Pow Pow Gnar Gnar

Well, Little Miss Fancy Pants finished her 3rd lesson and is now ready to schralp some pow pow gnar gnar. She was spending her days on the beginner magic carpet and that was really slow going. But, over the course of one run on the big girl slope, it all clicked for her. The lift was fun, and I think the longer, less crowded run let her cruise a bit, cover some ground and see some sights, and she was hooked. When they shut down the lift there were honest tears because she wanted to keep going. Holy cow, it is super impressive that she picked it up in 3 lessons. Kids are still cool.

Mother and Daughter on the slopes:

Those are some good lookin' ladies!

Father and Daughter, riding the lift.

OMG, we're riding a lift!

She had no fear of the lift and would lean over as far as I would let her to look at the ground. She would also scan the surrounding mountains and point out imaginary bears and prairie dogs. Contrast that with Famous, who is super nervous on the lift and picks nearby eye-level reference points to keep her bad self from flippin' out. "I will never be enthusiastic about skiing. This will be a father-daughter activity." Peeshaw! She gets better every time out too and a few hours after that crazy talk she was asking about another lesson to learn parallel turns.

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Here's some video of Audrey next to the magic carpet, before we tried the lift. I got some video after the lift but it's really shaky. I'll do better next time.

Thanks to the Campbell family for handing down some ski gear and thanks to the Jones family for the fun time in Taos.

Until next time,

T

Where Dreams Come True ...

... if you want to live in fantasy land.

Well, our Disney vacation came and went. I would think that we are their target demographic, but really it was not a very good fit for us. But the weather was great, our hotel was lovely (more for us to do at the hotel than at the parks!), we got lots of family time, ate some good food, and got lots of pictures.

Nice light for a picture.

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A collective tall drink of water.

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More good light.

We went all the way to Florida to brush the goats.

Christmas is only 47 days away!

In line to meet a bunny.

Puffer fish!

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Until next time,

T

Blogging is so 2007

Blogging is sooo 2007 but we have to share this video of you-know-who riding her balance bike down a steep hill.

No humans were harmed in the making of this video, but the stunt girl's Mom suffered a small anxiety attack.

Sunset from the deck of our new house:

Until next time,
T

Aloha!

Aloha from Kapalua Hawai'i. My two favorite ladies, with a bit of the Pacific in the upper right corner:

Although we spent a ton of time at the beach, we managed to take not a single picture.

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The hotel pool at night, with the ocean in the back ground:

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The beach was always always always sunny and 85 degrees, but you only had to step out the back side of the hotel to find rain forest.

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Maui is a volcanic island and we took a drive to the Haleakala National Park to check out the volcano. There are miles and miles of this moonscape stuff. The top of the volcano is at 10,000' elevation. Of course there is a well-paved road to the top. The road gains 10,000' in ~ 35 miles. Just give me a bike and the course record...

The intrepid climbers at the summit.

Check out the telescopes in the pic below. Seems like a lot of infrastructure to put at the top of a volcano that last erupted only 200 years ago. This facility is off-limits to the general public and is used for satellite tracking.

By a stream in Iao State Park:

The Iao Needle. This thing juts up something like a 1000' from the valley floor.



I didn't realize until after the fact that she had her finger in the candle.

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Partying like a rock star with her new German girl friend.

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Taking pictures with a pirate in Lahaina.

At the base of the world's largest Banyan tree.

The days were chock full of action, and we didn't always make it through dinner without checkin' out.

Until next time, who knows how long that might be!

T

New pictures

Sportin' a cupcake icing mustache at Nanny Carrol's breakfast birthday party:



Tree climbin':


Famous holds Tate's beer while Tate drives:

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Carving pumpkins for Halloween:

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There's only one way to be sure that you get all the guts out of the pumpkin.

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Dressed up for trick or treating. Famous is happy. Tate, not so much.

She likes her pig tails high and tight.

With the Lobo at the zoo:

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Action shot from the zoo:

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Squeaky clean straight from the tub:

Showin' some luv:

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Wearing her new caps from Grammy:

Until next time,

T

Umbrellas and Watermelon

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Have a good weekend!

Sweet Potato and family

Jump!

The Tater's version of the early morning constitutional:

Hugs and kisses,

Sweet Potato and Family

I know I promised video, but...

This is such a beautiful picture:

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T

It's Been A Long Time

Well, well, well, it has been a long time. Sorry about that. I hope to make up for it with three months of pictures. We'll start with some from this evening and work back to May.

Here's the Tater at dinner wearing the top to her cup like a hat:


Here's the Little Nipper and Famous doing some coloring:

It's been a wet summer here in the high desert. Tonight's rain storm left an inch or so of water on our porch.

Earlier this week, Tater takes a late nap:

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Picture perfect:

Family outing to Tent Rocks National Monument:

Aunt Renee will be happy to see that we value good dental hygiene.

Rather than use pesticides to control the local snail population, we harvest them and send them to the landfill. Here the Tater has a bag full.

Sporting some pig tails!

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A new activity is jumping in bed. In addition to some stills, we have some great video that I'll post soon.

Peek-a-boo!

Look at those eyes! She will break hearts some day, starting with mine I'm sure.

Gary looks like he's ready for more grand kids...

The Tater and the Turner Twins, rocking out. We've got some great video too. Check back soon!

On the shores of Lake Michigan:









This position can mean only one thing.

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So there!

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As you can see, we've nearly out grown the high chair. Now we use the booster seat.
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Most nights before bed we go outside for awhile and look at the moon and the stars, the planes and the helicopters, and wave at the passing cars. On this night we brought a tooth brush and sat in the back of the truck.




I don't know why they call it a doggie door. It works just fine for Toddlers, too.




Sporting some bed head:



Couch time with Pa:






Couch time with Ma:





Yours truly and Andy, at a quarter 'til early, before embarking on an 8 hour dirt bike adventure.



Riot Grrl!!!



Another evening outside. Note the skinned knees from the tumble that day.

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If you've talked to the Little Nipper lately, you know that she's fascinated with road runners. It was over-the-top super deluxe fantastic when one showed up on top of the house.






Baby the Cat thought so too.





Mommy!



You-know-who with some freshly trimmed bangs.



Weather delay at the airport. You take your sleep where you find it!

Studying a mosquito hawk with Cousin Kennedy. Note the Pebbles Flintstone pig tail.

I'll wager dollars to donuts that Famous is yelling at me to fetch her a beer.

Blue crabs direct from Blind River:

Gramps and Tate fishing.

Tate and Pa, sitting in the flat boat:

Crawfish!

Going down the river means two things:

Huh?

Again, you take your sleep where you find it!

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Note the Cheerio on the cheek:

Hockey with Ryan. When I used the red eye correction tool, it turned Ryan's face the grayish-green that you see below. It's a good look for him...

Lovin' on Baby the Cat.

Keep an eye out for some video!

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Until next time,
Sweet Potato and Family