Fun in the mud!

So, since there is still construction happening in the front of our development, they have awesome mud hills.  I say mud, because the last couple of days we were thinking of building an ark.....the even sent the kids home EARLY because of RAIN!  So anyway, really cool mud hills :)  I went to collect rocks, cuz they breed during the rain or something, they are always more plentiful after nice rains.  Sammi likes to come along.  Ashley was there also - with two tag along neighbor kids (Sammi age).  I found cool rocks.  Sammi found out how much fun mud can be J

Ready for the hose!

COLD!

Sammi and Caroline getting clean

This is the fun part for Dad  :)

Whoa. It's been a while....

I figured I would catch people up a skosh in the lives of the Maryland Bleckes....

Last night was an awesome display of Mama Nature's raw power.  I storm blew through here with lightning, rain, and wind.  No hail luckily.  Ashley and I were returning from the Deleware Home Depot area (no sales tax - kaching!) when 100 yards away from us lightning hit a transformer and blew out the power.  It was loud!  Sparks flew, both Ashley and I ducked and screamed like little girls.  By the time we returned home, the lights were flickering at the house - finally went out 5 minutes after Ashely and I were inside.  Kelly had to go get Rachel at the Park n ride down near highway 152 (30 miles away) as Rachel rides to cheerleading with an older girl that can drive.  The storm reminded me that Mother Nature could wipe us off the planet if she wanted to......

Anyway, I am home this week.  First time home in quite a while (since Mom and Dad were here).  I was supposed to be in PA, but the gig was shortened to one week as I did everything I could possibly do for the customer.......so I am getting caught up on administrative stuff - you know blogs and such :)  Glad to hear Kristi is doing so well!

Kelly is her usual busy self.  Works her butt off from home.  Then deals with all the kids activities after school....crazy.  I am tired and I only deal with half of the stuff she does......

Sammi is doing very well at school and cheer.  She actually won a prize from cheer for being "the cleanest and sharpest" with the dance part of the routine.  Pretty cool :)  Kelly says she is sharper than Rachel.....Sammi also has her back walk over on her own.   Soon she'll be doing back handsprings :)

Rachel is also doing very well at school and cheer.  All A's and one B - not too shabby!  She is on two cheer teams now, as they needed help on her old team.  At least we don't pay for that team.....She is at the cheer gym from 9am-7pm every Sunday - long brutal day of exercise.....

Ashley is making HUGE improvements at school.  All A's and B's (one C that should be an B soon - Algebra II).  She is excited that she could drive soon.  Have to be 15 and 9 months in MD before you can even start the classes for driving.  Strange.

Both High school girls are looking forward to Homecoming weekend.  Rachel got a new dress, I believe Ashley already has one that she didn't use last year.  I will definitely post pictures when that day comes :)

My beautiful wife Kelly!

Okay this post is about Kelly :) Many people think I live a hectic life, but mine hecticness is nothing compared to what Kelly does. I will take this last weekend as a perfect example. Friday July 2nd, I flew in to Denver, got my rental car and drove 9 hours to Kathy and Jason's house in Tonganoxie KS, then we drove to the lake. Have a great time relaxing and chilling with friends and family. Had a great time at Kristi and Shelby's for the 4th. Jason and I got to light the big boomers Shelby bought (thanks Shelby - it was literally a blast :) Monday morning the Coopers and I left to go back to KC and then I drove 9 hours back to Boulder Colorado (more about that in the next post). Pretty hectic, but all in all a very nice relaxing weekend.

Kelly, on the other hand, was still in California with Rachel, Eliza (Rachel's friend) and Sammi. They had to pack all sorts of stuff up and get ready for their Red-Eye flight on Saturday July 3rd (it was first class thanks to Kelly's silver status- so that was an unexpected bonus :). So, Sunday, July 4th, the girls land in Philly. They get off the plane there - even thought they were supposed to go to Baltimore, because Rachel had to be at Woodward Cheer Camp in Woodward PA at noon. They drive the 3.5 miles one way to get Rachel to camp (after the 1 hour trip to the house to pack a few more items for Rachel and drop off her friend), drop her off and make the 3.5 hour trek BACK to our house. As they (Kelly and Sammi) were still on CA time, they decide to go ahead and drive to BWI and get the luggage that arrived without any passengers to pick it up. They go to bed around midnight-ish. Coulda been later. MONDAY, Kelly has to re-pack for a trip BACK to California, pack Sammi for a stay at Ocean City with Aunt Dee and family, take Sammi to Cheerleading at 6pm, THEN drive to Ocean City MD, drop off Sammi and then drive BACK to our house. She flew to California on Tuesday. Flew back Friday. Picked up Sammi from Aunt Dee. Picked up Rachel from camp on Saturday.

Kelly's family tells me I walk on water. I ALWAYS reply with I am really just running fast to try to keep up with Kelly. She is the energizer bunny. Always on the go and looking out for everyone else :) She is an excellent mom and wife, and I love her more each year we are together.....

I love this picture of Kelly taken New Years eve 2009. Shows her smile, beautiful eyes and her good nature :)

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Yeah Eldorado Springs is beautiful!
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Eldorado State park is gorgeous!

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A room with a view!

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Antonio and Vincent's in Fullerton California :)
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Los Angeles

Started the day avoiding the parade for the Lakers. One, I don't like the Lakers and two - the crowd was crazy! Kelly had to get out early to avoid the traffic, so we were sans vehicle.....We hung out around the hotel and went to lunch at the downstairs eatery. I had the Sushi pizza for the first and last time. It wasn't very good. Anyway, seems everyone was wearing Lakers gear....

We then went to see Toy Story 3 in 3D. It was really fun. Quite a good ending to the series, although it did leave openings for a fourthquel if they so choose.

Kelly cam home from work and we decided to hit the sites. of course Rodeo drive was on the list. I didn't mind so much as it allowed me to gawk at the cars. Porsche, Mercedes and BMW's are so common as to be boring. The stars are the Ferrari's, Rolls Royce's, Maserati's and Bentley's. Rodeo drive shuts down at 5pm - so get there early if you really want to go in to stores.

So we went to China Theater/Walk of Fame. That's when the day got interesting. We ate dinner at Johnny Rocket's (which is always good). I had a perfect view at the Quizno's across the walkway. Anyway, I could see a customer trying to leave the store - but two employees wouldn't let him - they kept trying to get the bag of Quizno's away from him (like he didn't pay for it or something) He also had tree shoulder bags wrapped around him - but not in a homeless person type way, as in a guy with too much technology (only later did I find out he had a whiny female with him - but I digress). They finally got him out of the store without the Quizno's bag - that is when things got interesting. Bag dude threw a punch at the shorter worker. Clocked him pretty good on the left eye. Well, shorty had a knife! And used it! Cut the puncher dude in the shoulder. The fracas went around the corner and I couldn't see anything anymore - then punching guy back-pedals back the way they came with shorty-knife guy holding a chair. It was like he was keeping a lion away. The whole time whiny girlfriend girl was well, whining. She was annoying. Anyway, by this time security showed up and escorted puncher dude and whiny girl away and started getting statements from the Quizno's people. Al full 20 minutes later - the cops showed up. There was something hinky with puncher guy turned cut dude as he was VERY anxious to get away from any security type persons......So it ended up being dinner AND a show :)

Then we saw Dog The Bounty Hunter going in to the nightclub that was on the next level up. All from the same seats.

All in all, quite an entertaining night! :)

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Off rodeo drive. My kind of truck!
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Better pic of the Ferrari :)
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This is what I came to Rodeo drive to see - Ferrari!

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People camped out fir the Eclipse premier - on Thursday. Today is Monday

Evidently they started last week....
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The Hollywood sign

You can't see it, but the Hollywood sign is there....from our hotel room at the JW Marriott. The lakers parade is today too, so we are hotel bound....I can think of worse places :)
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I am still on California time

So, it's 3:30 am and I am WIDE awake. I new it would catch up and it has. I tried sleeping - really I did. Even moved Sammi out of my spot in the bed. No dice. Instead of watching tv all night (which honestly I get bored of after an hour or two) I went downstairs at 12:30 am and did expense reports. Of all the things in the world I thought would make me tired, it would be expense reports. But alas, it is not to be. So I figured - hey, I haven't blogged in a while, may as well catch up :) Please excuse if I ramble - it is 3:30am...or 12:30am depending on the time zone - either way it's in the am. On the plus side, I have reached Silver status with US Airways - that helps considerably with checking baggage (no fees for 2 bags) and automatic upgrades if they are available. Plus - they are partnered with several airlines, so the Silver status works on them too (United and Continental plus like 15 other more regional airlines) TRAVEL TIP! if you use one or any of those three - pick the one you use the most and ONLY use that frequent flyer program when booking your tickets - that way your points add up faster. had I known that last year, I'd probably be gold status now. Same sort of thing happens on other airlines (Except Southwest - they don't play with others - Air Tran may be the same way)

So - the past five weeks have been a whirlwind of travel to Redondo Beach California. Could have been much much worse - like Podunk Montana (I just made that up - not that I have anything against Montana, it was the first thing that popped in to my brain). I really enjoyed it - would have been better if the girls coulda been with me, but school got in the way. California is really nice - but I have no idea how anyone affords a house out there. A little shack is $400K - and that is way off the beach (yes I did check - the cheapest "on the beach" house is $5 MILLION)

Funny thing is, we are going on vacation NEXT week - anyone wanna guess where? really? California. Yep the state - not the town in Missouri (unfortunately) This time Kelly is going to be working. Originally we figured I would be scheduled to do something, the kids could hang out at the pool and they could do vacation things at night and weekends. But seeing as I am going to be able to join them, we can do vacation things the whole time. Yay!

Ashley has to go to her mother's in Oregon (Springfield/Eugene area) - so she won't be with us. But in case you are thinking "well there is one less female Eric has to deal with", you would be wrong. Rachel's friend Eliza will be coming along for the ride too. She is a cool cat, so not a problem, plus it gives Rachel someone other than Sammi to pester, so it works out :) I am not a details kind of guy (Kelly can attest to this). so I am still a bit fuzzy on the itinerary. I know we start in San Diego, go to LA, back to San Diego, back to LA (where I fly out of to Colorado) then the girls go back to San Diego and fly home. I am sure Disney is in the mix, as is Hollywood and all that stuff. Pretty sure I will have to go back to work to rest from vacation....

Anyway, after vacation, I go to Colorado for five weeks. A continuation of the gig I was doing in California. In case you are wondering, it is a defense contractor that rhymes with Grorthrop Numman that is virtualizing their datacenters. It should save them millions in operating costs. The high altitude of Lafayette Colorado should help me train for the Triathlon I am doing in August. Provided I get off my arse and actually train :)

I am going to drive from Denver to KC/Lake area for the 4th. So be prepared mom and dad - may have some more company than just me :) Hopefully details will get worked out soon - so you have an idea of what to prepare for.......

I think I am going to work on the basement a bit - no hammering as I don't want to wake anyone up. I do need to run wiring and such.....so I should be fine. I just noticed that the dog keeps looking at my with an inquisitive look on his face as if saying "what the hell are you doing up?" He's funny like that.

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That's the ESPN bus at the hotel behind my convertible Mustang rental car :)
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Sammi blowing out the candles at the campfire :)

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Sammi, Olivia and Abby at the cabin :)
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Sammi and Ashley :)

Sammi and ash are finished with lunch. Guess who is in a goofy mood? :)
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They nailed it! Rachel's shoe fell off - but no points are deducted - and it didn't cause anyone to fall - so it's all good :)

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Getting ready
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I just had to try it :)
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The performance area for Dallas Nationals...
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REGISTER

Testing

Friday night January 22, 2010

And I am installing Linux on the other computer up in the living room. Why? cuz I can. Showed Ashley how easy it is. Not sure if she was impressed or not :)

Looks like we will be getting another vehicle soon. The new(er) Dodge Durango 2006 model. Yes it will have a HEMI!!!! The reason? I can pull the boat, and it shuts off 4 cylinders when cruising down the highway :) My favorite thing? Butt warmers for the driver and passenger seat. Small things :)

Hopefully it will all be here before Mom and Dad get here Saturday......

I fly to Jacksonville FL next week. Hopefully it will be warm! Then back here for a couple of days then out to Redondo Beach California. Kelly is flying to her hotel the same week, so for the first time, she and I will be traveling to the same state at the same time - and be an hour away from each other. How convenient! This is also why Grandma and Grandpa are flying out :)

I really need to get better at posting, but sometimes, after working on computers for a while, the last thing I want to do is type on a computer s'more......