Happy Halloween/Birthday!

We had a great Halloween and birthday celebration yesterday! Before we proceeded with our Halloween festivities, Bryan got to open up his presents. It was definitely a skateboard theme this year  - go figure. This skateboard Cam and I bought him was actually one Bryan rode back in '85 ...

These were a couple of skate books we got him - yes ... books - and were also a big hit. One was graffiti art and the other is full of skateboard decks from years past. He had a great time pointing out the ones he used to have to Cam ...  :)

On to Halloween ...Cam was an extremely large skeleton bobblehead that was a big hit.

This one was kind of creepy because of the transparent arms on his costume ... little eerie ...

He decided to forego the black gown that came with the "head" and opted for his SK8 ASYLUM t-shirt instead.

We didn't argue with him. In fact, it was great marketing if you ask me! With some of the other kids wearing our shirts too, along with this ...  we figured we were covered.  :)  (Is this there anything wrong with this?!!)

All in all it was a great night - lots of trick-or-treaters. The kids had fun hanging together, as did the parents, celebrating Bryan's birthday! The big 35 ... he's getting up there! Hope everyone had a great night as well!!

Catching up

Phew. I'm beat, and SO glad tomorrow is Friday! This has been one crazy busy week, and I honestly feel like I'm back in school with all the work I have to do after I'm done with my regular 8 hour workday!  :) We're all doing great, just trying to breathe in between all of the activities taking place! Cam was in California with his grandparents and cousins for the latter part of last week, and flew back into town on Saturday, just in time for the Ski Pro event. It was a great success. So exciting to hear SK8 Asylum announced over the PA, people asking about the park, handing out fliers, and the overall exciteiment and postiivie energy. Some great amateur and pro skateers were on hand to skate a ramp especially built by our builder, Arizona Skate Ramp Company, and it was a huge hit. A contest ended the day with about 6 or so competing ... Cam included. He had a blast! He was absolutely exhausted, but had such a great time. After the event we headed over to a friends hosue for a "ramp party" for and more skating. The mini-ramp was recently finished in their backyard, so it was ready for skating. Cam continued to skate and we continued with more netowrking! Got home very late so we were pooped on Sunday! All in all, great day.

 

 

Bryan's parents came over with his aunt/uncle/counsins from indiana on Sunday - Had a great time visiting with them - dinner, football and S'mores! When that thermometer gets betlow 90 people, it's time to use that firepit! After skating for approximately 10 hours on Saturday, Cam was a zombie for the better part of Sunday and even Monday. But come Tuesday when it's a "skate" night .... no sign of tiredness. We haven't been over to Cam's previous skate facility in quite a while, for obvious reasons, so we've changed venues. We've been hitting a skatepark in Tempe, with some other parents/kids from the old place, and have also made some new friends. It's been great for Cam to skate in a different environment and with different people. Nothing like changing it up once in a while. Here's one of the pics of him at that park:

So let's see ... mentioned in my last post ... yeah, I know ... a week ago ... that the route sold. It has certaily been a whirlwid isince then! We signed the liease on the building on Monday, finished the paperwork for our equipment vendor and insurance company, placed an order and already received some of the promotional t-shirts we plan to use at various skateparks, and made arrangements to sign all the closing paperwork for the route for next week. The new route owner has been working with Bryan, and is looking forward to taking over. So are we! Holsum requires two weeks after the actual route sale before Bryan can relinquish the route over, so he's taking a backseat (literally - he's been doing a lot of napping while the other guy does the driving and dirty work!) But it's been tough - after he's done with his day job, he starts in on the moonlighting. And so do I, I suppose ...  :)  My administrative duties do not end at 4:30 people!!! The tough part right now for Bryan is not being able to devote 110% to the park, so once this route is officially gone ... let the games begin!  Tomorrow we've got another skate session at the home of a "consultant" on our build and ... Cam is stoked because he and his friends skate for one of the local companies here. So ... fun times! Then Saturday is of course my Big Punkin's birthday ... the big 35! Of course we'll be celebrating .. headed out to do some Trunk or Treating at a Town Sponsored Event ... think Bryan sees a Marketing Goldmine here .. and then head back to our house for a bit of a birthday celebration.  :) I'll be sure and post pictures from our weekend - it's bound to be just as fun-filled as the rest!

    OUT OF THE MOUTH OF CAMERON

Cameron and I were working on one of his book reports this week ... I was reading the questions to him and he was answering out loud while from his book:

Me: Okay - the next one is asking about the physical characteristics of the main character ...
Cam: Well I know he had black hair ...
Me: Good - anything else?
Cam: And he also had black eyes ...
Me: Black eyes? Where does it say that?
Cam: Nowhere - there's a picture of him right here ...
Me: Cameron, the pciure is black and white ... of course his eyes are black ...

Yahoo! Happy Friday!!!

This ...

is now officially happening! Yee haw! Bryan's route sold today - the credit union approved the buyer's loan/application today, which means we can close next week and within the next couple of weeks ... he'll be done. Sayonara bread route! We are done! And moving on to the next venture ... we have the lease agreement for the building, the landlord agreed to our terms, so it's moving right along. And quite rapidly if I might add. SKI PRO has a Prorider Rail Jam tomorrow, 30 tons of snow included, and we will be there passing out "coming soon" cards ... very exciting. Ski Pro is also an outlet for skateboarding gear, so they asked us and our rampbuilders to participate. We'll have a 24' mini ramp set up there with some amateur, semi-pro, and professional skateboarders giving demos. Pretty great timing, as we weren't sure if we'd be able to begin advertising the park. Wanted to wait until the route "officially" sold, so it worked out great. Also wanted to let everyone know that our website is up and running:  www.SK8ASYLUM.com is now officially live! It is Very basic and simple for now, advertising what to look forward to. We'll be updating it periodically with pictures, location, etc. to keep people coming back! So ... take a peek and keep checking for updates!

The Way I See It #198

"You can shower a child with presents or money but what do they really mean, compared to the most valuable gift of all - your time? Vacations and special events are nice, but so often the best moments are the spontaneous ones. Being there. Every moment you spend with your child could be the one that really matters."

--Tim Russert
Host of NBC's Meet the Press and author of Wisdom of Our Fathers.

A few odds and ends

Oh boy! It's been a while since there was a "real" post! We've been a tad busy this past week or so, and it just hasn't slowed down a bit! Had quite the bit of homework last week in getting paperwork squared away for the route sale. Not official yet, and moving along much slower than we had anticipated, but it is moving along. That's a bonus. Cam's been skating his little tail off - the weather has been absolutely gorgeous so we've been hitting the outdoor skate parks. And of course, he had to wrap up his last week before Fall Break started on Monday. So much to do! Our house guests this weekend were fantastic and we had so much fun! Mom and Dad, and Aunt Cathy and Uncle John rode down from Vegas on Friday. Well mom and dad rode here, Aunt Cathy and Uncle John got as far as Peoria before the bike broke down. Not a good way to start a weekend road trip. Thank God they broke down where they were, however, which was only about an hour or so away, and not in the middle of nowhere. So the bike stayed there, and they finished the trek in a rental car. Not fun, but I'm pretty sure the coronas helped pass along the sadness we all felt for having to leave the bike waaaaaaaaaayyyyyy out there. :) Great weekend for football - Beavers and Cards played awesome. Like I said, it's been a while since I've posted anything, including pictures, so there is a mish-mash of them below. Cam's officially on Fall Break now, so this week is all about relaxing, and catching up on my laundry. ;)

A game of hoops by the pool


Alex has the ball ... he's goin' in for the bucket!


On a mission to finish the entire Hidden Picture workbook ...

Cheeeeeeeeeese!


Hanging out in the hammock


Bryan working on some board racks for the shop


Bob Villa ... watch your back. The finished product! (1 of 4)


Kailee helping Uncle Bryan with the saw!

Just havin' some fun ...

Naptime with Hayden


And ... a couple of pics from Cam's birthday ... Yeah. You know the one from over a month ago? And apparently I had my settings all messed up on my camera, because these were the only ones that came through, all the others were way too dark. Nice. Anyway ...



Birthday cake! Notice the helmet - he wore it all night.
Even when they were done skating. It's a dangerous world.


Embarrassed by the singing! And the helmet ...


And of course, video games. And the helmet. :)