Mitch's 8th Birthday

Saturday we also celebrated Mitch's 8th birthday - dragon theme.  Lot's of cute little people running around with swords and shields - pretty funny.  Food was great - meatballs and ravioli and lots of side salads.  After dinner Mitch opened presents, smashed a dragon pinata and ate a really delicious cake.  It was fun as always visiting with the family.

Dragon Party - Look out!

Uncle Kevin, being a good sport playing the part

Aunt Jeanette and Ellie

 Opening presents - the envy of all the guys

Dragon slaying time

Bringing in the heavy hitting princess to finish the job

Time to sing

Easter Weekend in Flagstaff

Jeanette and I went out to visit Joey and Kaylan for Easter this year.  Jeanette and I flew into Phoenix on Wednesday evening and Thursday afternoon we met up in Sedona.  We had a great lunch and then went out on a hike to Chicken Point.  It was a windy afternoon but a really beautiful hike.

The four of us

The view down the valley from chicken point

The next morning we woke up early to breakfast sandwichs made by Joey and headed up to the Grand Canyon.  We arrived around 9ish and hit the trail.  We took the Kaibab trail on the South Rim.  This was a trail Jeanette and I had never been on before.  The views were amazing and the weather perfect.  We took the trail all the way to the Tip Off, the last stop before heading down the the river.  We ate lunch here with great views of the Colorado.  That evening we were tired so we had Chinese takeout for dinner and Joe and Kaylan introduced us to one of their favorite shows - Top Gear - a hillarious British Car show. 

Pictures don't do it justice

Heading in to the canyon

Our first view of the Colorado

The 4 of us

The next morning for our "rest" day (8 miles)we hit the Kachina Trail which hikes the base of Humphery and Agasi peaks right outside of town.  This hike was completely different then the day before in the Grand Canyon.  Snow was still on the ground in many places and the area is full of ponderosa pines and aspens.  The hike was beautiful and we had some interesting freezing rain / sleet weather while we hiked.

Joey and Kaylan on the log

Jeanette finding "Lip Log"

Flagstaff Sasquatch

Beautiful Aspens

The 4 of us

Our last day we went back down to Sedona and did a short dayhike up Doe Mountain with really expansive views of the valley.  It was a great way to end the trip.  Afterwards Joey and I hit the mountainbike trails in Sedona for a quick ride while the ladies shopped.  We finished up with dinner and beers at the Oak Creek Canyon Brewery.  We had a great trip visiting with Joey and Kaylan and only wish they lived closer so we could spend more time with them.

Jeanette at the Overlook

The Valley

Me Joey and Kaylan

Aunt Ailene's 60th Birthday

Aunt Ailene turns 60 this week and the family surprised her with a party to celebrate last weekend.  It was a great time, with everyone there except Joey and Kaylyn.  The festivities included crowning of the birthday queen, a then and now fact sharing with a doll dressed up in a vintage girl scout uniform to act as the "then" Aunt Ailene, a quiz on various Aunt Ailene trivia and lots of excellent food.  It was great to get together with the family.

Aunti Ailene's surprise entrance

Kay Kay cutting the rug

Then and Now Aunt Ailene

The Lovely Ladies of the Family with their crazy Sock Monkey slippers 

Hmm, that picture is better

Jeanette's Birthday

Jeanette's birthday this year began with a nice little snow storm which made the entire area look really pretty - unfortunately it did not lead to any delays so Jeanette still had to work.  In the evening we met up with a whole crew of friends - Colin, Joe, Will and Vanji, Bob and Mary, Bob and Mary, Timm and Rachel, Wendy and John and Chris - at Ali Babas.  Jeanette loves this restaurant and it serves delicious Middle Eastern cuisine.  We had Morrocon eggplant salad and carrot salad as appetizers and a delicious chicken kabob for main course.  We finished up with baklava with a birthday sparkler.  The staff at Ali Babas really did a great job taking care of our big group.

The Group

The birthday girl with baklava

Jeanette and I 

Afterwards we went over to the new Mojos (old East End Cafe) to see a couple of local bands, headlined by Diego Paulo.  These guys are really excellent, and while the rest of the ticket was not so good, they reallt finished up strong and put on a great show.

Diego Paulo 

On Sunday the family came down - Tom, Marion, Brig, Kev, Mitch, Ellie, Joe and Robbie.  We had a great time with a spaghetti dinner, some hide and seek and kick the can in the snow and of course cake and presents.  It was nice having everyone down to our home.

Dinner

The cake 

Presents 

Christmas

Christmas 2010 was great for Jeanette and I.  We got to spend a good bit of time with family.  On Christmas eve Sean, Kaylyn and Nicholas came into town.  We spent the evening at the Mitchell's with the traditional roast beef meal and opened presents with the family.  

Marion preparing the meal

Mitch getting ready to get down to business

Ellie taking care of Nicholas

The Landes family

Me and Jeanette

The Mitchell "Kids"

Kaylyn and Jeanette

Ellie doing a little Christmas Dancing

Ellie getting her princess vanity...

...and quickly getting to business on her hair

and Uncle Sean's

and Uncle Dave's 

Tom resting after all the commotion

The following morning we went to visit my parents for Christmas breakfast and to exchange gifts.  

Mom opening a photo from Joey and Kaylan

Jeanette opening her soothing sound machine from mom and dad

Pops opening my gag gift, a birdfeeder made out of my old awards 

Me opening the manual to my new lawn mower! 

More sleeping, opening gifts is exhausting