This day we planned to head towards Ocho Rios and see the sights along the way. Included in this day trip were Rose Hall Plantation, Columbus Park and Dunns River Falls. I enjoyed our visit to Rose Hall so much that I felt it deserved it’s own post. (See Dunns River Falls post and video here: http://nightowlmom.wordpress.com/2007/07/23/dunns-river-falls-climb-jamaica/ )
The history of the Great House: The house was begun by George Ash, an English planter, in 1750 and completed in 1780 by John Palmer, a wealthy British planter. This was a 6,600-acre plantation, and had more than 2,000 slaves. At the time, it was considerably larger than today. Two additional wings, originally connected to the main house by open breezeways, were never rebuilt. The Great House collapsed into ruins after abandonment that lasted more than 130 years. The house was later restored by members of the Delaware-based Rollins family, owners of the near by Ritz-Carlton, in 1966 and 1971 Listen carefully to the guide. She will probably be in a plaid-patterned dress that emulates costumes standard for that generation. The tale of sexual intrigue, insanity, and murder is one of the hottest celebrity exposés in Jamaica. The dark and brooding Annie’s Pub is on the building’s ground floor in the old dungeon. Enjoy a rum-laced “witches brew” and Johnny Cash songs, including the Ballad of Annie Palmer.
Filed under: Beauty, Family, Jamaica, Life, Montego Bay, Negril, Photos, Summer, Travel, Vacation
I ended up having to do this post in sections. Here is part 1, the first 3 days of our Jamaican vacation. I hope you enjoy. Hint: Press play on the songspot on the right to set the mood! 
Friday, July 13th started off early (alarm went off at 5:00 AM) and the five of us leaving for Dulles International Airport at 5:30 AM. Thank God that my mom doesn’t hit the snooze button, because I would have and we would have overslept. We got to the airport, into line at the ticket counter and by 7:00 AM, our bags were checked, boarding passes were issued and we were through security on our way to the gate. Subway was the only open choice near our gate, so we had subs for breakfast while waiting for the plane to board. Once we boarded the plane, we were put on hold on the runway. The Charlotte, NC airport was apparently very busy, so we were held before take-off for about 25 minutes. Not too bad as far as airports can go nowadays. This just cut the 45 minutes we had to change planes in NC to 20, but we could still pull it off, hopefully.
We got to Charlotte airport, with exactly 20 minutes to catch our next flight. We hustled through the airport and got to our gate as it was finishing boarding. Just in time and hoping all the luggage got transferred, too. Guess who didn’t get to stop and grab lunch? Guess who had 3 hungry children on the next flight? At this point, I realize that this is going to be a long day and reminded myself that we were not flying direct because I hate BWI airport. It will be OK as soon as we get there.
We arrived in Montego Bay, Jamaica a little before 2:00 PM and were ushered straight to immigration. With the exception that this portion of Mo-Bay Airport does not currently have AC, Immigration was smooth sailing there and we were off to claim our luggage. We finally locate the correct conveyor belt and a nice gentleman retrieves our bags for us. This portion of the airport the AC is working and feels quite nice. The hubby tips the gentleman who helped retrieve our bags and he ushers us over to a short line at the customs desks. Customs asks a few basic questions and once again we were off on our way. There were absolutely no issues or delays. We were then directed to a desk for Liberty Travel where we could validate our resort transportation vouchers and retrieve the paperwork for our resort. They direct us outside to a waiting bus and load our bags and we take off to the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort. (more…)
Filed under: Donations, Friends, Jamaica, Kids, Life, Love, Photos, Positive, Travel, Volunteer
While on our trip to Jamaica, we contacted Chef of http://www.chefsjamaicatours.5u.com/ for a day trip to Blossom Garden Orphanage. First, let me say that Chef is an extremely personable man running a tour business in Jamaica. He was kind enough to not charge us for this trip as we were there to donate much needed school supplies. This was a very generous offer as gas prices in Jamaica are equivilant to ours here. We did pay for the gas and tipped Chef as well for his generosity.
As for the orphanage, I was pleasently surprised to see that the center was located in a middle class neighborhood in Montego Bay. The house was rather small for the sheer number of children residing at the center, which at this time is 60 children and currently at capacity. (more…)
Filed under: Band, High School, Instruments, Kids, Marching Band, Music, Photos, Student
It’s almost here! Marching Band season is about to begin with band camp starting in August. What does that mean for me? My oldest daughter who has been playing the flute for 3 years now is ready to be upgraded to a piccolo. (more…)
This week I have been away from home, staying with my 87 year old grandfather at my mother’s house. My mom is off on a mini-vacation with my oldest daughter at TT’s cottage on Cobb Island. TT’s cottage is a blast and we have lots of fun when we are there. We have been going there now for 16 years or so. My husband and I even got married there on her pier! (more…)
I have not been able to get this school out of my mind. I have read on some of the Jamaica forums at http://www.tripadvisor.com about this school. Since finding the photos, all I want to do is help. Things we often take for granted here in the US, like crayons, chalk and flash cards, are expensive in Jamaica and not always readily available to these kids. I hope those sites, don’t mind me reposting the photos here, as I hope to get the word out about this school. (more…)
I received these photos in an email today. I really thought they were funny. I had only seen one of them before. I am posting some of the photos today and may post the others at another time. You may have seen them before and you may not have. Either way, I hope you enjoy some laughs. I did! Which is your favorite? (more…)
