Congratulations to Kerri and Kyle

Kyle Jex is the smartest preschool graduate in the whole world!!  Just ask me.

Kerri Jex is the smartest wife, mom, triathlete, and now nurse in the whole world!!  Just ask me.

Kerri finished her last nursing final (with a 99!), she is done, all that remains is boards.  Kyle graduated from preschool, well done Kyle, he will be so ready for Kindergarden.

So let me just recap here:  Kerri finished her RN degree from Weber State University.

Kevin:  I'm not making an announcement of his future plans yet, but stay tuned, it's coming soon.

Brian:  Do I really need to recap, the boy is still floating, I hope they float a long, long time, enjoy this great time.

Brent:  Is off to Hawaii in about 5 weeks for college.

Kyle and Brad:  Have nothing eventful to post, oh wait--Saturday they are doing their first official Junior Cycling event, they are racing Barrio Logan in San Diego, it's a crit, both of them are better climbers so it's all for experience and they're hoping to hang on.

Kyle J.:  Wow preschool graduation, I can't believe you are off to Kindergarden soon, and Sports camp this summer.  

Kael:  Has graduated from the tricycle, way to go Kaels.

Good Job Family, I love you!!

Rancho La Ponderosa

Our last night before leaving we went on a sunset beach horseback ride.

The highlight was galloping on the beach.

Sunset on the Tranquilo

Back on the Water

We chartered a sailboat, the Tranquilo, with Captain Anthony

Lisa and Brent in the dinghy

Sailing away

Guadirikiri cave and the old Gold Mine Ruins

This is a cool cave, there are two big rooms, the second one has natural light coming in from a hole at the top.

If you look closely you can see a bat.

Old gold mine ruins, it ceased operation in 1916.  These are also stops along the way on our 4 wheeling trip.

Four Wheelin' Aruba

Aruba is a desert island, the side all the hotels are on have calm beautiful beaches, the other side is dirt roads, huge breakers, cliffs, goats, and lots of cactus.  We rented a Jeep for the day and you would think it wouldn't take long to see what you wanted to see, the island is only 19 miles long and 6 miles wide.....let me just say it is a loonnnnggggg 19 miles in a Jeep.

Lunch Stop

We did a little geo cacheing while we were out there, we found three.

This little chapel is out in the middle of nowhere, it is called Alto Vista chapel.This was supposed to be a picture of the sign, not me, it says Natural Pool,  there is a spot where the waves wash over the rocks and it forms a great pool.

Smokey Joe's

"Best Rib's in the Caribbean"

Just ask Brent, he ate how many?

California Lighthouse

Sunset on Moomba Beach

Do it quick Ma'am, do it now!!

"I'm right on it."

Ask Lisa about this story!  Yes there is a story about cake on the beach.

Goats and Souvenirs

Ok now really, who is going to spend much time buying souvenirs when you're here, it really is this gorgeous, however there were some immediate necessities, first a hat for Craig, he never tans just gets redder.We set out to buy a few groceries, there were some stores along the main road but some people we met said, you have to go to Ling's and this is how you get there, sounded simple enough.  Somehow we missed Ling's and just kept driving, we ended up at the end of the island where there were herds of goats on cliffs overlooking the ocean.  We got out to take some pictures.

Craig ripped his best pair of running shoes, the only running shoes he brought, on the rocky ground in the land of the goats.

So tourist purchase number 2, a new pair of running shoes.

I love snorkelling, while Lisa and Brent went diving Craig and I set out on a snorkelling trip.  One of my favorite stops was the wreck of the Antilla which you can see very well.  Here we are getting back on the boat after one of our stops.

They also had a fun trapeze swing that you could swing out over the water and drop from, here's Craig starting out, I missed the mid air shot.

And coming up out of the water.  After his double back flip into the water!  Craig took a video of me swinging in, I'll post it after I get the format changed so it will load.

Kev's home (for a few hours)

Kev was home last week, off to northern California for an interview and got a visit in with Grammy and Papa, back to Utah for work and back to Redlands yesterday.  I take him to LAX early tomorrow he's off to Austin.  He was craving some iguana tacos when he saw this picture from our trip.  Ahhh the delicacies of Oaxaca, probably why he has stomach problems now!!

Aruba

Yay!  We finally made it to Aruba, we left Redlands at 9:00pm Friday night for the 12:45 am red eye to Houston, that flight was delayed for Houston's bad weather and then we were delayed in Houston waiting for some other planes to come in.
First night adventure, we got checked in, cleaned up and went to dinner at The Old Fisherman in Orangestad.  We were heading back to the hotel, probably about 5 miles away when a tire comes rolling down the road right towards us.  The jeep ahead of us had its left rear tire just fall off.  We passed them and then decided maybe we should go back and help.  It wasn't easy changing the tire, the jeep was on its axle so it wouldn't jack up high enough so they had to jack it up, put the tire under it and then lower the jack and lifted it up high enough to get the tire back on the three of five bolts that were left.  It's just about done here, Brent and Craig showed the son how to work the jack and tighten up the lug nuts.  Craig checked the other tires, two of them had very loose lug nuts.

The family was very nice, from New Jersey, the younger son in the picture, Nick, was very frightened when this all happened, by this point he was all smiles, knowing they were going to be ok.  Everyone we met was from New York, New Jersey or Boston.  I didn't realize it only takes them 4 1/2 hours to get there, from the west coast it's 3 hours to Houston and then 4 1/2 to Aruba.