Thursday, March 26, 2015

Spring

Spring has hit here.

We have been trying to enjoy the sunshine as much as possible, before the summer heat hits.

Here are some random pictures from the last bit...

Perri doing spin art.

Firestone Tap Takeover at Final Gravity.


Perri and the chicks.  She named them all after Star Wars characters.
We have Yoda, Luke, Leia,  Darth,  C3PO, and R2D2.

Perri and Michaela.

Perri and I ditching work and school for the day after our only real snow fall. 
Perri post snowboarding, teaching Ryan all she learned.

Perri and Ryan were Captains on the high sea.

Rick teaching Perri how to shoot.


I know this isn't a real update, but it's been a great few months.


Tuesday, February 24, 2015

The Hi-Lo.

We got a Hi-Lo Trailer!!

Perri and the (yet to be named) Hi-Lo.

Well, more specifically my mom did.  But she said she would share and I will be doing most of the work on it.

From the front.



It's a 1984 Hi-Lo 16S trailer.  It's only had 1 owner and it's in great shape.  There are some small fixes to be done, but overall it's amazing.

Perri at the table.


I was looking through the binder of info from the previous owners.



Wooo, camping here we come!!!

Thursday, December 18, 2014

2014.... The Highs and Lows.

So I realize I haven't updated in ages.

I'm going to try and get back into it, though I understand I've made that promise before.

We will see...


The Bullet Point Update (of the last 2 years and 7 months):

  • We moved back to California in August 2012.
    • It's been good to be back around our friends and family, but we do miss the Great White North.

Siobhan, Perri, and Linz at a Giants Game.
Hiking at Steep Ravine Cabins.

  • I am still with Apple.  
    • I was still in the retail store until September of this year.  
    • I am now in corporate at Elk Grove, with the official title of Enterprise Server & Education Technical Advisor.
    • The new position is absolutely amazing.  I'm loving it.

  • Perri is now 6 (WTF?!)
    • I don't know how that happened.
    • She is in Kindergarten at Granite Bay Montessori
    • She is a voracious reader, a fanatical lego addict, and a very spirited kid.
    • She is also a soccer fiend.
Perri playing pinecone-ball at Tuttle Lake.
Perris Kindergarten Picture.

  • We still have the 2 dogs, Kirby and Bella.  
    • Kirby is still obsessed with his ball, and Bella is still obsessed with stealing it.

Bella.

Kirby. And his ball.
  • The phenomenal and amazing Ann Margaret Crosby aka Nana passed away in July.
    • She was originally diagnosed with cancer in 2007 and told she had about 6 months to live.
    • She fought like hell and ended up living for an additional 7 years.  We are incredibly grateful for the additional time we got to spend with her.
    • One of her favorite things to do was to read to Perri, just like she used to read to me.

Rick, myself, Perri, Nana, and Preston.

Nana.

Nana and Perri.
  • My mom has been living at Nanas for the past 2 years, to help out, and I have been living at my Moms
    • We are now selling Nanas house
    • Nana and Papa built this house in 1972 and all of us family members are chock full of extraordinary memories.  It's going to hurt a lot to watch it go to someone else.
    • Once the house sells my mom is planning on moving back into her house and remodeling it.  Or she is planning on buying a new house.  She hasn't decided yet.
Mom, Perri, and myself at a Giants game.

Nanas house.

Mom and Perri.

  • We've tried to travel quite a bit.
    • I went to Venice, Croatia, and Greece with my crazy group of friends.
    • Perri and I have been to Tahoe, Monterey, and the Bay Area quite a few times.
    • For my 30th birthday Linz, Becky, Michele, and Wallace took me to Vancouver for a whirlwind weekend.
Hiking at Hidden Falls in Auburn.

Learning about Velella velella, also known as By-the-wind sailor, at Limantour Beach.

Perri fishing at Tuttle.


I don't really know what else to say at this moment.   So much has happened, but it's hard to condense it.  Since I didn't do a real Christmas newsletter this year, I guess this will be it.



Perri and I at Easter.

Perri and I by Steep Ravine Cabins.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Found.

Last summer we went to my Aunt's moms 80th birthday party.  Jo really knows how to host a party; great food, wonderful mariachi band, and amazing people.  It was fun.  But really, I remember the day as being fairly stressful.  Not stressful because of anything anyone else was doing, but just a time of my life where I wasn't handling some situations well.  Perri was 2.5 and all over the place, but I was also dealing with prepping to move to Alaska, visiting Monterey for the last time before leaving, running out of gas on the side of 280, etc.

So a few days ago, I was on my aunts Facebook page and I saw this picture for the first time, it was from that party.

And I love it.

I look much more relaxed than I felt, which makes me happy.




I need to keep this in mind when I get frustrated with my little darling.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Pictures

With the launch of the new iPad on Friday, I've been absorbed in Apple technology.

My favorite thing so far is the Journals feature of the new iPhoto.  I'm loving it so much that I finally updated our Picture's page.

Take a look HERE!

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Fur Rondy and the Iditarod

In Alaska, March means Fur Rondy and the Iditarod.

Both are a ton of fun, and very different from anything we've ever been to, but I've been trying to get us out and experiencing as much as we can.



Fur Rondy aka Fur Rendezvous:
A festival that was started to coincide with the time that miners and trappers came to town with their winter's yield. It began as a three-day sports tournament in 1935 and featured skiing, hockey, basketball, boxing and a children's sled dog race down Fourth Avenue. Nearly the entire population of Anchorage turned out for the bonfire and torchlight parade.

Is has now become a ten day festival that includes everything; including a Fur Auction, dog sledding, a Blanket Toss, a Dog Weight Pull, a Snowshoe Softball Tournament, an Outhouse Race, and the list goes on.  It's basically 10 days of fun and insanity.

I wish we could have experienced more of it.  Walking around a city when it's only 17 degrees outside isn't on Perri's list of high priorities.  She really just wanted to play in the snow, not be stuck in a stroller having to listen to me.

She did love the dancing though!  We went to the Cultural Day and were able to see the traditional dances being performed.

Amazing, amazing regalia.

Perri was pretending to be shy.
One of the outhouse race participants.  Yes, it says "Save Our Planet!  It's Our Last Source Of Beer!".


Maybe this is mean to post, but I had to laugh at how horrible of a mood she was in once we were home.  























































































































































Iditarod:
The following weekend was the ceremonial start to the Iditarod.  We headed to Campbell Airstrip to watch the last part of the mushers coming in from downtown before heading to Willow for the Restart.   We parked at a school and took a shuttle over to the park, (of course) on the way off of the shuttle I fell and twisted my ankle.  I sucked it up and limped over to where the mushers were going by so we could watch some of this awesome action.  (I have become slightly obsessed over the whole thing.)  After watching a few mushers go by, I decided it was time for us to head home.  Perri wasn't listening, I was in pain, the backpack broke, I fell again, etc.  It is now comical to think back on, but it was a really grumpy weekend day for us.  I am glad we went though.  Seeing some of the mushers go by was really cool, and it was also great to see how much fun the dogs were having.

Perri was thinking it's hilarious that she's stuck in a snow bank that goes to my hips.

One of the teams that went by.

This is a screen shot from a video, I just had to include it cus he's wearing a kilt and yet still smiling. 





































































































Like I said, I've become slightly obsessed with the Iditarod.  I've been keeping incredibly close tabs on the whole thing.  It's fascinating!

And I really want Aliy Zirkle to win.  She'd be the first woman since 1990 to win!  (and she's basically been leading the whole time.)




PS My ankle is improving.  The swelling is even starting to go down!







Saturday, March 3, 2012

Chickaloon.

Yes, seriously.  In Alaska there is a town called Chickaloon.

I was so amused by the name that we decided to take an adbenture there.  It was a long drive, where we stopped may times to take various awesome pictures or to just look around long enough to get a little chilly.

We stopped for lunch in Sutton, at the Pinnacle Mountain RV Park.  It is also a campground, a restaurant, a grocer, and a farm!  It was definitely unexpected to find llamas, alpacas, goats, chickens, turkeys, and bunnies at the little roadside stop.  The also have an amazing tractor collection, that kids can play on, you know, when it's not under 4 feet of snow...  Perri was thrilled at seeing all of the animals, until the turkeys got a little to close for her liking, they were huge and trying to be friends quite fast.

Anyways, here are some of the day's pictures.


***Disclaimer:  When I was taking photos in the car, I was stopped.  There is no need to worry.***

Sunrise on our way out (at 9am).




Playing me music at lunch.

One of the hilarious "tractor drivers" covered in snow.

The VERY friendly animals.



Perri and I.

The moon was amazing.

I found a Pyramid.

A Moose.  Perri named her Cocoa and told me she's from Hawai'i.

Click on this to see it bigger.  I made it using the DMD iPhone App.

Playing in Palmer.

She can not sit still when there is fresh snow.  It's impossible.

I'm still awed by the moon.












































































































































































































































I took all of these on my iPhone and while that camera is awesome, it does leave something to be desired.  Especially when it comes to the pictures of this phenomenal scenery.  These mountains are making me desire a better camera even more than I already was....