• Read more (Roll over: Too many good books, motivational wise to not do this enough)
• Less Computer (Roll over: Just good practice, I feel like I’m always online looking at something)
• Learn to use my new digital camera (My Christmas present to myself)
• Hang out with friends (Roll over: I have amazing fucking friends!)
• Meditate more (This is just good to do)
• Continue to eat lots more fruit and vegetables (Again good habits)
• Build core strength (Will try Yoga / Pilates, and The 4 Hour Body by Tim Ferris)
• Become even more minimalistic with stuff. (I’m trying hard to purge of things I don’t need or want).
• Walk and spend more time with Hannah Banana (She’s very fun to hang out with)
• Take a random trip somewhere exotic (Preferably somewhere with a beach)
• Do something from my bucket list
• Pay off Debt (It’s time to get back on track)
• Buy a Boat (I think it’s time)
• Go hiking, back packing, camping..with the dogs. (Did this over July 4th weekend finally! Will try to do it again this year)
  
• Go horseback riding (Did this in Australia two years ago, would love to do this again on a beach somewhere)
  
• Go indoor rock climbing (Roll over: This is just good exercise, but it’s so damn far from my house!)
• Go watch and bet on Jai Alai (I won $20 bucks!)
  
• Go to the circus (I went at the beginning of last year, good to see the animals, now I want to ride an elephant in South Africa)
  
• Go to the fair (Roll over: Hopefully this year that will happen)
• Go indoor or regular sky diving. (Roll over: Just stupid expensive, I should have bought the groupon that had this)
• Go on an Airboat ride. (Roll over: This summer, hope to go in as a group)
• Get Salsa Lessons (Completed this in Australia and will try to continue doing this again)
  
• Have a Garage Sale (Did this when I returned from Australia)
  
• Learn CPR (I am certified till sometime next year when I will renew it)
  
• Date Night, Helicopter ride over Orlando (Roll over: Just a neat idea)
• Date Night, Actually fly a small plane over Orlando (Roll over: Another neat idea)
• Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity (Did this with some disappointment, will try another volunteering service)
• Blog more

You know me I’ll review these in a few months to check in……Here’s to a new year friends….Cheers!

From Cruise with Taylors

We had a great time and I couldn’t have asked for a better vacation with some great people. I really appreciate my in-laws and what they do for their kids and they are very inspiring people. It was simple vacation with no major activities other than going to Senior Frogs. As you can see in the photos:

Cruise with Taylors

We’re still all about Taylor the newest addition to the family. Also I created this video (which currently is one of my favorites) of Mandy and Taylor dancing. She is such a great baby!

Cruise with the Taylor(s) from Zeus on Vimeo.

I’ve had this post written, but not edited till recently.  Sorry for the delay?

This year we went to Vegas for New Years 2009, I might sound like we go somewhere every year for New Years, but that’s not the case….anymore. We might start a tradition to go some place every New Years.

New Years Eve in Vegas was not what we expected and hoped.  Staying at Planet Hollywood(PH) formerly the Aladdin the road between PH and Paris was being setup for Robbie Maddison’s Jump on to and off the Arc de Triumph.  We never actually saw this happen, but instead went to a nice dinner at Bally’s (2 hotels down) at around 8pm.  Walking to Bally’s was difficult because the jump was set to go off at 9pm, but of course didn’t go off till just after 10:30pm.  The streets were pretty crowded at this point and walking to Bally’s was a bitch!  You can see the jump below.

After dinner  around 11:30pm we went back towards our hotel.  The crowd was even more insane and getting through it got pretty dangerous with my 70+ year old parents.  I was pretty concerned but remained calm and assertive.   We were all locked holding hands and my poor 5′ 2″ mother holding Mandy’s hand through the crowd was pretty nerve wrecking.  Once we got to a ‘safe’ less crowded area we waited for midnight to hit, to watch all the amazing fireworks from the strip.  Little did we know that the fireworks were not shot off the roofs of hotels because of fire hazards and now shot off parking garages, and because of Vegas’ beautiful tall building we didn’t see shit for fireworks!  We were all extremely disappointed and should have done better research or gone to the Palms and paid a lot of money to watch the fireworks from one of their clubs at the top of the hotel.  We decided after our disappointment to go back to our hotel room and drink it off.  That was a much better idea and much more fun.  Walking back to our room got even more dangerous because people were ready to leave the crowd and go wherever.  People started pushing and I never expected to get squished like I did to some stranger.  It was absolutely insane how nasty people got.  Maybe since I’m older I expected more respect, but people’s drunkenness made for some dangerous situations.  I remember going to Mardi Gras and we did the hold everyone’s hand and don’t let go, and I know why we did that here.  I also remember Critchet going to NYC for New Year’s Eve and telling me the same thing.  Going to one of those big cities for New Years Eve can get dangerous fast.  Especially with alcohol involved.    It was a night to remember and never forget.  Next year we’re gonna be on some private beach where no one’s around, obnoxiously drunk (except us) and being disrespectful.  I should have expected this, but we definitely had a different mind set.

Also over by Treasure Island Robbie Knieval jumped ‘over’ the Volcano. Again we never saw this, but here’s the video.

Mandy and I lived in my cousin’s apartment right in the middle of one of the greatest cities!  We were there 4 days, and had more than our handful of walking a dog, walking around, and shopping.  It was quite an adventure being in a small apartment with over sized furniture and a 6 month old puppy.  It was fun, but definitely a lot of hard work and walking. We had a great time and I really appreciate my cousin letting us stay at his place. It’s an awesome place and he’s got a great dog. It was super fun to be able to walk everywhere and have some really good local food…and pizza! We really had a good time and didn’t do too much site seeing other than go to the famous Apple store and I bought Mandy a Tiffany’s Dragon Fly Pendant.  Also Critchet and his fabulous girlfriend Gina drove up from the D.C. area to hang out and visit with us!  We had one hell of night on the town Thursday Night.

Julia Roberts Intro

Burnin Down the House!

Sledgehammer!

So Damn Lucky!

The first and most common thing is buying a magnet.  This is easy and they are very common.  I usually try to find unique magnets, for example ones where you can put a picture of yourself from that same trip. When I buy a magnet my requirement is it must be a very memorable place, so I don’t go magnet crazy.

The next thing I like to do is buy a shirt from a restaurant I really enjoyed.  This is pretty easy, but my requirement here is the food and service must be good, and the shirt needs to be really unique.

Buying a Calendar for the next year, this has been a recent addition to my souvenirs tradition.  This requirement is the pictures from the calendar are of beautiful scenery that I have seen or want to go back and visit.

My last but favorite travel tradition is buying a small picture of some beautiful scenery or something famous. For example I bought a small 6″ X 8″ picture of Hanauma Bay in Hawaii when I went last year.  This year I bought a fantastic picture of the Sydney Opera House lit up.  I’ll frame these and start a mural of these beautiful places.  I did not find something comparable from my Germany trip or from being in Perth.  This requirement is, it must be a place I have visited and really enjoyed.

I’d love to hear some other souvenir travel traditions you may have!

For example, one of the acts was this Hispanic man doing the bouncing juggling balls, started with 3 and ended with a total 6.  In between adding a new ball he would yell something, and it sounded like “CUBA!” come to think of it I’m gonna pretend he yelled Cuba, just for the hell of it.

Also one act had this girl that was caught by these caveman type people and then some fake dinosaur came and saved her.  The story was she raised this dinosaur from a baby and now it saved her for her to be a princess.  Then she started swinging on these red curtains, the story really didn’t make sense.

There was a magic act in between each act, and of course I’d try to figure out how he was doing it.  One of the acts I figured out;  He basically did the cut a person in half and I figured the person hid to one side, she came out ok, then another person came out (and I then said, oh she was on the other side of the box), THEN another person came out and I was like aight now I want to know how he did it!  Also each time the magician would cover something I would say to myself a big cat is gonna come out, with no such luck.

The last act was hulla-hoop Eva Longoria, or at least that’s what she looked like from a far.  The end of her set had 2 people throwing hoops over her, as she added over 50 hulla-hoops as she was hooping.  It was pretty impressive, but in all the show was mediocre.  I think the show would have been better if I could have made fun of it with some friends, so if you do decide to go to the circus get drunk before hand.

One last thing about the show was all the ladies were wearing thong like bottoms.  I didn’t understand it since the show is a majority of kids!  I’ve realized that Australia doesn’t censor much like in Europe, even in public.

The circus also made me realize once we’re a parent, the shows you go to for your kids!  I remember when my parents took me to the zoo, there were all these animals and it seemed like a huge production!  This was like a cheap Cirque Du Soleil Show.  It at least killed my Saturday afternoon, and one of my new year’s resolutions.

Note: Pictures were taken with an iPhone.

As I head to Margaret River on my 3 1/2 hour voyage, the beautiful country side was like any other with the exception of the Harvey District, known as ‘The Heart of Diary Country’, which I would only assume also it’s steak.  The number of cattle around was incredible, and it wasn’t the plain black and brown cows, it was the black and white spotty ones.  About mid way on my trip is where I stopped at Harvey Moo Shoppe / Visitor Centre, built in the 1800′s.  A quaint little store with a stable for a restroom in the back, and Stirling’s Restaurant Cottaqge situated on the picturesque banks of the Harvey River.  After my rest stop, I continued to my first destination in Margaret River, Cape Lavender for Breakfast.

First, let me describe the Margaret River area.  It has 2 major roads that run north to south on either side of the city.  Each road is surrounded with farm land for cattle, sheep, or grapes.  There are hundreds of wineries around.  It’s like you’re in the middle of no where but in reality you’re in very populated farm country.  The wineries, lodging, and restaurants are anywhere between 7-30 minutes apart.  The roads at night are dark and desolate, you might see a car every 15 minutes, (everyone drives around with their brights on).  There is only one area that’s heavily populated with stores and that’s the shopping centre.  The rest is mildly lit signs on the side of the road for lodging, wineries, and restaurants.

I wanted to arrive for breakfast at Cape Lavender, which is known for making consumables (soap, shampoo, fudge, wine, etc) out of Lavender trees and their breakfast. I had Green Eggs and Bacon with home made Vienna on top of Basil, which was absolutely delicious.  The 17 dollar meal was worth every penny and the lake side view was very peaceful.  After breakfast I went to their gift shoppe where they make EVERYTHING out of Lavender.  While shopping I found out they have 3 Labradors, 2 yellow and 1 chocolate lab and even make their own lavender dog shampoo and well of course…I can’t wait to use it on Hannah and Marle (Big Girl and Bubba)!

From Cape Lavender, I headed south on Caves Rd. to my first cave, Calgardup Cave.  This cave was a self-guided tour which was very exciting!  I walked to the counter to pay the 12 dollar entry fee.  The nice lady instructed that I would be entering the middle of the cave and could navigate left or right, each side was around 100 meters in length.  Then she said I’d be getting a helmet…(great!  I love helmets.. ) and she followed that I’d be getting a torch!  A TORCH!  I WAS PUMPED, I WAS GONNA BE A GOOFY INDIAN JONES WITH A HELMET AND A HUGE FLAMING TORCH!  Well I quickly realized that a torch was just a big flash light (such a disappointment!).  I strapped on and headed onto the boardwalk into the cave (your not allowed to leave the boardwalk and touch the rock because of the acids in your skin).   Quickly I realized that there was ABSOLUTELY no lighting in the cave (that’s why we needed our ‘torch’)!  So the darkness started to freak me out a little, especially since there were only 2 other people in the cave.  I walked the cave completely alone clutching my torch like a baby clutching their teddy bear when the boogy monster is waiting in the closet.  As I entered the cave I asked an older couple leaving, “left or right?”, and they said “to the left was more challenging,” and well honestly I wanted to get that part over with since it was pitch black and all I had was my torch and pocket knife.  As I head east the cave gets darker and darker and I continually wait for some snake type lockness monster to come out of the very shallow stream and choke me to death while I yell for no one to hear me.  Seriously, the cave was incredible with millions of stalactites and stalagmites from the ceiling and the ground respectively.  The different formations were astounding, there were even parts I had to crawl under.  After crawling under some rocks, I get to the end of the boardwalk and read one of two signs mentioning, “This is the end…follow the trail back to go to the other side or to the exit”.  The other sign said,  “A World of Darkness.  Sit down, turn off your lights and experience cave darkness.  This is a world without light and the only sound is the splash of water droplets.” –FUCK THAT!  I was already more than a little freaked out when I would look back at the pitch black following me. I thought twice about turning the light off but was too freaked out, so I just started to speed walk back to the opening of the cave.  After getting back to the middle, I decided to go explore the other side.  It was just as beautiful, the cave was truly peaceful and the different colors, formations and straw like stalactites really spurred your imagination.

From Calgardup Cave I drove half hour to Jewel Cave where it was a guided tour that started at 2:30pm.  Here I purchased my 3 cave pass for $45…….

Side Track:  After buying my 3 day pass, I waited in the car to figure out where my hotel was.   A car pulled up and parked very close and this Asian Bitch, ‘accidentally’ slammed her car door into my car!  I said something to her boyfriend, but that asshole didn’t speak any English!  He’s lucky he didn’t speak any English, that it’s not really ‘my’ car and it’s a company rental.  I tried to take a picture of the bitch, but wasn’t able to get a good picture for everyone to see.

…..Well Jewel cave tour finally started and luckily we didn’t have to wear hard hats or need torches!  The tour was great and the cave was lit up beautifully!  Lots of the formations resembled different things, a budda statue, bacon, trees of a forest, a camel laying down, all sorts of things.  This cave also had a 500 year old fossil of a possum that was starting to form calcium carbonate or calcite.  This cave was much bigger than the first and the reflection from the water was pure mirror.

After Jewel Cave I went to my third cave of the day called Mammoth Cave known for all the animal artifacts that were discovered in this cave.  This cave was another self-guided tour, but luckily it was also lighted and had a very nice audio tour that accompanied the 45 minute walk.  Again just incredible the size, colors and shapes of the rocks.

From here I headed to the All Seasons Margaret River Resort, where I checked in to my simple cozy room.  I showered and got dolled up and ready for my meal at Cape Lodge where I went straight to the bar to do some wine tasting then have my $95, 3 course a la carte meal which ended up being a 6 course meal for $160 (again worth every penny)!

After getting back to the hotel, I finished watching all 2 channels of tv (literally) and passed out.  I woke up and checked out to find a small breakfast meal in the city centre.  I was only 5 minutes away and got some gas and went to get some breaky at Sails.  I ordered a delicious simple croissant sandwich with ham and cheese, I needed nothing elaborate because I knew my lunch was going to be fancy.  After breaky, I went and did some souvenir shopping before quickly heading to Lake Cave and CaveWorks (a place where they talk about the caves without having to go in one).

Lake Cave was my favorite, partly because of the tour guide and the other part because it had a floating island that it’s known for.  It was beautiful and aside from the floating island we saw; Homer, Marge, and Maggie Simpson silhouettes, a turtle’s head, the back of a crocodile, a dragon’s head, and some other neat figures in the stalactites and stalagmites.  Mac was our guide and apart from being entertaining, he was very knowledgeable, really made for an enjoyable tour.  Lake Cave was the deepest Cave in the WA (Western Australia), and it’s entrance was the size of a football field.  We were 97 meters below the surface at one point.

Afterward, I drove to the beach to go in the Indian Ocean.  I got my right hand and big toe wet (accidentally, since my shoe got soaked), I count this as now being in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean (check)!  The beach side reminded me of Hawaii with all the mountains along the side.  This was a very popular surf area and I could see why, there were beautiful waves although with some deadly reefs below.  The sea is an incredible blue color, just like the pictures.

I decided to go back to the city centre to do some more exploring and I’m glad I did, I got some more great Australia only items for friends and family back home.  Earlier, I rescheduled my lunch so I could hit up a winery when suddenly;  I drove by a cheese factory!!  I had to stop for only one reason, the love of my life!  She would have made us stop, along with the fact I would have stopped for us to enjoy this cute little store.  The store was set out all on it’s own (again in the middle of farm country off the side of the road).  I tried 5 different cheeses and bought Smokey Cheddar Cheese and Marinaded Feta!  They just melt in your mouth, and if I don’t open them they’ll last till I get home, but if I do I have to eat it all cause it will spoil on the plane…let’s hope that I’m a good boy….

I never did end up going to any wineries as time didn’t permit.  I barely made it to my lunch booking at Flutes, a beautiful winery on a rushing stream with excellent food.  I had a light meal since last night’s dinner was sooo heavy.  The food here continued to be fantastic and the wine as well.

All in all, it was very fun and full weekend, there is so much to do in Margaret River, you could easily spend over two weeks enjoying everything!

Anyway, tonight’s email is short as Zeus has compiled a photo montage of our trip for your enjoyment. We’re looking forward to coming home and we’ll see you all soon.

Thanks for joining us in our adventures!

Mandy & Zeus

“Another winter day, has come and gone away…
And I feel all alone, and I want to go home… let me go home…
Let me go hooooommmmmeee, I’m just to far from where you are and I want to go home…”"
- Michael Buble

Today was a glorious day and here’s why:

1) Slept late and thus got a late start

2) The sun was trying to come out

3) Went to Pylon Lookout where the sun DID come out for the remainder of the day

4) Spent the afternoon at Sydney’s Oldest Hotel & Brewery- Lord Nelson’s- and had the BEST meal we’ve had our entire time here…more to come.

That’s right today was glorious. We weren’t expecting the sun to come out, but when I woke up this morning and looked out the window, I noticed it was trying to make its way out; however, we still dressed warmly and brought our umbrella b/c we figured it would end up raining anyway.

So we got a move on and decided to go to Pylon Lookout, which is at the top of the one of the pylons connected to the bridge. Surprisingly, they do not hold the bridge up; they were built merely for aesthetics. However, the top provides a spectacular view of the harbour, the Opera House, the bridge and the city skyline. It was awesome, as the warm sunshine shone down upon us. On the way up the 200 steps, you know how we love climbing steps, they had interesting trivia about the bridge and the men who built the bridge. I can’t recall any of the facts at the moment (b/c our afternoon finished at the Lord Nelson Brewery- you do the math) but they were fascinating none the less.

Moving along, we got some great photos from up there and video, so I hope you enjoy. And oh…if there’s no video posted its b/c it usually takes a while for Zeus to edit and upload it, so “no worries mates” it will be posted eventually.

Anyway, afterwards, we were trying to decide what to do. I mean after all, according to my husband I’ve managed to cram most everything there is to see in Sydney into two hours. Well, we decided to go to the oldest pub in town and I’m so glad we did b/c there we had the best meal ever and our brainchild for solving the “crappy food crisis” that Sydney is facing. So we ordered the fish and chips which were battered and tempura fried, served with a wasabi mayo- which was surprisingly sweet not spicy- with a side order of potato wedges with sweet, chili sauce. It was heavenly and the most flavorful food we’ve had since we arrived. Seriously…who knew the best food was at the oldest pub around. I think we may be going back tomorrow. Anyway, it was here while towards the end of our first beer and onto the second one, that I (we- I say I b/c it was really more me) who had this genius idea of starting a restaurant down here in Sydney . Hear me out people…if for no other reason than a good laugh.

It’s called the “Crazy Cajun Cuban” (uh-huh…can some of you already see where I’m going with this?). While it’s a restaurant downstairs, it’s a bar upstairs, where naturally the “Bikini Tini” franchise will go. Anyway, back to the restaurant/bar, here’s how this operation will play out:

• Mandy & Zeus- Owners/wait staff (we’ll be able to apply for the Women/Minority Business Owner if Australia has that).
• Captain & Dwight- You’re responsible for catching the “catch of the day”; and possibly cooking it if needed.
• Mamma Debbie- Executive Chef on the Cajun side
• Mami Mirian- Executive Chef on the Cuban Side
• Admiral (Mom)- Sous Chef and quality control, managing plate presentation
• Jill y Tato- CFO’s (one of you is finance and one of you is accounting, so you can work it out)
• Laura- Head Little Dude in Charge (Laura has the ability to get anything done, so I figured she can sorta just oversee everything)
• Tim & Jason- Heads of Security (one of you is a cop and one of you is military trained- duke it out boys over who gets to be Director and who is Manager- we don’t really care- you can rotate weeks if you’d like)
• Becky- as my official Bikini Tini partner, well, she’ll over see this venture of expanding the franchise out here, and will remain as Director of Marketing/PR
• Meredith- since you have a similar background, I thought you could oversee the marketing and direct mail efforts
• Katy…bar and restaurant manager extraordinaire

So that’s our (my) genius idea for curing the “crappy food” epidemic Sydney is facing. We don’t care what the executive chefs want to serve on what days, we just know it will be a gagillion (that’s the numerical word for GINORMOUS) times better than what we’ve had so we’re looking forward to it.

So, I’m interested in your thoughts. If you’d like to play a different role in this family venture, hey we’re flexible it’s all negotiable, we just thought this is where we all naturally fall in.

So…as you can see, today was one of our more mellow days and we were ok with that. We came back to the hotel early and I’ve sorted our dirty laundry and packed us so we don’t have much to do tomorrow and can just enjoy the day and evening, and Zeus has edited some video for your enjoyment.

Just click below and enjoy. Until tomorrow…we miss everyone lots and will see you soon.

Mandy & Zeus

Here is Video Album of Sydney

Bridge Pylon