Colorful Bouquet for a Beautiful Spring Day

Lily’s Lewis and Clark Play

Lily played the part of Cassie in this year’s annual Fourth Grade Lewis and Clark play. Savannah was in the show four years ago, and now it’s Lily’s turn!  Cassie is the role of a Fourth Grader who narrates the Lewis and Clark story that comes alive around here. Put on by a combined cast of both Fourth Grade classes at Arrowhead, most roles were played by multiple kids. 

This year, the production was held at Bothell High School’s Performance Art Center, a great resource for the Northshore School District.

Here’s Lily with the rest of the class singing a song:

The music director guiding the kids as best she can from her position in the front row:

 

Lily in her role as Cassie:

 

Lily in the final number, then taking a bow as a Cassie:

Liam’s T-Ball Debut

Liam has started t-ball. The kids are nuts. The older ones are more coordinated and more focused. The younger boys (like Liam), just want to tackle each other and get dirty. Some of my favorite photos from practice and his first game:

First day of practice. Kind of scary for Liam.

His friend Joey from school was on his team as well. So cute they held hands.

 

Playing catch at his first practice:

Giving mamma high-five after practice:

Running – Liam’s favorite activity:

His first game – Looking good in his uniform. Go Mariners!

Liam’s first at-bat (that’s coach setting up the tee)

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Here are some other recent photos from his practices:

Liam Turns Five!

Today, March 19, is my son Liam’s 5th birthday!  We’ll have a party for his friends in a couple of weeks (we’re booking The Reptile Man again…had him for Liam’s 3rd).  Today was the family party. After a day at school, where he had an ‘It’s my birthday’ blue ribbon pinned on his shirt and a special cupcake, we took Liam out to Mexican food at our famous restaurant.  I haven’t been feeling great, but I wasn’t going to disappoint my little man by not taking him out.

Savannah took this rare photo of me. I’m always behind the camera.

Ashton had discovered (and enjoys!) the sour tartness of lime.

Last Day in Vegas

Last night, we ate at this interesting restaurant at Encore called Switch. Every 30 minutes or so, the ceiling and the walls would ‘switch’ out and change the look of the room’s interior. Great steak and salad.

Today, we walked the strip, stopping in at various casinos for a little table action. The crowds were out today! I think the fact that it’s the weekend closest to St. Patty’s day is a big driver. We stopped at the Imperial Palace, where they feature ‘Dealertainers’ who take turns performing every 20 minutes or so. Very kitchy. Here’s the Michael Jackson dealer leaving the stage:

We finally ended outside of Planet Hollywood, at Trader Vic’s, where I enjoyed a number of Meneheune punches (as well as some calamari and other tasty appetizers).

Just Warm Enough…

The temperature hit around 65 degrees. Nice compared to Seattle, but not ideal pool weather. However, the direct desert sun is strong, and as long as we stayed out of the shade, it was a nice day by pool.

Conference Over; Leslie en Route

Chris Hansen of Dateline NBC, known for his investigation specials ‘To Catch a Predator’,’ was the closing keynote speaker at the MRC conference. He was interesting and informative, and has a new special coming out addressing the mortgage industry. Just about the time he finished his speech, Leslie was at the airport, getting ready to head down here. It’ll be nice to have some time alone, away from the kids.

Online Advertising Fraud Panel

Brandon Sobottka well represented my team and its operational role as a member of a panel in a breakout session of the MRC conference. As the only non-Google employee represented, Brandon shared valuable information on the importance of fighting fraud without getting into the specifics of how we do it.

Before the session and all smiles: Brandon, Chris Keast, Corey Louis & Andy Nowka:

Corey – a former secret service agent – gives an overview of online advertising fraud in his role of moderator:

Andy gives his product management perspective to a question:

Our panelists, listening intently to an audience question:

Brandon talks with a reporter from the New York Times (actually, it was some sales guy trying to pitch some product):

Brandon zoning out for a moment:

Chatting with the fans after the session:

Working in Vegas

I’m in Las Vegas for a conference (above is the actual view from my  room) on fraud and risk in the online commerce world. Former governor and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge spoke this morning, as did Terry Jones, founder of Kayak and brains behind Travelocity.  Between meetings, I check emails and work…here I am in such a state:

 

I’m staying at the Wynn, which is a gorgeous property, and Leslie is going to be joining me tomorrow for the weekend, which will be a nice break from the kid vacation we had…we can finally relax!

 

The weather is lovely, but right on the cusp of being hang out by the pool temperature…we’ll see.

 

Update – just finished a working lunch with a subcommittee of the Merchant Risk Council. We work on online advertising fraud related issues.

Pictured below is a shot of the meeting room, Bob (MRC), Corey (Google), Brandon (Microsoft), some other folks, and dessert.

Bon Voyage! Additional Photos

I have a ton of photos, but don’t want to overwhelm my narrative by dumping them all in a single post. Here are a bunch of other photos that are related to that first day of travel and exploring the ship.

Very top of the ship – that’s the signage of the Ship’s Name 

In the pool at the hotel. The kids played with the little plane everywhere.

Savannah in the ship pool

Pajamas mean that Liam has had his bath (a nice feature of the mini-suites), and is ready for bed.

The girls enjoying the hot sun (latitude – around 14 degrees north at this point)

One of the few photos of myself. I’m always behind the camera! (in Jamaica).

Liam loved the canonball! (series below)

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The Caribbean Sea

Suwiddy (as Liam likes to call Lily)