Hoops for Haiti

Hoops for Haiti took place on Tuesday, February 23rd, and was a joint fundraising venture between my school, Greenfield Jr. High, and a competing school, Highland Jr. High. The Highland staff challenged the Greenfield staff in a game of basketball, with all proceeds going to UNICEF and the displaced and lost children of the Haiti earthquake. I, not being much of a basketball player, declined to play on the basketball team and instead volunteered to be on the 'cheer' squad. The cheer squad came up with the idea to borrow mascot costumes from the various schools in the district, and be a cheer squad of animal mascots, dancing to the catchy 'Madagascar' song, I Like to Move It. I was excited about this because I could dance around completely anonymously! Two costumes were borrowed, one owned, and I rented one from a costume shop. With only 30 minutes of practice the day before, we all showed up to the venue about 15 minutes early. When I arrived I found the team practicing in t-shirts and cheerleading skirts, and was told the 'animal' theme had gone to the wayside. Suffice it to say I was livid. There I stood with a $45 costume that I rented for nothing, and drove completely out of my way to pick up, and now I had to go completely back out of my way to return it, with no fundraiser performance to show for it. I could've/should've thrown a fit right then and there, and refused to take part, but I guess that's just not in my nature. So I sucked it up, and performed anyway, as myself instead of this awesome gecko,

Here is the performance that I begrudgingly gave,

When it was all said and done I was glad I participated. After all, it was for charity, and really - that was the point. So my bitterness must end there. But I will think twice before volunteering for another event which involves too many people. At the end of the night, this is how the gecko felt!

The Lightning Thief

Hey everyone! Sienna Samour here! If you saw the last post, we saw Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, and my mom was talking about that and our love of reading. Spenser and I love to read, but it seems like my mom and I are usually always having a book in our hand, unlike Spenser... I will give you a brief summary about the Lightning Thief, the movie, so you know what it is about.

The Lightning Thief is about Percy Jackson on an amazing adventure to bring the lightning bolt to Lord Zeus before the summer solstice, or there would be a World War III. He goes to Yancy Academy, is deslexic, and has ADHD. He has a greek mythology teacher/ english teacher, Mr. Brunner. He took the students, Percy, and Percy's friend Grover, to a new museum about the Greek gods. Mrs. Dodds climbed aboard, as well. She pulled Percy away from the group and took him into an empty room. The next thing we know, she turns into a monster saying, "Where is it?!" and attacking Percy.  Mr. Brunner and Grover walked in and saw the monster, and they threatened it, and it went away. Mr. Brunner made Percy and Grover go immediately to Camp Half-Blood. They grabbed Percy's mother and drove right to the camp. They were stopped by a minataur and their car flippped over. They tried to get out of the car, and to help, goat legs kicked the front windshield so they could escape. The goat legs were Grover's legs! The three started running toward camp. When they got there, they got passed the gate, but Mrs. Jackson couldn't come in, because she wasn't a half-blood. The minataur came closer and took Mrs. Jackson and squeezed her to death. Percy then attacked for the life of his mother. The minataur charged and went head first into a tree, and was stuck by the horns. The next part can be scary for viewers, so I won't say anymore about that. Percy continued on with his life at Camp Half-Blood, with Grover and other campers. He met a girl named Annabeth, and learned all about the Greek gods and other ancient Greek stuff. Percy learned to fight, and played his first game of capture the flag. There are two teams, red and blue, and the first team to touch and capture the flag, wins. Percy and Luke worked together to get the flag. Percy went to wash his face during the game, where he found the flag, standing right across a little pond of water. He walked up to it, and then Annabeth came out. She then fought Percy, and he got hit pretty bad. He then heard a voice in his head saying, "Go to the water, it will make you stronger." Percy dragged over to the water, then water healed all the scratches on his body. He then fought Annabeth again, and won the battle. He captured the flag and won for his team. Mr. Brunner was actually a centaur, and gave Percy his quest to bring the bolt back to Zeus. Lord Zeus had blamed Poseidon's son for stealing his bolt, and that is why Percy had to be the one to bring it back. Percy left with Annabeth and Grover for the quest, before they left, theythought how to get into the Underworld, and then went to friend Luke for some help. Luke gave the gang a pair of flying sneakers, his favorite shield, and a map to where the three pearls are. The pearls would help get the three out of the Underworld. The first stop was Auntie Em's Garden Gnome Emporium. They took a bus there from camp. When they got there, there were so many statues everywhere. They split up to look for the pearl. Annabeth was then surprised by a woman running away trying to get out. Auntie Em then came out of nowhere. Auntie Em was actually Madusa! The gang ran out and found the pearl. They drove to the nearest motel. The news was saying that Percy and his mom were missing, and his stepdad, Gabe, was saying lies about him. They decided to drive to the next stop, The Parthenon in Tennessee. The pearl was sitting right on top of a statue of Athena. The three came back after closing and put on the flying shoes to get to the top. The next part again was kinda scary..... The next pearl was in Las Vegas at the Lotus Hotel and Casino. The hotel had these really nice cookie- type things, and that instantly turned the three happy and they stayed there for five days. The hotel was filled with arcade games, and a casino games. Percy heard that voice in his head, and realized that he had to leave and find the pearl. The pearl was at one of the games, and they grabbed it and left the hotel immediately. They had gotten all the pearls and looked on the map where to find the Underworld. The Underworld was in Hollywood, CA. When they got there at  the Hollywood sign, there was a hole that magically opened, and they walked in. They found a man in a white robe named Charon, and he took them into the Underworld. He took them to Hades's palace. His wife met them at the door and took him into a room with him in it. Hades asked for where the lgihtning bolt was. He made a trade with him, the lightning bolt for his mother. Percy's mom appeared and he dropped everything and ran over to him. Hades saw a bright light coming from the shield. There was the lightning bolt, in Luke's shield. Hades's wife took it and zapped him. She gave it back to Percy, and told them to go to Olympus. Percy took out the three pearls. There were four of them, and only three pearls. Grover then sacrificed himself for the three of them. They stomped on the pearls, and got to the Empire State Building. They walked over to go into Olympus, but someone stopped them. It was Luke, on another pair of flying shoes. He had admitted that he had stolen the lightning bolt, and Percy took his pen, and clicked it. They fought, and Luke had questioned if Percy was really the son of Poseidon. There were four water towers around them, and Percy used his powers to break all four, and send all the water flying toward Luke, defeating him. Percy flew back to the Empire State Building, and entered the elevator, leading to Olympus. Mrs. Jackson couldn't go on, because of not being a demigod or a god. Annabeth and Percy went into the room filled with gods, only a few seconds to midnight. He gave the bolt to Zeus, and explained that he was not the thief, Luke was.  Zeus let it slide and Poseidon talked to Percy. He said he was sorry for not being there for when he was a child, but he couldn't. It was forbidden for gods to have contact with their children, and had to be raised by their mortal parent. Percy left and returned back to Camp Half Blood, and decided to stay there year-long.

That was the end of the movie. I know the summary was long... Sorry! It was a long movie, though! Anyway, enjoy the book and/or movie! Peace out!  :)

The Joy of Reading

It is no secret that I enjoy reading and always have.  I'm not sure where or how it began, it was just something that I always did.  If you ask Rob he would say that 'he never read a book in his life.'  I find this hard to believe being the highly successful engineer he is now.  Luckily he did not pass on his disdain for reading to our children.  Together we never forced Sienna and Spenser to read but they seemed to pick it up and enjoy it, just as their mom always did.  Sienna and I share a passion for book series like Harry Potter and Twilight, and have read them and will read them over and over again.  

The current hot book series is Percy Jackson and The Olympians.  Sienna and Spenser were both reading the first book and since Sienna finished it yesterday, she insisted on going to see The Lightning Thief.  So we went as a family minus Rob (he was at the racetrack) and saw it.

Spenser just started reading the book Friday night, but he still saw the movie today.

Read the next posting for Sienna's perspective!

A Presidential Elevator Tale

The Oregon State Beavers were in Tucson the same weekend Sienna and I were enjoying girls' weekend. We even shared the same hotel! How cool is that? Between the Cal Poly tennis players and the Oregon basketball players, the lobby and elevator area was the place to be. The basketball players were in their orange and black warmups and several of them had to duck to clear doorways! We shared rides up and down the elevators with several groups of players. On one occasion, Sienna and I were going back to our room after some time in the hot tub, and we shared the elevator with a couple of the players, and a tall, distinguished, and well-dressed man in a suit. He seemed happy and friendly and asked one woman in a red gown if she was in the wedding party. She said yes, and that the wedding was splendid. As we neared our floor, the sharp-dressed man looks at me and Sienna and says, "You weren't at the wedding were you?" And I said "No," and then when he flashed a big grin I knew he was making fun of us for our 'lack of wedding attire.' I said "Hey.......!" and we shared a laugh as we exited the elevator. I mentioned to Sienna that I had a feeling he was the coach of Oregon State.

The next morning the headline reads, Oregon State beats Wildcats, the first time in 27 years. There is a picture of the man with whom we shared a giggle in the elevator, and he is the victorious coach. But what really catches my eye is the rest of the information about Craig Robinson. He not only is a Princeton standout but Michelle Obama's brother, hence President Obama's brother-in-law. Of course this information would have been helpful before the elevator incident, but it was still pretty cool that our paths crossed with a member of the presidential family.



Here is Craig Robinson. Didn't I say he was distinguished? Now I think I'll follow OSU basketball a little bit closer.

Girls RULE Boys DROOL

As alluded to in the previous post, Valentine's Day Weekend was supposed to be a boys only - girls only bash. For the girls it was all that and then some. Gee, where should I start? There are so many highlights to share! The beginning might be a good place.....

Sienna and I arrived at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center on the U of A campus a little bit early on Saturday, February 13th. After parking, who should pull in to park in front of us but a long white van bearing the name, New Mexico State University. Out piles a group of red and white clad tennis players along with their coach and mine; Carlos Vargas. Surprised to have any supporters let alone a former player, Carlos and I share a reunion and catch up. I introduce him to Sienna for the second time, her first being when she was only 5 months old. Here is Carlos, still looking good after 20 plus years of traveling and coaching hothead tennis players (me excluded of course)!
The Cal Poly Mustangs were already warming up when we arrived and while the Aggies warmed up, Carlos sat and visited with me and Sienna. After sharing a reunion with my other coach as well, it was time to get to work. Here are my two coaches, Mike on the bench, and Carlos standing on the court in red and white with a hat. Behind him you see some of the other members of the NMSU Aggies.

Here are both my former coaches, side by side, yet adversaries, imparting their words of wisdom.
Here is Mike Napoli, my coach from Cuesta College, and now an assistant coach for Cal Poly.

Here is Sienna in the lobby of our hotel, the Marriott University Park. During our stay we also shared this hotel with the Cal Poly Men's Tennis Team and to our surprise, the Oregon State University Men's Basketball Team. Sienna had never seen men so tall before, and she marveled at the hustle and bustle of the lobby, watching the comings and goings of the athletes. We shared several elevator rides with the basketball players, and even spoke to the coach of the Beavers. This is a special story which will be revealed in the next post, so stay tuned...

After checking into our hotel we heard what sounded like live music so we ran out of our 5th floor room to look down into the courtyard. When we looked over the balcony we saw a mariachi band, performing for a wedding. We excitedly grabbed an elevator down to check out the scene. I quickly told Sienna the story of our wedding and why a mariachi band would evoke so much delight and sentimentality. Here I am crashing the party!

Here I am at one of Rob's favorite brew pubs in Tucson, called Gentle Ben's. Before we were married we used to frequent this pub and bring home jugs of our cherished raspberry ale. To remember old times, I bought two jugs or 'growlers' to take home to Rob for a valentines day present. Cheers to Gentle Bens!

Here is Sienna at the south side of campus, or main gate. Our hotel was close to this gate as well as lots of shops and restaurants.

During the intermission (between doubles and singles matches) Sienna and I toured campus and got a bite to eat.

Here is a picture of Cal Poly's number one player, Matt Fawcett. Sienna's nickname for him was 'cutie'. He was a joy to behold.
Sienna and I posing for one last picture on the end of Day 2. Cal Poly lost a hard fought match to the U of A, 4-3. They also lost to NMSU 5-1.

Here is Sienna in the stands, as our tennis weekend comes to an end.

So the girls weekend definitely did RULE. Did the boys weekend DROOL? Actually no, it's just that some things can't be compared. The boys did do what they planned: played at the park, ate at Filiberto's, and watched the monkey movie. But the girls weekend in Tucson will go down in the record books as 'once in a lifetime.' I enjoyed watching my coaches still coach and excel at what they do and remembered a time in which I once played at such a level. I loved watching Sienna interact with the players, root for them, and get a sense for what college and competitive life is like for athletes. She loved the accents that the players had and when they spoke to her, she felt special. I think she matured quite a bit on this weekend getaway. And she even said, "Mom, we should do this more often." So here's to more often!

Valentine's Day Weekend

Valentine's Day may be upon us but instead of celebrating love and romance, we will commemorate it with separate 'boys' and 'girls' weekends. To follow up last week's Super Bowl and Super Bowl of Rock, the boys will engage in classic movie watching; Planet of the Apes, and be front and center for America's race; the Daytona 500. They also plan on going to Filiberto's, our favorite Mexican fast food joint, and eating lots of beans. Then they can come home and flop around the house flatulently while the girls are away.

Where will the girls be? In Tucson at the University of Arizona, watching my hometown college play my alma mater. So it's Cal Poly vs. New Mexico State (men's tennis). The neat thing for me is that my junior college coach, Mike Napoli, is coaching Cal Poly, and my NMSU coaches from 20 years ago (Don Ball and Carlos Vargas)are still coaching; therefore I'll get to see all in one day, in my state, competing against each other. Who would of thunk it? It's a reunion to say the least. This being my third week of coaching Campo Verde High School Tennis, I sense that my 'tennis planets' are beginning to align. It's a strange and yet exciting feeling. It's as if my present is meeting my past. I'll also get to share it with Sienna, and with any luck this may factor in to her future.

Check back in a few days and hopefully you'll see some pictures documenting our boys' and girls' valentines weekend!

Mugzy Memories

Many children dream of having a pet and for Sienna and Spenser this was a dream long un-fulfilled. But one day Spenser buttered up his Mommy and somehow got her to take him shopping for a hamster. Three pet stores later Sienna and Spenser were pet owners, much to Rob's chagrin. The first few days all were excited and couldn't get enough of watching the new fuzzball run around the cage, on the wheel, and in the ball. Soon reality set in and the cage needed to be cleaned and Mugzy did as hamsters do, began smelling. Her sleeping quarters left the upstairs and sometimes became the garage and on good days, the front living room. Sienna was quite the mother, cleaning the cage, keeping her fed, and interacting with her. She was quite a cutie, don't ya think?

On Super Bowl Sunday we went to clean the cage and noticed Mugzy acting most unlike herself, not moving and lethargic. When Sienna picked her up it was like she was paralyzed. We went ahead and cleaned the cage and I told Sienna to get online and research hamster illnesses and treatment. Sienna diagnosed her with 'wet tail' and I told her we'd take her to the vet the next day after school. I'm pretty sure Mugzy did not make it through the night. So today we said goodbye to our first family pet, not an easy thing to do. Spenser dug a hole for a grave and Mugzy has a final resting place, adorned with flowers so we'll always know where she is. So thanks Mugzy for teaching us responsibility, and the trials and tribulations of being a pet owner. Maybe someday, a looooonnnnggg time from now, we will be ready for a puppy.

Another Blog, More Stories

So I've succumbed to the power of the blog. I must admit I've had fun documenting our musical triumphs and failures, although now I feel fenced in by those same musical boundaries. I find myself wanting to share anecdotes, stories, or pictures of the family, but I'm hindered by the minor (or major) detail that it may not be musically related. What to do, what to do? Start a new blog, I say!

Rob at first shuddered at the thought, Spenser said "That's a good idea mom." I haven't asked Sienna how she feels about it but I'm hoping she'll support it. I also hope that the kids will have a hand in authoring some of the postings, to give them a taste of real-world and relevant writing.

So just in case you're not getting enough of us at 'Samour Sounds,' check out 'Samour Snippets!'