Hunter's "Friend"

Hunter has been hanging out with a friend that happens to be a girl named Janie (and no, she doesn't have a gun - yet). We like Janie. She is very kind, bubbly and active. We also like her family. Last night she came over to eat dinner, play with Legos and watch WallE. Here is a photo of her as she was dodging the camera.

Gina! Gina! Gina! Galaxy Traveler

Gina has expressed concern that I have very few photos of her on this blog, so this blog is dedicated to the beautiful image of my fantastic wife.
Here she is right before eating this tasty rock. This was a cold afternoon of camping up on the Mogollon (mogeyon) Rim. It was a windy night but we had a nice afternoon kayak.

Gina and I both enjoy kayaking. BUt Gina is by far the more skilled kayaker. Sure there are some that surf the wakes of oil tankers in the ocean. Gina is the real exploer though. She has invented a sport called shark wake kayaking. You just toss in a baby seal in front of your kayak in hopes that a large great white will explode from the ocean and make a wake big enough to play in. Here is Gina with the move that won her the World Shark Wake Play Boating Championship.

Yes Gina is an explorer. She has been to many places in her earlier career as a fight attendant. She keeps track of all of the states she has visited as well as each planet or satellite. Gina is more than a world traveler - she is a galaxy traveler.

Here is a photo from one of Gina's favorites trips to the moon where she stopped to relax for a while just as another flight of tourists arrived.

Of course she has photos when she visited Mercury and Jupiter. And who can forget that wonderful trip to the Planet X!

Gina has truly done it all! We love you Mrs. rock eating, shark flipping, moon romping woman!

And Thanks For All the Fish!

We had a great Thanksgiving with Colton and Hunter home, and Rachon, Jared and Max coming to visit for several days. We went to the zoo at night and watched all of the people marvel at how cute and happy Max was stumbling around the zoo. Gina and I took Rachon and Jared to a Coyotes hockey game, which was fun - especially since we won. Afterwards we ate Japanese food.

Thanksgiving day was huge. I made a mince meat and an apple pie, but the best menu item was Wayne's sausage stuffing. I could hae eaten all of it - in fact, I almost did. All of the young cousins had a blast playing together. Summer remembered that I used to jump with her on the trampoline so she got me jumping with her and about wore me out.

The next day, we went to the arboretum (plant zoo) outside of Superior, AZ. It was the most crowded I have ever seen it. Max had a blast running around and it was just a perfect day for a little hike. As a grandpa now, I think I figured out why grandparents like their grandkids so much. I think it's because it wasn't too long ago we remember their parents as teenagers and so the contrast to such a loving, humble, always happy, undemanding child is such a contrast to the typical teen.