Father's Day in Pictorial Retrospect

 Those crazy Father's Day traditions.  In my family, the dad makes waffles for the family.  So there you go... waffles with bacon (thanks, Mommy) and milk.  Darned delicious if I might say so myself.  Every year I say I need to do this more than once a year.  Maybe I should... but for the third annual Erb Father's Day Breakfast, a full tummy was had all around.  Look at those girls!

 Yum.  Bacon and waffles.  Cold glass of milk.  Much like the hokie pokie, that's what it's all about.

Our girls chilling inside an old abandoned building on the Paramount Ranch.  It's somewhere between Malibu and Calabassas in the hills of the Santa Monica Mountains.

Dirt Road to Heaven

In the midst of our sojourn through Utah last week, a bunch of us drove northeast to the small town of Tropic, Utah, in order to go on an ATV tour through the countryside.  Uncle Greg, Aunt Lisa, Grampa Charles, Cousins Ryan and Connor, my wife, and I all readied ourselves for an afternoon of four-wheeling fun.  Never mind that I had never ridden one of these four legged things before in my life.  Or I completely lacked all skills regarding stick shift driving.

After getting to Tropic an hour early and seeing all the sites... ok, maybe just the cultural museum (which had an incredibly clean bathroom, thank you very much), we jumped on our rides and headed out into the wilderness.  Oh, but one cannot forget those helmets.  Mine was a bit too tight but I never felt the pain for the first two hours.  That was all dealing with the horrors of not falling off the path or then mis-shifting while driving up a steep hill of loose rocks.  But all was manageable and, yes, I survived.

Miss Jill ready to roll

Looking up from a canyon

Miss Jill also had a blast as she soared ahead at speeds up to and over 40 mph.  Go, Mommy, go!!!  I managed to pass Cousin Ryan and Uncle Greg to catch up to her.  Ah, nothing like having dirt-crusted faces at the end of the day.  But oh the sites to be seen.  After visiting an old mine (later filled in by the Bureau of Land Management, a seeming enemy of the people of Utah), we all rode a steep hill of rocks to get to an incredible mesa.  From there I briefly taped a video of the sweeping landscape.

At least the boots we brought for the hiking worked out for the rides as well.  My boots were initially black... I think they're a touch grey now.  Then again I might want to wash them.

Mister John decked out in glorious splendor

Hiking in the Desert

 A week or so back, Miss Jill and Mister John went on a brief hike in a desert park west of Phoenix.  (No, they didn't leave their girls by the side of the car for the live snakes, coffee, and trail maps to take care of them.)  It was just for a few brief hours but it was quite relaxing to walk through the clear (but dry) desert air.

With the picture on the right, Mister John shows how small he is compared to that of a mighty saguaro.  There were footprints right where he was standing so this wasn't the first photo at this spot.  However, it does show the wonderful contrast in nature.

Mister John with the "Valley of the Sun" behind him.  Yes, a good trip to have sunglasses.

 

Miss Jill is quite the master of the snap picture in which she manages to get the two of them without any decapitations.

Back from the Park...

Not much on the adoption update for now. Knowing that we still might have many hours to wait (and it's not like we can sit right in there in the waiting room), we drove out to the park to hang out and waste a few hours. It was actually quite scenic in a chilly December sort of way. Very few people in the park which was the size of Central Park (as we were told). As you may or may not see to the left, there is a sizable lake created by a beaver dam. Originally this whole area was a lake but the man-made levee broke and when the levee breaks, mama, you gotta move. That is until the beavers come in and establish a natural order. They decree that there shall be no flowing rivers through here!

We also hiked around for quite a while, wondering about the hours to come. There's nothing quite like standing around and waiting. It's easier to wait when being out and about. At least that way there's some some of physical release. A nature hike of catharsis? Something like that.

In any event, we are due to call the hospital again shortly. Hopefully the poor birth mother will be further along. She was induced yesterday morning and it's into tomorrow afternoon! Yikes. Or as Shaggy would say, "Zoinks!"

Joshua Tree

Ah, back after a few days in Joshua Tree. I shall ramble on more about that later. But for now, a few pictures of our trip there.

On the left is a flowering cactus bloom. On the right hand side is an ocotillo. I'll have to go back and check my spelling later. But it was quite the relaxing trip into the high and low deserts of California.

It was the perfect time of year to go there. Not too hot, not too cold. Just right. And perfect for hiking here, there, and everywhere.

For those who wonder about the Joshua tree in the famed U2 album cover... it died about five years ago. Talk about a memorial tree. Oh well.

Ojai: the Venerable Valley of Ventura

Miss Jill and I have been on the move for the last few days. Due to a last minute bone marrow drive, we went to Ojai for the weekend to help register more people onto the marrow registry (long story if I never told you about her job). We hiked for 90 minutes on Saturday morning through decently mild terrain but oppressive 90+ degree heat. We were slightly under-hydrated. The slight problem was when SHOTS WERE FIRED. Yikes, like a scared Cherry Bugg, we hid... but it was just some odd dude with a rifle practice shooting (we hope).

We survived high temperatures, long hikes, psychotic sandwich makers, chatty cashiers, and a one-eyed Saab. Wasn't it Nietzche who said, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Or did he say "Dude, where's my car?" I forget. Modern philosophy makes me think too much.

Oh, last addendum: Cherry Bugg says she's never hid when scared. OK.