Monterey Getaway

Two weekends ago, we decided we needed out of the AV for a day or two -- if just to escape from life.

We left on Thursday evening and drove up to Monterey where we stayed until Sunday afternoon. We didn't really do much while we were there other than hang out with Michelle and Sam, and work around the property a little.

On Saturday afternoon / evening we took a fun little trip down to go Tidepooling at Point Lobos State Reserve just south of Monterey. We wandered around the tidepools:



Saw some interesting critters:




And then went out to China Cove to watch the sunset:



Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

We only wish we could get up there more often..

Edward's Air Show

In Mid-October, Chad was invited as a 'special guest', due to his 'civic leader' status, to the General's Tent at the Edward's AFB Air Show.

We got there fairly early in the morning, had special parking with no line, were driven right down the Flight Line to our VIP tent and then were treated with free snacks / drinks / lunch throughout the day.

We explored all the planes on display, including the SR-71, F-22 & F-35 (the latter two are the planes I help build at Lockheed) along with the 747 that carries the space shuttles (we actually got to climb up and around in that one -- it's HUGE!!).

SR-71:


F-22:


F-35:


Shuttle Carrier:



We made it back to our seats just in time for the aerial demonstrations to start. The very first one was a double sonic boom from two F-16's who had two very special passengers -- General Chuck Yeager and General Joe Engle. (For those of you who are scratching your head wondering who those people are -- they are both famous test pilots. General Yeager was the first pilot to break the sound barrier and General Engle was one of the original X-15 Test Pilots and a former Space Shuttle Pilot). Once their flight was complete, they landed right in front of us on the runway and came in to hang out with us in the Tent. How cool is that? Chad shook Chuck Yeager's hand got his picture taken with Gen Engle.

Gen Chuck Yeager (He's the guy in the flight suit on the left):


Gen Joe Engle & Chad:


After their flight, there were a lot more demonstrations from a bunch of planes I'll never remember the names of.. it's all alphabet / number soup to me, but I know there were A-10's (Warthogs), F-16's, a bunch of bombers and some WWII-era planes. They were all quite impressive and, aside from the insane heat (thank goodness we had that tent we could hide under if need be!), it was a great day.

Since we had the little boys (Chad's nephew's) with us, we didn't stay for the entire day, but we definitely enjoyed the time we spent there -- we all agreed that there was no better way to see an air show!! It's rough getting spoiled like that..

Cake Decorating

I, apparently, didn't have enough other things to do, so I signed up for a Cake Decorating class at Joann's during the month of October.

It's been something I've wanted to do for a while, so I decided I'd probably have more time before the baby was born and went for it.

I had no idea how much work it was going to be!! Just baking / stacking / icing one cake a week took pretty much every free minute I had -- much less the 2 hours / week we were in class. However, it was a lot of fun and I did learn a lot. My cakes weren't the most impressive, but I thought I'd share them with ya'll anyway..

Enjoy! :-)

Grand Canyon (Only 2 months late!)

I know, I know, it's been forever. However, I'm really going to try and get this thing updated this week.. so look for LOTS of posts between now and Saturday (hopefully!)..

After our 4 day stint in Sedona, we headed up to the Grand Canyon for one evening. It was amazing and breathtaking as always:



We enjoyed the day staring at the canyon and then had an amazing dinner at one of the restaurants there on the South Rim. On our way out of dinner, we looked up and to our amazement, there were elk standing less than 15 feet away! Freaked us out a bit! We sat there and watched them for a while and they just seemed content to chomp away on the grass and didn't notice any of us humans milling around. So I braved a picture or two:





Then we heard a rustling behind us and we looked around and saw an entire raccoon family foraging for food in the garbage can..





It was like we were right in the middle of Animal Planet or something!! Then as we turned back around we saw a shadow moving behind the elk and then race across the parking lot. It looked almost the size of a cougar or jaguar, but we never really got a good look at it.. so it could have been anything. Crazy evening at the canyon.

We headed out the next day and made our way home via a quick visit to Kingman to see Grandma and Grandpa.

All in all, it was a fun trip and definitely a well-needed vacation.

Sedona Off Roading Adventures

We have just come to the end of our short three-day stay in Sedona. It's been AWESOME and we've had a lot of fun. Our entire intent on this trip was to get the jeep out to see what it can actually do on some of the 4x4 trails in and around Sedona.. We've spent three days taking all sorts of trails..

Trails through the desert..



Trails through the woods..



Trails up and over the Red Rocks..



And we even did one trail in the rain..



We've seen lots of cool stuff along the way, like the ruins of a Sinagua Indian Cliff Dwelling



and a quaint mining town (Jerome), complete with one guys random collection of 'stuff'



We stopped for a spell in Oak Creek



And found the perfect spot to watch the sunset.



Through it all, the little Jeep has performed like a champ. He's climbed some pretty insane red rock:



And, of course, what goes up must come down:



(Here's a view of that 'Devil's Staircase' from the bottom):

We were so proud of him (and his talented driver), that we got some pictures to record his achievements:

It was a lot of fun, and afforded us plenty of opportunities for Chad to practice his one handed picture taking talents



But best of all, we got to see some pretty 'epic' views (in the words of the terribly kind guy at the off-roading place who gave us all the maps to find all these places)



It's been an amazing three days.. we wish we could stay longer (especially since there are still a few trails we have yet to try..) but it's on to the Grand Canyon tomorrow for more adventures..

More Ultrasound Pics

OK.. so I know these aren't exactly up to date (sorta like my blog), but I've been busy moving and finally found the pics and got the scanner plugged in, so.. here are the ultrasound pics from our 12 Week Ultrasound (which was only 4 weeks ago..)..

The 3-D ones are the coolest -- even if he looks a little like an alien. The craziest part.. at this point, he was only 3" long!!

Technology is an amazing thing..

Enjoy! :-)

The Big Announcement

I've thought a lot about what I should say in this post, and I still haven't come up with any brilliant way to introduce it or ease into it.. so here it is.. our big announcement:

After many many months of trying, we are FINALLY expecting our first baby. We had to have a little help, but thanks to the amazing talents of Dr. Mor, we finally got there! :-)

We are actually 13 weeks pregnant as of tomorrow. Since we were considered a little higher risk during the first trimester, we've actually had ultrasounds every other week for the past two months, and just this week went to a perionatologist for a very detailed ultrasound that was amazing (especially for how early on it is) and found out that we're having a boy!! :-)

We are incredibly excited and are trying to enjoy every moment of the new experience. The ultrasounds have been REALLY cool as we've watched him grow from a blob with a heartbeat to a fetus that actually has fingers and toes! :-)

Here are some of the pics of the ultrasound at 9 weeks. Once I have a few minutes, between packing, I'll scan some of the more recent ultrasound pics and post them as well..