Gonad's n Strife Poker Run 2008

This past weekend Brent and I and our friend Scott headed up to Sparks for a poker run on our beach cruisers.

It was Scott's first bicycle poker run so we were excited to bring him along and he is pretty good company.

To describe the day in one word - HOT. Good lord it was a scorcher! We started in Sparks at the Great Basin and headed over to Sierra Tap Room in Wingfield park. This year we had our new puppy Isabella along for the ride. She is not super keen on the basket especially when we are going down hill at high rates of speed. Overall she did ok.

As usual, our poker hands were crap but the company was good, atmosphere fun, and beer was cold. Not a bad way to spend the day if you ask me.

Twin Lakes Resort

Recently, the Bingham's invited us to spend Mother's day with them at Shirlee's parent's resort at Twin Lakes in Bridgeport, Ca. Todd needed some help with some plumbing that was damaged by an avalanche over the winter so in exchange for Brent's help we got to stay at the resort in a housekeeping cabin for free.

Madison and Hanna both had soccer on Saturday morning so Hanna slept over at our house and the rest of the crew headed to the lake. After soccer we made the 2 hour drive up there. I can not begin to explain how beautiful and peaceful it is up there.

We brought along our dogs and so did the other families so we had a total of 3 big dogs and one mini-dog. They had a blast playing together and everyone got along - not even one fight!

The first order of business was to take lunch up to Todd and Bret who had been working on the plumbing all morning. We packed it up, with a couple of beers and headed up the hill. The "hill" was a bit more than we expected but turned out to be a great work out with fantastic views. This was Bella's first hike and she did amazing. I fully expected we would have to carry her most of the way but she wanted to run with the big dogs. Turns out, she loves to hike!

Saturday night we made Carne Asada tacos, had some wine, and roasted marshmallows. It was a brisk but pretty night. Some deer came down on the lawn but we were not able to get any shots of them because it was too dark.

On Sunday, while Brent helped Todd fix the water pipe the rest of us went on a hike at upper Twin lake/Mono Village. Our goal was to see the lake at the top of Horsetail Falls but the girls pooped out on us and we still had to make it back to camp.

Madison also learned to drive the Kubota around the grounds of the resort, she was obsessed.

The weekend flew by and Madison had not yet learned to fish so she talked Todd into teaching her before we all headed back to the big city. She did not catch anything but really enjoyed trying.

The only bummer about the weekend was it was way to short, none of us wanted to leave and all of us can't wait to go back. . .

Thank you Bingham Family for the wonderful weekend.

Snowshoeing @ Lunch Part II

Yesterday, I had some friends join me for my lunchtime snowshoeing expedition.

Jon did not even have shoes yet and ran to the local sporting goods store to purchase some to join Kathy and I. Evidently a bet he placed on a college football game paid off big.

We decided to do the V&T trail this time, another of our MTB trails that we normally ride at lunch. We met at 11:30, the rain had just turned to snow and it was beautiful.

I don't normally wear a hat unless it is actually snowing so I did not bring one and don't really have one so since it was snowing, I was looking around in my car and spotted Charlie's hat that he had loaned to Madison over the weekend. Thanks Charlie!

Here are Kathy and Bodie the most adorable golden doodle. I tried to get shots of him but he doesn't sit still long enough!

Here is a shot of the city from the trail. The snow was really coming down. Stay tuned for part III of the weeks snowshoeing posts.

Monday Night Football - Christmas Eve Edition

We have a new movie theater in town (finally) and on Monday nights they show the game on the big screen in HD. Admission is free and they sell beer in the front row!

On Christmas eve my team (Chargers) were playing the Broncos so I really wanted to go to the game. Turns out, so did my dad, Brent, and our friend Kevin.

Madison was not so thrilled with the idea so we got her a ticket to see Alvin & the Chipmunks during the game so she only had to watch the 4th quarter. Kevin also got her popcorn, a slurpie, and M&M's so she was thrilled.

Before the game we had a feast of Mexican food and opened presents.

The game itself was kind of boring but we really enjoyed ourselves. There were raffles during the commercials, the bathrooms were right outside the door, everyone wins. They are going to do some play off games there and the Super Bowl so we are excited to go back.

I am all for traditions, but I am also all for finding new ones and I think we had a winner this year.

Slow Ride

This past weekend we closed out the holiday with a slow ride with the Moser's. We had such a busy weekend with the Chile roast that it was a nice change to just ride our bikes and spend some time with old and new friends.

We started by driving to the Moser's place in Gardnerville. From there, we rode about 3 or 4 miles to the Garcia's place near Douglas High School where we were treated to a bbq and refreshing beverages.

The kids played a game of tether ball in the back yard.









And caught a frog or two.













And played on the trampoline.











After dinner, we headed out for our night cruise. Most of the bikes had lights and the streets are safe, I don't think I even saw one car the entire ride.
Mike Garcia has a TON of cruisers in his garage so he loaned some to his friends that were there for dinner too. I think they are going to buy their own now.

At the park we ran into this wino, he was pretty friendly. We let the kids play at the playground until the lights (which are apparently on a timer) shut off and they came running to us. Funny how we could not get them to leave before that.

Since I did not want the wino to feel bad I decided to drink with him. Actually, that is our friend Jeff - and he really is not much of a wino he likes beer way more.

It was a beautiful night the food was fantastic as was the company. The Moser's did a night cruise almost every night the last month of summer. We are going to rig up all our cruisers with lights and do our own around our neighborhood. We could probably even sneak a few in this year before it gets too cold out.

Ruybalid Chile Roast

Fall is nearly upon us, time for the annual Chile Roast. This year it was held at Brent's sister Tracy's house in Sparks. It didn't feel much like fall though, it was HOT all weekend long. Friday night me, Brent, and our girls headed up to help Tracy set up for the weekends events. The party starts on Saturday at about noon although it was already going when we got there. The process starts with 25 pound bags of raw Anaheim Chile peppers imported by Brent's dad's cousin Randy from California. Here you can see our nephew Brit and his girlfriend Maddie roasting the chiles on the gas grills.

From the grills they are taken by runners (the younger ones) to the cutting table to have the stems removed and then drain before being placed into freezer bags for freezing to be used all year until the next roast. Here are Shayna and her boyfriend Jeremy working at the cutting table. Madison spent a better part of the day working the cutting table. At one point there was a huge mound of chiles to be cut and she was all alone and said to anyone who walked by "I could use some help here, anyone..." it was cute.

Of course in between all the work there is some fun to be had. It is nice to see the extended family and get caught up on what has been happening in everyone's lives. It is also time for the kids to play with cousins that they don't see but once a year. Here are Logan, Madison, and Anjeanette near Logan's snow cone stand. He is quite the entrepreneur he was selling his cones for "tips" during the roast.

Another of the highlights of the day are Aunt Louise's margaritas. She starts blending as soon as the roast starts and keeps everyone hydrated throughout the day. Here she and Brent are discussing which blender he is going to borrow to make a batch of his salsa.

The roast is held on Labor Day weekend so when it is Reno or Sparks we get to attend the Best in the West Rib Cook off. We don't go for the ribs, we go for the music. Our friends The Heather Combs Band were playing that weekend so we headed down to see the show on Saturday night. Here is Brent with Kevin who took care of us that night. He got us a table, and the band got us a parking pass so we did not have to fight the crowds. Kevin also bought all our drinks that night, he is way too good to us.

Remember the margaritas I mentioned? Well lets just say that, and some beer makes Brent a happy boy. Here he is with Shayna at our table while Madison and I are out on the dance floor.

This is our friend Jeff he is the trumpet player in the band. We love watching him play, he is amazing. He is signing a CD for Brent's cousin Richard, we told him that his name was "pain in the ass" it was pretty funny. There were also some plays on the name Richard ending in weed if you know what I mean. Good times.

Here I am with my sister Trish and nephew Brit, you can tell we have been sweating all day we are all shiny. It was fun to unwind after a day of hard work.

Lastly, here is my baby girl. I think she worked the hardest of em all that day other than the time she spent inside in the air conditioning playing on the computer of course. She partied like a rock star that night.

Next year the roast is at Aunt Martha's house in Concord...stay tuned.

Sand Harbor with the Binghams

Our friends the Bingham's invited us to spend the day with them at Sand Harbor about a week before school started. We had never been to the lake with them and were in for a special treat. We met Todd through Fall AYSO soccer last season he then became Madison's basketball coach in the winter. Madison and Hannah hit it off right away and have been good friends ever since.

Todd is a big kid at heart and he has a LOT of toys. When we arrived at the lake we had to trek quite a ways to get to what can only be called "base camp". I could list the toys here but I think it is best illustrated with pictures.

Madison and Hannah started off the afternoon by building a sand castle. The sand was imported from the other side of the harbor by Todd and Hannah via the kayak. Evidently the sand at base camp was not architecturally sound for castle building.

Then it was time to attack the boys in the blow up boat with water guns. Todd shows Madison how it is done here.



Since the ground attack was not successful, it was time to take it to the water. Here are the girls and Todd preparing to attack by sea.

Then it was time for Madison to try out the remote control boat. Todd caught a crawdad with his bare hands which he then placed in the remote control boat and Madison gave a ride. He was later released back to the lake unharmed.

Shirlee and I also played paddle ball in the sand and our feet kept getting impaled by hidden stakes in the sand. Madison used the folding shovel to remove them for us. My feet hurt for days after that but it was fun and good exercise. There are no pictures of us because we are the photographers. I am sure we looked super cool doing it though.

After a beautiful day at the lake we headed back to town and our respective homes to clean up and get ready to regroup for a bbq at the new Bingham home. Todd and Shirlee are great hosts and a good time was had by all.

Good friends, good food, good times!

And the Winner Is.....

So last Thursday I get an e-mail from our friend Kevin who needs some pointers on how to make Brent's salsa. I ask him where he is going to get the chili's since that is the key ingredient. His response, Raley's. I say oh no, you should just come for dinner, it's taco night. Then after dinner, you and Brent can make some salsa together.

Kev shows up with some beer and ice tea, always nice. We eat some tacos, have some laughs and then Brent makes him some salsa. Kev has me take some photos of him making the salsa for "evidence" at work.

Here is the e-mail he received at work announcing the winner of the salsa contest:

The Dip Maker Extraordinaire title
and the winner of the $40 is…

(drum roll please)

Mr. Kevin O’Donnell

This is Kevin’s second winning salsa that he has been gracious enough to share with us! Congrats Kevin! Come to the front desk to get your prize money!


The second time????

Twas the Night before Christmas...

This year for Christmas Eve we had our friend Kevin and my dad over for dinner. We did our usual Mexican feast. Brent made Al Bondigas (meatball) soup with a cilantro lime pesto and I made chicken enchiladas with green sauce. Costco provided the Tamales. We also had blue corn chips, home-made salsa, and guacamole.

My dad brought a nice bottle of Syrah wine to share that he was given by a millionare that he worked on the house of at Tahoe. He left after dinner to attend another party with his sister and her friends.

After dinner we baked some cookies for Kevin, I mean Santa. Kevin showered us with great gifts and then we then settled down to watch a Christmas Story on our new TV. Madison lost her patience more than once cos we were chatting while she was trying to watch the movie.

After Kevin left, and Shayna got home from her mom's we let the girls open their Christmas eve present, new pajamas and then watched It's a Wonderful Life...

It was a nice evening at home with a good friend and family. It doesn't get any better than that.