Greg and Amy in Portugal

Hello Family!,!!!

I meant to get a quick "blog" posted several weeks ago when we returned from our trip to Portugal....but time has just slipped away. So......better late than never. Following are some of the pictures from our trip........

Amy’s sister and husband (Barbara and Lance) were with us during the first 10 days of the trip and we spent the first few days in the town of Porto visiting Port wine distilleries and seeing the sights of the old city.




When we left Porto, we drove to our rented (400 year old) house along the Douro River and spent a week visiting small towns (our favorite was Amarante), old churches, vineyards, a world heritage Archeological Park (Vale Do Coa) filled with ancient rock art near the Portugal/Spanish border, and Portugal’s largest outdoor market in Barcelos.




After 10 days of exploring northern Portugal, Barbara and Lance left us and Amy and I started a slow meandering trip southward to finally end up in Lisbon 2 weeks later. During our travels southward we visited old Roman ruins (Conimbriga), the second oldest university in Europe (Coimbra), old monasteries, old churches, former castles of the aristocracy, old forts (built by the Romans and others built by the Moors), Fatima, the castle of the Knights Templar in Tomar, the beautiful Portugal coastline (our favorite area was near San Pedro de Moel), and finally Lisbon.



It was a wonderful trip but as always…..it was good to get home and be with family and friends.

Love to everyone in our families!!!!!!

Greg and Amy

Fourth of July Weekend

Hey Guys,

Happy 4th of July Everybody!

Off to a good start on the 4th of July weekend! It started Thursday afternoon when I called to get us pre-approved for a home loan for a new house in Denver! I can't believe how soon we will be back. Now we're shuffling around trying to have as much fun in California as possible with the time we have left.

Thursday night we went to concert of Stevie B with Jenn and Adrian.. It was really fun and funny! If any of you are having problems remembering who this is think back to the 90s... This youtube will help:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_5CRnzZWMQ

So he's a lot older now but still a lot of energy. It was a lot of fun.

Yesterday Julie and I packed up the bikes for a ride. We first went to REI and got Keen sandles are specially designed for biking so clip into the pedals.. They are so awesome! After getting geared up we headed to Big Basin State Park. This is one of the places with enourmous Redwood trees. Beautiful park.

At the main enterance to the park they have a cross section of a redwood and they have counted the age in the tree rings and placed key historical dates at certain rings. It's amazing to think how long these trees live - 1000s of years. Most of them are burned at some point showing they've probably been through forest fires.

Julie inside a tree:Click to see map of our ride
On the drive back there was the most amazing view of the marine layer coming in over the mountains. The phot doesn't show it but you could also see the ocean in the far distance.

After all the riding we grabbed a pizza and then went to see Hancock. It's pretty entertaining.

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG

Familia,

After being a Legal Resident Alien for 33 years, I became a US Citizen on June 18, 2008.

In 1995 Mexico became part of the Dual Citizenship Act. It was then that I knew I would apply for US Citizenship, as I would be able to also retain my Mexican Citizenship.

My Swear In Ceremony took place at Teikyo Loretto Heights Univeristy in Denver, CO. There were 286 people from 51 countries being represented, from Afghanistan to Viet Nam and the rest of the alphabet in between. Mexico had the largest representation in my group. The morning swear in ceremony that same day had 350 people. An average 5,000 people a day are sworn in as US Citizens Nationwide.

The group of 286 "Almost Citizens" was devided in 3 sub-groups, Red, White & Blue, and we were seated accordingly in the lower level of the auditorium. Family memebers were seated on the second floor (balcony-like). I was in the Blue Team and was flanked by an older Asian couple on my left, and a very elegant Mexican gentleman of about 50 on my right. Behind me was a man from Nigeria, a woman from Croetia, a man from France, and a young man from Australia. In front of me were a woman from Germany, a young man from Nicaragua in US Military uniform, a woman from Venezuela and a woman from Brazil.

The ceremony lasted an hour, with a welcome speech from the head of the Colorado Homeland Security Office, a performance of the "Star-Spangled Banner" by a fantastic group of Adelides, videos of fellow residents becoming citizens in other parts of the country, images of beautiful American symbols (ie: The Flag, Mount Rushmore,Great Seal of the US, our Military Troops, etc.) to the music of "I'm Proud to be An American". The couple on my left kept wiping tears away at different times during the event. The Mexican gentleman on my right stated the "Pledge of Allegiance" with such force and pride that it got MY tear dam flowing. After we were officialy sworn, in we were asked to congratulate and welcome our fellow citizens around us, and there were smiles, tears, loud laughs and happy cheers all around us.

The Host also asked ALL military personal,active, non-active, Guard, etc., to rise and he addressed them as follows:

"On behalf of these new citizens, and on behalf of the people of the United States, I thank you for helping us preserve our freedom". That brought the house down!!!

It was Electric, Exciting, and VERY Emotional. It was an extremely important moment in my life. I am , indeed, PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!

CEERTIFICATE OF NATURALIZATION



YES, I AM PROUD!


PAPI & JOSH CON LA NUEVA AMERICANA

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

Not many more days in the Bay Area

We went to San Francisco today to have dinner with Reeves, Jasmine and Ella to celebrate John's birthday. Before we ate John took us to Mile Rock Beach so we could see it before leaving the Bay area. It was really nice. Only a few miles from his front door and right in the middle of San Francisco. Despite the closeness to the huge city it felt very remote and tranquil. Definitely glad we got the see the spot.

It is very sad to leave California and we will really miss days like this. At the same time we are also very excited to come back to Family and Friends in Colorado.

Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

I had the opportunity this week to go to Rio de Janeiro for work and had an incredible time.

My International Team at work - Left to Right

Marcelo - Brazilian Based in Rio

(Me)

Tom - South African Based in US

Antonio - Portuguese based in Rio

Antonio's family owns one of the best Rodizio Churrasceria grills in town. I ate more meat that day than any other week combined! Food is fantastic, people are so nice.

View of Christ from the top of Pao de Azucar - "Sugarloaf". Similar to our Statue of Liberty - this Christ was a gift from France.

The town is very active - tons of bikers, runners, soccer and volleyball on the beach.

(Rock climber at Pao de Azucar)

I stayed at Ipanema Beach. Mornings before work included waking up, deciding if I wanted to go for a morning run around the lagoon or at the beach, eating a fruit plate - and off to the office.

Morning Run at the Lagoon:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/263547

Morning Run at Ipanema Beach:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/263547

Then off to the office. Our office is the tallest building in the picture on the left - 42nd floor. Totally sweet views.

This is the view from our office - of Sugarloaf. This picture is literally taken from Marcelo's desk at work.
Alien landscape in all directions

(These little monkeys are very common. Very small - but intelligent faces!)