Family Update

It's been a long time in between posts (4 months) but I wanted to give everyone an update on how the Rotundo Family is doing:

Since the last time I posted we have been to France and back. I was there for 2 weeks and Christelle and the boys were there for 3 1/2 weeks. It was a really relaxing time this go around. The weather was sunny (unusual for Normadie) and in the 70's most of the time. The boys loved being there and Julien kept saying how he wanted to stay.

The first week we were there Julien got to take part in a soccer camp run by Christelle's cousins.
Let's just say it was one of the best all-around experiences we could ask for our child. In the morning they did soccer drills and in the afternoon they got to go to different places for fun. All of the kids were super nice also. That would not happen here in the states. Obviously is was really good for his language development and he improved his French tremendously.

Evan was baptized along with his cousin Carla and of course a party ensued. It always seems to be a good time when her family gets together. There was plenty of wine, champagne and the best food you could imagine. I learned some of the secrets to life from one of Christelle's older relatives. She was 91 years old and explained that eating as well as possible and avoided stress were the keys to longevity (along with a glass of wine a night).

Christelle and I watched the semi-finals of the Champions League (that's soccer for those that don't know) with all of Christelle's cousins. Usually we hang out at least one night with all of her cousins when we visit. It was a fun time that included French pizza and the French version of the game Scene It. The pizza was different but really good. My favorite had Canadian bacon and potato on it. The boys ended up winning the game and that's all that really matters.

After I left to come back to the states, Christelle's cousins took Julien to watch his first professional soccer game. He was super stoked and talking about it for a while. Christelle and the boys also went to her sister's house for a couple of days before they left. He boys got to go horseback riding and play tennis. Julien looks to be a natural at tennis. He was playing like a champ.

As usual the time flew by and I was constantly reminded that Americans work to hard and don't get enough vacation time. We plan on returning to France next summer for the wedding of Christelle's sister, Celine.

Some individual notes:

Christelle is always looking for new and interesting things for the boys to do. She can never sit still at night because she is always in search of something different for them. She's the best. She still is a workout fiend and wakes up 3 times a week at 5 in the morning to go workout. She will tell you that she doesn't have any self motivation, but she'd be lying. [email christelle]

Julien is really excelling in kindergarten and is one of the top in his class. He really loves to read and is now reading chapter books. He is still practicing Martial Arts and is getting ready to test for his next section. He is totally in love with soccer and wants to play whenever he can. We all play at night after dinner and he is getting super good.

Evan is still my little bruiser. He definitely doesn't act like a 2 year old. He will start preschool this upcoming September at a really good place (Christelle camped out overnight to get him a spot). He's always learning something new and surprises us all the time. He started to ride a real bicycle now and is doing all of the pedaling on his own. The problem is he loves to use the brakes and is constantly stopping.

Dominic finally made the move to another company. After a year of being fed up at my old job I finally found the place for me. I now work for LAK Advertising, an advertising agency that is looking to increase their abilities in the Direct Marketing industry. I just started 2 weeks ago and everything is going great so far. As a gift to myself for finally getting a new job, along with a pay increase, I bought a new 50" Plasma screen TV. I have wanted a big screen TV for quite some time now and it seemed like the perfect fit. Christelle wasn't left with nothing, she got a new love seat for the living room. [email dom]

As a family we have been going to the drive-in movie theater to watch movies (the boys love it) and we plan to start camping this weekend. We have also started the weekend trips to the beach. It looks to be a fun and refreshing summer with lots to do. Hope to hear from all of you soon. If you feel like dropping us a line click here.

Dom

Julien is now a First Section in Kung Fu

Last Saturday Julien took his first test in Kung Fu and passed. He has been taking classes at the Allied Gardens School of Martial Arts since November and he is loving it. We had been practicing at home prior to him taking his test and we knew he was ready. It was fun to see him take a test. I think he understands what a test is now though. At first he thought they were just going to give him a new belt just for showing up.
He tested with 3 other boys from his class and they all passed too. They had to demonstrate what they had learned in class using a guideline which they are given before each section. Kung Fu works differently then Karate. They don't have a bunch of different colored belts. They start as a White Belt and there are 8 sections to passed to become a Black Belt. When they pass a section they have part of their belt dyed black until all 8 parts become dyed black. They are graded on both Mental and Physical (which we thought was pretty cool) and a passing grade is 55 points. Julien remembered everything and even got some extra credit for stating what "Sincerity" is. He ended up getting 60 points! He was super stoked and we took him to Chilli's for lunch to celebrate. Now he keeps saying "I'm not a White Belt anymore, I'm First Section!".

Last week of vacation

This is the last week of vacation for both Christelle and Julien so we are going to try and do as much as we can. Tomorrow I'm going to take Julien to Boomers to have some Father-Son time. Last Friday night we took the boys to the Santee Drive-in and we actually made it all the way through two movies. It was so much fun for the boys and us. I would suggest it to anyone.

I finally got the French Immersion software Christelle order for me and have been studying daily. C'est tres bien le software! I keep trying to get Christelle up to date with some online tools and I think I might have finally succeeded with a few. (Google Talk and Google Calendar) This way we can communicate during the day and she can keep me up to date for all the upcoming events. Other than that we have just been enjoying each others company. Drop us a note...

I created a newsletter for us and I hope to publish it sometime soon.

Link of the Day

http://www.google.com/talk/

Want to really stay in touch with us? Then download Google Talk and install the instant message tool and we can talk whenever you want. I'm a big believer in the Google thing. If I would have invested in them when they went public last year then we would probably would have a bunch of money right now. I started using their search engine more than 4 years ago and have been happy with their products ever since. Do it today.

Link of the Day

http://www.french-word-a-day.typepad.com/

This site is for those of you who are interested in an American's perspective on the French lifestyle. She gives a lot of useful French words to use in everyday life.

Link of the Day

http://probargainhunter.com/2006/11/28/amazon-shopping-tips-and-hacks/

If you have ever used Amazon.com then you can appreciate this link. I found this link just before Christmas and I ended up doing all of our Christmas shopping on Amazon. You won't believe some of the deals that are out there. Go buy something cheap today!!!

Link of the Day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

Let me start out by saying a "wiki" is a website that allows the visitors themselves to easily add, remove, and otherwise edit and change some available content. For those of you who don't know what Wikipedia is let me give you a crash course. Is is basically a free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. The link that I provided above will randomly take you to another random page on the Wikipedia website everytime you click it. Why would you do this? So you can learn something new every day, duh. I added this link as my Home page location on my toolbar so everytime I click my home link I can read about something new. Give it a try.

New Year's Resolutions

I guess everyone has at least one New Year's Resolution. Usually it has something to do with working out more. This year I have two that I really want to accomplish. The first of which is learning to speak French more fluently. You would think I would be able to converse by now but that isn't the case. That's why I really want to make a conscious effort to be able to speak more when we go to France in April. I bought some French Immersion software on Amazon and I hope to speak more to Christelle at night. Wish me luck...

My other resolution is something we should have been doing already and that's investing in the Stock Market. Starting this month I am going to start trading and learning the ins and outs of how it all works. I hope all goes well and we make some money.

Link of the Day

http://www.lifehacker.com/

This is one of my favorite sites to visit daily. The site is dedicated to helping you save time. They give useful links to different sites or applications that make life easier. It will also help you stay up to date with technology. Check it out.

Passing Traffic School

I passed my online traffic school test. Yeah! What a joke... If they don't get you for one thing they'll get you for another.

A couple of months ago I was in the Solana Beach area driving down Lomas Santa Fe (moving with the flow of traffic) and a motorcycle cop pulled me over for going 45 in a 35. I guess it was the end of the month and he needed to make his quota because right after he gave me my ticket he pulled someone else over. It was my first ticket and I didn't know what to do. I asked some people at work what usually happens and they let me know that I should be receiving something in the mail telling me the specifics. Ofcourse I never got anything in the mail and I ended up going to the Court house (in Vista) to pay my fine and see if I could take traffic school to get the point off of my license. I had to pay more than $200 for the ticket but they did say that I could take traffic school. They give you a sheet with a bunch of schools to choose from (classroom and online schools). I knew I didn't want to spend an entire day stuck in a classroom so I signed up for an online class. All you have to do is complete 8 chapter tests (not graded) and then a final (which you have to do in front of a notary). It was pretty easy overall, but I believe that I was robbed of my time and money. I guess I learned my lesson (never drive anywhere at the end of the month).

Link of the Day

http://kids-in-mind.com/

If you have kids that watch movies you should definitely check out this site. It gives details about movies and what parents can expect from them.

New Year's Weekend

So what did you do with your New Year's weekend? We actually did a bunch of things. Now that the boys are getting bigger we do even more with our time.

On Saturday morning Christelle and the boys came with me to Flag Football and we had a little BBQ afterwards (really good Carne Asada). The rest of the day we relaxed outside and the boys played in the backyard.

On Sunday (New Year's Eve) we took Tasha (our dog) to Fiesta Island to walk her with some other dogs around. It'll be good when she is trained well enough to let her wander on her own. She is no where near that right now, but she is only 8 months old. After that, Christelle went shopping to get the rest of the goods for New Year's Eve. The boys and I watched football and relaxed at home. My Raiders secured the #1 pick in the upcoming NFL draft with their loss to Julien's New York Jets. At least I have something to look forward to.

Later that evening we had Jerome, Corrie and Nathan over to help us celebrate the new year. The boys played games and had a blast. The adults had a smorgasbord of food and we ended up playing Cranium for a couple of hours (I think the guys won!). Everyone, including all of the kids, made it till midnight. Christelle bought some party favors and the kids and adults enjoyed celebrating (except Julien who was really tired and showing it). We ended up going to bed somewhere around 1:45 in the morning.

On New's Years day Evan was the first to get up around 8:30 and ruin any plans of mine to sleep all day long. Julien, on the other hand, slept until 11 and woke up in a really good mood. We had a really good brunch and we played outside in the backyard for most of the day. My buddy Mike came down and we watched USC destroy Michigan in the Rose Bowl. Earlier that morning Penn State had already won their bowl game against Tennessee. If Florida beats Ohio State I will be really happy. Anyway, all in all we had a really good weekend and I already can't wait till the upcoming weekend to get here.