In South America

Photo from ESPN Deportes
That’s Christopher on the far right. Photo from ESPN Deportes

Christopher is traveling with the USA Falcons in South America right now. The team took fourth place in Argentina last weekend and based the account below, Chris did quite well.

Two guys making their case in Mar del Plata were Chris Turori and Pat Blair. Turori is a San Diego based player who’s spent a lot of time at the OTC the last couple of years and Blair is a former OTC resident who’s been in and out of the Series. Will Holder went down with an injury on day one, and Blair took over the captain duties the rest of the tournament.

“Chris Turori. He’s come a long way since first joining us. His contact skills were up there. We were really, really happy with his mongrelness. We asked him to bring intent and sort of a bit more aggression toward the contact piece of his game and he brought it,” said [Paul] Golding.
– Rugby Today

Now the team is in Chile for the second and final tournament of the trip, Sevens de Viña del Mar.

Post by Seven Viña 2015.

The 2014 Turori Christmas Card

Here’s a little bit about where each of us are in life right now!

I live in Orange County, very close to Disneyland—about a 90 minute drive away from the rest of the family. I’m the Web Content Coordinator for STAA and I also do freelance video and marketing stuff (and I’m working on my first feature film!)…most of the time you’ll find me in my office, AKA the living room.

This year Dale graduated from SDSU with a Master’s in Exercise Physiology. Now he’s working at the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego, while pursuing 3 gun competitions and training for a few triathlons in 2015. What an overachiever! 😉

John is our resident philosopher, thinker of deep thoughts. He is also a youth pastor/caterer person/dancer/rugby player/student of life.

Christopher is a nomad—he travels between the house, school, and the USA Rugby Sevens training program in Chula Vista. Between naps and meals (AKA recovering), he’s probably strumming his guitar.

As the youngest, miss Jenny is not-so-secretly planning to dye her hair blue some time next year. While she waits for that to happen, she dances (hula and tap), watches more TV than mom would prefer, and has just joined a girls rugby team. Oh, and she will be finishing high school next year. (Whaaaat?! How is that possible?)

George stays busy working and coaching rugby with the local youth club. Meanwhile, Suzye is usually occupied by keeping everyone properly fed—cats, dog, chickens, goats…and children.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year! We intend to update our website periodically throughout the year, we’d love it if you drop in from time to time and say hello. 🙂

Update

This Jennifer, I just wanted to do a update on whats happening(since its been over a year since anyone’s done one). Well, Melodie is living in Orange County still, and is working on a TV show called OC Crime Catchers, which is localized in Orange County. Dale has finally graduated from Collage at SDSU(San Diego State University), with his degree in Kinesiology. John is in his second semester at Palomar Collage, and is starting a band with Christopher and two other friends. Christopher has made the Southern California Griffins Rugby 15’s team, where he played a tournament in Colorado. Then was picked for the All-American Rugby 7’s team, where he played a tournament in Canada over the summer. I’m playing soccer, and doing dance. I was recently stung by a string-ray on my foot, while at the beach. I’m doing fine, I can walk without crutches now. Dad(George) has been working, and has been helping teach Christopher and I. Mom(Suzye) has been doing the same old, same old. Teaching Christopher and I, milking the goats, tending to the chickens, and garden.

quick note on the NZ trip

Whew, I still have a few things to do before my friend and her family swing by my apartment to head for the airport! I’m trying to get cross posting working so that my trip blogs will show up here at turori.com, however, I haven’t managed that so far. SO, you can for sure follow along as I travel NZ at my own personal blog here: aniwaniwa.net

The next time most of you hear from me I’ll be writing New Zealand! Hasta la vista!

Guess who’s coming to New Zealand next month?!

Me! As per usual, our sporadic updates on this site have been, well…sporadic. BUT I have big news. I, Melodie, am traveling to New Zealand this July with a friend. We arrive in Auckland on July 5 and depart on July 16. We don’t exactly have an itinerary yet, but we’ll definitely be all over the North Island and there’s been some talk of a brief jaunt over to the South Island.

So, if you’re going to be around NZ during that time, I’d love to try and see you! Maybe we could even steal a night or two on a couch? 🙂 Either way, shoot me an email and we can chat: melodieturori@gmail.com.

Springtime pursuits

People that move to California from places like the Midwest or East Coast often complain about the lack of seasons in the Golden State. I always disagree, if you live here long enough you can see that even Southern California has seasons — we just classify them a little differently. The favorite season of the state (at least in So. Cal) is called “Beach weather!” aka “summer.” Then we move into “fall” which could also be called “Pack up your towels” because the end of beach weather is coming fast. “Freezing!!” is the next season and it arrives when the temperature drops below 70 degrees F on a consistent basis, the rest of the country calls this season “winter.” After winter is my favorite season — well, tied for first, right up there with “pack up your towels” — spring. Which is also called “Beach weather kickoff.”

All that to say that it’s finally spring again. Hillsides are green and blooming, new life is springing up everywhere (pun completely intended). For the Turori’s in VC, that means it’s gardening season. I love spring for its vibrant color and pretty flowers.

spring bee

That’s part of the view from our backyard. Gorgeous, right? I dare you to look at that photo and not feel at least a little lighter and happier.

Spring is also the time for baby goats. Two of our ladies had kids, one had an only child and the other had triplets. All of the goat babies are male and absolutely adorable.

bottle feeding

This one we’re calling Prancer.

goat kids

Two of the triplets (above). Mom suggested we call the triplets Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner — pretty appropriate, I think.

There are other goings on around here. The usual rugby games and practices, and the spring soccer tournaments are also getting under way. Spring break is coming up for us college attendees. Which reminds me, I will be graduating from Biola in 9 weeks and a couple days…May 23rd to be exact. And Dale has been officially accepted to San Diego State University, where he’ll start as a transfer student this fall.