Taking Donations to Seek Pilot's License

I purchased some living social vouchers for flying lessons. One was for my mom (plane/adventure enthusiast) for a birthday present. The voucher was expiring at the end of the month, so my mom wasn't able to make it out. Instead I dragged javier with me to take her place. Long story short, we both got to use the controls to fly the plane. We had ten minutes of short instruction before taking off and then I was in the drivers seat for 30 minutes. We landed, swapped spots and javier got to fly too. It was so great. What a spectacular view of santa barbara. We even spotted our house and our giant redwood tree. Javier prefers jumping out of airplanes, whereas I'd rather be flying the airplane. Can't wait to get you out here for your lesson mom! If my pal Molly wins the big lotto today, maybe she can fund my 70 hours of lessons to earn my license!

Bird's Eye view from the Skyhawk

Mighty Blue

Goleta Pier

Santa Barbara Harbor

UCSB

captain jav

Year of the Dragon

treasure tin for the great year of 2012

What we do on dog walks...

spot cool cars...

scope out the islands...

Alchi-dogs

Elisa and i agreed that instead of exchanging christmas gifts this year, we should have a Christmas FEAST. Since busy is the norm, Christmas came late around here...sometime in february. Elisa, Jordan and Marsais came up for an afternoon at the butterfly preserve, good times in the "muffin lab"(with zero convincing, marsais now believes that javier is the muffin man and makes muffins in his lab) and of course the long awaited feast. As you can tell, this is clearly a photo of tiramisu (not hot dogs in custard). Wow, that kahlua packs a punch. Not many takers on the Alchi-dogs, but lots o laughs.

the parhads!

Butterfly Preserve

Dad in DC

Uncle Dan

Uncle Dan

Copyright 2012 by James Robert Schaad

Uncle Dan, our surrendered Marine,

 hope you’ve found a place dearly serene, 

where skies are blue and sunshine bright,

where clear waters sparkle and glisten the light,

you will be dearly missed, of this I am sure,

in our family memories of you will endure,

a man trained for battle and trained for war,

at heart a gentle man, peaceful to the core,

a man of dignity, a Marine with pride,

we say our goodbyes as, one by one, we kneel by your side,

Peter and David and Mary Beth too,

three gifts to our world fathered by you,

your family tree continues to grow,

from all the love you gave and did show,

be at peace now and take your rest,

fortunate us to have known one of the best.