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.

Spring Break with Taylor

This past week Taylor was on Spring break and decided to come for a visit. It had been a while since she last stayed with us, so we were very excited to have her.

We had an amazing week that started out with one of our favorite restaurants for dinner, Los Dos Potrillos because she loves it just as much as the rest of us. It was a real treat.

Angie was happy to have another volunteer for facials and treatments so Taylor got to be pampered. One day Angie took Taylor and Sidney to the mall and yet another day Taylor came to work with me and brought Howie along. She is such an animal lover and has aspirations of becoming a veterinarian, which I think is her perfect calling

In the photo, you can see "movie night" where Sidney and Taylor made a bed in front of the TV and watched Zombieland, which I think may be their new favorite movie. Another night, they watched it again in addition to New Moon, which they both were very excited to come to pay per view.

For the New Moon "premiere" the girls had their friend Rachel over while Angie and I each enjoyed a night out of the house with our friends. Angie had a girls night with Danielle and a couple other ladies, while DJ and I coordinated a last minute poker party at the clubhouse. Sidney and Taylor get along so well most of the time, they truly are sisters.

Nomination Reception with Betsy Markey

One of Alex's goals has been to attend the Air Force Academy, going back a couple years. Now in her Senior year of high school she is going through the very involved process to make that dream come true.

A while back she had interviewed with several panels for her Congresswoman, Betsy Marky, and both Colorado Senators. We recently found out that Alex received a nomination to the Air Force Academy, from Betsy Markey.

This past weekend, Betsy Markey held a reception to recognize all the students she nominated for the various military academies. The reception took place at the Kress Theater in Greeley. Several of the the board members attended the reception as did the Congresswoman herself.

Additionally, the Greeley Tribune sent a reporter to the occasion to interview all the recent nominees. Alex was interview and even quoted in the article published in the paper. The full article can be found here.

The process has been a long road, but she is nearing the end. She is now waiting to hear from the Air Force Academy to see if she has been accepted. We're very proud and are crossing our fingers for our cadet hopeful.

Science Expo

Sidney's 6th grade science class at Newton Middle School recently had a major science assignment that they each got to present at the annual Science Expo.

Sidney conducted an experiment on potatoes. She wanted to figure out if different potatoes affected how much current would pass through each of them. The experiment required her to come up with a hypothesis, collect the materials, conduct testing, and report her conclusion.

Angie took Sidney to get all the materials, which she took to her dad's for the weekend where they got to complete the experiments. Sidney then took her findings and completed her project, including a poster board outlining everything she did and her findings. Each kid had to present it to the science class as a report.

After all that was completed, the school had the Science Expo, where each student had their assignment presented. Parents and visitors went to the school gym where everything was set up and were able to go around looking at each experiment and ask the kids questions. Sidney did a fabulous job on hers as did many of the other kids. We could tell she was nervous, but once she settled down I think she had a great time doing the project and showing it off.

In other amazing news, Sidney made the Newton Knights basketball team. We're very pleased that she enjoys getting involved in extracurricular activities. They keep her busy and she gets to meet so many new friends.

Senior Night

The time has come for Alex's last home game of her high school career. I can't believe how fast time flies. This year, more than ever, that has become evident. Seems like just yesterday she was being born. I know it sounds cliche, but it still holds true.

Angie, Sidney, Nancy, and I met at my office after work, stopped for dinner, then headed to Northridge High School for the festivities. Alex was amongst 5 seniors on her basketball team, all of which started the game for the Grizzlies. Prior to the game there was a short ceremony celebrating each of them.

The game was very one sided as you can see from the final score of 66-12 in favor of the home team and everyone had a great time.

As if this event didn't make for a big enough day for Alex, she learned that she had received a nomination to one of the military academies, most likely the Air Force. She has worked very hard to earn this and is very deserving. There is more to the process, but its starting to look like Alex will be in the Air Force cadet class of 2014.

I'm not usually the emotional type as nearly everyone will tell you, but on this day, I couldn't hide the tears in my eyes or my beaming pride. Even now, I get teary eyed everytime I think about it.

Way to go Alex!!!

Volunteering Rewards

Sunday Angie and I volunteered for the Salvation Army at the Pepsi Center placing "Go Avs" signs on all the seats. In return we were given 2 tickets to the evening's game versus the New York Rangers. There were so many volunteers it really took us about a half hour. Initially we figured we were only getting 2 tickets, so Sid was going to go with me, but as it turned out we each received 2 tickets for our efforts.

With our new found bounty of tickets, which were incidentally very good seats, the 3 of us invited my sister Nancy to join us. Nancy is relatively new to hockey, but was excited to go anyway. Our seats were near center ice and only 17 rows behind the Rangers bench. We all had a great time even though the game was a bit disappointing with the Rangers winning 3-1 because of a hat trick by Marian Gaborik.

Neal's Surprise 40th

With the big Four O coming, there was no doubt in my mind that Angie had something up her sleeve, but I really had no idea what she could possibly have planned.

Friday night, we had plans to go to dinner with our great friends DJ and Danielle to the Cherry Cricket, you may have seen it on the Travel Channel. We were very excited for their famous burgers. Earlier in the day, my friend Bryan, we'll call him the co-conspirator, told me his band the Raygunomics were playing later that night and that I should drop by. Angie has not been a big fan of Bryan, so I was skeptical that she would want to go, but it turned out she did. I suppose this should have raised a red flag, but it didn't. I figured I had at least another week until I needed to be prepared.

Anyway, we had a fabulous dinner and then headed over to Lucky Strike in Belmar for Bryan's show. Much to my surprise, a bunch of our closest friends were there to surprise me and Bryan had been in on it all along. We had a fabulous night out and thoroughly enjoyed my birthday bash. It was most likely the car bombs that even got me to dance.

Thank you to everyone's birthday wishes. Oh, and Angie....WELL PLAYED!