UPDATE

So much going on around the world and even here in our own little part of the world. A couple of nights ago we had such thunderstorms with lots of rain throughout the valley, that it seemed we were in another part of the country all together. This happened in the middle of the night to the point that people got up and watched from their windows. I got home at about 3:00AM and Melissa was up, so we just sat outside for a while just watching the lightning. Eventually she got too scared and went back inside.
Of course there was some flooding around the strip area, which is the lowest part of our valley.
Now we are back to our normal weather pattern-Hot, Hot, Hot. However, soon the hot weather will subside and welcome the cool weather.

BACK FROM VACATION

The day has come to return to work.

It's been a wonderful week. The kids had a great time in Disneyland as much as I did. I may not have sounded too happy before leaving, but once you get there, what do you do. Make the best of it and have as much fun as possible.

To begin with, as soon as we got there and after riding our first ride (Pirates of the Caribean) we were handed a set of "fastpass" lanyards. These were for the most popular rides and to use whenever we wanted for that day. No waiting in line, just straight to the front. They were handing these out at random, so we were very lucky since I did not see that many people with them.


The worst part of the day was waiting an hour and a half to ride the new Finding Nemo ride, the old submarine ride. Pretty much the same as before with the added new graphics and computer images underwater, otherwise same ride. We rode the traditional; Star Tours, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Thunder Railroad, etc. Some of them more than two or three times, including the kiddie rides.



There were a lot of people throughout the days we were there. Friday was probably the best day. There did not seem to be as many people people as Thursday or Saturday. The family had fun. By Saturday, I think we've all had it and ended up leaving early. The kids hang out by the pool and later in the evening we drove to Huntington Beach for dinner.

On Sunday we stopped by the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena before heading for home. The trip was an outstanding success.



See my flickr page for more pictures of the trip, including some "people watching" pictures.

Olivia Singing, Again.

At church this past Sunday. I was able to at least record this. I had just come home from working all night and instead of going to bed when I got home, I just got in the shower, made coffee and got ready for church. by the tmie we got home, it was already 11:30, so I had a "two hour" nap before heading for work again at 2:00.
It has been a sleepless weekend, but I am looking forward to leaving town tomorrow.


"CISCO, IN THE LAST 48 HOURS YOU HAVE JUST SLEPT FOR FOUR HOURS, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NEXT?...."


I AM GOING TO DISNEYLAND!

A QUICK ROADTRIP

So, no kids on Thursday (my only day off) and what to do.
Melissa spoke of driving up north into Utah and I thought about driving to L.A. Instead we took the road south into Arizona. We started by going over Hoover Dam (Lots of traffic there due to TRANSFORMERS being filmed there, tourists and all that) Once we got over the dam, we continued driving south, no hurries no destination. The initial idea was to drive and find roads that would take us into old mining towns. Along the way we saw some thunderstorms that were too far to get us or the car wet.
We did veer into a road that lead to Chloride, an old mining town founded back in the 1860's. Mellisa did not want to have anything to do with this town, it did look deserted and silent. We were looking for "Yesterday's restaurant", but it turned out that they were on vacation. We turned around and left the town quickly and back onto the highway. The next stop was Kingman AZ. This was no small mining town. We had lunch at a place we'd rather not mention except that on its wall there was a note form their health department which had placed them on a "Needs Improvement" status.
From Kingman the choices widened. Go into the Grand Canyon a mere 2 hours away, Further south into Sedona (about 4 hours) or West towards L.A. Given that it was already about 3:00PM, we decided to go west along the famous Route 66.
From Kingman it quickly headed towards the mountains. Mountains on this side of the country are nothing but giant boulders of rocks. There are no pine trees or other large trees growing here. Only sage bushes, saguaros and plenty of dessert grass and flowers. A beautiful site considering the minimal rain that has fallen in this part of the dessert.

The road turned into a two lane road with very sharp turns into the hills. Surprisingly there were a lot of homes (mobile, trailers and such)throughout the road. It did not take too long to reach the top. On the way we stopped a few times to take pictures. Once we began to descend, the road was the same; colorful and still with dizzying sharp turns. At some spots, you could see signs of old mines as well as some that seemed operational.
The highlight of the trip was a town called Oatman. Right along the center of the road, there were donkeys meandering around as if they owned the town. There were plenty of tourists (Of course we were tourists at that point too) feeding carrots to the donkeys, some seem a bit aggressive, while some others just laid on the ground.






Once we left this town, we headed towards Bullhead City. By this time it was already about 6:30PM and since we had nothing else to do at home, we decided to spend the night in Laughlin.


Melissa and I had come full circle.
One of our first outings as a dating couple was here in Laughlin and we actually stayed at the same place.

RAIN

It's been raining most of the morning here. What a difference from yesterday to today. The heat has this way of getting to you where you feel hot and just miserable so waking up to thunder and lightning is a blessing. It is now about noon and it is sprinkling still.
Olivia is in San Francisco with her "auntie." Anthony is in Southern California with his grandmother and family, so this week Melissa and I are without the kids this week. It is very strange not to have them here and hear their voices, singing or playfulness's around. When they get back, we are all going to Disneyland for a few days. Not my favorite place, but it will be very nice to be there with them. I must admit I am kind of looking forward to it, perhaps just to get away from work(ers).