Troy and Mateo's Birthday

Troy and Mateo's birthday party was held at their aunt's house recently.  A good time was had by all!

Here is the birthday boy, Mateo.  He turned 10.

Here is the birthday boy, Troy.  He turned 12.

Preparing for the pinata.

The kids are anxious!

Almost time!  For videos, see the bottom of this post.

Reviewing their take from the pinata.

 

Ruby's In A Hurry

Ruby Was Concerned

 

While laying in the grass during Troy's football practice,  I looked up to see this. 

She was just checking on me!

An Evening With A Friend

We had dinner with a friend we've known for decades.  First she took a photo of us...

Then we took a photo of her with my wife.  Great to catch up!
 

Cocina del Charro

We went out to dinner at Cocina del Charro last night to hear Jimmy and Enrique play.  Quite a peaceful, enjoyable evening.

Stillwater: the town and the movie

 One of my two "home town"s (Marysville/Yuba City in California being the other) is about to become famous worldwide: Stillwater, Oklahoma. A movie titled "Stillwater" debuted at Cannes in July and received a five minute standing ovation. Matt Damon, who stars in the movie, attended the debut and was moved to tears by the ovation. The trailer for the movie is linked below.

The first time I heard of the town I was fifteen. As with most military families, we moved every four years when my father was given new orders. We would know months in advance that we were moving, but the Air Force wouldn't decide where until a month or two prior to the move. They gave my dad his orders: Stillwater, Oklahoma. We quickly did research on that town, getting ahold of a map from somewhere (not easy in pre-internet days). When we arrived, it was like no other town I'd ever lived in. I was in culture shock for a good year. But I grew to love the town and its residents. Good, solid, loving people. You deserve this film, Stillwater!

By the way, it is a fictional story that looks to me to be loosely based on the real Amanda Knox story.

Oh, and all of those architectural studies shown a few posts back? Those were done at OSU in Stillwater!

Independence Day

 

We had a great time at an afternoon party at a friends house on July 4th.  Here are Dave and the boys playing a bit of b-ball.

Troy and Teo enjoying the pool.

Old pros in the pool by now!

Which one of us is wetter?