Holiday Chaos!

The work/wife/kid/life balance has been a bit off over the last month or so. Andrea and I are looking forward to 11 days off starting on Christmas Eve, to reset and recharge. Here are some pictures from the last month or so covering Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas, Zeke's Birthday, concerts, etc. Happy Holidays to all!


Thanksgiving 2009!

Here is a picture of Grandma Sheila, taken roughly at noon on Thanksgiving day. We were trying to capture her reaction when she realized that the turkey was not in the oven yet. Overall, I think she handled it very well.

Bodie likes to help.

Zeke and Bo must have found something good in the gun ad section of the LA times.

Mack is a teenager. He is now too cool for us. 'Nough said.

Bo...is a clown.

The kids love the "Rabbit Ears" photo bomb. Apparently, Andrea does as well. Grandma, not so much.

Bo got to dress up like a native american for the school's Thanksgiving celebration. His name was Big Buck.

Bo, the reindeer, getting ready for his Christmas concert.

Some Xmas pictures of the boys. Yes, Mack is THAT BIG.

And finally, Zeke's 11th Birthday celebration with his brothers and the twins. As an aside, I am happy to report that we got Zeke through one more year, without police involvement.

November Bike Trip to NV and UT

Got a reprieve from Andrea and headed off to Vegas and SW Utah for some biking, drinking and eating.

First stop: Lost Wages to visit with Tank. We took a trip out to Hoover Dam and did some sight seeing at Red Rocks.

Here is a shot of the dam, and the auto bridge.

The Wall Crawlers: A memorial for the men who hung out over the edge.

I believe the official death count was 113 men.

One of the four giant intake towers.

They are building a freeway bypass around the dam. This is the bridge they are constructing across the gorge.

The view down.

The dam builders adopted a dog as the mascot. He is buried under the sign.

We also visited the Red Rocks area outside of Las Vegas. You could feel the spirituality that drew early Native Americans to this area.

After a few days of heavy drinking, I sent Tank off the airport and picked up my friend Eran for some biking. The first day we rode at Bootleg Canyon in Vegas in the morning, drove to Utah, and rode at Church Rocks near St. George as the sun went went down. Great first day, but no pics.

Springdale, UT

Here is the view from the balcony of the lodge we stayed at.

We took a 16 mile "out and back" bike ride into Zion Canyon. Postcards in every direction.

One of the Patriarchs.

Looking upstream: the Virgin River.

Some female mule deer on the side of the road.
Then the buck showed up. Must have been a Mormon deer as he had many does with him.

Farther up into Zion Canyon. Pictures do not do it justice.

Back at the mouth of Zion in Springdale, UT.

We spent a day mountain biking on Gooseberry Mesa at 5300 feet elev. On the mesa, we had views of Zion to the north. Just stunning.

Fat Boy wanna ride. Let's get to the trails.

That's what I'm talkin' about. Wicked drops and rocks...

My bike is one bad bitch, the Handsome One, El Guapo. The Lexus had no problem with the 15 mile off road ride to Goooseberry.
Seriously, right behind me is a 1000 foot drop. And I'm standing on a rock very similar to the ones that litter the canyon below. I was not comfortable. Some of the trails were a foot away from these kinds of drops.
Awesome views of the mesas.

Eran riding one of the steeps.

The dead deer in the crevice along with the high winds, impending darkness, and cold air convinced us it was time to find a trail back to the truck.