End of a Season

The last Dbacks game was a home game, and happened to be on my birthday! My best friend Becky and I went to the game. I had season tickets this year, and the seats were a small luxury I allowed myself (and Becky for most of the season!). At the beginning of the game, each player had a child or 2 with him, and they got to walk out onto the field with the player to the players position, play catch, and get autographs!!

The colors were presented by the Mesquite High School JROTC unit. As a side note, I was the commander of the first HS JROTC team to present colors for the Dbacks back in 1998. . .

It was a great game, pitched by Randy Johnson. He had a complete game and 9 or 10 strike-outs. The Dbacks won, and that was at least a good ending to an otherwise disappointing season. I am hopeful that the Dbacks will be back in the playoffs next year!!

The other good news is Birthdays are sponsored by Cold Stone Creamery and with an ID proving it is indeed your birthday, you get a free full size Ice Cream!! Hooray!!

A New LunchBox!!!

I don't really remember my first day of kindergarten, but I do remember that having a cool lunch box was one of the most important parts of school. My "niece" Elizabeth just received her first lunchbox in the mail today, and I'm happy to say it's a square metal lunchbox that most of us remember from our school days. It was even adorned with a picture from the Last Unicorn, a movie from my childhood.





And just to show we have a good sense of humor. . .

Artemis Fowl-Author Presentation

My best friend Becky and I took our young padawan learner to a presentation given by Eoin Colfer, author of the Artemis Fowl series. I began reading the Artemis Fowl books after my sister Danielle recommended them to me. Unfortunately she was in Seattle when Mr. Colfer was in town, but I did manage to score her a signed book and pen!!



Mr. Colfer put on an amazing one man show; it is no wonder his books are so excellent. Becky had not read any of the books prior to us seeing the show, and is glad she waited because now she can "hear" Mr. Colfer narrating the story as she reads. I have attached a link to his presentation, Fairies, Fiends & Flatulance; it is definitely worth watching!!

Vegas Baby!!

My sister Danielle had the excellent opportunity of interning with Costco Corporate this summer, which meant she spent 3 months in Seattle. We didn't get a chance to go to Las Vegas for her birthday, so a mid-summer trip was the perfect time to see each other again. My mom and I flew up mid-afternoon on a Friday, checked into our hotel, gambled a bit, and ate at a lovely Italian restaurant inside the casino. We stayed at the Rio, just across the highway from the strip.

We rented a car, so we drove over to the airport to pick up Danielle after dinner. There was hugging and crying, and once that was out of the way we were off to party!! We dropped off Danielle's things at the hotel, then went to the casino next door to play BINGO!!! (I know, we are addicts) I even won a round!! We finished off the night by gambling until 3am, then finally headed back to the room for some sleep


The next day we got dressed and drove over to the strip, so Danielle could see the famous fountains at Bellagio, the MGM lions, and as many other sites as we could fit in.




All in all, it was a great introduction for Danielle to Vegas, and a great trip for bonding for the three of us!!

Mogollon Music Fest 2008

I attended the First Annual (hopefully!) Mogollon Music Fest the last weekend of May with the Mojo Farmers. The King family & I arrived Saturday afternoon, and it had been quite a while since I had driven north of Payson. My family used to have a cabin in Pine, AZ when I was growing up, so it was a great experience to drive through the main street and see all the places we used to visit while we were at our cabin for the weekend. But we couldn't linger, the Mojos were playing at 5, so we continued up the mountain.






The weather was absolutely beautiful. I hadn't been camping in years, and forgot how wonderful it was to be where you can't hear traffic and there is the clean scent of pine in the air. We arrived in time to watch Brewed to Perfection, one of my favorite local bands. After they played, Joy World Entertainment Co, a new addition to the local music scene jammed out on stage. Kansas and Red from Joy World were the hosts of Mogollon Music Fest, and they did an outstanding job for their first festival. There were plenty of awesome vans, cool vendors, a bar that served drinks for donations to troops, and of course, Zeke, the most awesome food vendor ever. He made a mean french bread pizza, which tasted even better when the weather cooled down.




At night there were several bonfires and the music lasted until well after 2am. I met quite a few new friends, hung out with some old friends, and had one of the best weekends of my life.

I hope to attend Mogollon Music Fest every year! Thanks to Kansas & Red.

The last 2 days in Dublin.

It has been a while, but here is the final post from my Ireland trip! (Yes, I know the last day of the trip was May 19th, but never late than never!!)

Danielle and I used Sunday to finish up the rest of the tourist sites around Dublin, and bought a pas for the local tourist bus that goes all through Dublin and out to Phoenix Park.

We started the day at the Kilmainham Gaol, a historic prison located in Dublin. The prison itself was quite interesting, filled with bits of prison psychology, what worked, what didn't, stories of the over-crowding during the famine, and the famous rebels who were locked up during the revolution. Several movies were also shot here, most notably "In the Name of the Father."




After Kilmainham, we left for Phoenix Park, which houses the President of Ireland and the U.S. Embassy. Danielle and I toured the Phoenix Zoo, and took plenty of pictures of the Elephants for our youngest sister Angie, who loves Elephants!!



After that we just wandered through Dublin, soaking in the last bits of history, marveling at the churches and buildings built over 1000 years ago.


We finished the evening with a Literary Pub Crawl, which was amazing.
The two actors who gave the tour were full of good stories and anecdotes, and the quizzes, beers, and bars were all amazing. All in all, a great end to a fantastic trip.

The final few pictures are Danielle and I on our way back to the airport, exhausted, but happy to have crossed the Atlantic to enjoy a bit of history, culture, and of course, Irish Lore.

A Peaceful Scene, more from Glendalough on Saturday

I took a short video of a creek flowing under a bridge at Glendalough. Hopefully you can hear how quiet it was, the sound of the rushing water, and the wind in the trees. I could have stood there for hours enjoying the peace and calm.