March 18-19, 2011

Chris and I go to San Francisco every year for a weekend to celebrate our Anniversary. This year we celebrated our 10 year anniversary! Friday night we arrived in San Francisco and checked in to the hotel, This year we stayed in the art district, we won't stay here again. The hotel itself wasn't bad, it was an old hotel where the elevator door had one of those cage doors you shut before the elevator door closes. I really liked the hotel, it just wasn't a good area. One of the things we do every year is go to the Powell Street Mall and eat at Buckhorn Grill. We asked how far away it was from the hotel to see if we needed to drive. We were told just a couple blocks, so we walked. Well it was more like a mile away. After we ate we walked around the mall and then we hopped on the trolley to Ghiradelli Square. We walked down to Pier 39 and back to Ghiradelli Square, took the trolley back to Powell Street, and then walked back to the hotel. Saturday we were expecting rain so we took our umbrella and walked back to the Powell Street Trolley to head back to Fisherman's Wharf. We didn't have any set plans about what we wanted to do so we just started walking. It was raining so we wanted to find something to do inside. We decided to go into Ripley's Believe It or Not and the Mirror Maze. We had fun doing the different exhibits and reading about weird things. The mirror maze was pretty fun too! We decided to go back to the hotel and change into dry clothes. Then we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. I have been to a Cheesecake Factory several times, but Chris had never been before. This Cheesecake Factory is at the top of Macy's with a great view of Union Square. While we were eating it had really started to pour. And the wind was unbelievable. We stayed in the restaurant as long as we could, but it was obvious the rain was only coming down harder the wind was blowing harder. So we decided to leave and make a run for the hotel. About halfway back our umbrella breaks because of the wind.  We decide to throw it away and continue running. I wanted to take a direct route back to the hotel because of the rain but Chris said we couldn't go the direction I wanted to go because it was the Tenderloin district and it was a really bad area. So we had to go around it. We saw a dead body laying in the street, hit and run. We kept running. By the time we made it to the hotel, we were drenched from head to toe! We cranked up the heat that night. Fun weekend adventure in SF.

March 5, 2011

Tonight we celebrated Todd Porter's birthday! Boy does he know how to throw a party! First we all showed up to his house. We showed up with the Jacobs so Chris and Jeremy could give Todd a singing telegram. Jeremy was dressed up in a cow costume and Chris was dressed in a Superman costume. When Todd opened the door they burst out in singing Happy Birthday. It was great! After everyone showed up we boarded the party bus and Todd took us to his favorite Chinese Buffet Restaurant. After dinner we went to the Martinez Marina, separated into teams, and played Frisbee golf. It was a lot of fun. Then it was back on the bus, back to the Porter's for dessert.

March 5, 2011

Today we had a family day. We started with a morning run at Concord High school around the track. Kyle mostly kicked the football around. Riley Jo ran some then played some. Santa got the kids a basketball hoop for Christmas. We finally decided to put the basketball hoop together.Chris got only a little frustrated with it. :-) While Chris and Ty put the hoop together, Riley Jo wanted to learn how to roller skate. So I tried to teach her how to skate. Then we all rode bikes. It was fun to just hang out and play!

February 11, 2011

Riley Jo learned to ride a 2 wheeled bicycle! She was the youngest Rossi kid to master the two wheels at the age of 5! All 3 of her siblings waited until they were 7/8. We had gone to the park and she would see kids younger then her riding a 2 wheeled bike. She wanted to learn so bad. So I asked my friend how she trained her 3 year old to ride a bike. She told me that she took the pedals off the bike and her son would push himself around with his feet and he would learn his balance. He did this for about a month and then they put the pedals back on and he rode his bike. I thought, I have held onto the handle bars, the back of the seat, and the bottom of her shirt with no luck. Let's try it this way. So we went home that day and I took the pedals off Riley Jo's bike. I went inside to make dinner, we live in a court so I opened the blinds in the kitchen and I watched Riley Jo as I made dinner. She was out in the court everyday for 2 weeks pushing herself around! At the end of the 2 weeks she told me she had found her balance and wanted the pedals back on her bike. So I put the pedals back on, held her to get her steady, and she was off! Riley Jo had taught herself to ride a 2 wheeled bicycle! This is the essence of her personality. If she wants to do something, she figures out how to do it. That is the only reason she was potty trained before the age of 2, she learned to ride her bike, and why she DIDN'T walk until she was 14 1/2 months old. Our stubborn smart little girl!

January 22, 2011

Back to the snow we go! We went to Adventure Mountain Snow Park. This was our first time ever going here. Sheri had invited us to go, their ward was taking their youth up and she had to drive so we went and hung out with her and Tyler went along with their youth for the day. (Michayla was at her mom's) Abby hated the cold wet snow and so they spent a lot of time sitting at the cars. So Chris and I took Kyle and Riley Jo on the hills. I could not believe how big the hills were. Some of them were steep too. They had hills for all ages, some weren't as steep, and some had some bounce to them. By late afternoon the sun started melting some of the snow and making it kind of slushy. So you went a little faster. One guy was zooming down the hill, hit a big bump, fell off his disc and his his head. Yeah the ambulance was called! We pretty much finished up after that. Riley Jo even went down a couple times by herself. She got over confident on one hill and ended up falling off twice. But did go down again so that was good. Tyler and Kyle had fun too. Kyle would only go down in the sled. I think it went slower then the discs, and anytime he felt out of control, he would just tip over. And you can't go down backwards in the sled, the disc likes to spin and most of the time you would go backwards. So Kyle felt safe in the sled.

January 17, 2011

We went to the snow with some friends today. The Jacobs had never taken their kids to the snow so we picked a day and we all went. We went to a place called Echo Springs near Tahoe. We found a small hill to practice going down the discs on, then we made our own hill. The kids and adults all had fun going down the hill on the discs, sled, or slick mat. And, you can't go to the snow without having a snowball fight. Everyone had a blast!

January 8, 2011

I wanted to compete in a Duathlon event up in Folsom. It is a free event they do on the first Saturday of the new year. Chris got me a road bike for Christmas so I was really excited to do the event. The race is more fun for me if I know other people in the race. So I convinced Chris to do the race with me. So he agreed and convinced his good friend Tim Doll to do the race too. We had to run 2 miles, then bike 7 miles, then run another 2 miles. We start off and I take off from the boys right away. The bike was a loop, you rode out 3.5 miles, turn around, and ride back. On my way back I of course pass the boys. I cheer for Chris, still looking for Tim though. I almost make it back to the transition area and I see Tim. He is going up the hill, kind of straddling the bike, walking up the hill. I cheer for him and go on! I don't know why he thought that would be more affective then changing gears and riding the bike up the hill, or even getting off the bike completely and walking up the hill. The bike course was trying. It was a constant up and down hill with sharp turns thrown in there. I almost launched myself over my handlebars on one sharp turn. Like I said, new bike, I forgot which brake was which and I accidentally slammed my front brake. Luckily I caught myself so I didn't flip! I make it back into that transition area and start my second 2 mile run. Thinking at least Chris should be close behind me. To my surprise I finish the race, go back to my bike to get a drink and there is Chris! He was waiting for Tim but he said he had just got there. We wait a couple minutes and here comes Tim. He gets off the bike said the tire wouldn't turn and that he was fighting the bike the entire 7 miles. Turns out the brake was rubbing the back tire. Needed a little adjustment and then it worked fine. So, I finished the entire race as the boys finished 2/3 of it, AND neither of them wanted to run or walk the last 2 miles. Even though I told them I would walk or jog with them. I was glad they at least participated with me!

January 5, 2011

Kyle loves to make himself snacks. He does have a kids snack cookbook and he loves finding a snack, getting out all of the ingredients, and making the snack look just like the pictures. Today, Kyle decided to make his own sandwich. He put a bell pepper between 2 slices of bread and proceeded to eat lunch. Kyle has no problem with eating a bell pepper like an apple. I don't know why he decided to put it between bread today, instead of eating it like he usually does.

January 4, 2011

Today I took Tyler in for a physical. He is going to try out for High School Volleyball and the school requires all athletes to pass a physical. Tyler was excited to find out that he was in the 75% for his height. He has always been on the shorter side for his age. We also found out at the visit that Tyler would need some glasses. In one of his eyes he has astigmatism and he is near sided. So, in any of his classes where he sits in the back, he needs to wear his glasses. He was glad to hear he doesn't have to wear them all the time.

New Years 2010-2011

We went to our friends (The Crawford's) beach house down in Monterey for the weekend. Their were 6 families in total there. April Jacobs and the kids came down for Thursday to Friday, The Evans came Friday to Sunday, the Lees, the Crawfords, the Dolls, and us. Friday we went to Dennis the Menace park and the kids had the best time. Their is an actual train engine there for the kids to climb on and go inside, a maze, a bridge (which of course Chris loved to jump on and watch the kids all bounce), and it had a huge slide with rollers on it. The kids and adults loved making trains to go down! We rode our bikes to the park, and we rode all around downtown Monterey. The weather was perfect. Kyle even went one day with us on an 11 mile bike ride, he rode the whole time and without complaining! It was great! I pulled Riley Jo in the trailer behind my bike the whole weekend. We also went down to the tide pools, Kyle tried to bring home a souvenir. A starfish! Luckily I have learned to pat Kyle down before leaving places like that, so I patted him down thinking I was going to find a little crab, but I found a starfish instead. Funny boy he is. He said he just wanted one. He didn't know that it needed water to survive. We played a lot of games back at the house too. On New Year's Eve we even had a bonfire, and played with sparklers, writing our names and practicing how to write 2011. Thank you everyone for an awesome weekend!

Tyler and Riley Jo's Birthday

Tyler turned 14 and was finally able to go to the church dances. For his birthday he and some friends went to Marine World/Discovery Kingdom for Fright Fest again. We all went and hung out at the park for the day. Then Tyler and some friends went to the movies.
Riley Jo turned 5 and had a party at the house with her friends. They made cookies and decorated them.
For Riley Jo's family celebration we all went to Marine World for their Holiday In The Park. We went down the snow hill, to the animal shows, on the rides, and Riley Jo's favorite went to see Santa!

See Jane Tri

I participated in the See Jane Triathlon in Pleasanton for the first time in 2010. It is a Sprint, 400 yard swim, 11 mile Bike ride, and a 3.1 mile run. I did this with 10 other friends. It was a ton of fun to train and compete in this event with friends.
The swim was horrible. We started on the shoreline and had to run out to start. I thought I was drowning. Everyone was swimming on top of me. That was the hardest part of the whole event.
Then the bike. I was thankful that a friend lent me her road bike. It made the bike experience a whole lot easier. I did a Tri in July and the bike ride was awful because I used my mountain bike and trying to go up and down the hills on the mountain bike was torture! The run was hard, but I was proud of myself for running the entire distance even though I was completely spent. I thank my friend Elaina for pushing me. She caught up to me on the run and we finished the event together. We finished at the exact same time!

2010 First Day of School

On the first day of school, my head was spinning. Riley Jo started Kindergarten, Kyle started 3rd grade, and Tyler and Michayla started High School! I don't know how time flew by so fast. Riley Jo was the only one who had a hard time going to school. Riley Jo was really excited that one of her very best friends was in her class, but when we got to school the idea of going to class was scary. But she went and had a great time! Tyler and Michayla were both excited at the idea of going to High School. But a little Scared too. And Michayla started in a whole new school district so the only person she knew in the whole school was her step brother who is 2 years older then her. So I think it was a little more scary for her.
The idea of the kids being in High School was scary to me. It wasn't very long ago that I was in High School. The most important thing to me is my kids having good friends. I know how influential friends are. So we told the kids that we wanted to know their friends. We asked that they bring their friends to our house to hang out so that we could see how they act with their friends. Tyler wasn't very happy about this idea. But in the end, he did bring his friends around so that we could meet them. Tyler had a different group of friends every year during junior high. So he didn't have a set group when he started High School. One of the downfalls of not going to the local schools. So far so good with his friends though.

San Diego Trip

August 3-11 2010

We went and spent 9 days down in San Diego. We met up with our cousins Conrad and Evie, and their kids Hayli and Hana. They live in New Mexico so we don't get to see them very often.
We spent some time at the San Diego Zoo, Legoland, Sea World, and The Wild Animal Park. I was able to meet up with my friend April Preston and her boys, Carter and Michael. They moved down to San Diego so her husband could go to Law School. The kids had so much fun! We also went down to the beach and took family pictures. Chris and my mom flew down on Thursday through Sunday. We went to a training seminar for ACN on Friday through Sunday. By the end of the 9 days the kids were tired of living in a hotel room.
At Legoland the kids all got their driver's license. Kyle thought that meant he could help me drive home. LOL! The kids all enjoyed seeing all the cities replicated by legos. They were amazing.
At the zoo, we waited in a long line to see the Pandas. They were happily eating the bamboo sticks. We also saw koalas, sea lion show, and went on the tour bus around the park.
At the Wild Animal Park, we went on the tour bus too. It was the back side of the park, animals we wouldn't have been able to see otherwise. So that was pretty fun. We took the kids into the petting zoo and they were able to feed the animals. Riley Jo did NOT want to feed the animals. Everyone else enjoyed it though.
Sea World was our last day. We had a great time, but we knew it was our last adventure and we would have to say good-bye to our cousins. It was hard after spending so much time with them. We fed the dolphins, saw the dolphin and pilot whale show, the dog show, and of course, Shamu show. You can't go there without seeing that show. Tyler and Kyle were the only ones interested in getting wet, so they sat down low while we headed for higher (and dryer) seats! I look forward to our future vacations together.

July 2010

After I recovered from the See Jane Run event I decided I wanted to do the See Jane Triathlon. We had a whole team sign up we were the Mom Tris hard group! A few of us even trained together. We were working out 6 days a week, strength training, running, swimming, and biking. It was fun to work out together. We would work out first thing in the morning, after the kids were in bed at night, and a bike ride every Saturday Morning.
This year for the 4th of July, we celebrated all weekend long. Saturday we had our first annual family picnic and relay games at the park. It was a Rossi/Siegmann/Cassell/Arnold/Jacobs/Crawford family fun day. We hope to continue on this tradition and the more the merrier.
We had a water balloon toss, three legged race, eating contest, just to name a few. It was a ton of fun. It was hot, so after we finished at the park we went to the pool and swam. Then to a friends house for a family BBQ.
We made our annual trip out to Contra Loma. The kids love to play in the sand, and then swim in the pool. The pool is shallow for about 12 feet out. They can touch and run around in the water and they think it is the coolest thing. Almost like a beach, except no waves or undertow. Then they get to have breaks and lay on the grass. It has everything there. The best part is we go with a big group of friends so they all get to play together.
July 15th Kyle turned 9 years old. The family all headed out to Boomer's to celebrate. We played a round of mini golf. We went on the bumper boats, Kyle had a hard time getting back to the dock. I had to go over and bump him back in. It was a lot of fun spraying each other though! Of course you can't go to Boomer's without riding the Go-Karts! Then we played a few video games too! Kyle said it was the best birthday! (He does say that anytime we go out though.) We all had fun!
On July 17th Sheri went to a garage sale and they had a bunch of Boat toys and a bike so she called me and told me I should stop by. We were looking for a new tube because ours broke over the 4th of July weekend. I had to take Riley Jo and Kyle with me. Which is NOT a good idea. Kyle will just want something, anything, just to get something. So we pull up and of course, Kyle goes on the hunt. I go right over to the boat toys and get a new knee board and tube. Kyle comes over and want an electric guitar. Kyle has been asking for a "real" guitar for some time. Here it was for only $15. So I do end up buying the guitar as a late birthday present. We come home, and Kyle starts "playing" the guitar immediately. He is making up songs, writing down the lyrics, making "notes" it was hilarious. He has had some sort of a guitar in his hands since he was 2. At some point he will really want to learn to play the guitar, but until then, he is enjoying just playing with it.
July 19-24th Michayla and I went to Girl's Camp. Michayla was a 3rd year this year and had a pretty tough hike to go on. They hiked 3 days and were gone from camp for 2 nights. She was brave enough to cliff jump a few times while on her hike. She had a great time. I went with Crafts this time, so I was in camp the whole time. I wasn't as excited this time to go because I wasn't with a group of girls. But I had a BLAST! I made some new friends, hung out talking all day, and crafted all day. It was GREAT! I love girls camp!
July 30th we went camping for the weekend at Collins Lake. It was a great time. We camped right on the water edge. It was great to wake up and literally walk to the water onto the boat. We were able to keep it docked right at our campsite. The Dolls, and Crawfords joined us. Tyler and Michayla learned to Knee Board, they both were able to get out of the wake. Poor Michayla had to try VERY hard to accomplish this. She just didn't have enough weight to get her over there, she had to use a lot of muscle. Determination got her over that wave though. Tyler learned to do a 180. He couldn't get all the way around. But he was jumping the wake! There is nothing like wakeboarding on glassy water. And at Collins lake the water is awesome! So it was a good weekend. Kyle even got to fish! So he was happy too.

Bald is Beautiful

June 26th Chris Bic'd his head! I had been trying to convince him to shave it off for awhile. We planned a family fun night at our house with 2 other families and Tim convinced Jeremy and Chris to shave their heads. Tim even went home to get the shaving cream and special razors! Fun times! The kids were in shock, and not very happy. Well, Jeremy's kids were not very happy. Our kids were used to Chris' head being pretty bald and were ready to see it all gone. I loved it! Chris hated it! So he let it grow back. Jeremy was able to have 2 haircuts almost 3 before Chris needed 1! One of these days I hope he will leave it bald.

June 2010

Since I have taken 11 months off from blogging, I decided I will do monthly updates to catch myself up. Starting with My Half Marathon Run. On June 5th I ran in the See Jane Run event. A friend signed up and then encouraged any of us who wanted to run to join her. She was doing the Half Marathon. At the time, she had said there was a 10K option or a 5K option as well. I thought, I've done 3 miles before that isn't much of a challenge so I will do the 10K. Well, I go to sign up and there is only a 5K OR half marathon option. So I choose to do the half. So, I have NOT run, let's be honest, I hadn't exercised in who knows how long. I went and bought running shoes in February. It rained, it was dark, it was cold. I had all the excuses. I started training for the 13 mile race in April. Running 3-6 miles, 2-3 times a week. That was what I called training. So June 5th comes and I am pumped, start the race, mile 1 I'm tired. Mile 6 I literally gagged on the Gu, that stuff is awful! Mile 8 my knee goes out. Yet I wanted to finish the race. I prayed the entire last 5 miles that I could please just make it to the finish line. Next time I will pray to make it to at least Chris afterward. I crossed the finished line and could not bear wait on my left leg anymore. I had to be carried to Medical, use a strangers phone to call Chris, and because he didn't recognize the phone number I had to call multiple times before he answered. Then wound up on crutches for the next 2 weeks. I realized 2 things that day. Yes, I had run 3 miles before no problem, yet I was training, and in High School at the time. My brain hasn't fully accepted that I have aged 15 years! Yikes!
Two other great things happened in June. Michayla and Tyler both graduated from 8th grade! Michayla got all dressed up for her promotion. Since she was in choir she sang 3 songs for the graduation. She even had a duet part. Michayla went straight to her 8th grade dance after the promotion/graduation. Tyler was just excited for the end of the school year. He didn't really think it was a big deal. We did take him out to dinner after to celebrate. I can't believe that they are in High School.

Lafayette Reservoir

During Spring break I was looking for fun things to do with the kids. I found a Reservoir in Oakland that we have never been to and they had pedal boats that you could rent and they were half off on Tuesday's. I knew that only 4 were aloud per boat, and we had 5. Chris had to work. So I figured we would need 2 boats and thought the older 2 kids could ride together. Well we drive all the way out there to find out that someone 18 or older needed to be on the boats. I asked if we could rent a patio boat then, they were all out in the water for the day. OK, how about a tour of the reservoir? They only do those on the weekends. So basically, I just drove the kids on a scenic drive. I would have been fine with walking around the reservoir, but it was a bit windy and the kids didn't want to do that. I did try to convince the kids to bring a ball or a frisbee. But they didn't want to. So I decided we would go to the Lafayette Reservoir so it wasn't a complete waste. I called first and asked their rules. Then made a phone call to Chris and begged him to meet us there so we could go on the pedal boats. He met us there and brought my brother Chris with him. We all had fun going around the reservoir.

Easter 2010

This year we had several Easter egg hunts to celebrate. Riley Jo had an Easter egg hunt at school. They had a little program for the parents, they sang some songs and made cute bunny ears.

Then the next day play group had an Easter egg hunt at the church since it was raining.

Then we had the Easter egg hunt at our house. We had Easter dinner at our house this year, and went over to Bobbie's to visit Chris' family.

March 13, 2010

We renewed our season passes to Marine World and decided opening weekend would be a great time to use them! It was the perfect day! Not too many people realized it was open so there weren't any lines at the rides. Usually we all split up and go separate directions for the day, but this time we stayed together. It was a nice change. It's hard because Tyler is the only kid who likes to go on ALL the rides. Michayla and Chris don't do spinning rides. Riley Jo and Kyle are only big enough to go on the smaller rides, and the spinning rides. So we all hung out together and went on the rides together, or nearby each other.

Tyler, Kyle and I went on the swings!

Chris, Michayla, Tyler and Kyle rode the Bumper Cars. Kyle is too small to ride by himself so he rode with Chris.

Tyler, Kyle, and I rode the Scrambler

Michayla and Riley Jo rode the frog hopper!

We saw the Lions.

Kyle and Riley Jo went on the airplane.