As promised... Victoria's Gallery

As I mentioned last week, Victoria wondered (aloud again, just this morning) why her photos were not up on the blog just like Madelyn's. I pulled her whole camera and wanted to post a few of these as well - what a treasure trove. These are untouched - raw from the camera.

 

About 80% of the pictures in Victoria's camera had to do with the latest books the kids have been reading for school.  She loves to take pictures of all the illustrations.  Here are but a very few of them.

Victoria is clearly very excited to have finished her week's work in school.  Note the red scribble over her entire to-do list.  Obviously she was excited to document the occasion.

The pattern pictures below were some of my favorites - books and pencils, and their structure - there might be an entire semester in  Art College about these pics...

Below - it is apparent that Breyerfest is on the girls' mind.  From these posed pictures (best friends), to the monetary goal in the third picture, they are excited that we might be able to attend this year.

 

I had no choice but to finish with these two pictures.  Something tells me that the camera is in Madelyn's hands, but I don't care - what amazing photos.

Vegas baby.... VEGAS!

A well-known line from the small film Swingers, that title is what I shout just about every time I come to Vegas. I included a clip of the scene below, just so you can understand the inflection and scream it along with me...

We made our journey up on Saturday and I got to cross that drive up I-15 from California off my list of "must-drives". I'd never driven into Vegas the "traditional" way, at least the one you always see in the movies. Interestingly, I think that driving into Vegas during the day, with all the new overpasses and construction is not nearly as aesthetic as driving into Reno on I-80E, nor as clear-you've-crossed-the-line as driving into Atlantic City (with the sign and the overpass). That being said - it's still Vegas, and still a sight.

While photographing the Welcome sign at the top of the post, I ran into a guy that somehow thinks he looks like Elvis (because of the jumpsuit?) and sits in the first parking spot by the sign in a 1956 pink Cadillac waiting for people to jump at the chance to take a picture with "Elvis" in Vegas. This lady in the photo was overjoyed to get a pic. Now, Elvis wouldn't have worn a jumpsuit when he drove a 56 Caddy, he only ever bought a pink Caddy for his mother, and after a little research I found out that Elvis probably never owned or bought (then gave-away) a 1956 pink Caddy. Now, Elvis also probably never drove around in one with the front emblem missing nor the wipers taped to the windshield, but this is Vegas - a town where pretty much everything goes, if only you believe in it. Clearly, he does well enough to know that plenty of people want to believe.

As a side note - in doing the research I discovered that anyone out there making fun of the Wiggles (a group of Australian men that sing kids' songs) -- well, they should just stop. I found out that Greg Page, a Wiggle, not only purchased the last car Elvis ever owned for $100,000+, but that he owns the fourth largest collection of Elvis memorabilia in the world. Clearly, there is something about the Wiggles.  Even stranger - when doing a search of the blog to see if Jill had ever posted about the Wiggles - she had, and it was about Elvis... scary?

We'll be here a few days not only to visit the town, but so that I can cheer my friend on in the World Series of Poker "Main Event". A $10,000 buy-in event that millions of people watch on TV each year on ESPN. I don't know how far he'll go, but I like his chances. Maybe someday I'll get a chance to play in that game - but I haven't truly practiced poker in so long that I wouldn't even waste the entry fee for a satellite game (where you can enter a bigger game for a reduced fee if you win). Good luck Gary - I'm proud you're living your dream! (pic from a 2009 WSOP event)

A couple of Saturdays ago... the Chili Cook-off

The day before Father's Day Erika and the boys took a trip to town to see the Tehachapi Chili Cook-off and Car Show. It was a small town-type fair with merchandise booths, a kids' play area and more chili than I've ever seen.

We charged Erika with making sure that Arden didn't get lost. She was on top of her job the entire time, and didn't let him straggle into the crowd one bit.

First stop for us was the car show. The locals gather their collective rides and show them off on the streets. We saw everything from '39 Mercs to a custom '76 Jet boat.

Arden showed Erika what a "Rumble seat" was in a car. Hopefully he'll be the only boy ever to do so. ;)

I also heard him say to her, as he walked toward the '55 Chevy, "Here's one from Grandpa's generation." Erika has a new respect for the age of that car. ;)

No word on who won the votes of the public, but Arden and I had our favorite, pictured here. It is a 1937 Oldsmobile and it was just neat to see. A daily driver, this car is unlike any that I've seen before, and I've been to a lot of shows. To me it was both elegant and futuristic for the time, a real treat.

No question which car was Erika's favorite. This pickup was PINK!

Next stop was to go taste chili. They fundraise by selling "tastes" for a buck per dixie cup serving of several different types of chili. It was interesting to try the different types and tastes side by side, and makes for a great way to raise money for the local causes.

Erika's favorite moment of the day was getting her snowcone from Grandpa. Erika chose Blue Bubblegum, and from the look of it enjoyed just about every bite - blue tongue and all.

Madelyn's Camera

While doing the "Dad" thing this week and fixing Madelyn's playskool camera, I started going through her photos and discovered some great ones. I thought they'd be fun to share here. I'm not 100% certain Madelyn took every one of these photos (we have quite the shutterbugs in our house - imagine that!), but it is her camera, so we'll put them under her flag.

Next week I'll be sharing some of Victoria's photos from her camera. She's also very excited to get the public gallery treatment.

All Madelyn - from here on out...

El Taco Loco

Jill's Journal: Rob returned from another week in New Jersey on Saturday and the girls and I picked him up at the tiny airport in Bakersfield, California. Within minutes, we drove past a taco truck named El Taco Loco. Rob quickly reminded me one of his favorite comedians, Gabriel Iglesias, is from Bakersfield and has talked about this particular truck in his act. Apparently, they’re mean to customers, but the food is good (a la the Soup Nazi). Of course, we had to stop.

We had a tiny order and didn’t truly expect any drama. But guess what? They were a little mean! First, they reprimanded Rob for not knowing they weren’t making what he wanted at that hour of the day and then they made some fun of the white boy in Spanish! But I suppose we had been duly warned by Iglesias. Oh well, at least the tacos were tasty. :)

Clip from Gabriel Iglesias: Hot and Fluffy.  Funny stuff.

Sequoia National Park

Jill's Journal: We’re not “tree huggers” by any stretch of the imagination, but when in Rome…!

In a random grove in Central California’s Sequoia National Park along the Generals Highway (the twisty road that connects Sequoia with Kings Canyon), we spotted a few unfenced Giant Sequoia trees and couldn’t resist seeing these gentle giants close up.

“The Pacific Coast…is the paradise of conifers. Here nearly all of them are giants, and display a beauty and magnificence unknown elsewhere.”
–John Muir, 1901

Our day in Sequoia began at Three Rivers, the closest town to the entrance of the national park. This picture is actually a shout-out to our brother-in-law, Adam, who was born in this cute little town in the middle of nowhere.

Established in 1890, Sequoia is America’s second-oldest national park after Yellowstone. This welcome sign has been here since the 1930s, when it was made by a Civilian Conservation Corps worker from Arkansas.

Tunnel Rock, a huge “balanced” granite boulder under which the road into Sequoia once led, greets visitors soon after Sequoia’s main entrance. The road now bypasses the rock.

Our girls love places like this. I just couldn't resist sharing this picture.

One of our main stops in Sequoia had nothing to do with big trees. It was a hike up Moro Rock, a large granite dome, which offers a beautiful view of the Great Western Divide from the top. I *think* this is Moro Rock from quite a distance away.

The steep, narrow trail to the top features over 350 steps and is not for the faint of heart. Wooden steps were first put in place in 1917 and replaced with concrete in 1931.

The top! Even at only 6,725 feet, it feels like the top of the world.

Why is going down so much easier?

Mama bear and her cub! Seeing this pair was a serendipitous moment for Rob and Rob alone. I was in the midst of taking all three girls to the restroom after our Moro Rock climb while Rob retrieved our car from a quarter-mile away. It seemed to take an unusually long time for Rob to return and the girls and I were so excited to hear he’d spent 10 minutes watching these bears. Rob has video of the mama tearing apart a piece of a fallen tree to eat the bugs inside while the baby capered around. So very, very awesome.

The closest the girls and I got to any significant wildlife in Sequoia was this deer (because I don’t think squirrels quite count).

Of course the main attraction in Sequoia is the Giant Forest. Look at the trunk of an average tree (in the foreground) compared to a Giant Sequoia in the background. It’s a humbling experience walking among the land of giants.

From a tremendous distance away, one can spot the General Sherman Tree. This is the world’s largest tree by volume. It’s located twenty-seven miles south of the General Grant Tree we’d seen in Kings Canyon.

The girls are standing near the base of the tree. I backed up as far as possible and still couldn’t fit the entire tree in the frame while remaining close enough to actually spot them in the picture. Although the General Sherman Tree is not the tallest or the widest tree in the world, it is still considered the largest living tree on earth due to its volume and that was a hard thing to explain to them. At about 2,100 years old and as tall as the Statue of Liberty, it is believed to weigh 2.7 million pounds, containing more wood in its trunk than any other tree. Interestingly, the top of the Sherman Tree is dead but that doesn’t stop this Giant Sequoia from continuing to grow wider at the trunk. The General Sherman Tree adds enough wood each year to make the equivalent of a 60-foot-tall tree measuring one foot in diameter.

The tree was named in 1879 for the Civil War’s General William T. Sherman, hero according to the North and demon according to the South. (His destruction of a large swath of the Confederacy during his “March to the Sea” was particularly brutal.) A six-foot-tall human looking up at the Sherman Tree is the equivalent of a mouse looking up at a six-foot-tall man. These random guys to the left of the tree base (sorry folks!) looked about six feet tall. Do we really seem that big and intimidating to a mouse?

Farewell, Sequoia. This was far from our favorite national park, but we still had a pretty darn nice time. Such a marvelous country we have.