Scout camping trip - somewhere in Suzhou

Last weekend Reid, Riley and I headed out for the Cub Scout fall camping trip.  I don't exactly know where we were, but somehow our pack found this little oasis in the middle of Suzhou.  No one was there, I'm guessing because it was 65 deg. and you had to pay to get in.  Regardless, it was very peaceful!

We did get the shakedown too by the night security guy, hitting us with an "overnight fee".  We negotiated to get kids half off.  Quote of the weekend (while on a hike):  "I know this is the way back, I recognize that piece of trash".

The campsite.  Ours was the green tent in the middle.

Inner pond in the temple.

This guy looks like he immigrated.  Definitely not Buddha.  If I could have read anything I could tell you who or what he is.  Oh well.

Safety instructions first.

This was at the top of the mountain in the earlier photo.  Those red ribbons tied to the tress are prayers.

You can almost see another temple through the smog, nestled in the hills.

Reid and Riley.  The UFO is a sunflower seed flying at me.

Riley hiked the whole way with the bag of seeds in hand.

Back in the temple, this is where most of the prayers are done, of course.

Nice quite card game.

More prayers.

There was a little grove of ginko trees in one of the courtyards.  Beautiful!

Fire Fire Fire Fire.  We roasted meat on sticks.  MMM, good.

This consumed about an hour of my life.

Final shot of the motley crew.

Around town

Some of these were getting dated, so I had to get them up now before they get to be too old...

No thanks.

Umm, look in the total column.  Also, Japan was actually #3 in medal count at the time.  I heard about how close things were for weeks.  Then pingpong was over and track began.  Order was restored to the USA world domination of sporting events.

OK - name that caption contest!  Hopefully I never say this again, but if you look at his crotch you will see some sort of chastity strap (black leather) across the zipper.  My caption is:  "Man I wish I'd had more than my camera phone".

Sorry for the shirtless shot.  This is after a fire-cupping session.  Yes, it was uncomfortable and some downright hurt.

Hilton Head Island, SC

Wow, I'm a full month behind!  Things have gotten a tad busier here as we head into the holiday season.  Our annual corporate meeting this year was held in Hilton Head, so I had the special chance to spend the weekend with family and with friends traveling from Asia with me.

A 3 foot gator at the outlet mall apparently being illegally fed as he came right up to us.

Bill showing everyone how to shuck an oyster.

The oysters were fighting back so Bill chucked them on the green egg to show them who was boss.  The oysters lost.

Dumping out the low country boil.  This is one of the few American dishes that fully translates to Asia pallates.  By that I mean it's not a pound beef between pieces of bread with a side of deep fried tater.

The full spread.

Lazy afternoon Sunday checking out the lighthouse and then going on a dolphin cruise.  You can see in the next few pictures that we ended up in the middle of a pod that was hunting.

I'm quite proud of this one.  I caught it while we were returning to shore, at full speed.  Got the boat about a third of the way in the frame and the horizon was pretty level.  Better than some of my shots standing still!

Last day in CA

For the last day, we had a tough decision to make:  go to a world renowned zoo, or spend the morning a the Legoland aquarium and then the beach.  We made the tough call to take it easy and hit the beach one more time...

In front of a monster crab.  Get in my belly!

We attended a short talk on sharks since it was Shark Week.  Yes, that's a Lego submarine next to the diver.

This is what happens when Ro gets in the way of Riley's camera time.

This is what happens when dad removes Riley because he pinched Ro.

At the beaach in Oceanside, CA.   Hole digging and body surfing dominated the activities.  Ro also found time to do some mud slinging as pictured.

A shot down the coastline.

The fruit of our labor.

Yes, that's a real pelican.  No, it wasn't all that friendly.

Making up for the annoying start to the travel day (Delta bag checker was not very helpful), we were all upgraded on the long leg of the trip!  Of course, they lost that when upon arrival in Tokyo they wouldn't let us in the lounge (we even had a very nice man sponsor us, but they still said we were one short).

Ro took to business class like a duck to water.  Main complaint from Rebecca is that she had to keep getting up to help him.  In my infinite wisdom, I reminded her that she should be happy we were all upgraded and she reminded me that she paid for that.  I would say I'll shut up now, but we all know that's not true.

The Midway

Our first mistake was thinking that three boys would only want to spend an hour or so on a ship filled with flight simulators, real airplanes and knot tying stations.  The second mistake was like it:  thinking that I, a "Navy brat", would only want to spend an hour or so on a ship filled with flight simulators, real airplanes and knot tying stations.

What a total surprise it was to Rebecca and I how much fun could be had on the Midway!  Total time spent was over three hours, which in conjunction with La Jolla that morning, meant we had to abandon all hope of seeing my childhood home that I can't remember.

In the brig.  They had headphones with audio commentary and a game for the kids, which we all enjoyed.

In the engine room, trying our best to crash a docked ship.

There were several noses of planes down in the maintenance area that you could climb into.

Practice for the simulators, excitement was really building at this point.  The one in front of us was doing a severe bank.

I was going to rotate this picture of Reid and I, but the reality was that once they closed the cockpit, we were either like this or upside down.

Riley got his turn as well.  We were laughing hysterically throughout the whole thing, one of those deep belly and cheek hurting laughs.

Riley showing off his accomplishments while they were waiting for a pit stop for Ro.

On the flight deck were over 20 planes, all of which served on the Midway at some point.  This was the plane Daddy Mac flew in, we located his squadron as well.

Dinner a Lucha Libre, thanks to Man Vs. Food.  A hole in the wall, moderately dirty, Mexican restaurant.  We made reservations for the Champions Booth (echo Booth, Booth, Booth).

Laying waste to a California Surfin' Burrito - carne asada, shrimp, french fries and a special sauce all rolled into a mammoth tortilla.  We then dipped it into some sort of cilantro sour cream sauce.  Truly one of the best burritos ever.