Every once and while I'll go to a seminar on social media for business stuff and they all say one thing over and over again about blogging. Blogging is useless unless you actually blog on a regular basis. I woke up this morning and thought it would be a good day to catch our blog up, maybe share our last vacation trip. After checking this blog I realized that my last entry was January 1! So I have been a very bad blogger.
In partial defense, I have been using Facebook on an almost daily basis so if you are a Facebook friend you are suffering from the exact opposite problem - too much information about the Miller family. I have also been uploading pictures to Picasa as we do stuff and sharing that via posts on Facebook. But, enough excuses!
We have been very busy, and in fact for the first time since we started PADT, I used all of my vacation days for the year. Big trips have been Disney World, San Diego, Catalina Island, the South Bay Area a couple of times, and Sun Valley Idaho. Besides that we have been doing scout stuff, visiting people and going just being busy.
Get comfortable… this is a long one:
Scouting Stuff
Andrew has been enjoying his first year in Cub Scouts and Ben had a great time as a new Boy Scout. One of the first events that we did with Cub Scouts in the new year were the box care races. You take a couple of cardboard boxes, tape them together, cut them up, paint them and decorate as needed to build a car. They then put the car on a furniture dolly and push each other around the meeting room. Lots of fun building and racing these. Andrew made a blue muscle car that he did a lot of the work on himself. And best of all he won a trophy for his car!
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| Building the Car | Daddy Gets to be the Motor |
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| Proud Trophy Winner |
There were a lot of other cub scout events. A golf outing, den meetings, family camping, pack meetings and of course the Pine Wood Derby. Andrew seems to like the arts-and-crafts activates and the sports things the best. Andrew earned a bunch of belt loops and completed his Tiger year with flying colors.
For Pinewood Derby Andrew made a slick little orange racer that had a Lego driver and some wicked decals on it. he finished first in his den and in the top 10 for the whole pack, beating a lot of cars that looked like there was a lot of “dad” input.
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| The Fastest Car in the Den! | Ready to Race |
One activity he really enjoyed was the Easter Parade. The den built a float and the younger boys were asked to carry the banner. Grandpa was in town so he was able to see the whole thing
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| Tigers Leading the Way | Grandpa and Grand Sons |
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| Ready to Go | Ben and Sam Watched from the Shade |
For Family camp this year we went up to Payson. Lots of families that were new to camping so it was entertaining. The boys got a lot of hiking in as well as some activities for belt loops.
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| Andrew was enjoyed his hike through the woods | Ben had a great time as well |
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| One of the best parts of this project was that the boys got to use power tools | There was a lot of painting involved |
Ben’s big scouting adventure was when he and I went to Catalina Island. That gets its own section further on.
Basketball!
Andrew has been very much into sports the past two years, and basketball this year. This is a bit of a difficulty for his father since I do not particular like sports, and I know even less about them. But he loves it and has gotten pretty good. He even made his first basket.
His teams have been very good as have his coaches. He is eager for the new season to start! His love of the game has extended towards his dress. Lots of jerseys and baggy shorts. We were even lucky enough to catch the Harlem Globetrotters and he was able to meet a few of them.
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| First Season’s Team – Learning to Play | Second Season’s Team – Big Winners |
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| Trying to look street… | Meeting his favorite Globetrotter |
Walt Disney World
For spring break we decided to go to Disney World. Both boys had been to Disneyland before but this was their first trip to Disney World, and Heidi and I had not been since our honeymoon.
We were there for seven nights and had a great time. Our home base was the Wilderness Lodge. This gave us access to boat transportation and very relaxing surroundings. We saw everything once, and our favorite places twice. In addition we ate way too much food (you know how it is, we had the meal plan and there was no way I was going to let them get the best of us!) One sign of how much fun we had was that I really didn’t take too many pictures. But here are the highlights, mostly of Bot as he traveled around:
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| Going to the magic kingdom on the first day. | Bot meets Steamboat Willey! | We spend a lot of time on Tom Sawyer’s Island. Not so crowded and fun to explore! |
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| Ben’s appetite really kicked in. This is the all-you-can eat breakfast platter that he finished | Bot in Germany. Andrew really liked the International part of Epcot | Bot in Mexico. |
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| Bot in England | Bot in Canada | Bot in the USA |
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| Most nights we closed whatever park we were in down. | The animal park was a lot of fun. It was hot that day so the kids and Heidi road the rive a couple of times | A rare sighting of the Mouse Eared Heidi |
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| We met tons of characters on our trip. In fact Andrew has decided that he would like to do that as a career. | ||
One night we went to the Hoop-d-do-Review. It is a musical dinner show. At one point they pull audience members up to be part of a skit, and Andrew was picked. He was very cute.
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All and all it was a very good trip. We all had a wonderful time and really enjoyed everything. next time we’ll skip school and not go during spring break, but even with the crowds it was worth it.
Mission Beach San Diego
To kick off the “summer of a thousand trips” we drove to Mission Beach in San Diego with the Oishis. And once again I was not a good photo historian, so I only have a few pictures. We got a house this year right on the beach, one house away from the Oishi-Mac house. It worked out perfect, but the weather did not cooperate. So not a lot of beach time this year, mostly running around town.
I put all the good pictures up on Picasa. These include some real nice animal pictures that Molly actually took. You can view those at:
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| San Diego 2010 |
Here are some random pictures from the trip:
We did a lot of stuff away from the beach as well. One of the best was Sea Kayaking, but we didn’t bring a camera. We took a day trip to the Wildlife park and another to the Ship Museum:
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| Andrew, Ben, and Molly went with me to the San Diego Wild Animal Park | This bird was hanging around behind Andrew while we ate lunch, and then just after I took this picture it pounced on the table next to us and stole some little girls chicken nuggets. Awesome! |
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| Ben loves the petting zoo | And no visit to this park is complete without a hike up to see the California Condors. That day they were lazing around. |
The next day Andrew, Ben, and Shanae went with Ken and I to the Ship Museum. I have driven by it many times but never stopped in before. It was very cool. We also took a short harbor cruise.
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| They had fun using all the equipment on the various ships | Down in the bowels of an old ship |
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| Andrew saw Nano at this little ship alter and decided he would try this Catholic thing. Maybe he is headed to the priesthood? | I wonder if they will ever understand how strange this picture is for those of us who grew up in the cold war. |
Near the end of our stay we got tired of waiting for the weather to get better and the kids went ahead and took surfing lessons. It was frigid but they all did well and ended up standing!
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I have to say that overall this trip to San Diego was not our favorite. The adults never really relaxed, probably because of the weather and it was at the start of the summer. But even though the kids missed the sun it was a great bonding experience for all of them.
Boy Scout Camp on Catalina Island
Ben and I were fortunate enough to go to a boy scout camp on Catalina Island. I have to say it may have been one of the best trips I’ve ever taken, and Ben sure seemed to enjoy it. Camp Cherry Valley is basically a ranch full of fun stuff for boys to do: snorkling, sailing, kayaking, shooting, archery, playing in the dirt, looking for animals. They even have an abandoned mine you can tour. We spent 6 days there and did so much stuff I can’t even remember it all. You can see all the pictures I took on the Picasa Web Album:
Here are a few key pictures of Ben and me:
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| The ferry boat ride there and back was a blast. Especially from the front of the boat. (Bow?) | Spester and Ben on the march into camp. Still clean, still rested. But not for long. |
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| Ben ready for his swimming test. We had wetsuits for everything else but you could not use them for the test. Burrrrrrrr!!!!! (No, there are no pictures of me in a wetsuit. They were all destroyed. | Out snorkeling. |
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| The hardest thing we did was this huge hike that included climbing a very tall mountain. Ben and I made it to the top. And no he is not smoking a cigar, that is a kitkat. | On the way back to camp at the end of the hike. |
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| Canoeing | Ben loved looking for sea critters. These are some limpets he found while snorkeling that he is taking to the camp sea life class room. |
Drama Camp
The play they did, Sinchi Sacha was a simple “save the rainforest” story. Both boys had big roles in their age group. Here is a video that cuts out all those other annoying children and only shows our superstars:
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Sun Valley
After three trips this summer, we had one more left. And it was the best. Cousins Stan & Kathy have a home in Sun Valley Idaho and they were kind enough to let us come and stay with them at the end of the summer. As an added bonus, Aunt Loretta and Uncle Bo were there as well.
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| Andrew practicing for Dorm Life | Andrew’s first fish of the day. It was a great spot, the water so clear you could see the fish in the pond. |
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| Uncle Bo helping Ben learn how to fly fish. He showed some good talent for it. | I don’t know how they ended up with a beer in a bar, but Uncle Bo is sitting next to them… |
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| Andrew ended up entertaining everyone. Here he is at dinner mesmerizing his cousins. | Dinner with the several generations and combinations of Millers and Bolins. |
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| One of the coolest things to do there is to go to the ice rink at the resort. Not only can you skate outside, but very famous Olympic type skaters use it to practice. Way cool to watch. | We took a trip up to Red Fish Lake. Did some kayaking and laying about. Awesome spot. |
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| This picture really doesn’t need an explanation | Andrew’s favorite spot to hang. |
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| We took the gondola and chair lifts to the top of Mount Baldy. Very cool but kicked my fear of heights in big time. Andrew road up with his great Aunt and Uncle and chatted the whole way up – no fear there. | There is a ton of nice art work out in public places. |
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| My favorite part was a raft ride down the Salmon River. We had a great guide. White water and calm stretches. Incredible. | Ben and I hanging on the back of the boat. |
We did a ton more stuff and spent some time wondering around the town center. One of the best things we did was go see the Glenn Miller band perform. They were really entertaining. We could not have ended the summer any better. And as always, Kathy and her family were fantastic hosts!
The Stuff In-between
Almost done! The pictures above share some of the big things we have done for the first part of 2010, but there was a lot more going on in between. Here are some random images and comments:
 | Our dessert tortoise Vern is growing like gangbusters. Here he is taking a bath while we clean his cage. |
 | A very rare family photo. This was taken at the new California Academy of Sciences. |
 | Sometimes Andrew gets on a kick and all you can do is laugh. He found this in a costume box and decided to be a pimp daddy for a few days. Cracked us up. |
 | One of those great random shots. |
 | We spent a whole day in the spring at the Japanese Festival in downtown Phoenix. It is a lot of fun and they have tons of Anime stuff. Andrew got this Ultraman mask. What, why are there no pictures of Ben? Because he is too old now to hang with his parents, he was with his friends. |
 | Andrew won a guitar at a charity auction. He has the style down, now he just needs lessons to learn how to play… |
 | A rare shot of Ben during a school band concert. The saxophones sit in the back so we usually can’t see him. He is getting really good. |
 | We also went to the Renaissance Festival east of Phoenix this year. It is always fun with lots to do. The boys really like this ride. |
 | Note that Andrew will still wear his Knights costume but Ben has to wear a Packman shirt, but has no problem riding the pink horse. Go figure. We had a fun day there and once again shut the place down. |
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 | We decorated eggs for Easter, and the boys got a little crazy with the decorations. Some were really funny. |
 | You might ask: “Hey, with all this traveling, what about Moe?” He has been staying a the PetsMotel at Petsmart and loving it. This is him at playtime with all of his buddies. |
 | Andrew’s school project was to come up with a new product. His team, shown hear, came up with glasses that helped you be a better baseball player. Very cute. |
 | We did a lot of good cooking as well. One of our favorites were Liege Waffles. We saw them on a Food Channel show and decided to try and make them. They were so good! |
 | Actually found enough time to clean the garage and, wonder of wonders, fit both cars in at the same time! |
 | Phoenix has a new museum, the Musical Instrument Museum. Ben and I spent an afternoon there having a blast. If you are ever in Phoenix you must visit it. |
 | Ben as Unibomber. |
 | I came out one morning and found Andrew playing video games in his underwear with his Miami Heat hat on. Yikes, he is ready for college already. |
Work
Around mid summer we also opened up a branch office in Littleton Colorado. With room for about 4-6 people it is really just a satellite for our sales staff but we hope to build up our engineer staff there a bit as well.
The best way to follow what is going on with us is to become a fan on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tempe-AZ/PADT-Inc/135767802691
Grammy
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