Riding the Mules

Glenn Lasley (a neighbor of my parents) built these "mules" for the twenty-mule team days parade. So the kids got to go for some free rides around the desert area behind his house. As soon as Glenn brings them out, all the kids from across the street come running over for rides.

They are a pretty cool setup. Each one has a trailer ball in the back and a hitch in the front so they can be chained together in any configuration. Some have wheels with axels that are offset so the mules rock up and down.

Red Rock Overnight Camping Trip

Originally I had planned on setting up a tent for the kids to sleep in and I would just sleep outside on the cot. But since we end up getting up to Red Rock around 8pm and there was no moon that night, it was really dark. The weather was beautiful though (no wind, not hot, and not to cold). So I asked the kids if they were ok with sleeping on the air mattress in the back of my truck and it was an instant adventure for them. Jordyn, Tanner and Dalton each slept in the back of the truck on the air mattress so they could look up at the stars during the night. Shad and I slept on the cots.

It was quite all night long with very clear sky's. a sliver of a moon actually came out around 5am. It was a very peaceful sunrise. But one the sun came up, it started to get hot. 98 degrees by 8:30am.

I let the kids explore all the crevices and winding paths in the canyon face. They were having a blast exploring and laying "claim" to all the "houses" they could find.




Around 10:30am I decided it was getting a little hot and that we should go up to Burrow Schmidt tunnel and explore it. Much cooler inside there. After walking through the tunnel and back we headed back home.


The kids seemed to have really enjoyed the trip, minus some skinned elbows, bruised butts and all the dirt and grime you can handle for a long time.

First Day of School Aug 11 2008

The kids started back to school again today.



Shad starts the 6th grade this year. Jordyn starts the 4th grade. And Tanner starts 2nd. All three seemed excited about starting again. Both Shad and Jordyn will be in the G.A.T.E. program this year. It sounded like Shads teacher was going to be doing some photography in there program again. So time to go out and shoot some more photos Shad...

Tanner was the social butterfly or at least trying to be. Anytime he saw someone getting a hug, he would run over to get some to.

Jordyn was asking me if I knew her cell phone number and telling me never to call it while she is in school.

Shad was "playing it cool".

I just can't believe how big they are getting now. They grow up so damn fast. But it is fun, they can now do more of the fun things and actually have some interest in them.

4x4 Trip through Last Chance Canyon

Decided to take a day trip with Terry and his friend Stuart up to Last Chance Canyon and see how it looks this year. (More photos and video to come as time permits, but we all know how that goes.)

We got out of Lancaster around 10 am. Jordyn decided she really didn't want to go. Said she gets to scared when the truck rocks. So I decided to be nice and let her goto a friends house and picked up Dalton and took him instead. So it turned into a boys day out in the dirt. It was Terry, Trevor, Zack, Stuart, Shad, Tanner, Dalton and myself. Starting temp around 95 degrees.

Shad decided to ride with Stuart in "the big Jeep". Stuart has a really cool decked out 05 Rubecon. This thing couldprobably climb a vertical wall.

Starting into The Last Chance Canyon wash, temp was 103. The start of the wash was really sandy. Seemed longer than it has in the past. It has really changed since the last time I was up there about three years ago. Lots of new washouts, and new rocks to navigate.

The Jeeps did really well with the rocks. Stuart just went right over most of them, but he has the clearance without a problem. Terry had to pick through a little more closely, but still no real issues. I had to really navigate some of the rather rockey areas, was afraid of some of the clearence. But did really well, except for one spot. Hopefully I will get some photos from Terry, but there was one section that had some rather tall rocks that I had to weave between. Trevor was shooting photos and spotting as we navigated through these areas. He looked away at one point and I thought I had cleared the rock to the right side, when all of a sudden "WHAM"! Very loud metal on rock slamming noise and abrupt stop. Caught me just under the front bumper on the right side. Tow hook and skid plate. After verifying no real damage, I was able to turn just slightly and crawl out from between the rocks.

About a mile later, we stopped at one of the open flat spots to take a break. When leaving this spot, my truck would not start. Turn the ignition and... nothing... There is nothing more frustrating than being in the middle of no where and having vehicle problems. And it was not a place that I could get towed out of. Luckily I was able to roll backwards and get it out of four wheel low. Then throw it in reverse and pop the clutch. Vaaroom. Gotta love the Toyota and stick shift. Needless to say, the rest of the day, if I did turn the engine off I made sure I was on a hill so I could roll start (which I had to do). Thoughts of something messed up by the rock impact kept going through my head. And now I had the extra preasure of not stalling the engine while attempting the last really hard climb.

So we reached the main dificult hill climb. Stuart went first and walked right up all the rock shelfs and sand with no problems. Terry was up next. He had to navigate it a little more than Stuart did, but no real issues. Now it was my turn. By this time, there was quite an audiance that had formed at the top. There were some people set up over the top. So after studying the route I wanted to take and seeing what spots Terry had a little slipage with, I had my route picked out. Had to shoot all the way to the right, then hard left to miss most the first shelf, then cut hard right again to navigate the second shelf. Then push hard to the top. The first try, I went a little to far right at the bottom and spun in the soft powdery sand. So had to let off for fear of stalling it. But on the second try, I got the lines just right. Had one spot at the second right push where I started up the second self a little more than I wanted to and almost let off, but turned hard right and slid back into good traction. (See video that Shad shot below.)

After that, it was a cruise. We went up SR-15 and explored some of the cabins that are out there. 111 degrees at the first one.

We then went down to what we think is called the "detergant mine". That is where I got the shots of Terry and Stuart climing up over a pretty narly rock shelf. I decided not to press my luck on this one. Was afraid of clearance issues and after the fear of stalls....

But over all, it was a good day of 4x4ing. Very hot as that area usually is though. And the problem with my truck turned out to be the battery. Couldn't crank enough amps to turn the engine over. But when you consider that it was still the original battery from when I bought the truck brand new with only 6 miles on it and now I have over 95k on it. It was bound to go. Live and learn.

I look forward to the next trip I can go on. Probably after new tires again though.


My climb up the hill at the top of Last Chance Canyon. Shad didn't film Terry or Stuart climbing this one.


Stuart climbs the hill at the soap mine. The first one is fully locked. The second on is no lock. Actually seemed to climb easier not locked.


Terry climbs the hill at the soap mine. Scrapes a little bit at the end but no problem going up. I will have to try it once I get better tires. Didn't want to push my luck this time though.

The Spazz!!

Tanner is not excited to see us at all... Yeah right!!

He rode up with Toy Grandma and Grandpa on Wednesday. They had a pretty good drive up over two days. He had already been swimming and had some rest. So he was fired up and ready to go.

The Lemonade Experience

Jordyn and Tanner decided they wanted to make Lemonade late Sunday afternoon. So they took a couple of lemons and squeezed them into water. Then decided that it was not 'yellow' enough. So they then added lemon coolade mix. Not sure if they ever put any sugar in it or not. But here are the tasting videos.

4th of July

Tanner, Jordyn and I had a good time at the Fourth of July Pool Party. Tanner was really getting the hang of surfing the boogie board. He did smack his chin on the side though, but I don't think he was on the board when he did that (Lori has video of that I believe). Both Tanner and Jordyn are becoming quite the little 'fish'. Shad was up in Utah with his cousins this weekend (see other posts). Tanner and Palsy we more interested in digging out the "Rocks" from the lake bed we parked on than watching the fireworks show. But at least they were entertained.

The photos below are just some of the fireworks shot that I took while out there watching the AV Fairgrounds Fireworks Show. The last one is the mad rush of people leaving after the show was over.

Afternoon at Apollo Park

I decided to take the Carpet Sharks out and run them a little this afternoon. Just to run down some of that energy they alway store up before bed time. So we went out to Apollo Park since it is closer to the new house and I hadn't been there in a while. It also was a beautiful afternoon with no wind and looked like it might be a good sunset.

The carpet sharks burning some energy.





You can see Tanners horns in this one.



Strike a pose. Tanner thought it was disco pose... Jordyn went for vogue... Not sure what Shad went for.



I love how the flare reflection worked in this one with the combination of the kids silhouetted as well as the water ripples. Worked alot better than I thought it would.



The sunset turned pretty good. The water was calm so reflections worked really well. Had one issue where as usual at Apollo Park, had a bird crap on my camera. But the kids thought that was really funny. Luckily it was only a glancing splat on top of the auto flash housing.

The following photos are some of the better shots that I took. Kind of an experiment in light.

School Canival

The kids had there carnival at school tonight. They really seemed to enjoy this one. I was spread out all over the school campus, so it was a little hard to keep track of them at times but it didn't seem as crowded as other schools they have been at.

Excuse the quality of the photos, they were shot from my cell phone. As always, Tanner loves the masks and getting his hair painted. He wanted to get his face painted, but he got in the wrong line and he didn't realize it until he was just about at the front of it. So he went ahead and got the Braveheart hair.

Jordyn Horseback Riding

I was finally able to get over to see Jordyn horseback riding this afternoon and shoot some pictures. As you can tell from the photos, she doesn't really like it at all. Yeah Right!!

The goat in the bottom left of the photo, is the infamous

"goat that ate my homework."

Apparently at one of the lessons, Jordyn had some homework in her hand. And when she was busy looking the other way, the goat came up and ate her homework. (Damn it really does happen!)