Biking in Mazatlán

Our second stop was Mazatlán in which we took a bike tour of old town. Our guide Ulises was born and raised in Mazatlán and was very passionate about his city. He made a very good guide.

In this photo Jacob and I are listening to our guide Ulises.

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

Each of its 28 stained glass windows incorporates a Star of David which were installed in gratitude for the donation of construction funds by a wealthy Mazatlán Jewish family. 

"Awesome" profile photo.

Stats on the church.

Republic Square.

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in the background.

Open air taxi back to the ship.

End of another fun day.

Kayaking in Cabo San Lucas

After a relaxing day at sea our first stop in Mexico was Cabo San Lucas. Jacob is now at the magic age of 12 so we were able to do some adventuring.

Getting set up for kayaking.

Jacob and Michael teamed up.  We paddled from the beach to the famous El Arco which you can see in this photo.

The bay was crowded with sea crafts of all types.

Since we were an odd number I teamed up with one of the instructors. Steven was from Costa Rica and a good partner despite the fact that we had to get the wayward members of the group who were not following the rules.

Our cruise ship in the background.

Jacob now consents to pictures only in profile.

Jacob calls these profile pictures the "awesome pictures".

Our instructors and a "pirate ship" by the cruise ship. Jacob is now up to snuff on kayaking which will be one of the activities on his upcoming school  trip to Catalina Island.

Semester One Award Ceremony

Jacob made the Principal's Honor Roll for first semester receiving a 4.0 GPA. The school held a little ceremony which as a parent I always enjoy. I took Jacob to The Counter for hamburgers, his favorite meal. He got dessert of course and chose the giant chocolate chip cookie with ice cream. Jacob has become uncooperative with photos, hence the hand.

Merry Christmas

Thea's Christmas Tree

Jacob and I trimmed Thea's Christmas tree while she and Michael did fix-its around the house. A festive tree indeed.

Ho, Ho, Ho Merry Christmas

Las Vegas 2015

It is official, Las Vegas has become an annual tradition.  This is our 6th consecutive trip.  We stayed at The Encore which has become our mainstay and as usual food was a big part of our trip.

We had afternoon tea at the Mandarin Hotel. Michael drank Mandarin Orange and I had Darjeeling. We lost count of how many cups of tea we drank in the course of our meal. The front row seat by the window was a plus too, great view of the strip.

These were the little plates of food we ate. They may look small but by the time we finished them all we were very full. We had savory plates of curry chicken salad, smoked salmon and black forest ham role ups. There were two types of scones and 3 spreads/jam to put on them. And finally desserts which were 4.

And then there were two.

We chose to do something outdoorsy this trip. Michael picked Valley of Fire State Park which is 55 miles northeast of Las Vegas and 6 miles from Lake Mead.

Upon entering the park there are signs posted that say no drones. Glad that our state parks are keeping up with modern technology.

Valley of Fire derives its name from red sandstone formations, formed from great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs, 150 million years ago. Complex uplifting and faulting of the region, followed by extensive erosion, have created the present landscape.

These rock formations are called Beehives, unusual sandstone formations eroded by wind and water.

We took a little hiking trail on Mouse's Tank (3/4 mile). Named for an outlaw who used the area as a hideout in the 1890s, Mouse's Tank is a natural basin in the rock where water collects after rainfalls, sometimes remaining for months. There was no water at this time. The ground was covered by this soft powder-like sand. 

Rainbow Vista. Multi-colored sandstone and our turning around point. 

255 pound Wynn tower fashioned entirely of gingerbread, fronted by a replica of the show's talented cast of singers, dancers and musicians, crafted entirely from gingerbread, sugar, chocolate and fondant.  We enjoyed our dinner at the buffet. Happy Holidays!

Happy Halloween 2015

Jacob did the pumpkin carving this year and the toothpick addition was his idea. Micheal programmed the lights to change colors inside the pumpkin. 

They added Jacobs LED lights to the fence that also changed colors.  Despite all their efforts to attract trick or treaters business was very light last night.   I think next year I will sit outside and just hand candy out.  So instead of answering the door we watched Frankenstein the 1931 version staring Boris Karloff.

JPL Open House

JPL open house, Disneyland for geeks.  We headed off 8 AM in the morning for a 9 AM open house.  We figured we have plenty of time but what we didn't know was that everyone else had the same idea.  We got to La Canada Flintridge in 30 mintues and then promptly waited in traffic for over an hour.  We finally decided to park in the surrounding neighborhood and walk in.

We and throngs of others had the same idea.

This was one of the few exhibits that we could get into.  The lines were very long.

We were told by JPL employees that they were expecting 65,000 people for the open house.  I think if we had know we would have stayed home.  We met up with some friends and had a good social visit but we did not see much of JPL. Jacob did not sleep well the night before.  I think the heat and walking wore him out but he will swear that he did not fall asleep.