DC Trip

Last month I had a business trip to New York so I availed myself of spending time with the DC Stewarts. We had a terrific time, the weather was beautiful, and we saw some things that i have wanted to see my entire life. Valley Forge, Philadelphia as well as some of the good ol' stand-bys - the Mall area. Best time was playing with the kids.

Halloween Grandparents!

I thought ya' all might get a kick out of seeing us dressed up going to our YSA activity!

Company Cruise and Disney - October

The first part of Ootober we took a short cruise out of Long Beach with about 200 Cargill top sales winners and their partners. You will be happy to note that I did not take a picture of the cruise ship (see Heather's and Tom's pics from Sept. Same ship). I did take pictures of the "shore excursion" that Jed Southwick (one of my consultants) and I took. We played the Bajamar Golf Course north of Ensenada. Beautiful course that we had to ourselves. Patty and the gals went and harangued the Mexicans at the flea markets.

When we got back to LA we decided to spend a couple of terrific days at Disneyland.





I found my dream job at Disneyland. Playing in the Disney Band. Some of these guys were older than me by a couple of decades.



Here's Grandma Pat hanging with some pirates.



Me in front of one of my favorite rides. The Tower of Terror.



The second day we had rain in the AM. Nothing dampens your spirit at the "happiest place on earth"!



A nice pic for the Halloween holiday.



Grandma Pat hamming it up in the Toy Story box.



My attempt to take a pic through the very small screens inside the Mickey Mouse ferris wheel. (see last pic)

Bechler August 2011!

Last week Robert and I hiked the Bechler Canyon. This marked the 15th year since Jeremy introduced me to the area, and 10 years since Robert and I journeyed here (and I lost all of the skin off the bottom of my feet). This year we hiked about 35 miles in 72 hours. Our packs weighed in at 50 lbs. We stayed at 9B5 (Colonade Falls), 9B8 ("Stewart" Falls) and 9A3 (Dunanda Falls).

Patty said that I will be boring ya'll with this many pictures, but I disagreed. Rather than comment on each pic I am going to provide you with the Top 10 positive and negatives aspects of the trip.

1. The Beauty of Bechler is just as stunning as ever (see pics)
2. Other than some minor pains, we were injury free.
3. Weather was near perfect. Highs 70's Lows 40's. The last night we went to bed with cloudless skies, had two incredible T-storms in the middle of the night and woke with great weather again.
4. No bear attacks.
5. The incredible hot springs of Ferris and Dunanda.
6. Bring enough Deet. (Did the inventor of this get some kind of a Nobel award?)
7. Patty's snacks. We ate well.
8. "Lightload" Towels. These were great. Thanks, Jer.
9. Plenty of rest. We were in bed by 6:00-8:00 every night. The new hammock was great! Thanks, Dalpias'
10. Thousands of red dragonflies in the meadow that eat mosquitos.


Negative:

1. Mosquitos!
2. Horse Flies or whatever those mean, monstrous things are!
3. Other than the black bear and her cub, we saw no other mammals.
4. I can't think of anything else.

For those of you that are familiar with the area, you will appreciate these pics. For those of you that don't know the area, put it on your list of things to do next summer!

Ogden Marathon May 2011

Tessa and Bryan, Heather and Tom, and Me decided to try our hand at the Ogden Marathon this year. The weather was beautiful (for a change) and the scenery was equally so.

I ran the Half and the rest did the Team Relay although many ran much further than their leg.


Here I am looking chipper the night before the race.



A little less chipper after the race.



Heather and Tom coming into the home stretch from the Half starting point.



Tessa was kind enough to stop for her picture after 26 miles.



After the finish line with the coveted medal.



The whole gang ready for another race (someday).



It was really a great experience. I am very proud of everyone for toughing it out.