Family Photos 2023 - Enjoy!

 

Let's Go Warriors!

Olivier wasn't the only one who got to enjoy his birthday gift today, Mason got to enjoy his!  He and Matt went to the Chase Center to see the Golden State Warriors!  

Check out the view they had from their seats!  

As they were watching warm ups they notice that Stephen Curry was warming up (he was questionable due to an injury). 

We weren't able to watch at home but we kept an eye on the score.  They were up by three but with less than one second left Oklahoma tied it up.  And unfortunately the Warriors lost the game in overtime.  It was a lot of fun and an exciting time!

Time for takeoff!

Today started off with a surprising amount of rain!  It was supposed to rain earlier in the week and it never really materialized but this morning it was a lot more!  Anna did a great job driving in the rain, taking me and Olivier to his jiu jitsu class and as we were leaving we saw this amazing rainbow!  

Anna then drove us to the airport where Olivier got to enjoy his birthday gift, flying in a simulator!  Here he is as everything is getting setup!  

They started the flight by taking off from the airport in Paris and flying by the Eiffel Tower!  

They did a loop around the tower.  

The the simulation shifted and it was in the San Francisco area and the first thing they did was head toward an air craft carrier.   

And yes!  He touched the carrier and took off again!  

That went really well and set Olivier up to fly to the Golden Gate Bridge.  And the instructor had Olivier fly under the bridge because he was doing so well!  

Here is that video:

He then got to circle Alcatraz and fly at mach 2.2 (!!!) and then setup a landing at SFO.  It was interesting watching the landing because he started part of it using auto pilot and adjusted the weather a few times which was rather crazy how little visibility they have!  

This is the landing!

 

It was interesting to learn about all the different pieces and gives us a huge appreciation for all those pilots!  Happy birthday Olivier!

Happy 14th Birthday!

Today Olivier and Mason turned 14!  It has been a crazy year and we are proud of all they have done and all they continue to do!  

And we were able to line up schedules and have an early lunch with my brothers family who was in town for the long weekend, and my parents.  

Best wishes for the year ahead Mason and Olivier!  

And now for the silly questions:

Olivier:
What is your favorite color: green
What is your favorite book: Percy Jackson
What is your favorite gift: flight simulator
What do you want to be when you grow up: unsure
Who is your best friend: Logan, Jacoby or Noah
What is your favorite thing to do: bike with friends
What is your favorite thing to do at school: band and hang out with friends
What is your favorite food: pizza 
Where is your favorite place: home
How old will you be when you grow up: 18
How old will you be when you get married: 25
How old will you be when you have a baby: 28-30
He is 5' 10" and barely taller than Matt!

Mason:
What is your favorite color: blue
What is your favorite book: none that he could think of
What is your favorite gift: Warrior game tickets
What do you want to be when you grow up: engineer
Who is your best friend: Sutner
What is your favorite thing to do: volleyball
What is your favorite thing to do at school: talk with friends, and math
What is your favorite food: pizza
Where is your favorite place: home
How old will you be when you grow up: 18
How old will you be when you get married: 24 
How old will you be when you have a baby: 28
He is 6' 0.25" tall!  Officially over 6' and yes, still no growth spurt, just steady growth!

Busy start to the weekend!

This weekend has been busy.  Anna had her first trimester finals, is getting more and more driving in and got to go for a ride after having to miss a few weeks due to band events!  On Saturday Mason and I headed to Fresno for a volleyball tournament and it made Anna jealous of their band program.  The first thing we saw when we pulled into the parking lot was this crazy band trailer (our high school uses U-Haul rentals for the most part).  Fancy!  

And then we saw the drum major using a scissor lift and bull horn to see and direct the band on the adjoining basketball courts.  

Didn't get a good photo of the group but there were a lot of students!

The volleyball tournament went well and they really pushed hard.  They lost the first game, won the second, and pushed the third very close!  Mason was a bit frustrated after the first game and recovered from that really well and played great (in my opinion in all three games!).  His skills have grown and it is great to see!

 

Busy Band Saturday!

Yesterday, Anna was part of her school parade block for the annual band review.  The weather was amazing and it was nice that we were able to see them compete!  

And here is a video of them going by!  

And as soon as they were done going by, we went to the plaza by the pier and got to see the drum line perform as part of their competition!

They did a great job!  They got second and it was super close!  They were 0.7 point shy of getting tie for first!  Here is Anna with the huge trophy!

And then, Saturday night the school hosted a field show competition. It was great to see the local schools showing off all their hard work!  Although they weren't eligible for awards since they were hosting, they did perform their full field show and it was great to see it!  Such a fun event and great to see all their hard work!