Before Modem Upgrade from Motorola Surfboard SB5101 on Cox

After Modem Upgrade to Cisco DPC3010 on Cox

Finally MCITP certified!

Woohoo!

Hiking to Juniper Basin (Saguaro National Park)

Gabe, Mikey and I hiked the very strenous (at least for us) Tanque Verde Ridge Trail toward Juniper Basin. We started our hike at 1:30pm on Friday 4/15. The full distance from the trail head to Juniper Basin is 6.9mi and stopped at 6:30pm. Although, I'm sure this is a very easy pace for most - that was the best we could hope to do. Took us 2hours 15min to hike back with two-five minute breaks.

Both boys were really excited about doing a hiking/camping trip with Dad but I'm sure it'll be a while before I get Mikey doing this again. We had planned/wanted to hike to Douglas Spring Campground (which we almost did a year or so ago) but the campground was booked-up. Next time I'll plan further ahead. We'll bring more water next time - I brought a little over 2qt of water and we had to ration it pretty strictly towards the end of the first day. The two person tent was also inadequate for one adult and two boys - but we managed. Mikey almost fell into some cactus and Gabe got chased by bee's and had a little trouble breathing/seeing because of the sunscreen - but by then we were five minutes from the car.

First hike to Sabino Canyon

Sam, Gabe and myself went to Sabino Canyon for the first time this past weekend. Sam was bored to tears until we ran across a boy's favorite thing - no, not a stick - WATER! Here's a few shots from the trip. My darling wife decided to stay home and study instead of coming on the adventure. Towards the end of our stay at the Sabino dam we found a beautiful butterfly - of course my camera was all put away so it decided to fly around until I had my camera ready. The picture showing the dam is a panorama shot compiled using approx. 40 different pictures and merged/blended using photoshop elements.

Sedona Get-Away

Krystal and I ran away to Sedona for the weekend.  I dragged Krystal out for some hiking.  We hiked halfway around Bell rock then got her up the rock a ways.  Here's a photo I took (actually a few pictures in one that I mergered together using Adobe Elements), of course it's digitally enhanced to help my poor little Iphone's photographic ability.

Karate

Sam and Gabe signed up for Karate and our wallet got hit with a Kee-yah!
Gabe's always wanted to sign up for Karate and since I have such an abundance of free time (ya right) we went for it.

We're hopeful that Sam will get some morals and ethics from this class....sure.

Xmas parade

We all went to the Xmas parade here in Tucson and had a good 'ol time. Earlier in the day Lupe stopped by and helped us make Mexican hot chocolate.

The Polar Express

Trip to the Grand Canyon:
We decided to suprise the boys and take them to the Grand Canyon but on our way we went on the Grand Canyon Railway Polar Express. We all had a blast the best part was seeing the suprise in our boy's faces when they found out we were going on the real polar express. Hot Chocolate and cookies were devoured and by the time we saw Santa they had soo much sugar pumping through their veins to keep them up and going a few more hours.

The next day we were on our way to the Canyon when "Dad" got pulled over by the cops and was served a ticket - which of course he gleefully accepted as one of his best Christmas presents ever!

No one in the family except "Dad" had been to the Canyon before and I must say it was very cool (but not nearly as beautiful as the one in Kauai :) )

Finally....Kauai.....

We landed in beautiful Kauai, everybody moves slowly here and we can see why - why wouldn't you slow down and admire the natural beauty.

Kauai - Arrival

Aloha from beautiful Kauai. We landed around 2pm local time and as soon as you jump off the plane you notice how much cleaner the air is - everything smells like flowers. We opted to upgrade our rental and get red Mustang convertible. The hotel is nice and we have a decent view (we thought we'd have a better view).
Here's some pics:



Days of relaxation await!

Peanut's B-day

Peanut, our niece, celebrated her 12th B-day last night.

Happy Birthday Peanut!

Pre-Wedding Party

On Sunday we were suprised with a Pre-Wedding Party at El Parador! We both had a blast - decent food and better friends/relatives. Afterwards we stopped off at Krystal's Mom's house for the after party.

Canelo Hills Winery

Krystal and I went to Canelo Hills Winery on Saturday.

We've never been to a winery/vineyard before and I was excited (she probably wasn't so much).

We learned a lot about how the grapes are grown and I taught Krystal a little about tasting the wines. I think we're both very interested in returning to Elgin, AZ to do some more tastings and learning more about their wines. We got 2 bottles of 2008 Chardonnay for free - we also purchased a Sangiovese and a Rose which were delicious!

BTW - the best steak I've had in AZ is located not to far from here - Sonoita's own Sonoita Inn features Steak Out, get the Sonoita Strip with mushrooms - it's sooo good!

Sam's Birthday and Graduation Announcement

Samuel's Birthday and Graduation (from pre-school) announcement on KGUN 9 News!

Sam's Birthday

Krystal, the kids and I went over to Gma & Gpa house for food, cake and swimming to celebrate Sam's 5th Birthday.






This shot was taken right before Krystal's eye lasers killed Sam
R.I.P my boy **sniff**

Mikey's 1st Holy Communion

We celebrated Mikey's 1st Holy Communion with all of the family. It all began at the church where everything was going very well, the kids were all tired from being blessed (must take it out of you). Suddenly, one of the kids toppled over (fainted) and hit his face on the tiled step to the alter - I heard multiple parents take the Lord's name in vain (and for good reason).

After our very eventful time at church, we pushed on and held the after party at a park (near La Petite). The park was decent and clean - everybody brought some food and we hung out drinking beer and eating good food (the way a Saturday is supposed to be).