The Catalina Crew

It has been a LOOOOOOONNNNG time since I put up a post on the site.  And I am sure that everyone who checks in here from time to time has just about had enough of seeing my ugly mug on the triathlon post. Well, I will see what I can do about that!

We have been without internet at our house for a little over a month now. And I haven’t had time at work to sneak away and throw up a post or photos. As a matter of fact, this post is also photoless. (Sorry) However, the internet at our new place will be hooked up on Monday or Tuesday, so with any luck the updates on our little family will resume very soon.

In the meantime, among other fun things that have been happening and those that I can’t think of right away, here are the big ones that I remember off the top of my head:

We found out it’s going to be a boy , we got a sailboat, Christmas came and went, we went to bed early for New Year’s, we briefly visited Salt Lake (Sue & Jacob got to play, Jared didn’t… more on that later), we moved into a new apartment (Or rather Jared moved all of our stuff into the new apartment (see previous item)), Sue turned 26 (hmmmmm really?), and it’s another beautiful day on Catalina Island!

OK, so the paparazzi aren’t exactly breaking down our door, but a few of you have wanted to see the photos of Jared in the Triathlon. So, here they are. If you are faint of heart you may want to avert your eyes lest you be blinded by the splendor of what you are about to see!

In the staging area before the race.

I’m in the middle of the pack. (yellow shoulder)

Out of the water – Dead Tired,
And wondering how I am going to manage the next 10 miles!

Halfway through the third hill-climb!
Time for some GU!

One mile left to go and feeling great!

The BEST part of the race -
Crossing the finish line with Jacob!

Enjoying the afterglow.

What a fun day! I can’t wait for the chance to run another triathlon. It is definitely something that everyone should try to do. Every time I finish an event like this I am amazed at how great it feels and how I don’t want it to be over. Wahoo!

OK, so I am finally getting around to it!

We had an awesome Halloween. It was really fun to have the old-fashioned neighborhood Halloween experience again. With all of the “Trunk-or-Treat” events that people are using lately instead of traditional “Trick-or-Treating” I have really missed seeing kids running around en-masse with friends and family, socializing and making a neighborhood a neighborhood. Avalon is one of those all too rare communities where urban fear has not yet gotten a foothold.

We started out of course by getting and carving our pumpkins. Jacob’s school sponsored a “Pumpkin Patch” where the kids could pick out their own pumpkins instead of going to the super market. Jacob chose a trio of good ones and we set to work making them look great. Jacob designed and helped cut his into a “Silly face.”

Jacob took a while and had several different ideas on what to be for Halloween before settling on cowboy. On Halloween evening, the city had a costume parade down Crescent street with all of the school kids participating. The community TV station filmed the parade and Jacob made the broadcast.

Jacob was a little unnerved by Dad’s costume and realistic looking scars and asked him to take the wig off. After the parade, we went over to Luau Larry’s for the traditional Wednesday $2 cheeseburgers and then hit the streets to gather loot.

By the end of the evening Jacob had filled his pumpkin basket to beyond capacity and Mom & Dad had met several new neighbors. Jacob did not want to stop but eventually we had to call it quits and head back home in time for bed.

Jacob with his friend Cory

OK, so most of you by now who are registered have noticed that our blog got hijacked by a spam robot. Fortunately, our anti-spam engine caught the posts before they actually went live onto the site and deleted them. However, the notification script we were using sent out a bunch of emails letting you know that the spam comments were posted before they got deleted.

Thanks to Karen’s sharp eye, we were alerted and I have disabled that part of the script. Unfortunately, this means that you will not be able to get a notification when someone posts a comment to the blog, only when we post a new blog entry. When I get a second, I will see if I can fix that. In the meantime, I have changed the blog settings to require users to either be registered or enter a valid email address in order to post comments. (You should register anyway so that you will be notified when we post!)

Anyhow, aside from that, we had a great Thanksgiving weekend. Sue and I both took an extra day off to have some much needed family time. We spent Wed evening and Thurs morning together getting Thanksgiving dinner together. Jacob helped out from time to time and while the Turkey cooked, we walked up to the “Net” at the golf course to hit balls around.

“The Net” is one of Jacob’s new favorite places to go. Whenever mini-golf is closed, his first response is “Let go to the net!” After about 30 minutes of watching Jacob hit his balls and playing games like “Dad-you-go-stand-over- -there-and-try-to-get-the-ball-and-I-will-hit-it-away-from-you-ha-ha-ha!,” we came back home to see how the turkey was doing.

MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmm! Smells delicious!

Our Thanksgiving feast was nearly ready and once the Potatoes were mashed and yams broiled, we sat down to dinner. Yummy yummy turkey stuffed with the best home-made stuffing ever, freshly made cranberry sauce, garlic mashed potatoes with gravy, yams with pralined pecans, and melt-in-your-mouth rolls, followed by home-made pecan pie with vanilla ice cream. Loosen up the belt!

On the way home from work on Wed, Sue had picked up several dvd’s at the library, so while we digested, we watched movies until Jacob fell asleep on the coffee table where he had piled couch pillows into a rather lumpy “bed.”

Friday we slept in for a change and took the morning easy before hiking out along the seawall at Casino Point to do some fishing. I think the fish were taking Thanksgiving weekend off as well. No nibbles, but it was fun just hanging out and being together.

We finished off the weekend by going kayaking up the coast past Hamilton Cove. Saw a lot of pelicans at close range and a couple of sea lions. (In case you didn’t know… Sea Lions have external ears, Seals do not have visible ears. That is the easiest way to tell them apart!) Jacob was a real trooper and thoroughly enjoyed the adventure despite getting soaking wet. The highlight for him however was when we stopped off at the Hamilton Cove beach for a snack and a side trip to the beach side playground there.

It was a super fun holiday and none of us wanted to get back to the daily routine. There isn’t much that we would rather do than hang out and spend time with each other! …And what a great place to do it in!