Thrills and Chills on the American River

The Middle Fork of the American River was conquered on August 15 by the Finlay/Warnick clan; the Crump family; our cousins, Chris and Dodie Lynds; and friends, Lisa and Allen Cress from Salinas. It was a full day raft trip, floating about 18 miles on the river. Beautiful scenery and some VERY SCARY RAPIDS! Tunnel Chute, a class 5 rapid, was the most thrilling. This rapid was formed many years ago, when the early gold miners blasted a whole through the hill, diverting the American River and creating a tunnel with some very challenging falls. It was definitely a wild and wet day!

 

Camping at Loon Lake

We all went camping at Loon Lake this past weekend. The water was clear, cool and uncrowded which made for great kayaking. Marketa had never slept out under the stars before and it was a first for her to eat s'mores. The cliff jumping was good as can be seen by Erin, Jeannie and Allison doing it simultaneously. We had 17 people there with Helen's family, Margaret's family, Grammie and Grampie and Lisa and Allen Cress. No rain and dutch-oven cooking made for a great time. 

How to Keep Digital Pics Safe

I have a constant fear of losing the digital pictures that I have taken over the past several years. It would be a tragedy to lose them and not because they are necessarily beautiful pictures, but because they are priceless. I know that many people have their memories in the form of pictures stored on their computers so we need to make it a practice of making sure those things are safe. I found a nice guide for doing so online. It outlines 10 practices to make sure that our digital memories are safe. I ditto everything the article says except for maybe keeping every photo you have ever taken. Click here to go to the page.

Quick Video Clip of Mackinac Island

Megan and I rode our bikes up there before catching the ferry back to the mainland. All of the houses on the bluff are on leased land from the state park since they were there before the park was established. There is no new development allowed now. These houses are huge! Most of them with more than a dozen bedrooms. It was a beautiful place to ride to and were are jealous of the people that have that view.

Mackinac Island

This is James and Megan on the porch of the Fort. The main part of the city is to the right of us. The weather was wonderful the whole time we were there.


These are some of the huge homes that are on the island as we came in on the ferry. We hear they go for about 3 million a piece. Any takers?


There are miles and miles of trails all over the island. It is nice to ride your bike in the middle of the road and never have to worry about cars. Although there is the occasional road apple left by the horses :)


This is a shot of the main street of the city. It was swarming with bikes and buggies. All feuled by the sugar filled fudge. Yum!


This is our sunset from tonight (Sunday). We took a nice stroll around part of the island after dinner to let the food settle before going back to our room to have fudge.

The Luckiest Cat Alive

This is simply amazing that this cat suvived this. I am not exactly sure if I would have done the same thing as this Dr., but who knows I wasn't there. Either way a great story of fighting for life.

Welcome to Marketa and Finlays 30th Anniversary

August 6th, 2006 was a special day indeed for two reasons. Marketa, our Czech Youth Exchange Student, arrived today from the Czech Republic. We are so happy to have her with us for a month. . .Evan stayed with her family over in the Czech Republic and he will be returning on Tuesday of this week from Prague. Also, Brad and Margaret celebrated their 30th Wedding Anniversary by having dinner, prepared by Megan and Grammie, up at Grammie and Grampie's house in the backyard.

 

Banton Rouge Baby

Here are some pics of Baton Rouge where I am presenting my summer research. I don't have any pics of the actaully conference, just all the fun things we have been doing :) I will be putting up the videos of the gators a little lator.

Prague

The National Opera House in Prague. It is on the street where the USSR tanks came to put a stop to the Revolution there.
This is Charles Bridge and it stretches over the Vltava River

This is Antygl in Sumava. Samuel, Jane, and I hiked along the river Vydra, which means riveotter. Unfortunately there are no otters here.
St. Vitus's Cathedral lies in the area of the Presidential Palace. It has a magnificent rose window and a primarily gold mosaic.

Farewell to Our Multigenerational Friend, the Surfer

Yesterday, we all had dinner together and said our farewells to the Johnson Surfer, the boat that 3 generations learned to ski and wakeboard on. A nice family from Mariposa will use this boat and create memories for their children with it. This was the Cadillac of boats when Mom and Dad bought it in 1967 and we've had so many great vacations with it (Trinity Lake, Lake Mead, Lake Powell, Kentucky Lake, Lake Nippissing, and Lake Erie to name a few). Our families are closer because of it.
Also, Jeannie flew in with some of her friends from the Coast Guard Academy and they joined us for dinner. And in the final picture, Tony is imitating Flat Stanley.

 

Southwest Hack

I know that almost everyone in my family uses Southwest airlines for its cheapness. Well I ran across this nifty little hack to make sure that you get an A boarding pass. You will have to edit a little HTML but it will save you from sitting in some non-exit row for a few hours. Click here.

Just as a side note I DON'T suggest that anybody try this. I am glad that somebody figured this out so that SWA can figure out a better way to dole out the boarding passes. Be safe folks.

Czech This Out

This is Hbluko castle near Ceske Budejovice. Marketa's Family only lives in a suburb right outisde of the city.
This is the Vaclave Square in Prague. It is filled with shops and tourist attractions. At the top of the Square is the Czech Republic National Museum.
This is me in the Terezie Valley. It is such a beautiful place which is near Nove Hrady.
This is Marketa and me going down the river Vlatava. This river is extremely cold, but the scenery makes up for it.

Guatemala by Margaret

Here is another version of our trip to Guatemala. It was a wonderful opportunity to help out in any way that we could. The ambulance was certainly a huge hit in Villa Canales. It provides a vast improvement over their current vehicle. We also visited an elementary school of about 300 children and delivered school supplies and clothing. A fun game of soccer followed... the "USA" team lost. Animal care books were donated to veterinary clinics and public libraries to help farmers take better care of their food animals. Guatemala is a beautiful country and we all hope to be able to return soon.

Evan at Castle Landstejn

Evan is shown here on the top of the castle overlooking the Czech countryside. With him are Mom and Dad Hezinova and their 16-year old son Frankie. Evan said that it is so green and lush there. He has been canoeing on the rivers there, swimming in lakes, and visited many castles. He said that he is going to talk at a Rotary Club meeting there this week as a Rotary exchange student. 

Fun Times

For fear of having pictures of cats up here I figured it was time to post to pics. These are from two separate weekends, one in Lansing and the other in Akron.


Megan and I went to a Lansing Lugnuts game on the Fourth of July. It was a really fun game and they had fireworks at the end! On top of that the City of Lansing had its firework show right across from the stadium. Two for the price of one is always nice.



We had a big BBQ on July 3rd and then thought it would be fun to have people camp out afterwards. This is a pic of breakfast the following morning. Megan and I slept outside as well, but just on an air mattress.



The weekend following July 4th we went to Ohio. We had a wonderful time. It was fun to see Gram and Gramp and watch the World Cup with them (in HD I might add). They also took us to the Blossom Music center where we heard some amazing musical pieces.

Birthdays and Goodbyes

This past weekend, on July 8th, Alana and Grammie (aka Helen, Mom) celebrated their birthdays. It started by surprising Grammie with Helen and Allison flying in from Sacramento and meeting us at Mimi's for the birthday breakfast. That night we had a small party with family and friends for Alana and Grammie. Sunday, we all said "goodbye" to Evan at the airport for his month in the Czech Republic as a Rotary Youth Exchange student.

 

Head Butt!

In case anyone hasn't seen this clip, it is a really bad display of sportsmanship. It made me even more glad that France lost.

Look Who's Turning 14!

Today we celebrated Honey's 14th birthday. She enjoyed a great day by doing some of her favorite things - sleeping, taking walks in the green belt, resting on the cool terrazo floor in the entry way, rolling around on her back on the front lawn and eating a special dinner of roasted chicken breast with Purina One kibbles (thanks, James!). Honey is still as sweet as ever! Best wishes for many more! Bunches is a good dog! 

Summer Nights

The real hit of the Duarte 2nd Ward party was the Karaoke machine. The young people really got into it, especially when they were singing songs from the "Grease" sountdtrack.
 

The Disney Princesses

Ian and the girls all went to Downtown Disney after a day of watching World Cup Soccer at Il Fornaio and riding the waves at Huntington Beach. He stayed outside while Whitney (from Seattle), Erin, Alana, and Adrienne (from Houston) all tried on their favorite Disney princess dresses. Whitney and Adrienne drove down from BYU to visit Ian for the long 4th of July weekend.