The Saturday Morning Post - September

Greetings friends, it's been a while since I've posted. It's also been a while since I've read any blogs. I have such little time to spend on the computer, and the two lowest priorities for me are Facebook and Blogger. Anyway, here's my post -

Today, my thoughts and prayers are for victims and families of the September 11th terrorist attacks. It's hard to believe it's been 9 years. I can only imagine the sad memories the family members must still have reflecting back on that day - remembering saying goodbye to their loved ones as they left for work, or boarded their plane. I hope the family members find peace in remembering the good times and special moments they spent with their loved ones before this tragedy occurred.

Today, my thoughts and prayers are also for those affected by the devastating fire in San Bruno, California. I find it eerily similar to the people in the Word Trade Center: no warning, just an explosion and fire, followed by an evacuation. From what I hear on the news, this type of explosion could happen almost anywhere given the thousands of miles of gas pipelines running below us.

Today, my thoughts and prayers are also for those affected by the wild fires in Colorado, the floods and severe weather in the Midwest (remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine), and for people in other parts of the world, such as Haiti and Pakistan. There are a lot of people in a lot of places that need help. All I can offer them is a prayer.

Here at my home, everything is the same as it's been. We just keep going day-to-day, week-to-week, etc., doing the same routine things we've always done. I know it doesn't sound exciting, but it's our life, and we're grateful to have it. Below are some recent pictures of my family that I would like to share.

I can't get any more recent than this one - taken yesterday afternoon - "The Kids". This one didn't make the "cut". Laura chose one where Jordan (the baby) was looking at the camera, but that picture didn't include Jordy (our dog). The chosen picture was enlarged, duplicated, framed, and gift wrapped for Grandparents' Day (this Sunday).


Jordan will be 6 weeks old this coming Monday. He is doing great: eating on a fairly regular basis, sleeping for hours at a time during the over-night period, and is not as fussy as Nina was. Here's a picture of him getting his first bath:


Laura had a doctor's appointment, and naturally took Jordan with her. Here he is in his car seat:


Several weeks ago, Nina went to the La Habra Corn Festival with her grandmother. As they were walking around, they came across a booth run by an organization involved in pet rescue and adoptions. Nina was moved by what she learned and decided that she wanted to help raise money for the foundation. It's called The Fuzzy Pet Foundation. Nina came up with the idea of having a bake sale, and donating the proceeds to TFPF. TFPF happened to have a pet adoption event at a PETCO in a nearby city, so Nina, her friend Rosemary, and yours truly, sold cookies, cupcakes and rice crispy treats to store customers. Here are the girls at their table:


Last week, Nina celebrated her 10th birthday. Nina's birthday always falls during the first week of school. On the week before, Laura and I took Nina and her friend Bethany to Disneyland:


Last Friday night, at the end of the first week of school, Laura threw Nina a birthday party and sleep-over. One of the highlights was for the girls to watch the premier of Camp Rock 2. The girls didn't make it to the end of the movie, but not because they were sleepy -


They wanted to have a dance party:


Brady also celebrated a birthday since my last post, but he didn't have a birthday party / sleep-over / dance party. We just went out to dinner to a restaurant of his choice. I don't have a picture of that to post, but I leave you with a picture of his mom holding his brother. Here's my honey-bunny, Laura:


See you next month on a Saturday morning.

The Saturday Morning Post - Welcome Baby Jordan

Baby Jordan Carlos Aguirre was born this past Monday morning, August 2, at 8:03 a.m. Please enjoy these pictures of him before and after his birth.

Before:

An ultrasound photo

After:

First I cut the cord

Then they weighed Jordan

Then we saw the results (8 lbs, 1 oz)

Then we got to see him up close

Then they washed him

Then we fed him

Then we got to admire him

Then the kids bonded with him

Then he got to admire us

Then he slept

And slept

And slept

See you next month on a Saturday morning

The Saturday Morning Post - April

Greetings.

Things have been so busy for me lately that I haven't had the time to post, read posts, or spend much time on Facebook. (Yes, I know this is Blogger, but I'm on Facebook more than Blogger) I haven't even been checking my personal e-mail account as regularly as I should. The last time I let that go too long I had over 100 new e-mails. So let me update you on the highlights of my life.

The Baby

We picked his first name: Jordan. We haven't decided on a middle name yet. I was actually surprised when my wife Laura suggested Jordan. Jordan, you see, is also the name we picked for the baby that Laura lost nearly two years ago. One of the reasons we picked it then was because we knew it would work as either a boy's name or a girl's name. Laura suffered the miscarriage before we knew the gender of that baby. Laura is 5 months along now, and as of the last ultrasound, all is well.

Brady

He and his cheer squad continue practicing for the world championship in Florida. This event begins Friday April 23. Just last weekend, he had a competition nearby in Anaheim (literally across the street from Disneyland). I didn't get to see him perform, but Laura did. That particular competition was not their best performance. They did better in Dallas and in Palm Springs during February.

Nina

She has a new best friend (Marley), and has enjoyed multiple play dates, and a sleep over. She was also recently awarded student of the month in her class, and was recognized at the 4th grade assembly in front of all her classmates. Mom and dad were in attendance too!

Jordy

He and I walk nearly every morning before I leave for work. Well, he runs down the street with me in tow. We move at a slightly slower pace as we return up the opposite side of the street. He stops and smells everything, and when he urinates against a tree, he usually hikes the wrong leg.

Laura and I have discussed the possibility of the confusion that may occur after the baby is born because of the names Jordan and Jordy being so similar. Time will tell if that happens, but confusion is no stranger to this household.

The Mustang

My mom found a buyer for my dad's 1966 Mustang. An old friend / band member from high school, Steve Howe. Steve actually graduated the year before my older sister, Diana, which means he was a senior when I was a freshman. Anyway, he was in to Mustangs then, and my mom feels much better about the car going to someone she personally knows. Steve will also take good care of the car.

My Finger

Two Saturday's ago, while working in the yard trimming the hedge, I nearly severed my finger. Okay, well I'm exaggerating. I seriously cut the tip of the finger. This was the most painful injury I have ever incurred. I have always said (to close family and friends) that I have a high tolerance for pain, so when I say this was the most painful injury, I assure you it hurt like a mofo. I actually felt faint, not because of the blood loss - I controlled that quickly - but from the sight of the blood (more than I am used to). I'm better now, but I will probably have a scar forever.

Angels Flight

I found the picture below at my mom's house. I've recently been going in to downtown Los Angeles for business, and I saw the Angels Flight where it currently operates (not where it's pictured here). I have no idea when this picture was taken, but I would guess it was in the late 1960's. In it, you can barely see the top of the 3rd St. tunnel. Today, in this very spot, you can hardly see any ground; it's all buildings. I'll post a picture at a later date so you can see it as it presently looks.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you visit back on another fine Saturday morning . . .

The Sat. Morn. Post, Vol. 11 - San Clemente, part 2

Continuing from my post last Saturday morning . . . our family was on a vacation and we were celebrating my son, Brady's, 16th birthday. We took a weekend trip to San Clemente - a beach city in south Orange County, CA, about an hour away from were we live in La Habra, in north Orange County. As a matter of fact, our two cities are on opposite corners of the county. Enough of the geography lesson.

Brady is on a co-ed cheer squad called the California Allstars. Brady and his friends all met this year, and all (including Brady) are new to the squad. Last year, the squad won the 2009 World Championship. Brady only invited friends from his cheer squad to his birthday party (he did not invite any of his friends from school). The first to arrive were (L-R) Julian, (Brady), Tyler and Kiara.

Not too long after, a couple of others arrived: Chris and Jaylen, who are brothers, and who both cheer on the squad. They are new to the squad this year too. Once all the guest arrived, we took that long walk (nudge-nudge; wink-wink) across the street to the beach, and hung out for a while.

The older kids tumbled on the sand, entertaining the people on the pier above. My daughter Nina, her friend Alyssa, and Chris and Jaylen's little brother and sister made sand castles and waded in ankle-deep water. Here the kids make a pyramid thing in the shadow of the pier.

Just the boys on the beach goofing around. I'm sure you don't recognize it, but the white house on the bluff above Brady's head was the a home of San Clemente's founder, Ole Hanson.

After much fun and sun, we were ready to come in to open presents and eat cake. One of Brady's gifts was several dollar bills taped together like a continuous string. Brady loved this gift a little too much.
Here are all of Brady's party guests (L-R) Chris (holding his baby sister Mya), Tyler, Julian, Kiara, Jaylen and Brady:

Here is Brady's birthday cake. Albertson's makes a great cake, and my wife Laura loves to order this particular one. We have ordered this same cake for several birthday parties - sometimes filled with fresh strawberries, but not this time.

We had a great weekend, and everyone who attended Brady's party had a great time. By Sunday morning, we were all pack up and ready to check out, and in about an hour's time we were back home.

Moving up to the present time, it's Labor Day Weekend, and that means I have labor to do around the house. Oh, that's right; I get to do that every weekend. Well at least this weekend I can watch UCLA play football, and I'm one week away from NFL football. It's the most wonderful time of the year. See you next Saturday morning.

The Sat. Morn. Post - Vol. 10 - San Clemente, Part 1

Hi there! This Saturday morning I'll reflect back to last weekend: our family vacation to San Clemente, where we celebrated our son Brady's 16th birthday. Thanks to my wife Laura's wonderful grandparents, Bertha and Gil, to whom we owe so very much. Bertha and Gil have a timeshare on the beach in San Clemente. They graciously allowed us to use it for the weekend to host Brady's 16th birthday party. If it were not for Bertha and Gil, we could not have had this wonderful family vacation and birthday celebration.

And it couldn't have been a nicer weekend. It was not blazing hot as it sometimes is in late August here in Southern California. And we didn't have to travel far. Brady's guests didn't have to go far out of their way either. Lets look at the pictures, shall we?

First up is the view from the balcony of our room looking straight out (west). This is San Clemente Pier:
This picture was taken from the same spot, but with the lens pointed a little to the right.
What you can't see in either of the pictures above, is the train tracks. Amtrak, Metrolink, and Coaster all share the tracks, and trains run frequently between 7:00 a.m. ish and 7:00 p.m. ish. It doesn't take long to get use to the bells at the crossing (which you can barely see in the top picture), but the train horns are somewhat louder.

Also, the two pictures taken above were actually taken on Sunday morning, the last day we were there. All of the remaining pictures in this post were taken on Friday, the first full day we were there. The morning cloud cover was so thick you would think we were experiencing June Gloom.

Laura loves taking pictures of the two of us, but by holding the camera herself - as opposed to allowing someone else to hold the camera and take the picture of us. She took 8 of these pictures, most of them cut off the top of my head from just above my sun glasses. This is the best of that bunch of 8 (in my opinion). I chose one where both of us had a nice smile, but doing so I had to pick one that didn't show what was written on my hat. I will not spell out the whole name, but the initials are UCLA.
Our daughter Nina brought a friend with her: Alyssa. Here they are sitting on the back of the life guard's jeep. We took a walk the Friday evening out on to the pier, and along the beach. It was noticeably cooler than during the day, and that June Gloom cloud cover only got thicker.

Here we have me and Laura taken by Brady. (see, my hat isn't chopped off). Laura is holding up my beer belly, as I am sucking in.

And here without me having to move an inch, we have the birthday boy, Brady, and Nina.

So this concludes the "family" portion of our vacation. The part 2 portion of my post will focus on Brady's birthday party. See you next Saturday morning.

The Saturday Morning Post - Vol. 7 - Family Pictures

This Saturday morning, I thought I would share some pictures of my family. After all, the name of my blog is Danny & Family. My wife Laura is the keeper of the pictures. That is to say she has the digital images on our family computer under her login, and she set up folders to categorize them. She also has a box of photos in our closet taken from our older camera - the one that used film. I don't have the time to look through the box and pick out any, and don't really want to scan them and put them on the computer. There are plenty to choose from on the computer right now. So below are some fairly recent ones.

I'll begin with a few taken on my Birthday back in January. Laura and I, along with our daughter Nina, went to Disneyland. Disney has this offer where the person celebrating their birthday gets in free. My birthday also happened to have fallen on Martin Luther King's birthday, so due to the holiday and so many people being off of work and school, the Magic Kingdom was quite crowded that day.

I don't remember why our son Brady didn't join us at Disneyland, but he did go to dinner with us at the Olive Garden. Here I am getting ready to blow out my candle on a piece of chocolate cheesecake I was given, and Brady decided to be a goof.

Next stop on our picture tour is right next door. Literally. Our next door neighbors are my wife's grandparents, Bertha and Gil. On Easter Sunday, we also celebrated Gil's 80th birthday. Here's the birthday boy, and his lovely wife:

Also taken on Easter at Gil's party; Laura with her sister Sara and her brother Sean:

Pictured here are four generations: Bertha, Tina, Laura and baby Olivia.

Here's a better picture of Olivia:

And finally a picture taken about a week ago. Laura e-mailed it to me at work, and the subject line said "Our Kids"

Well that's it for this week. See you next Saturday morning.

The Saturday Morning Post - Series Kickoff

I'm going to make another attempt to post on a regular basis. My numerous and faithful readers might have noticed a lengthy absence from my own posts and from the comments I leave on their blogs. True, until about two weeks ago, I hadn't posted anything since Dec. '08. I've only been reading blogs on and off since then, and commenting very infrequently. You see, it all comes down to time. Specifically the lack of time I have to spend blogging due to the other things in my life that have a higher priority. I've realized that have to do something for me: something that I enjoy doing. So I'm going to post on my blog on a regular basis.

I'm an early riser on weekdays due to work, and even on Sunday morning due to church. The one day a week that I "get" to sleep in is Saturday. Without setting my alarm clock, my body clock still wakes me up around the time my alarm would, but I usually go back to sleep with no problem. However, I find it hard to stay asleep past 6:00 a.m., even if I've gone to bed later than normal the night before. So for me, Saturday mornings have been a quiet time that I can do whatever I want, which has usually been something on my computer. Many times that's been work, i.e., doing work for my job that I've brought home, but there have been times when I've done fun things on the computer - like blogging, updating Facebook, visiting various web pages, etc.

So today I kickoff an effort to write a post every Saturday morning during my quite time alone, before my wife, kids, and our puppy wakes up; before I start doing the many chores I do on weekends, and before I do the work that I brought home. The subjects will vary, but will be similar to previous posts. I know those subjects are very interesting to my numerous and faithful readers. Please note my poor attempt at humor. a co-worker gave me an idea for a post subject: talk about some of the stupid situations I deal with at work. Now I've mentioned my work on previous posts, but I don't think I've shared specific stories about real situations.

For those who don't know or have forgotten, I am a human resources manager for a medium-size company. My job is employee relations, and I spend much of my time advising management at all levels of the company on how to deal with their employees when they have problems with either performance, conduct/behavior, or policy/procedures. I'm also the HR contact person for all employees when they are having problems with their co-workers or supervisors. I also conduct internal investigations when serious allegations are made, such as racial discrimination, or sexual harassment. I spend a great deal of time documenting many conversations, which is why I frequently bring work home.

I can easily share with you many stories of the STUPID things employee have done that management has to report to me, for which I advise them of appropriate action. Just when I thought I heard it all . . . . can be the beginning of many of my stories. So next Saturday I'll share one of those, and rotate those type of stories with other things in my life - like the new puppy we got a few months back. Please check back.

The Best Christmas Present Ever

Hi friends. I know, it's been a while since I've posted. I wish I had the time. I can barely keep up with reading blogs. I rarely comment on them now, and even more rarely post on my own blog. But I'm always here, and God-willing, will not go away for a long time.

Anyway, I came across a picture of a Christmas present that my daughter Nina gave me this past Christmas. I honestly feel that this is the best Christmas present that a child could ever give his or her parent. She loves us so much. She wanted to give presents to me, her mom, and her brother, but she wanted them to be from her, personally. For me, she blew up a balloon and wrote the following words on it: "Marry Cristmas Brady 2008". She wrapped it on her own in a box with a ribbon and a bow. When I opened it on Christmas morning, I thought it was such a wonderful and thoughtful gift, but when she saw that she wrote her brother's name (Brady) on it instead of mine (or Dad) she was heartbroken. Naturally, it broke my heart to see her in such an embarrassing state. I immediately took a Sharpie and crossed out Brady's name, and wrote "Dad" in its place. It took a lot of tears on her part and attention diversion on the part of me and her mom, but in the end she recovered. I've held on to that balloon for months now, and decided to take a picture of it to preserve it for as long as a digital image lasts. This is not the first time Nina has given me a balloon as a gift, and the last time - it shriveled up. This time I took a picture of it. Here it is for you to see:
Thank you Nina, for the best Christmas present ever. I love you so much - more than anything in the whole world. Love, Dad.

Thanskgiving '08 - Charlie's Place - part two

Continuing from my last post - our family spent Thanksgiving out in the desert with our off road club, the D.O.M. This is the way my family (just my wife and kids, that is) traditionally spends Thanksgiving.

On Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, the club had a poker run. A poker run is a game where you draw five cards and the person with the highest hand wins. And so there just isn't one winner, the pot is split with the person with the lowest hand. Since this is a fundraiser for the club, the "split" is divided up 3-ways with the high hand getting the biggest cut, the low hand getting the second biggest cut, and the club getting the smallest cut.

Also, since we're an ATV-riding club, the poker run requires participants to ride from one location to another on a marked trail. When you get to a location you draw a card from a deck. However, just to make it interesting, you have to perform a feat in order to earn your card. You do this a total of four times. The fifth card comes at the end of the run, and you get to draw your last card for completing the whole series.

With the exception of the first location, which we forgot to photograph, here are some pictures of us doing the various feats. At the second location, we had to suck the juice from a lemon wedge. Laura didn't like this at all, as you can tell by the sour face:

At the third location, we had to paddle a Superball back and forth 5 times. It took Nina and Laura about 5 tries before they could reach 5 cycles of back and forth. Here they are with their success smile:

At the fourth location, we had to spin a Hula Hoop around our body 5 times. Nina did this with ease:

Laura couldn't spin the hoop around twice. I learned from last year that the easiest way for me to do this is by spinning it around my neck:

Just in case you were wondering, none of us won. Also, just in case you were wondering, at the first station, participants had to blow a bubble with bubble bum until it popped in their face. And finally, just in case you were wondering, Brady is not in any of the pictures because he was in a group with his friends. He's too cool to hang with his parents and sister.

Later on Saturday afternoon, a few of us went on a ride to one of the mines in the area. On the way back, we stopped at some rock formations that look really weird. I'm sure Geologists or Earth Scientists know how these rocks are formed, and probably know the name of the formations. I just think they look cool. Here's Nina sitting on one:

That's all for this post. Bye for now - Dan

Thanksgiving '08 - Charlie's Place - part one

Our family spent Thanksgiving the same way we've done for the past few years: out in the desert with our off road club, the Dirty Old Men. The D.O.M. goes out to a location known as Charlie's Place. This is my personal favorite place our club goes to because of the variety of riding and the sights to be seen.

Our family was originally planning to leave on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving day, but that turned out to be too busy. Not only is it one of the worst days to try and drive out of the Los Angeles area in any direction, but my wife Laura had unfinished "cheer" business that had to get done. I can write an entire post just on Laura's involvement in La Habra Pop Warner and Cheer, but I'll bore you with that on some other occasion. This post is about our Thanksgiving weekend. So, we left for the desert on Thursday morning at about 7:30 a.m.

We arrived just about 3 hours later, which is pretty good time in my opinion. Our destination was only about 160 miles away, but we had to take the Cajon Pass out of San Bernardino. This is a steep climb along Interstate 15, and gets slow for those of us pulling a trailer. I'm sure many of the people speeding by us were hurrying off to Las Vegas. Once in our camp area, we quickly leveled our trailer and unloaded our quads, and we otherwise transformed the cargo area of our travel trailer into our living space. We spent the rest of the day visiting with friends and getting ready for the Thanksgiving potluck that the club traditionally has. The club provides the turkey, and all the members bring side dishes and desserts.

The members who want to eat together near the potluck table bring their own tables to the area. Nina put this place-holder on our table. It says: "Reserved for Danny Nina Laura Brady or whom we let"

Here's Laura and Nina eating their Thanksgiving dinner. Laura has a Margarita, Nina has pink lemonade in the Margarita glass. You can also see the people standing at the potluck table in the background. (the dog with no legs did not get to eat off of the potluck table)

And here's me and Nina eating. It was such a beautiful sunny day with no wind, and warm enough to keep our jackets off until nightfall. This picture was taken at about 4:30 p.m.

Since Nina finished all of her turkey, we let her have a big piece of chocolate cake for dessert. Laura and I had pumpkin pie. Brady ate with his friends in their motorhome, that's why he is not in these pictures.

That evening, we stayed in our trailer and watched a movie. We had not quite adjusted to the cold temperatures at night. Besides, we still had two more chances to go to the campfire over the next two nights.

On Friday, I took a lone ride to Randsburg. Randsburg, an old mining town that is now a tourist attraction, is about 17 miles away. I missed out on going there last year, which you can read about here if you want. This year I was going no matter what, and selfishly I didn't want to have to take a group of other riders. It took me just about an hour to get there on my quad, and I grabbed a seat at the bar and watched some college football. I ate a cheeseburger and an order of fries, and I had a couple of beers to wash it down. Then I returned for our camp via a different route. It was very enjoyable, but I don't have pictures to share. The camera stayed with Laura.

While I was gone, Brady joined the big group ride to the pinnacles, and Nina stayed back at camp and played in the sand. Here's she is along with a birthday cake she made:

Also, just like during our first ride of the year, the Ice Cream Man came out to the desert again! So even though Nina and Laura didn't go on a long ride on their quad, they did get cake and ice cream.

Part two to follow in a week or so. Bye for now.