Christmas 2008

We hope this holiday season finds you surrounded by loved ones, remembering the good memories of this past year and excited about adventures to come!



It's been a very busy year for the Gregory Family.

First, let's talk about Jason, the over-achiever. He continues to program video games at Naughty Dog in Santa Monica, CA. They are currently working on Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, due out Fall 2009. He has also been teaching the Programming Game Engines class at USC. But his passion this year has been writing a book about video games entitled Game Engine Architecture: a Comprehensive Guide. His publisher is AK Peters, and it will hopefully be released in March in time for GDC 2009 where he will also be giving a talk. He works very hard and doesn't sleep much, but we are all proud of him!

I (Trina) still spend most of my time taking care of Evan and Quinn. Evan was in a co-op preschool last year where he went 5 mornings a week, and I worked one day in the classroom. Now Quinny is in the co-op preschool 2 mornings a week, and I work one morning. On the one morning that I drop off Quinn, I go to Evan's school to help during computer lab. We just love his teacher Mrs. Atteridge and Center Street Elementary School here in El Segundo. Just like Jason, I have also been teaching part-time. The past 2 semesters (Winter & Fall) I taught Web Publishing and Java Programming at USC. In 2009, I will continue to teach those classes as well as a new one. I'm currently developing a class on how to write applications for the iPhone.

Evan is now a Kindergartener. He loves math and science and will follow you around while counting to a thousand. He definitely has the engineer gene. His passions are video games (playing, acting out, talking about them) and Star Wars Legos.

Quinny is 2 and a half - need I say more. He climbs on everything, runs around all the time, talks non-stop, annoys his brother, etc. He is also sweet and lovable. He asks me all the time, "Are you happy, Mommy?" And then he smiles. How can I not be happy, even though he has just made a huge mess!

Please look at the below posts to read about other advertures we had this year. For 2009, we are really looking forward to an addition to the Osterhus family. Tracy, Trina's twin sister, will be having another boy. What fun the cousins are going to have! I will continue to update this blog throughout the year after major events and such. Please check back.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
May all your dreams come true in 2009!

Love, Trina, Jason, Evan and Quinn (& the cats - Topaz and Mango)

Fun with Grandma & Grandpa O

Grandma & Grandpa O came to help with the boys while Trina went to Denver in November.


Grandpa O, Quinn & Piper (their dog) would walk to school to pick up Evan. Quinny LOVES Piper. He still talks about her.


Uncle Matt was also there due to being a pilot for Delta airlines and his "home" airport is LAX. The boys like to pinch his nose.

Booooo!

Happy Halloween from...

Buzz Evan, Nerd Jason, Peter Pan Quinn, and
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Mom (Trina).



We celebrated and went trick-or-treating with some El Segundo friends.
We were also joined by...


Pumpkin Tracy with "Jack", Spider-Man Carter, and
Blind Referee Doug.
We had lots of fun and filled our bellies full of candy!!!

First Day of School

Evan started Kindergarten this week at Center St Elementary School
in El Segundo!


On Wednesday, September 3rd, Mommy & Evan attended his class for one hour where we got to meet his new teacher Mrs. Atteridge and get comfortable with the classroom. We live just behind the school, so I took pictures of Evan by a tree on the way to school and walking through the back gate.


On Thursday, he started his regular schedule which is 8:20 am - 12:45 pm. He has to carry a big backpack to hold an 8.5x11 folder and a separate lunch bag. Quinn and I picked it up from school and took more pictures. (Quinn wanted his photo taken too!)


I wanted to take a picture of Evan with his new teacher Mrs. Atteridge, but he decided to just take a picture of her himself. So this is his view of his new teacher. She is so nice and energetic!

It's going to be a great year!

Aloha!

To celebrate our 10 year anniversary on August 16th, we (Trina & Jason) went to the Hawaiian Islands without the kids!!! The boys were well taken care of (i.e. spoiled) by Trina's Aunt Kaye & Uncle Paul (with some help from Uncle Matt) at home. We spend 5 wonderful nights at the Westin Hotel in Maui along Ka'anapali Beach. It was amazing! Below are some photos from our balcony. (Yes, that is the ocean!)

On Friday, we went swimming in the pools at the hotel and had tons of fun going down the waterslide. We learned that even when wearing 50 SPF waterproof sunscreen, you can get sunburned.

That night we had a very interesting (and yummy) dinner at Mala in Lahaina. Here's a photo of the fish we ate (opaka-paka) and one of the sunset from the desk of the restaurant.

Jason has always wanted to learn to surf, so we took surfing lessons on Saturday from Outrageous Surf. Randy, our surf instructor, was great. Melissa, an 8 year old, was the only other person in our class, and she was such a cutie. I think she did better than we did. Lahaina is a perfect spot for beginners, and we both got up several times and even at the same time.

On Sunday, we got up very early to take a snorkeling trip on the Trilogy. We snorkeled along Molokini island and then swam with sea turtles. They served us yummy cinnamon rolls for breakfast before we went snorkeling and then chicken, rice and salad for lunch on our way back. It was wonderful. Here's photos of us on the boat, Trina getting ready to snorkel, and also photos from their website showing the catamaran we were on, Molokini island, and what we saw while snorkeling.

I didn't think we could top the adventures we already had, but we did. We went on a hike in West Maui with our very knowledgeable guide Helga of Hike Maui. It was incredible! We hiked to 3 waterfalls and even jumped from the cliff into the pool of one of them. We also met some great people on our hike including Jonathan & Lisa from Atlanta and honeymooners Charlotta & Marco from Canada.

On our last day we got massages in an outside cabana (that we could see from our balcony) and relaxed in the spa. Jason also went swimming because he had to go down the waterslide a few more times while I took a nap in the spa. We wanted to relax as much as possible before heading home that night.

On the way to the airport, we arranged to have a spectacular meal at Mama's Fish House. It was right along the beach, and we watch the sunset. It was breathtaking!

We made wonderful memories to last a lifetime. I love you, Jason!

Goooooooooaaaaaallllllll

Over the summer, Evan took a Pee-Wee Soccer class through the El Segundo Park & Recreation Dept. He can now kick the ball really well, and he does a great job going after the ball.

Here's some photos:




Evan got a new soccer ball with stars on it because, as he says,
"I'm a star at soccer."

Here's the Latest Buzz... Evan is 5!!!

On June 15th, Evan turned 5! He sure it happy about it.


The previous day Evan and his fellow space rangers (family & friends) defeated Zurg by bouncing through space and pelting Zurg with space balls. It was a lot of fun!



We finished our adventure by eating Zurg's cake
(made by Daddy & Mommy).



Watch out, world. Evan starts kindergarten in September.

Quinny Q turned 2...

and he celebrated with Winnie the Pooh and Tigger too!



On March 7th, Quinn turned 2, and we had a birthday party on Saturday, March 15th. Tracy, Jason and I had fun making the "Hunny" pot cake. Jason made a "Pin the tail on Eeyore" game. So cute!



Quinn loved having everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to him. He danced and sang along. And he loved eating his cake with a fork. (It reminds me of Jason and our wedding cake.)


The cake was so yummy! Quinn loved every last crumb and so did his best friend Sophia.


Cousin Carter (and Aunt Tracy) gave him a cool fort set. Here is Quinn playing with one of the pieces. Sophia (and her family) gave him a Radio Flyer 3-wheeled scooter. Quinn loved having his daddy push his along.


What a Tiggerific (and tiring) day!