April in Stockton... you know the routine. Asparagus Festival! This, the 23rd one, was held in beautiful downtown Stockton on what felt like the hottest day of the year. Emily and I arrived at 6:45 in the morning to register for the 5k Spear-It Fun Run.

This was the first organized run either of us have ever did and felt good out there, not stopping or walking at all. When we approached the water station Emily even suggested we slow down a little and let the group ahead of us go through and get their water. This way, we would miss the mess of the bunch and get our cups without stopping... what a smart idea.

We completed the 5k in 33:35. I've ran faster but haven't ran at all since December. It sure was a far cry from my first attempt at running a mile in 2006.



So, besides the 5k run, I tried deep fried asparagus for the first time, we saw some amazing frisbee dogs and met Martin Yan from Yan Can Cook!

Check out the pics here.

Check out last year's Asparagus Festival.

Easter came early this year, and the awesome spring weather joined it. With JR, Megan and the rest of the Texas Beckwiths in town (well, in state is more like it) we had lots of opportunities for pictures. Easter turned into a three-day weekend celebration with everyone meeting at the Havens house on Friday, then our house on Saturday and then our annual Easter bash on Sunday.

Check out our pics here.
Friday


Saturday


Sunday


Remember, bookmark our Flickr site as we sometimes publish random pictures between events.

Makenzy turned 9 last weekend which meant that she got more parties and more cake than any child needs. Last weekend, on her actual birthday we ordered her favorite take-out (DaVinci's), rented a movie (The Last Mimzy) and had cake. Then, this weekend, she had two more parties.

First, Makenzy and some of her friends were treated like princesses at Panda Girlz. The folks at Panda Girlz really put on a great party for Mak and her friends. Hair, make-up, nails, followed by a fashion show, karoake and crafts made for one of Makenzy's favorite parties ever. If you have daughters you should check this place out.



Party number two was pizza for the family and our favorite family pizza joint where the kids (and some of the adults) quickly went through handfuls of tokens on the redemption games. I wonder if the major casinos help fund the redemption game manufactures, to help turn today's youth into tomorrow's slot machine addicted gamblers.

Check out today's pictures here.

Today, we went to Vacaville to Pietro's Pizza to celebrate Kelsie's 6th birthday and to spend some time with Mimi and Ralph. It was great to see Mimi and Ralph. He was in great form and seemed to really enjoy having everyone there visiting with him.

Here's a picture of everyone with Ralph. Not sure why Makenzy isn't smiling.


Click here for the rest of the pictures.

We've been a little late putting up recent pics so here they are.



Junior's birthday 1/25/08



Hornbrook Trip 1/18/08



Macworld 1/17/08



New Years 2008

Oops, we've not posted in a while. The Christmas season was great. Here are some recent pics.

The Nutcracker

Gingerbread house

Various recent Stockton Thunder games

Christmas

Deal or No Deal DVD (plus on YouTube)

Happy Thanksgiving! This year, we hosted the annual festivities and had a great turnout. Most of us ate a lot more than we should have, but given the cornucopia of good stuff (c'mon, it's the only time of year I can use that word) we had no choice.



Another Thanksgiving means another Annual Field Goal challenge. This year, we played two rounds. The first was won by Joe (of course) and the second was taken by Ken! I have got to practice more during the year.



Check out the pics here.

That's right, folks... Roller Derby is alive and kicking! We joined the Hagele family and went to root on Nicole and the San Joaquin Valley Vixens Roller Derby team in a bout at the Civic Auditorium. This was the first time the kids had ever seen Roller Derby and the first time any of us had seen it live. It took a while for Dawn and I to understand the logistics of the sport but once we did, we had a blast yelling at the players.

These women are tough and took a lot of hard falls!

During one of the intermissions, I was selected to join the corn-on-the-cob eating contest. I took second place but could have won if the judges gave me full credit for that last cob!



Check out the pics here.

Well, another Halloween has come and gone. Next is Thanksgiving, Christmas and then New Years... it'll be here before you know it.

This year, I was Jack, as in Jack in the Box. I had a great time playing the part at work and then at the school for the annual trick-or-treat festivities. Thankfully, Mike was there to help me pass out candy to the kids because I had a hard time seeing most of them.

Here I am resting at the end of a long night. Yes, believe it or not, that's Hannah Montana on the far right!


One of the coolest part of the night was on my way. I went through the drive through at In-n-Out and they noticed my Jack head in the back seat. I simply said, "Sometimes, even I need a real burger!"

Next year's plan? Well, I've got some ideas....

Check out today's pics here.

The Stockton Arena was rockin' tonight when we were joined by 8,640 or so of our closest friends for the first Thunder home game of the season. Tonight, our Thunder squared off against the Alaska Aces in a contest that saw not a single fight (boo hoo!).



Thunder scored first near the end of the first period and followed it up with a second goal that saw a few Aces players collide into the goalie. It was like a traffic accident being taken apart piece by piece. After a few minutes, when the officials awarded Stockton with the goal, the arena went psycho!

Neither team scored in the second period but Alaska did manage to get a couple of goals in the final period in regulation to tie the contest at 2. Rohlfs ended the sudden death match at 2:10 into OT with a sweet shot. We may be 2-3, but at least we won our home opener.

For tonight's game, we set in section 114, row 5. It was nice to be a little closer and see some pucks go flying as well as really hearing the glass pounding, but sitting this close made it hard to see down on the other end of the ice.

Check out pics here. I took a lot of video but no fights and no goals. I did manage to hit record just after the game winning goal went in... check it out on YouTube here.

If you want to take a retro look back... check out the 2006 Stockton Thunder home opener or check out all of our posts on the Thunder here.

Wow, Emily is 14! We are starting to feel like we might be getting close, someday, to, actually, perhaps, getting (gulp) old.

Happy birthday honey! What'd she get from us? Tickets to see Gwen Stefani... rock on!



Check out the pics here.

Another year, another trip to the Del'Osso Family Farms Pumpkin Maze. I know... it's really a corn maze, but they call it a pumpkin maze. Mike, Shauna, Chris, Rachel, Maryssa, Shawn, Shawn jr, Natalie, Megen, Ken, KC, Jim, Junior, and Melissa joined Dawn and I and the girls for a trek through the maze. Dawn, Melissa, Emily, Shauna, Maryssa and Makenzy got out in just about 20 minutes while it took the rest of us just under an hour to find our way out. The maze seemed trickier this year - with a perimeter maze and one through the center. There were also three "bridges" which let us see over the top of the 20 acre field (not that it helped much as all I saw was corn!).



The haunted house was a lot better this year as they only let in small groups at a time. It kept the entrance completely dark and added to the fright. There were also a couple of new twists in the house this year, one of my favorites being the bathroom scene. Both times we went through in the afternoon, we had to physically push Emily and Maryssa through that part. Let's just say it was reminiscent of the Saw movies. Dawn and Emily went back in the evening for another walk through the haunted house and said they changed it up a little from earlier in the day.

Check out our pics here.

Happy birthday Angelo! We had a great time at Micke's Grove park in Lodi. Chris, Joe and I got robbed playing football, but that's cool... we'll get 'em next time!





Check out our pics here.

Did Stockton really need a new pizza restaurant? We might be a little biased (we love pizza) but I think the answer is a resounding "yes"! Stockton has had the reputation of "restaurant killer" for sometime. Gone are the days of Shannons, the Hatch Cover, Bella Vista, the original (and we would argue, better) Cancun, even Red Robin couldn't last in Stockton.

Through the years, we've seen too many restaurants come and go. Tonight, we ate at one that might just buck the trend.



Cibo di Vino opened recently on the Miracle Mile, right next door to the Empire Theatre. Although there are other items on the menu other than pizza, it was, of course, the pizza that brought us. The service was great. We had reservations and got right in but would have waited under the name, Jessica Alba or Billy Bob Thornton - very funny. After we were seated, our waiter came by to take our drink order. Cibo di Vino had a great selection of wines and Dawn and I each enjoyed a "flight of three" sampler. The pizza was awesome - I would rate it right up there with Michael's and Dante's. Great wine, great service, great atmosphere, and great pizza.

Our first restaurant review earns 5 rolling pins!



Check them out online - cibodivino.com.

Read the recent article in the Record.

Visit them for yourself:
1825 Pacific Ave, Stockton, California 95204

Tonight, we took Fred and Daniel to AT&T Park to watch the San Francisco Giants beat up on the Cincinnati Reds. It was a great game that went by very fast, with very little base hits and no scores until the 8th inning when Durham hit a single with the bases loaded, sending two Giants to home plate.



Check out the pics here.

Yesterday we spent the day at Marine World... I mean, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. Perfect weather, but a little crowded.



Check out the pics here.

Nothing says late July in this family quite like the annual Family Dinner a la Havens style. The weather was perfect, the pool was perfect, the food was, well, the food is always grubbin'!. Yes, a good time was had by all... even the losing volleyball team



Check out the pics here.

What a hot day in Stockton... I think it hit 100 degrees by 10 am! No worries though... that's why we had super soakers for the kids. Sure, a pool would be better but the Havens were out of town.



Check out the pics here.

Even though we have never owned a video game console we have wanted a Nintendo Wii from the first time we saw our young nephew play with his. Well, wii finally got one; Dawn and the girls surprised me with an early Father's Day gift. We only have Wii Sports and have played Tennis, Bowling and Boxing. The Wii was so easy to set up and connect to our home network. We all had a lot of fun creating our Mii's (even though Mak was a little perturbed that Nintendo didn't really offer her shade of red hair). Here's a picture of us - if anyone knows how to transfer high quality Mii's from our Wii to a computer please let me know.

Nothing says late April in Stockton like the long green spears of asparagus everywhere! Well, not everyone in our family likes asparagus but still enjoy going to the festival. Just the girls and I went this time and only stayed a few hours. Watching the competitive eating event was pretty cool... even though they were eating deep fried asparagus!




We even got to see Tyson, the skateboarding bulldog do what he does best.





Check out the pics here.

With JR and his family making the trek from Texas, Tony and his coming down from The Property and Lance even showing up, we had a great Easter at the house. Of course, that means everyone wanted a picture of all the kids... Ken, Lance, Tony, Mike, Me, JR and Missy... all in the same place... that doesn't happen too often.



Of course, there were cameras galore.

Click here for our pics.

Mike's pics.

Also, check out our Easter pics from years past 2006 / 2005 / 2004 / 2002

Happy Easter!

After Dawn's mornings started getting tougher we thought we would find out for sure. So, last week we took the test and... surprise! Guess what's coming to the Beckwith family?



After a trip to the doctor we discovered that she was farther along than we originally thought.



September will be here before we know it!

Happy birthday Christian!




After everyone devoured cake and ice cream and Christian opened up his gifts (and counted his loot) Ken and I went and picked up the boneshaker / penny-farthing. Mike and I had tried, unsuccessfully, to ride it a few weeks before but Ken was sure he could do it on the first try. And ride it he did... he had no problem riding it right from the start. Here's a quick video of him sprinting down Mike's street.

Even I was able to finally ride the bike.



Check out the pics here.

Who knew a birthday party at a toy store could be so cool. Happy birthday princess Rachel.



Check out the pics here.

Mak finally got her belated birthday trip to San Francisco. And, just as she planned, we had lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe and then hung out at Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf. The girls really liked watching the sea lions fight on the docks and also liked watching the street performers. One of the performers, Marcus Raymond, did some pretty cool tricks like escaping from a straightjacket and solving a rubik cube in less than 1 minute (after a kid from the audience scrambled it up real good).





Check out the pics here.

So many of my summers growing up were spent up at the R-Ranch in beautiful Hornbrook in Northern California. Even though spring is creeping up on us we were still a little nervous planning a trip up there this early in the year. With all of the snow on Black Butte and Mt. Shasta it looked like it was going to be cold. Lucky for us the weather was awesome and we had a blast hanging out with the Deckos. The Property at Hornbrook fits the Decko family very well and their home is awesome!



We even made a trip to Ashland which looked exactly the same as it did the last time we were there (probably 10 years ago).



Check out the pics from our trip here.


Christina took some great pics of The Property in December and January when it was snowing and asked me to publish them (it would take her weeks to do it over dial-up). Check out her pics here.

Jim, Natalie and the girls made it up to Stockton this weekend so what better way to party than to rock out at Fred's house! Even Linda and her boys came by!



Jim, Fred and I rocked out for a while (although I don't think we ever made it through an entire song) and even got some help by 15 year old Chris who was playing a great 5-string bass.



Check out the pictures here.

I think there might've been some video taken as well... Mik & KW, if you took any good videos send me the link!

*** update ***
Check out Mike's pics and Ken's pics, too.

Today, we went to see Mimi & Ralph.



Check out the pictures here.

The Beckwith and Havens families had a blast up in Soda Springs this weekend. We had a great cabin and the weather was awesome - clear skies and no wind (until Sunday). There was also a great area for the kids to go tubin' and for me to get a few runs on the snowboard.




Emily, Makenzy and Junior getting ready to go out on Saturday. Check out the pictures from this weekend here.

Dawn, Emily and I went to see the Golden State Warriors take on the Miami Heat (playing without Shaq). This was Emily's first NBA game (in a suite, nonetheless). Great game... if you are a Heat fan. Since I don't really follow the NBA I didn't really care who won (the Heat burned the Warriors 118-96).



Check out the pics here.

and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne?

Happy New Year! We all rang in the new year at Fred & Flower's (although not as much confetti as the last couple of years). As we always do when we celebrate at the Hagele's, we did a shrimp-boil (with crab, too). And by "we" I mean a lot of people except for me ate the shrimp and crab; I picked around it to the saugages, potatoes and pearl onions. Santa brought Fred a new drum set so I brought the guitar and bass and everyone took turns rockin' out.



Pictures are up, check 'em out.

Christmas has come and gone once again. We had a great time hosting Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner. The question is, at the end of the day, into how many pictures did Ken jump?

Joe taught us, once again, that he is really the only one that can kick field goals with any consistency. Everyone was very happy to see Mimi. It was also great to have Kelly and Dennis with us both days (Happy Birthday Kelly). Once again, Jack made his famous fried rice and brought the prime rib for Christmas dinner.

Check out pics here.

Merry Christmas from the Beckwith Family - Matt, Dawn, Emily, Makenzy and Sashi!

Once again, we made our way out to Forest Creek Christmas Trees in Galt to cut down our Christmas tree. Check out pics here.

This month, the three wives turned a combined 112 years old... I'll let you determine the respective ages. We had a little get-together at Mike & Shauna's (thanks bro). Check out pics here.

The Stockton Thunder lost their first home game this season when the Alaska Aces scored a late third period goal to tie the game and eventually beat us in the first shutout.

There was not a single fight in the whole game so I put up a goal instead. Click here to see the third period score by Brandon Hodge on YouTube.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there (well, except this unlucky bird).

Check out the pics here.

Thanks to Larry Johnson and the Chiefs... even though I only got to watch the last 2 minutes on TV... it was a great game... now we're tied for second place... bring on the playoffs!

Mak, Dad and Emo


Dad, Fiona and Shrek

Click here for pics.

Our new October tradition... Stockton Thunder Hockey!

Early last year, when we heard that Stockton's new arena would be home to a minor league hockey team, we were less than impressed. Hockey was never a sport that we followed in our house and it didn't seem to match very well with our warm weather and culture. We were much more excited to be getting Arena Football and Major League indoor soccer.

As the season started to get closer we decided that we wanted to be part of the hype of the new team and went to the second home game. From the moment we walked in the arena we knew this was going to be cool! When the game started we were on our feet, along with 9,000 other Stockton Thunder fans and we have been hooked ever since.

So, tonight we showed up, decked out in Thunder gear, ready to scream our lungs out for our hometown Thunder!

If you're a sports fan and live within an hour of Stockton, you have to check this out! Trust me when I say that hockey is meant to watched live; so many people have the same comment after watching their first game: "I could never get into hockey on TV... but this is awesome!"

What a game! The Thunder start the season 2-0 and right in the middle of the Pacific Division and end tonight's game being the only undefeated team in the ECHL.



The first fight of the night. The Arena went crazy when Huxley (Stockton) knocked Neilson right on his bum.


The Long Beach Ice Dogs scored an early first goal but the Thunder tied it up before the end of the first period (click here for the video from the first goal scored at home this season). The same pattern would continue for the second and third period with Long Beach scoring first and then Stockton getting a goal. The final shot in regulation came from Stockton with only 34 seconds left on the clock. The 5 minutes of overtime passed with no scoring so we were treated to a nail-biting shoot out. We tied throughout the first group of attempts so then we went into sudden death shoot out mode!

After 6 failed attempts by each club, Brendon Hodge slaps one in and the Thunder win a close one!

Congrats Thunder... you rock!

game stats

click here for pictures

What a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than to cruise up to San Jose to check out the Tech Museum. We wanted to see the IMAX movie on the Tour de France but there was only one showing early in the day. We spent 15 minutes outside checking out the huge pool ball kinetic exhibit. It was such a challenge to follow a single ball all the way through the high tech maze of ramps, pulleys and loops.


There was a lot of incredible things to do and see and an easy place to get lost for a few hours. One of my favorites was the planetary exhibit... the girls really liked it too.



Mik, KW, Twon, JR - check out this video (64 MB).

(also videos of 'emily' and 'makenzy', 36 & 24 MB)

Of course... you can check out pics of our trip to The Tech here.

http://beckwithweb.com/vdz/2006-07-02_KWs/

I love these pics! I came across some pictures of Junior when he was very, very little and it reminded me of these pictures. Here are the mothers of, and the kids from 2020.

Happy Easter... and happy birthday to Elizabeth. We also celebrated Audrey's birthday since she will be in Texas for her birthday. JR & Meg are moving to Ft. Worth... UHaul's leaving Merced in one week and this is probably the last party at the Decko's house... at least this one (the next one's up there) Reeb bros! (click here for pics)



Also, here's a video of Rae Rae (slow pipes will suffer... 33 MB)

Ok... I know... it's been eons since we updated the site... Matt's bad. Anyway, we're back... with over 800 new pictures and videos. Three birthday parties... two holidays... tons of soccer and even some cool pool shots and field goal attempts. Anywhooooo...... enjoy.... and GO CHIEFS.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! What a great Thanksgiving... great food, hanging out with the family. Some of the boys went over to the high school and tried to prove who could kick the longest field goal, even though none of us had any real experience kicking a football. 

Check out pictures here.