NYC - Washington D.C. - Philadelphia

I don't want to get too long winded about my trip because it was a week and a half packed with 8+ hours of touring each day.  I can simply say it was a lot of fun and full of good old fashioned family togetherness!  Surprisingly enough there was no yelling, screaming, or thoughts of joining a different family; we all had a great time!

I am a huge tourist in Philadelphia

This reminds me of the Rage Against the Machine CD cover "The Battle of Los Angeles"

We were on a quest similar to Nicolas Cage in National Treasure.  Only our adventure had less ruining of priceless artifacts and lawbreaking.

At about day 7 of our trip, this was the general feeling

Yay! Colbert!

These pictures prove that we were all there, and the smiles on our faces proves that we loved every minute of it!  The biggest disappointment of the trip was the entire reason we went on the trip in the first place.  About 9 months ago we booked a trip to NYC to see the Green Day musical "American Idiot".  We listened to the music regularly and were stoked for the show which we bought tickets to 9 months earlier.  Well, we got all dressed up and went to the show on Wednesday night only to find out that it had been cancelled and the last showing was on Sunday.

Fail.

Head games

I got back into the beanie making business this Christmas and made a beanie for Kristy, but I loved it so much that I made one for myself.  Just thought I'd share the most awesome thing I've ever made.

I should open up my own Etsy.com account! I'd make at least a dollar an hour making beanies..

So beanies got me thinking of my head which reminded me of a funny story from my youth that is slightly embarrassing.  When I was in middle school I thought Green Day was a pretty freaking cool band and on the inside of their Dookie CD (if I remember correctly) they had this picture of Billie Joe Armstrong scratching his head.

Look at how freaking cool he is!

Well, I thought that it was SO cool that he was bending his head to scratch it instead of just scratching his head like a normal person would.  So for a few weeks I would bend my head to scratch it just so I could look cool, even though I didn't realize that it probably had the opposite effect to others around me.  Instead of thinking how cool I was I'm sure they just thought I  had a bad case of head lice.

Oh memories.... aren't kids stupid?

Best Weekend ever!

A jam packed week was followed up by a jam packed weekend.  During the week I volunteered at the Concord Library for the first time and was doing a 25 page paper so that I could have the weekend free.

We were trying to make a 30 (epic fail/dyslexia)

On friday night we had a 30-second to mars concert.  They were really good despite making us wait an hour between the opener and the main show.  The lead singer was sick and you could tell his voice was raspy, and to top it all off the drummer sprained his ankle in the middle of the show!  It was still a really good show that has made me really start listening to them, I really like their music.

Family shot!  Cute from afar, but far from cute.

 We went to the great city of San Francisco and did a segway tour for my mother's birthday.  It was a 2 1/2 hour tour, around the Embarcadero and surrounding areas.  We had seen it all before, but the guide gave us some new information and of course, it was fun because we were on segways.

We are buddies!

To prove that I'm a great son, I had to post pictures of my mom's birthday/mother's day present.  I bought her a new mailbox and stained the wood.  You don't hear my mom complain very often, but if you want to hear her go off, just ask about her mailbox. (no joke... try it!)

Before: moldy, grey, sun worn, cracked, ugly

The wood was cracking when I sanded, so I had to add new boards

Finished product!  Even after being in the sun all day, I obviously didn't get much of a tan.

Ok its April 15th... time to go do taxes.  What?! I'm not a procrastinator, get off my back!

A new year!

It's interesting to note that the last time I posted was right before I got a girlfriend, and now I am posting again now that I'm once again single.  I guess I just get lazy, or don't do anything fun when I have a significant other.  Looking at all my pictures, I noticed that I need this blog as an incentive to take pictures of fun stuff that I do. If I'm not updating the blog, I forget to take my camera along and document any fun things that happen.  Well here are a few things that have happened in the past 5 months.

My uncle Julio took me to the best concert I've ever seen - Roger Waters doing The Wall album!

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful super scary.

We have won 3 championships in a row!  I have the shirts to prove it

One of the biggest accomplishments in my life recently is that I have been working out my legs and playing a lot of volleyball.  I have seen the results by increasing my vertical jump about 4 to 5 inches!  I can now hang on the rim and I just need another 4 or 5 until I can dunk a volleyball again!

Monterey!

Can I confess something to the world?  I'm a nerd.  (OK everyone knows that, but it gets more nerdy)  I've known Sam for about 13 years, he's from Singapore but lives in Missouri, he came over to hang out with me for a week.  Why did Josh preface this by saying he's a nerd you might be asking yourself?  Well I only knew Sam from playing computer games since about high school and had never met him in real life before.

Nerd alert!  Where is my computer and Mt. Dew?

We made our way down to Julia Pfeiffer Falls and can I just say it was AMAZING?  It is one of the most beautiful places in all of California, I would say it was one of the most beautiful places I'd ever seen but Guatemala has too many places that are on the top of my list.

Para-Dice (get it? That's my name, with para in front of it)

Pictured:Two nerds experiencing a rare encounter with a girl

Theresa Lenz was awesome enough to grace us with her presence and make our trip that much more exciting! Her and I were singing Weezer, the Beatles, Ben Folds, and many more the entire 20+ hours we spent in the car over the week of fun with Sam.  Theresa is helping me write this post, so I have to be nice to her... and we are listening and singing to Celine Dion right now.  It's all coming back its all coming back to me nooowwwwww!

Its wabbit hunting season!

When people ask me about my veganism I usually ask them if they want the 1-minute, 5-minute, or hour long version.  They were the first people to ever ask for the hour long version in the car ride home, and it probably could have gone to be more like a 2-hour discussion.  Theresa was already leaning to be a vegetarian, but that discussion helped push her over the end and now she's been going strong for over a month!

Point Lobos in Carmel

This was day one of our Journey.  Sam came on Sunday afternoon and this was Monday's adventure.

Random Family Fun!

 I admit it... Clark looks better in a speedo than me

Clark played water polo this year and rocked it.  I'm excited for him because it will be good for his future volleyball career.  The only downside is that Clarkie is always at practice and doesn't have as much time to play with his big browfer. *wah* *cry* *sob*.. I don't want cheese with my whine.. I'm vegan.

 You can't tell but I'm really excited

I was playing for a local league here in Clayton that plays at the middle school.  We had a really good team, and we dominated the entire season until the championships where we won this snazzy tee-shirt.  The competition wasn't quite as good as when I played in college, but it was fun just to be playing again.

Snuggle-Bug

Above is a picture of Ethan at about one month old.  He is adorable, and I'm updating this a few months after the picture was taken... I must admit that the first few months he wasn't fun, but now he's responding and smiling and laughing.  He still poops and sleeps and eats, but he is so much fun now! 

Grand daddy and baby sleeping.  Ethan is almost 2 months old

Working my way through college

No seriously, I have to pay my college tuition somehow.  This dance got me a free dinner from Lauren.  We went up to Ashland where Suzanna (on pole with me) lives for a wedding of Lauren's friend.  It was a quick trip, but was totally worth the drive just to hang out with LG, Kenken, Carcar & Zana.

Family Reunion and more!

I invited Kyle to my Armstrong family reunion.  When I did this I gave him fair warming about what would happen and I emphasized that if he went he would be doing something my ex-wife would not even dare do.... hang out with the Armstrongs. 

 

Pictured: Kyle attempting to explode his own head

Fortunately Kyle did not succeed and is still with us today, although if you are looking for a funny story, just ask him about his 40 hour car ride to Yellowstone with my dad.  My dad has a VW camper van and I told him this but for some reason he heard RV camper... there is a pretty big difference between the two.  To make a long story short, it almost broke down and we slept two nights in the top bunk of the van in close quarters, which made for an unforgettable adventure.

Julie & Kyle on their best behavior.. They don't want to embarrass me and my dad in front of my family

 Kyle escaping the van probably after political discussion

One thing I warned Kyle about was to not talk politics with my family who adore Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin.  But of course we talked politics with basically every member of my extended family in the few days we were with them.  Hilarity ensued for hours everyday when my family found out Kyle was a democrat and willing to stick up for himself!

The fountain of youth

 

I need to find me an old faithful.. but preferably she isn't too old.

 One of the superpowers from being vegan is you can walk up to animals and they won't attack you

Happy Birthday Carly!

We went to the Cheesecake factory for Carly's birthday... I'm not too sure if even stepping foot in a place with the word 'Cheese' in it is considered vegan.. I feel tainted.