The motorcycle trip

I know that I am skipping ahead just a little bit. I have about 1000 pictures from the family reunion we went to on the Saturday of Grammie's week but for Amanda's sake :) I am showing you these pictures now. I'll go back to the family reunion and talk all about that later. While Danny was still in Iraq he decided that it would be fun to put together a motorcycle trip with him, David, Dad, and Uncle Johnny, and any other brother in law that would like to go. Originally the plan was to go and tour parts of Colorado (I think) and maybe tour around the Rocky mountain national park. These plans changed a little at a time with concerns about Dad's back, etc. Danny talked about it with all the brothers and sisters way before he ever brought it up to dad. It was actually Dad's birthday present from all the kids. They all had to rent bikes so everyone who could chipped in a little bit of money to help with the cost. When I talked to Dad after the trip he said that it exceeded his expectations, he LOVED it and wanted to go again. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall (or windshield) as it may be, to take pictures of their trip. I guess the scenery was beautiful and it was a fabulous ride. I did document the riders before they left so these pictures will have to do.

This first picture is Danny in front of his bike with Zachary. I've decided that anyone who doesn't know Danny would be probably make a judment of him based on his apperance. Danny is one of the sweetest and most generous men I have ever known in my entire life and I love him a ton and I am so grateful for the kind of brother he is to me and the uncle he is to my kids.
This is David on his bike. I think that my mom was the most nervous for him because he was the least experienced of the three riders but I'm sure he did fabulous. David is pretty much good at whatever he tries...love ya bro!! Danny thought he looked hot with his German helmet and black bike...I thought so too.
Danny called his bike the minivan of motorcycles so I thought it only appropriate to let Zachary hop up and give it a try. He was WAY nervous and didn't want Danny to go anywhere with him on that bike. He wore the helmet at my insistance but since he thought that wearing the helmet meant that Danny would ride away with him he wanted to get it off his head as quickly as possible. I love the little thumbs up that they were both giving me.
This is Dad on his motorcycle. Originally the motorcycle they gave my dad was orange but when he went to do a little test drive he discovered that the back blinker didn't work so he switched it out for this one. I think that three black bikes looked a lot better than two black and one orange bike, but I guess it doesn't really matter.

Here are the three motorcycle riders in front of the dealership where they rented the bikes.

When we got back to my mom's house my dad gave her a ride on the back of his motorcycle before they left. My mom is so great. She spent pretty much the whole ride with her arms raised like this. I have at least ten pictures of her with her arms up behind my dad...I love it.
This is right before they rode off. I wanted to get a picture of the three riders with just the lake and mountains in the background. Previously to this picture I only had a picture of the three of them together in front of the dealership and I didn't think that a picture with that background would look as good on my dad's desk as a picture with this background.
Here is the final picture I took of the three of them together. The hand signal that they are making (for those who don't already know) is how motorcycle riders wave to eachother when they pass eachother on the street. I thought it was really cool so I asked them to pose like this for me so I could get a picture.