Our Family Times 2018 Volume 1

Two Cents

2¢

each

NO. 1

The 2018 Recap Issue

Our Family Times TUESDAY DECEMBER 25, 2018

Merry Everything!

Love from us, Vanessa, Gavin, Isaiah & Jason

TWO CENT EDITION

2018 BULLETS

• Gavin See’s his first Pink Floyd Lazer Show at Fox Theatre in Monterey Ca • Isaiah starts his first year as a HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMAN • Gav learns to ride a scooter • Me and Jason go to Prom • Vanessa becomes a REALTOR • Vanessa un-becomes a REALTOR • Took Gav on his first ever camping trip at the San Luis Resevior with daddy Jason, grandma Lorraine and grandpa Marty and momma Vanessa • Baby sister becomes a homeowner • Isaiah takes Photography class and falls in love with it • Went to Pebble Beach Food & Wine with Jacquline and Rene, uncle Eugene and tia Sylvia • My grandma Rachael transitions into retirement

Nicole & Ariel are engaged!

Congrats

Happy Retirement!

• Mom Turns 55 • Gavin Turns 3 • Isaiah Turns 16!!

• Vanessa Turns 37 • Jason Turns 38 • Vanessa learns how to make homemade slime • Thanksgiving in Oregon • Jason learns that dried dates (the fruit) makes him deathly ill • Vanessa discovers Poshmark and becomes a 5-star rated seller • My baby sister gets engaged!

• Released our pet turtle, Nixon into a pond at Roaring Camp in Felton Ca. • Jason becomes full time at Pebble Beach Co. • Our family gets approved for an amazing large townhouse/ condo within Pebble Beach gates! BLESSED!

Celebrating my 37th with endless Meats & Rainbows!

SAN JOSE, CA - Jason took me to celebrate my 37th birthday at Taurinus Brazilian Steak House in San Jose. He had discovered the place with coworkers on a work trip one time and came home to tell me all about it. I was super excited to go because from the sounds of what Jason said, it was quite an experience! The website says “Taurinus Brazilian Steak House combines the traditional gaucho approach to roasting poultry, pork, and beef over an open fire pit with elegance. With our Rodizio (continuous) style of serving and more than a dozen rotisserie grilled meats, this is more than fine dining – it’s an experience.” In simple terms it’s an all-you-can eat MEAT and MEAT till you explode!!!

The quality of meat is TOP-NOTCH, and the salad bar was gourmet and delicious! I ate my first chicken heart! We sat, indulged and sipped wine and feasted like King & Queen. When we felt we had our fill, we decided to “wobble” off some of our fullness, and strolled through downtown Santa Clara. It was a beautiful night.

On our walk, we noticed some fenced off event, we could hear music playing and I wanted to see what was going on. To my surprise and complete JOY, Santa Clara PRIDE was happening! So we paid $5 to get in, and we danced the rest of the night away. It was the most perfect night. We were definitely living our best life this day. Happy Birthday to me!

VEGAS TRIPPING Road trip from Cali to Nevada

LAS VEGAS, NV - Out little family (minus our oldest, Isaiah) road tripped to Vegas to see the amazing NIN (Nine Inch Nails) playing at the famous Hard Rock Cafe hotel inside “The Joint” venue. We met up with “Oma” Susan who was

delighted to be joining us on this little concert trip to spend time with us, but mostly with little Gav-Man (he loves his OMA)!

On the way to Vegas, we found lots of little off road attractions and sites. Dinosaur park behind Peggy Sue’s Diner in Barstow and an old gold mining ghost town in Calico, Ca. It was blazing hot out, but neat.

Vegas was too hot, but I expected that since

it was smack in the middle of June! Gavin was a trooper in the heat, not too many complaints out of him.

Vegas has so many things to see and do, we didn’t want the trip to only be about us and NIN, and anyone who knows Gav, knows he’s a Beatles Fan! So we planned to take him to the Cirque De Soleil “Beatles LOVE” show. He absolutely loved it. We also discovered a full on experience Avengers attraction inside one of the big hotels and toured a cool interactive museum with cool character sets and museum type rooms.

Gav did get a little scared inside the HULK lab.

The trip was fun and exciting for all of us. Till next time Vegas!

IEW

EV IE R

D FOO

F

ollowing a Rugby game my sister was playing in on Treasure Island near San Francisco, me, Isaiah, Jason and G-Man were on the lookout for somewhere cool to eat. San Francisco is known for eclectic and unique eats, and we set out to find something fun and yummy for the entire family.

Our criteria for the perfect place was very specific. As we had Gav and Isaiah with us, the place had to be kid friendly, have something to eat for Gavin, because he is quite the picky eater and unique! We were also looking for something cheap to moderately priced as we were a large bunch.

After about a 15 minute search on Yelp…

Jason found us STRAW Carnival Fare.

It had everything we were looking for!

Totally kid friendly, I mean, it was a Carnival theme restaurant! the menu was short but very unique and fun, with a food item called “The Ringmaster: Our Famous Donut Burger” and a drink item called “Sangria Slushie” we knew it was going to be cool! Another part of our criteria and the best part was it was very reasonable with price. WIN-WIN! Upon entering the snug restaurant we were first greeted by a super nice lady we assumed was the owner, but was not, she was just an amazing greeter. The place was filled with fun carnival theme paintings on the walls and one of the seating areas was even a “half apple” ride attraction seat! All the menu’s were old kid books that had no real book pages, just

the menu pages. After skimming through the menu I learned STRAW was featured on Food Network’s “World’s Weirdest Restaurants,” Cooking Channel’s “Off-Beat Eats,” Fox’s “The Harry Show” and Travel Channel’s “Cheat Day Chowdown”. COOL! When we ordered, it was already decided before we even walked in that Isaiah would have the Famous donut burger, Jason decided he wanted one too! I wimped out and got just their “STRAW” Burger! I did however order the Sangria Slushie.....well, no, Jason ordered it, but I shared with him.

Gavin had his usual chicken tender and fries, but the place has it’s own twist on normal foods, and Gav’s chicken was just too spicy for him!

He devoured fries and drank juice and all was well. All in all, the experience was neat, and we enjoyed having a bit of weird with our food. We highly recommend this place as somewhere to go and just experience something unique ISAIAH DEVOURING HIS and crazy.

DONUT BURGER

TREASURE ISLAND, CA - My sister Nicole is a beast at sports. She’s been all-sport since she was a little girl. As she’s grown into adulthood, she is still extremely active in sports! She lives in San Diego and is active duty Navy-Girl but is also apart of an all women Rugby team call the San Diego Surfers. When my sister was younger it was easier to go to her games and really watch her kick butt. But as she’s grown up and now travels with the Navy and also with different rugby teams, I hadn’t had any chance to really watch her play anymore, until August 18 2018.

AFTER PARTY. PHOTO CREDIT JASON JACOBI

SD Surfer’s were coming to Treasure Island to kick off the “premier league Fall 2018 Season”!

I was finally going to witness my sister brutally and aggressively play a nice game of Rugby! ha! Now, I don’t know SHIT about rugby or the rules, so I was lost watching her play, but it didn’t matter. I was just happy to see her out there doing her thing! I screamed, I cheered, and I Boo’d when she wasn’t playing and I had the best time watching and even squinting every time she got hit or when she hit someone on impact! It was the most intense thing I had ever seen and I was excited.

OAKLAND, CA - This year marked the firsts of alot of things. One being a 2 day hip-hop music festival that I allowed Isaiah to attend with a single friend to enjoy and experience on his own. Rolling Loud is “The dopest hip hop fest in the game”, stated on their website.

I’ve been taking Isaiah to music festivals and concerts since he was a little kid, and to see him walk into a venue in Oakland California alone gave me a happy but nervous knot in my stomach. It was a huge deal for me to let him go alone, but in the end it was a total success, and he even checked in often (on his very own) to let me know who he was seeing perform and how sweaty he was from jumping in the “mosh pits” and even saving people from being hurt. The ride home was exciting as he talked about all the fun he had! I’d say the “Coolest Mom” award goes to me!

P.S. The team didn’t win (L 12-17)

HALLOWEEN WITH THE TIKKER GIRLS

MOM WITH THE BOYS ON HER 55TH BIRTHDAY

JASON & PEBBLE BEACH CO. CREW

OMA READS TO GAV

VANESSA & JASON GO TO PROM

ISAIAH ENROLLS INTO PACIFIC GROVE HIGH.FRESHMAN, BABY!

GAVIN DANCING AT SEASIDE’S “SUNDAY BLUES” IN THE PARK

OUR HANDSOME MEN AT JENNY & DAVID’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY.

BATGAV SAVING GOTHAM CITY (LOVERS POINT, PACIFIC GROVE)

ISAIAH GETS HIS BRACES OFF!

Answers to Gav’s Puzzle

MOM & GAV SING KARAOKE TOGETHER