Wedding Anniversary

Mike and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary this week.

Life is good!

tROPHY COUNT FOR aUGUST 2008

tHIS MONTH bIG z DIDNT' RACE TOO MUCH. hE ATTENDED A bmx DAY CAMP WHERE HE WORKED ON HIS SKILLS. hE ALSO GOT "CLIPPED iN", THATS WhERe HE WEARS SPECIAL SHOES THAT CLIP TO THE PEDALS. hE HAS IMPROVED ALOT THIS MONTH.

Races raced: 7

1st place: 3

2nd place: 4

3rd place: 0

Sept. 13-14 Big race at the Orange Y . Big Z will race kids from all over the state. Ruben (our BMX mentor) says Big Z has a good chance on placing there. He is 2 wins away advancing to intermediate. We hope he can do that at the Orange Y that weekend. Whatever happens we are having fun and meeting great people along the way.

Big Z is ready for Kindergarten

Big Z will be starting Kindergarten this week. He is ready and excited. I ,on the other hand , am feeling a little sad that my baby is going to school. I am going to miss him. I had to explain to him what was a principle was and that it isn't a good thing to get send to her office. So a new chapter will begin for him.

Thru Big Z's eyes!

For Christmas, Big Z got "a top of the line camera" from Fisher Price.

On Saturday, July 26 Mike took Big Z to the Huntington Beach Pier for the surf contest to watch the finals. They also have BMX , skateboarding, Motor X events. Both had a great time. Big Z had to bring his camera to the contest to take some pictures. Mike didn't help him at all and we were surprised to see the good pictures he took. So enjoy them.

Trophy total for the month

So Big Z has only been racing his BMX bike for less then a month and here is the trophy total for July.

2 - 1st place

2 - 2nd place

2 - 3rd place

1 - 4th place

total races - 7

So he had a busy month. He has learned some good life lessons as well. Both times he placed 3rd place he sobbed- he wanted to come in 1st. So we have had to guide him thru his frustrations and heartbreaks along the way. Another lesson he is learning, to be a good friend. He has met some friends at the tracks and after each race, he will stand by the finish line and hoot and yell for them with all he has.

Old friends

This a follow-up on the "Old Friends" blog entry. It comes from Uncle Donny.
He writes:
My best friend, Teddy "Bear" Sanders, has saved my life.He moved in next door over on Sherrill St when we were in gradeschool. We became goodfriends and did a lot of things together. Some good and some bad (mostly good). He moved to Orange just before our Senior year (1973). We enlisted in the USAF together after graduation. We were buddies in basic training and visited some times after. We even worked at the same companies a few times as well. He and his family have since moved to southern Illinois. When I was very sick recently (2004), he asked me to come visit so he could care for me. I made the trip and he did indeed take very good care of me. He has indeed taken such good care of me that I now have a new Heart Transplant (2007) and a very different future. With gratitude to all who have been so generous and helpful all along the way, Thank You so very much. - The new Donnie Paquette.

BMX RACING

Big Z has been riding a 2 wheeler (With no training wheels) since he was 3 years old. He just wanted the training wheels off so he could do tricks. Shortly after he was 3 1/2, Mike took him to the Orange Y BMX bike park. Mike bought him a special little bike called "red line" and all the gear to ride. Big Z just practiced but did not race. When Mike bought him his motorcycle, he didn't ride the BMX bike until Sunday July 6,2008. We went to the Orange Y and so he could practice but this time he decided it was time to enter his 1st race. Big Z didn't win that night and cried all the home for not winning. So I thought that's my next blog entry- How to teach your kid to lose.

On Monday 7/7/08, Mike took us to the Belflower BMX track so Big Z could practice. Big Z had never been there before that night. After practicing for an hour, Big Z decides he wants to race. Ok - I wished I had asked for advice on kids handling not winning. So Big Z races 2 qualiflying and 1 main. Big Z won all 3 races that night. He got a trophy thats 18" tall. He was so excited he could hardly sleep.

Now Big Z wants to go racing every night.
So if any of you have any advice on how to teach your kids to lose please pass it this way.