A San Francisco Treat!

It was a real treat to take these two cute girls vintage shopping
at Haight/Ashbury in the city on Saturday!

Looking for a little peace & love...but we skipped the ice cream...

and enjoyed some delicious pizza at All You Knead diner.

Then stolled down the street and paused at every vintage thrift shop,
like this one, looking for anything that was authentic and positively unique.

We enjoyed all the murals and signs...

Especially the signs that had multiple peace signs on them.

Once our feet starting aching along with our pocketbooks,

we drove through Golden Gate park,

and stopped to smell the roses.

And laughed at this sign that was at the entrance of the garden.
At first glance, it would appear that NO humans were allowed in the park
especially if they were doing basically ANY kind of activity!

Once the girls reviewed the rules, they jumped for joy...
because they were so happy that jumping was allowed!

That Brooke has so much fashion sense and style.
It was no surprise that her outfit coordinated with the flowers in the garden.

And one of my favorite landmarks is the Windmill,
which is located at the west entrance to Golden Gate park.

The flowers were so incredibly gorgeous...

that the made Mom and Brooke smile and pause for a picture!

We introduced the girls to the cold and windy Ocean beach in San Francisco,
and watched the fog roll in.

They saw, heard, and smelled the seals at Pier 39.

And found a surfin' boyfriend...the best kind;)!

And finished the day enjoying dinner at Fisherman's Wharf.

Friday Night Football

It was a perfect night for football on Friday.
The air was crisp and cool. It even felt a bit chilly by the end of the night.

A nice change from the 106 degree weather that we experienced earlier in the week.

The stadium was filled with enthusiastic students, donning their "white" apparel

(thanks to Brooke, the athletic commissioner, who was busy promoting a "white out" all week!)

Some of the Senior boys chose to dressed up as indians.
We aren't quite sure why they chose indians, but it was cute and spirited, so it worked!

All 80 cheerleaders, which included the freshman, JV & Varsity squads, performed at halftime and were beyond spectacular!

Truly amazing with the sheer number of girls out on the field, tumbling in every direction,

hitting crazy hard stunts, with everyone dancing in unison. It's good to have Bri back!

And the football team showed us why "It's great..to be...a Granite Bay Grizzly!"

(I miss that cheer...it's still one of my all time favorites!)

by rolling over Reid, 48-24. It's going to be a great season!

Brooke and her friends, cheering in the student section, wearing their white gear!

The spirited indians.

The cheerleaders doing one of their many stunts during halftime.

Notice dad's sign at the bottom of the picture?!

He's still a proud Grizzly football supporter!

Decades Dance

Decades dance was a huge success last weekend!
The Seniors dressed up in costumes from 80's, which meant lots of neon and lots of spandex.
We had all the girls over before the dance to "get ready."
Some of the boys came over and joined the girls for the usual pictures in the backyard before the dance.
Then they headed off to Chipotle to meet up with more friends for dinner before the dance.
Fun!

The whole gang together.

And the ever popular "jumping" photo!

We tried taking this action photo about 8 times.
Each time Brooke (second from the right) was barely off the ground...
I'm not sure if her timing was off...or that the girl can run, but she just can't jump!

Don't worry, Brooke...jumping is overrated! And you looked adorable so that's all that matters:)!

Birthday donuts from Bill's & Cinderella celebrations!

Brooke's birthday celebration began with the Holt family tradition

of blowing out the candles that are on top of a plate of Bill's donuts.

It was the smallest plate of donuts since the beginning of this family favorite tradition.

Two chocolate donuts for Dad and Brooke's favorites, 1/2 dozen donut holes.

It was also probably the last time that I have to wake up early

and do the donut run to Bill's for someones birthday:(!

Sorry, I'm going to try and not keep bringing up every "last time" event that takes place this next year,

but this tradition was kind of a biggie with our family.

Being woken up in the morning of your birthday, by the whole family coming into you room, carrying a plate of assorted donuts from Bill's,

greeting you with a sorry rendition of "Happy Birthday!"

(Ashley is the only only one that can sing in our family!)

was something that the kids always looked forward to,

even if it meant that you had to lay quietly in your bed,

pretending to be asleep, of course, and for much longer than you wanted to that morning.

It was always well worth the wait!

Brooke and her birthday plate of donuts.

...and a Holt birthday tradition since 1991!

Since Mary Ann and the little girls were in town, we decided to have a Pretty Princess Party! Megan and Molly were thrilled and so was Brooke!

Brooke, with the birthday cake that my friend, Marisa made for her.

Brooke and the little girls are ready to blow out the candles.

Another Holt tradition...half the candles are "magic" candles that light up again over and over.

Even though everyone knows that they are "magic" candles,

they get such a kick out of it when they light up after you blow them out.

Megan and Molly were no exception.

As soon as they saw the cake with the candles, they squeeled, "Oh, they are magic candles!"

Then waited with great anticipation, after they all helped Brooke blow out the candles the first time.

Then squeeled with joy when they lit up again and frantically blew them out again.

This happened over and over,

with Megan blowing harder and harder each time they lit up again.

Until Dad came in to help extinquish the candles.

Brooke, the birthday girl, modeling her birthday crown and one of her favorite gifts, a brand new necklace.

Dr. Holt's Skate Party

Since Ashley was home this past weekend, she was lucky enough
to attend Brooke's Birthday party and Dr. Holt's Annual Ice Skating Party!
It's always a favorite way to end the summer at the Holt household!
And always a very popular activity with all of Dad's patients!
Like Allie once said, "There's nothing more entertaining than seeing a bunch of tweeners,
skating around in circles, smiling with a mouth full of metal,
waving frantically and yelling, "Hi Dr. Holt! I'm wearing my rubberbands! Wanna see?!"
After 2 hours of skating around in circles, doing the Hokie-pokie on the ice,
and playing red light green light wearing skates,
you know it's official time to send the kiddos back to school!

Dr. Holt and Dr. Annello ready to hit the ice.

Dr. Holt making his way onto the ice,
ready to make his obligatory few laps around the rink.

Ashley and Dad casually posing for an action shot.

Too cute!

Brooke makes her way around the rink with her friends!

I had to take quite a few photos to get a good one of Ash and Dad
because every single time they made their way around the rink
and just as I was going to snap the picture,
one of the kids would step in front of the camera and ruin the photo.
One time a kid hit the ice right in front of them.
It made for great facial expressions from Dad and Ash
but not quite what I was looking for.

Brooke and her cute friends.

Ash, standing in front of the rink and the end of the night.
I'm not quite sure what she is doing or why she wanted me to take this photo,

but she asked for a photo and stood in front of this sign.
You know me, I never turn away the opportunity to take a photo of one of my kids,
so I took the photo and she made this funny face,
and I think it's so Ashley and kinda cute!

Brooke's Birthday Luau

Ashley flew into town just in time to celebrate Brooke's birthday
and join in on the fun at her luau party on Friday night!
We served kalua pork, teriyaki chicken, sticky rice, pineapple & mango
and shaved ice for dessert. Yum!
It was a cute group of kids.
Some have been friends since their early soccer days when they played on the Golden Stars
or friends since they were in grade school at Oakhills and Ridgeview.
It's hard to believe that they are all grown up now,
but very cute, that they are still friends after all these years.

The "little girls!"

I couldn't decide which "little girls" picture I liked best so I included both and you can decide!

Friends

Brie came all dressed for the luau! I love Brie!

The master chef and king of the grill doing the final preparations before the feast begins.

Brooke with her friends.

Brooke with more friends.

Brooke and Katie enjoying their shaved ice.

Katie, Brooke and Taylor