What does a Daddy's Birthday look like?

It was my birthday on the 10th and my family surprised me with the most delicious ice cream cake. (Fun Fact - when I was growing up, ice cream cake was all that I would eat. If someone had a normal cake, I just thought it was too dry and wouldn't want any. My mom is so sweet, she would always run to Carvel to grab an ice cream cake for my birthday and special occasions.)

Teressa and Ava both made this one. Teressa put some cookies in a bag and let Ava stomp on them. Ava was actually so excited about the cake that as soon as I returned home from the airport on the 9th, I walked through the door and Ava yelled "Dada eat your cake!"

Ava helped me blow out the candles. It took us a few tries but we had a lot of fun doing it. She even sang happy birthday to me. What can melt a Dad's heart quicker than his 2 year old singing "happy birthday dear dadda"

Alright... the layers:
chocolate chip cookie crust
hot fudge
chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream
caramel
bananas
butter pecan ice cream
chocolate
whip cream
crumbled chocolate chip cookies
caramel and hot fudge drizzle

Madelyn didn't get any cake this year. But she celebrated nonetheless!

Thank you family for an awesome birthday!

Skis. Colorado. Family. Tree Wells.

Some of you know that I (Tony) had the opportunity to go to Winter Park, Colorado for a few days of skiing last week. My Dad and step-mom were headed there with a ski club and I joined them, along with my cousin John. So much fun!

Here is a random assortment of snapshots from my camera phone and Teressa's Canon SD780IS that she so graciously let me borrow. (FANTASTIC little camera by the way for those of you looking for a nice small point and shoot camera for around $200. It's smaller than a credit card so you can always have it on you. It takes great video and has actually gone up in price since I bought it for her. The photos below were all shot with it or my phone)

They had already gotten over 200 inches of snow this year, by the time we arrived. Then they must have gotten another foot or two while we were there. Tons and tons of powdery, beautiful snow. This is a view from the top of a diamond that I skied with John. I say "skied" loosely. The hill kind of owned us on this one. We didn't fall, but we were far from "perfect form." :-)

What does every guy really want to ask but is too ashamed to really say?
Do these ski pants make me look fat?

John throwing up his ski pole gang signs.
People were kinda afraid of us.
Ok.
They were very afraid.

I borrowed this from Ansel Adam's collection.

Love the face.

Above. If you look closely.
You will see the half pipe. It's a lot bigger than it looks.
My Dad, John and I looked like the funniest 3 dorks playing around on that.

We had lots of fun in this hot tub while the snow came down. We all even took turns laying in the snow for a few seconds. The highlight really came when John and I decided to head back to the room and we took Dad/Beth's clothes, shoes, towels, room key, etc... with us. ha ha

We also took a pair of my Dad's... for proper etiquette, we'll say "Hanes."
We put them on the railing one night when it was going to drop to -20 that night.
The next morning, he went out on the porch to discover his clothing that had become an ice sculpture. I have to hand it to him. My Dad knows how to take a joke very very well. But for reasons of my own, and for fear of retribution, I decided not to post any photos of the incident.

We have been hearing about lots of skiers and snowboarders getting trapped in tree wells, so we decided to stage our own incident. It was hilarious and lots of fun. What a bunch of goofballs.

I could not pull John out.
I told him to not eat so much breakfast.
He sank like a rock.

The three of us.
Long gone.

Dad and Beth.
Beth did an amazing job skiing those challenging slopes by the way!

A few of the mountain from my Dad's goggles.

If you see these people on the mountain.
Think long and hard before you get on the chair lift.
Just kidding.
They are harmless.

The gang.
So much fun!
Thank you Dad and Beth!!

You talkin to me.
You talkin to me.

Skiing all morning can sure make someone goofy by lunchtime.

As I said...

When the snow would stop, the brightest blue skies would pop out.
Breathtaking.
I only wished I had some lenses and polarizing filters on me.

That's Dad and John ahead of me.

Crouching Snowflake, Hidden Snowball.
(being released in India 2014)

Photography while Snowed In

Brrr... it is cold here in Texas! While I write this, it is 19 degrees. Which is great, seeing as to how it was 9 degrees earlier. The office has been closed because of the roads being covered in ice and snow. It looks like everything may be shut down again tomorrow as well.

Ava and I were looking for something to do yesterday since it was too cold to really play outside. We spent about a half hour in the backyard, but since the wind chill brought it down to -2, we quickly ran out of fun things to do. We warmed up with some hot chocolate and have done lots of fun stuff inside since then. From puzzles, books, an animated movie, building a blanket fort and even doing some photography.

Ava helped me find interesting things around the house to photograph and we had lots of fun doing it. Her favorite was the train. After a brief break of running around the house yelling "chu chu" she helped me set it up and photograph it. Teressa has been happy to have some extra help around the house too, so it's a win win. Enjoy the photos and let me know what you think!

We grabbed this apple off the counter and sprayed some water on it. These are the best apples I have had in years, by the way. We got them from Costco. There are a few different kinds there though so you'll have to ask Teressa which ones these are.

Don't you love the way that an iPod photographs? We are going to be selling 2 or these by the way, if anyone is interested in a gently used one. I have an 8gb and 16gb iPod touch. 3rd generation I believe. I think we got them last year, but don't really use them very much.

This is a pill box that Teressa picked up when travelling in Scotland. I didn't even know what it was, but Ava thought it was cool so in front of the camera it went!

Teressa got this train while on a trip with her Dad. She was like 10 or 13 (don't ask me, i'm not sure what happened to 11 and 12. that's just what she told me) and she took a train ride with her Dad for her birthday. I think that is so cool though to have this from that special time with her Father.

iPod