Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Looking out at the sunset over San Francisco. It's time to eat.

Cheering Sam

Cheering Sam
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

A tense Cal volleyball game but Sam is making some noise.

Left on the vine

Left on the vine
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Landera Vineyard on Howell Mountain was very nice and I ended up with a lot of their wine. Don't know why these grapes are still on the vine, harvest of the 2010 cab ended in October.

Solbar

Solbar
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Great dinner at Solbar in Calistoga last night and a relaxing day meandering back to Berkeley today. Had a nice tasting at Landera on Howell Mountain. It was nice and sunny today which was nice after on and off rain yesterday.

Frazier Family Winery

Frazier Family Winery
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Just completed a very nice tour and tasting at Frazier in Napa. The caves were actually warmer than the outside and the wine was very good. At the Soda Canyon store for a quick bite them off to Larkmead for more wine.

Oakland Museum

Oakland Museum
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Checking out the Pixar Exhibit at the Oakland Museum. Can't take pictures inside.

Happy Bears

Happy Bears
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

While the football game yesterday afternoon was a Cal disaster, the basketball game last night was a Cal romp. The Boys like to see the Bears win as much as Grandpa.

The Tree

The Tree
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

The Stanford tree had it's way with Cal today. How does a tree beat a bear? The boys had fun at the game anyway.

Lawrence Hall of Science

Lawrence Hall of Science
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

It's been raining all day so we went up to the Lawrence Hall of Science childrens museum for a while. The main exhibit was the science of roller coasters but Nicole found the building blocks area the most engaging.

Airtrain

Airtrain
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Our 6:30am flight landed 20 minutes early this morning and we took the SFO airtrain to the car rental facility and got to Berkeley at 10:30 cal time. It was tough getting up at 3:30am but I survived and the flight and the boys were pretty good as 6 hour flights go. Need some rest now.

Great Fall Weekend


The parents left yesterday but not before a action packed weekend of historic sites, football parties and dinners. I think everyone had a good time during three really nice days in late fall. It's rainy now but it was 65 and sunny while Marsh and Carolyn were in town which had to beat 12 inches of snow back in Minnesota. Actually, I like snow and would have enjoyed that too. As you can see from the picture, I survived my varicose vein treatment on Friday. The two Valium, laser glasses and music made the whole thing bearable but my leg is pretty sore still today. It's my bad knee leg, so I'm limping even more than usual. I must look pathetic. Still have a couple of busy work days then it will be Thanksgiving week with the Big Game, wineries and turkey. Good times...

Here's a link to some of last weekends photos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/homerclees/sets/72157625385528480/

Under Control


Finally found a way to keep the boys under control. Prison.

Airforce Memorial

Airforce Memorial
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Took the parents to the airforce and pentagon memorial after my procedure yesterday. Its been some nice weather these past few days. Just got back from mount Vernon with more pictures.

Laser Treatment

Laser Treatment
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Getting some laser treatment for some varicose veins in my leg today. Check out the laser glasses and headphone to try to tune out the whole thing as much as possible. Man, I hate needles and I'm getting lots of then right now.

Really?

I've now seen two houses with full Christmas displays up around here and I have yet to take down all the Halloween stuff. I do like the season but it seems a little early to start celebrating. I like to keep my lights up until February and if I put them up now, it would be a whole quarter of lights which just seems wrong. I think I will wait till after Thanksgiving like normal people.

I posted a bunch of pictures from last weekends birthday party and football game on flickr. Enjoy.

Off Road Biking

Off Road Biking
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Perfect fall day to ride some trails with my little 8 year olds.

Happy Birthday Boys


Big party today at Shadowland, a laser tag joint where the theme was Mario Brothers. It was close to impossible to get all teh kids in one shot but this one seems to be the best. Sam is in green behind the dude in blue. It was a fun party and I even played a game of laser tag. I came in 24th but it was some fun. Can't believe they are 8 year old. Love the little fellas.

Mission Three

Mission Three
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Tie Game

The season ended today with a tie against the Chargers. It was a tough defensive game at 6 to 6 with Sam scoring the Bronco's touchdown on a long end run. Both boys were pretty disapointed that they missed the playoffs by a hair but had a great time all season long. On to the birthday party and more pictures.

Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Edison vs. Hayfield in a crosstown rivalry.

Spooky


We did a little more outside decorating this year but nothing compared to some of the stuff I see around the neighborhoods these days. Not sure I will ever be able to muster all the energy needed to do a lot line to lot line decorating job at this house. I'm not looking forward to taking this little display down. I will need to do it before stringing the Christmas lights I suppose.

Here are some pictures of the Halloween Party. It was fun but I'm glad it's over for another year.

Dominating Dylan


Great smile on Dylan this time but what's up with the Grandpa pants. He seems a little high waisted in this shot.

Slashing Sam


The football pictures are in and both boys were able to get a good smile going. Forgot to report that the little Broncos won again last Saturday, 8-6 over the Browns. Sam threw a TD pass to Dylan in the endzone and then ran the two point conversion. These boys are putting up some points.

Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Nice night for roaming the neighborhood and begging for candy. What ever happened to tricks?

Happy Halloween



The party is over and the clean up continues. Watching the Vikings now in my new Favre jersey, not sure the Jets shirt will ever be worn again but he, it was a concept costume. It will be dark in an hour and we will have to get out and ring some doorbells for candy, not like we don't have enough sitting around here right now.

Party Prep

Party Prep
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Werewolf and Vampire cupcakes this year. Nicole has was working in them all day.

GI Jim and Joe

GI Jim and Joe
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

The boys had book character day at school today. Basically, your costume needs to be based on a character in a book or history. I guess these are a couple of the band of brothers. Stephen Ambrose would be proud. Big party this weekend, the weather looks way better this year. Last year was extremely wet and cold. This year about 60 and clear. More pictures tomorrow.

Football Practice

Football Practice
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Its been a busy work week but I was able to get the kids to football practice yesterday. I'm really looking forward to the end of the day tomorrow and the halloween party on saturday. Cool air is on the way and I'm itching to open a bottle of wine, but it needs to wait till tomorrow.

Top Golf

Top Golf
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Just played a round of mini golf with the boys. They are much better football players at this point. Nice day to be outside anyway, very summer like. Nicole ran the Army 10 mile race this morning and is getting her nails done as a reward.

WOW, What a Game!

The little Broncos went into today's game with a 1-2 record and were facing the 3-0 Colts in crucial flag football game. Dylan has been playing well and has a team high 4 touchdowns but had also a stomach virus that has had him vomiting for 24 hours and unable to keep anything down. If fact, he puked on the way to the game. I didn't stop him from playing a good chunk of the time and he actually ran a 30 yard touchdown that was called back on a suspect flag guarding call. (BTW, the ref had a kid on the other team and called 3 of our touchdowns back, seems like a conflict there don't ya think?)

Sam was on fire and produced a touchdown on the first offensive play of the game with the now famous "throw to Dylan on the sideline the reverse it back to Sam" play. He did it again when we got the ball back but that was called back on another bad call by the ref. Sam scored his second TD just before half and we went into halftime down 12 -16.

The Broncos defense got mean in the second half and we held them scoreless even with Dylan starting to fade with no energy but the Broncos couldn't score either. Dylan took himself out until he finally rallied in the last two minutes and helped stop the last Colts drive. The Broncos got the ball back with about 45 second left, ran a couple plays that didn't work out so well then with the clock ticking down, Sam got the snap from center with 1 second left to play. He turned and threw a perfect pass to Dylan near the sideline, Dylan ran back towards the middle of the field and a second before he had his flag grabbed by a defender, handed it off to Sam who turned on the burners for a 35 yard TD run. Final, 18-16 Broncos...

The crowd went wild, at least the parents of the Broncos did and in the team huddle, Sam could barely contain himself and cried. I can't say who I'm more proud of, Sam with the 3 TD's or Dylan who toughed out a stomach virus, but didn't quit. All in all it was an amazing game and a ton of fun to watch.

New Suit

I bought a new suit in Santa Fe back in August and wore it for the first time to the office today. The reaction I got from the boys this morning was a kind of look of wow, I didn't know you could clean up so well. They also asked Nicole "why is he wearing that?" The person I buy coffee from at Caribou treated me totally different and I think called me sir. A women I'd never seen before that works for my organization went out of her way to hold the door open for me and a couple of the people on my team stared at me in wonder.

Now, I've worn this suit before and others that I have but mostly to board meetings that are out of town. I just don't go full suit at work much anymore because It's just not as comfortable as slacks and an open shirt. I may have to do this more often or just go totally back to suits like back in the 90's. Nah, I'll just work it in more often.

Children of the Corn


I played golf yesterday, badly by the way, but Nicole and the boys went our west to a pumpkin patch and got a few pictures. Fall is in full swing around here but yesterday was pretty nice for both golf and pumpkining.

I Wanna Play

I Wanna Play
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Dylan and Sam both scored on long runs to lead the little Broncos to a 14-0 victory over the Cardinals. They actually successfully ran a reverse that we practice over 40 times in the front yard this week. Sam as QB throws to Dylan, who is lined up right and then they run at each other and Dylan gives the ball to back to Sam, fooling the cornerback, resulting in a 40 yard TD for Sam. I get to take some credit for that play.

Dylan's TD was and inside handoff and 40 yard end run where he actually changed directions a couple of times to fool tacklers. They also made some key tackles in a shutout effort on D.

I wish I could play that game again. I could take those 7 year olds easy.

My Risotto Station

My Risotto Station
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

I took my team to a cooking class yesterday after a morning strategic planning meeting. It was a ton of fun and quite delicious. It turns out that twenty people cooking together and a little wine can really position a team to accomplish great things.

Getting to the Corner


Here's Dylan on one of his TD runs on Saturday getting to the corner of the defenses and cutting upfield. He is amazingly focused when running, considering he is not so focused much of the rest of the day. Except of course when he is reading about football in a magazine or studying maps in his atlas.

Big Kitty

IMG_1780
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

The boys had a good football game today but ended up with a loss to the Chiefs. Dylan ran for two touchdowns and looked pretty good with some solid moves to avoid being taken down. He was actually eyeing the the defenders and making speed and direction adjustments to get away. Both boys were grabbing flags on defense really well and chasing down anyone from the other team that got out in the open field. It was fun to watch and I think they will get even better as the season goes on.

I got back from a meeting in San Francisco last night and am happily watching Dylan play Xbox and same with the electric train right now. We are starting to get the Halloween decorations out now and will spend some of the night getting ready for our favorite holiday. Too bad it's too hot for a fire but the days are getting shorter and the nights colder. Many logs will be burned soon...

Here's some photos from disney last week.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/homerclees/sets/72157625128275364/

Bayside

Bayside
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

I'm staying at a nice place right down off the San Francisco bay, across the street from the Ferry building. My trip west was pretty quick this morning and I was pleasantly surprised to see Randy Moss back in purple when I switched on my phone and went to Facebook. The football season just got interesting again.

That Time Again

That time again
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

The first fire of the season is 8 days later than last year according to my blog. We left Florida at 7am this morning and landed in a cool 48 degrees back here in Virginia. It never got up much past 50 so I decided to burn some wood and get that fantastic smell back in the house. The neighbors probably think I'm nuts but it feels good.

Epcot

Epcot
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

An exhausting but fun day at the other Disney park. Of course their are like 6 or 7 now but this one has been around the second longest amount of time. My knee is killing me but the martinis at Tommy Bahama are making things better. Back home in the morning.

Morocco

Morocco
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Dylan is a little flustered by the Belly dancer Marrakesh. Sam just starred and asked me for one dollar bills.

Long Disney Day

Long Disney Day
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

My knee is singing but the three of us had a great time in the magic kingdom. Having a nice dinner at Tommy Bahama know with momma. Epcot tomorrow.

Big Thunder Mountain

Big Thunder Mountain
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

This is one of those roller coasters Grandpa did not like last time we were here. The boys dig it.

Greeting from Florida

Greeting from Florida
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

We hit the pool the minute we got here this morning, then a little lunch and a stroll thru the AARP exhibit hall. The boys learned about NASA, NASCAR and took a golf lesson. Off to downtown Disney in a bit for dinner.