"Bless me Father for I have sinned.
It's been over a month since my last posting . . .
What, you want to know what I've been doing Father?
OK, here goes . . ."
The 19th Century Tall Ships
came to the Ventura Harbor
Grandson Jacob was ALL in on this
rainy Nautical Adventure!
But only if he could take the helm
I think that he had a good time
CAREFUL JACOB!
I saw the movie Big!
It was good to get in from the inclement weather.
At night we played a rousing
game of SORRY!
Jacob won fair and square.
Disneyland with the
Las Vegas Gang
We joined grandson Kevin and his parental units, Andrew and Jenn for a day at Mickey's House in Anaheim.
Kevin eating breakfast with
a random bear at Disneyland's
Grand Californian Hotel
Laurie dancing with Chip
Or was it Dale?
Kevin and Dale
Or was it Chip?
I don't know.
The buffet breakfast at the Grand Californian Hotel was magnificent! We were fully fueled, so now it was time to enjoy the original Disneyland.
Main Street USA
Film?
What the heck is film?
Laurie was pumped for the
Buzz Lightyear ride
At the Star Wars Cantina
Kevin enjoying the
Jungle Cruise until . . .
. . . these Cobras and
Crocodile showed up
Kevin was much more pleased to be on board the big riverboat heading to New Orleans with the princess from the Disney movie
"The Princess and the Frog"
Pinocchio!
Space Mountain in the distance
HURRAH!
Laurie was indeed tall enough to drive one of the cars on the Autopia ride.
It's a Small World
I was all over this ride.
In a stunning upset,
none of threw up in the
Mad Tea Cups ride
Laurie and Kevin riding horses
on the Carousel
I rode a Shetland Pony
Happy Contreras Family
after a looooong day at Disneyland
It was my first time at Disneyland in about 20 years and, needless to say, my first time with one of the grandkids.
It was AWESOME!
Palm Springs Weekend
Mark, Susie, Susie, Mike,
Laurie and George
From Disneyland, we went straight to Palm Springs to be with our friends from Seattle, Mark and Susie Johnson and Mike and Susie Carlin.
It was a great weekend spent gabbing and grazing for the most part.
Dinner a great Italian restaurant
We were joined by another delightful couple who live in Washington but spend their Winters in Palm Springs, Dan and Linda Godat.
Dan was a key offensive lineman at Tumwater High School who was instrumental in leading then running back Mark Johnson to gridiron glory in the mid-1960s.
On a side note, Mark is being inducted into the Tumwater H.S. Sports Hall of Fame this Spring. He has invited Dan and his fellow linemen to be at the ceremony as his guests as a way of saying Thank You to them.
Good move Mr. Johnson!
Mark Johnson with his University of Washington Wrestling Coach, Jimmy Smith
Coach Smith was delightful and Mark's admiration for him was obvious.
Coach Smith lives in Oregon but like Dan Godat he spends his Winters in Palm Springs too.
This was a fun meeting for me too as I had taken Coach Smith's Methods of Coaching Wrestling class at the UW and actually taught one of his Freshman P.E. classes for him as all of us in the class who were P.E. Majors were required to do.
It was a fun situation all the way around for me that Quarter.
You had to be there
Unfortunately, I was.
EuroBall Talks to
College Seniors
Since my return from my first EuroBall coaching experience in Italy in 2008, I've made it a goal to visit as many colleges as I can to spread the word about the joys of playing American football overseas to as many college Seniors as possible.
My first stop this year
EuroBall Tour
The Big Top
I believe that it is their combination Student Union and Basketball Arena Complex.
The University of La Verne's
American Football Stadium
Five young La Verne Leopards
who were excited about the
possibilities of EuroBall life
Thank you ULV Head Coach Chris Krich for allowing me on campus again this year!
And my second stop on the
EuroBall Tour
Great Statue
A tribute to legendary
Coach Robert Shoup's and his 1971 CLU
NAIA National Championship Squad
No doubt that this is the
CLU American Football Complex
I was fired up!
The final two Kinsmen
A third Kingsman had to leave my talk early to attend a class and I touched base with two other CLU Seniors briefly who could not attend due to work and class commitments.
Thank you CLU Head Coach Ben McEnroe for allowing me on campus for the tenth straight year!
It was another good day on the EuroBall trail!
SWEDISH INVASION!
We had our Swedish Pennant
out as friends from Sweden
were coming to visit us
No, they weren't Vikings
It was our friends from Uplands-Väsby, Sweden where I coached last Spring and where I'll be returning for another two month stint working with the mighty Wäsby Warriors!
Our four visitors were Lotta Douhan and her son Jesper and Aiki Parts and her son Henry.
Laurie with Jesper and Henry
at Cronies Sports Grill in Camarillo
Note that Henry has accepted the Big Daddy Burger Challenge which he easily conquered.
During our meal we were told that three of them wanted to get a tattoo in California.
As Laurie and I are clueless to all things tattoo related, we contacted our source on the matter, the Murphy Clan.
We were soon off to the Lucid Tattoo Company in Camarillo.
Within 20 minutes of our arrival,
Henry was getting this tattoo
It is a Viking rune compass.
The next morning our friends
were working out at Rio Mesa H.S.
Jesper checking out former
Spartans who went on to play
college football
Jesper, me, Henry and Aiki
on the RMHS Track
Aiki's Tatto
"The Tree of Life"
Dinner at Casa Contreras
Lunch at Ottavio's
Jesper, Laurie, Lotta, Henry and Aiki
We ate a lot.
We all enjoyed Fika time and the Sun
on our front lawn
Jesper's Tattoo
In part a Tribute to Lotta
Yep, eating again
Our last day together in Camarillo
After four days they had bought everything that our Premium Outlet Mall had to offer and were now off to six days living and touring Los Angeles and Santa Monica.
We did meet up one more time in Old Town Pasadena on their last full day in California to . . .
. . . Eat of course
The HUGE lasagna that we all
shared at Buca de Beppo
Practice Jerseys for our
U15 and U13 teams
Game Jerseys for our three U11 squads
Thanks to Doug Dagen of Dagan Sales and Marketing, Lotta and Aiki who are both on the Wäsby Warriors Board of Directors were able to order and take home a total of 105 jerseys at incredibly low prices by Swedish standards. They ordered them on Monday and Doug had them ready to go on the following Friday!
Thanks Doug!
They brought these as Daims as gifts
along with other Swedish Fika sweets
We are showing unusual restraint in consuming them slowly.
JEEP!
Thank you Ron Selig!
We were walking Jacob back from some play time at the park when Ron pulled up in his Jeep. He offered us a ride through the neighborhood.
How could we resist?
Reading Is FUNdamental
I've been busy . . .
Excellent
Set in 1930s Paris,
fun read
As was this one
Good
Better
BEST!
Swedish Noir at its best,
it was a gift from our
visiting Swedes
Solid but not as good
as the other Peter May
books I read this month
"So, that's it Father, I have nothing else to confess.
Until next time from Havana, Cuba . . ."
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