Tahoe Trip

Avery and I headed to Tahoe with my parents while Jaron was in Baja. Unfortunately, I was sick the one full day and night we were there, but my parents did take Avery for her first
adventure in the snow!
On the way home, we were able to get video of Avery singing her ABC's and twinkle twinkle little star. Check it out!

A Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Pittsburg this year. We headed up on Wednesday after school was out and stayed until Friday evening. We had a great meal of turkey and pork loin with all the trimmings. Derek, Amy, Kaylin, and TJ were there with us also and it is always so much fun to be together.
On Saturday, my parents and my uncle came over for another Thanksgiving feast. We had a great time with our entertainment provided by Avery. She is always such a crackup.

Pismo

On the way home from Baja, I made a detour and stopped to visit friends in Arroyo Grande. We made a morning run to the Oceano Dunes to take my truck for a spin. Good times.

SCORE/TECATE Baja 1000

I took a trip to Baja last week to attend the Baja 1000. This year the annual race started in Ensenada, and made its 1047 miles south to La Paz. I once again "chased" the race, providing support to a class 12 "Score Lite" race car. My friend Kent and I arrived in Ensenada on Wed. and met up with the White Knuckle Racing crew. We checked out the pre-race festivities at contingency, it's a great chance to check out the race vehicles and eat a churro or taco. Thursday was race day. Kent and I watched the leaders go by at race mile 15, and then waited to see our car go by...then headed to the next road crossing to stay ahead of the car. After another visual with the car running well we leap-frogged ahead to BFG pit #1 where we would put on the car's light rack (the desert gets pretty dark at night) and the car would be fueled...smooth pit stop. Our teams heliocopter which had been following the car up to this point also landed for fuel. This is where I got to jump into the heliocopter, and we continued chasing the car down the course. This was my first time in a chopper, and also offered and incredible perspective from which to spectate a desert race! The car had a power steering failure about 150 miles into the race, so we touched down while some local spectators and stranded racers made impromptu repairs. We flew ahead to let our next pit in San Felipe know what to expect when the car got there. I got out here, and the heliocopter headed for the airport since flying at night is illegal in baja. The car made it to the pit, but repairs were not possible that meant the next 850 miles would have to be completed without power steering...but the car conquered the granddaddy of off-road races and crossed the finish line in about 32 hours. After the car left San Felipe Kent and I enjoyed some fish tacos in town and enjoyed camping on the beach Thurs night. This was one of the best baja trips yet.

Trick or Treat

The day before halloween, my dad (grandpa) brought Avery a pumpkin, which had Elmo's face carved into it. Avery called it her "elmo pumpkin". It was a huge hit with her.
On Halloween, Avery went to school dressed up as a koala, though everyone thought she was a mouse. I made it to her school just in time to catch the halloween parade. When I got there, Avery had a brownie in one hand and two cookies in the other. I triedto guide her as we walked with the other kids in the parade but she was so distracted by her food she just kept bumping into things and walking in the wrong direction. Kids
were crying, there was food everywhere...it was
great fun.
Later that night, we went to the Harvest Festival at our church. Avery took her cute trick or treat bag made by our friend Kelci, and walked around to all the classrooms collecting candy. She said trick or treat and then thank you to every person that handed her candy! Her bag was quite full at the end so it was dragging along the ground as she would not let daddy or mommy help her. Her favorite words as of late are "Avery do it".
We had a fair amount of "trick or treater reaters", as Avery would say, come to our door so we enjoyed passing out all of our candy. Overall, the day was fun!