Where has the summer gone?

I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving. I'm glad I had time to enjoy some sunrises and sunsets over the summer. This first sunset is at Lake Anna in Bumpass, Virginia.

This is the sunset at Norfolk Harbour Days taken off a friends sailboat.

I need to get out and rake leaves and do last cleanup in my flowerbeds. Uggh! Anyone want to help?

The Long, Long Wait.....

Well, I thought that I would go vote mid-morning between the morning rush and the lunch rush to try and not get stuck in line. It didn't work that way. I ended up standing outside, in the rain, for 1 1/2 hours. The picture above is down the side of the school building. I turned the corner and could finally see the entrance. Maybe, just maybe, I'm getting close.


Oh, the disappointment. The lines wound around the hallway for another hour before alas I finally got to cast my ballot.

It was frustrating to be in line and people with names starting with I thru O were in and out in 10 minutes. They only had three tables A-H, I-O and P-Z. Guess which line was the longest? Of course the P-Z. I hope they come up with a better method of using their resources next time.

I complain but I would do it again to excercise my right to vote as a citizen of this great country. Don't forget to go vote today!!!

Relay for Life Photo Contest

I received this email from the Relay for Life contest today. "Congratulations on winning the RelayForLife.org/SharingHope.tv Photo Contest. Your photo was selected as the winner from a vote of RelayForLife.org users and volunteers from around the world." How cool is that. Here is the link to the website. http://www.relayforlife.org/relay/node/4483


I won a new Flip video camera. Yeah....Now I just need people that will let me video them.

Here's the link to the other Relay photos on my photo website.
http://www.pbase.com/criley/relay_4_life

Featured on American Cancer Society Blog

I had uploaded some pictures to http://sharinghope.tv/ for a photo contest that some of my relay for life teammates told me about and the one with a poem I wrote was featured on their blog. You can view the blog at http://sharinghopeblog.org/. The rest of the photos from the Relay's that I participated in can be viewed at http://www.pbase.com/criley under the Relay for Life gallery.

Vacation at Lake Anna

I just returned from spending the last 2 weeks at Lake Anna in Bumpass, Virginia. It was a wonderful time with great weather. I'm working on getting pictures posted on my new photo website at www.pbase.com/criley under the Last Resort gallery.

Here are some pictures of Kathy and Tawnya in the tube.

pimp your myspace

Playing Catch Up

We'll it's been awhile since I sat and wrote on my blog. I can't believe it's already the middle of February. The last few weeks have been a lot of fun celebrating several birthdays and the superbowl. Tracy had the first birthday. We went to a nice restaurant in downtown Norfolk called the Monastery. It was very good eastern european food.

The next big event was the Super Bowl. I hosted it at my house and we had a great time hanging out, watching the game and eating. This is Anthony, Alesha & little Noah.

Amanda & her mom joined in the festivities.

On February 8th, Jenny & Robb were blessed with a baby son.

Cameron Gerald August Preffer
Born: 8:11am 02-08-2007
7lbs14oz 20 -5/8" long

And we were blessed to celebrate with...a..39 year old baby boy

Mark Raymond Gorski

Russ's birthday party had an old school theme from

"My Favorite Martian"

The question of the day:

Did Mark really Shave off his mustach & beard?

See more pictures and find out the answer by going to my photo website at:

http://just4fun21.photoparade.com/

Select the Winter 2007 Album

Softball Season Notes

Glory Daze, the women's softball team I've been managing and playing on this season, finished 2nd a 12 - 4 record. We did really well and I'm proud of the the team. Anyway we made a run at the Undefeated champion and hung strong with them all the way going into the 7th inning down 4 to 6. The team played their hardest but fell a little short of advancing to the next round. Oh well, we'll be back for next year.
GO GLORY DAZE!!!

Here are a few pictures of the faithful one who hung out after out game. I 've a few more but will have to post those on our team website.

GO GLORY DAZE!!!

Balloon Video Link

If you have a problem watching the video in the previous post you can connect to it using this link.
The Great Sedona Balloon Adventure

Enjoy!

The Great Sedona Balloon Adventure

Sunrise Balloon trip with Northernlights Balloon Adventures in Sedona Arizona - September 2006

Below the Rim

Our biggest adventure was taking a helicopter down to the Havasupai Indian Reservation on the bottom of the canyon and hiking to Havasu and Mooney Falls. We were several thousand feet below the rim of the Grand Canyon and the views were spectacular. We landed in Supai which is only accessible by an eight mile hike through the desert, riding a mule or taking a helicopter. Once we landed it was another 2 miles down to Havasu Falls. This is a picture of the first view we had of the falls.

This is a picture once we reached the bottom.

Mom rode a horse down to Havasu Falls while Bev and I hiked the two miles. This a picture when we met up a the bottom.

Mooney Falls was another mile past Havasu Falls and to get to it required going through 2 caves and some narrow cliffs. Needless to say Mom didn't like the heights and Bev didn't feel like crawling through the caves. Here is a picture of the 1st cave.

This is a picture of Mooney Falls from the bottom of the 1st cave. Notice the chains bolted into the cliff. I gets quite steep and those are needed to navigate your way but it was worth it for the view.

Mooney Falls is taller than Niagra Falls. More pictures later about our below the rim adventures or you can look at the Havasu Canyon pictures on my photo parade website at http://just4fun21.photoparade.com/

Excellent Arizona Adventure 2006

I've been wanting to add some more about the trip Mom and I took to Arizona but there are so many pictures, I wanted to get them organized on my new photo website. You can browse my pictures and download full sized copies from this address. http://just4fun21.photoparade.com/

Here are some pictures of the highlights on our trip. As mentioned below we took a sunrise balloon flight in Sedona which was awesome. Here is a picture of inflating the balloon. I thought the glow inside the balloon while they were inflating was really cool.

From Sedona we headed North to the Grand Canyon where Bev and I had a great time climbing on the rocks.

Come on Bev you can make it.

Whew, I made it to the top.

Three explorers on the south rim of the canyon.

Halloween Weekend

I got to have some fun this past weekend with my wild -n- crazy friends. Friday night Tracy, Mark, Russ and I went out to dinner then went bowling.

Say cheese!

Tracy doing her best pumpkin impersonation.

Tracy, Mark, Russ and I had a good time bowling.

Saturday after Amanda and I went furniture shopping we met up with Trisha and had an enjoyable dinner.

Welcome Baby Noah

I'm sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. I've been so busy trying to catch up from being on vacation. Work has been extremely busy since I got back. I hope to finally get caught up on things this weekend. I have done a few fun things the past few weeks. One Sunday Mark, Tracy and I went over and visited Anthony's growing family. Here are some pictures of little Noah.

Next Stop Sedona

Awoke at 4:30 am to meet out balloon pilot - Captain Ron. After 4-wheeling to our launch site, the crew rolled out 4 balloons and with some of Bev's help inflated them for lift off. We rose into the air and drifted among the clouds as we watched the sun rise above the gorgeous Sedona landscape.

After the wonderful trip, we went back to the hotel to rest our weary eyes before heading on our next excursion. On our afternoon trip we stopped at the Church of the Red Rocks which is built into the side of a majestic mountain.

View from the Church of the Red Rocks.

Hanging with the home girls.

Next we headed to a ghost town called Jerome where we had lunch at the Haunted Hamburger. The view from our table was spectacular and the food was just as amazing.


Stay tuned for more stories as we head north to the Grand Canyon and beyond....

The Beginning of a New Adventure...

The Arizona Connection -
On September 23 Mom & I met in Atlanta and flew to Phoenix by way of Salt Lake City. It was a long trip both of us leaving home around 4:30am to make our way to the airports and arriving in Phoenix around 3:30pm which is 6:30 EST. The first photo is the view of the sunrise on my flight from Norfolk to Atlanta.

This is a photo of the Grand Canyon from 20,000 feet. It was an amazing view.














Bev met us at the airport and wisked us away to her mom's house for a good time of fellowship and food. Then we made our way into the desert to the Ward Ranch in Tonopah. Here is a picture of the Ward's and I after dinner on Sunday.

We got together with my roommate from college Kim (Shoup)Kooy and her lovely family on Sunday evening.

More fun to come as the adventure continues......