Friday, April 28, 2006
Supported by Gov. Schwarzenegger himself...
Under the authority of the Governor, the California Department of Motor vehicles has pronounced that Andrew George, age 18, is legally licensed to drive motor vehicles on public roads. This is official as of the completion of his on-road driving test yesterday at approx. 1:55pm PST.
This is your only warning.
Seriously, Andrew has done a great job learning to drive. He is respectful of the process and hasn't tried to "show off" or push the envelope on the capabilities of the vehicle. He hasn't made his first "solo" yet, but that is just a matter of time now.
Congrats to Andrew the Driver!
This is your only warning.
Seriously, Andrew has done a great job learning to drive. He is respectful of the process and hasn't tried to "show off" or push the envelope on the capabilities of the vehicle. He hasn't made his first "solo" yet, but that is just a matter of time now.
Congrats to Andrew the Driver!
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Vacation
The vacation was great. Here are the highlights (I'm sure I have forgotten some details -- I will update if I think of anything major):
Friday, April 14
Fly from John Wayne Airport to Baltimore (BWI), bring food for 6 hours of travel (we landed in Phoenix but stayed on the plane). Take an extra duffel bag to have room to bring home souvenirs. Bring 2 portable DVD players. One battery didn't work, but one working was better than none!
Jay (Andrew's friend going to school out there) met us at the airport to spend the weekend with us. Stopped for dinner on the way to Hershey, PA.
Rented a minivan which worked well -- plenty of room for people and stuff. Found our way to the Hershey Lodge pretty well. Nice room -- plenty of room for everyone. It had 2 beds and a pull out couch. We also brought 2 air mattresses.
Saturday, April 15
Visit Hersheypark amusement park. VERY crowded (I overheard that it was a record breaking crowd) for their "Spring Preview". Overall nice visit, but not as good as I hoped. Downer for the day = Hayley's purse was left on the bumper cars. We returned to get in within minutes, but it had been tossed to the edge of the ride with $20 and her sunglasses stolen. Bad end to the day at the park. However, she did find $5 on the way out of the park which brightened her spirits some.
The Hershey Lodge has an indoor pool. I took Hayley swimming which she was very happy about. We got to swim a couple of other times, but I don't remember exactly which days. I think that was the highlight of the trip for Hayley (or second to the candy).
Sunday, April 16
Easter brunch at hotel.
Visit Hershey Factory tour.
Visit Hershey Museum.
Swim at hotel again.
Andrew and I drove Jay back to Baltimore for school (1.5 hours each way). The girls stayed behind for room service and an in-room movie.
Monday, April 17
Visit Indian Echo Caverns. Very cool place, inexperienced guide was disappointing. Still, better than I expected.
Visit Hershey Gardens. Lots of tulips in bloom. Lots of other interesting stuff to see.
Visit Hershey Factory Outlets for shopping. Everyone found something of interest.
Tuesday, April 18
Amish Country visit. Started with tour with a Mennonite guide in the car with us. Lunch at Amish buffet place followed by driving around on our own. We had a choice of 2 pretzel factory tours. We picked the wrong one. The lady was rushed and seemed to be having a bad day. The kids learned to twist pretzels, but it was very rushed. The Amish bake shop we found had some good treats.
Wednesday, April 19
Pack our bags to leave Hershey. Pick up Jay again in Baltimore and visit the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Nice aquarium, but not as big as I remembered. The aquariums in Monterey and Long Beach are just as nice (or better). Still, it was worth a visit. The waterfront area of Baltimore was nice.
Return Jay to school and drive to our hotel to check in. The hotel is next to the Arundel Mills mall, so we had a lot of food and shopping options. We had a Residence Inn 2 bedroom suite which was really nice for the family.
We really missed Mexican food, so we went to Chevy's for dinner. We did laundry at the hotel to have some clothes for the rest of the trip.
Thursday, April 20
We drove the Baltimore - Washington Parkway to Washington DC. We got a little lost driving around DC, but finally found Union Station to park the rental car. Union Station was a great start. Nice old architecture, restored inside as a train station, shopping mall, and food court.
Old Town Trolley was sold out for the day, but Tourmobile had space. Bought 2 day tickets for that and also for DC Ducks tour later today.
Tourmobile is a series of buses that drive around the National Mall and major monuments giving tour info. You can get on and off at their stops as you wish since buses run about every 20 minutes. We rode the entire circuit only stopping at Jefferson Memorial so that we could plan for our Friday visits. Returned to Union Station for our next tour at 4pm.
DC Ducks (4pm tour) is a WWII amphibious vehicle that gives a driving tour of the city followed by driving into the Potomoc for a water based section of the tour. We then drive out of the river and return to Union Station. "Captain Ron" was the best tour guide of the trip.
I found a grocery store to stock what we needed to prepare food for our return trip.
Friday, April 21
Washington DC day # 2. We had a really long list of things we wanted to do. We barely did any of them. We had a great time, but wish we had more time! It's hard since many of the "indoor" places (museums, etc.) are only open from 10:00am - 5:30pm.
We saw many of the major sites. Stopped for a closer look / visit at:
Pack to head home. Finish laundry while packing. One extra bag is not enough -- good thing we were next to a mall! Buy Hayley a 2 piece luggage set and use that to load everything we need to take home. The kids each got to pick one store to visit in Arundel Mills mall before leaving.
3pm EST - flight leaves for Phoenix and then home. Arrive home shortly before 7pm PST. Nice to have a meal packed again for the trip! We had an insulated bag with sandwiches, fruit, snacks, etc.
Interesting side note. The snack box they gave us on the plane had a "Soduku" puzzle game printed on it. I had never played it before. Hayley like math so she wanted to do it with me. We both had a lot of fun. Hayley then discovered that the Southwest Airlines magazine had more Soduku puzzles which she did on the flight from Phoenix to Orange County.
Weather Note
We were expecting it to rain about 50% of the time and be chilly. It only rained at the end of our last day and it was warm to hot. We packed the wrong clothes! Oh well, we worked it out.
Friday, April 14
Fly from John Wayne Airport to Baltimore (BWI), bring food for 6 hours of travel (we landed in Phoenix but stayed on the plane). Take an extra duffel bag to have room to bring home souvenirs. Bring 2 portable DVD players. One battery didn't work, but one working was better than none!
Jay (Andrew's friend going to school out there) met us at the airport to spend the weekend with us. Stopped for dinner on the way to Hershey, PA.
Rented a minivan which worked well -- plenty of room for people and stuff. Found our way to the Hershey Lodge pretty well. Nice room -- plenty of room for everyone. It had 2 beds and a pull out couch. We also brought 2 air mattresses.
Saturday, April 15
Visit Hersheypark amusement park. VERY crowded (I overheard that it was a record breaking crowd) for their "Spring Preview". Overall nice visit, but not as good as I hoped. Downer for the day = Hayley's purse was left on the bumper cars. We returned to get in within minutes, but it had been tossed to the edge of the ride with $20 and her sunglasses stolen. Bad end to the day at the park. However, she did find $5 on the way out of the park which brightened her spirits some.
The Hershey Lodge has an indoor pool. I took Hayley swimming which she was very happy about. We got to swim a couple of other times, but I don't remember exactly which days. I think that was the highlight of the trip for Hayley (or second to the candy).
Sunday, April 16
Easter brunch at hotel.
Visit Hershey Factory tour.
Visit Hershey Museum.
Swim at hotel again.
Andrew and I drove Jay back to Baltimore for school (1.5 hours each way). The girls stayed behind for room service and an in-room movie.
Monday, April 17
Visit Indian Echo Caverns. Very cool place, inexperienced guide was disappointing. Still, better than I expected.
Visit Hershey Gardens. Lots of tulips in bloom. Lots of other interesting stuff to see.
Visit Hershey Factory Outlets for shopping. Everyone found something of interest.
Tuesday, April 18
Amish Country visit. Started with tour with a Mennonite guide in the car with us. Lunch at Amish buffet place followed by driving around on our own. We had a choice of 2 pretzel factory tours. We picked the wrong one. The lady was rushed and seemed to be having a bad day. The kids learned to twist pretzels, but it was very rushed. The Amish bake shop we found had some good treats.
Wednesday, April 19
Pack our bags to leave Hershey. Pick up Jay again in Baltimore and visit the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Nice aquarium, but not as big as I remembered. The aquariums in Monterey and Long Beach are just as nice (or better). Still, it was worth a visit. The waterfront area of Baltimore was nice.
Return Jay to school and drive to our hotel to check in. The hotel is next to the Arundel Mills mall, so we had a lot of food and shopping options. We had a Residence Inn 2 bedroom suite which was really nice for the family.
We really missed Mexican food, so we went to Chevy's for dinner. We did laundry at the hotel to have some clothes for the rest of the trip.
Thursday, April 20
We drove the Baltimore - Washington Parkway to Washington DC. We got a little lost driving around DC, but finally found Union Station to park the rental car. Union Station was a great start. Nice old architecture, restored inside as a train station, shopping mall, and food court.
Old Town Trolley was sold out for the day, but Tourmobile had space. Bought 2 day tickets for that and also for DC Ducks tour later today.
Tourmobile is a series of buses that drive around the National Mall and major monuments giving tour info. You can get on and off at their stops as you wish since buses run about every 20 minutes. We rode the entire circuit only stopping at Jefferson Memorial so that we could plan for our Friday visits. Returned to Union Station for our next tour at 4pm.
DC Ducks (4pm tour) is a WWII amphibious vehicle that gives a driving tour of the city followed by driving into the Potomoc for a water based section of the tour. We then drive out of the river and return to Union Station. "Captain Ron" was the best tour guide of the trip.
I found a grocery store to stock what we needed to prepare food for our return trip.
Friday, April 21
Washington DC day # 2. We had a really long list of things we wanted to do. We barely did any of them. We had a great time, but wish we had more time! It's hard since many of the "indoor" places (museums, etc.) are only open from 10:00am - 5:30pm.
We saw many of the major sites. Stopped for a closer look / visit at:
- Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
- Smithsonian Museum of American History
- National Sculpture Garden
- Various gardens around the National Mall area
- Smithsonian Castle (HQ for the museums)
- Smithsonian Carousel
- Lincoln Memorial
- Boy Scout Statue (near White House, site of first US Jamboree)
- White House Visitors Center (closed -- just saw outside)
- Smithsonian Air & Space Museum (closed -- just saw outside)
- National Botanical Garden (closed -- just saw outside)
Pack to head home. Finish laundry while packing. One extra bag is not enough -- good thing we were next to a mall! Buy Hayley a 2 piece luggage set and use that to load everything we need to take home. The kids each got to pick one store to visit in Arundel Mills mall before leaving.
3pm EST - flight leaves for Phoenix and then home. Arrive home shortly before 7pm PST. Nice to have a meal packed again for the trip! We had an insulated bag with sandwiches, fruit, snacks, etc.
Interesting side note. The snack box they gave us on the plane had a "Soduku" puzzle game printed on it. I had never played it before. Hayley like math so she wanted to do it with me. We both had a lot of fun. Hayley then discovered that the Southwest Airlines magazine had more Soduku puzzles which she did on the flight from Phoenix to Orange County.
Weather Note
We were expecting it to rain about 50% of the time and be chilly. It only rained at the end of our last day and it was warm to hot. We packed the wrong clothes! Oh well, we worked it out.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Vacation starts tomorrow
Tomorrow is my first big vacation in at least 2 years. I am really looking forward to it. I've had a day off here and there, but nothing that was more than 2 days in a row for a long time. The last 18 months or so have been very intense at work with lots of travel time, so it will be great to have some family time to make up for that.
One advantage of all the travel is that the flight is free for all 5 of us. We are heading to Hershey, PA (as in the chocolate), Baltimore, MD, and Washington DC.
I won't have an internet connection (probably), so no more Blog entries until around the end of the month.
See ya!
One advantage of all the travel is that the flight is free for all 5 of us. We are heading to Hershey, PA (as in the chocolate), Baltimore, MD, and Washington DC.
I won't have an internet connection (probably), so no more Blog entries until around the end of the month.
See ya!
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Girl Power!
Youth Expo has come and gone and the Girl Scouts did great. They setup their camp on Friday with no problem despite my absence. When I arrived on Sunday to help take down the camp, the hardest parts were already done. The big challenge of getting the tents correctly folded and put back into the containers was particularly impressive. I guess I've just been a crutch all these years by helping so much. However, I understand that a big part of the credit goes to a couple of the moms that were there and have not been there in the past.
In any case, you go girls!
In any case, you go girls!
Labels: Scouts
Monday, April 10, 2006
Sacramento Trip
Not much time, so here are some highlights from the 4th grade trip to Sacramento:
1. Waking Up
Planned to get up at 4:00am on Thursday to get ready to go. Worried about getting Hayley up that early. Hayley woke me up at 3:30am concerned about getting there on time.
2. Flooding
The Sacramento area is at the meeting point of the American and Sacramento rivers. There has been a lot of rain (an understatement) and there is a lot of localized flooding around Sacramento. That was something you don't see much of in SoCal.
3. Weather
The weather was sunny and nice the two days we were there. It rained the day before and then started raining literally as we arrived at the airport to leave. Good weather.
4. Fun
Overall, the trip was a lot of fun. The trip 3 years ago was fun -- this was better.
1. Waking Up
Planned to get up at 4:00am on Thursday to get ready to go. Worried about getting Hayley up that early. Hayley woke me up at 3:30am concerned about getting there on time.
2. Flooding
The Sacramento area is at the meeting point of the American and Sacramento rivers. There has been a lot of rain (an understatement) and there is a lot of localized flooding around Sacramento. That was something you don't see much of in SoCal.
3. Weather
The weather was sunny and nice the two days we were there. It rained the day before and then started raining literally as we arrived at the airport to leave. Good weather.
4. Fun
Overall, the trip was a lot of fun. The trip 3 years ago was fun -- this was better.
Labels: Hayley, Rob, School, Vacation
Monday, April 03, 2006
Youth Expo
Every year, the Orange County Fairgrounds holds a free family event called Youth Expo: http://www.ocfair.com/ye06/
Amongst all of the other fun and interesting events and exhibits, the Girl Scouts have a building where they setup booths with games and crafts. Yesterday the family went to setup the Girl Scout booth. They are doing a game related to identifying flowers from a riddle or other hints and then the player gets a prize. They are also making home-made frisbee-like flying discs out of paper plates.
Next week is the expo. Since the girls have to work the booth, they are allowed to camp at the fairgrounds on Friday and Saturday night. Hayley will be with me in Sacramento on Friday, so only Bethany and mom are going to camp this year. This is the first year that they will setup camp on Friday without my help. I hope they have been watching in prior years!
Amongst all of the other fun and interesting events and exhibits, the Girl Scouts have a building where they setup booths with games and crafts. Yesterday the family went to setup the Girl Scout booth. They are doing a game related to identifying flowers from a riddle or other hints and then the player gets a prize. They are also making home-made frisbee-like flying discs out of paper plates.
Next week is the expo. Since the girls have to work the booth, they are allowed to camp at the fairgrounds on Friday and Saturday night. Hayley will be with me in Sacramento on Friday, so only Bethany and mom are going to camp this year. This is the first year that they will setup camp on Friday without my help. I hope they have been watching in prior years!
Labels: Scouts
