Happy Birthday, Lizzie!

Happy birthday, Lizzie!

Well, it is your birthday today, and hopefully your day is filled with your favorite things, like flowers, birds, and friends.Maybe you will be even suprised by a few things.

Enjoy your cake from a couple of years ago. By now, the frosting is rock hard like that candy in that dish at Grandma's house that no one has touched in several years, and you are afraid to eat.

May God bless you on your birthday, and grant you many years of life.

Happy birthday, Lizzie!

Happy Birthday, Rev. Father Anthony And Teresa!

Today we bring out our official Mendoza Blog virtual birthday cake for our favorite Byzantine Catholic priest and our favorite mother of our favorite God-daughter.

Thank you Father Anthony, for your Priesthood, for the Sacraments you bring us, and for being an alter Christus to us. When you celebrate Divine Liturgy, it is with great solemnity. When you show your humor, it makes us all laugh. You are a great example of what a Priest should be. You make us desire Jesus, and to aspire to holiness. Happy Birthday, Father!

Thank you Teresa, for being a great friend, even with such a great distance between us. You are a good mother to your children, in imitation of our Blessed Mother, and a good example of a Christian. Thanks for choosing us to be God-parents to one of your children. May God bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe watch over you.

May God bless you both, and have a blessed birthday!

Pentecost Sunday, 2011

Pentecost Sunday 2011, at St. Basil Ruthenian Catholic Church at St. Albert the Great, Palo Alto.

Green is used in the Eastern Catholic churches to denote new life. Here is the reading of the Gospel.

Incensation.

Pentecost Sunday 2011, at Five Wounds Portuguese Church. It was a Traditional Latin Mass. Here the Priest is about to intone the Gloria.

The Servers saying the Confiteor.

A long, but beautiful day!

San Jose Sharks Vs. Calgary Flames: March 2011

For some fun, went with three other dads to see the Sharks play the Calgary Flames. We went to this game since one of the dads is actually a fan of this team.

Here is the Shark head from which the players skate out of.

Annti Niemi, goalie for the Sharks right before the game starts.

Pavelski at the Face-off.

GOAL!!!
Shark head spouts fog / dry ice from its mouth when the Sharks score.

The Zamboni during the intermission.

If you ever get to go to a Sharks game, it comes highly recommended. It's lots of fun, the fans are friendly, and it is REALLY LOUD!

Maybe some more sports shots later!

Our Annual Visit To The Mall, 2011

Actually, we have been to the Mall several times over the past six months, mainly to walk around when the weather was lousy.

We saw some weird things the last time we were there, so we decided to go back and document what one sees at the mall.

First of all, why do all the mannequins at this unnamed anchor store -we'll call it "Schmears"- have purple hair?

Why are they on a communal commode?

More purple hair.

Here is a store that sells chairs that look like shoes with extremely high heels. We'll come back to this one.
I don't know. A white suit with orange vest? Reminds me too much of Vanilla Orange Sorbet ice cream.

Why block half of your entry with mannequins?

Yes, we blurred out a word of the sign. You know, we have a word for jeans in Spanish.

Couldn't tell if this was a bag, plush toy, or a tribute to children's nightmares. You decide.

So, in Italy, so people go around with shirts that say, "Air Mail?"

The item that brought us back to the mall. In a city that has had such a problen with crime and murder, why not proclaim your love of firearms by displaying it on a hoodie!

Here is a close-up of the hoodie.

Our favourite place in the mall. This place sounds like it belongs in The Simpsons.

We're back to those high heel shoe chairs, and the girls are immitating a talk show. Or at least one of them is.

Is anybody missing half their car?

What will we find next year at the Mall? What will 2012 bring besides London Olympic T-shirts? Guess we will have to wait until next year to find out.

Flash Mob At Northridge Mall!

A Flash Mob of Michael Jackson's Thriller broke out at Northridge Mall in Salinas yesterday, and we were there to see it!

Check it out!

Actually, the Flash mob was just us four, and we needed one to take the picture. One of us did not want to participate, so she stood by the sidelines.

We actually drew an audience of three: one from Carl's Jr., one from the sports shop, and a lady from the Chinese massage place who was just cracking up! We waved to her as we finished.

We did alright, considering we had a practice that lasted four seconds, and consisted of one of us lifting a leg to show how the dance was done.

If another family would join us, Perhaps we could do a Flash Mob here. Together, we really would be a flash mob.

Just saying.

Mendoza Sighting: New Hampshire Edition!

Well, well, well. It sure seems like the Mendozas get around the country.

Here we see the Mendoza van, in of all places, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It is parked across the street from the Old North Church, where George Washington once worshipped in 1789.

So let's see the evidence.

It certainly looks like our van. It is blue, missing a hubcap, and on the left side, it even seems to have had a slight ender-bender in the past. It is even parked in front of an historic church.

Believability Rating: 50%. Although it looks pretty good, there is the possibility that this is not our van. For one, it looked a little too clean. This van had a roof rack, which strangely, seems to be missing on our van. We don't need to carry skis. Its not like we ever go skiing, or snowboarding.

I mean, come on.

The windows are tinted, which also seems to be missing now.

Also, I saw the driver come out of the van, and it could not have been me. How could I see myself come out of a van? It's not like I was watching myself six months into the future. Besides, this guy didn't look ANYTHING like me. Sure he was better looking, but he had that pasty skin that I saw on all New Englanders after a long winter that makes them look like drowning victims. The van also looked way too clean when I got closer to it. It also seems to have been registered in the state of New Hampshire.

Besides, this was a Thursday, and the family would have needed the van to get to Violin Lessons.

This was pretty close, but no cigar.

Oh well. Tune in again later for another edition of...

MENDOZA SIGHTING!

Another Yosemite Moment...

Brought to you by Fun times in Yosemite!

The kids had just finished having their first Skiing (and Snowboarding!) lessons, and amazingly still had enough energy to climb out of the car for another photo with Dad.

As for something fun and a chance to win a prize*, guess how many layers of clothing we are wearing!

*Prizes will not be given out. Offer void in YOUR state.

Buddy, Could You Spare A Grand?

The Ansel Adams Gallery is the place to buy all things photographic in Yosemite National Park, and where their classes are offered. If I were alone, I could spend several hours here. They also sell Ansel Adams reproductions, and every once in a while, originals.

I saw an original one in February that I wanted to get, but I was a few dollars short.

Like $44,900 dollars short.

Anybody out there from whom I could borrow the rest? I would gladly pay you Tuesday.

It will look nice next to my Ansel Adams reproductions and Corvette and SJ Sharks posters.

You can google the image. I couldn't take a picture of it. It looked spectacular, and it would not do it justice.

You'd think for 45 grand you would get a frame, but no.

Farm Day!

Those who are acquainted with us Mendozas know that Juan is the fun parent, and I am the dull parent. So while Juan was away, I had to fill in and try to be more fun. So I decided that I should take the kids someplace fun, and if possible, something free. As luck would have it, that weekend, while Juan was injuring himself doing yard work for some family in New Hampshire, the Watsonville Day on the Farm was on. So after a quick stop at Wendy's for lunch, we headed out to Watsonville to learn about farm stuff.

The kids got to see real live farm animals and pet them.

There were many classic cars on display as well.

Two wanded Wizard dueling? No! it's an old fashioned game that involves tossing and catching a hoop with sticks. Apparently this was the Nintendo Wii of the 1880's.

Pumping water the old fashioned way.

Nicholas attempts the Jr. tractor pull with a payload of six bricks. Much harder than it looks.

Monica has some fun at the candle making booth.

Ramon also tries his hand at candle making.

Lizzie and Nicholas tried out the sack races and were rewarded with candy.

After the kids were worn out from sack racing and candle making and other crafts, we decided to take the hay ride. We got to ride in a wagon pulled by these beautiful clydesdales. Juan says he could totally ride one of those. And then promptly fall off, and hurt himself.

There is a little Farming museum at the fairgrounds, and we went in to see the sewing exhibit. Lizzie models a lovely bonnet here. Now she wants me to sew her one. Sigh.

Dial-a-beef. It sounded fun, but we were disappointed to learn that instead of dispensing delicious beef products, it only gave out interesting facts about beef cattle.

Not a bad afternoon (except for the dial-a-beef disappointment). The kids came home with things like yarn dolls and ball and cup games, bits of rope, and other crafty things. I picked up a recipe for homemade ice cream that doesn't require any special appliances and instructions on how to make cheese.