The Week in Review Aug 18-26

This past week started out on the 19th with a whopping birthday party/pool party for Brian....of course there are NO pictures...because when one is the hostess...she forgets to use her camera....but, it was a fun party, a good time had by all and most importantly the birthday boy himself!

Monday, I recouperated from Sunday...gosh, it takes a long time to get over a party.....but on Tuesday, we had a very special day! We got to see our good friends the Kezeles...Pat, Carolyn, Lauren and Julia....they used to live here..but moved to Pasadena a few years ago sadly, and it's not that often we get to see them. Catie and Lauren have known each other since before they turned 2...and the last time the 4 girls saw one another was 2 years ago...MUCH too long!!!! but, within 5 minutes, Catie and Lauren acted like no time had gone by at all...it was great! We spent the day out at Stinson BEach where Pat & Carolyn and the girls were renting a house for a week, and the day could not have been more perfect...it was sunny, warm and just fantastic...the girls played on the beach from 12:30 until after 5:30pm when we had to drag them off for dinner...

Here are Catie and Lauren...

and Julia (about to turn 5, and Meigan dashing through the waves)
Thursday brought us a milestone...2nd grade.....here is Catie, with her show-stealing little sister posing for a quick pic on our way out the door to the first day of school...Catie likes her new techer, and hopefully this will be another amazing year at Rancho Elememtary here in Novato...

SAturday morning...8am sharp we were downtown Novato for the annual Soccer Parade...all the teams from Novato Youth Soccer decorate a truck and their team rides through town...it's so much fun and the kids have a blast! here are some pics from the parade!! Catie's team is called the Shoukas...named after the Orca who is the whale performer at Marine World in Vallejo! approporiate for Catie, since she is a big lover of whales and marine life!

here they come down Grant Avenue...it was fun to see them coming down, blowing their soccer whistles...we all had curbside seats outside a coffee house...

later on Saturday, at 2:00pm, the Shoukas had their first game! not sure what the final score was, but the kids had fun! below is a pic of Catie #1, in action on the field!!

here she is, hot and tired and she said "Mom, I really had a fun time out there"....and THAT is what it's all about..

today, Sunday the girls and I went out to Hearts Desire Beach at Tomales STate Park...we love this beach...it's on Tomales Bay, not the foggy, windy pacific side...and it was nice...we met other families with children from China, and we had a really nice day out there.... sadly, I took only 1 picture....it was just so nice to sit in my chair and chat with other parents and watch the kids play, that I didn't take many pictures....

oh, and where is Brian you ask? well, since Thursday, he's been on Long Island...having a reunion weekend with all his childhood school friends.....hmmmmm.....think I"m due for a girls weekend soon??? you betcha! :)

AUGUST 13TH! CATIE'S 6YRS. FAMILY DAY!!!

It's hard to believe that Monday marked 6 years that Catie has been a part of our lives....that's a long time......she's grown into such a beatiful, loving, sensitive, smart little girl right before our eyes...She's got an infectious laugh, she's patient with her little sister and she's pure joy!
It's hard to remember that little baby, who cried with fright upon meeting her Mom and Dad....that amazing moment in our lives, seems like forever ago....but every second of it will be forever embedded in my mind.

We love you Catie...more than you'll ever know!!

Mommy and Daddy

Lake Tahoe Fun!

In the past 3 weeks, we've been up to our place in Alpine Meadows (2miles north of Squaw VAllwy) 2 times....we're putting our 2nd house on the market! It's been coming...it's a really fun place, so peaceful nestled on the backside of Alpine Meadows ski area, but it's a taxing thing to have on our daily lives....it's expensive to keep up a 2nd home, especially when you don't go up there for months and months at a time, and when it doesn't rent out....so we finally decided it's time to put the house on the market..we'll see what happens...

The pics below, are from our 2 past trips, one which ended today....and included a trip on Friday to High Camp on the top of Squaw Valley for some iceskating, for 2 first timers....the girls LOVED skating...and want to go again and again....and ended with nice pizza dinner at Fireside Pizza in Squaw Valley's village....and some pony riding near our place at the Alpine Meadows Stables...

This was 2 weekends ago... it was almost 90 degrees lake level...this is at The Common's Beach in Tahoe City...we have always liked this beach, as it has great lake access, parking and a playground for the kids.....as you can see...Catie takes her time getting wet...unlike the wild-thing Meig..who dove right under that cold water and decided splashing her big sister was the way to start the afternoon.......

what's a little sand in the tush and in the hair.....

HOLY COW MOM!!!! what have you done to us????? we're at 8200 feet ontop of a mountain with these weird things on our feet and it's cold and we've got shorts on!!!!

ok, ok..we'll pose.....but we're still not sure this is fun!!!


hmmm, this might not be so bad....and the view is fabulous!!!


well this view sure beats an indoor skating rink!

40 minutes later.......LOOK MA!!! NO HANDS!!!!!!!

Catie made all the way across the whole rink...no help...and no falling down....

Mom and her girls ending a really fabulous afternoon!!!

a nice big giant chocolate chip cookie at the end of the day, makes everything perfect.....
not to mention the ice cream cone....

Pony riding finished out our weekend late Saturday afternoon....last year the girls rode Gypsy and Mocha, and they were sad to learn that Mocha has been "retired"...so Catie rode Mack, a bigger horse, and Meigan took the reins of Gypsy..... Alpine Meadows Stables is great! they're open June-Oct, and it's $5 a pony ride...and for us, we just buzz down the hill and we're there quick!

and so ends our busy weekend....one of last few before school starts.....come Aug 22nd, we're back into school....summer's basically over....bummer....

Meigan's 3yrs. Family Day Aug. 10th!!!

Thursday marked 3yrs, that Meigan has been a Van Weele!

It's really hard to believe that 3yrs. have gone by since that unbelievably amazing day! I remember every single second like it happened yesterday...that baby with the wild hair sticking up making her entrance into that room on the 5th floor of the Civil Affairs Office in Guangzhou with a smile on her face as if to say "hey, are you all here for me??" the first picture here, I have only because my amazing travel mate, Lisa Smith, was the ONLY person who took a picture of Meigan...as you can see, everyone has cameras pointing at Brian, Catie and me...so I'll always be so grateful to Lisa for snapping this photo of Meigan making her debut.....

we see Meigan for the first time, and I'm just overcome and smiling and crying the same time!! Funny, Catie looks less than happy about this situation unfolding.....she had just turned 4 before we left for China...

Gotcha Meig!!! the smile never left my face...Meigan...big-eyed and arms stiff and very stand-offish...she remained that way for the rest of the day/night...

Meigan must think "who the heck are you guys?"

First official Van Weele Family of 4 photo!!! The Nanny next to me, brought Meigan into us...I remember her from when we got Catie back in 2001....

Complete Family!
This was taken by my Dad, before we went into our "farewell dinner"....this is one of my most treasured photos from the trip!!

I love this picture....Lisa came down to our room with Gracie sleeping soundly on her..I don't think Lisa or I could be smiling any bigger....little did we know, that we'd have two fireballs on our hands 2 weeks later once we got home.....oooh, boy...the fun hadn't begun yet...

Catie's Big Night

Tonight we went to the Awards ceremony for Catie' swimteam, Riptide.

Tonight was really nice, and each child gets recognized from each age group, and receives a trophy and a certificate for being a member of the swimteam.

Other awards were given out tonight, and Catie was the recipient of 2 more of them! The first award she got, was a silver medal for having the most Personal Best Time ribbons. That means, that each meet she swam in, she cut her time down in freestyle and backstroke. I knew she was really doing well, when she got a Best Time ribbon after every meet she swam in...she consistently got better and better with each meet. She had 11 total ribbons which won her a silver medal!

The next award, was a complete surprise to her and us. She won the Most Improved Swimmer for her 7-8 age group. This award is given to the swimmer who has taken the most time off of their initial time trials that were in May! I don't have the exact amount of time she cut off her original ones, but it's alot!

Yesterday was the Championships meet for all the teams in Marin County...hundreds of kids swimming...Riptide placed 5th...not bad at all! Catie swam like a champ in both her events...She's improved SO much since March...it's just amazing to watch her go!!!

We are SO PROUD of you Catie!!

Here is Catie looking at her Certificate with her best times on it and holding her trophy for being on the team.

Here is Catie after getting her silver medal!!

and here she is with her Most Improved Award!!

Sunday Afternoon Mini Golf

Today we went to lunch and hit the Mini Golf at McInnis Park in San Rafael...the girls haven't been mini golfing before, so it was quite an undertaking.....as you can see from the pics below, each has their own style of putting......we had lots of laughs this afternoon...and Catie got not 1 but 2 holes in 1.....not bad for a first time golfer....lucky kid!

Friday Fun in San Francisco!

Friday we took the ferry into San Francisco to have lunch with Daddy and to play!
We had lunch at Henry's Hunan...an AWESOME restaurant in an alley off 2nd Street, just down from Brian's office...the food was outstanding!!!!! Highly recommend visiting this fantastic restaurant!!!

After lunch, Brian went back to work and I took the girls to the Yerba Buena Gardens to ride the Carousel...the girls love that...after that, we walked down 1/2 block on Howard Street to the Steinhart Aquarium...it's temporarily being housed here, while a new facility is being built in Golden Gate Park...The girls had a great time in here, and we stayed for 2hrs...they could have stayed longer. We saw all kinds of cool fish, penguins, snakes..... Alas, it was time to meet Daddy to get the ferry home...

An interesting way to watch the penguins...
touching the starfish...

nothing like a carousel ride.....

Fun with friends at the Sonoma County Fair

Wednesday, we went to Santa Rosa to the Sonoma County Fair with our freinds, Penny, Gianna and baby Ava. Catie and Gianna have known each other since preschool and even though they go to different schools here in Novato, the girlsl (and the Moms) keep the friendships going strong!!

The girls mostly had all the rides to themselves which was really nice, and they consumed corndogs, cotton candy, pizza, icecream and churros....gotta love fair food!!! and we got home at 8:30pm and they were STILL hungry...


Motorcycle Mama!! Here is Meigan, riding this motorcycle ride...she had a blast on it!!


Catie and Gianna went on this big swing ride...

Here is Meigan on the mini ferris wheel...all 3 girls were really unsure of this ride, but they wanted to go on it...and they ended up having a blast!!

Catie and Gianna stopped at the top of the ferris wheel, and they're not sure they like being up there...