Thursday, September 3, 2009

The Dog Days of Summer


It's been quite a long time since my last post as the end of summer and the start of the high school football season have slowed down my blogging efforts.

Time to catch up. . .

First, I am so proud and happy for Jason and Christie Johnson for taking on the challenge of Spain's Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage Trail. GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT!!! Check out Jason's blog by clicking on the link to the left of this blog for some great reading.

The First Day of the 2009 Rio Mesa Freshman Practice

Only 41 players on the roster as compared to the 75 we had last year at this time. We only have 15 players with any Pop Warner experience, so this is going to be a work in progress for the next three months!

Los Angeles Airport Shuttle Service

Here I am greeting Mike and Vanessa on their return from their Honeymoon.

The latest version of Mr. and Mrs. Contreras

They arrived at about 1:00 a.m. from their great stay in the Carribean on the island of St. Martin. They are both still happy to be alive!

The Annual Camarillo Air Show

This vintage World War II bomber was one of many, many planes that buzzed over our house for two day's. The Camarillo Airport is only about 3 miles from our house.

Florene's Birthday

Florene is Laurie's Step-Mother and we had her and Laurie's Dad, Bill, over for a BBQ to celebrate another trip around the sun.

Some days I REALLY miss all of our friends in Sicily.

Gino Trattoria

No, not Gino's Trattoria, Gino Trattoria is the correct name of this great little Italian restaurant in Thousand Oaks. That is Gino himself in the white shirt with the mural of his hometown, Naples, Italy in the background. Gino is SO outgoing that he makes your night memorable all by himself.

Just some of Gino Trattoria's offerings

Laurie and I went to dinner here with our great friend Debi Murphy and her daughter Cyndy.

Why you ask? Because Cyndy just got a job reviewing restaurants for the new Conejo Valley Woman's Magazine. We had to help her research her first article.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

We enjoyed GREAT food at Gino Trattoris by the way.

Claudio Mangano

Among all the people we met in Sicily the last two years, Claudio was one of our favorites. Good guy and GREAT girlfriend in Roberta!

Here he is playing in the International Tournament last month fot the "Blue Team", Italy's National Team, what a great honor!

After beating the Spanish National Team 42-7, the Blues lost to eventual Tournament Champion Austria 34-3. The crazy thing about this tournament is that you play a game EVERY OTHER DAY!!!

Enrico Lombardi

Catania's stud running back also played for the Blues as did tight end Peppe Strano.

Warm-up for last Saturday's Intersquad Scrimmage

We run the agility bags every day to improve our players footwork and coordination.

Tackling is one of our Every Day Drills

Pre-Scrimmage Words of Wisdom

Take absolutely nothing for granted with this group of novices!

The Intersquad Scrimmage begins!

Paul Petrich

Paul blew into Camarillo on his way home to Santa Barbara last Saturday. We relived several "war stories" over dinner at Chuy's.

The Rio Mesa Water Polo Golf Tournament

This fund raiser last Sunday made for a good day of relaxation and friendship. The rest of the foursome from left-to-right is made up of Brian FitzGerald, Carl Melhorn and Gordy Abellera, all teachers at Rio Mesa.

Friday we travel to beautiful Simi Valley, California for a scrimmage against Royal H.S. It should be interesting for our youngsters to say the least.

4 comments:

DPLassen said...

Re: the Catholics vs. Ex-Convicts shirt — just wondering, which side you were on?

Anonymous said...

Thanks again for picking us up George! We were happy to see familiar faces!!

George said...

Ex-Convicts. . . Washington was coming off probation and playing Notre Dame in 1995 when I bought the T-shirt.

It is just too much of an ice breaker to throw away.

DPLassen said...

So that T-shirt is older than some of your freshman players, then?