Thanksgiving 2007 -WOW

This year we were invited to head up the mountain to Burney California, and spend Thanksgiving with a special friend (Father Vince Juan). Father is the Pastor of Saint Francis Parish in Burney and a great guy. Father is so full of laughter, love, and compassion.

Father Vince

We started off the day with Thanksgiving Mass.

What a great family.... Father Vince slaving away at the stove.
Here are the girls learning how to make lumpia
(One of our favorite Filipino foods), and egg rolls.

No Liz, you need to wrap it like this!!

Where's the TURKEY?

No Turkey here, we had a delicious Filipino Style Thanksgiving,

and I mean DELICIOUS!

The kids absolutely loved the food. I think we ate sooo much that we made ourselves sick. However, this was just lunch, we had another completely different meal for dinner. I think I gained 10 lbs.

"We needed to burn some of

those calories off"

So, the plan was to drive to a nearby site

where we could go cave exploring.

However, when we arrived, we noticed that the gate to the enterence to the cave was closed.

Deceiding to return home, and just before we turned back, We noticed that there wasn't a "No Trespassing sign," so we parked the car and walked toward the cave (Subway Cave).

We made it!

Boy am I glad we didn't just turn around and head back.

Check out how big the cave is. This cave is really spectacular.

Father had been to the cave before and knew that flash lights were needed. He was able to borrow this light from the nearby airport, or was it from the lighthouse on the coast.

Just Kidding,

but look at the size of that light.

Here we go down into the mouth of the cave. I couldn't help but think that the cave looked like the inside of a whale's mouth. Remember the biblical story of Jonah being swallowed by the whale, get the picture....

It was really dark in there, does anyone have a BIG Flashlight?

Nice family, OK I might be a little biased

My beautiful wife. At one point we were in the middle of the cave and Father turned off the Flashlight. I thought Liz was about to die...

Great Joke Father..

My son Sean and I, I can't believe my little boy is going to bigger than me soon.....

We made it to the other side of the cave, can you see the light at the end on the tunnel? Nice pun, huh.

Time for a hike. The day was clear and the air brisk. Great opportunity for exploring the great north country.

No luck finding a Christmas tree in the manzanita forest.

Hey, what's with that girlie stuff. We are hiking. Ya know, manly hiking; rattlesnakes, mountain lions, killer bee's, etc. Knock that off....

But we did find a great creek.

The water was flowing very quickly. So we thought we would jump in and see how cold it was. Not really, Just Kidding.

Father Vince and Liz

The kids taking a rest next to the creek. Yes, it was a little cold.

My beautiful daughter, Mackenzie. This shot was taken just before she fell into the river. We finally fished her out of the creek a 1/2 mile down stream. She was pretty shaken up and really wet. OK, just kidding again, it really didn't happen, she didn't fall in, it was just a nice picture.

My two special ladies.

Sean is to the right of the picture throwing leaves over their heads trying to create "Natural Falling Leaves." What you don't see is just after I snapped the picture, a huge clump of leaves fell onto their heads.

Nice job Sean!

A marriage made in heaven. She is the love of my life.....
Sean

Mackenzie (What a very specail girl. Smart, Funny, Talented)

Hey where did she get those genes.

We then left the wilderness, returned back to the house, Ate a huge dinner, and then the KARAOKE CONTEST began.

Each of us, with the exception of Liz, took turns singing songs until 11 pm.

It was sooo much fun.

Sean singing as we read the words on the TV screen. Thanks Father Vince (who by the way can really sing), for putting up with:

Our no rhythm, off key, too loud, and obnoxious singing.

After some singing on the Karaoke machine, Sean played for us on his "Real" guitar (He is really getting good). Since I have no real talent, I showed off a little on the kid's "Guitar Hero" and was Only booed off the stage once....

We often forget how wonderful God can be.

This is the first Holiday that I don't have any parents to gather around. It has been our tradition to spend Thanksgiving with my brothers and their families, and with my mom (Dad went to heaven 13 years ago). Now that my mom has gone to heaven also, this could of been a potentially difficult time, however, I must say, this thanksgiving has to be one of the best I have ever experienced.

Thank You Lord for always being there for me,

That is what I am truly thankful for this year.....