Long Over Due: Christmas tree cutting

We went into the Santa Cruz mountains where there are a number of Christmas tree farms to find and cut down our tree. Connor ran around, pointing at every tree, yelling "Cut it dowwwnnnn".

The Lumberjacks

Santa in his big boy underpants

Long Overdue: Visit from the Thomas

Ryan and Sonja Thoma came to visit in October. Connor quickly lured Ryan into reading him a book.

Long Overdue: A few more gems from Mom's Birthday

Uncle Mike spent some time teaching Connor to skateboard. Even left him one when he left for his around the world trip!

We all went out for dinner at McPhee's Grill here in Templeton. Delicious.

Off to Farmers' Market

Long Overdue: Maine visit

I didn't forget to post these pics of our visit to Maine, just got too tired. So here they are:

Connor and his cousin/buddy Stewart.

Jenn, Brena, Connor and Stewart standing in front of the (or one of the) most photographed lighthouses.

Connor and Stewart with King Jersey.

Long Overdue: East Coast #5

Last night on our trip. We were all pooped. These were forced smiles, but they really sum up our trip. We had a blast.

Connor decided not to sleep AT ALL on the plane home. 6 hours! OH MY GOODNESS! We try everything to entertain. Each sticker on the forehead took up a mere 5-10 seconds off the clock. It was a long flight to say the least.

Long Overdue: East Coast #4

This picture of the three of us at the Ben and Jerry's headquarters/tasting room, was taken by a friend of Leslie's from Cal Poly/Boston U who just happened to recognize Connor from... a picture on this blog! Small world.

I forgot now what the two flavors that we got to try, but Connor loved them both.

Lake in Vermont that we spent some time throwing rocks into and keeping Connor from diving in.

Sleepy man in the car. A long day of driving, Ben and Jerry's, a delicious lunch server by an obnoxious deli owner, and throwing rocks in a lake, made Connor so tired that he fell asleep with his hand in the bag of rainbow fishy crackers. Now that's tired.

Jennifer and Connor and our view of Mt. Washington from out hotel. Awesome!

Long Overdue: East Coast #3

Official navigator, champion navigator, navigator extrodinair! Jennifer planned an amazing trip.

Backup navigator. Mostly all he said was, "Go left, daddy!"

Connor became a looney bean in the awesome condo we got in Brewster, MA.

Connor's first dip in the Atlantic ocean. Chilly, with 15 foot visibility to boot.

Connor and I in front of the Mayflower.

Long Overdue: East Coast #2

Aunt Marcia, Uncle George, Kate and Emily, threw a great party. All of the Duenkel clan got together at their house for pizza. Here they are playing with Connor.

My cousin Kate and I

A few more of Connor's cousins (L-R): Vincent, Connor, Michael, Jack

Connor loved his cousin Emily who entertained him on the couch. So much laughing!

It was a beautiful day to hang out and talk... too bad we had to say goodbye!

Long Overdue: East Coast visit #1

Here we are at Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Ed's anniversary party

Connor giving his cousin Kristin a huge hug.

Oma and her great grandkids.

Connor surprised his Oma by releasing the lazyboy foot rest. Oma was a such a trooper she let him do it a few more times to capture this picture. The laughter from both of them was contagious.

Oma!

Les and Pink start their world tour!

That's right! Leslie and Mike flew to Lisbon, Portugal yesterday to start their around-the-world-trip. Be sure to check their blog occasionally for trip updates. Possible stops include:

• Germany
• Switzerland
• Torino, Italy
• South Africa
• Indonesia
• New Zealand
• ???