Hey everyone. Since the last post, we've had quite a bit happening. Of course Brenda's birthday was fabulous, even though I was forced to decorate her cake. ("I don't want to, it's your birthday and you're the expert. Make a cake you will be proud of!" "Right, it's MY birthday, so YOU'RE decorating my cake!") So, as you can tell, I winged it (wung it?) and ended up creating some freakish faux landscape including a sprinkly waterfall. Oh well, at least it tasted fantastic, Bren spared nothing to make sure her cake tasted better than any other!
We spent the evening with family and friends, we barbecued, and we had a wonderful time in spite of screaming children rampaging through the house and yard. Dylan got hold of Bren's food coloring gel set when we weren't paying close enough attention to what he was doing, and he mixed up his own concoction of decorative sprinkles and food coloring gels. Not sure how it tasted, but it didn't seem to deter him.
I also had the chance during the last few weeks to go on a real mountain biking trip (one that we had to travel farther than 20 minutes from home to get to) in Santa Cruz, on the Wilder Ranch and Enchanted Loop trails. It was fantastic, and I came out of the trip without intimate contact with the trail. Much better than the last trip I went on with the same people (Jon and Dave). Here are a few pictures.
I love biking up here because of the huge variety of terrain and wildlife you can get, even in just a few miles of riding. We started out in a grassy, open field, rode down an access road to the single track through a dense redwood grove, and ended up on another access road through a recently control-burned field overlooking the central California coast. Since we had a few minutes before our drivers (our wives) showed up with the vehicles, we finished the trail all the way to the bluffs and cliffs over the Pacific. Not too many places you can get that variety all in under two hours. We ate lunch at a little hole in the wall diner in Santa Cruz, then headed home and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the Del Monte center shops. Dyl was really acting up in one of the stores, and before we could herd him out he fell while playing on the bottom of the escalator. I've always wondered what escalator steps do to fingers if they get caught, and I must say it's not pretty. He didn't need stitches but it sure messed up his middle finger for a while.
That's it for now. Once I get some of the pictures and videos from the previous biking trip I'll put them up for your enjoyment.
Here are some of the picures from our hike up Fremont Peak, near Hollister and Gilroy. It's the highest peak in the area, and you can see for miles in all directions... if we weren't in foggy and smoggy central Cal. It was still an incredible day, and view! Dylan and I had a blast throwing rocks over the edge, it was tough to pull him away when it was time to go. 
