Monday, January 3, 2022

New Year's Day 2022 and Andrew's 48th Birthday

 

Thursday, December 30, 2021 - Monday, January 3, 2022

After our hectic days in San Diego for the aborted Holiday Bowl, I was off in the dark of night Thursday morning for the five hour drive to Las Vegas during a pouring rainstorm that lasted from Camarillo all the way to Victorville.

With our oldest son Andrew's birthday falling on January 2nd, we always head to his home to share the New Year's revelry with Andrew, Jenn and Kevin. Laurie flew out to Las Vegas last Monday, so I was traveling solo on this trek.

This bowl game would kickoff
Thursday night perhaps we would go

Israel's Ramat Hasharon Hammers

One of the Hammers, Elad Ohanna, wanted me to send him three of the many pants and jerseys that have been donated by local high schools to him but the United States Postal Service does not ship packages to Israel.

Shipping the uniforms via either UPS or FedEx would not be cost effective, so today we tried a different tactic.

Since I was on the road, our son Michael did the honors and delivered the three uniforms to Rabbi Aryeh Lang at the Chabad of Camarillo for me. The Rabbi has a congregant who will be flying to Tel Aviv later this month and has graciously agreed to deliver them to Elad.

Acts of kindness like this can change the world.

On to Las Vegas . . .

Emma Jean's Holland Burger Cafe
in Victorville

A stop at this wonderful dive for breakfast on the way to Sin City is a cherished Contreras family tradition.

I was not disappointed in the least.

As for the Las Vegas Bowl, we had no tickets but . . .

They were not exactly what
you'd call a HOT ticket

After just a little bit of half-hearted discussion, we all decided that we would rather watch the game on TV in the comfort of the Contreras Desert Castle.

The game was a rather humdrum affair . . .

Wisconsin Badgers (9-4) 20
Arizona State Sundevils (8-5) 13

Playing a board game called
PANDEMIC

As if we don't have enough of this topic in real life.

Abby is the
Contreras Family Bulldog

She is such a sweetie!

There was lots of news from the wonderful world of EuroBall.

The Europe Warriors Mens game
in Brazil is in full swing

Another recruit has signed
with the team

Good to hear that the Cambridge
University Pythons in the U.K.
are also recruiting new players

The Pythons are recipients of 42 jerseys donated from one of our local high schools.

Ever wonder what countries
are in the E.U.?

Now you know.

At our local Ralph's Market

I'll try anything Italian.

An Official Announcement from
the Mallorca Voltors

I won't be leaving Camarillo but I will be actively using the HUDL app to analyze all of the Spanish DI games and practices.

I really need to do a sit-up in 2022.

John Mull's Roadkill BBQ
was the PERFECT spot to bring
home lunch before Friday's
College Football Playoff Games

Another fine dining experience in an out-of-the-way Las Vegas neighborhood that just adds to any American football experience like sitting at home watching the TV for . . .

This yawner of a CFP Semi-Final Game

To no one's surprise, the #1 Alabama Crimson Tide (13-1) defeated the #4 Cincinnati Bearcats (13-1), 27-6.

This was even a less competitive
CFP Semi-Final than the first one

The #3 Georgia Bulldogs (13-1) crushed #2 Michigan (12-2) by a score of 34-11.

It wasn't even as close as the score might indicate.

The National Championship Game
to be played on Monday, January 10th
in Indianapolis

SEC, SEC, SEC . . .

"It ain't braggin' if you can do it."

How many different languages did I need
to know to properly say Happy New Year
to our European Friends

This map helped.

Próspero Año Nuevo, Felice Anno Nuovo, Bonne Année, Gott Nytt År and Schönes Neues Jahr!

New Year's Day means one
important thing to our family . . .

. . . four hours of joy watching
"The Grand Daddy of Them All"
The Rose Bowl!

The #11 ranked, PAC-12 Champion Utah Utes (10-3) were making their first ever appearance in the Rose Bowl game.

The #6 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes (10-2) were the representing the BIG-10 Conference in the game. It was the Buckeyes 16th trip to Pasadena for the annual New Year's Day game. Their record in their first 15 Rose Bowls stood at 8-7-0.

Make that 9-7-0

It was a great game to watch after the two CFP Semi-Finals duds the day before with a last second field goal winning the game for the Buckeyes.

Which reminded me,
the Huskies have announced
their upcoming schedule

We are still undefeated in 2022!

And then there is this, our main reason for being in Las Vegas.

Young Andrew Contreras
was celebrating his 48th birthday
this weekend

How the time has flown

Andrew and our grandson Kevin

As always, these trips to the desert have nothing to do with the famed Las Vegas Strip but are all about quiet family time.

Jenn, Andrew and Kevin share a wonderful life in a marvelous home.

We couldn't be happier for them.

I hope that your New Years was as good as ours was.

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