Oh my gosh, only a week until competition.

This week, Gabby, Joel, and I played VIDEO games until our eyeballs fell out. We had some serious fun to be had. Gabby is quite the video game player...running around in circles and shooting all the bad guys with a gattling gun. Oops...no, it's not THAT violent. We have a setting on the game that instead of seeing blood we see "flowers". So, when a bad alien is blasted, flowers shoot out onto the floor. It's kind of sureal.

Gabby and I were playing REALLY late at night on Friday. I mean, REALLY late. Oh, 1 am. Yes, I know it was late but well, time flies when you're saving the world and humanity.

This is also Memorial Day weekend. My thoughts were of Uncle Oscar and his service in the Korean War. They were also of Bob Rodriquez and my friends from the old neighborhood - serving in Vietnam. Thank you for keeping freedom alive and us safe.

Joe.

The worm story...

Gabby and I worked in the garden this weekend. We planted some plants (don't know which kind). I try to not to get too attached to them since chances are that I'll probably kill them. Just kidding.

Gabby was helping me as she loves to do. We were digging through the soil and I was pulling out worms. She squealed when I would show her a worm. At first she was really, really, scared of them, but then I showed her that they wouldn't bite or anything. So, I put one in her hand...of course, as soon as it touched her hand she screamed and the worm went flying to parts unknown. It must be tough being a worm. One moment you are in the nice cool soil, minding your own business, doing what worms do. Maybe dodging a bird or two. All of sudden, you're snatched up and next thing you know you're flying through the air. Wheee!

Anyway, after some calming down, I finally got Gabby to hold a worm in her hand. Of course, she ran around with it and squealed. I thought her about worms and how they scoot around in the soil by compressing and expanding their bodies to kind of "scootch" around.

She put them in a pail with soil and played with them while I planted the flowers. Some of the worms were more active than the others - probably because they were half-worms as I probably whacked a few here and there. It didn't really matter as Gabby was just having a great time.

We finally got the flowers planted, and the worms put back where they belonged. All in all, it was a great day to spend squishing about in the dirt.

Gabby's competition is coming up in a few weeks in Austin. She is really working hard on her double toe loop and Axel. I don't think that she'll be doing those in competition anytime soon, but maybe by the time the Nutcracker or Holiday program rolls arond, she'll be ready. She is also working on the "artistic" side of her moves. She is now practicing being "graceful". Pointing her toes, and moving her arms like a swan and being very "dramatic" about it. Hmm...okay - sounds good to me.

Well, here we are and it's WEDNESDAY already! Oh my gosh, where did the weekend go? I usually update the BLOG/diary thing on Saturday mornings but this weekend it just got away from me. If I had not run into Cynthia Dominquez this morning I would have just plum forgotten. What a dad.

Come to think about it...yes, it was GABBY's fault! :) This weekend on Saturday, we drove over to Skate Texas to get her measured for new skates. Gabby is growing and well, it's been a year and time for a new set of skates. John, Margaret and of course, DOROTHY were there. John measured Gabby and she is now a Size One! Oh, my gosh...big feet! Just kidding! They're so little! John is going to try to get her Graf boots and maybe we can still use the blade she's in. Since she is only a 1/2 size bigger than the smallest size they make, it could be a little tough and they'll have to hand make them which could put the order back until September. Gee whiz. If he can't get her the Grafs, he'll put her in the same boots (SP Terrys) - just a bigger size. I offered to chop her toes, but Gabby said she would have nothing of it. We all prefer to get Graf boots, but if we can't get the size in we'll just have to deal with it.

By the way, who uses Graf boots? Glad you asked!

Here it is from Graf's website (you might recognize a few people):
Athlete Name Graf Skate
Ben Ferreira Edmonton Special
Brian Boitano Edmonton Special
Brian Orser Edmonton Special
Chantal Lefebvre Edmonton Special
Dan Hollander Edmonton Special
David Pelletier Edmonton Special
Ekaterina Gordeeva Edmonton Special
Elvis Stojko Edmonton Special
Emanuel Shandu Edmonton Special
Eugeni Plushenko Edmonton Special
Galit Chait Edmonton Special
Ilia Kulik Edmonton Special
Johnny Steigler Edmonton Special
Josee Chiounard Edmonton Special
Lee Harris Edmonton Special
Lu Chen Edmonton Special
Michael Weiss Edmonton Special
Michelle Currie Edmonton Special
Michelle Kwan Edmonton Special
Nicole Watt Edmonton Special
Oksana Baiul Edmonton Special
Patrice Lauzon Edmonton Special
Scott Davis Edmonton Special
Steven Cousins Edmonton Special
Takeshi Honda Edmonton Special
Tiffany Chin Edmonton Special
Tiffany Steigler Edmonton Special
Todd Eldredge Edmonton Special
Victor Petrenko Edmonton Special
Yuka Sato Edmonton Special

Maybe John will find Gabby some skates. If he can't, we'll get them next year.

Just because she has the skates won't make her skate at that level, but they are supposed to be easier on the ankles and offer better support and fit. And, as a dad, I'm all about that.

Gabby and I spent most of the day on Saturday together shopping for Mother's day gifts. And, well, since we were ALREADY there, we picked up one or two for ourselves...we're shoppers! :)

The whole clan went out to lunch at Bravos in Sugar Land. Mom and Dad Nieto. The Diaz and Rodriquez, and Castillos were represented. Carmen and Bubba also showed up. We had a great lunch and then went to our house for YET ANOTHER Gabby birthday cake. I don't know how many times we celebrate her birthday every year...probably like 4 times between the ice rink, the family one, the school, the daycare, and the one with her aunts. We had some Mamosas and sang karaoke. Um...yeah...THAT was funny. It will be EVEN funnier in a few years, when I bring out the video tape of the singing.

Have a great week!
Bless our Troops and their families!

joe.

Here it is Sunday night and what a great weekend it was.

The Aerodrome put together a GREAT program for the Summer Olympics. Gabby did her number with the rest of the baseball crew and it went very well. The number had them skating to a jazz number and then "playing a baseball game on the ice". They got to run the bases and do jumps as them took turns being pitchers. They capped it by all sliding into "home base" at the same time.

I think, the "syncronized swimteam" - the Sink or Swim team - stole the show. It was the adult student class and they just were great. Imagine 5 ladies ranging from dainty, to um, "less" then dainty plus one macho guy, in a flattop no less, in a black leotard. It was hillarious!

Mellisa (Kim Hervey's daughter) did a great number as a basketball queen. She even had her skates made up like orange high tops. Jackie Nguyen did her short program as a soloist to the music of "The Impossible Dream".

Joel and I helped Mark and Kim hang the curtains and Olympic rings which looked ABSOLUTELY great! Okay, we got glitter all over ourselves, the lift, the ice, the curtains, the floor, etc...BUT, that's okay. It will be there in December for the Holiday show. Gabby is holding out hope for a solo or duet. We'll see. She's still pretty little but she has a lot of SPUNK and attitude. You can't tell her she CAN'T do something because she'll prove you wrong.

The troupe who did the Row, Row, Your Boat were great too.

All and all, it was a great show. It was perfect in length, great in music and event staging and everyone had a great time. Ravi and his family came out. Martha and Ashli. Mary, Juan, Ashley, and Diana Vega made it out. They really enjoyed the show.

And now...we get ready for Austin's Bluebonnet Open. This will be the first week in June so we're looking forward to that one. Did somebody say ROAD TRIP!