Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Volunteering for Salvation Army



Every once in a while I get an email form the volunteer coordinator at the Salvation Army. My original intent was to volunteer around the holidays, serving food or something like that. It turns out they have many other opportunities throughout the year.

This opportunity came up due to the Avs being in the playoffs. The Pepsi Center solicited the assistance of the Salvation Army to put pom poms on every seat in the house, literally. We took advantage of the opportunity by bringing Sid and her friend Rachael to the event. We spent a couple hours hiking up and down the steps at the Pepsi Center and carefully placing each pom pom on the back of the chairs.

As a special treat, we were also able to see the morning practices for both the Avs and the Sharks, up close and personal. Thanks to our help the Avs won this game. At least that is what I like to think. Unfortunately the luck did not hold up for the remainder of the series.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Spring Break in San Francisco.


A few weeks before Sidney's spring break I found out I was going to be traveling for business to California during that time. Angie and I decided it would be fun for them to tag along and take a mini vacation while I worked.

The night before leaving we received a typical spring snow storm in Denver. We woke up to over a foot of snow (with it still coming down) as we prepared to head to the airport. Along the way, Angie found out that her flight was canceled, but was able to rebook on a different flight leaving around the same time. Instead of a non-stop flight, she had a layover in Reno, just long enough to spend the one dollar she had with her on a slot machine.

The first few days the girls spent some time browsing Castro Street in downtown Mountain View and visiting the famous Winchester Mystery House. Once the weekend rolled around we were able to do things together. We started the weekend out Friday night by going to our good friends' Lance and Katrina's home for grilled steaks and great company.

On Saturday, we drove into the city (San Francisco) for the touristy things like Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, and Ghirardelli Square. We enjoyed lunch on the pier and then since it was such a gorgeous day we decided to take the Bay cruise on the Blue and Gold Fleet. The cruise took us under the Golden Gate bridge and around Alcatraz.

Sunday was the day for the girls to head home, but not until early evening. We got up a little early, had breakfast and headed to Santa Cruz. While in Santa Cruz we walked along the boardwalk, where Lost Boys was filmed (one of Angie's favorite movies) and relaxed on the beach for a while. Sidney finished up the day by taking a last dip in the hotel pool before I dropped them off at the airport for their trip home.