These are just quick pics from the holidays. Lyn and the girls took Hula lessons at the local recreation center and had to do several shows. The ones here are from the Xmas show before the parade in downtown Chula Vista. The beach pictures were a present to Dad. Madi and Cami ask every year what I want for Xmas and every year I tell them "just my girls" , so Lyn secretly had a friend take pictures at the beach and had the pictures framed and mounted. They came out very nice. Lastly, every couple of years we take a group picture of all the grandkids. With the new addition of Dante, we headed down to the local mall and looked for a 'Christmasy' spot and took pics.

Click here to see the picture gallery Hula Show '05
Click here to see the picture gallery Hula at the beach '05
Click here to see the picture gallery Cuzinz'05

We finally have some decent pictures of our favorite nephew! Dante Harris was born 9/17/05 at 05:29. He weighed 7lbs 2oz and was 18.5 in. Finally, a boy in this clan of girls!

Click here to see the picture gallery Dante

Most of the schools in our area are on a year-round schedule without any tracks. Now, I always thought the reasoning behind a YR schedule was to alleviate over crowding (thus tracks). Well, apparently times have changed and schools are on YR schedules for other reasons. We found that one of the best benifits is being on vacation during the off-peak times when traditional schools are still in school.

In order to take full advantage of Madi's vacation, Lyn took the week off and planned a full touristy type vacation to explore San Diego. For the first event on the itinerary, we rented bikes with trail-along bikes( kinda look like half bikes) to pull the girls on the boardwalk at Pacific Beach. Lola even went along with her folding bike. The second event, we spent the day at Coronado beach and Tidelands Park in Coronado. For the third and fourth events, we went to the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park. Lyn bought a year pass which is good for both parks, so we weren't rushed to see everything in one day. The highlight of the vacation was a trip to Disneyland. Thanks to Lyn's cousin, Tim, we only spent money for parking and lunch in the park. The last thing we did was go rock climbing at Solid Rock Gym. It is a big warehouse filled with climbing walls. Climbers are on safety lines and can choose lines with varying difficulty. Madi really loves rock climbing and rarely likes taking a break. This was Camis first time (she backed out last time). She was hesitant at first, but she was able to make it to the top serveral times. Her biggest obstacle was not being able to reach a rock and getting stuck. On the otherhand, when Madi got stuck she would swing/jump to reach the next rock. It was really cool to watch. As Cami gets taller, I'm sure she will gain more confidence. The only problem is it's pretty expensive. About $34 for both Madi and Cami and we spent about 4hrs there.

We really appreciate being on a YR schedule, now. For the amount of stuff we did, it really was a relaxing and fun vacation.

Click here to see the picture gallery Rock Climbing '05
Click here to see the picture gallery Disneyland '05
Click here to see the picture gallery Wild Animal Park '05
Click here to see the picture gallery Coronado and Mission Beach '05

We went to San Francisco over the Labor Day weekend to attend a good friends wedding. It was an informal wedding, but beautiful in its simplicity. The wedding and reception was held at Fort Cronkhite North of San Francisco. Kevin and Pat exchanged their vows on a bluff overlooking the ocean and the ceremony was performed by Pat's brother-in-law. Although a neurologist by day, he became a Deputized Marriage Consultant so he could marry them. The reception was held nearby inside converted military barracks decorated in white and adorned with seashells. Now, I've been to some big and elaborate weddings, but everything about this small intimate wedding just made you want to smile and I'm glad that Kevin and Pat let us be part of it. I was the bestman and Madison and Camille were flowergirls. While the girls had traditional roles as flowergirls, my only duty as bestman was to pour the ceromonial wine (a French tradition) for the couple to drink. Lastly, it was great meeting their diverse friends and family.

Lyn got us a great deal through Priceline.com at the Hilton in Fisherman's Wharf. Before the wedding, we were able to do some touristy stuff: cable car ride, Union Square and the wharf. After the wedding (Sunday), we wanted to do more sightseeing, but there was a big bike race in the city which blocked many of the streets. Instead, we headed down to our old neighborhood (Santa Clara) to see some friends (Celia, Alan and Abigail) who just bought a new house.

It is a long drive, but we had a great time.

Click here to see the picture gallery Kevin's wedding '05

For years, I've had a tradition of running the Houlihans-to-Houlihans (no longer named that) 12k race in San francisco with my friend Mel. We liked it because it crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and had great views. It was the kick-off to our training or exercising season. Unfortunately, it was the only time we'd run for the rest of the year. This made each year's run harder and harder.

This year we decided we needed a better goal; 12K's were doable w/o training and a full marathon was too daunting. We decided a half-marathon was the perfect distance; it was long enough to require some training to finish, but short enough the training wouldn't kill us.

We started in May using a Yahoo Group to keep track of our progress and apply peer-pressure. Mel complimented his training with a lot of Mt biking while I used a traditional training schedule. I think I started my tapper too early. I finished my 14 mi run 3 weeks before the race. While we finished strong, I wish our pace was faster. Here is a link to the race

Click here to see the picture gallery AFC Half '05

During the Memorial Day Holiday, we have a tradition of visiting Lyn's classmate, Debbie, from PT school who lives in Bishop, CA. This just happens to be "Mule Days" in Bishop. So, we get to visit friends, see a parade and learn more about mules, donkeys and horses then we would care to admit.

If you like the outdoors, Debbie and family (Nick, Jon and Kate) have the best backyard in the world. Directly outside their back door is the Eastern Sierras. Not only is it beautiful, but you can go horseback riding, rockclimbing, hiking, fishing, Mt biking, camping, and ATV'ing.

In addition to a great backyard, they have the toys to enjoy it. In past years, we have rockclimbed and Mt. biked. This year was all 'quadrunning'. It was my first time riding a 4x4 ATV, but I put over 70+ miles during the weekend riding in their yard. We took Madi and Cami up to the snow line (9,000 ft) and even went on a night ride.

This year, Madison learned to ride a horse by herself instead of being lead around. Basically, she can turn and go forward. Although she fell off once, she got back on and wants to learn more!

On the way home, we stopped by Manzanar. Manzanar is a Japanese internment camp from WWII. There isn't much left from the original camp, but they do have a good museum which realistically depicts what life in the camp was like.

Click here to see the picture gallery Mule Days '05

When Madison was 2 years old, I started a tradition of taking the girls to Death Valley to go 4x4'ing and camping for some Dad-n-Daughter quality time. This year was Madi's 3rd trip and Cami's 2nd.

The trip organizer, Terry Johnson, has been planning the runs for over 10 years. The group consist of novice 4x4'er with stock rigs to experienced 4x4'er with trail only rigs. Also, people come from all over California (even some outa staters) to go on Terry's run.

In past years, we camped at Trona Pinnacles before meeting up with the main group, but due to the heavy rains this year we wimped out and stayed at a motel in Ridgecrest.The planned route the first day was to take the South Park Trail up through Rogers Pass down into Death Valley. Due to heavy snow, Roger's Pass proved to be impassable. After having lunch and playing in the snow, some of the more experienced 4x4'ers scouted out alternate trails back to Panamint Valley and to help part of the group which got stuck in some mud. Although we didn't make it through on the "planned" trail, we had fun just the same. There was enough rocks, rain, mud, snow and obstacles to keep any 4x4'er happy. After a long day on the trail, we pitched our tents on the Panamint Valley floor and waited for it to rain. Luckily, we had a windy, but dry night. The plan for the second day was to take trails up to some abandoned mines. Cami had a cold and I started to feel sick too, so we opted to head back home.

Click here to see the picture gallery Death Valley '05