Mr.and Mrs. Uncle Don

Tonight my Uncle Don married his long time girlfriend Chris. Ever since I met her a couple years ago, I knew they were meant to be. The wedding was at The Seasons Bed and Breakfast in Placerville and was the perfect setting for their union. It was wonderful to share this special night with them. Congratulations to them both!!!

A first dance as husband and wife

Macy and my cousin Abbey

The Smart Ass Gene runs in the family

Macy posing with the bouquet

A Day on the River

Just before school started, a group of us went rafting for our last day of summer freedom. It was great to spend time with everybody outside of school. It turns out that I work with some very fun people... who would of thought? We started from Camp Lotus and ended eleven miles down the river at Salmon Falls Bridge. The trip was such a hit that we are looking forward to going again next year!

Rick working hard to inflate our raft.

Jim and I before we left... He is a great special ed. teacher, and an even better river rafting guide. It's nice to have such expertise on staff!!!

Lorrie and I taking a break... and we hadn't even left yet.

Rick and Linda smiling because they will soon be returning back to work to train a whole new group of lost pups...

One disappointment of the day was our principal could not make the trip as planned. Jim drew an uncanny likeness of Ralph on the bailing bucket. As Ralph said "He was full of it all day long". At least he wore his life jacket. Safety first of course. The rafters beside us at lunch thought we were a little insane posing with a bucket until we explained we're teachers. That seemed to put everything in perspective for all the bystanders.

The group... left to right- Lorrie, "Ralph", Janice, Jim, Rick, Janie, Kim, Linda, Stephen, Sharee, Scott (our other awesome guide), and Dina

When you marry a teacher...

When you marry a teacher they will use you for all that your worth. In Bob's case, he has created many of my bulletin boards, volunteered in the classroom, served as the friendly forester guest speaker, and corrected more than a paper or two. I just "commissioned" him (at no cost) to create a mural for my reading program. I had an old book shelf that I tried to get the maintenance man to fix for the last year that got a total makeover. Well, I fixed that shelf alright!!! I bet next time I ask somebody to fix something in my room it will get done rather quickly in fear that I might paint it!!! This will definitely brighten up my classroom!!!! Thanks Bob

The artist and his Masterpiece

My program is called Rainbow Readers... since it has been named that for over ten years (and for the fact that I can't think of another cutesy name ), I feel committed to keeping it.

Stormbird Sighting

Here's another one of those classic Bob photos. We forgot to add this to the Stormbirds reunion post. While I thought this was a chicken head to match Bob's chicken legs. Bob was quick to correct me... It's a cardinal. My bad. I guess if this music thing doesn't work out, he can become Santa Cruz High School's mascot.

First Day of School Past and Present

Today Jack started third grade!!!!! Where does the time go? As a tradition, we take a first day picture at home. My how he has grown...

Kindergarten

First Grade

Second Grade ... this is a week before we had to put Sadie down. We all knew the end was near, including Jack who wanted to stay with his dog instead of going to school. Sniff Sniff -tear-tear-tissue

Today.... as a third grader.

Here's to another school year!!!!

AP NEWS: Stormbirds Reunite

S T O R M B I R D S

AP California: On August 8,9,and 10 the rock band Stormbirds met in Santa Cruz to play their original music from 1987 and 1988. The reunion was low key and only those close to the band knew the secret studio location deep in the bowels of Santa Cruz High School.

“We didn’t want any frenzied attention that would distract us from having a good time and making music,” said Twig, the bands bass player. “You know how the media outlets are always finding the negative in everything, and they didn’t even offer to purchase our secret photos,” added Twig. The Stormbirds lead guitarist Elk arranged the weekend meeting saying, "It's important to just get together and see how we all get along." Elk added, " If great music comes out of this then we have succeeded and proven to our dedicated fans that the Stormbirds still have it." Elk masterminded the meeting site and arranged recording equipment along with his extraordinary engineering skills.

The bands' lead singer Leaf came primed and ready to not only sing the songs but express the energy and spontaneous emotion brought on by many of their original songs. Leaf was satisfied with how the reunion went and was heard exclaiming "we came and f**ked a rocket!"
The sometimes exuberant lead singer known for his imaginative use of prosthetics, broken glass, and other implements of creativity needed to be constantly calmed by his bandmates to save his vocal chords.
Knuckles, the drummer proved his ability to sustain the backbone rhythm just like in the era of spandex pants and big hair. "You know," said Knuckles "We just were ahead of our time and groups like Poison and Bon-Jovi needed their space." The Stormbirds played most of their original songs including a blistering version of hypnotized which brought both Knuckles and Elk to their knees."We were totally sprawled out on the ground sweating like the salty dogs we are," added Elk. Leaf fully produced all the emotion needed on the truly disturbing song Babys' Judgement and continued to ride the wave through several other songs like Runnin Blues, After the Fire, Pacific Bridge, Counterfeit Love and Suicide.

On Sunday morning the members met to talk about their successful Santa Cruz session and vowed to do it again at a yet to be disclosed location in Northern California. Leaf and Twig agreed that there may be promise to pursue a gig for our limited hardcore fans in a public venue.

After 20 years there is one thing for sure- The Stormbirds still rock!









The Stormbirds would also like to provide a big thanks to everybody in Elks' family for providing the most professional gig space you could find in Santa Cruz, all the good food, and a great lawn to crash on.

Stayhoma in Tahoma

Feeling the pressure to be part of the national statistic that Americans are vacationing close to home this year, we chose to spend our summer vacation at the cabin in Tahoma (located on the west shore of Lake Tahoe). I must say, I did escape to San Diego by myself for a few days before our family bonding trip which allowed me to fully appreciate our time together. During my time away, Bob had the opportunity to be a single Dad for a few days.. GOOD FUN : ).


While I flew South to SD, Bob took the kids to Stockton. One important visit was with Grandmother Dorothy (Bob's grandma). She recently moved from Long Beach to Stockton. They also stayed with the Martin family. Jack is still talking about how much fun he had with his cousins Mikey and Trevor.... and I must publicly thank Uncle Pete for Bob's birthday present - a gift certificate to go sky diving. I'll make sure Bob's life insurance is paid up before the big jump. Sorry, I just am part of the club who does not understand why somebody would jump out of a perfectly good airplane!!! Bob, however, is just plain giddy about his upcoming adventure!!

She is so darn cute!!!!

NOW ON TO THE TAHOE FUN----

Our friends the Morfords finished up their boat camping in Emerald bay with a visit to the cabin. We went exploring a nearby creek. Jack, Brandon, and Maddy Jo seemed to have a great time despite the biting flies!!!

The Morfords

Greg and Macy building Princess rock castles

We had a visitor who dined on an ant log about ten feet away from the cabin. This juvenile bear seemed not to care that we were invading his space.

One day we went over to Sand Harbor on the East side of the lake. It was beautiful and one of the first days without the smoke affecting the visibility. Macy and Jack spent the majority of the day in the water. There is also an outdoor summer Shakespeare theater at Sand Harbor, but our children do not yet appreciate such culture.

Jack turns 8!!!! This day was full of fun. We went miniature golfing, had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and won over thousand tickets at the arcade. Having kids has its payoffs.



Showing off his Birthday loot... a Nintendo DS and a Subskate.

Jack wanted to know why getting into your cake is only reserved for the first birthday. To this we said "DIG IN!!!" I choose to blame this lapse of parental judgment on the pitcher of pomegranate daiquiris (thanks for the recipe Cheryl) that Bob and I had before dessert.

WHAT A BROWN NOSER!!!! Note Jack did NOT partake in daiquiris with us. This is just plain eight year old stupidity.

A vacation in Tahoe would not be complete without a day in Squaw. It is always fun to go down memory lane as Bob recalls his childhood in the valley. As always we had a fabulous time!!

We took the cable car up to high camp for a day of swimming. I highly recommend this excursion. Here we are on our way up to the top of the mountain.

Bob and Jack look spent after hours in the pool and hot tub. What a great view (sans all the smoke)!!

Jack wins Gold-Macy gets Silver, and Bob the Bronze. Posing on the medal podium in the Olympic Museum.

We wore out the girl... another successful outing!!!