Author: adam

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blogging wars

Does anyone else have this problem? Adam and I can’t seem to come to an agreement on what the ‘real’ purpose of our blog is. There is so much I want to say about fertility and adoption and parenting adopted kids. I am not sure that it belongs on our fun-family-for-the-grandmas blog. That’s what Adam envisions our family blog being.

And to be fair, he does not mind that I write heavier posts, and he certainly does not dictate what I write (we all know how far that would get him). And yet, I feel myself holding back, censoring, and sometimes not writing because I feel uncomfortable.

And all this to say that I am considering reopening our adoption blog. In fact, writing this has made up my mind! :)

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Pine Nut Road

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Pine Nut Road is north of Las Vegas, inside the Desert National Wildlife Refuge. I gave mommy a break on Sunday afternoon and took the niños out for a drive with Jeremy. We have been wanting to explore this area because there are a few areas we have heard are good for camping in this area. I explored the other side of the mountain the week before with Dave, but we didn’t have any great success. The Refuge is a pretty lonely area – not a lot of traffic on these roads!

Though we didn’t make it all the way to the campground, we did make it almost all the way to the end of Pine Nut Road. From the end of the road, one can hike to Hayford Peak, the highest point in the Sheep Range. We hit snow at about the 6,500 foot level. We decided to have a little snow ball fight and head back for home since we were quickly losing the light.

Once the snow is gone, this will be a great place to head for cooler temps and camping in the trees (there ARE more than Joshua trees up there!). It’s a good thing that the kids like driving out on “la tierra” because they’re going to be doing it more. :)

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A Short Trip to San Antonio

Last week I spent 5 days in San Antonio for the 2009 Tool Fair. It was a lot of fun to talk to people about the products we develop. It’s also nice to hear feedback from one step closer to the end-user; that really helps us as we try to make items that meet the customers’ needs. At the show was Chip Foose’s latest creation, the Terracuda. It’s quite the car – a 1970 Barracuda that Foose transformed.

Our booth was the largest among outside vendors. We spent all day Wednesday getting it perfect for the show. I think we each spent just a touch over 20 hours on the show floor, with lots of demonstrating, explaining, and displaying. We have a lot of new and exciting things happen and we had a chance to showcase some of those things.

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On one of the nights, we went to the “best Mexican restaurant in the world,” also known as Mi Tierra. Some of my coworkers used to live in San Antonio, so they knew the local bests. We liked it so much that we went a second time on the night before we flew back. My enchiladas were excellent. They opened the doors in 1941 and haven’t closed them yet! The decorations are lively, as is the roaming mariachi band. Pictures are on the wall of many famous visitors, and many of the walls have murals painted that include many of these visitors.
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Our hotel was about a 3 minute walk to the Alamo. Unfortunately, the show schedule didn’t allow me to visit while it was open, but I did get to see it at night after we were done. I still have a bunch of Alamo shots to work on. San Antonio’s downtown area is really beautiful and I recommend the Riverwalk area to everyone. I flew back on Sunday afternoon, excited to return to my family.

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Camping

Last weekend, we had fun with an overnight campout in the Lea’s backyard. It was complete with campfire, roasted hot dogs, and S’mores. Rob was nice enough to lend us the backyard and prepared a fire pit for the festivities. We put all four kids in the tent, me outside on the lawn, and Rob retreated to the safety and comfort of his wife and bed. :)

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Everyone loved the chance to practice cutting fire wood, roasting Starbursts, and having a generally great time. Despite their greatest efforts, all phalanges remain attached. Rach was busy scrappin’ with her friends (I imagine we’ll see a post on that shortly), so stayed at home while we played.

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We made yummy breakfast Saturday morning with the assistance of Jaime and Rob and then Uncle Rob assisted Papi with the ninos the rest of Saturday while Mami and Tia Jaime scrapped the day away. Thanks for an awesome weekend!

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Let’s go ride a bike

All of the kids LOVE to ride their bikes. When they wake up, “can we ride our bikes today?” When they go to bed, “can we ride our bikes tomorrow?” As soon as I walk in the door from work, “when are we going outside to ride our bikes?”

With all the anticipation of the first ride, you might think they actually know how to ride a bike. Logical thinking like this will lead you down the wrong path…
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKHYfA4EPh0

But, after just a little practice, Danny was up and moving…at least on Nikky’s bike! He hasn’t yet mastered his own, but a few more days of practice and he should be good.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nedgTBP8AEs

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Ice Cube

That’s what you feel like when you swim through the water in this canyon. Seldom traveled, this is one of my favorite places for a fun day in the park. Our intrepid group of five included me, Duane Woodmansee, and the three Leas — Rob, Eric, and Troy. Dave was kind enough to drive us up to the trailhead to save us the time of driving back at the end. Being Dave, he hiked the first part of the approach in his flip-flops!

We had a great time and our 3 noobs did a great job! All of the pics (as if these aren’t enough!) can be found in the photo album. Special thanks to Rach (because she is amazing!) for watching the kids for the day so that I could go on this — love you!

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Umm, maybe the snow IS too deep…

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The plan was to explore Falls Creek Falls, a (we have read & heard) beautiful waterfall not too far from Stevenson, Washington. It is also not too far from Panther Creek Falls (aka Davenport Falls), which we visited last fall.

As we drove further up the road, there were patches of snow in the forest, but overall it didn’t look too bad. One guidebook claimed year-round access, so I wasn’t too worried. Imagine our surprise when we found the last two miles to the trailhead covered in 2-3 feet of snow. I guess we won’t be making that hike today.

We did have an enjoyable drive back to Dan and Jessica’s though and were able to catch a great view from the aptly named “High Bridge,” where the road crosses over the Wind River. The high snowpack is feeding a strong river that is running a bit higher than in the past. Looks like an awesome place for a bungee jump!

Coming back into Stevenson, we came to the Davenport’s home. They have an unbeatable view from the front yard, with the Gorge and the Columbia River spread out before them. This is a beautiful place! Now, if they could just do something about the rain…

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*UPDATE* Testing, testing, 1,2,3…

Update: As of 03/17/2008 at 2:00 PM MST, the user databases for both this and the adoption blog have been restored. Your old password should work fine. Email me if you have any problems.

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This post is mostly just to test if the photo gallery is up and running. I figure I may as well show you a beautiful canyon — White Canyon in southern Utah. This canyon complex drains a large area and enters the Colorado (Lake Powell) near Hite Marina. Sure looks like a great place for canyoneering!

Well, all of your user profiles haven’t been added yet (actually they were and then I had to delete them again!), but I hope to complete that tomorrow. As it is after 2:00 AM and I have been working on this for a wee bit too long, I think I’ll pass on it tonight.

I know you are waiting with eager anticipation to hear the remaining tales of our glorious Spring Break. It was grand. Now I’m getting a bit loopy, so I’ll just hit the “Publish” button and be done with it. Good Night!