Andy Turns 40???

On Monday we headed out the door for yet another five hour drive from Camarillo to Las Vegas to visit our son Andrew, Jenn and Kevin, a.k.a., "Tank" Contreras.

Near Baker, California

About two more hours to "Sin City," this may be my favorite street name in the known universe. 

Andrew Gardner Contreras

The main purpose for out trek through the desert was to celebrate Andy's 40th birthday on Thursday, January 2, 2014.

Forty years . . . and as our French ami Julien Urgenti noted, Laurie just turned 50 last spring.

Of course, we would also take advantage of Andy and Jenn's mega-monster sized TV and entertainment complex to watch 15 college American football bowl games (winners in red) in only four days:

MONDAY

Bell Armed Forces: Middle Tennessee vs. Navy

Music City: Georgia Tech vs. Mississippi

Valero Alamo: Oregon vs. Texas

Holiday: Arizona State vs. Texas Tech

TUESDAY

AdvoCare V100: Arizona vs. Boston College

Hyundai Sun: UCLA vs. Virginia Tech

Auto Zone Liberty: Mississippi State vs. Rice

Chick-fil-A: Duke vs. Texas A&M

WEDNESDAY

Tax.Slayer.com Gator: Georgia vs. Nebraska

Heart of Dallas: North Texas vs. UNLV

Capital One: South Carolina vs. Wisconsin

Outback: Iowa vs. LSU

Rose: Michigan State vs. Stanford

THURSDAY

Tostitos Fiesta: Baylor vs. Central Florida

Allstate Sugar: Alabama vs. Oklahoma

WOW!!!

Of course, we needed to see if Andy and Jenn were properly taking care of grandson Kevin's off-season strength and conditioning program.

I thought that this was a good

effort for this time of the year

Who are we really kidding, the trip was mostly about seeing Kevin.

"What do you mean that

there is no dessert tonight?" 

Just kidding Tank

"Do you want to lick the frosting spoon from Daddy's birthday cake?"

CHOCOLATE!!!

"I'll drive you home Grandpa."

We had a great time but on Friday morning we started the long drive home, only after breakfast at Hash House A-Go-Go, however.

When we got got home in the late afternoon, I opted to go over to Rio Mesa H.S., where I had not been in a long time, to watch a boys Varsity basketball game.  

Oak Park 46 - Rio Mesa 30

The home team Spartans, in white, are in for a long season I'm afraid.

The gym has excellent new lighting and the school has spent a lot of money on new championship banners. The old gym really looks good.

Hey, that's me 

Maybe, some day when they are older and can understand, I can proudly show this banner to Kevin and Jacob.

Surprise Present

When we opened our mail after the Las Vegas trip, I was excited to find a package from Spain with a T-shirt from American football coach Diego Pagnotta who works with this team in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. It was a late Christmas present and a great one to boot!

It is my dream to coach one more time in Europe and Spain is the country that I dream of constantly.

We'll see . . .