The past year--2014--was a fantastic year. So many good things happened and we did so much but we were ready for the new year and welcomed-in 2015 with a bang at the Armstrong's house on Thursday night. Actually, we started out pretty good. While the adults played cards and shuffleboard to try to stay awake, we played with our Christmas toys and dressed-up in costumes, danced, and a put on a spectacular show that involved fireworks, intermittent joke telling, and lots of fighting between pirates, doctors, firefighters and Indians. We wanted to stay up for the ball drop in Times Square but by about 10:30 pm we were all wiped out and all the kids fell asleep on the couch. Fortunately, I woke-up about 11:45 pm and saw the big celebration. Chris on the other hand slept right through the New Year and didn't wake up until we were getting ready to go to the Rose Parade.
On Friday--New Years Day--I attended my first Rose Parade in Pasadena. Actually, it was the first Rose Parade for Mommy, Chris and I; and the first for Dad in a long time. It was a super cold New Years for Southern California so we had to bundle-up to fight the frost that was on the grass and roofs of the houses. Fortunately, we didn't have to sleep in the gutters overnight to be able to see the parade. We parked in a neighborhood and got pretty close to the floats. I was particularly impressed with the Oregon and Florida State marching bands and the floats that involved the Rose Bowl game. We didn't stay for the entire parade but we did get to see enough so that when we got home, we watched some of the parade on television with a new appreciation. We also celebrated when the Oregon Ducks destroyed the National Champion Florida State Seminoles 59-20 to advance to the National Championship game. We took down all the Christmas lights, decorations and tree. It was a little sad but also a day to begin a new year.
Since Dad had to go back to work on Friday and Chris asked if he could see "work", we took a field trip of the Police Department and had lunch together at Buono's Pizza. We liked the Jail in particular. Although we didn't get to go in, we saw it from the outside. Work doesn't look as good as school, so I will stick with what I have for now. However, there was a really cool display of antique guns in the Chief's Office that catches the attention of every little boy.
Every Saturday morning, we are doing more and more to help out around the house. Chris is really into helping others, particularly when it involves setting the table, washing the cars, or vacuuming. He is really into service and serving and at his best when he feels that he is helping out Mommy. My jobs usually involve the yard and particularly blowing the leaves and mowing the lawn. This was the first week that I mowed both the back yard and the front yard. It has been somewhat of a challenge I have been avoiding because the front yard has a big hill, but Dad and I figured out that I could mow side-to-side so that I didn't have to push the lawn mower up and down. Chris washed, vacuumed, and polished Mommy's car. Afterwards, I had basketball practice (I am on the Oregon Ducks) and we all went to the CSULB basketball game at the Pyramid against Fresno Pacific. It was super cool but it wasn't a very close game. CSULB was winning by 30 when we had to leave to meet our friends the Alegrias for dinner. We had a very busy but very fun day.
On Sunday, we got up early. We have been getting up around 6:15 am every morning (even after late nights to celebrate the New Year). Chris has shown a very keen interest in reading these past few weeks, and is pretty amazing. While I have been plodding along in the Children's Bible I got for my baptism (I have read about 50 of the 80 stories), Chris has begun asking to read and finished his first 3 stories of the Bible. Some of the words and sentences are pretty hard for a guy who is just now in TK, but he seems very motivated and asking to read with Dad every morning. Typically, we read a story and talk about it. Mine take about 5 minutes and Chris's take about 15 minutes but he is starting to pick-up some off the sight words and fillers pretty well.
What didn't go well was our basketball game against the Stanford Cardinal. Stanford is the best team in our league and I had been dreading the game all week. As expected, they crushed us 43-30 and I had a rough game. I got 10 points but was double teamed and pressured the entire game. Dad says that sports are a good teacher and that Stanford had our number today. He and I disagree that we can beat them next time but he says that we can do a few things differently to change the outcome if we really want to work at it.
After the game, I chose to go to St. Luke's Church with Dad while Chris stayed home with Mom to write thank you cards for his Christmas presents. My Dad was very proud of me for choosing to go to church with him. I picked out a tie and a collared shirt to wear and actually enjoyed myself. Since I was the only kid at the service, the Children's Sermon was addressed to me and I got all the little gifts! In the afternoon, Dad took Chris and I to In-n-Out, golfing, and we met Mom for tennis when she was done with her grading. It was a very fun Sunday--the last day of our Winter Break before returning to school on Monday!
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