Lake Pleasant Showcase Concert

As always, we enjoyed being entertained by Mrs. Julie Carlson's OUTSTANDING Advanced Band at Lake Pleasant's Showcase event.

Vistancia Talent Show

Tonight our community, Vistancia, held a Talent Show amongst the residents. It was great to catch up with friends, sit outside in the evening and be entertained by so many talented young men and women. Julie Carlson's Steel Drum Band from Vistancia Elementary kicked off the event. Gotta love that! And Journey Church's "Garage Band" closed up the evening. Did I mention I LOVE living here?

Dog Show - I want one of each!

Today, I took Nicole and her friend, Kayleigh, to the Dog Show. All the dogs were so calm and attentive. It brought back many memories when I use to compete with my first Lab, Brenna, in Agility and Flyball. Obviously, that was before Nicole was born. Glad I could share part of my history with Nicole.

Today I dropped by Nicole's Field Day at Lake Pleasant as an April Fool's Surprise. I don't think she was too pleased about her Mom being there taking photos. Most of Nicole's events took place earlier in the day, so I didn't get as many photos as I would've liked. Click here to see the video.

Club Arrowhead - Team Ohana

Yesterday was Nicole's Team Photo shoot for her Club Arrowhead volleyball team. What a bunch of fun group of girls!!! This is barely a sampling of the numerous photos I took.

Emma's 13th Birthday

Nicole's friend, Emma, was in town visiting so we helped her celebrate her 13th Birthday. Happy Birthday Emma!

Progress Report Card

When you were in 7th grade, do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up? My Mom was a beautician as I was growing up. Back then, curling irons and blow dryers hadn't even come out. I remember watching and learning how my Mom would cut hair and always wanted to go to beauty school. In high school, I would cut friends' hair and it always came out nice. Who would've ever thought that I would earn a Finance Degree and be employed by Comerica Bank for 33 years!

Now that Nicole is in 7th grade, I am so curious as to what she will choose as her career path in life. She loves Social Studies and Science, doesn't care for Math even though she excels in it. Hmmmmmm, I should make a prediction and hide it away until she is 30 years old and see if I was correct.

Today, Nicole came home with her Progress Report. Even with the extraordinary amount of hours she spends on volleyball and school projects, she had two classes with 99% and the remaining six classes with 100%. I, honestly, don't know how she does it. One of the 100% grades is 8th Grade Pre-Algebra, even though she is a 7th grader. I'm bursting with pride of her accomplishment and am still wondering what she is going to grow up to be.

So let me ask you, What did YOU want to be when you grew up? And what do you do now?

Club Arrowhead Volleyball

Since November, Nicole has been playing on a Club Arrowhead volleyball team for 13 year olds named, Primo Ohana. Don't ask me where the name came from, I wasn't asked about my choice (ha ha). At least 8 hours per week are dedicated to practices which includes drive time. Then if there is a scrimmage or tournament, it could be another 4-10 hours on top of that. Needless, to say, we've been very busy. It's amazing seeing the progress of Nicole and her teammates. In three short months, the improvement in their playing skills is very noticeable.

Their first tournament was in Buckeye two weeks ago, which is about one hour drive. This is close. We've been told we could travel as far as Flagstaff or Tucson which are 2-3 hours away, respectively. For their first tournament, they played four matches and won the last two of the four which were against the top two seeded teams. Not bad, for starting out. You could tell how nervous they were at first. As you all know, I coached Nicole's City team for one year. When I watch her play in the club tournaments, I can't hold back my enthusiasm. I think some of the opposing team parents think I'm a lunatic. Must be the Italian in me. Oh how I miss coaching!!

The season will last through May with 1-2 all day tournaments each month. Good Luck Primo Ohana Team with this upcoming season.