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Monday, January 28, 2008

I Didn't Even Know The Earth Had A Face...

... So How Did I Fall Off???

Once again, you may have wondered if I'd finally put my poor blog to sleep, and once again the answer is no. Well, yes, if you count a little winter hibernation. We are working on an absolutely wonderful project at work, but it's a doozy. The hours have been long and it's almost like I'm working away from home. But, as there's a small degree of anonymity to my blog, I have chosen not to share titles and such here.

However, we have had some time on the weekends to enjoy some of what California has to offer. We've discovered hiking and we LIKE it! Our first trip was to Vasquez Canyon. This is the site where westerns were filmed. Blazing Saddles was filmed here as well as everyone's favorite western, The Flintsones. Huh? Oh well. Earthquakes have caused huge rock formations to stick up at odd angles from the ground. We climbed quite high, but what looks like a 30-degree incline feels like a 60-degree incline when you reach about 150 feet above the ground (aka that very large, very hard thing that would not be disturbed in the least if you were to splatter up against it). The four stages of this incline were as follows. "S12, let's go up!", followed by "S12, it's getting a bit scary and dangerous". Next came, "I only climbed this far in case you get hurt and need help getting down", and finally, "Well, it was nice having ya while it lasted. Hope you make it down on your own." I will make it to the top one day, myself.

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More recently, we went to the Hollyridge Trail. This is the path that takes you up as close as you can get to the Hollywood Sign. It also puts you on the pinnacle of the Hollywood Hills, where you can see both North Hollywood and Hollywood. During this trip, we spotted another special treat... snow capped mountains in the distance (which is a good place for ANYTHING covered in snow unless I'm wearing a lift pass).

It's so close... but wait!

Just... wow!

So, the truth is, we're stretched, but we're getting by. Our back yard is under construction and coming along nicely. Pictures of that will come soon enough. The kids are doing well in school (M6's last paper came home with a comment, "Perfect, again." on it - haha). Michelle's work has been extremely understanding of the chaos in our house. We're very appreciative. We hope it calms down.. but not too much. Gotta be careful what you wish for when you freelance.

Thanks for bearing with me, and I hope I didn't lose too many of you in the rush.