Lopaka's visit

It's been about 30 years since I've seen my cousin Lopaka. I was a teenager, and he was a little boy at the time. His father brought him and his younger brother, Jason, out to visit California. 

This last week, he brought his family to San Diego for a vacation. My wife and I drove down to spend the day with him. We decided we could show them around Balboa Park on one of their site seeing days. We visited the Natural History Museum, where their son Ryan got to push lots of buttons. He LOVES buttons. We saw dinosaurs and mastodons. 

We had a nice lunch and talked about family. 

One of my favorite places in Balboa Park is the Model Railroad Museum. They have every gauge of model trains with huge displays. It's like a maze wandering around to see the various exhibits, especially for a toddler. All the halls had walls about 2-4 feet high with plexiglass windows so that you could look in on the display. Ryan was like a mouse in a maze, running down halls where he really couldn't see anything. But every 10-15 feet there were stairs available so that you can get a better view. Ryan ran from stair to stair, climbing to get a view of little buildings, cars and the occasional model train in motion. 

The best stop was in a room with lots of theme decoration for Halloween. The walls and windows were lower so Ryan could see a bit more. Best of all, they had a Thomas the Tank Engine (He's very useful) on a track perfect for Ryan's viewing pleasure. AND, the had a button on the wall outside that made Thomas run a circuit around his track. Ryan stood there and pushed the button repeatedly. So cute!

We finished off with a quick look at the Botanical Building and koi pond. 

All in all, a very nice visit. I'm hoping to see Lopaka, Aimie and Ryan again in coming years.

Death Valley

I spent a glorious weekend out at Death Valley with the Boy Scouts. This was my first visit. Death Valley gets an average of about 2" of rain a year, but by the end of this week they expect to have 3". I'm fairly certain I got a rare experience. Though there was plenty of rain, it really didn't cause many problems.

We arrived Friday evening with just a few sprinkles while we set up camp. The camp site had room for lots of campers, but hardly anyone was there.

We spent Saturday morning on the Mesquite Sand Dunes. The sand was damp, so it did not behave the way the boys expected. It was funny watching them run and jump and NOT slide down the hill as they expected. We covered a lot of ground though and managed to climb the highest dune. The boys went in a bee line from peak to peak, down then up. I circled around a bit to follow the crest lines and avoid the steeper climbs.

Mosaic Canyon was incredible. The walls of the canyon are smooth marble-like rock. It was like walking through a naturally carved marble bathroom. Since it had been raining, the rock could be quite slick, but I didn't hear about anyone from our group falling.

It started raining fairly hard about dinner time, but our cook managed it. We ate a fabulous dinner of trout, green beans and rice. Another family brought home-made fudge that was so good I would have happy eaten it until I got sick. Most of us retired to our tents to stay out of the rain. The following morning there was a nice stream running behind our camp site. A few light sprinkles fell.

We visited several locations including Badwater, the Natural Bridge, Artists Drive and the Borax works. We stopped in at the general store and visitors center in Furnace Creek to buy a few souvenirs. Badwater is the lowest point on land in the Americas, at 282 feet below sea level. The cliff behind it had a sign showing sea level - very cool.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Troop1201/DeathValley02#

Calla Lilies

My wife really likes calla lilies. A few years back we planted two white ones and three others of various colors. Only the white ones are still alive and prospering. I understand the others don't usually last more than a season. I expected the white ones to get bigger and take over anyway.

They have taken advantage of our recent rain fall and look better than ever. They love lots of water.

Amazing Race

My wife is submitting an application to be on the Amazing Race. While I hardly ever watch it, she loves that show. I prefer doing to watching, and wouldn't mind going. If she gets on, I guess I might find myself watching.

I spent yesterday morning at the park video recording her and her racing partner so that they can submit the video with their application. At least we all had fun making the recording.

Walking

Ok, I know I've neglected my blogs for a while. Truth is that life has been pretty busy, but very little change in the routine. Not much to report.

My wife has been walking with me recently. This evening I managed to walk her regular route with her, and I brought along my phone with a GPS app so that we could see how far she goes. We went 4.27 miles in 1 hour and 18 minutes with an average speed of 3.3 mph. She normally does the trek in an hour by herself.

She has lost quite a bit of weight recently, and I've been very proud of her efforts.

USS Dark Matter?

A little over 8 years back, my father in law and his wife sold us a no frills plain white Nissan Sentra. While I can't say I've ever been thrilled with the car itself, it has just kept running all these years. It also came at a price we couldn't refuse. I've used it to get to work while my wife and kids had access to our mini-van. It has been a wonderful help to our family. And it is not the first time he has helped us out with our cars. We've bought another car from him at well below cost, and he has helped us negotiate prices on the cars we've bought.

Last week the Nissan started having some problems. At first it was semi stalling, but then it started smoking about the same time the engine started working well again. Kinda odd, but it was clear that it needed some help. It turns out that the air conditioner compressor is tied into the belt system of the engine, and the compressor had locked up. The smoke was from the belt being stripped and once that was done the engine was free to work as it always had. Still, it requires that we fix the A/C for the car to continue to work properly.

My father in law had already talked about buying a new car and giving us his old one. He even had one on order. Great timing! We got our new car the weekend before we took the Nissan to the mechanic, so I still have something to drive to work while my wife has the van for kids and car pool. The new car does need some work done on it, and we'll get around to that soon enough. I don't think my father in law wanted to put any money into it, which is one of the reasons we got such a good deal on it.

Our new car is a black Buick Regal GS with lots of fancy stuff on it, including a sun roof. It has a nice stereo system and lots of other buttons to push.

The Nissan was definitely not worth naming, but I am starting to think about a name for our new Buick. Since it is all black, I was playing around with "USS Dark Matter". I also thought about "USS Dark Star", but that doesn't seem right either. I may need to give it a bit more time to jell.

Do you have any name suggestions? Star ship names preferred as my previous cars have been star ships. :)

Kilimanjaro Pictures

Here is a Picasa album of my son's better pictures.

Kilimanjaro

Home from Kilimanjaro

My son came home from his Kilimanjaro trip with Boy Scout Troop 1201. After almost a week, I still feel like we have scant few details. He did bring the camera home filled with over 700 photos and video clips. I'll upload a bunch of them to Picasa a little later this weekend.

Here David is getting ready to head up the mountain.

And here is his arrival at Gilman's Point at the top of Kilimanjaro.

Cheesecake Factory

After our stroll at the beach, we headed out to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. This is our second time there. I had Wasabi Crusted Ahi Tuna. The tuna was perfectly grilled to be uncooked in the center. Very well done. I also managed to get a few shrimp from my wife's plate of Shrimp Scampi.

The best part was that we unexpectedly found out that it was National Cheesecake Day and our cheesecake was half price. We brought two pieces home since we were so full from dinner. My wife got a slice of 30th anniversary cheesecake that has 4 layers of yummy stuff including chocolate, which was her top priority. I brought home a pineapple upside down cheesecake.

Laguna Beach

We started our day by skipping Starbuck's and heading to breakfast at Coco's instead. The waitress was a bit overworked, but managed to take care of use just fine. On the other hand, the host was less than pleasant. I had a nice breakfast called "Deviled Benedict" which was essentially egg salad over bacon on an English muffin. Smothered potatoes on the side. To be honest, I had though about Coconut Cream Pie for breakfast.

We headed to Laguna Beach right after breakfast. Our first stop was the Sawdust Art Festival where we wandered around the booths and looked at lots of inspired arts and crafts. I think I liked the glass blower the best. I couldn't persuade my wife that she needed anything though.

We took the free trolley to downtown and hopped another trolley to the beach. We ended up walking on the beach that I had visited many times in my youth. Lots of signs posted telling us that we couldn't do ANYTHING - kinda sad. We climbed over rocks and I dragged my wife out to the tide pools. I was very sad that I didn't see any anemones in the pools I looked at. I remember seeing all sorts of them when I was young. We really didn't go very far out though. I did see some nice little fish and crabs. We walked along the water's edge so that I could get my feet wet.

We left the beach and headed up to the boardwalk (yes honey, they do have a boardwalk). We found a nice bench in the shade and sat and talked for a bit while our feet dried and the sand could be brushed off.

After leaving the bench we wandered up past the Laguna Hotel which is where we spent the first night of our honeymoon. We were so busy that weekend that spending the night was pretty much all we did there. We also went past the place my sister got married and stopped at a nice lookout point.

All in all, it was a very relaxing day. Unfortunately, both of our working camera's are off with the kids, so no photo shots to share.

The Melting Pot

After dropping off our son at LAX, my wife and I started our small staycation at home without any kids for a few days.

After coming home and freshening up a bit, we headed out to The Melting Pot. It was recommended to us by my daughter's friend. I have had fondue before, but this was my wife's first time. On the other hand, I have never had fondue as refined as this. We ordered the "Big Night Out" deal designed for two people. It included a four course meal:

1. A four cheese fondue with vegetables and bread pieces to dip.
2. A light salad with tomato slices and cheese, and a light vinaigrette dressing.
3. A main course of meats including lobster, shrimp, beef, chicken and pork, along with assorted vegetables such as mushrooms, potatoes and broccoli. There were also some delicious cheese filled ravioli 'purses'. The fondue was a Cajun spice blend in a vegetable broth base. We were given specific instructions for cooking the meet and vegetables in the fondue. There were about 8 sauces included to dip things into, and they all had wonderful flavors.
   
4. The final course was a chocolate fondue with caramel and nuts. Dipping items included cheesecake, brownies, marshmallows, rice crispy treats, strawberries and banana slices. I also had a great cup of coffee to wash that down.
   

My wife was smart enough to stop eating when she was full, but I just polished off everything else that was left. I practically rolled out of there. We came home to a wonderfully empty house and spent some time tweeting and posting to Facebook before calling it a night.

The Jungle Quiz

Journey2Learn gave my blog a plug today and mentioned that my boy is headed to Africa. She also posted a link to The Jungle Test. Here is what my result was:

You Are Wise


You are a protector and teacher. You help people deal with their struggles.

Right now, you are seeking excitement and a bit of adventure in your life.

You are drawn to people who are passionate and deep.

You feel like there are a few minor things in your life that need to be changed.

You find that any decision you have to make needs to be slept on... often for multiple nights.

David off to Kilimanjaro

My son David left for Kilimanjaro yesterday afternoon. He's going with the Boy Scouts. I can't possibly keep up with all the details my wife has on her blog, so take a look there.

The picture on top includes (from left to right) William, Alec and my David. They all started scouting in the same cub scout den in Pack 234. We moved to Fullerton and David joined the other two in 2nd grade. They are all great kids, and I am glad they have shared scouting for so long. And now the three of them will share an experience of a life time, climbing Kilimanjaro together. They are the youngest three on this outing, with my son being the very youngest.

My wife fretted over the packing but she easily got the duffel bag under 50 pounds as required by the airline. We did have one minor incident just before leaving - the zipper of the duffel came apart on the other side of the latch. I had to force the latch back and re-zip it. We tried securing it with some bungees, but the airline made us take them off. I am really hoping that it stays together during the flight. We don't want him to loose important gear before he even gets there. No matter, I am sure he will make do with whatever he has left.

Busy, Busy, Busy

We seem to be very busy at the moment with kids coming and going.

My Daughter, Rebecca, went to Youth Wave for the week of July 13. She flew up to Portland Oregon for a church retreat that was hosted at Cascade College this year.

Last week my youngest son, Andrew, went to Camp Cherry Valley for Boy Scout summer camp.


This coming week my daughter will leave for Teen Camp, another week long camp for her. And this Wednesday my son David will be leaving for a climb up Kilimanjaro in Tanzania Africa.

Dead Computer Chair

When we moved into our house a little over 8 years ago, we set up an area for my computers. I spent some time researching and bought a fancy armoire to house my computers and allow me to work on computers for friends and family. The armoire was designed for a computer, though I have had a many as 6 stowed away inside. The doors close so you don't have to see the computer stuff, but more often than not the doors just remain open.


I also bought a nice computer chair, since I knew I would be spending a lot of time in it. In fact, when my wife and I are home, it seems like we play musical chairs at the computer desk, with one of us sitting down whenever the other gets up.

Today, my chair broke. It had been listing over to the side for several weeks, so it was only a matter of time before it gave way. I had actually looked at it today and thought I might be able to repair it and get a little more use out of it. Times are tough and money is tight.
While I was sitting in the chair it suddenly toppled over. The weld that attached the chair part to the caster base just cracked and separated with just a small part remaining attached. The back of the chair was left horizontal to the floor. I had to crawl out and get up. Click on the pictures for a closer look.

So, I ran out and bought a new slightly better chair, with that assumption that we would be using it quite a bit for the next 10 years.

My Daughter's Report Card

My daughter's report card! I am so proud of her. Next year she is planning a bunch of AP classes.

Lizard

I was doing some yard word yesterday and managed to corner a big fat lizard. He must have been eating lots of fat juicy bugs.

I have just been talking to my son about local wild life in the neighborhood as part of his Boy Scout requirements.

Since I had pulled up all of his cover and the source of all his good food, I relocated him to a hedge in the backyard. Hopefully nothing will find and eat him.

Temporary Troop Location

Last year our Boy Scout Troop was informed that they would need to relocate while the First Presbyterian Church of Fullerton did some major construction work on their building. The date for the start of construction hadn't really been set, but was expected to be soon. The troop decided they should relocate before the end of summer. So in August 2008, the troop began meeting at the Sunny Hills Church of Christ, which is on the same street, just a few blocks down.

The new location offered several nice features including more parking, a nice outdoor area and plenty of places for meeting and activities. Part of Coyote Hills is right behind the building with access from the street just a short walk away. Court of Honor was held in the auditorium with plenty of seating and a projection screen available. Parent Meetings were also held in the auditorium away from the kids. Patrol Leader Conference meetings for planning troop activities were also scheduled monthly outside of troop meetings.

This last Monday was the last time the troop met at our temporary location. Construction at First Presbyterian is nearly complete and they are ready for the troop to return. I'll admit this was a little bitter sweet to me. I have been opening and closing the building weekly almost every Monday this last 11 months, ensuring everything was as it should be and locked up before I left. Arriving early and leaving late. It is nice being relieved of that duty. I am glad to have helped the troop find a temporary meeting location and particularly pleased that the Sunny Hills Church of Christ building would serve and facilitate the Boy Scout organization (not for the first time, either).

A special thanks goes out to Donna Delgado for being particularly kind and helpful in arranging access and providing resources when needed and to Ellen Murphy for coordinating the calendar and ensuring we had a place to meet on a regular basis.

Praise God with Mind and Body (PGMB)

All three of my children have gone through the PGMB program at my church. The program was designed and has been run by Steve and Terri Paden for as long as I can remember - at least 15 years and probably a lot longer. It involves memorization, competition and games between teams. The program is designed for 1st through 6th graders. Each year has a different book for a total of 6 books of material. A number of helpers assist in the program including Kathy McBride and Phyllis Goodwin. Some of the past participants have also served as helpers.

My two oldest kids completed the program with 6 straight years of Gold Medals meaning they had perfect scores in memorization. The program includes many other prizes and awards along the way as well.

My youngest son completed the program this year. He entered the program in kindergarten. He has been awarded the Gold Medal 7 years, which only a few other kids have done. Alec R. also completed 7 years of the program with Gold Medals. The picture above shows them being recognized for their accomplishment.

My son also got up and read his favorite memory verse to the church this year to honor his father, and I was presented with a book mark in commemoration of his achievements.

So this ends an era as my youngest moves out of elementary grades. I've been proud of all of their accomplishments.

Thank you to the PGMB team who worked with all of my kids through the years.

Father's Day

My family presented me with some wonderful gifts this morning. I received a card from each kid with appropriate and funny greetings in them. One of the cards talked about using duct tape to repair things. One of the gifts I received had make-shift wrapping on it. The stuff they bought didn't work out. The gift was wrapped in Ariel paper with something other than scotch tape. The card and gift went so well with each other, I got a great kick out of it.

I received two new pairs of shorts, and the Monte Python and the Holy Grail movie that I can watch with the kids. Great fun.

Finally, my dear daughter made me a batch of biscotti. To be honest, my wife makes her father a batch of biscotti, and I am slightly jealous that she doesn't give me any. So I see my wife is teaching the tradition to her daughter.

I am a very proud father and love my children.

Edit: More details.