SOCCER TIME!!

We just signed Cody up for Soccer this year. He is very excited to get started. Coaches have there meetings next week and then we will know what team he is on. We are playing soccer thru the Y.M.C.A this year. We really enjoy the games there and as you knew Cody played baseball with them 2years ago. FYI for the Monney side of the family- Soccer is "THE SPORT" of the Shields family. Hal and all his brother and sisters played from a young age and up. A very loved sport for the whole family. I know of that James and Cari have had there boys play and I just found out that Becky has just put Hillary in as well. So it's very exciting time of season for our families being Soccer Season!!;) I hoping our blogs will be full of prideful pictures taken of the Shields gang on the field this fall. Hint Hint ;)
Here are a few pics of Cody in his gear. I will send more when we get our team shirt and start having games. Enjoy!!

First day of School- Pictures

Here are some pictures of Kami, Cody, and Hunter on the first day of school. So far everyone is doing great and liking school.

Chad and Fanninn in San Carlos, Mexico

Chad just got back from vacationing in San Carlos, Mexico with his girlfriend Fanninn. Her parents live down there and right on the beach. They had a wonderful time. Chad even said he was not looking forward to coming back home- he had a super time!! They went Fishing and Snorkeling a lot and enjoyed the scenery. I can not give justice to the fun they had and the stories they both told. So for the MONNEY FAMILY- if you want to know more about the GREAT time Chad and Fanninn had then you need to call Chad. He has great stories to tell ya'. Here are some pictures Fanninn took while they were there.


Here is Chad out taking the boat for a spin!!

Here is Steve and Chad holding up a Sailfish that Chad caught. GO CHAD!!

The guy from the news in San Carlos asked Chad a few questions about his visit there and if he would ever come back again on Vacation. Chad told him YES!! The funny part was when it was on the news Chad was speaking perfect Spanish. He's very talented that way! I'm going to try to get the website so we can see him on the news.

Fanninn's families house is one of the house on the beach. What a great view to get to wake-up to every morning. WOW!!


Fanninn can take the best pictures. She took tons of pictures and it made you just want to dive-in to each one of them!

and.... we thought things were BIG in TEXAS. They made liars out of us.

As you can see they had a Great time. After seeing just a few of the pictures we can have a little bit of understanding why they didn't want to come back home. Smile ;)

Trooper

For Brooke's birthday she got a new dog. His name is Tropper and he has 2 different eye colors. One is blue and the other is brown. He is a very easy going/lazy dog. He loves his family and loves to be brushed and petted. Brooke told me that at one point in the day when he is outside he will take off and run as fast as he can around the back yard. He loves to go on walks as well. If you want to know more about Trooper just call Brooke. I'm sure she has some great stories about there adventures together.

Kami - as "Link"

Kami and Mom decided to make and finish Kami's Link costume this summer. She loves to dress-up and do cosplay. Link is a character from the video game Zelda. There are also books about his adventures as well. There is a picture of Kami sitting and playing a Ocarina just like Link does. Kami looks really great!! FYI- this is a picture of what the real "Link" looks like.
Enjoy the pictures!!





Kami has a smaller Ocarina and she can play it very well.


This is a picture of Kami's Shield that Link carries. Kami made it from scratch, It looks perfect to me!! The sword is still in the making.

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Here is a little history lesson on the Ocarina.

The ocarina [ah-kah-ree-na] belongs to a family of wind instruments called vessel flutes. These globular, whistle-like instruments date back at least 6,000 years, existing in many cultures around the world in a varieties of different forms and tunings. They were most often made of clay but some were made of wood, gourds and bone. The ancient Chinese vessel flute "Xun" (pictured above) was of particular importance to Chinese song and dance traditions. The earthen egg-shaped instrument was played by blowing across an opening at the top and covering or uncovering finger holes for different pitches. These ocarinas, along with various tutorials and music books, became very popular in the USA and around the world. It was around this time that the peculiar pipe earned its American nickname, "the sweet potato", for its sweet sound – and because it resembled a sweet potato with a mouthpiece. The US government supplied troops with plastic ocarinas to boost morale during World War II.
The English fingering system, developed by John Taylor in the 1960's, uses only 4 finger holes to play an entire octave. This discovery made much smaller ocarinas possible.
In recent years, demand for ocarinas has dramatically increased as a result of the popularity of Nintendo's 1998 hit video game, "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time", in which the forest child hero, Link, often plays a magical ocarina.

Although technical advances and growing popularity have brought the ocarina into the 21st century, this unique instrument still possesses the original mystique and simple charm that has identified it since its ancient origins.

Texas is so Dry...... We need rain!!

These are some pictures of a brush fire in the middle of Victoria that I got to take pictures of. It is in a pasture behind our mall and movie theatre. It was coming towards the Tracy Ethel park or as we call it "The Dinosaur Park" as you can see in the pictures there is a pond between us and the fire. That pond is normally twice in size, but as I said in the title "It is so DRY" here. We are fasting and praying for RAIN!!

U.S.S. Lexington in Corpus Christi, Texas

We made a trip to Corpus one day and we got to stop at the U.S.S. Lexington. We didn't get to go on it because it closed in a hour from the time we got there. Hunter was sad because he wanted to get on the ship really bad. We did get to take a few pictures of the boys in front of it. Enjoy!!

Gene and Ann Monney- 50 year Ann.

On Aug.6Th My Mom and Dad celebrated there GOLDEN 50 years of being each others sweethearts. Here are some fun pictures of them receiving gifts from there children.



In this picture Mom and Dad have opened all there gifts. All the GOLD party favors, napkins, bowls, spoons and forks, golden star and balloons and snacks, Golden Corral gift card,Gold $sign necklace etc... are from Troy and Tracy and Family. Page and Natalie and family got them a card with $50.00 dollars in it. I got Mom and Dad a Purple photo album for the old slides that we are making in to pictures of when Mom and Dad were newly weds. Chad got Mom and Dad a card with $50.00 dollars in ones. So when Daddy puts it in his wallet he looks like a high roller. They got a card and $50.00 dollars from Nannie as well. They got a $50.00 gift card to Roadhouse steak house from Lynn. There is a picture below that is food items that Tracy sent that have the word "GOLDEN" in it because being married 50 years is the Golden year.






Hear is that picture I was talking about earlier about all the things that have "GOLDEN" written on them. Mom and Dad thought this was so funny. They Enjoyed it.