Tradition

For the last few years Paul and I have been "camping" outside of a store on Thanksgiving in preparation for Black Friday. Occasionally we have people who tag along and this year we were happy to have TK along for the adventure. This year we were outside of Circuit City hoping to get some electronics and DVD's at incredible prices. Unlike years past I could not keep my eyes open to watch a movie, listen to iPod or do puzzle books. I climbed into my sleeping bag and crashed as much as I could. Next to us was a very loud group of boys who talked for 5 hours straight. I never knew guys could talk SO much! Paul was up the entire time, apparently the coffee I got him had him wired and he literally did laps around the parking lot for almost 2 hours. We made it through the night and did not get trampled in the morning! We were able to accomplish our mission and cross a few people of our list. All in all a good start to this holiday season.

Thanksgiving weekend

We had our second Thanksgiving dinner tonight down in San Diego. Thursday night we were with my family, and then had a turkey dinner with Cyndi's mom tonight. We managed to do a good portion of our Christmas shopping the past couple of days. Those we haven't bought for, we at least know what we're going to get. Gizmo has been trying to make friends with Meeko and Buddy. There was some hissing back and forth at first. Mostly the older cats are just trying to avoid Gizmo. One of them scratched him when he followed them into Sharon's room. No one has confessed yet. We'll be down here until tomorrow evening then heading home.

overload

Every time we have been on a cruise they have a Choco-holics night. The entire chef's crew creates a banquet of cakes, candies, and masterpieces of chocolate. The guests have the opportunity to walk through and look at the feast and take photos. Then about an hour later it is opened up and you can come through and sample anything you want. Everything looks so amazing and tastes just as good. Plus its a bonus that all the children get hopped up on sugar at 10pm! Here are some photos of our Alaskan Chocolate Banquet.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so thankful for all of you, my family and friends. Have a wonderful day filled with great conversation, memory making and good food. Take care of yourselves and each other.

Kickin it ol' school '98 what what!

circa June 1998

On Friday I will be going to my 10 year HS reunion. I know what you're thinking Cyndi cannot possibly be old enough to have been out of HS for 10 years, or well at least I am thinking that. I have mixed feelings about going. There will be a handful of peeps that it will be good to see again, who I just lost touch with, without meaning to. But I feel inadequate to be there like I should have done more by now. Luckily I will have my TK and Erin there with me. So I will go with a positive attitude (and maybe a few drinks in me) and we WILL have a good time.

circa October 2008

Oh and a question for you all, what is dressy casual? That is our dress code. I know what dressy is and I know what casual is. I even know what business casual is but what on earth is dressy casual? Help a sista out.

And now for something completely random....

It's amazing what you can find saved on your computer. I was going through some pictures we have saved and found these. Discuss amongst yourselves (or in the comments). Enjoy!

This is not a good post.

It's just one of those days when I don't know what to post.  

Yeah.

Lots of tobacco issues at work today.  Kids smoking it.  Kids chewing it.  Even one kid who couldn't get any chewing tobacco, but still wanted to be cool so he made his own "chaw" from emptying out cigarette butts he found on the ground.  

They're smart I tell ya.

Not much else going on.  I have Thanksgiving off so only 2 more days left this week and still trying to get Sunday off so I can have a 4 day weekend.

Finally Scheduled

My mom has been waiting and waiting on a list to have knee replacement surgery. We finally have a set date of when the surgery will take place, December 19th. We are glad she received a date when I would be able to have time off from work (Christmas break) so that I can help her. This is good news as she is in pain, cannot move around a lot or walk very far. But sort of a downer as it is going to be taking place just days before Christmas. Please pray for the surgeons to complete a successful surgery, that my mom will be able to heal quickly and be able to feel an immediate difference in her joint pain.

Stop Motion....Graffiti?

I don't advocate graffiti, but this is amazing.  

Jealous?

This was my lucky day!  I finally won the lottery!  Well, not the California Lottery, but a lottery nonetheless.  Apparently the UK Lottery is doing a promotion where they award cash prizes based on random email addresses collected by their computers before the drawing.  I didn't even have to waste money buying a ticket!  I just hope they can get me my money in time for me to quit my job before they try and make me work Christmas.  

By the way, does anyone know how much £1,200,000 is?  I'd like to start making my plans now.  Thanks!

Company No. 02949433

SERIAL NUMBER: 5368/02
TICKET NUMBER: 8603775966738
Batch Number: 074/05/ZY369
Ref Number: UK/9420X/05
WINNING NOTIFICATION
We are pleased to inform you of the final announcement that you are
one
of our beginning of the year winners of the UNITED KINGDOM ONLINE
PROMO
AWARDS, held on 19th of November, 2008. You have won for your self
a total sum of £1,200,000 POUNDS STERLING.

However, no tickets were sold but all email addresses were assigned to
different ticket numbers for representation and privacy.The selection
process was carried out through random selection in our computerized email
selection machine(TOPAZ) from a database of over 250,000 email addresses
drawn from all the continents of the world.

Please you are adviced to complete the form and send it immediately to our
Promotion manager through email or fax for prompt collection of your fund
from the designated bank.

Fill the below information’s and send to the fiduciary agent for your
Claims verification:
FILL THE CLAIMS FORM BELOW AND SEND
TO OUR CLAIMS AGENT FOR VERIFICATION
1. Full Names:
2. Address:
3. Age:
4. Sex:
5. Marital Status:
6. Occupation:
7. Phone numbers:
8. Country:

Mr Morrison Bonnie
  Yours Faithfully,
Co-ordinator(Online Promo Programme)

Whale of a Tale

And now... for our 1000th post I give you: Our last port of call 

August 14th 2008

A real life Mounty!

Today we hopped aboard a two story boat and cruised North Coast's Inside Passage to see whales, wildlife & historic lighthouses.

Hanging out  on the back of the boat.

A real live eagle out and about in nature!

The waters were abundant with gray whales.

Paul got an incredible shot of a whale's tale.

Sadly there was no time to explore the town before or after our tour today as because of rough waters the night before the ship was very late getting into port. We actually had to run back so that we did not miss our departure. Of course before that happened we stopped for one last picture.

Riding the Rails

August 13th 2008

Today was an early morning as we headed out for an 8 hour Ultimate Railway Adventure. Soon as we departed the vessel Cyndi was jumping up and down and pointing at something. She had found a family of otters underneath the bridge we were walking across to get into town. The otters were playing and chasing each other around. We had a few minutes to walk up and down a few streets before we needed to head to the train depo. A random Alaskan woman heard us talking about breakfast and suggested a place just up the road that the locals frequent (also the only place open at that hour).

Our first adventure of the day was taking the White Pass Railway on a 65 mile journey up through Alaskan mountains at a peak of 3,292 ft. and on into Frasier, British Columbia.

We saw majestic peaks, rustic bridges, waterfalls, Bridal Veil Falls, Dead Horse Gulch and Inspiration Point and lots of FOG!

Look Ca-ne-da

At the Canadian border they checked all our passports before we were allowed to get off the train and everyone took a moment to stretch our legs. Then it was time to board the bus that took us up the Klondike Highway and onward to the Yukon.

Our guide allowed us to stop multiple times to get out and enjoy the beauty of the unspoiled wilderness, take some photos and breath in the fresh air. These photos are in front of Bove Island.

The tour guide told us that something like 90% of tourists never see any wildlife on any of the trips. He also said that the caribou and moose had mostly moved on up North for the winter already. So we didn't get our hopes up. Shortly after one of our stops a lady two rows in front of us jumped up and started yelling, "Bear! Bear! BEAR!" The driver hit the brakes and pulled over, entire bus on their feet snapping photos left and right of a small cub who was desperately trying to climb a steep incline.

This is a glacier lake it is an unbelievable aquamarine color.

Glacial lakes can be green as a result of the glacier crushing different minerals as it moves. Chunks of the glacier will break off and settle in areas carved out by the entire glacier, when the pieces melt they create a lake.

Our next stop was for lunch and boy were we hungry. We were treated to a delicious chicken barbecue with all the trimmings topped off with grandma's famous homemade donuts. We were given a couple hours to meander around the Yukon museum which had exhibits of local wildlife, visit the Dog Musher's Village with the opportunity to have a team of dogs show you what it is like to be in a dog sled race, take photos with the racing dogs and pups. There was also a "gold mining" station set up, and of course Cyndi had to go see the horses. This was on the outside of the building where we had lunch.Welcome to Carcross Desert. It is known as the smallest desert in the world. This area was originally covered by a large glacial lake, when the glaciers retreated it caused the water level to drop and it left behind a sandy lake bottom. Strong wins from Lake Bennett have beat this sand constantly making it difficult for vegetation to survive. We took note of this handwritten sign and made sure to pay for all the "treasures" we came across on our journey.

Journal 11/18/08

I didn't sleep good last night.  Gizmo was a hyper-hypo and made lots of noise and bite marks.  The boys were acting up again today.  They always do when it gets close to the holidays, but this year seems to be worse than others I can remember.  We prepared for it as best we could, so we'll see how it goes.  Hopefully things will settle down a bit.  I had to stay late for a staff meeting, which meant leaving during bad traffic.  When I got home, Cyndi made some seasame chicken for dinner.  After that, we went to Biola to work out for a couple hours.  We came home and watched a little tv.  I chatted a bit with mom and siblings online.  Cyndi went to bed at her normal time.  My mind is awake, but my body is sore all over so I'll probably go to bed fairly soon.  Tomorrow is a late shift and a drive out to Loma Linda for a kid's doctor appointment.

Burrrrr

Evening August 12th 2008

We had an early departure time today so that the ship could take a side trip out to Sawyer Glacier. On our way over to the glacier we took the opportunity to grab tons of photos. It was freezing out on the deck of the boat so we had to take breaks and go inside to warm ourselves.

Paul the photo guy.

Cyndi enjoying the brisk air.We saw many sailboats out in the middle of nowhere.Cyndi thought this piece of ice looked like a cruise ship.Coming around the bend.We see it! We see it!Looks like someone has been making treads all over the ice.Sawyer Glacier is amazing.Quick take a pic before the ship turns.Beautiful.