Fish, Fame and Fans

Von Trapps Got Nothin' On Us. Per tradition, there is a Doxey family band. Ours is slightly different. Watch this video. Poco a poco. They have fans (us) and could be famous some day. And man, I gotta get a new kazoo.


Hero's Welcome. Yesterday after John's b-ball game we went to the famed Sully's official welcome home in downtown Danville. Let's just say it was spectacular!

Thousands of people, flags, military band, San Ramon Valley High band, bagpipers, signage, people and their fancy, clean, well groomed dogs, and all tier one media outlets covering it. Click here for the CNN report, here USA Today report, the list could go on and on. They were ALL there (probably about 15-20 mondo huge media trucks, reporters everywhere speaking a variety of languages). It was pretty chilly but there were a lot of people there.

Budgets have apparently been cut at media outlets too. I love this Univision reporter who is filming and interviewing (with mike in hand) all at the same time.

Liza was on my shoulders most of the time saying, "Dad! Look at that dog, and that dog, and that dog, I want that dog, that dog is pretty, that dog is tall, that dog needs a friend, I can be her friend!"
The kids loved the Caboose at the Danville Southern Pacific Railroad Depot just as much as everything else.

We stepped into the local Starbucks for some incredible Carmel Apple Cider and Hot Chocolate (with all the kids mind you--quite a sight), and Julia talked with a U.S. Airways flight attendant at length (who has flown with Sully extensively). In short, she said Sully has "rewritten the book forever" on water landings. It was pretty cool to see all these reporters (from the AP and others) on their laptops, fine tuning their stories, reviewing all the shots they got, and looking for the best ones and submitting their stories--all in the free Wifi of Starbucks. The place was hummin'.


Nate Earns His Wolf. Many Scouts. Many awards. Many treats. Nate is lucky to have a great group of boys (and we are lucky they have great parents!)


Spoils of Christmas. Backyard. Sheet. Obliterated gingerbread house. Future cavities.

Liza Nate & John Go Fishing. We're surrounded by bodies of water. Lake Chabot is a favorite for all. In 1/2 a day of fishing, (and after untangling lines, knots, re-rigging, re-baiting, casting and the like) we managed to have all three lines in, all at the same time for at least 10 minutes.

After all it took to make this happen, my personal goal was to have at least one line in. And to think Julia and I brought lawn chairs to have a nice relaxing time on the banks of the lake. What were we thinking? Fun, fruitful results though--they loved catching their fish.

The kids freaked at the whole killing, gutting, chopping off fish heads experience. Nate was ghost white and even threw up over it on the way home. Breathtaking. Fun.