Christmas in Cali

After flying back to MN, we had a little more celebrating to do with Mom & Dad Norton and Audra, who were all at our place for the week. We also took a trip to the ocean, but it was cloudy and cool so we didn't stay too long.....

Mac ready to hit the beach!

Mac enjoying a holiday lolli.

Sarah gets lots of scrapbooking stuff!

Christmas in MN

We spent Christmas in Minnesota and stayed with Sarah's side of the family. Lots of fun was had, and we even got to see some of our friends while we were back......

Spencer & Sam on Christmas morning

Mom, Dad, Carl, Spencer, & Sarah - Sarah is getting an overdue birthday present.

Birthday Weekend!

It's Sarah's birthday today, and we've had an eventful weekend! Yesterday we drove all the way to the Grand Canyon and back with Mom and Dad Norton! The panoramic picture below is courtesy of Dad's new digital camera (Merry Christmas!), that allows you to stitch multiple photos together....

The view from the Grand Canyon's South Rim.

Shawn, Sarah, Dad, and Mom at the park entrance (it was only 40 degrees).

For Sarah's birthday, this morning we took our first ever hot-air balloon ride! There was about 9 of us in the balloon, including our friend Janelle. It was a smooth ride from start to finish and was amazing to hover over the valley for an hour, drifting with the winds....I highly recommend trying it at least once....

Shawn, Janelle, and Sarah wait nervously for the balloon to inflate!

Liftoff!!!!

Sunrise over the Coachella Valley.

Holiday Party!

Above: Janelle(my Cali. Best Friend) and I at the Wenzlaff Elementary School Holiday Party.

"Teachers just wanna have fun!"
L-R...Janelle, 2nd grade/Joey, 1st grade/Rachel, 1st grade/Angela, 3rd grade

NOTE: For all the sinlge guys...the 2 available gals are Janelle and Joey...

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Shawn and I dancing at the party.

I was already putting my gift to use. Yes, I got Elmo slippers!! Aren't they so cute? Mac loves to attack them when I am walking around at home.

Holiday Party Weekend

Sarah and I are going to Christmas parties for both our jobs this weekend....so the over-eating season has begun! Nothing much else going on...Sarah's birthday is next weekend so everyone get their presents in the mail....Mac is now big enough to put his front paws on Sarah's shoulders when he stands up....

San Diego Trip

On our last trip with Sarah's side of the family before they headed home, we went to Mission Beach, Seaworld, and the San Diego Zoo. The weather was a little chilly, but at least it was sunny for the most part. Now it's back to Sarah and I holding down the fort with Mac....

Shawn, Sarah, Spencer, Sam, Mom, & Dad @ the SD Zoo

Shawn & Sam before Sam went out and caught a couple waves....

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

For the first time ever in the history of this family, we had Thanksgiving dinner outside - guess what we were thankful for!?! Pictured above is Sarah, Mom, Dad, Shawn, Sam, and Spencer. Hope you all had a great day as well - it's almost time for a dip in the hot tub...I'm out!

Disneyland & Universal Studios

Well, we took about 200 pictures over the past weekend, but here's a couple photos to prove where we were....

By popular request, a picture of Mac with his new best friend.

The family at Universal Studios.

The family at Disneyland.

The whirlwind tour begins!

Sarah's side of the family arrived in CA late last night - they had to wait for an hour at LAX for me to pick them up after the van we borrowed had electrical problems 5 miles from town. So we all squeezed into the Escort, which nearly overheated coming through the mountains, and safely arrived in Palm Springs at about 2 am Pacific Time. After a little sleep, we went to the zoo in town (pictured below - thanks boss for the tickets) and went out to eat downtown. Tomorrow it's off to Disneyland .....more pictures to come!

Mom, Dad, Sam, Spencer, Sarah, and Shawn @ the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert, CA.

Shawn, Sarah, Mom, Sam, Spencer & Dad in downtown Palm Springs. We're standing in front of the Sonny Bono statue which you can barely see between Mom and Sam.

Shawn's 28th Birthday

This weekend we spent Shawn's birthday with some friends on our new patio.

Shawn looks pretty happy to be 28!

Yep....he got 'em both, no girlfriends ;o)

Camping in Joshua Tree National Park

What an amazing day! We had beautiful weather. Above: Mac helping dad get the camp site ready on Saturday morning when we arrived.

Below: Shawn up on a rock, he tried to get Mac to go up with him, there was no way...we quickly found out that our dog is afraid of heights!

Above: Mac and me enjoying the last bit of sun as it was setting.

Below: The awesome sunset at Joshua Tree National Park. Hope you can come visit us and enjoy the beautiful weather this winter.

Below you can see the best part about having a dog... INSTANT WARMTH! It was pretty chilly at night, so we cuddled to stay warm, don't worry we shared the warmth with Shawn a little too!

Camping in Joshua Tree Nat'l Park

This is a picture from June, but it's where we're headed this weekend for our first camping trip with a dog...we were hoping to do some surfing this weekend but didn't reserve an oceanside campsite soon enough. if we don't answer our phones, we're in the park!

One week till my b-day....start shopping...

July 2004, Isla Mujeres, Mexico

Hollywood Trip

We forgot our camera, so no pictures from Hollywood, but many of you will be getting postcards sometime soon. For now enjoy a picture from two weekends ago when Sarah and I went to an LPGA tournament at the Bighorn golf club - about 2 miles from my work.
We stayed with Alex & Kristen at a motel just off Hollywood Blvd Saturday night - during the day we checked out the walk of fame and ate at a pretty cool 1920's retro restaurant called the Pig "N Whistle.
Sunday we visited the pier in Santa Monica, and then went surfboarding (Sarah, Alex, & myself) and played some horseshoes before heading home.
Hope ya'll are having a great week - we're sticking around home this weekend so we can catch up on sleep.....

Hollywood Trip

We finally made it to Hollywood this weekend! We met up with Alex & Kristen for the weekend and saw the Walk of Fame & some other famous places. The most surprising thing about the town is how dirty it is. Then Sunday we went to the beach in Santa Monica to do a little surfing & horseshoes, and we also checked out the Santa Monica pier which is like a mini amusement park.

We forgot the camera, so no pictures until Alex sends me some copies......

Sarah's School Stuff

Hello to everyone, some of you already saw these pictures, but I am pretty excited about my classroom this year! I have 20 children and we're having a blast. 12 of the children are from Spanish only speaking families, which makes it hard to communicate with the parents, but I am making progress with translators at school. While getting ready for school to start Mac was a big helper in my classroom as you can see. I'm loving 2nd grade and I'm really glad I made the switch from Kindergarten, these kids are amazing.

Bakersfield Bloggers

For all of you who enjoy reading about our experiences moving to Cali, check out our Bakersfield friends' (Alex & Kristen - pictured below) blog using the link on the right side of your screen.

No more comments....

Okay, in the 10 minutes I allowed people to post w/o registering, I got 2 comments - one advertising a penis enlargement website and another advertising a dating website. Now I see why the default setting is to make people register! Sorry for the inconvenience....

Comments!

I just changed a setting so that people can comment on our blog without registering. Enjoy!

Gnarly Drive

Janelle, Jason, Shawn & Mac on Huntington Beach
Shawn catching a wave as Janelle & Jason watch.
Two sleepy beach bums sharing a pillow.

So...this weekend we learned not to leave home without a quality surfboard rack - we tried going to Huntington Beach with the board strapped on with bungee cords and discovered that at 70 mph in gusty winds they aren't strong enough. Somehow the board flipped over without flying off the roof of the Element altogether, so the only damage was a few dings and a 4 inch crack. But you can't surf on a board with a crack, so that's in the garage until I get the repair kit.
We eventually made it to Huntington Beach with 2 of Sarah's co-workers, Janelle & Jason, and managed to have enough fun with the boogie board to make it worth the trip.
Hope you all are having a good week....we are getting into the sweet spot for weather here - the kind that makes you feel like you're cheating the system somehow...

Cali's Newest Residents!!

The happy couple at the Elephant Bar & Restaurant in Bakersfield, CA.
Alex playing with Mac.
Kristin, Alex, Me, Sarah, & Mac at the pool in their apartment complex.
Kristin & Alex on the deck of their new apartment - top left.

We went to Bakersfield, CA this weekend to welcome Alex and Kristin to Cali and see their new place. To our surprise, their apartment was fully furnished and they had everything unpacked already, in only 2 days! I think Sarah and I still have a few boxes we haven't touched after a year! Anyway, we used their pool and went out to eat Saturday, then hung out and watched football Sunday. Alex and Kristin are excellent hosts, so anyone that can make the trip can count on guaranteed good times!

It's really nice to have them out here - it's only a 4 hour drive from Palm Springs to Bakersfield, so we'll be planning more fun weekends in the future - now if we could just get a few more of you here, we'd really have it made! Get that tune in your head.....Cali-forn-ia.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!

The bearded man you see pictured here is the best looking, best wakeboarding, and best fathering 50-ish guy I know! We love you Dad!

Surfin' 9-25-05

Pics are now working....

I finally bought my 1st surfboard this weekend - a used one without too many dents! We went to Cardiff State Beach because it is one of the few that allow dogs. Mac ate a ton of sand and seaweed the 1st day and ended up puking on the beach - 1/2 seaweed, 1/2 puppy food! In between he had a great time running from the waves and we even got him to ride the boogie board a little. Too bad I didn't have the camera ready for that! Surfing is definitely harder than it looks - my back and arms are aching right now from all the paddling. At least the water was fairly warm...I did manage to catch a few waves before getting too tired. Sarah tried it as well, but the water was too cold for her - I brought a wetsuit along but it was way too big - nothing worse than a poofy wetsuit! (Imagine the Michelin Man going surfing) Next weekend we're off to Bakersfield to welcome Alex Kohls and his fiance to Cali....stay tuned!