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

Trail Triple Crown

Jeanette before the race

The crew bouncing to keep warm pre-racce

And their off (Jeanette's is in the right 3rd of pic)

Finishing strong up the tough final hill

Saturday morning Jeanette, me and Jim ran the Trail Triple Crown at White Clay Creek State Park in DE which consists of a half marathon, 10K and 5K.  We competed in the team division and each ran a leg, but the real hardmen / women do the whole thing on their own.  It was a perfect day for running.  We did quite well coming in 2nd place in the team division.  Also racing were team Merrick and Wendy who ran the 10K solo.

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