3-31-13

Martin: Nice autumn day.

Me: Our Easter Sunday clan. Church at Hope; Paul gave the sermon and there was a lot of good music! Afterwards we had a room reserved at Elevate Coffee where we enjoyed sandwiches, chips, salads, deviled eggs and Rock Springs Pie! Lovely visit with family. 

Mike, Abbie, David, Jake, Matt, Kim, Curt, Nancy,
Carol, April, Paul, Me, Bob, Joan and Dean.

3-30-13

Martin: Always like this one. Happy Easter!

Me: Bob and I took our nephew, Mike mountain biking in South Mountain. Beautiful weather this weekend. Happy Easter!

3-29-13

Martin: Adrian took this one some time ago and I don't think I had noticed it before.

Me: April.

Looking super cute!

We had fun with her senior pictures "photo shoot".

Beautiful setting at Squaw Peak. Bob and Carol were my assistants.

April is a natural at modeling!

So pretty and I just loved her outfits!

Arizona girl graduating in May!

3-28-13

 Martin: Daniel and his air cannon for a science project on calculating tragectories using a golf ball. Wish he put this much effort into the rest of his school work!

 

Me: These are the shelves I bought a couple weeks ago at a garage sale. They fit perfectly in the office! $20 for all 3 sections. And there's Harley, center of attention. :-)

3-27-13

Martin: Heavy dew first thing in the morning - back garden.

Me: Bob's first day home and I took him to McDowell Mountains to see the pretty flowers.

3-26-13

Martin: Some unusual high clouds about this afternoon.

Me: Great-nephew time today.

3-25-13

Me: Bob's pic from Jamaica.

Bob and I each downloaded an app for our phones that allows us to talk internationally (or text) for free. It's awesome. So glad we can stay connected on his trips! 

The garage is done. Wow, I love it! 2 more days before we can drive on it. I don't want our stuff back in there though. It looks so good like this. :-)

3-24-13

 Me: Bob's first flight with American Airlines was to Panama. He said it went great. Yay!

Bob will stay in Panama City tonight and tomorrow he's off to Jamaica! He's getting to see some new places and I look forward to hearing about them.

While Bob was exploring Panama City, I biked 71 miles and then cleared out the garage (thank you for helping, James). Tomorrow the floor will be professionally epoxied. The floor is badly stained so it will be a big improvement.

3-23-13

Martin: Big seas down at Cronulla plus a king tide.

Me: Bob leaving for Miami this morning.

He made it, found his crash pad and did a bit of exploring around the area. Spring break and Florida =  crowded beaches. Tomorrow Bob flys to Panama - his first flight in the 737! Woo hoo!

3-22-13

Martin: Pretty thistles.

Me: This morning Harley and I went on a long hike.

The cactus flowers were just so pretty.

 It's hard for me not to take a bunch of photos.

 Happy that Harley likes to "stop and smell the roses".

And happy that Bob is home tonight! 

3-21-13

Martin: How's this for a storm cloud. Looks a bit like an atomic mushroom.

 Me: Lone Daisy

3-20-13

Martin: Our last fossicking spot on the trip.

I checked the booklets again and found a mention of the ‘sign posted’ panning areas being situated along a one way tourist drive. We located this dirt road and the brochure indicated that it was 14km long before it came out on the highway. A few kms in, we came across a creek crossing along with a cleared camping area. We decided to have our lunch and do our last panning session as there were signs of recent digging. We moved along the creek with only traces showing up and then came across a good layer of clay that was producing a bit of colour with each pan but as usual, it was a bit too late.

It was nearing 2.30pm and we were still 600kms from home. Loaded up and arrived home late to a very surprised cat. One of the neighbours had been coming over twice a day to feed Finn and then to let him inside at night. So ends our first adventure for 2013. That took two months to write up. :-)

Me: Pretty pink blooms on the trail this morning.

Mountain biking the Haas Trail in the Usery Mountains.

Red Mountain in the background.

3-19-13

Martin: So that's what a Canary Island Strawberry tree looks like.

Sunday morning and packing up the car once again for the last day of our trip. Knowing that we would be sleeping in our own beds that evening or by the early hours of the morning anyway. Leaving Beechworth behind us, our next stop was the town of Yackandandah – what else but an old mining town. Planned on having one last panning session but the information centre was still closed when we arrived in the town and I needed to find more details than what was in the tourist booklets we already had. Ruth wanted to visit the local cemetery as this particular one contained a number of unusual tree species planted over a hundred years ago. One tree caught her eye when reading about the cemetery – A Canary Island Strawberry tree that was listed on the Victorian National Trust Register as a significant tree. Back to the town and the numbers of people had increased, many coming in to have a late Sunday breakfast. Discovered that as the information centre was run on a voluntary basis, it was often closed! Big help. 

Me: Happy Day!

Bob passed his sim check ride with American Airlines today! He is now type rated in the 737 jet airplane. It was a big day after several weeks of training in Dallas, TX. Congratulations, Bob! I am so very proud of you!! I think I'll have some chocolate to celebrate. :-) 

Bob will be in Dallas the rest of the week for procedures training. Then off to Miami on Saturday for his first "in the air" flight on Sunday. Woo hoo! 

PS: Harley and I miss you, honey!

3-18-13

Martin: Cherry Farm.

Notice Ruth's new earrings.

Me: I forgot to mention that our 5 person team of Brian, Janet, Jason, Josh and I won the team division yesterday. The top 3 times from the team members count towards overall team standings. Woo hoo! That was fun too! Nice work, Team Vitesse!

Jason & Josh are missing from the podium.

3-17-13

Martin: Berries, berries everywhere.

Today we were off along the road to the town of Stanley. This region is full of farms selling all kinds of berries and stone fruits and this time, we wanted to do our own picking. The heat was keeping the travellers down and there were only a handful of people in the extensive berry farm that we drove into. Plastic bags in hand, we headed out to the designated rows. They provide you with a list of the different berries in season and which rows currently have the ripest fruit. On with the picking and a case of two in the mouth for every one in the bag. Not long before we all had a messy looking purple/blue lipstick job on our mouths. Very relaxing picking fruit – just like watching the stars. You ever feel that you have eaten too many cherries? Well that’s how we were feeling by this point. And we still had 10kg of picked fruit!

 Me: Fat Tire 40 Race - McDowell Mountains.
Beth, Jane, Kata
St. Patrick's Day - 2013

Today's mountain bike race was great! 250 riders and tough!

As you can see it was a beautiful course lined with poppies. However, the majority of the time I was focussed on Beth's wheel in front of me. She is a strong pro rider from Tucson! We were together the whole time and she made me work hard to stay with her.

 It was a very exciting ending with an all out sprint and a photo finish between Beth and I! You can see just how close it was in this photo. Thrilling!

Finish Time: 3 hours 3 minutes and 45 seconds (for both of us).

Fun slow motion video of the finish.

Thanks, Nick for the video and photos.

3-16-13

Martin: Beechworth in the late afternoon... 7pm

Me: McDowell Mountains in bloom. Poppies everywhere.

Today:

Bob mountain biked and studied.

I hit the garage sales and raced.

 Fat Tire 40 is a 2 day mountain bike race in the McDowell Mountains. Today was a 6 mile time trial and tomorrow is a 40 mile race on dirt.