Mountain Cabin - Part 4

Need to do a little catch up here. Yesterday morning Catie and I got up early and headed back into Big Bear to do some caching. Most of the caches involved a bit a hiking. Catie was my little eagle eye this morning. The first two finds Yikes and Discovery Center Kach she was the one who found them. The cammo on these was really good. We finished up by stopping at Starbucks for coffee and hot chocolate. It was a fun one on one morning for the two of us.

We spend the afternoon playing board games and watching DVD’s on our portable player. I’ve really enjoyed not having TV, radio or the internet this week. We have focused our energy on being together and enjoying each others company. There have been many laughs and hardly any tears... and those were from laughing too hard!

As we finish up our breakfast and begin packing up, I can’t believe our week hear is over. Time truly does fly when you are having fun. I can’t help but be reminded of the amazing blessing that Chris and the kids are in my life. They make me complete.

Mountain Cabin - Part 3

Got up early this morning and was on the road by 7:00am for a few hours of caching. I was able to find 8 in the Big Bear area. The north shore area of the lake is much more quiet and laid back than the south shore which is were all the tourists and skiing are located. I got back to the cabin just in time for lunch with the gang. After lunch we took a nice hike around Green Valley Lake and were able to grab a quick cache along the way. In honor of Nik we had burgers and fries followed by a relaxing evening of movies.

Mountain Cabin - Part 2

Slept is late this morning, the gang didn’t really get started with breakfast until after 9:00am. I got out for an hour of caching after breakfast. After lunch we headed into Big Bear Lake to see the movie Cheaper by the Dozen 2. We all enjoyed the show. After a bit of shopping we set out to find firewood for the night’s fire. In my effort to save some money I visited several places and ultimately had two of my options close before I could go back and make my purchase. Finally, I ended up spending $12 for two puny little bundles of wood. So much for trying to save money!

Now that the fire I going, we are enjoying a nice game of Scrabble with Alex, Catie and I. We also enjoyed reading the guest journal. One in particular was pretty funny. Here is an excerpt.

The snow continues to pile up outside. Our stores ran out five days ago, and we subsist by consuming the occasional spider and rationing our one remaining role of fruit flavored Certs. Each time I look at Joanna she appears more like a meal than a person. I fear this will be our last entry as I no longer have the strength to write…but seriously…we had a wonderful time at your cabin and offer our deepest thanks for the scope of your benevolence.
- Sunday July 6, 2003

Of course this is tongue in cheek as in July it was probably 80 degrees. We are here at the end of December and it is 55 degrees during the day and 35 degrees at night. We had hoped to find some snow to ski in, but no luck this trip.

Mountain Cabin - Part 1

We arrived in Green Valley Lake last night just after dark. This was our first look at the cabin we had rented, and we were pleasantly surprised. Judging from the construction and the décor I’d have to say it was built sometime in the late 50’s or early 60’s. The main level includes the living room, dining room kitchen, bathroom and one bedroom with two single beds. There is also a loft that has a queen bed. The décor is rustic, but it fits in very nicely with the community of Green Valley Lake, very quite and laid back, not like the mad house that Big Bear is this time of year.

Today we spent the morning relaxing. Alex and Catie spent part of the morning collecting kindling for our fire tonight. I spent several hours learning how to use my new Garman 60cs GPS receiver. I got it all set up and also entered the 38 cache waypoints I had printed out for the area. Alex and Catie spent the morning playing Animal Crossing on their Nintendo DS. It’s pretty cool, they connect to each others DS via Wi-Fi so they can play the game together at the same time.

After a yummy lunch of tortilla soup we headed into Big Bear Lake to do some caching. We did a total of six caches, with no DNF’s, which is always great. Chris did all but one of them with me. I really enjoyed having her with me. I think I’ve turning her around a little bit on the whole caching thing! After caching we had a nice dinner at Sizzler. The night ended with us watching DVD’s on my laptop with a great fire warming our cabin.

Christmas Eve

It's mid afternoon on Christmas eve. The decorations are up, gifts are all wrapped, the Christmas cards are finally in the mail. Chris is at the grocery store buying the final ingredients for Christmas eve dinner. We will be heading to Grace Baptist Church at 4:00pm for Christmas eve service. It's not our usual church, but Grace is a bit more traditional. Traditional is not what I want for a home church, but on Christmas eve it's kind of nice. Chris is kind of sad that we are not going to be celebrating Christmas with our family in WI this year, especially since we have been there three of the last four years. She is being a trooper though. We keep reminding ourselves that even though this is not our ideal Christmas, we need to make it special for the kids. We are making the memories they will have for the rest of there lives, so we need to make this good ones! Catie has inspected every package under the tree, comparing all of her's to her wish list, trying to figure out what could be in each package. She has related that several of them have her stumped. That's good I tell her. That way it will be more fun to open them! The WI clan are all meeting for Christmas eve at my brother Daves house. That is what I miss the most living out here during the holidays is being with the whole clan. We always have such a great time. I'm praying for a safe Christmas for all of us, near and far. Also that our soldiers over in the Middle East are safe and that they are able to have a meaningful Christmas even though they are far from family and loved ones.

Christmas Greetings 2005

From our family to yours, we bring you Christmas greetings and holiday cheer. As always our year has been filled with many blessings and opportunities. As many of you may know, my Dad has found a sole mate. He and Bonnie Basting where married on April 2nd this past year. The two of them are very happy together and we are grateful they found each other.

We had several fun travel adventures this year. We spent a week in Wisconsin, primarily for Dad and Bonnie’s Wedding. We were also able to include an overnight in Door County, a first for Chris and the Kids. Our summer road trip took us to four California National Parks, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe and Devils Postpile. Chris also had a trip to Wisconsin for Cookie Lee. She was able to spend time with many of our family and friends. Our final trip was to Tucson, AZ as part of our Thanksgiving Holiday week with Dad and Bonnie.

Chris is doing very well with Cookie Lee Jewelry Co. She was promoted to Sales Director this year and has 29 sales reps in her down line. She loves the fact that she can have a rewording career that allows her to put the kids needs first and still provides an income. What a blessing. Chris is still putting her culinary skills to good use entertaining family, friends and her Cookie Sisters.

Nik is now 16 and a Junior at Golden Valley High School. He loves to learn and is a sponge of knowledge. Need to know any obscure fact, don’t ask Jeeves, Ask Nik instead! He is still big time into trains, and loves to travel on our family road trips. He is now lobbying hard to visit New York City, or as Nik would say, The Big Apple. We don’t have our 2006 travel plans set, but rest assured Nik will be there when we go!

Alex is now 14 years old and Freshman also at Golden Valley High School. His biggest passion in NFL Football, with the Jacksonville Jaguars being his favorite team. One of his highlights this year was seeing the Jaguars play the Arizona Cardinals in Phoenix over Thanksgiving weekend. Grandpa and Uncle Keith joined us. The Jaguars won, in a close and exiting game, even though Grandpa and Keith were cheering for the Cardinals...the nerve!

Catie turned 10 in May and is a 5th grader at Fair Oaks Elementary. She continues to be very involved in the Santa Clarita Ballet Company. This year she also got involved in our community theatre company. She played the role of Gatekeeper in their production of The Wizard of Oz in June. The group did a second Oz in the fall where Catie was in the ensemble cast in 5 different numbers. She is also a regular anchor person for the Falcon Television Network (FTN) the schools morning video announcement. She is quite the little performer.

I’m now coming up on 22 years at Quad/Graphics. I can’t believe it, the time has gone so fast. My friend Tom Ayres and I made our annual pilgrimage to Indianapolis for the USGP again this year. I’m still active in photography and Geocaching. Chris gave me a new GPS for my birthday, so look out Dave and Duane!

In closing, I want to thank my sister Julie, cousin Dana and Dad and Bonnie for visiting us over the past year. It means a lot to have family in the house, we truly appreciate it. Gods blessings to all of you. Praying for peace in our time. Happy Holidays!

45, That's not Old!

I celebrated my 45th birthday yesterday. I received several wonderful gifts from my loving family, including Disk Golf Disks, a Disk golf bag and A NEW GPS! I am soo spoiled I can't stand it. Chris and the kids made me a yummy breakfast of French toast (or as Dubya would call it...Freedom Toast) and sausage, a cheese cake birthday cake, orange juice and coffee. Delicious! I followed breakfast by watching the amazing Packers pull defeat from the jaws of victory. What a shame that Brett is going to end his amazing career on such a low note. I still think he should continue to start. No way Aaron Rogers does any better with the current level of talent. After the game we all went out and did some Geocaching. We went 4 of 4, in including finding Mr Ski's Chi Chi cache, one that I had DNF'd on three other attempts. Thanks to Nik for his eagle eye on finding this one! It was a nice sunny day with crystal blue sky. It was however extremely windy which made the 62 degree high seem much colder. We had a great time, being together. I think Chris even had fun. Could it be I'm converting her after all these years? Finally, we ended the day with dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, El Presidente. I was a wonderful day, Thank you to my lovely bride and children for making it special.

Touchdown Jaguars!

The corner stone to our visit to Tucson this weekend was the Jacksonville Jaguars playing the Arizona Cardinals. Alex did a really good job in school this semester and his reward was tickets to the game. Alex and I were joined by Grandpa and Uncle Keith. It was a pretty chilly day by Phoenix standards with game time tempurature in high 50's and a strong westerly wind. Alex and I ended up wearing just about everything we brought with us as well as some winter clothing we borrowed from Grandpa and uncle K. Of course our seats were in the shade which made it feel even colder! Still as Alex said, there was gametime electricity in the air and the excitment was high. The Jags and the Cards played a really tough, hard faught game that the Jags finally clinched in the final minute. Dad and Uncle K left right after the game ended to go warm up in the car, while Alex and I stayed to watch the players mingle and greet each other on the field and see the press conference of the Cardinals coach Dennis Green on the big screen TV. I think we were the last fans in the stands when we finally made our way back to the car. We always like to stay and soak up as much of the atmosphere as posible, we just don't want the experience to end. It was a great day of football and another wonderful future memory for Alex and I.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy thanksgiving to all my family.

Our day was full of fun, relaxation, friends and family. We celebrated our Thanksgiving holiday wiht Dad and Bonnie and our friends Paul and Karen and thier daughter Jessie. Chris and Bonnie prepared an amazing feast of Citrus herb Turkey, Mashed potatoes and gravy, candied carrots, candied yams, stuffing and home made pumpkin pie. After dinner headed over to our friends Rick and Donna Herbst. They always have a fun group over for Thanks giving. They out do themselves every year with dessert selection. This years selection included two kinds of pumpkin pie (Chris' homemade was the best!) pumpkin cheese cake, carrot cake, homemade fudge. I'm so thankful that Dad and Bonnie were able to join us this year, that Dad has found a partner and soulmate to share his life with. I am thankful that I am blessed with such a loving and supportive wife and kids that are loving, caring and respecful.

On the Safe side of Sideways

Today was a special adventure. Dad and Bonnie joined Chris and I for a day in the Santa Barbara wine country. I was able to take the day off so the four of us could do this little get away while the kids were in school. We started off in the quaint Danish village of Solvang for a light lunch. There are some really nice shops here so we walked off our lunch by strolling the streets. At one point Dad and I snuck away to find a Geocache that was in the area. We then proceeded to the LaFond Winery in nearby Buellton after our tasting we refilled our glasses with our favorite vino and headed to the picnic area for some bread, cheese and dark chocolate. The setting was beautiful, with golden brown leaves on the vines and crystal blue sky overhead. It was nice to just sit and talk and relax. We then headed to the Melville Winery for our final tasting of the day. This is my favorite winery in the entire area. Great setting, beautiful decor and good wine too. Our final stop was at Andersen's Pea Soup to do my final Geocache of the day. It was a virtual that had 11 questions to answer. More that I would have done, but it was still fun. We headed south around sunset and made a stop in Ventura harbor for dinner at our favorite little fish shack Andrea's. From there we headed home. What a fun day.

Paying a visit to Ronnie

Dad and Bonnie are in town for the Thanksgiving holiday. Yesterday the kids and I took them to the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. The last time I was hear with the boys doing a geocache on Presidential Libraries, we only toured the outside garden area of the grounds. Since that visit, Reagan passed away so this location is now also his burial site. Also new is the Air Force One Museum. The Boeing 707 that was as Nik put it yesterday "President Reagans Ride for his international trips" is on permanent indoor display, pointing out a window that is the entire wall of this huge building. The view of the surrounding hill of Simi valley from this vantage point are spectacular. It was also a picture perfect day, with crystal blue sky's, excellent air quality and temps in the low 80's. We spent about 3 hours touring the museum. which really has something for everyone, from a reproduction of the Oval Office at the white house as it was during Reagans terms, to some of Nancy's beautiful gowns from formal functions to the highlight for me of Air Force One and its companion Marine One, the helicopter that shuttles the president from the White House to Andrews Air Force Base where Air Force one is housed. It was a fun visit and once I would recommend to anyone.

Podcast Convention Wrap-up

The boys and I are home from the Podcast Convention. It was a really neat experience, and I'm happy that I could share it with Nik and Alex. Nik was super excited to get a chance to see Leo Laporte give the keynote address to open the show. He is such a fun personality and very comfortable on stage. Nik had a smile on his face from ear to ear during the presentation. Oh, did I mention that Leo is a Mac guy? Know wonder Nik and I like him so much. Later in the day we where back in the keynote hall because I was looking for a quite place to call into a conference call with a client. While the boys were sitting there waiting for my call to end Nik spotted Leo chatting with some other people. I also spotted Patrick Norton, Leo's partner on the Screen Savers, Call for help and my favorite podcast TWit standing near Leo. Next thing I know, Nik and grabbing Alex so the two of them can go an introduce themselves to Leo. Leo also introducted them both to Patrick and Nik ended up chatting with Patrick for about 5 minutes. Alex even get a picture of Nik and Patrick. We then walked through the exibit hall. There were quite a few products being introduced for making personal podcastes. It was fun to be in the middle of so much energy surrounding this new technology and new community.

Live with Leo

At the Portable Media Expo in Ontario, CA. Nik and Alex have joined me at the show. The big attraction for Nik was the opportunity to see Leo Laporte, who was on The Screen Savers on the old TechTV. He is now the host of one of my favorite Podcasts, This Week in Tech also known as TWiT. We have wireless right here in the keynote all so I'm blogging this live and Alex is on my PDA on the NFL.com web site. The hall is jammed, at least 2,500 people here for the first ever Podcasting convention. People here from over 44 countries. It's pretty cool.

Happy Halloween

Our family had a fun Halloween weekend. Caties school had a fall festival with lots of games and good food. All the kids dressed up in their costumes. Catie hooked up with her friend Makenna and they both had a ball. Saturday morning we made our annual trip to Lombardi Ranch a rustic old produce farm that gets all decked out for Halloween. They have a Huge pumpkin patch, a 5 acre Sunflower field with a maze through it and lots of good things to eat like caramel apples, corn on the cob and snow cones. With Halloween on a Monday night this year, I had to try and get home early. Unfortunately all the other parents in SoCal must have had the same idea and I ended up sitting in traffic for three hours and missing my chance to go trick or treating with Catie. I did get to spend time with Alex passing out candy. Catie's Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz costume was very cute, she looked great. Once she got back to the house she recalled to me all the houses in the neighborhood that had the best candy, especially those that gave out the holy grail of trick or treating...The full size candy bars!

We're off to see the Wizard!

Saturday night we had th pleasure of watching our little Catie performing in the Community Theatre production of the Wizard of Oz. CC was blessed with the opportunity to perform in 4 ensamble song and dance sets. She was a crow, a snowflake, a jitter bug and an emerald city resident. See was awesome up on stage! I can't believe she is so at home on stage. I am so very pround of her. Great job Catie, we love you!

Green Bay Packers Rock!

Oh, what a difference a week makes! The Packers pounded the New Orleans Saints yesterday 52-3. The point total breaks a record set in 1983 by the Packer team that included Lynn Dickey (QB), James Lofton (WR) , John Jefferson(WR) and Pual Caufman (TE). All of whom made the Pro Bowl that year. The offense seems to finally put all the pieces together with Brett Farve throwing 3 TD passes and Davenport rushing for 2 TD's. Unfortunately, Davenport also suffered a season ending broken ankle. The troops are getting a bit thin with Tony Fisher now the only experience running back with have. The big news for me though is the defense. Jim Bates has really turned this squad around with his aggressive, hard hitting style. This win is a really nice way to head into the bye week. I can reflect back on this game and feel good.

The Pack is 0-4...ARG!

My beloved Green Bay Packers are 0-4. We lost another heartbreaker on Monday night against the Carolina Panthers. Turnovers and Penalties dug us a pretty deep hole in the first 3 quarters. A dramatic and exciting 4th quarter comeback lead by Brett Favre's four TD passes almost pulled off a major come from behind victory. The defense is also played much better than last year and is one of the emerging bright spots this season. I knew going into the season it was going to be tough, but at this point I think we will be very lucky to come out of it with 5 wins. Oh well, got to focus on the bright spots. I was a very exciting game, and that made it enjoyable. You can appreciate the good until you've tasted the bad.

Fernando Alonso - F1 World Champion!

Fernando Fantastico!!

Bravisimo!!

Bravo Bravo Bravo!!!!!

FANTASTICOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Had to share that moment in the words of Renault F1 team boss Flavio Briatore. Congratulations for Fernando Alonso of Spain, the new world champion in Formula One. He becomes the youngest champion ever at age 24, breaking the record set in 1972 by Emerson Fittipaldi. He is also the first champion from Spain and only the second Spainish speaking champion in history. Truely Awesome!

Me and my Bride

Woke up this morning about 6:00am and was wide awake. So, I thought I'd get up and try to do some caching before the family woke up. As I was walking down the stairs, I could hear that the TV in the family room was on. As I entered the room I saw Chris laying on the couch watching the Ellen show. And she was awake! So, rather than cache we sat down and watched TV together. How fun to get alittle unexpected time together!

Are you ready for some Football?!

NFL Kickoff Sunday today. Alex and I have be anxiously waiting for this day since the begining of training camp in July. Alex has really become a passionate football fan. Having NFL network has given him the resource to really be in the know on how the teams are all developing. So, today we started off by watching Alex's Jacksonville Jags win. Next up was the Packer vs Lions. Although the defense played well, there were way too many penalties and mistakes on the offense. So in the end the Packers lost a lop sided game to a team that they should have beaten. It looks like it could be a long season.

It's Been a While...

Wow, the last two weeks kind of got away from me. Last weekend was Alex's 14th birthday as well as Chris' and my 23 wedding aniversary! Add to that Nik being diagnosed with Walking Pnumonia and it's clear I haven't had much free time!

First and formost, Nik is doing much better. He's probably lost 10 pounds, but he is just now getting his appitite back and he has that old sparkle in his eye's again. All that really remains now is a rough hacking cough. He will be able to return to school on Monday.

I can't believe Alex is 14! Man, time is going much too quickly. Seems like just the other day he was Al Ouncer jr, only drinking an ounce of formula at a time. Alex had a really nice birthday weekend that included a sleepover with 6 of his friends. In typical boy sleepover tradition, they stayed up til 3:00am. They didn't keep Chris and I up, so it was not a problem except for how tired they all where in the morning! We got Alex a TiVo for his room, the best gift ever according to him. He is now set to record all the Jacksonville Jaguars football games this season so he won't miss a minute of the action! He is really pasionate about NFL football. It's fun to see him develope his own interested.

Chris and I had a nice quite anniversay last Sunday. With Alex and Catie sleeping over at our friends the porters for two nights and Nik still pretty sick, we didn't go anywhere. It was nice to just relax just the two of us. We did sneek out for a nice dinner at a nearby Asian resturant. We sure do miss the days when Mom was alive and she and Dad would visit, allowing Chris and I do sneak away for a weekend adventure just the two of us. Just one of many changes in our lives since we lost Mom. I really miss her, and can't wait to see her in heaven.

Caching with Catie

With Chris working again today at the fair, we finished up some of the shopping we had originally planned to do yesterday. Catie and I took the opportunity to spend an hour doing a few Geocaches. Unfortunately we were one for 3 today. The worst part is that when I logged the DNF's others had found them today. Not meant to be I guess. Oh and man was it hot. 108 degrees with a slight and very dry breeze. Catie asked me to day if anyone had ever stopped me while caching to ask what I was doing? I told her most of the time, if they look open minded I'll explain to them what caching is all about, and if they don't I tell them I'm looking for my keys! Well, that sparked a very interesting dialog with her about why my keys would be lost in a bush in a parking lot. She's a very deep thinker, I think she gets that from her Mom. ;-)

Listen to the Music!

Chris was working the antelope County fair again today. The kids and I had plans to do some shopping and hang out by the pool. Around 2:00pm Chris called to say that the Doobie Brothers, one of her favorite bands growing up were going to be playing at the main stage at the fair. She asked if I'd like to go with her after her shift ended at 7:00pm. I did, and we did. When I told the kids that Mom and I were going to a Rock concert, Catie's response was "Mom's going to a Rock and Roll Concert?. She doesn't like Rock and Roll!" I had to explain that Rock has been around a long time, this was a band the Mom and Dad grew up listing to. What a fun evening. They played all their hits. Brought back lots of great memories. They really sounded good, really tight. At one point we called the kids on Chris' cell phone so they could hear the Doobies belting out "Rockin' down the highway" They really got a kick out it. After the show we shared a desert, and checked in on the girls running the Cookie Lee booth before heading home. What a fun and spontaneous evening!

It's the Weekend!

Ahh the end of the work week! the end of the kids second week of school and the end of my second week of work. July was a blur with me being sick, Catie being sick, family road trip, Chris in WI for her Cookie Lee show. It was a wonderful time, but it's kind of nice to be settling back into our normal rutine. The kids seem to have gotting back into the groove of school and Chris in begining her busy time of year with Cookie Lee.

I was able to do 3 Geocaches last night on my way home from work. It was nice to get a break from the crush of Friday evening commute traffic, stretch my legs and exercise my mind. Found all three urban micros with out too much difficulty. Chris is at the Antalope County Fair were she and her Cookie sisters have a booth set up. It's also her actual birthday today so "Happy Birthday my love!" Catie has a friend over and the boys and I are watching the 49ers game. Nice to be home.

Happy Birthday Christina! - Almost

We celebrated Chris' birthday tonight. Her actuall big day is tomorrow, but since she is working the fair so we decided to celbrate today. We had a yummy dinner at Chi-Chi's Italian Resturant. They have the best hand tossed Pizza in town, we all really enjoy it. Once we got home, she opened her gifts, a set of salt and pepper shakers from Catie, a Blender from the boys and an photo printer and iPod Mini from me. She really enjoyed the gifts and we all had a great time. Next on the birthday list is Alex in just 6 days!

The End of Summer

Well, its back to school tomorrow for all three of the kids. Nik and Alex will be attending Golden Valley High School, Nik as a Junior and Alex as a Freshman. Catie will be entering 5th Grade at Fair Oaks Ranch elementary. Man, this really makes me feel old! Nik is so grown up and Alex is right on his heels. Just spoke with Chris, she and Julie are on their way home from Cookie Lee convention. Chris will be going right from convention mode into first week of school mode, with a Cookie Lee meeting for her downline on Tuesday to boot. I'll be back to work after an on and off month of July. I'm really looking forward to diving back in. We have a little more than 4 months to bring in as much new business as possible. Also have the office lease renewal coming up and I have to plan the Sales Kaizen event in the next month. Should be a nutty, busy, exciting fall. I can't wait!

Fun with Dad - Part 5

Today is the day that Catie has been dreaming about since my vacation started last Friday...Hurricane Harbor Day! Jonathan was able to join us, as well as Nik joining us as well. It was not too hot today, temps in the mid 80's which is good except it was a bit chilly toward the end of the day when we walked soaking wet to the next ride. We did Tiki Falls, Tornado, Wave Pool, Lazy River (Nik's favorite) the water play area and Splash Down. We ended up closed down the park at 7:00pm. Chilled and tired we went to Burger King for dinner before heading home. I think all the kids were asleep by 10:00!

And Now She's Gone

After a brief pause in her busy schedule to do laundry and pack a new bag, Chris and Julie headed out this afternoon to Anaheim for the Cookie Lee Fall/Winter convention. This is the big kick off for all the new jewelry she and her team will be selling this fall. She will also be honored for her accomplishments as a leader during the Awards show on Saturday night. We had a nice relaxing day with Julie and Chris as they didn't need to leave for Anaheim until 6:00pm. We got a chance to hang out by the pool and catch up with each other. Alex had his friend Jonathan spend the night, the last sleepover of the summer.

Chris is home, for now

Chris came home from WI this morning, accompanied by my sister Julie. The kids and I picked them up at LAX at 11:00 am. When went out for a yummy lunch at Tony P's Dockside Grill which is right on the water in Marina del Rey. I've taking Chris there acouple of times and she really loves it. We took Julie to Venice Beach on the way home. She reallized she wasn't in Kansas any more. I think the street performers kind of freaked her out!

Fun with Dad - Part 4

Today is the day Alex has been waiting for since school ended. The release day for Madden 2006. Alex has become a huge NFL football fan. He follows his beloved Jacksonville Jaguars daily on the Jags web site as well as soaking up as much NFL network as his Mom and I can handle. Having pre ordered his copy with his Visabuxx card last week, he get the much anticipated e-mail from Best Buy this morning letting him know his copy was ready for pick up. Off we went as soon as the store was open. We came home and that's the last I saw of Alex until dinner!

Since Alex was sucked into Madden land, Catie and I decided to do a bit of Geocaching at Ventura harbor. We started with lunch at our favorite sea food shack Andrea's. The weather was overcast and cool with temps around 70. Luckily, buy the time we finished lunch the Marine layer had burned off and it turned out to be a pretty nice day. We found two Ventura Caches and then ended up playing at the beach for the rest of the afternoon. The highlight was digging an enormous hole in the sand, so big when Catie stood in it, you could only see the top of her head! Her comment to me on the way home was "I never knew you could have soo much fun digging a hole!" We had a great time.

Fun with Dad - Part 3

Spent the afternoon today at Mountasia amusement park. Rode the go-carts, bumper boats and played a round of Mini-Golf. Man, it was a hot day today, temp about 103. After the boats we came in and had an ice cream and Farrells. Having cooled off we headed back out for golf. Wrapped up the visit with 100 tokens for video games. Nik and I had fun playing Air Hockey, Alex and I did quite a few head to head racing games and Catie spent all her tokens winning tickets that she traded in at the end for a stuffed tiger, I believe she named him Tony.

Fun with Dad - Part 2

The kids and I went to see Sky High at the theater today. I must say that I didn't have very high expectations, but was plesently supprised. It was a pretty good story and the effects were well done. The kids shared similar perspectives, all liked it better then they thought they would. Topped off the eventing with a swim and soak in the hot tub.

Fun with Dad - Part 1

When I got home from work today, Nik and Alex were home waiting for me. We had a dinner and watched movies. Catie was at Hurricane Harbor with Jamies family all day. She finally came home around 8:30pm. She said they had a great time. We all then spent the rest of the night catching up with each other on what our weeks were like.

Catie's Back

Late last night I got a call from Catie, calling to tell me good night and that she loves me. She is such a sweet heart. About 30 minutes later she called, on the vurge of tears to say she wanted to come home and sleep because she missed me too much. So, off I went, picked her up and brought her home. She crawled in bed with me and soon was fast asleep. At one point in the middle of the night I woke up to find her snuggled up to me and holding my hand! Oh it just melted my heart. Today Catie went back over to Jamies house to spend the day, then Jamies family dropped her off after spending the day at friends in the valley. She said they had a huge back yard and pool so they swam all day.

The House is quiet

Chris left for WI today. She is part of a large Cookie Lee team that is working the Wisconsin State. She will be out of town for the next week. So, Alex and Catie are at Sleep overs through Friday. At that point I'm taking the following week off to have fun with the kids. So, it's just Nik and I right now. We ordered Pizza from Pizzahut.com, one of Nik's favorite things. We are having a nice relaxing evening, just the two of us.

Summer Family Road Trip - Day 7

Got on the road home by 9:30am this morning. It was a pretty drive south down the middle of the Owens Valley, with the Sierra's on the west and the White Mountains on the East. The drive was pretty easy and in fact we made it home in about 4 hours and 15 minutes. That gave us enough time to unpack the van, do laundry and unwind. I also leave for a business trip tomorrow so I need to get packed as well as get caught up on my work e-mail and prepare for several presentations I have to give on Tuesday. I think Nik summed up Vacations the best today. "I love to go on vacation and explore new places and see new things. But it's also nice come back to the place we call home" Nik, I couldn't agree more! It's good to be home.

Summer Family Road Trip - Day 6

Woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise over the eastern slopes of the Sierra Madre Mountains. I took advantage of the peace and quite to make a pot of coffee and enjoy the view from the balcony. Once Chris and the kids woke up, we got our swim suits on and took a dip in our own private hot tub. Ahhh, life is good! Breakfast was at a local place called the Breakfast Club. We had a huge meal to last us all the way to dinner. Then, we where off to explore the lakes area. We rented a pontoon boat in the morning and a canoe and Kayak in the afternoon. At one of the lakes we even saw a Mother Black Bear and her three little cubs. They were less than 150 feet away so it was quite exciting! Late in the evening, Catie and I made the drive to Devil's Postpile Nat'l Mon. which is about 30 minutes from Mammoth. It's a cool Geologic formation of Rock that looks like logs. We had a nice little hike there before it got dark. Overall the Mammoth Lakes area was awesome, and we are definitely planning on coming back in the winter to play in the snow.

Summer Family Road Trip - Day 5

The highlight of the day was our boat tour of Lake Tahoe on a 50 foot Catamaran sailboat. The scenary was beautiful. Temps were also much more comfortable with highs in the low 80's which is a huge improvement from the 100's we have been experiencing. It was very relaxing, but both Alex and Catie commented that they wished the boat had gone faster. Apparently they wanted to have waves and spray crashing over the bow! Once back at the dock we had a nice lunch at a beach side cafe with a great view of the lake. From Tahoe we drove to Mammoth Lakes where we will spend the last two nights of our vacation at Rick and Donna Herbst's skiing Condo. We arrived around 5:30pm, in time to get settled in and grab a nice meal a a local Italian Resurant.

Summer Family Road Trip - Day 4

Headed for Lake Tahoe today. Unfortunatley the only way to get there was to retrace our steps one again through the slow and twisting roads of Yosemite. On the road from the hotel at 9:30am, we didn't actually exit the park on its easter border near Mono Lake until 3:00pm! I love'd Yosemite, but I was pretty sick of the roads in and out buy the time we left. Next time we come will be in the off season (possibly Winter) and we will stay in Yosemite Village so we only have to drive in and our once. We finally arrive at our hotel in South Lake Tahoe about 5:30pm today. Got a great suite at the Holiday Inn Express. Took advantage of the space by ordering in for Pizza. After the kids relaxed in the room while Chris and I went out for a short walk through the local shops. It was kind of like a mini date, capped off with a nice relaxing stop for a cocktail. Did I mention the hotel had free Wi-Fi? That was a really nice surprise.

Summer Family Road Trip - Day 3

Our second day in Yosemite we explored the main valley. This is the most famous park of the park. Entering the valley through a mile long tunnel, you exit with the entire valley spread out before you. To the left is El Capitain to the right is Bridalveil falls, on of the largest waterfalls in the world. after a fun picnic lunch Sentinal Beach we headed off to the Yosemite village were Nik and Chris split off to do some sight seeing while Alex, Catie and I set off to do the Mist Trail hike up to Vernal Falls. The hike was amaizing, the last half mile carved into Yosemite Granite with mist from the massive water fall coming down like rain on both the trail and us. Since the daytime temps were 108 degrees, the mist was a welcome relief. Catie and Alex both did a great job on the hike, it was pretty strenuous. They really hung in there and we all had a great time. All five of us met back at Yosemite village for dinner at the lodge. from there we did some more touring of the valley via the Yosemite shuttle system before making the long drive back to Oakhurst. Did I mention that its a long slow drive in and out of the park!?

Summer Family Road Trip - Day 2

Today was our first day in Yosemite National Park. We got a little bit of a late start, but with my Shingles still raging and Catie only 48 out of the hospital, I was not about to stress out over it. The drive into the park was very beautiful. We dicided to explore the back way in, so we could see the valley from above. There where two big highlights of the day. First the view from Glacier Point. The road ends her at a point where you can see the entire eastern Yosemite valley spread out before you. The view a Half Dome was spectacular. We could also see Varnal Falls and Nevada Falls. The second highlight was the hike we took from the Sentenal Dome trail head to a geological formation called the Fisssures. From there we had an awesome view across the valley of El Capitan, the largest granite rock face in the world. Rock climbers travel to the Yosemite valley from all over the world to tackle El Capitan, a climb that can take up to a week to accomplish. The biggest challange was the swarms of mosquitos we had to battle through on the way back.

Summer Family Road Trip - Day 1

We fianally got on the road about 10:30am this morning. This would normally have been the day we drove from Three Rivers near Sequoia up to Oakhurt were we will be visiting Yosemite. We have decided to drive to Sequoia on the way so we can at least get a glimse of that park. It seemed a shame to come so close and miss it. We arrive at Sequoia about 3:00pm after a long entrance to the park. Lots of switchbacks and elevation gain. First stop was Moro rock, a huge granite monlith that rises out of the valley floor. There is a really cool hiking path that has stairs cut into the rock and metal railing for safety. We hiked out a quarter mile our so, but didn't make it to the top for lack of time. I was still pretty spectacular. From there we headed for the tunnel tree. A Giant Sequoia that has falled over. The trunk is so thick there is an actual tunnel cut through it and we were able to drive our van thru it with the roof box on and still have inches to spear! These giant trees are bigger than words can discribe, but I'll try. Catie was leaning back trying to see the top of one and almost fell over backwards. The bark on them is over 30 inches thick, with hieghts of over 250 feet with many of them over 2,000 years old. Amazing. We visited the General Sherman Tree, the largest tree in the park, but more importantly, the largest living thing on the planet. The kids were wow'd by these trees. After leaving Sequoia, we drove here to Oakhurst which seemed to take forever. Finally got to the hotel about 10:30pm all of us are pretty tired.

Catie's Home!

Catie is home. Thank God. She looks really good, her old spunky self. The first thing she asked for was a Big Mac, and the second was to find out when we are leaving for vacation! So, we are doing a crash packing job today. If Catie still seems to be doing well tomorrow, we will begin our road trip minus the first two days. Welcome home Catie!

Medial Update 6

Just received a call from Chris...Catie has been released from the hospital! They are on their way home and should arrive within the hour. I can't wait to get my little ray of sunshine home. She has been through alot this last week. I look forward to her quick road to recovery. I love you Catie!

Medical update 5

Well, it's now Saturday night and we still don't have our little Catie home. The boys and I spent the afternoon and evening with Catie and Chris at the hospital today. She has not had a fever since 2:00pm, her appetite is back and she has been disconnected from the IV so she is now roaming freely around her room. She really looks pretty good and we are very hopefull that she will be released from the hospital in the morning.

Medical Update 4

Catie is spending a second night in the hospital tonight. All five of us spent the afternoon and evening together in her hospital room today and Catie seems to be feeling much better. She as eaten and kept down sold food for both lunch and dinner. Her color is coming back as well. She is still on IV and will be through the night. Also still battling a fever. She is responding to Tylenal and Motrin to bring the temp down, but once that wears off the fever comes back. Menangitis has definately been eliminated as a diagnosis as well as Strep. The docs think she has a viral infection that she has struggled to shake. We are hoping to bring Catie home tomorrow. I have cancelled the hotel for the first two nights of our road trip, but we are hopeful to start the road trip with the Yosemite stage.

Medical update 3

Poor little Catie is now in the hospital. The docs sent her in after seeing her this afternoon. She still can't keep anything down and now has skin blotches on her hands and feet. At one point they thought she might have Menengitis, but that diagnosis seems to have been eliminated. They are still doing some tests, but they are really focusing on getting her fully hydrated, and pumping her full of anti-biotics. I feel so bad for my little Toonie, she hasn't eaten since Monday and can't keep even water down for more that a few minutes. She has been poked and prodded more than any 10 year old should have to be.

Chris is spending the night with her at the hospital, while I am home with the boys. Nik and Alex really made me proud yeserday. Just after Caties ambulence pulled away from the house they came up to me and said they wanted to buy her a get well present of a new TV. I suggested that she already had a TV but that she would love an iPod shuffle. They loved that suggestion and sent me off first thing this morning to pick it up on my way to work. I brought it home, we got it all charged and sync'd with her music. The boys will put it all back in the orriginal packaging and hope to give it to her tomorrow morning when we go to visit her. They really love their little sister. Chris has no idea this is all in the works, she will be equally proud of them.

We don't know for sure if Catie will be released from the hospital tomorrow, but we are hoping. Our vacation plans which are set to begin on Saturday are looking like a long shot at this point. I already told the kids we can reschedule the trip for a later time. Right now we just want out little girl back in good health.

Medical update 2

We brought Catie home from the hospital at 1:30am this morning. The chest x-ray was all clear. The chest pain and numbness was all due to anxiety and hyperventalating. She was also very dehidrated. The docs gave her a full liter of IV fluid. She slept well through the night and in fact is still sleeping now. Its day by day as to whether we are going be able to leave for vacation on time this Saturday.

My Shingles are continuing their march across my scalp. The itching and pain are not any worse, but the relentlessness of them are starting to wear on me a bit. I'm continuing to work, as the distraction is helping me deal with the discomfort.

Medical update

My Shingles are still very uncomfortable, about the same as yesterday. They seem to get slightly worse as the day goes on. I sure hope they don't get in the way of our vacation which starts on Saturday.

Catie has been fighting a case of the flu since Monday night. She woke up this morning still very naucous but also complaining of a sore throat. Chris took her into the doc and found out she has Strep Throat. Since we are leaving for vacation on Saturday we decided on the injection anti-biotic vs. the liquid. Well a few hours later about 7pm Catie started complaining of chest pains and numbness in her arms and legs. We call the doc and she suggested we call 911 so she could get to the hospital right away.

The paramedics came and they quickly determined that she was not having any cardiac problems or alergic reactions to the injection. We decided to still have her go to the hospital so that the docs could check her out. Chris just called after waiting for 2 1/2 hours the docs checkout out Catie. They think that what happened is that she was hyperventalating because she was upset over how sick she felt. This is wat caused the numbness in her arms and legs. They are going to give her an IV to rehydrate her and do a chest x-ray to see what the cause of the chest pain is. Hope to have her home in a couple of hours.

And the Doctor Says...

It's Shingles. My doc says it's not contagous unless I'm around HIV, AID patients or anyone who hasn't had Chicken Pocks. So, I'm continuing to work through this. The pain is bad sometimes but it's really just very uncomfortable. Feels like I have an 8 inch goose pimple on the left side of my scalp. I'm on Valtrex, which is an anti-viral medication. The doc says because we caught it in the first 48 hours it shouldn't spread too far.

Need to see the doctor

Woke up yesterday with a itchy bump on my head, behind my left ear. Through the day it itched, throbbed and caused tingling that radiated from my ear, up to the top of my head and down to my shoulder. I went to the pharmacy last night to get some itch cream, but the pharmacist recommented that I not treat it and see the doctor first thing this morning. Her point was that by treating it now, it would mask some of the symptoms and make it harder to diagnos. Woke up this morning, it is very uncomfortable and I now feel itch and tingle under my right ear as well, although I dont have any pain or bump on that side. I'm going to see the doctor first thing this morning and have her look at it.

Testing...1,2,3

Good Morning,

This is my first Bog entry. It's 5:20am and getting ready to go to the gym.