We Go Apple Picking In New Hampshire!

So went Apple picking the our first full day in New Hampshire, and we have to tell you, it is a beautiful state.

We were taken to one of many apple picking sites in the tri-state area. Yeah, there are apples around here, but c'mon, it was in New Hampshire!

They all looked so good!

Some needed help to reach the best ones...

But the U.S Navy had sent some of its best to help out in the effort!

Hey if you start to eat it now, you won't have to pay for it!

It was paid for.

Picking with friends.

Here, our daughter pays tribute to her favourite book cover.

"Hey, wait! Why are you hitting me! Put the Bow and Arrow down!"

Just some of the 87 pounds of Apples picked.

There were other things to pick here as well, like a pumpkin to decorate or to cook for pie...

Yeah, I went there.

Happy Birthday, Eddie!

Happy Birthday, Eddie! You are a good Father, and you give witness of a real Catholic and a real man. Your family is blessed to have you as a Father and Husband, and we are happy and blessed to have you as a friend.

Have a blessed birthday, and enjoy your day!

¡Feliz cumpleaños, 'mano y compadre!

p.s. Happy Feast of St. Placid & Companions!

We Get To New Hampshire!

So you cross on over to California from Nevada, at least from the Las Vegas part, an there is no sign welcoming one to the Golden State. There are just signs saying that we recycle in this state, and that you need to put on your seat belt.

At least Hew Hampshire has a sign welcoming you to their state. Bi-lingual no less! Why can't we have bi-lingual signs in the two dominant languages of California, say Spanish and Mandarin? We have so much to learn from other places.

Such as the fact that the state government of New Hampshire sells Liquor!

Hey, is that a Kramer sighting?

So eventually we did make it to New Hampshire after visiting every single Hispanic neighbourhood in Northern Massachusetts. Here is little mini-San Juan Bautista reunion, east coast edition!

Throwing our gang symbols in New Hampshire. No cops around. Real tough with an iPad in hand.

Happy Birthday From The Future, Miriam!

"Hello, Miriam! Wait, is this thing on?

Hello, Miriam! This is future Mendozas, wishing you a Happy and Blessed Birthday! How can you tell this is from the future? Look at the Princess Cake. It has a '6' on it, and you are not yet '6'! Therefore, it is from the future!

Have a Happy Birthday... well, we know you will have one, because we are from the future. Oh, and do clean up that mess you are going to make when Mommy and Daddy tell you to. It will be for the best, trust us.

Signed,

Future Mendozas

First Friday Seen From Mission San Juan Bautista

Here is an image of Sunset as seen from Mission San Juan Bautista on First Friday, October 2nd, 2010.

Flying Across The Country

Some pictures of our trip going across the country.

Princess Leia's words come to mind. "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought...."

A bit hard to see, but that is San Francisco in the middle of the picture, the San Francisco Bay, and Oakland just off the wing. It is hard to see as we took off on the first flight of the day out of San Jose Airport.

A view somewhere over Nevada.

As near as we could guess, and going by the monitor provided by the airplane, we were over far western Nebraska, around Dalton and Gurley. We said a prayer for your family here, Nick!

A view inside the plane. Which one would become the leader of the group when we land on the Island? Who would ultimately betray the group? Where would the tail section be? Who will come back to life as the Smoke Monster?

Hey, we crossed into Canadian airspace! We are over Lampton Shores.

Still over Canada, we can see the city of Hamilton here.

Here is Niagara Falls. The more dramatic side is the Canadian portion, which is on the left-hand side. We are crossing back into the United States now, and beginning to descend into Boston airport.

Why did we cross all the way on over to the other side of the country? Perhaps this post here will explain things. Or maybe it will not. Stay tuned for more postings on our trip to the land of Live Free or Die.

Ulysses Sighting: New Hampshire Edition!

Some may know that we have recently returned from the state of New Hampshire for vacation. We went for the blessed event of a Baptism, the making of a new Christian, but we also had time to do some other stuff, like...

ULYSSES SIGHTING!

Even all the way across the continent, there are all sorts of people driving these huge, powerful red trucks, and some of them are very convincing. You could almost believe that a powerful Naval Officer could drive some of these.

So we took some pictures of some of the more convincing ones. For your viewing pleasure, we present one of them right here.

If you look carefully at the truck in the foreground (click on picture for a larger view), you can see that it is indeed a Red Pick-up Truck. It even has one of those larger cabs that could fit 4, maybe 5 people. It looked like it had been taken off-roading. It had the appropriate Black trim. This particular truck was even in a church parking lot, so that was good. The driver could not be found, so we could not really be sure.

BELIEVABILITY RATING: 25%.

While indeed this was a Red Pick-up Truck, we were in New Hampshire, which is quite a ways from where Ulysses is currently at. Also, this pick-up truck in the foreground is a Dodge Ram, which is totally different from what he drives.

This sighting had much promise, but alas we were denied. If only we had seen more Red Pick-up Trucks that day. Perhaps we might have had better luck.

We had other sightings, but we will get to those in due time. In the meantime, there is a bit of a corner of a huge White Van just at the right edge of the picture. Maybe later we can zoom in on that for a...

KRAMER SIGHTING!

Stay tuned for more sightings!

New Hampshire: End Of Summer, 2010, Apples and Pumpkins

We highly recommend Apple Picking where ever you can do it. If you can do it in New Hampshire, all the better! The entire place just smelled of delicious apples.

Just be careful of all the kids who want to pick apples, because before you know it, the kids have picked 87 pounds of apples!

We had apples for the entire week!

Me: Is there anything to snack on?

Another: Have an apple!

Me: What's for dessert?

Another: Apple Crumble!

Whenever I think of New Hampshire, I will always think of apples, and good friends.

Happy Birthday, Ramon!

Happy Birthday, Ramon! God bless you on your special day! May you have many more. enjoy this pink cake that yo would never eat in public.

It A Gril!

She's here! The latest edition, Kramer 9.0 is here!

Deo gratias!

God bless you, Kramers, and especially you, young lady. We have waited our entire lives to meet you, and cannot wait until we do so.

Sacramento, And A Return To The Central Coast By Train

Had to take my friend's car to Sacramento in the middle of the week. So I went to work for a few hours, and then took off for the second time to Sacramento in the month of July.

This place always puzzled us when we would go up to Sacramento. Near as we can tell, it is Government Document Incineration Center. They also probably have remains of UFO's for all we know.

One of the giant Windmills near Altamont Pass.

Dropped off the car at my friends, ate lunch, and then he dropped me off at the State Capitol. A view from the East looking toward the West.

Governor's Office, with CHP Officer standing guard. Missed the Governor by 10 minutes!

The Cupola of the Capitol Building.

What's this? A valid elevator permit? I don't think I have ever seen one. Everyone I had ever seen was always out of date.

Budget problems are not new to California. See how the granite changes colours? When the Capital building was going up, funding ran out, and it was built only to about the 2 to 3 foot level. More money came in, and the rest of the building was finished, but the original granite was unavailable, and a different quarry was used.

A couple of blocks to the north stands the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. The plaza in front was renamed Bishop Gallegos Square. Bishop Gallegos was an Augustinian who became Axillary Bishop of Sacramento. he was tragically killed when struck by an automobile in 1991. He has been declared a Servant of God who cause is under Vatican investigation for Canonization. He was a gentle man, full of Faith.

The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.

The Altar of the Cathedral, with the Tabernacle behind it, as it should be.

While walking from the Cathedral to the Train Station, walked through McKinley Park and in front of the Federal Courthouse. As soon as I crossed the street to the Train Station, a Sacramento County Sheriff stops in front of me, asking if everything was alright. I had gotten some funny looks from people, but thought nothing out of the ordinary. Turns out that the Black Hat I was wearing is also the colour of a gang that is trying to take control of this part of Sacramento. I had never heard of it. I guess I have the look of a hard-core gang member!

Anyways, here is my train going from Sacramento to San Jose.

A view of San Pablo Bay form near the town of Rodeo, I think.

A view of the car I was in as we arrived in San Jose. It was a very nice ride, with different views that I have not seen in a while. Took a bit long though, and I still needed a ride from San Jose to the Central Coast. Would take it again though. Would like to see other places by train, like the East Coast, Washington Dc, New York and Boston. That would be neat!

July Vehicles Driven By The Mendozas

Again, thank you everybody who lent us your vehicles while we were out of a van (It is back, but more on that later).

Here are a couple of the vehicles that we borrowed over the course of a couple of weeks.

The first one that we borrowed was the little purple car on the right. It belongs to a Seminary brother, Pedro, from Sacramento. the first day we had it we went to a birthday party, but we also had somebody's van. Some kids that we know were not aware that we had both a van and this little car, and thought we all came in this little car since we were all gathered around it getting something from the back. It immediately got called the "Clown Car," and the name stuck for the rest of the time we had it.

The vehicle in front is a big old Ford F-150. The cab is large enough to fit 6 people! We liked this one too, and it immediately got nicknamed "Truckzilla."

What's that in the background?

It's a 1973 VW Bus in the Wild Westerner scheme! Perhaps more on that in future postings. It's a pretty neat Bus.