We’re back from our little trip and had a really nice time.

Our first stop was Seqouia, and we weren’t really sure how that part of the trip would pan out. Originally I thought it would be rainy and we might spend one night in a hotel, and the second night camping…but it actually worked out the opposite. When we got there it was wet, but not raining, so we decided to throw down the tent and camp! It was cold out, but not unbearable (thanks for the Merino wool suggestion Angelo!). It started to rain around 7 o’clock, so we made our way to bed nice and early. We survived the first night of rain and dampness, but by morning we were ready to leave. The sun was out, but totally covered by low lying clouds. Everything was damp and there was zero hope for drying off, so we packed up and left!

We started driving towards Turlock and never saw anything worth stopping for. Since our camping trip was shortened we ended up arriving in Turlock the same night as everyone else! Not a lot of note happened in Turlock, just a lot of time with family. It’s nice to see people up there because it really only happens once a year. The only really touristy thing we did was visit the Hilmar Cheese Co. It is the single largest factory in the United States. Kraft and all the other guys have more facilities altogether, but this is the single biggest. We ate lunch there, tasted some cheese, and took this funny picture of Stacie and Sarah as cheese workers.

Hope everyone has fun plans for New Year’s Eve tonight. I hear there will be some Wii gaming at Kurtii’s tonight, so I’m excited. Happy New Year everbody, see you in 2007!

Vacation is good for the mental health, but bad for the blog. I’m sorry blog that you haven’t got blogged on very much despite the greater abundance of time I have. Please don’t give me coal for Christmas.

Being on vacation has given us time to do some last minute shopping earlier in the week. Something I enjoy about getting a little older is it’s more about what I get to give and less about what I hope to get. Thinking of the "perfect" gift for somebody is fun, sort of a challenge for us. We sit down and analyze the person’s life situation and what they might need and see what we can come up with. Sometimes we have success, sometimes the gift seems less than perfect, but it’s still a lot of fun.

We’ve spent the last two days doing some baking. I had this great idea to bake people bread (banana nut and pumpkin) and Stacie baked several different kinds of cookies. I’m not a big dessert person, but it was fun buying bags of flour and sugar, hunting down mini-loaf pans, and actually making something. Now we just have to drive around and hope people are home.

Yesterday I drove to Sport Chalet in Torrance to obtain this bad boy. Why do I need a propane fueled catalyic heater you might ask? Because I’ve convinced Stacie that tent camping in Sequoia National Park in Decemeber will be fun (but a little cold, thus the heater). We’re planning to leave Wednesday, stay two nights, and then continue up to Turlock to meet the rest of the family. I called the ranger station yesterday and the highs are about 50, and the lows are right around freezing. While camping is an adventure in and of itself, adding in the extra challenge of the cold makes it even more fun. It’s been three years since my first winter Sequoia trip, and I miss it. Hopefully the weather cooperates and it stays dry.

Hope everyone is ready for Christmas and has a great day with family and friends. Merry Christmas!

It all started Saturday night as the launch of the Wii drew near. At 9:30 pm we drove by Best Buy and Target, both of which revealed a precarious situation. People were camping out for the precious Wii (which I failed to pre-order) and my hopes for a Wii were endangered!

After failing to convince Stacie that camping out might be necessary to get a Wii, we decided that an early morning would be all that we needed. We woke up today at 5 am sharp and made it to the local Target by 6 am. I hopped into the line (which had grown since the night before) and Stacie made a Starbucks run.

Someone one the internet got their hands on how many Wiis each Target would be receiving on launch day, and according to that data, this Target would get 81. The guys in front of me were saying they’d counted about 70 people in front of us, and I wasn’t too worried because there were some adults with young children. The plan was for them to pass out tickets at 7 am, and if you received one, you could buy a Wii when they started selling them at 8 am. Well 7 am rolled around and they began to pass out tickets. As the moment of truth drew near, I started to get worried. The guys in front of me were already into the late 70s. Would I get a ticket?!

Turns out I did get a ticket, and it wasn’t just any ticket…it was the LAST ticket! Number 81 baby! I would take a picture for you, but they took it back and destroyed it after I bought a system. There was a guy taking pictures of the line and my very exciting #81…you just have to find his website. They let us in at 8 am, but being the last in line, we didn’t get to the counter to purchase until almost 9:30 am. I picked up the system, an extra remote and nunchuck, Zelda, and Monkey Ball.

I should post pictures, but I’m currently too tired. Most of the afternoon has been spent playing Wii Sports, which is really awesome. It’s much better than I expected, and some of the sports are really spot on. I put an hour and a half into Monkey Ball, and I gave it a chance…but it’s pretty terrible. In fact I’m putting it on Ebay to try and cut my losses. I haven’t even had a chance to try Zelda, but I have very high hopes for that one.

Overall I am a Wii Believer, but Monkey Ball has shown me that developers will certainly have a learning curve. They need to master the programming of the motion technology first so that it behaves properly, and then they need to find unique gameplay experiences where it works well.

We had a fun time camping under the stars. I’d say more, but I have to sleep. I have new teacher training tomorrow at 8 am, poor me. Looks like it’s back to the grind!

This weekend Stacie, myself, Andrew, and Sarah are going camping in Big Bear by the lake. Camping is a lot of fun because once you have your main gear, it’s really cheap. We already had a tent, but we got Stacie a sleeping bag, and we bought some cool sleeping pads. Camping is great because you get to be close to nature, and did I mention it’s cheap? haha. Now we have to decide on a camping menu. I’m lobbying very strongly for beans and weiners.

Hey yo. I’ve got a crazy busy week. Today I observed two teachers, drove out to csulb just to get a signature, back to Downey for minor leagues practice, then to Stacie’s for a few. I’ve got two presentations this week, a paper, and my credential program application should be completed. That doesn’t even include actually going to school or work. Oh well, once this week is over I will be a much happier camper. Oooooh camping.

As many of you remember, I took a small trek to the Sequoia National Forest last fall, and I wanted to do that again this fall, but with CSULB it’s just been too busy. I want to go on another camping trip sooo bad though, so I’m eyeing January right now. It’s a really slow subbing month, and I won’t have any CSULB school to worry about. Only thing is I’ll have to look for somewhere that won’t be freezing every night. Sequoia was about a 225 mile drive, but I want to go somewhere even farther this time up North. Calaveras Big Trees is a little over 400 miles, so who knows. I’m even up for somewhere that takes two days to drive. Where should I go?!?!