Merry Christmas!






Just thought I'd share a little holiday cheer, and show you the wonderful Christmas Tree we were able to fit in our apartment. Hope everyone's enjoying the holiday season. Julie & I will be spending Christmas around Denver (assuming we can drive through the mountains), and then back in Junction for New Years. And (hopefully) shortly there after we'll be moving into a new house (well, new to us) in January. But we'll keep you posted on that.

Hola, It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!



Yeah, it's a little past Halloween now, but of course as soon as I downloaded pics off my camera, the computer crashed. So they were gone, until we paid to have a guy restore everything that we hadn't had a chance to back up yet. Yadda yadda yadda, here's a pic of Julie & I (and Shiloh) at our friends Celeste & James' Halloween party. For those that can't figure it out, I'm the Peanut Butter Jelly Time dancing banana and Julie's the taco (got the idea from the cell phone comercial where the dad's like, "now mom can quit her other job, Hola!"), and Shiloh's not wearing any costume, cause she's just a puppy.

And of course, I had to include a pic of my sister, Artie, and the twins. Note the super cool croc-type shoes they got on (Cars & Transformers) that match the costumes.



Happy Halloween!

Fall is In the Air



So a week or so ago, while I played in the Colorado Amateur State Disc Golf Championships (that happened to be right here, 20 minutes away), Julie took off on a little road trip to photograph some of the foliage of the Western Slope. When I asked my friends here, where the best area for her to go would be, the answer.....Kebler Pass.





Kebler Pass is a well maintained gravel road, that takes you the back way to Crested Butte. Like many other mountain passes, it is closed for the winter. But as you can see, there's no real snow yet, so no issues for Julie's little road trip.





You'll also notice that this turned out to be about a week or so earlier than what the locals call "Peak Color". Obviously it's still pretty beautiful, especially cause it's all Aspen trees. Which give you a totally different look than the Oaks and Maples of New England.

I Got Laid by my In-Laws



Obviously you get the joke. Julie & I took a vacation to visit her parents in Maui, and when we got there her parents had a couple beautiful fresh flower lais for us when we got off the plane. Which leads to the biggest reason for our trip, like you really need an excuse to visit a paradise like Hawaii, but it was Larry's 60th birthday. So here's a shot from his birthday party that Joyce threw for him the first day we were there.



So for those of you that didn't know, my in-laws live in a small condo-hotel-apartment in Maui for 6 months out of the year. It's a garden view, but a very short walk across a courtyard to the beach. And so that we didn't have to sleep on a couch or floor, they hooked us up with room of our own. Which the manager surprised us by upgrading us to an ocean-front room, and as you can see from these shots...we could've spent the whole trip just enjoying the view from our balcony.







But we didn't, after Larry's birthday and chilling on the beach on the first day, we got to go scuba diving on the second day. Our trip to us to an area just off the island of the Lanai, called the Cathedrals. It was our first experience diving in the ocean, and not only did we see some cool fish, but we got to go inside one of the underwater caves. The cave has some openings in the ceiling that let in gorgeous natural light, giving it the same effect as a stained glass window in a church. Hence the name, Cathedrals. I did have my underwater camera with me, but found myself not experienced enough at diving to use it underwater. But I do have a couple shots from the boat.






The next day we played some tennis at Kapalua. Kapalua is the resort that Larry & Joyce work at part time. Here's a shot of the Tennis Garden, which is where Joyce primerily works.



We then got to go to one of the most authentic Luau's in the area, at Old Lahaina. We ate pig cooked in the ground, had some island drinks, and watched alot of dancing. Here's a shot of Julie & I that her dad took of us there. And also a shot of the dancers that Julie took playing with the exposure settings on her new camera.





Then Larry & Joyce took me out on short cruise on the America II. It was built as a race boat for the America's Cup, and took 3rd place in 1987. Then was sold off and changed to be a tourist boat. The mast was shortened, and strengthened. A motor was added (cause race boats are towed when not being raced), and the deck was changed to add a couple benches for 12 or so people to ride in it. It was alot of fun, cause as you can tell from the pics, a boat like this in the trade winds runs at like a 45 degree angle, and the chop was splashing all over. (Julie didn't come, cause she was afraid of getting seasick, and she'd already been out on the boat 3 years ago).







The other benefit of working at Kapalua, is the ability to golf on a PGA course. So one day the four of us golfed 18 holes at the Plantation course, which hosts the Mercedes Open in January. And on another day, we did a round on the Bay course, which is hosting an up-coming LPGA tournament this year. Both courses are amazing. The Plantation is a VERY long course, with alot of elevation changes. But even though it's set up the hillside, you still get views of the water from most of the holes. The Bay course isn't quite as long, but it takes you right up to the water, including a par 3 that has you shooting over a cove (see pic below). Surprisingly enough, I didn't put it in the water, I actually cleared the cove, but put it into the bunker right in front of the green. :)













So aside from everything mentioned above, we did alot of shopping, and ate REALLY well. We had seafood like every other day. Including sushi at Sansei, fresh ahi tuna a couple nights, and a night at Mama's Fish House. Mama's is a very high class place, right on the water, with it's own private beach front. And the fish is so fresh that they actually tell you right on the menu who caught your fish, and what boat he was on when he caught it! These shots are from the beach at Mama's.







So that was our trip. It was amazing, and thanks to Larry & Joyce, we got to do everything we planned, and didn't have to take out a loan to afford it either. We can't wait to go back.

Let's Recap the Last Few Months

Yeah, it's been awhile since I updated this blog, and I don't even know if anyone's checking this anymore, but I figure now that things are settling down out here, I'll get back into this. But before I get into what's going on right now, let me bring you all up to speed about what's happened in my life the past few months.

First off, I flew back to Michigan, and got to see almost all our friends. We had a fantastic turn out at a little going away bbq at our favorite park in Clawson. Of course there was also some volleyball to be played. And lots of little kids around (dang we're getting old). But it was great to see everyone.







Then Julie packed up the house, the movers loaded the truck, and we hit the road to head out to Colorado. It took us a little while to get settled in, especially with my family showing up that week to visit. It was great to show them how cool it is in the Junction. And then we were able to celebrate our nephews' birth-tism (that's a combo 1st birthday & baptism).





After that came my first attempt at a Disc Golf Tournament. I don't care what some people say, the game is fun, and the courses out here are gorgeous. This one was at Snowmass, a ski hill in Aspen, that you actually had to ride a chairlift to get to the course. And even though it was mid-June, there were still people snowboarding up there. And to boot, I was able to take 1st in the Novice division.





Then came 4th of July, and Julie & I decided to take the long road on a road trip to visit her family in Fort Collins. That long road took us through Rocky Mountain National Park, which is gorgeous. Driving up above tree line, seeing a few elk just hanging out, and watching people get into a snowball fight on the fourth of July. Awesome.





Aside from what I've listed above, we've also been playing softball for our company team, going to the gym a few times a week, went to see a movie under the stars at a local volunteer fire department, played more disc golf, drove over Independence Pass (12,050' above sea level), just to name a few things. Well, that's all I got for now. More to come, I promise.

Nothing new....but stay tuned!

Sorry I haven't updated this recently, but I've been busy getting ready to move Julie out here. So I'm sure that in a couple weeks we'll have lots to post here. About our last weekend with friends in Michigan, the drive out to Grand Junction, then my family coming to town to visit and celebrate our nephews' first birthday and baptism.

So stay tuned! More to come!

So what do you mean by aquariums?

Since not too much new is going on out here, besides getting ready for the big move to get Julie out here, and all our stuff into a storage unit, I figured I'd take the time to show you all a little bit about my new company. Reynolds Polymer Technologies casts acrylic panels for use in really cool things. It can be used for signage, furniture, architectural uses, and of course, aquariums. Really big aquariums. This blog post will focus on that, cause I think they're really neat.

First off, one of the biggest projects RPT has been involved with, is the AquaDom in Berlin, Germany. It is the biggest cylinder aquarium at 52 feet high, 36 feet in diameter, holds over 2,000 fish, and has a glass elevator riding up through the center of it. It had to be assembled on site, and then crane lifted and lowered into the atrium.

Along those same lines, there is also a project in Lithuania, that's not quite as big. Only two stories tall, as you can tell by the escalator next to it.

Now our panels don't necessarily have to be used for the outside of the aquarium. Like in the dolphin exhibit in Indianapolis, we made an entire room and connecting tunnel that was placed inside an aquarium/pool. Allowing people to walk in, and under the water, to view a dolphin show from a whole new angle....and 360 degree viewing.

Similarly, we've done some tunnels that allow you to walk right through an underwater exhibit, like the one in the Aquarium of the Pacific, in Long Beach, California. This pic really gives you an idea of the size of these tunnels.

And we've also done work zoo's too, like Detroit's Arctic Ring Exhibit. Making a full tunnel from which the polar bears and seals can swim right up to you, as you stand in a tunnel under the water.

Quite a far cry from molding interior car parts, huh?

Another Reason for Moving out Here

Just wanted to point out the fact that we didn't just pick Colorado to move to cause it's beautiful, the skiings great, the weather's way better than Michigan, or that none of our annoying friends live here. One of the biggest reasons we moved here was to be closer to family.

Almost all of Julie's family has migrated to this state, with her grandparents, aunts, uncle, and cousin up in Fort Collins and her parents in Silverthorne (her other cousin in the pic below is currently living in Missouri). This pic is from this past Christmas, and even includes her Aunt Deb's dog, Bailey. Unfortunately her Aunt Sharon & Uncle Leo's dog Haley wasn't in this pic. Maybe next year.

For my family, my Aunt Diane, & Uncle Jerry have been out this way for a long time now. Long enough that their son, my only cousin, Paul, has lived out here all 21 years of his life (sorry no recent pics to share, even though I've seen you guys over three times in the past 4 months). But of course, I do have pics of my little nephews. The pic at the top of this post is my sister Julie, her husband Artie, and their almost 1 year old twins, Zack & Ryan (from left to right in the pic). And here are a few more shots of them, cause they're oh, so cute. Like when they eat their Speghetios:

Or when we took them to the park for their first ride on the swings:

and of course, when they're tired and just cuddely, like Zack here sleeping on his momma:

(more family pics to come next month when everyone's here for their first birthday & baptism)