Happy B Day Diane and Janet

Danielle's parents came into town and we went Out to dinner with Ginger and Janet. It is both Diane and Janet's B Day so we went to an Italian Restaurant Corina's. Happy Birthday Girls. Dave and Diane are going to Mammoth for a few days of snowboarding, it's there first time there and they should have a lot of fun, there is a ton of good restaurant's in Mammoth.

My Balls Are Freezing

Get your mind out of the gutter...I meant softballs. Friday night was our first practice on a "real" field. About ten team members came out. It was about 45 or so degrees, so yes, the balls were frozen. It was cold, but it was only for an hour. We start playing in about three weeks, so it is nice to get out and dust the cobwebs out of our gloves.

Shots Before Work

This morning I had 3 shots before I went to work, not the alcohol kind the medical kind. As our trip gets closer we need to get all the recommended vaccination's before we leave. 3 down about 3 to go, the shot never hurts but my arm was bugging me last night I couldn't get comfortable.

Last night we went to Danielle's Grandma Sylvia's for dinner, it was great we don't get over there as much we should. She just bought a digital camera and has no clue how to use it, some of these photos was me trying to teach her the basic functions.

Easter Egg Hunt at Alpine

Today was the annual Easter egg hunt at Alpine Meadows. They spread eggs all over the mountain with one containing a season pass for 08-09. We didn't get the season pass, but we did get 9 eggs with candy and one containing a free lift ticket for next season, it was a lot of fun. We haven't hunted for eggs in about 15 years. We brought one of Danielle's fellow teachers, Johnny, to Alpine today. It was his first day at this mountain. We had a lot of fun and gave him a good tour by hitting up each lift at least once. Johnny is moving back to Iowa at the end of the school year, so we had to show him what he is going to miss when he is gone. One of the highlights was when Danielle slipped in the mud while we were traversing on the backside. She got mud everywhere! HAPPY EASTER!

A Late Start, but Busy Day

We got a late start to our morning. First, we made breakfast and relaxed for awhile. Around 2 o'clock we decided to get off our butts and go for a quick hike up Peavine. We hiked around 2 miles and then we were off to the climbing gym. After the gym kicked our butts we grabbed some dinner and finished the day with grocery shopping. ...And Danielle wanted to let you know that yes, she does look a little "tore-up" (her words, not mine) in the above picture. She ran into a door on Tuesday and gave herself a mighty beautiful shiner.

Softball Practice

Tonight we had are first Softball practice out on the field. We played good but a few of us need a lot of work. I still think it's crazy that our softball team even practices? We better be good all this time we are putting in.

Chilling with Brad

A buddy from the Bay, Brad was in South Lake for the week. Last night we meet at Bully's in Reno to Watch the Sharks game, they have been killing it hopefully it will transition into the playoffs. I want to say congratulations to Brad and Justina they got engaged after 10 years. It's about time Brad, he also graduated college way to go Brad. It was good hanging out last night even if it was only a few hours.

Riding with the boys

Lars and Eric from the office were giving me crap because I never ride with them anymore. Today we took a long lunch and went to Northstar for a two hour park session. It was a ton of fun, I am not a park guy by any means but it was fun to just get out with the guys and jib around like we were kids. You got to love Tahoe's warm weather spring riding.

Day 7 Final day, the fun has to end

Our last morning I woke up early any took a short hike to watch the sunrise. Joshua Tree is a great place can’t wait until we make it back again, hopefully sooner than later. I guess the fun can only last for so long and today it was time to pack it up and head home. It was a great trip we drove 1340 miles. Its always nice to be an vacation but even better to get home to your own bed.

Day 6 Last Day of Climbing at Atlantis Rock

Our last day of our class was focused around building anchors so that we can top rope on our own. We spent many hours going over different pieces of equipment like stoppers and cam devices. It is amazing how much weight some of these pieces can hold. During the afternoon we walked up to the top of the climbing area and built our very own top rope anchors. We discussed them with the guide and then rappelled down. Sure glad they held! Next, we climbed on our anchors for awhile before packing it up for the day. Thanks again to our guide Seth Zaharias from Joshua Tree Guides also known as “Sierra Rock Climbing School” If you are looking to just have fun for a day or take a week long climbing class they can accommodate you. They teach obviously in Joshua Tree but also in the Mammoth/Bishop area and the Bay area. I would highly recommend them to anyone interested in climbing.

Day 5 Climbing at Echo Rocks

Today we headed over to Echo Rock. The morning consisted of going over different types of ropes and knots. During the afternoon we practiced smearing, which is basically trusting our feet on this type of rock. It was definitely different than climbing in the gym because this type of rock, monzogranite, is very sticky and sharp, allowing you to walk on nearly vertical surfaces. This type of climbing places a lot of emphasis on footwork and very little on arm strength and handholds. We also did our first rappel to finish up the day.

Day 4 first day of climbing at Playhouse Rock.

Today was the first day of our climbing class with Joshua Tree Guides. There was a little confusion in the beginning of the day because our instructor had to cancel at the last minute. We ended up joining another class, but one of the students was three hours late. After all of the chaos, we began our day at Playhouse Rock with our guide, Seth. Most of the day was spent going over different belay devices and getting comfortable climbing on the Joshua rock. It was so much fun we climbed until we were beat. The rock is so sticky as long as you keep weight on your foot you can climb up just about anything, almost.

Day 3 Driving Around Joshua Tree

We woke up Monday morning to hear people climbing on the rocks all around us. This campground is in a really unique location. There are over 1,000 climbing routes within walking distance. We knew that we would be busy over the next few days climbing, so we took Monday to drive around the park. The park has many Joshua Trees, of course, but also some other very interesting cacti like the Cholla and Ocotillo. Many of the Joshua Trees were in bloom as well as many wildflowers in the park thanks to a sufficient amount of rain this winter. We took a hike to the 49 palms oasis? There are five oasis in the park, it is really weird hiking for 1.5 miles through the desert then coming across this tropical paradise? We chilled at camp that night playing cards again, Danielle kicked my but again. We went to bed early we had a big day tomorrow with our first day of climbing.

Day 2 Roller Coasters by Day, Camping by Night

We woke up Sunday morning and headed to Magic Mountain. It was sunny and warm – a perfect day for riding roller coasters, I love this park the roller coasters are some of the best in the world. After eating lunch, we got back in the car and headed towards Joshua Tree National Park to setup camp. When we arrived at Hidden Valley Campground, we had to drive around to find a spot. Luckily there were a few empty sites. We unloaded the car and setup our camp. Before bed we played cards Danielle managed to kick my but all night.

Day 1 Spring Break Vacation

We started off our Spring Break trip with a stop at Grandma and Grandpa DeJong’s in Turlock. It was great to visit with them for the afternoon. Grandma made her signature fried rice for lunch, followed by a cheese cake for dessert. She is the best cook, you can never leave her house hungry. We also met their new dog, which they rescued about 10 days prior. After leaving their house, we headed for Valencia.

Writing Orders

I wish I could say I had this really exciting weekend, but most of it consist of writing orders for work. Friday night we did go tho the batting cages and hit a few balls with are new team, then went to the rock climbing gym to get some practice in for our trip to Joshua Tree next week. Saturday did some grocery shopping and donated blood in the morning, wrote orders all afternoon then broke away from the computer to watch the UFC, the last two fights were great. Sunday never left the house or the computer, I've been writing orders all day trying to get everything done by the end of the week.