Eli and the All Star Game

 Lining up for photos before the All Star game.  He was excited to play.

 Eli with his year end trophy.  He's turned into such a big boy.

 He was getting bored as he waited for a good pitch.

 Nice swing!  I caught it just as he contacted the ball.

 I love the expression he has here as a bad pitch went right past his head.

The awesome after-game pizza party.  What a great group of kids.

The many Faces of Hanna

 Here, Hanna and I were waiting for Eli's baseball game to start.  That's Tyson behind her.

 One of fifteen photos I found on my phone today.  This is the most presentable face I could upload.

This is her and I at Tyson's game.  It's a selfie by her, as you can see in the reflection of her glasses.  You can also see that I need a shave...badly.

Riding Giant Bikes in Utah

 I was invited to attend the 2014 product launch for Giant Bicycles in Utah this past week.  I had never been to Utah, and it's always nice to be in the mountains, so I was excited.  As soon as we left the airport on the charter bus toward Deer Valley, I snapped this.  It's a very touristy photo, but the contrast of dark clouds, mountains, and blue sky was so much more than my camera could capture.

 We passed the ski jump area that was used in the winter Olympics a few years back.

 This was the view from the ballroom where our meetings took place.  Imagine:  70 degrees.  Breeze.  No humidity.  Yep.

 Just under that bridge to the left was the entrance to the mountain biking trails.  There were so many trails that at times it was difficult to follow them.  We did our best and had a blast on some really cool new mountain bikes.  Eric Pirtle is our Giant rep, and a really, really good mountain biker.  Who better to show us around the trails?  We were very lucky to have such a gracious host and guide.

 I just couldn't get over the impact of coming around a corner and having the mountains as a back drop.

 Hundreds of 2014 Giant bikes waiting for the dealers to ride them.  In this setting, it was hard to dislike anything.  The first day, we rode the wheels off of the mountain bikes (I can talk about them August 1st) and on the second day we did a 50 mile road bike ride in the mountains.  Altitude bothers me a bit.  All of the riding was at between 8000 and 9000 feet.

Just one shot of my room at the Chateaux.  It was nicer than my house.  Two bathrooms, living room with leather couches, kitchen with full fridge, stove, dining room, king sized bed, another fridge in the bathroom, and windows that viewed the mountains.  Giant did us up right.  Thanks for the opportunity.

Grandpa's 70th Birthday "Surprise"

Deanna and her brothers and sister set up a train ride to Hermann for her dad's 70th birthday.  It was supposed to be a surprise, but it's really hard to surprise people like him.  He's always thinking too much, using deductive reasoning too much, etc.  So, maybe he was surprised, maybe he wasn't.  But it was a great day anyway.  We all rode the train to Hermann, at a picnic lunch, saw some of the cool sights, went to the museum, rode the trolly car, took a tour of the Stone Hill winery and ate at the restaurant there.  And rode the train back to the Lou.  I really enjoyed it, whether we surprised Grandpa or not. 

Great Photo with the Tiger, Hanna!

 Hanna poses with the big inflatable tiger at the Webster Groves Fair.  But maybe we can get a better photo.

Yeah, that will do it.

Riding the Moby Dick at Webster Fair

 Wait for it.....

 Wait for it....

There it is......

Hanna caught in mid-serve

When Hanna first started playing volleyball, her serve gave her a lot of trouble.  Now, she's one of the better servers on the court.  I can't believe I caught this photo, but I think it's a good one.

Buddy Doll

I took a photo of this little guy just for Hanna.  He's creepy.

Webster Groves Parade 2

 There's always a Thunderbird at these things.  I love these with the removable hard top in place.  I do understand that during a parade, the top will be down, though.

 C1 Corvette in a color I have never seen before.  Sort of bronze-ish.

 Ford Model A?  Not very good with anything before the 50's, but it was cool.

 This guys SS 396 had a bitchin' blower sticking out of the hood, a devilish whine, and a cam so lumpy it barely ran without his foot on the gas.  But it was cool.

Again, I don't know what this car is, but it was really nicely done.

Webster Groves Parade 1

 I usually take photos of more than cars, but this time that's all I did.  I really liked this car, new age wheels aside.

 Anybody know what this is?

 1967 is a great year for cars.  I'm usually not a fan of convertible Corvette's, but his is a beauty.

This is the finest example of a Chevrolet I have ever seen.  This car was so perfect that it was hard to believe he was driving it.  I saw it up close a little while later and I stand by my statement of perfection.

A Mutt's Life

I heard a commotion in the bedroom while I was in the bathroom.  I thought it was Deanna, but nope...it was this guy.  Glad my bed is such a wonderful place to sleep.  Freeloader.

My phone is a magnet for photo bombs

Although I must say that this is a good one.  Aren't they cute?

Goofball Dog

Every day I get onto the floor in my bedroom and stretch the old body.  Rex is usually on my bed when I do this.  He creeps over to the edge of the bed to watch me.  I tell him, "LAY DOWN!" so that he won't pounce on top of me...all 50 pounds of goofball dog flopping down on me hurts.  In this photo, he is growling and moaning, trying SO hard not to do it.  He wants to come crashing down so badly, but he knows he will get in trouble.  He almost NEVER holds himself back very long, and moments after I took this, he flopped on top of me.

Heavy Rain is no Joke

I wish this photo did the sky more justice.  It was so black to the left that it looked like night, and it was 6:30pm on Sunday night coming north on highway 55.  Soon, I was driving in rain so hard that I could not even see the shoulders.  I wanted to pull off, but I could not see where to pull off.  I could only faintly see the tail lights in front of me, as we slowed to 35mph.  Scary.

Burning Cutlass in Pevely

 Hanna and I stopped at McDonald's on our way through Pevely on Sunday.  As we left the drive thru, we saw this poor old Oldsmobile Cutlass engulfed in flames.  It was quite the sight.  It was mere minutes from the time we drove though until this point.  You can see that the windshield is melting.  Both doors are open and flames are rushing out, along with very black smoke.

Another view as we drove back by moments later.  You can see the interior spilling, melting, whatever, out onto the pavement.  No sirens, no firetrucks or cops yet.