The L.A. Dime

Thanks, I’m sure, to my Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and blog readers no doubt, Road Trip 2: Beer Pong won the award for best comedy in Straight2DVD’s first-annual write-in contest.  Details here. Thanks for voting if you did!

A trip to Aveda for a haircut and some makeup (our stylist’s next appointment had cancelled b/c it was raining). The rain broke, and we went for a walk with our new Cindumbrella. Today, a cold morning at the park once this thing called sunshine reemerged.

…to a hotel for the weekend a finish his script. He wrote 40 pages in 2 days and while it’s not quite ready to be sent out for feedback, it’s very close. Getting paid assignments now-a-days is becoming less and less so I thought it was important to give Brad some uninterrupted time to focus, get in his writing zone and finish off this creative endeavor of his.

We didn’t want to spend too much money on the hotel room but also needed him to be comfortable so a friend suggested we use Priceline.com. It was a bit nerve-racking since you just put in the dollar amount you are willing to pay and the level of stars (quality of hotel) you expect, and they then tell you if your offer was accepted in the area you requested. After having to scale back our expectations a little on the location of the hotel, Brad ended up in a nice Marriott in Camarillo. He’d asked for a quiet room and got the handicapped suite which had an extra large bathroom and a funny shower – but all in all, he said it all worked out and getting that much writing done certainly is proof positive!

We’re now thinking of using Priceline to find a place for a weekend “babymoon” but don’t know where to go. It’d have to be in driving distance…..any suggestions? Oh yeah, and if you’re willing to babysit Sophie, let us know that too:)

That’s the statement made by Chad after his lovely wife Mandee made him a loaf of homemade bread a few weeks back. Thanks to Marion & Manfred who gave Brad a breadmaker for Christmas, Brad now too can enjoy a whole new bread experience. Below are some pics of last night’s efforts….it was fun to watch the ingredients that we just poured in, become kneaded, then expand and turn into a beautiful light brown loaf of bread. Brad enjoyed his first slice as soon as the bread cooled down and the whole family had some “Egg & Bacon Breakfast Sandwiches” this morning!

We met the Shepherd clan at the Skirball yesterday to check out the Noah’s Ark exhibit. It was an experience full of sounds, wonderful visual sights and a ton of hands-on opportunities for our little ones.
What we were probably most impressed with the use of materials to make these enormous animals. For example, an old violin case served as the head/mouth of an aligator and drums serves as the feet of an elephant. The last piece of the exhibit allowed the kids to play a variety of instruments to make various animal sounds and pretend to jump in the water puddles left behind after the rain storm. Oh, while Sophie enjoyed all the touch-n-feel stations, her favorite part was most likely climbing up a net (that was really only supposed to be for kids 4 & up) and then running above our heads in the “jungle tunnel”.

If, like in Space Jam, the fate of humanity came down to one athlete playing a sport against an alien race, here’s who I’d choose right now. Use the comment panel to suggest more sports and I’ll add them on.

1. Football:  Offense, Peyton Manning.  But I’d prefer he not take any weeks off before the game that decides our fate.  Defense: Revis. Put him up against a nine-foot tall, eight-legged octopus, and he’d shut that freak down right now.

2. Basketball:  Kobe Bryant. Not Le’Bron.  When healthy, and let’s assume this big game is a few months away, Bryant can shoot, drive, defend, and will himself to victory.  LeBron may actually be an alien, so I’m not sure he’d qualify, anyway.

3. Golf:  Tiger Woods. See also: Competitive Philandering.

4. Baseball:   Albert Pujols as a hitter, and probably that guy from Toronto who is now with Philly as a pitcher. But my guess is aliens don’t watch baseball anymore, either.

5. Hockey:  Olvechkin or Crosby?  Broudour in goal?  See above.

6. NASCAR:  That one guy who keeps winning every year.  See above.

7.  Soccer:  Somebody with one name that ends in “o” from Brazil.

8. Cycling:  You can give the aliens Contador for their team and I’ll still take Lance.

9. Tennis: Federer. I like Rafa, but if my future is in the balance, I want the Swiss. We might be able to avoid conflict all together if we send Serena and her mouth after them.

10. Boxing: Rocky Balboa. (Without a great heavy weight, we’d be screwed.) If the aliens are little people, send Mayweather or Manny.

…..another Baby Riddell will be joining the family around July 19th!

12 Weeks

We arrived in KY on Christmas Eve and had a chance to see the immediate Riddell family within a few hours. Mom-Mom Saundra cooked up a yummy pork chop meal with lots of veggies and of course a lovely selection of desserts.
The next few days were filled with quality family time (cousin Sawyer and Sophie explored the Newport Aquarium together) and enjoyed many hours of running after each other and playing together. I got to spend some time with my two best friends in the world and we celebrated New Years Eve with a large group of UK Lambda Chi’s in Louisville. There was a bit of snow and even though it wasn’t enough to make a snowman (or even a snowball for that matter), I loved every minute of the clean, crisp, cold (it got down to 7 degrees!!!) weather. We also checked out the Cincinnati Children’s Museum which we were extremely impressed with.
I know I’ve said this before but I just love being home. I realize that it probably has a lot to do with the fact that when we’re there, we’re usually on vacation, everyone makes themselves available to see us and we don’t have to worry about making dinner, doing laundry or any other of those life responsibilities. But beyond that, it’s where I feel truly at peace and I was so happy to have seen Sophie play with her cousins and have a chance to catch up face to face with family and life-long friends. We are also very grateful for the effort Mom-Mom and Pops puts forth to make our stays memorable and enjoyable.

This year was a lot different. Sophie seemed to get a lot more into the holiday season – she loved singing “Frosty, the Snowman”, always pointed out all the lights on houses and loved turning on our tree as soon as it got dark outside. Of course, not touching the presents under the tree or taking off the decorations continued to be a little challenge but she eventually understood and waited patiently until we had our little Riddell family Christmas on the 22nd. With Nana & Opa right there with us (although on the computer, via Skype), we opened presents and tried to slow down time as these moments always seem to fly by too quickly.