January 2018

We got to start the New Year off with some of our favorite people.  

Being silly with her BFF! 

Father/Daughter Dance 2018

Having both the kids at the same school, I didn't have any more excuses not to get more involved with the PTA.  Then when a good friend took over as PTA President this year, I knew I couldn't hide anymore.  So I told my friend, that I would love to help and I wanted to chair the Father/Daughter Dance, which she had no problem handing over to myself and Lisa.

In the Fall when we met with the previous chair of the event, she was explaining how they put together the Winter Wonderland theme when out of know where, I cut her off and said..."A GLOW PARTY!"  It probably was pretty rude, but this vision just came to me an I couldn't keep it in.

After months of planning and ideas running through my head the week of the dance was here.  We asked that everyone wear white or neon colors with glow accessories so they could light up the night.  We set a record number of tickets sales and decked out the schools MPR in all neon colors.

Last year I set up a dinner for Skylar and all her friends at a restaurant, but this year I had a better idea.  I wanted a pre-party (because we all know that sometimes the pre-party is better than the actual party), and at the pre-party I wanted a face painter to do glow paint on the girls.  Since I wasn't able to host the pre-party, I shared my idea with a friend who loved it and offered to host.  The dads and daughters had pizza and drinks and the girls had a blast.

Skylar and her 2nd grade girls!

The MPR all Neoned out!

Our girls rocked it with their glow paint.

Lucy, Maggie and Skylar

Probably the best decor of the dance was the awesome backdrop that Jake painted for me, which was a huge hit.  Jake not only did the backdrop, he was the #1 Dad of the night because he had been in Wisconsin for work all week and flew home that Friday night to attend the dance with Skylar and then woke up at 4:00 AM the next day to fly back to Wisconsin.  #Bestdadever

Last year Jake and Casey (Lucy's Dad), were the big winners of the dads dance off and I was putting some major pressure on them to take the title again.  It was just stupid of me to assume that they would just do the soul train line with the rest of the dads, because Jake and Casey decide to put on their own dance routine.  They asked the DJ to introduce them as the "Winners from last year" and had their own song requests.  Needless to say, Lisa and I were a bit mortified and during their second song, which I didn't video because I was in shock, I told the DJ he had to cut them off.  They didn't take top honors this year, so maybe next year they will tone it down a bit...haha!  

The normal dads doing the dance off.  

The biggest hit of the night was the LED photo booth.

Casey and Jake took their two little dates out for a cookie after the dance to top off the night. 

Skylar and Jake had a great night together.

In the end of it all the dance was a massive success.  We raised a record amount of money.  Dads, daughters, moms, school staff gave us a ton of praise and we couldn't of been happier with how it turned out.  Now I have to figure out a way make next years even better!

Family Visit and a Half Marathon

It has probably been years since Jake and his brother saw each other two weekends in a row.   When we planned our last minute trip up north, Jessee had already booked flights to come down to visit us.  Jake and Jessee decided to run the Carlsbad Half Marathon together so it was awesome to get back to back weekends with family.  Its always great to be together as a whole family when we go up to Paradise, but being able to spend some one on one time is always really special.  Knowing that the NorCal Ernest don't always get the warm SoCal weather we made sure to be outside a lot.  Piper loves hiking so we decided to take them to Torrey Pines for the hike down to the beach.  They couldn't of asked for better weather.  It was like 80 degrees and simply picture perfect.   

After spending a good amount of time down at the beach we headed back to Carlsbad for lunch and ice cream.  We took them to our favorite Mexican restaurant for a delicious meal and the kids wanted Nico to try Sub-Zone ice cream.  Being so chill and just happy to be here in San Diego, Jessee and Piper made the trip so easy and relaxing as they didn't care if we went out to dinner or not.  That night Jake prepare the ideal pre race meal; pasta!

The next morning the guys got up early to head down to the race, while Piper, the kids and I hit up the donut shop before heading down to meet my Aunt who was at about the 2 mile mark.  It was so awesome when the guys ran by.  We were jumping and cheering for them both, not to mention all the other amazing runners.  Jake and Jessee both ran awesome races.  Jessee got a PR, while Jake didn't he still ran an awesome time.  Both of them getting under 2 hours, with Jake at 1:46 and Jessee at 1:54.  The kids did great and down there and seemed to really enjoy cheering on their dads.  Madden hit a bit of a sugar high from the donuts and had a couple grumpy moments, but we survived.

Skylar reaching out to high-five Dad!

After the race Piper wanted to get some more beach time in, so that is where we headed.  The water was freezing, but Madden, Jake, Jessee, and Piper all dived in for a quick dip.  Skylar cruised around the beach collecting shells and Nico dug below the cliffs.

Last time Nico and Jessee were down we took Nico to his first trampoline park, so this time he was asking to go back so after the beach Piper and I took Skylar and him there to jump around.  Nico tried rock climbing for the first time and kicked butt at it and did the really high free fall.  He didn't say he liked it, but I think deep down he was proud of himself for trying it all.  We BBQed some surf and turf at home and enjoyed a corn hole tournament where Uncle Jessee and Madden were the big winners.  

Jessee, Piper, and Nico's trip down was really a fantastic time.  We hope that they will come back down to visit much sooner, rather then later. 

Wild Panther Award

We couldn't be more proud of Madden for receiving his first Elementary School Award.  Madden was awarded the Wild Panther Award for the month of December.  The Wild Panther attribute for the month was "kindness", which his teachers said he has been demonstrating all year long.    

NorCal Visit

It was the day before school was being let out for the holidays that Jake mentioned visiting his parents during the break and I'm really glad he did.  The kids break was late this year so it worked out really nicely that we were able to fit in Christmas, New Years and then a quick visit up north.  It had been about a year and a half (crazy how time flies) since our last visit, so we were all excited to be up in Paradise for the weekend.  

The first day it ended up raining all day long so we started the morning off by doing some family bowling.  Kids had a lot of fun and actually were stiff competition for Uncle Jake.  It wasn't until the end when Madden accidentally dropped a bowling ball on Jake's foot that we figured it was time to head out.  You can see the pain in Jake's face in the picture.

We headed back to Paul and Suzie's where we ended up spending the rest of the day.  The kids played a ton of games together.  Pretty sure Skylar and Dom played 15 rounds of memory.  I had some fun one on one time with sweet Mika and the boys made us listen to their tween music.  We had a nice taco dinner and called it a day.

Lucky for us the weather cleared up the next day and we were able to get outside.  We headed down to Chico to take a nice walked around Bidwell Park.   We ate lunch in downtown Chico and then headed back to Paradise to hang out at Arielle and Brian's house.  Everyone played foosball and the boys had a nerf gun battle (Madden was in heaven).

Another reason for the trip was to be able to celebrate Suzie's birthday with the family.  We had a lovely dinner at the Rice Bowl in Chino.  Suzie gave us her wonderful words of wisdom which had some of us in tears and ended with us all in laughter.

The next morning Paul and Suzie came by our hotel to wish us safe travels home.  The trip was a great way to start the new year.