The Lombardi Spot {blog_url} en rob@lombardispot.com Copyright 2008 2008-10-07T23:59:00-08:00 Annie’s Birthday http://www.lombardispot.com/index.php/shaded-fall/annies_birthday/ It was actually quite a while ago, but I never mentioned it here. Our ex-neighbors Jill and Brian had a birthday party for their daughter Annie at Little Gym. It seemed like a very girly activity, but the boys and girls had lots of fun. And actually, I wish I was small enough to play on this stuff but I think I would have broken something on either myself or in the facility! Click Here to See the Entire Gallery Here’s a photo of Matthew jumping from the balance beam. Family As an icebreaker, they had each kid say their name and then have them knock down this padded ramp.

They they played a game of following simple fun instructions involving a little red cloth.

Meanwhile, Claire sorta did her own thing.

And the parents were up against the wall with their cameras.

One of the hardest things for Matthew was to stand still on the little spot.

Then they did a little tumble routing, each person taking a turn.

They also had some yummy cake and played with balloons. It was a lot of fun and what a treat Annie had to spend her Birthday with friends in such a exciting place.

]]> 2008-10-07T23:59:00-08:00 The Claw http://www.lombardispot.com/index.php/shaded-fall/the_claw/ Perhaps I should create a photo album of all of Claire’s defense moves and we can start the Claire School of Self Defense. Even while brother is using both hands to immobilize her, she manages to perform the claw move. Family 2008-10-07T16:38:00-08:00 A Veggie Cross http://www.lombardispot.com/index.php/shaded-fall/a_veggie_cross/ Recently, Matthew has found it fun to eat some food items with a toothpick. It started when we sampled some sausages at Costco. They used the little toothpicks to serve them. I served the little slices of sausage on a plate and he wanted to eat them with a “stick”. It took forever to figure out what he wanted because it had already been days since our Costco trip and we had long forgot. Matthew kept saying “stick, stick!”. And he wouldn’t eat the sausages. In our normal manner we probably said something like, “no, we’re not playing with sticks right now, eat the sausage”. But he was very insistent and pointing up above the microwave saying “stick”. Well, we keep the toothpicks above the microwave and after deep blank thought, and by the grace of God I finally, I realized he wanted to eat the sausages with a toothpick. “Oh, you mean a toothpick?” Matthew agreed. So now he likes to eat various foods with a toothpick. He pleasantly surprised us recently when he suddenly said, “look, Jesus cross.” And we turned to see his veggies put to good use. And he ate his veggies too. Click Here for all photos of Matthew and the Veggie Cross. Family 2008-10-06T21:05:00-08:00 Sayrah’s Photo Shoot http://www.lombardispot.com/index.php/shaded-fall/sayrahs_photo_shoot/ Our 14 year old dog Sayrah has had bone cancer and a broken leg for over a month now. She's hanging in there. I took her to another vet recently and she said I'm doing the right thing to not do the amputation, just keep her comfortable, on pain killers and let her enjoy things as they come. We took her to the park yesterday and she hopped around, sniffing things and just enjoying the change in scenery. I recently posted some photos that we took with her. Click Here to See the Sarah's Photo shoot Gallery See any similarities? Here we asked Matthew to put his head real close to her.

This is very typical of Claire to get excited and bang on something. But isn’t she just adorable when she’s doing it? Oh yeah, we should discourage this behavior. Oops, I was distracted by her cuteness. cheese

]]> 2008-10-06T16:22:00-08:00 She Looks So Innocent http://www.lombardispot.com/index.php/shaded-fall/she_looks_so_innocent/ Jenn always wanted a sweet daughter to love and nurture. What she didn’t expect was to get a generous amount of spice. Here’s a photo of Claire with the infamous grab the brother’s face move. Family Sometimes Matthew grabs her and because she’s just starting to walk she can easily fall over and get hurt. Sometimes we hear her crying and we come to see the aftermath, but we’re not quite sure what happened. Here’s a photo of a precarious situation. Looks lovely and sweet, but it’s really an unstable situation. We just hope Claire can survive her brother’s hugs.

Oh, okay, here’s that sweet girl that we signed up for. This is what makes every bad moment worth the trouble. wink

Click Here to See the entire Gallery

]]> 2008-10-02T21:30:01-08:00 Photos from Jenn http://www.lombardispot.com/index.php/shaded-fall/photos_from_jenn/ Jenn is taking some photos these days. Some of them sat on her point and shoot HP camera for nearly a year. Here’s a photo of Matthew and I at his 2nd birthday party. Yeah, it’s old considering he’s now 3 years old. So it’s actually amusing to see how different Matthew looks. There’s also some photos of Jenn while she was pregnant with Claire. Click Here for the Gallery of Jenn’s Photos Family 2008-10-02T21:23:00-08:00 Grapes Can Harm Your Children http://www.lombardispot.com/index.php/shaded-fall/grapes_can_harm_your_children/ My wise wife has always been on my case about grapes and not giving whole grapes to our children when they are too young. I resistively followed her advice, cutting grapes into quarters whenever we would serve them. On most grocery outings we would skip the grapes altogether because Jenn just didn’t want to have the stress of knowing that a stray grape might be left under a couch for Clarie to choke on. Currently we struggle with my mother, who still insists on giving cherry tomatoes to Claire. Well, very recently, a young boy choked on a grape in San Jose and is has a severely damaged brain as a result. Read the story at the Mercury News and tell me if your not now convinced that foods like grapes, hotdogs, popcorn, cherry tomatoes can be a severe choking hazard for kids. Baby Boy Chokes On Grape Consider, it’s one thing to cut them up, but also consider that if you have older kids even though they may be old enough to eat them whole, it’s very easy for the parent to be distracted, leave the older child to eat his grapes, and then find that the older child had left the bowl of grapes on the floor and the younger one is crawling to get them! To alleviate the stress of having to keep track of where individual grapes, etc may roll, you may find Jenn’s position easier. Don’t buy grapes until all your children are old enough that they are not a choking hazard. News 2008-09-03T21:50:00-08:00 My Brother’s Blog http://www.lombardispot.com/index.php/shaded-fall/my_brothers_blog/ My brother Mike started a new blog where he describes daily experiences as a “fractional pilot”. His life involves spending an entire week flying the country and then an entire week back at home. So a fraction of his life is spent in the air, at airports, hotels, and interesting cities around the country and some of the nearby vacation islands. He’s a pilot for a private jet company that provides private jet service for people able to pay the huge price tag. So he’s often in nice vacation spots and interesting small airports, describing his experiences. His latest experiences include hurricanes, secret service agents, mexican cola, huge yachts, and more. For someone who probably barely passed English courses in high school, he has a very nice writing style too. Click Here for Mike Lombardi’s Blog Family 2008-09-02T18:42:00-08:00 Dominic Accident and Recovery http://www.lombardispot.com/index.php/shaded-fall/dominic_accident_and_recovery/ A little boy had a bike accident with a car which caused serious injuries. We first became aware of it because of our church email prayer list. He’s recovering now and learning to do many things over again. He can’t move his right side much at all, he’s going through speech therapy and many other things. It really tugs at our hearts because we also have a small little boy and parents have so many hopes and dreams for the life of their child that you can only imagine how your whole life is derailed because of things like this. The parents put up a website where you can see some photos of Dominic at his birthday party and updates on his condition. The website has ways to donate money. Please support and pray for them if you are compelled to do so. Dominic’s Blog and Website Christianity 2008-09-02T18:31:00-08:00 Claire’s Morning Routine http://www.lombardispot.com/index.php/shaded-fall/claires_morning_routine/ Nearly every morning I make myself a toasted sandwich with peanut butter, fresh fruit (bananas, strawberries, berries, etc), and honey. Jenn, Claire and Matthew will usually be sleeping. I’ll enter the room with sandwich and two latte’s in hand and announce “rising and shining”.  Family Jenn will get up and use the restroom while I sit, drinking my latte, and eating my sandwich. Claire is used to Jenn being by her side and so Claire inevitably begins to awaken and sometimes make her fussy noises and sometimes not. But she will soon notice my sandwich and make her way towards it, even with eyes mostly closed. If she was making fussy noises, they stop as she becomes focused on getting my sandwich.

Some mornings I’m more prepared to break off a piece, and other mornings she just grabs the whole thing. Then I have to fight my way to get some. But in every case, she is not interested in eating the sandwich. She wants to open the bread, and pick out the cut pieces of fruit that are gooey with peanut butter and honey. What’s left is a couple pieces of bread with some peanut butter and honey, and Claire with hands and mouth full of the same. Thankfully, the baby wipes are in reach for both diaper changes and situations like this.

It’s funny to watch her because she’s still half a sleep, but very content to do this routine. It’s a fair compromise, considering she would otherwise cry away while Jenn is using the restroom and getting some warmer morning clothes on. Now I just have to remember to cut a piece ahead of time because this routine of Claire’s is becoming more common.

The funny thing about this, is that it is very similar to Matthew’s routine when Matthew was Claire’s age. However, he would not take the sandwich apart. Claire is truly a very unique and special little girl.

]]> 2008-09-02T17:30:00-08:00 4th of July Parade http://www.lombardispot.com/index.php/shaded-fall/4th_of_july_parade/ This year we actually made it to the parade before it started. The past couple years we sorta just showed up when we showed up. But when you have to get everyone dressed, sunscreened, and cart everyone to the parade you might as well get there on time. This time we parked right behind some new friends that happened to visit West Hills church some weeks ago. They were considering going to West Hills church and then we happen to park right behind them. We plan on meeting up with them again too. Family Here’s a photo of the family at the parade.

Here’s a photo of one of our new friends kids. The daughter is in the background and the mother is right behind her. The father is just off the picture on the right.

We actually had a very good spot right in front of the announcement booth, so we heard a description of everything that was in the parade. We learned things about the parade that we never knew. For example, this guy on the horse we see every year, but we never knew that he get top awards in various shows and he’s wearing a traditional Mexican outfit and looks forward to being in this parade every year. He’s been doing this for a long time too. I think it was something like 15-20 years.

You can see the entire gallery here.
Click Here for the 4th of July Parade Gallery

]]> 2008-07-30T17:15:00-08:00 San Francisco with Cousins http://www.lombardispot.com/index.php/shaded-fall/san_francisco_with_cousins/ We had a fun day in San Francisco with our cousins Priscilla and Dita from Guam. We had a full 13 hour day. Started at the Ferry Plaza, where we had lunch, Gelato and I was filmed with Matthew answering a question for Eplay.com on whether I would be willing to move to Mars. Next, we stopped just north of Pier 39 and visited a ship museum adjacent to Fisherman’s wharf that I’ve never even seen before. We also visited Girradelli square and had some cupcakes. That was a load of fun. Next, we stopped just under the Golden Gate bridge and took some photos at a spot that Jenn and I had once taken photos of ourselves long ago. Next we drove around some hilly roads until everyone screamed and had enough. Next, we found BiRite creamery were we tried some hand made ice cream (Salted Caramel, Snickerdoodle, and Cookies and Cream) all made from scratch and tasting delicious! Next we went to Twin Peaks and froze our buts off and couldn’t see anything through all the fog. Next we went to Krispy Kreme and had some “HOT NOW” donuts! And finally, we headed back to drop the cousins off in Palo Alto and found a Mexican spot where we were officially tired, done and full! Click here to see all the photos from San Francisco Here’s a photo of Jen and I with our new hats at that old spot. I’ll have to dig up that old photo and post them side by side. Here’s Dita with Claire Here’s Priscilla with Claire Family

]]> 2008-07-21T15:54:00-08:00 Matthew’s Scooter http://www.lombardispot.com/index.php/shaded-fall/matthews_scooter1/ We bought Matthew a fancy new pedal tractor and even before that there was a nice tricycle. The combined value of those two is over $400! But his favorite thing to ride is a scooter in John Deere colors given to him by his thrifty Nana Lynn in Alabama. Thank you Nana Lynn! Click Here to See Photos of the Tractor and Scooter Thankfully, that pedal tractor is a collectors item that will look good for many years to come. And made in the USA. Family 2008-07-17T23:49:00-08:00 Bubbles http://www.lombardispot.com/index.php/shaded-fall/bubbles/ A while back we had some fun with bubbles. Those new bubble blowing machines are actually quite a bit of fun. But I recommend you have kids around that go crazy. Otherwise, you’ll just be a bunch of adults standing around looking silly! My brother blew a bubble that is captured with a reflection of the backyard. Look closely at the original size image in the gallery and see if you can recognize what you see in the bubble. Click Here to See all the Bubble Photos Family 2008-07-17T23:45:00-08:00 Live Earth Farm http://www.lombardispot.com/index.php/shaded-fall/live_earth_farm/ We visited the Live Earth Farm Summer Solstice festival. It was actually a very strange day. It was probably 105 degrees in San Jose, but when we headed over the hill into Watsonville, towards the ocean, the sky was darkening and lightening was streaking across the sky. The lightning was striking in the hills that we were travelling through and causing forest fires. We drove right past a forest fire at the base of an electric tower that we could clearly see from the road. There were many people who stopped their cars on the side of the road to watch. In Watsonville it was only around 63 degrees and the sky was dark and it was raining! After we parked, the sky cleared and the temperature quickly climbed to the upper 80’s. Later, I was taking breaks from the sun because I was sweating like crazy! A strange day indeed. There’s not a lot of photos, but there are a few of us. Our friends Jill and Brian and their daughter Anny joined us that day. Click Here to view all the photos from Live Earth Farm Family 2008-07-17T23:38:01-08:00 Mother’s Day Photos http://www.lombardispot.com/index.php/shaded-fall/mothersday_photos/ Yep, that’s right, Mother’s Day Photos that have just been sitting on a hard drive on a computer for all these months. Jenn even took some photos of me and the kids. I’m glad she did because we just don’t have many photos of me and my kids. Family

Here’s me and the kids. It was not easy to coordinate them sitting still and looking towards the camera. Not exactly your ideal smiles for the photos, but we appreciate what we get.

Click Here to see all the Mother’s Day Photos

]]> 2008-06-23T17:11:01-08:00 Clair and Matthew May 2008 http://www.lombardispot.com/index.php/shaded-fall/clair_and_matthew_may_2008/ My Christian Life Doctrines class ended just last week, the garden is more established and doesn’t need as much attention. So I finally managed some free time to process some photos. I did a small photo session with Claire and Matthew back in May. It’s just photos of them around the house. Here’s one of Claire up against our couch. She wanted to crawl away, but I kept propping her back up against the couch.  Family

It’s easy to get some action shots of Matthew, he’s running most of the time! And he has wild and crazy hair.

Click here to see the Clair and Matthew May 2008 Gallery

]]> 2008-06-23T16:58:00-08:00 Connor’s Diving Accident http://www.lombardispot.com/index.php/shaded-fall/connors_diving_accident/ Recently a young man from our church had a diving accident which has broken his neck. He was diving into area of Hume lake that was too shallow and he hit the bottom and broke his neck. Jenn and I only know him as the drummer we see on Sunday’s in the worship band. His parents are writing daily on a blog and currently I’m glued to reading the day by day trials and sufferings this family is going through. They provide several updates a day, relaying both their physical and spiritual struggles. Please visit their blog, read about their son and pray for them. Connor’s Blog Announcements 2008-06-19T15:57:00-08:00 Tech Travel to the Holy Land http://www.lombardispot.com/index.php/shaded-fall/tech_travel_to_the_holy_land/ Never been to the Holy Land? Well, Google’s Satellite maps can give you a bird’s eye view of just about anywhere in the world. Check out the following link that has a very good tour of Passion Week. The days from Palm Sunday through his resurrection. Zoom in to see the street level view and also click on each day on the left hand navigation area. It will take you through each day and give you a little summary of those locations and days. Click Here for the Passion Week Google Map Click Here for the Original ESV Bible Blog Article Christianity 2008-03-22T13:58:00-08:00 River Park http://www.lombardispot.com/index.php/shaded-fall/river_park/ Downtown San Jose has a fun park with lots of rope structures to climb on. It’s been there for a few years, but Matthew was still too young to try it. We decided to give it another try. He mostly liked playing in the toddler area with the other smaller kids. Here’s Matthew and I attempting to climb the rope dome structure. We sorta got stuck at the top and needed a few more hands to help get Matthew back down. I guess Matthew’s still not quite old enough. Of course, Claire was looking cute as usual and able to hold onto the ropes. Click here to see all the photos in the SmugMug galleries Family 2008-03-06T19:19:00-08:00