Mar 2008
"a sad day indeed"
Monday, March 31, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
| my life
last night, dad called
and let me know. our family dog, Baby, who we've had
for 14 years, was in bad shape. she couldn't stand up
on her own. so, this morning, i went up and we all
said goodbye. it was really sad.
we got Baby in 1995 because Megan (who, i think, was in the 5th grade at the time) made a bet with my parents that if she could get 100% on a test, we would get a dog. Megan had been having trouble in whatever particular subject it was and so they made the bet. well, Megan got 100%. (of course, later we found out that she had told her teacher about the bet and might have had a little help!) a few months later, we got Baby.
we didn't get to name her. she was already 2 1/2 years old. we got her from a kennel where somebody paid for her to be for 6 months. nobody ever claimed her later and they were going to put her to sleep. she's been a fantastic dog. and we all loved her very much.
in more happy news, i lost a few more pounds! (i'm down 11 now!)
we got Baby in 1995 because Megan (who, i think, was in the 5th grade at the time) made a bet with my parents that if she could get 100% on a test, we would get a dog. Megan had been having trouble in whatever particular subject it was and so they made the bet. well, Megan got 100%. (of course, later we found out that she had told her teacher about the bet and might have had a little help!) a few months later, we got Baby.
we didn't get to name her. she was already 2 1/2 years old. we got her from a kennel where somebody paid for her to be for 6 months. nobody ever claimed her later and they were going to put her to sleep. she's been a fantastic dog. and we all loved her very much.
in more happy news, i lost a few more pounds! (i'm down 11 now!)
|
"flippin church"
Sunday, March 30, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
"a porsche in the desert"
Saturday, March 29, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
"on the lake again"
Friday, March 28, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
"what i do"
Friday, March 28, 2008 Filed in: my life
lately, i've been
getting a lot of questions about what exactly it is
that i do. (also, some staff at my home church have
been making comments to some of my friends such as "i
don't get what he does" and "i don't understand how
he's qualified to be in family ministries.") so, i'm
going to tell you exactly what i do so that if anyone
asks, you can put to rest any (probably justified)
worries that anyone might have that i'm somehow
unqualified to be doing what i'm doing or any
confusion as to what it is i'm doing at
ROCKHARBOR.
as you probably already know, i am the associate director of ROCKHARBOR families, i work for the director of ROCKHARBOR families (and the most amazing boss ever) Michelle Anthony, and i absolutely love my job. it uses exactly all the things i've been trained for in my various undergrad work, post-grad work and life experiences. "but, how?" you might be asking. well, let me tell you.
probably the most important aspect of my job is to work with Michelle to make sure that the vision of Family Ministries is happening from birth through high school. we have a fairly new and specific vision and so ensuring that we're all working toward the same vision and are on the same page is a huge priority. this involves a lot of meetings, of course, but more importantly than that, it involves me being directly involved in each area of Families and building relationships with all of our Families staff. of course, my organizational leadership degree (which i'm about to finish in two months... hallelujah!) comes in great use here. it helps that i am quite passionate about this vision as it's directly in-line with ideas that i'd been mulling over for about two years. (it was actually really cool how everything worked out. Michelle and i started talking at an event last summer and it became immediately clear that we were already on the same page as far as our ideas of what Family Ministries should be. after that, we both sorta knew it would just be a matter of time before we ended up working together somehow.)
in addition to helping keep the vision throughout our team, i also work with Michelle to develop the implementation of the vision and brainstorm for the future. she and i meet for an hour every other week just to brainstorm and dream. (we meet much more often than that... but this time is dedicated to us thinking big.) this is probably the most fun aspect of my job simply because Michelle and i process very similarly. (out loud and collaboratively.) so, when she and i get in a room together and start coming up with ideas, we tend to accomplish more in those 60 minutes than we do during the rest of the hours of the week combined.
another aspect of my job involves training all of the large group teachers that we use. my teaching experience as well as my masters in education are a huge help here and are being used in ways that i never anticipated, but absolutely love. i meet regularly with the large group teachers from elementary, middle school and high school (though the majority of our teachers come from elementary so i end up spending most of my time there) and help them to develop their teaching skills. Michelle and i have also developed some teaching requirements that we want to see implemented from birth through high school, so i'm in charge of making sure that all of our teachers are on the same page with that.
tapping back into the organizational leadership stuff, i'm also in charge of staff development for the Families team. this is one of my favorite aspects of my job because it's all about building relationships and helping people to become even better at what they do. so far, i've mostly been focusing on building up the team as a whole to work interdependently (even having our Early Childhood Associate working with our High School staff). it's totally fun and very cool to see happen. as an extension of that, i also work with all of the interns in ROCKHARBOR Families on leadership development stuff and making sure that they're growing and learning in their internships. (right now, we have seven interns who are totally amazing, dedicated and loving it even though they aren't paid!)
probably the biggest project i oversee right now is our Family Curriculum. the purpose of our Family Curriculum is to give families some easy ways to connect every week. Kit started this last year and did an awesome job with it. so much so, in fact, that it's being downloaded and used all over the country (and Australia, from what i understand!) and somebody planted a church using it as their curriculum for teaching! (not recommended!) anyway, just when Kit was really getting into it, he ended up becoming the Interim Middle School guy (until we found Tyler) so it was more of a side project for him. since it's a large part of my job description, i've been able to put some time and effort into making some small changes and involving our whole team. (allowing each of our team members to contribute also sets each of them up as experts in their area of ministry.) so, each month, the whole families team now contributes to our Family Curriculum. we make it available to our RH families on the weekends and to everyone else for free on the internet. (you can see March's here... http://www.rockharbor.org/content/content_images/ministries/families/March-08.pdf) check it out... it's pretty cool.
one last huge project that my ed background plays into is our 18 Year Scope and Sequence. part of the Families vision is to plan out what a kid would learn if he or she were to enter our ministries at birth and go through high school. we look at when they should be exposed to what things and how often we should repeat things. (also, what should be repeated, when and when and how we should approach particular topics, etc...) we also take into account kids that join part way through, new believers, kids with particular giftings, etc... it's a HUGE project and i've kinda been overseeing it. (though, to be fair, the ministry directors do most of the work!) anyway, it's a pretty cool concept and it's been fun to see it play out and to be apart of some really interesting discussions on philosophy of ministry and teaching.
on top of all of that, i also teach regularly in Studio K (our elementary program) and The Hub (our high school program) and soon, The Outlet (our middle school program). i also host and lead worship in Studio K. i often work with Tommy to develop the look or atmosphere of a particular program or with Stacy to talk about curriculum. of course, there are a ton of little things here and there that i do, but those are the main parts of my job.
so, now you know. and knowing is half the battle.
- barnes
as you probably already know, i am the associate director of ROCKHARBOR families, i work for the director of ROCKHARBOR families (and the most amazing boss ever) Michelle Anthony, and i absolutely love my job. it uses exactly all the things i've been trained for in my various undergrad work, post-grad work and life experiences. "but, how?" you might be asking. well, let me tell you.
probably the most important aspect of my job is to work with Michelle to make sure that the vision of Family Ministries is happening from birth through high school. we have a fairly new and specific vision and so ensuring that we're all working toward the same vision and are on the same page is a huge priority. this involves a lot of meetings, of course, but more importantly than that, it involves me being directly involved in each area of Families and building relationships with all of our Families staff. of course, my organizational leadership degree (which i'm about to finish in two months... hallelujah!) comes in great use here. it helps that i am quite passionate about this vision as it's directly in-line with ideas that i'd been mulling over for about two years. (it was actually really cool how everything worked out. Michelle and i started talking at an event last summer and it became immediately clear that we were already on the same page as far as our ideas of what Family Ministries should be. after that, we both sorta knew it would just be a matter of time before we ended up working together somehow.)
in addition to helping keep the vision throughout our team, i also work with Michelle to develop the implementation of the vision and brainstorm for the future. she and i meet for an hour every other week just to brainstorm and dream. (we meet much more often than that... but this time is dedicated to us thinking big.) this is probably the most fun aspect of my job simply because Michelle and i process very similarly. (out loud and collaboratively.) so, when she and i get in a room together and start coming up with ideas, we tend to accomplish more in those 60 minutes than we do during the rest of the hours of the week combined.
another aspect of my job involves training all of the large group teachers that we use. my teaching experience as well as my masters in education are a huge help here and are being used in ways that i never anticipated, but absolutely love. i meet regularly with the large group teachers from elementary, middle school and high school (though the majority of our teachers come from elementary so i end up spending most of my time there) and help them to develop their teaching skills. Michelle and i have also developed some teaching requirements that we want to see implemented from birth through high school, so i'm in charge of making sure that all of our teachers are on the same page with that.
tapping back into the organizational leadership stuff, i'm also in charge of staff development for the Families team. this is one of my favorite aspects of my job because it's all about building relationships and helping people to become even better at what they do. so far, i've mostly been focusing on building up the team as a whole to work interdependently (even having our Early Childhood Associate working with our High School staff). it's totally fun and very cool to see happen. as an extension of that, i also work with all of the interns in ROCKHARBOR Families on leadership development stuff and making sure that they're growing and learning in their internships. (right now, we have seven interns who are totally amazing, dedicated and loving it even though they aren't paid!)
probably the biggest project i oversee right now is our Family Curriculum. the purpose of our Family Curriculum is to give families some easy ways to connect every week. Kit started this last year and did an awesome job with it. so much so, in fact, that it's being downloaded and used all over the country (and Australia, from what i understand!) and somebody planted a church using it as their curriculum for teaching! (not recommended!) anyway, just when Kit was really getting into it, he ended up becoming the Interim Middle School guy (until we found Tyler) so it was more of a side project for him. since it's a large part of my job description, i've been able to put some time and effort into making some small changes and involving our whole team. (allowing each of our team members to contribute also sets each of them up as experts in their area of ministry.) so, each month, the whole families team now contributes to our Family Curriculum. we make it available to our RH families on the weekends and to everyone else for free on the internet. (you can see March's here... http://www.rockharbor.org/content/content_images/ministries/families/March-08.pdf) check it out... it's pretty cool.
one last huge project that my ed background plays into is our 18 Year Scope and Sequence. part of the Families vision is to plan out what a kid would learn if he or she were to enter our ministries at birth and go through high school. we look at when they should be exposed to what things and how often we should repeat things. (also, what should be repeated, when and when and how we should approach particular topics, etc...) we also take into account kids that join part way through, new believers, kids with particular giftings, etc... it's a HUGE project and i've kinda been overseeing it. (though, to be fair, the ministry directors do most of the work!) anyway, it's a pretty cool concept and it's been fun to see it play out and to be apart of some really interesting discussions on philosophy of ministry and teaching.
on top of all of that, i also teach regularly in Studio K (our elementary program) and The Hub (our high school program) and soon, The Outlet (our middle school program). i also host and lead worship in Studio K. i often work with Tommy to develop the look or atmosphere of a particular program or with Stacy to talk about curriculum. of course, there are a ton of little things here and there that i do, but those are the main parts of my job.
so, now you know. and knowing is half the battle.
- barnes
"a day on the lake"
Thursday, March 27, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
"unloading Easter and playing Operation"
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
"spiritual parenting"
Tuesday, March 25, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
"monday... the day of rest (and a weigh-in)"
Monday, March 24, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
"Easter with the fam"
Sunday, March 23, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
"a hot and amazing Easter"
Sunday, March 23, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
so, Easter was
a-freakin'-mazing. i'm pretty much going to let the
pictures tell the story. what i will say is this...
- it was REALLY hot
- we had over 9,000 people show up (that's 2000 more than last year)
- the name ROCKHARBOR wasn't mentioned once from any stage (as we simply promote it as "OC Easter," it's not meant to promote us. we gave any visitors a list of local churches to choose from. ROCKHARBOR wasn't even first on that list. this was impressive to me.)
- we had nearly 1,000 kids
- the main service had an amazing "stomp" style number that told the story of salvation using no words (it was very moving)
- the kids service was held in a tent (we had stages on three sides and had a skit and worship on one stage, hosts on one and i taught on the other)
- we handed out thousands of free bottles of water and Krispy Kreme doughnuts
- services ended at 12.30 pm and, due to our ridiculously amazing staff and volunteers, we had the entire place torn down (including the main stages and the kid's tents) and packed up by 1.30 pm!!!
- these are just a few of the over 300 pictures i took
here are the pictures...
- it was REALLY hot
- we had over 9,000 people show up (that's 2000 more than last year)
- the name ROCKHARBOR wasn't mentioned once from any stage (as we simply promote it as "OC Easter," it's not meant to promote us. we gave any visitors a list of local churches to choose from. ROCKHARBOR wasn't even first on that list. this was impressive to me.)
- we had nearly 1,000 kids
- the main service had an amazing "stomp" style number that told the story of salvation using no words (it was very moving)
- the kids service was held in a tent (we had stages on three sides and had a skit and worship on one stage, hosts on one and i taught on the other)
- we handed out thousands of free bottles of water and Krispy Kreme doughnuts
- services ended at 12.30 pm and, due to our ridiculously amazing staff and volunteers, we had the entire place torn down (including the main stages and the kid's tents) and packed up by 1.30 pm!!!
- these are just a few of the over 300 pictures i took
here are the pictures...
"the day between"
Saturday, March 22, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
| my life
one of the really cool
things about Easter at ROCKHARBOR
is that starting at the first Good Friday service,
and going through the end of the Sunday services, the
fairgrounds are constantly covered in prayer. for
three days straight, staff and church members alike
signed up for hour-long prayer walks for every hour.
each hour (even the ones in the middle of the night)
had anywhere from 2 to 20 people. well, today, at
5.00 pm, i had my hour.
when i got there, i found the prayer walk tent. each of us took a rock out of a jar and our instructions for the walk. they told us where to go and ideas of things to pray for. after we got back, we added our rocks to the pile of all the people who had been praying over the past day and a half. it was cool to see that symbolic representation of all the people who came together in prayer for this weekend.
after it was over, we had rehearsal for the next day's kid's services.
when i got there, i found the prayer walk tent. each of us took a rock out of a jar and our instructions for the walk. they told us where to go and ideas of things to pray for. after we got back, we added our rocks to the pile of all the people who had been praying over the past day and a half. it was cool to see that symbolic representation of all the people who came together in prayer for this weekend.
after it was over, we had rehearsal for the next day's kid's services.
"a good friday"
Friday, March 21, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
| my life
well, first we went to
lunch. (the Larson's love their cell phones!)
after that, we had three Good Friday services for kids (i think 6 services overall). it was pretty awesome to see these kids totally getting emotional and really worshipping as we talked about what Jesus did for us. Tommy and Timmy and Ashley took turns leading worship, Stacy gave a message tying some video clips together and giving the Good Friday story and i wrapped it up with a message about how it applies to us. the kids seemed really into it.
after the service, we had to load up everything that hadn't been taken to the fairgrounds. again, i was amazed at how many volunteers just showed up and made it happen. we were done in no time.
after that, we had three Good Friday services for kids (i think 6 services overall). it was pretty awesome to see these kids totally getting emotional and really worshipping as we talked about what Jesus did for us. Tommy and Timmy and Ashley took turns leading worship, Stacy gave a message tying some video clips together and giving the Good Friday story and i wrapped it up with a message about how it applies to us. the kids seemed really into it.
after the service, we had to load up everything that hadn't been taken to the fairgrounds. again, i was amazed at how many volunteers just showed up and made it happen. we were done in no time.
"getting lost all over again"
Thursday, March 20, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
"Easter setup"
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
| my life
every year,
ROCKHARBOR
does Easter at the Orange County Fairgrounds. it's a
big deal. we basically advertise it all over the
county and invite anyone to come. (you can check out
the website at www.oceaster.com) we put it on though we don't
advertise it as a ROCKHARBOR
event. we offer newcomers a list of OC churches to
check out including ROCKHARBOR,
Newport Mesa, The Crossing, Mariners, Yorba Linda
Friends and others. anyway, this has been going on
for years now and has quite a few traditions
associated with it.
the first tradition is that our Wednesday staff meeting is held in the Pacific Amphitheater where the services will be held. the entire meeting consists of two things. the first is storytelling.
this was actually really cool. Todd (our Lead Pastor) opened up by asking people to share stories of Easter's past. however, he made a very intentional effort to say that "even for those of you who weren't here for these stories, you're part of the family now and our history is your history." and somehow, it was. even though i wasn't there for any of these stories, i felt like i was. i felt like i was apart of them. and one by one, people began sharing stories from Easter's past. some of them were hysterically funny. some of them were seriously moving. but it was a great time of storytelling and sharing.
the second part of the meeting consists of each staff member being assigned a seating section. then we were sent off to march around our section seven times (like Joshua at Jericho) all the while praying for the people who would be sitting there this weekend. at the end of that time, we all came back to the front of the amphitheater where Mike (our Teaching Pastor) read the story of Joshua. then Pete Shambrook (one of our pastors) blew on a trumpet and we all yelled at the top of our lungs for a good 30 seconds to a minute. (check out the video clip at the end of this entry.) maybe kinda dumb... but somehow, it was an awesome thing to be apart of.
the cool thing is, it's a shared experience. it's one that happens every year. so for the 10-15 of us who just joined the staff this year, we felt like we were a part of it even though we hadn't experienced it before.
the rest of the day was spent eating free Chick-Fil-A and setting up the children's tents. we had SO many volunteers show up to help put this on. our church really knows how important this outreach opportunity is and they were there in total support. so much so, that we actually were done by 8pm (way earlier than we thought or has ever been done before!) not only that, but the tents came out awesome!
it's crazy to think that so much work goes into one day... but i'm really excited about it. if you don't have a place to go for Easter, come to the fairgrounds at either 9 or 11 am. it's gonna be great!
- barnes
the first tradition is that our Wednesday staff meeting is held in the Pacific Amphitheater where the services will be held. the entire meeting consists of two things. the first is storytelling.
this was actually really cool. Todd (our Lead Pastor) opened up by asking people to share stories of Easter's past. however, he made a very intentional effort to say that "even for those of you who weren't here for these stories, you're part of the family now and our history is your history." and somehow, it was. even though i wasn't there for any of these stories, i felt like i was. i felt like i was apart of them. and one by one, people began sharing stories from Easter's past. some of them were hysterically funny. some of them were seriously moving. but it was a great time of storytelling and sharing.
the second part of the meeting consists of each staff member being assigned a seating section. then we were sent off to march around our section seven times (like Joshua at Jericho) all the while praying for the people who would be sitting there this weekend. at the end of that time, we all came back to the front of the amphitheater where Mike (our Teaching Pastor) read the story of Joshua. then Pete Shambrook (one of our pastors) blew on a trumpet and we all yelled at the top of our lungs for a good 30 seconds to a minute. (check out the video clip at the end of this entry.) maybe kinda dumb... but somehow, it was an awesome thing to be apart of.
the cool thing is, it's a shared experience. it's one that happens every year. so for the 10-15 of us who just joined the staff this year, we felt like we were a part of it even though we hadn't experienced it before.
the rest of the day was spent eating free Chick-Fil-A and setting up the children's tents. we had SO many volunteers show up to help put this on. our church really knows how important this outreach opportunity is and they were there in total support. so much so, that we actually were done by 8pm (way earlier than we thought or has ever been done before!) not only that, but the tents came out awesome!
it's crazy to think that so much work goes into one day... but i'm really excited about it. if you don't have a place to go for Easter, come to the fairgrounds at either 9 or 11 am. it's gonna be great!
- barnes
:-(
Tuesday, March 18, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
"weigh in and some construction"
Monday, March 17, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
so, this morning was my
one week weigh in. yup... i lost five pounds!!! on my
way!
while i was doing some work, i looked out the window to where they are doing construction across the way and i saw this guy single-handedly dismantling the scaffolding. he was up there, not tied to anything, and using his feet to move these boards. i watched the whole thing and can't believe he didn't fall. i know it's just a parking structure and some stores, but it's really been quite fascinating to watch the whole thing go up.
while i was doing some work, i looked out the window to where they are doing construction across the way and i saw this guy single-handedly dismantling the scaffolding. he was up there, not tied to anything, and using his feet to move these boards. i watched the whole thing and can't believe he didn't fall. i know it's just a parking structure and some stores, but it's really been quite fascinating to watch the whole thing go up.
"team ro 2"
Sunday, March 16, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
"the new old house"
Saturday, March 15, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
"new camera, a trip to the island and macbook twins"
Thursday, March 13, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
"yesterday's flowers... today"
Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
"photoshoot!"
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
"projects all around!"
Monday, March 10, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
| my life
here are pictures of
two projects that began today....
the first is one that Stacy and i began today that will, hopefully, last a long time. we joined the Weight Watchers Points Program. (i'm gonna get thin again!!!) it's actually pretty cool cuz you can eat whatever you want, but just in limited amounts. it really just makes you think about your food choices and "budget" them just like you would with money. i'll be weighing in every Monday. i started off today at 223 lbs. (i'm sad to say). but i'm headed toward my goal of 185 lbs!
the second project was not one of mine, although i assigned it. at ROCKHARBOR, we're doing Family Ministries in a very non-traditional way, but in a way that makes a whole lot more sense when you look at it. the basic idea is that parents should be the primary nurturers of their children's faith... not us. we play a supportive role. the goal, overall, is to not "create" good, Christian kids. that's never successful. the goal is for parents to be creating environments in which the Holy Spirit can work and grow within their kids as He chooses.
anyway, once people get passed their preconceived notions of "how church should be," it's clear that this makes way more sense. but, sometimes it's difficult to communicate this to people and get them past those preconceived notions and previous paradigms. the project i gave our team was to come up with some creative ways to approach that. tomorrow is the due date and today i got to see some of the groups in our team working on their projects. it was pretty cool.
the first is one that Stacy and i began today that will, hopefully, last a long time. we joined the Weight Watchers Points Program. (i'm gonna get thin again!!!) it's actually pretty cool cuz you can eat whatever you want, but just in limited amounts. it really just makes you think about your food choices and "budget" them just like you would with money. i'll be weighing in every Monday. i started off today at 223 lbs. (i'm sad to say). but i'm headed toward my goal of 185 lbs!
the second project was not one of mine, although i assigned it. at ROCKHARBOR, we're doing Family Ministries in a very non-traditional way, but in a way that makes a whole lot more sense when you look at it. the basic idea is that parents should be the primary nurturers of their children's faith... not us. we play a supportive role. the goal, overall, is to not "create" good, Christian kids. that's never successful. the goal is for parents to be creating environments in which the Holy Spirit can work and grow within their kids as He chooses.
anyway, once people get passed their preconceived notions of "how church should be," it's clear that this makes way more sense. but, sometimes it's difficult to communicate this to people and get them past those preconceived notions and previous paradigms. the project i gave our team was to come up with some creative ways to approach that. tomorrow is the due date and today i got to see some of the groups in our team working on their projects. it was pretty cool.
"a beautiful sunset and a fun meeting"
Sunday, March 09, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
"kaela's birthday dinner of chaos"
Saturday, March 08, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
| my life
tonight was my cousin
Kaela's 14th birthday party.
it started by going to Beau's baseball game (her little brother). the game was going long and so my uncle started to get antsy and wanting to go to dinner. so he took grandma and went to Benihanas (where Kaela wanted to go for dinner for her birthday). he got there and called us to say that the wait was an hour and a half and he didn't want to wait. so we met him at another Japanese restaurant. when we got there, we found that the wait was 2 hours. well, this did not go over well with anyone.
Uncle Vaughn wasn't happy... his wife Erin pulled up right then and was trying to calm him down. Amie (my cousin who was in town with her little daughter Tillie from Indiana) was getting hungry and just wanted someone to make a decision. Kaela suggested California Pizza Kitchen and everyone kinda brushed her off. (which was funny because it is HER birthday party.) after a 15 minute discussion on everywhere we could go... making calls... everything... Uncle Vaughn said "how about California Pizza Kitchen?" everyone was like "okay!" and Kaela said "i said that 15 minutes ago!!!"
so, then we went to CPK which was fine... but just chaos with four kids under 10 and a restaurant full of people. anyway, we went back to Bekie's and had ice cream from Baskin-Robbins (which was amazing!). anyway, here's a pic of Kaela with our little cousin, Kate.
it started by going to Beau's baseball game (her little brother). the game was going long and so my uncle started to get antsy and wanting to go to dinner. so he took grandma and went to Benihanas (where Kaela wanted to go for dinner for her birthday). he got there and called us to say that the wait was an hour and a half and he didn't want to wait. so we met him at another Japanese restaurant. when we got there, we found that the wait was 2 hours. well, this did not go over well with anyone.
Uncle Vaughn wasn't happy... his wife Erin pulled up right then and was trying to calm him down. Amie (my cousin who was in town with her little daughter Tillie from Indiana) was getting hungry and just wanted someone to make a decision. Kaela suggested California Pizza Kitchen and everyone kinda brushed her off. (which was funny because it is HER birthday party.) after a 15 minute discussion on everywhere we could go... making calls... everything... Uncle Vaughn said "how about California Pizza Kitchen?" everyone was like "okay!" and Kaela said "i said that 15 minutes ago!!!"
so, then we went to CPK which was fine... but just chaos with four kids under 10 and a restaurant full of people. anyway, we went back to Bekie's and had ice cream from Baskin-Robbins (which was amazing!). anyway, here's a pic of Kaela with our little cousin, Kate.
"kids and dogs"
Friday, March 07, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
"scope and sequence"
Wednesday, March 05, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
"crap... no pics"
Monday, March 03, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
"dinner at Mastro's"
Sunday, March 02, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
"ROunion with Emese"
Saturday, March 01, 2008 Filed in: daily photos
