Burning the Christmas Tree
Now, we did not burn our Christmas tree because it was plastic, however, the real trees left for recycling by others are fair game. Tonight, for the first time, we joined our friends Jon Paul (Wife met him during Semester at Sea) and his wife, Sarah, at Fiesta Island for their Annual Christmas Tree Bonfire. I must admit that watching the trees burn so quickly is quite the sight and it also reminds us how quickly you can burn down your house (it would be the ultimate battle between the turkey fryer and the Christmas tree).
Sadly, with Christmas now over (unless you follow the Little Christmas tradition) and all the trees burned, we learned that our first bonfire was the last bonfire because Jon Paul and Sarah are moving to Denver in search of what San Diego cannot supply at the moment: affordable housing and good jobs. We wish them the best of luck in their journey and now celebrate our new free lodging in Colorado.
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- Another tree is sacraficed to the god, Santa
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- All the Pretty Burning Sparkles
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- It burns real high and real hot
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- Wife enjoying the warmth from the burning tree
Ran Like Girls
This past Friday, Wife and I flew up to San Francisco to run in the Nike Women's Half-Marathon. We arrived late Friday night and my sister Trista picked us up from the airport and drove us in her new (well new to her) fancy Corolla back to her place where we spent the night. The next morning she played Martha Stewart and prepared an excellent breakfast for us in a kitchen the size of a small walk-in closet. You can see some of the breakfast below:
After we picked up our running bibs we drove out to the East Bay for lunch and a tour of my brother's new house. The cats decided to hide from the tour, but they probably felt more relaxed when we left to meet up with the other San Francisco visitors/runners. We waited for a little over an hour to eat at Nob Hill Cafe because we wanted to eat carbohydrates for the next morning. It was worth the wait, and our crew would definitely recommend it. After dinner we actually made it to bed at a decent hour.
The early bedtime was met with an early rise at 5 in the morning and luckily our hotel was only 4 blocks form the starting line so we took our time preparing. A little after 7 (okay about 10 minutes after 7 am) we started to run. A few frustrating walkers and a little over 2 hours later we crossed the finish line. I must say that this is in the top two of my favorite runs (tied with the Carlsbad Half-Marathon). The only thing holding it back would be the sheer amount of people running which made it frustrating to move in the first 5 to 6 miles (as I said before a lot of walkers!!). However, the cheering of my Mater and the 11 to 12 mile run with my college friend Andy made the race a lot more fun. Our official times were:
Husband - 02:16:07
Wife - 02:16:09
A post race lunch celebration was followed by a nap and then another post race celebration dinner and drinks at the Noc Noc. Afterward, Wife, Andy, and I visited Joe's new apartment and then we all headed home.
The next morning we relaxed in our hotel room and then took BART down to the airport. Even though I had a 2:30 in the morning run to Walgreens for cough drops to battle the sickness I caught, I must say it was a fun and relaxing trip. Will we run next year? Who knows!
San Francisco 2008
Last year I flew to San Francisco to visit my friend Joe and some of the family. Here is a short video of some of the things I did:
Diana & Don-Lee’s Wedding
Just a short video of all the pictures I took of the days building up to and the day of the wedding. There are no actual pictures of the wedding because I was in it and I think it would of made the bride and groom angry if I moved around to take a few.
Food, Drinks, and Fireworks
You have to love the fact that in the United States of America people are always looking for a new holiday to eat and drink with friends. However, only on the Fourth of July can a person do those two and add in some fireworks.
So to honor those who decided the British had to go, Wife and I invited some friends over to my parents house (because they have a bigger backyard, okay, a huge backyard) for some BBQ and fun. One (for anonymity sake) of our guests was gracious enough to bring us some sparklers and some bigger fire spewing toys. While enjoying the lights and sounds we made sure not to burn down the house and left at the end of the evening successful.
Afterward our own little show (as you can see in the video above), we headed to Balboa Park to watch the professionals light off some fireworks. Then we drove back to the parents house for some dominoes and finally the bike ride back to our place.
I love holiday (a.k.a. three day) weekends.