Family Home Evening at the ER

We had finished our "Sub for Santa" shopping and were rewarding ourselves with a trip to Chili's.  Who doesn't like Chili's?  We like it so much we were willing to wait 30+ minutes.  We finally got our table, the waitress took our order and had just delivered the chips and salsa and asked if I'd like another Diet Coke when Taylor's phone rang.  It was Tyson who has opted to spend the evening with friends.  He thought he might have broken his arm and needed us to come get him.  A quick vote was taken as to whether we would finish dinner or go get him with the restaurant manager casting the tie breaking vote.  After assuring us that our food could be prepared for take home we packed back up in the car and went to pick up Tyson.

Turns out he is not much of a roller skater.  After lacing them up for the first time in his life he headed for the floor and braced himself with his left arm.  The floor won and by the time we got there it looked like the entire Golden Eagle District of eagle scouts had been at Classic Skating.  He sat there in a wheel chair.  Arm splinted and wrapped and in a make shift sling.  Tyson must not have been the first person to leave Classic Skate in wheel chair.

We've made many trips to the emergency room; this was the first trip with the whole family.  Taylor set the proper tone by suggesting we say a family prayer for Tyson which she offered.  It helps to have a sister with great faith.

It also helps to have a father and siblings who believe that laughter is the best medicine.  We proceeded to crack jokes which we thought were funny.  Tyson and the medical personnel didn't laugh as much.  Fun was had by all. 

Turns out he broke one of the bones in his forearm.  The compression break didn't dislocate the bone so it looks like all he'll need is to have it cast.  They put on a hard splint and we were home within three hours.  For those wondering, the take home food was still tasty when we got home.  He has to go in Monday or Tuesday to have a permanent cast put on. 

Jeep Safari

We ventured outside of the quiet confines of Palm Beach and the resort amenities to take a jeep tour of the island.  The tour starts on the south west end of the island by the California light house and travels along the north shore of the island to the Aruba National Park and the Natural Pool.  The coast is dotted with fishing shacks set up by the locals for camping and fishing.  Once you pass the light house and the golf courses, there is very little if any housing or development on this side of the island which consists of rocky, desert terrain wind swept by the constant trade winds. 

Most interesting were the travels through the Aruban neighborhoods.  They live a simple life and rely heavily on the turism and refinery industries to provide jobs. Almost everything is imported as agriculture is almost non-existent and they rely on water purficiation plants to provide drinking and water for daily use.  They only receive about 18 inches of rain fall annually.

Here are some pictures from the tour.

Having Fun in Aruba

We just might be the only people on the entire island of Aruba not drinking alcohol.  At least we feel that way when the pool side bar tender gives us some good natured ribbing as we place our order.  We are not letting him discourage us and have kept an admirable pace in ordering the little drinks.  We have set a three drink per day (each) limit and are on target through three days. 

Our relaxation is peaking after spending the first two days doing not much of anything at all (unless getting up to cool off in the pool counts as activity).  Tomorrow we are changing things up and have booked a Jeep tour of the island. 

The most exciting part of the day was during lunch when a two foot long Iguana decided to climb onto Kristi's chair to share the food. 

Some pictures of our first two days.

London

It has been over 10 years since I've been to London.  We were able to spend the better part of today seeing some sights in London.  I was impressed by the history and depressed by the prices.  Even traveling on a corporate expense report, you feel guilty paying $10 for two small scoops of ice cream, $50 for a basic dinner, $12 to ride the subway, $300 for a hotel, etc.  To take a cab to the airport tomorrow would be $100 (I'm going to give the Tube a try).  We were treated to a traditional gloomy day in the morning.  It rained steady for several hours before giving way to some sunshine in the afternoon.

Here are some pictures from our afternoon.

View of the Tower Bridge from on our water taxi ride up the Thames.

US Flag flying over the embassy.  There was more security at the embassy than any other place we saw.  You get the impression that some people don't like us.

Harrod's - I was more impressed with Harrod's than any other site we saw.  I couldn't afford to shop there (with the exception of the $10 scoop of gelato), but they had almost anything you could conceive of purchasing right down to a $10,000 bottle of wine and a $3,000 toy Lamborghini.

Flag flying of the US embessay - my second favorite tourist site.

Buckingham palace in the rain.  Neither Will nor Kate would come to the door when we knocked.

I've never seen more Rolls Royce, Bentleys  and Mazerattis in my life.  There is no shortage of luxury vehicles in London, including this nice vehicle that I purchased and will carry on the plane with me so that Tyson has something to drive when he turns 16.

The London Eye and the old County Hall. If you have really good eyesite you can see a McDonalds at the base of the County Hall building.  We ate lunch there because our conscious wouldn't allow us to have another $50 meal.

Big Ben and Parliament.

York, England

Its fun to be back in England visting our office in York.  We arrived on Sunday and have been there through today.  With familiarity I'm beginning to enjoy the culture and history much more.  My comfort still doesn't extend to driving on the left side of the roads so I stick to cabs. 

Some pictures from my first few days here.

This is the view from my hotel room.

Walking back to our hotel after dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant in York.

I looked for Matt in the race, but didn't see him. 

More Pictures from Lake Powell

Rainbow Bridge

The last two days have been more like the Lake Powell we've come to love.  The sun returned bringing with it near 100 degree temperatures.  We've kept busy:

• Wakeboarding - Taylors friend Jayden came along and wakeboarded for her first time.
• Tubing - Tyson, Camryn and Jayden had the longest tube ride in family history riding the tube all the way from beyond the San Juan Arm of Lake Powell to warm creek - about 45 miles.
• Swimming - If our bodies could become water-logged, ours would be.  You've got to keep cool.
• Touring - we've seen some great areas of the lake, some which have opened up now that the water level is about 25 feet higher than last year.  We visited our favorite canyon - Cathedral, and explored a new one - Twilight.  
• Relaxing - we always find some good shade to relax under mid-day while we have lunch and take a break from the other fun.






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Lake Powell 2011

We arrived in Page, AZ for our annual trip to Lake Powell.  Boat - check.  Hotel room - check.  Beach towels - check.  Sun screen - check.  Lake full of water - check.  Sun - oops, forgot to bring that along.  In all of our previous trips to Lake Powell, we've never had a day without sunshine.  There is a first for everything I guess.  We were able to get out on the lake today, see some sights and do some tubing, but in the early afternoon the clouds were joined by their friends heavy rain and lightning and we were forced off the lake.  The storms were pretty intimidating, but we were able to avoid them for the most part, hiding in a canyon for the worst of it to pass through.