From the desk of Annie

My First Visit to Venice Beach

Amazingly, I've never been to Venice Beach, Calif. even though I've lived here my entire life. I've always been curious about Venice Beach but never found a compelling reason to visit.

Fittingly, I had the best tour guide, Steve, who, during his first few months here in Calif. after traveling cross-country from the Bronx, N.Y., spent many weekends at this timeless classic tourist spot. As expected, there were many beach side stores and restaurants that lined the boardwalk. There were many street vendors, some intriguing, some not so intriguing, and some you flat out had to scratch your head and ask yourself, "Huh?"

But the most interesting was a man dressed in a leopard loincloth holding a sword in one hand and a frying pan in the other. He belted out the song, "I Want To Be a Millionaire." I'm still trying to figure out his act.

I felt safe at Venice as I hung on Steve's arm with Kenny and Christopher in tow. We stopped for burgers and fries and indulged in the ocean view. We watched a poor lady humiliate herself as she fell to the ground in the bike lane, while trying to avoid a collision with a few pedestrians.

First High School Baseball Games

The much anticipated first high school baseball game came and went and without disappointment, I might add.

Game 1 of the Loara Tournament, El Dorado versus Anaheim, lead-off Christopher Rivera hit a triple and would score to give the Hawks their first run of the season. Later he hit a bloop single to right field and took second on a errant throw. To cap off the day, Christopher launched a 2RBI homerun, 360 feet dead center. El Dorado's Hawks won 22-4.

In Game 2 of the Loara Tournament, Christopher roped a solo homerun, 350 feet, over the left field wall; his second in two days, in two games.

Steve shoots hoops with Christopher and Aaron at Champions.

Defensive Arsenal

Aaron continues his arsenal in Sunday's game versus the Bulls. Dubbed the "swat machine" in the first quarter Aaron scored four points and had two shot blocks. His coach nicknamed him the "tree trimmer."

The Lakers would win the Bulls and boosted their record to 5-0, undefeated in the first half of the season.

Next game January 4, 2010.

Happy Holidays!

Let the Games Begin!

Basketball season has officially started - NJB basketball, that is, and Aaron is taking the court by storm.

NJB rules are going to require some getting used to. For example, they play five periods not four, and if one team blows out another team, the referees select the top three players of the winning team and they are required to sit out the entire fifth period. I guess that in and of itself is a compliment since Aaron's been selected in two executive consecutive games now as one of the top three players in the game.

Aaron has led in rebounds and blocks and twice ended up with a double-double. He has unofficially scored a triple-double in one game, although the official scorekeeper left before we could confirm it. Aaron has also received accolades for "Defensive Player of the Game" in their first game of the season.

Ironically, his team is the Lakers -- I say ironically because he is not a fan of the Lakers in real life, but rather, a fan of (gag!) the Celtics. Go figure. To add salt to my wound, he is also a Red Sox fan -- a stab to my baseball heart as the rest of the family are Yankee fans. He must think he lives in Boston!

We're having a blast watching the games and cheering for Aaron and his team. Go LAKERS!

Enjoy the photos.

To watch video highlights of today's game, click HERE.

Click HERE to see 1st quarter highlights of last Sunday's game - Dec. 6.