Derek is dreaming great things.
Personal
Brooks and Dunn and Reba Dec 3 2016
Saw Brooks and Dunn and Reba McIntire tonite, awesome concert!!
Thanksgiving at Nancy's
Had Thanksgiving in Moorpark with Nancy, Matt, Lisa, my brother Jack, and Jenn, Neil, Ryan. Nice time with family!
Happy birthday Ryan
Happy 2nd birthday to Ryan Ichiro, who is going o be the best big brother to Derek.
Using the pool
Jenn came out and hung out in the backyard, and then we went and used the pool with Ryan, who loved it except for the water park. He didn’t like the big bucket and the splash.
The backyard is in; August 17, 2016
First thing on our list was getting the backyard done. Couldn’t stand looking at the dirt anymore.
We decided to put artificial grass in so we didn’t have to mow/water etc. It’s harder on the feet for the cats, as the grass gets HOT in the summer time.
A Pancho's out in Summerlin!
Driving around the area we came upon this restaurant. One of our favorites in Manhattan Beach, as we used to go walk along the beach at Sunset and then go have dinner or a margarita afterwards.
Funny that the owner of the one in Manhattan Beach moved to Summerlin, and built an exact replica of the restaurant in Summerlin. No sunset/beach though! Guess we’d have to go walk Red Rock Canyon and then go have a margarita!
Our new house
Well, our house is a little different than our house in Commerce City. We don’t need a mower here, as the front yard has desert landscaping (no grass allowed),
Our backyard instead of being 115’ from the back door to the end of the property, is 12’ to the wall.
One thing we aren’t downsizing on is our canvases.
Leaving (for) Las Vegas!
Leaving Las Vegas was the name of a pretty good movie. Leaving for Las Vegas is the new title to this movie called life. Time for another new chapter in the book of life. My life began in LA, and then went to Denver for 9 years, and now it's time to get closer to LA without actually living in LA. It's just too expensive, and too much traffic. That’s the reason that we left Los Angeles in the first place. But then again, Las Vegas has traffic, but its not like we're moving to the strip!
So what brings us closer to LA and not actually living in LA?
This little guy!
My daughter Jennifer was pregnant with Ryan and said “you have about 2 1/2 years to move back here as he’ll need his papa and nana around more often”. I went out to CA every month the first year he was born. I had to work and travel so much for work, that I accrued a lot of comp/time off, so I flew out about every month to see them. Janis had just started working for the state, so she didn’t have a lot of vacation/time off. At the beginning it was ok (not really) but later on in the year, Janis would just take leave without pay, as seeing Ryan was more important than the money lost.
Low and behold, Jennifer told us she was pregnant with our next grandson, and we decided we would have to move closer sooner than expected. We decided in May 2016 that we needed to move and quick.
Our neighbors from down the street bought the house (30 day escrow) so we had to pack up a 5000 sq ft house in 30 days (while working) and go out to Las Vegas to look for homes (1 weekend).
We flew to Vegas, looked at about 10 developments, asking for a house that was move in ready in 30 dqys with a 30 day escrow. We found 3 possibles, and on Sunday Jennifer and Neil came out to see the 3 possibilities. We needed to be 1) close to the strip, as they gamble (as do we), and closer to the south end of the valley, so we are are close to I-15 and driving out to see them.
We ended finding a home in Rhodes Ranch, which has a golf course, a built in water park, a HUGE lagoon like pool, and a rec room with basketball courts, pool tables, weight rooms, etc.
We sold our house in Commerce City and had to move within 30 days! That was fun!
Unemployed again! June 24, 2016
Turned in my badge and ID card (well just my ID card). Going to miss working with these people. Well most of these people..
Travis First Communion - May 8, 2016
Travis had his first communion mass today, TL’s parents were able to come to it, which was nice. There wasn’t ability to take photos inside the cathedral, so only got photos at the reception.
It was tough to get down there to take photos, since we were in the process of moving and packing up etc., but I’m glad we were able to see this and them before we move away in a month (ish).
Oasis Grand Riviera Mayan, Cancun, Mexico April 2, 2016
Spent a few days at the Grand Riviera Mayan resort in Cancun, Mexico. A beautiful resort,
Cancun trip in November, 2015
Had a great time in Cancun, Mexico in November. First time visiting
Grand Oasis Sens, Cancun, Mexico 11-1-15
Spent a week in Cancun by myself. Janis had just started work and could not get the time off. It was a nice resort, an “adults only” resort, so no screaming kids in the pools, etc. The weather was a bit dicey, and had some awesome cloud/storms coming in.
Dominican Republic - Puerto Plata
Went to the Dominican Republic for a week using a timeshare transfer that we have. used the timeshare, program, and unfortunately, we had no idea what we were in for.
After flying all night, and checking into the place, which was maybe a 2 on a 5 star rating. (They had a small leaf filled pool, the beach was horrible, they only had 1 of the 3 restaurants open). They immediately took us to another timeshare place, which was about an hour away, “just to see what it looks like”.
After being shown the Beautiful grounds, 10 pools, 26 bars, 10 restaurants, they take us to a timeshare presentation. We told them FOUR times that we were not interested in getting another time share, we already had one. They assured us that they were going to pay off our time share when we purchased this one. (which actually is not a timeshare company but a “club”.
We signed on the dotted line, and then went back an hour to get our things from the hotel and then an hour back to the Lifestyle Holidays Vacation Club.
The Spanish Peaks
One of my favorite drives when I worked for Colorado POST was west on Highway 50 past the Spanish Peaks Mountains West of Walsenburg.. I always crank up my buddy Joh Chandler’s song of the same title while I’m driving past here. Jon and Pat have some land out here, and his ancestors are from this area. He wrote an awesome song and book about this area. The link is for the book on Amazon. com, I highly recommend it.
Shout Out to Ryan!
Irene got a nice shout out on the Lakers game against the Celtics announcing Ryan’s birth. That was nice of her and the Lakers’ announcers to do.
4th Spine Surgery - 10/30/14
Had my 4th spine surgery today. i retired from the police department due to numbness, weakness, and tingling in my left arm and hand. I went to Kerlan Jobe, who is the medical team that works for the professional sports teams. I had MRI’s in 1997 and they found out that my biceps tendon was 3/4 torn, and they thought that was causing the weakness. After having an arthroscopic debridement of the biceps tendon and physical therapy, they tried an acromiplasty resection of coracoacromial ligament. After doing physical therapy on that, my arm still didn’t get better On October 1, 1998, I was retired from the police department.
After retiring, I still had the issues with my left arm and hand, so I went to see the Spine doctor, Dr. William Dillon. He did MRI/CAT scan and said that the issues I had had nothing to do with my arm, but was due to my neck. I contacted the City insurance company and they basically said we retired you on your arm, go away. So I had 2 surgeries, in 20001, and 2002,
The future of America
Ben Disalle bowled a 300 game.
Nice to have witnessed our friend bowl a 300 game at our bowling league at Northglenl lanes.