Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Up, Up and Away over L.A.


We were able to get tickets to ride on the blimp several days ago. Sam, Marketa, Evan and Margaret went up over Long Beach. Our pilot was great. . .and he knew a lot about the area. He flew us over the Queen Mary in Long Beach (looks awfully small there) and then flew us over a floating satellite launch pad called Sea Launch. It is a joint project between four countries and the only one in the world and is based in Long Beach. It travels out to a location near the equator and launches rockets carrying satellites. By doing this, it saves enough fuel to keep the satellite in space several years longer. It was a very informative trip and the kids had a great time.


Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Warren Dunes


On Friday we went camping out at Warren Dunes which is located right on Lake Michigan. We hit pouring rain on the way out there, but by the time we got to the lake it had cleared up very nicely. What made it even better was that the rain had chased most other people from the beach so it was practically deserted. This was Roots first camping trip and you can see how excited she was about it.


Here is a picture of Roots and Ster at the beach. The water was very refreshing considering the humidity and heat that we were experiencing.

Superman has got nothing on Roots. She flies through the air without even having to put her arms out in front of her.

After buying some firewood in town we raced back to the lake to catch the last part of the sunset. It was stunning. Little did we know that on the horizon a storm was brewing that would make our lives that night very interesting. Let's just put it this way... we were gone by 7:30am the next morning :)

A Trip to the Wild Animal Park


Yesterday, we drove to San Diego and took Gavin on his first trip to the Wild Animal Park. The elephants and giraffes seemed to be his favorites - at least he stared the longest at them - probably because they were the only animals that he could actually see. Afterwards we went to Eileen's ranch and had a terrific dinner of carnitas with Eileen, cousin Chris and Teresa while watching the full moon rise over the mountains.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

News from New England




Last week, Grammy, Grampie, Dan, Allison and Helen flew to Providence to visit our East Coast daughters. We spent a few days in New London with Jeannie and went to the US Submarine Veterans of WW II National Memorial there. We enjoyed hearing all about submarines from Grampie since his tour of duty during the war was on a sub. Next we took the ferry over to Nantucket Island to visit Erin and the Whaling Museum. We heard an excellent speaker on the history of whaling on Nantucket. We also had a wonderful time bicycling around the island to 'Sconset Beach. From there, we headed north to Boston touring "Old Ironsides" and the North End for a great Italian dinner. One of the highlights of this area was taking the tour of the John Adams National Historic Park in Quincy. As you can see. . . . . .once a Junior Ranger, always a Junior Ranger!

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Gavin's Ducks


Gavin was having his bath in the sink with his friends, the ducks. He was fine with 6 of them in the sink with him and then he saw that there were a whole bunch more waiting to jump in. Gavin will be happy to share with his cousin, Brielle, when she comes for bath time.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

ROOTerrific!



Roots spends much of her day hanging out with Ster and playing. She is a very happy baby. One of her favorite things to do is lay down under this toy and hit the dangling objects.





This a one of Root's most ethnic outfits. She is a cutie!



Here is Roots in her bouncer. She just started using this and she seems to do pretty well in there as long as we are watching her. If we leave the room that she realizes that we were just trying to leave her with the baby-sitter... Fisher Price.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Sierra Summer



As one final trip at the end of a summer of trips, and as a send-off for Ian before he left for Washington D. C. and Ernst and Young, we did a camping trip up Hwy. 395 here in California. That is the Eastern Sierras and it is beautiful. We visited an old mining town and also the WWII relocation camp of Manzanar before finally finding our camping spot near Mammoth Mountain. The first picture is of our 7-mile hike to Rainbow Falls via Devil's Postpile, which is hexagonal columns of basalt formed during a volcanic period. The second picture is of Ian sliding down one of the waterfalls on our hike. . .the water was definitely cold but it was a warm day so it wasn't too bad. The third picture is of Ian, Brooke, Evan, Sam, Marketa, Alana and Cory eating our chicken and rice Dutch oven dinner at our campground. . .food always tastes better in the outdoors. On the final day of the trip, we drove over Tioga Pass, almost 10,000 feet high, and stopped for lunch, and the obligatory pyramid picture, at Tenaya Lake. . .Brooke was elected to be on the top. The final picture is taken on Tioga Pass with Half Dome in Yosemite in the background. We drove into Yosemite Valley and hiked a bit but the crowds there were pretty heavy. Finally, we visited the Mariposa Grove of sequoias as Sam and Marketa (our Czech exchange students) wanted to see the "really big trees".



Thursday, August 16, 2007

Rhino Re-Evaluate



This is "Ebony" the 2,500 lbs. black rhino at the Potter Park Zoo just before she was darted. This was a re-check of sorts of the exam we did back in May.






There were tons of people around to help out with this exam. There were probably 10-15 vets, 5 firemen, and about 25 others. I was fortunate enough to get to help out a little by flushing the tissue around the feet and packing them when the exam was done. I smelled like rhino the rest of the day despite going home to take a shower.




In order to take the breathing tube out of her the firemen were there with the Jaws of Life. Luckily the tube was removed without incident, but it did look a little funny because it looked like rhino sized dentistry for a minute.



In the middle of the exam we had to roll her to the other side so that we could see her other feet. This required the car lifts (once again provided by the firemen) which you can hear squeaking in the background. This experience taught me that improvisation is a key component to vet med.

Peanut Butter Slam


Jeannie is pretty darn cool. This has to be one of those talents that the "REAR " Admiral would like this.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Birthdays and Bears



It was Larry's ?? birthday so he blew out the candles on his birthday cake when he and Susan joined the family for his birthday dinner. Two days later, in the sweltering heat of summer, the local bears decided to cool off and take a swim in our pool. To add insult to injury, the bear decided to stand on the hood of Evan's car and dry off.



Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Cape Cod Video Montage



Here is a video that I threw together last night of the trip to Cape Cod this summer. It was a great trip full of good times and great company. Enjoy!

North Rim of the Grand Canyon


We all went hiking last week on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. There were very few crowds like there are on the South Rim and many more trees. It was a beautiful day for a hike and we would like to stay at the lodge right on the rim in the near future.

Friday, August 10, 2007

More from the East Coast


One night we had quite the lobster feed. Brielle and Gavin were able to get up close and personal with the dinner. Georgine, Bob and Brad are seen enjoying the lobster, while Bill Finlay looks like he is ready to change Gavin's diaper. Finally, we met with cousin Jeannie in her Coast Guard uniform at Mystic, Connecticut before we all headed back to the West. It was a great trip and one that has given us plenty of great memories.