* Awesome PIPE event at San Mateo. Perfect weather, great food and good friends. Picked up 4 geocaches on the trail from the camp to Trestles beach.
* Slipped away from camping to see Jaya in here Alice in Wonderland performance. She was great!

The family took a nice road trip to the back country. We started heading east on the 78, through Escondido and its numerous lights and through the San Pasqual Valley into Ramona. We took a quick stop at the Santa Ysabel Open Preserve West to stretch our legs. This somewhat new trail is something we will surely want to come back to. Back on the road, we turned north at Santa Ysabel and took the 79 past Lake Henshaw.
The meadows here were spectacular with flowers and green grass. A right on S2 and S22 took us down the curvy road into Borrego Springs.
We stopped in at the Anza Borrego Park headquarters and checked out the nature center. It was very educational for us. We then headed up a bit to do the Palm Canyon hike. However, the rangers at the site informed us that dogs are not permitted on park land. With nowhere to hike, we drove around a bit to see if we could some wildflowers from the road.
Along Borrego Springs Rd., a landowner has installed life size sculptures of pre-historic creatures. The statues are made of steel and very impressive. We caw sloths, camels, turtles, smilodons, pigs and even velociraptors. Thanks to the Galleta Meadows people for displaying these. We tried heading up a dirt road, but thought the better of it and heading out of Borrego Springs.
We headed south to catch the 78 into Julian. I love going to Julian and it very nice weather there and not crowded at all. The dog got a walk through the old cemetery and the kids got ice cream at the soda fountain on the main corner. On the way out of Julian, we stopped at the Inaja Memorial Park and did a dusk hike on the nature trail there. Wonderful views!
We then headed home the way we came.

* Hiked a canyon in Cardiff leading from Lake Drive to I-5.
* Hiked the west approach to the waterfall in Los Penasquitos Canyon. Sophie almost got bit by a rattlesnake after she went into some bushes; she was one a very short leash after that scare. It was a beautiful day, sunny but with a nice cool breeze most of the way. It is nearly 6 miles round trip and the kids were griping towards the end, but it was worth it.


At the falls


On the way back.


A coiled up rattler (not the one that Sophie stumbled upon)

* Walked around Oceanside Harbor
* Climbed Seashell Hill

* Dart tournament at Joey's BBQ - knocked out in second round
* Finally got a chance to walk the dog; took her along 101 to enjoy the beautiful weather
* Finished in the money at a charity poker tourney - the last 5 of us chopped the prize money

* Lego League competition - The kids did awesome at their first contest, especially given the long day. With a couple of tweaks to the robot and the project presentation, they could place much higher.
* Open houses at Pacific Ridge and Grauer Schools - the first step in the long journey towards junior high
* Selena Gomez concert at House of Blues
* Worked on the garden
* Jaya performed at a duet concert, Bengt performed at his regular piano recital

* Hikes along the La Costa Glen and Scott Valley trails with several geocaches
* Planted carrots and spinach seeds to round out my winter crops
* Jaya started youth group meetings

* Lego League
* Sophie's Birthday - she got a new collar and a new toy
* Gardening
* Trying to stay cool
* Parents for Sunday dinner

* More bike riding - On one ride, my cell phone popped out of my wedge bag by Moonlight beach. A riding partner noticed when we got to Solana Beach. We retraced our path and called the number. Some nice people renting a beach house on 4th St. had picked it up and it was a quick ride over to claim it. For future rides, I will remember to zip the wedge bag completely :)
* Some nice trips to the beach.
* A friend gave Bengt a fencing exhibition. This friend competed at the college level and still had all the equipment. Bengt liked it and we might put him in class.
* Hiking in the trails above Green Valley.
* Nice BBQ with friends.

* Company picnic at Liberty Station. Got there early to grab some geocaches, then enjoyed some great food and games. Liberty Station is a very nice neighborhood, it has so much within a quick walk. We enjoyed the small museum at the NTC Command Center.
* Saw "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" - was decent, but quite different from the book.
* Dog hike at San Elijo Lagoon - too hot even for the lizards
* Quick trip to Cardiff Beach - nice way to beat the heat
* Harp and flute concert at La Costa Valley - wine and Subway subs!
* Installed a new reverse osmosis system - finally found one that fits our new sink cabinet, a Whirlpool model that has a smaller storage tank. The install went well consider I had to rebuild the drain system from the p-trap up.

* Got a touch of the cold which left me quite congested.
* Dog walks at Manchester Reserve and San Elijo Lagoon (twice).

* PIPE (Post Indian Princess Event) meeting/BBQ. We got assigned a March event at Palomar Mountain SP (if it is still open).
* Small amount of biking.

* Spent half of Saturday biking.
* Attended our third consecutive Dogs Days of Summer festival in Cardiff. Sophie hates it more each year.
* Went to the Ruben Fleet Science Center with the kids. We checked out all the exhibits before taking in the IMAX Wild California film. I got sick watching the movie; no more IMAX for me :(
* Took Sophie to the Lagoon to chase lizards and rabbits to make up for Dog Days.

* Very nice party at a friends.
* Finished the toe kicks and baseboards in the kitchen.
* Cruised through a 20 mile bike ride.
* Walked dog at Pipe Hike and lagoon nature center.

* Hikes with the dog.
* Staying out of the heat.

* Lots of walks with Sophie: San Elijo Lagoon, Swamis, Cottonwood Creek Park, Pipe Hike.
* Worked on the kitchen, again.
* Vacuumed the backyard. We have a gravel backyard and I have to use a landscape vacuum to pick all the leaves and pine needles.
* Did some biking, but the heat was brutal.

* Rode a couple of nice bike rides.
* Hiked the nature trail at Elfin Forest.
* Celebrated the soft opening of the new location of Gaffney's Wine Bar with some wonderful tastings. My favorite was a delicious cab franc.

* After several years and hundreds (if not thousands) of attempts, Sophie finally succeeded in catching her elusive prey, a lizard. This trophy was caught in the San Elijo Lagoon, on the nature center hike.




* Checked out the Del Dios Gorge hike, northward from the trailhead. This is trail #12.





Bat houses

* Attended the last Adventure Princess event with Jaya. In a twist of fate, it was at the same venue where we had our first event, Fiesta Island. I will miss the good times, but I made many friends that I will have for life.

* Worked non-stop on the kitchen and some real progress on the finishing touches.
* Went to see Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian - it was cute, much like the first. Air and Space Magazine had an article on how "real" the movie was. However they were speaking only of the set that was built to mimic the real museum. Because if you see the performance the Wright Flyer puts on, you would think the plane was powered by a Pratt & Whitney F135, not a 12 horsepower 4 banger.

* My parents came down to celebrate Bengt's and Jyoti's birthdays. They brought cake and pie. We watched Jaya's soccer game in what is considered inclement weather.
* Checked out the new farmer's market at Flora Vista Elementary. It was a bit light on the fresh produce and had a lot of prepared and packaged foods. We bought some delicious hummus and baked pita chips.

* Visited the somewhat new Del Dios Highlands Preserve. It was a bit sunny and the kids were grumpy so we only did a mile or so. We will go back in the fall and make it to the reservoir.
* Saw the new Lake Hodges Pedestrian/Bicycle bridge. It was surprisingly high off the water and Sophie was a bit scared.


* Caught a great CYT production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
* Great Memorial Day BBQ at a friend who is celebrating her 50th birthday.
* Finally got the veggie garden going with a trip to Sunshine Gardens; and what visit to Sunshine Gardens would be complete without a cupcake from Elizabethan Deserts

* Jyoti's cousin Abhi was in town so we did a very typical San Diego experience and went to the zoo.

* Worked on kitchen remodel
* Hike at San Elijo Lagoon in perfect weather

* Attended two science lectures at Cabrillo National Monument
* Jaya had her sleep-over birthday party

Is there anything more American than Monster Trucks? It has everything dear to our hearts:
* Obscene amounts of horsepower
* Excessive gasoline consumption
* Wanton destruction
* Over-the-top patriotism
* Intrusive advertising
A couple weeks ago, the family and I took the trip down to Qualcomm Stadium for Monsterjam. It was a blast! The truck drivers really go out of their way to put on a good show. At the end, Gravedigger deliberately wrecked his truck to please the crowd. Just as fun as the trucks was the demolition derby they had during intermission.
There were two negatives on the evening. One was the extreme volume of the public address system; it was much louder than the trucks and very annoying. The other was the obnoxious drunks on the trolley ride back to Old Town. The $9 beers would also have been a negative if I had been stupid enough to purchase one.




Gravedigger in mid flight

Spent last weekend at Camp Marston for another Woodcutters Weekend. We cut wood in the rain, sleet and snow but thankfully the wood lot had a cover on it. The kids were relieved of duty and spent most of the time playing Ga-Ga.

On Saturday afternoon, we all went down to Old Town to see the sites and visit some of the museums.

* First, we went through the McCoy House Interpretive Center. This is a very nice museum with each room representing a different period of Old Town's history. Unfortunately, the docent said this house is the first to be cut when the money gets tights so is closed often.




* In the Robinson-Rose House, we saw the wonderful model of Old Town from 1872.




* We did the tour through the Estudillo House. I enjoy the period costumes that the park employees and volunteers wear.



* The kids dipped candles at the candle and soap shop.



* We ate dinner at The Alamo Mexican Food, which is the only fast food Mexican food we could find within walking distance.

* Guides trip to Agua Caliente County Park. The weather was perfect and made for a great time at the mud caves and on the Moonlight Trail. Bengt's pinewood racer was the 3rd fastest in the tribe and he made the nation finals where he got the second round. The ranger was a bit persnickety and made us douse the campfires way too early.


* Walked dog at San Elijo Lagoon.

* Yet another Sophie walk at San Elijo Lagoon. Can't wait for the nature center to open.
* Planning meeting for next weekend's Agua Caliente camping trip

* Sophie dug a big hole in the garden.


* We went up to Palomar Mountain State Park to see the snow. I went a slightly different route up there that took us past Lake Wohlford, which I have never seen. At the park, the sun was out and the weather great.


The kids made snowmen...


threw snowballs and tried sledding without sleds...




The dog loved it as well, especially when a squirrel scampered across the snow.

* Took my parents to see Dr. Suess' How The Grinch Stole Christmas! as the Old Globe theater. The acting and music were great but the stage was the best part of the show. The scenery people outdid themselves on this one. The only negative was the heat in the theater, too hot for me.

* Kids went to Disneyland for the Christmas festivities.
* Kids had their Christmas piano recital. Jaya played "We Three Kings" and Bengt played "Good Kind Wencelas".
* Waited for the storm.

* Jaya held a garage sale and was quite the little salesperson
* Lux Art Institute Open House
* Hike at San Elijo nature center and South Cardiff

* 2 Thanksgiving Dinners sans kids (they were in St. Louis visiting my brother).
* Build another loft bed for Bengt. This one was shorter than Jaya's.
* Hiked San Elijo Lagoon with the dog.
* Painted the ceiling (over a year after we removed the popcorn).
* Put up a dartboard in the garage.

* Hiking at Guajome County Park.
* Classics 4 Kids concert at the newly renovated Balboa Theatre. The Balboa is a wonderful venue. I highly recommend taking your children to see Classics 4 Kids to kick start their appreciation of the arts.

* Awesome Adventure Princess event at Agua Caliente County Park. Visited the mud caves which were amazing. They are formed by water carving tunnels through the hills, but they look like they were drilled out by man. Tested out the new pool which is unheated buy very refreshing.
* Kids had a piano recital.

* Built a bottom bunk for Jaya's loft bed
* Walked the dog in the rain
* Visited the new SRF book shop

* Had a Guides event at Del Mar Beach. We had great weather this time; no rain, thankfully. Not many activities to spoil the lazy time on the beach.



* St. A's had its Fall Festival fundraiser for the Sudanese outreach. Our chili entry again failed to win. Green Flash brewery was on tap which made a perfect compliment to the chili.

* Playing darts, dog-sitting, baking cookies, roasting chickens

The kids and I have been going to Camp Marston near Julian for several years now. I always wanted my wife to go to see what all the fuss was about. It turns out that the camp has a Woodcutters Weekend that families can attend. Your family gets to stay at the camp at no charge, but in return you have to cut wood, literally. We spend 8 hours on Saturday and a few more on Sunday turning big pieces of wood into little pieces wood.
Here is a before picture of the wood pile.

Here is the after picture of the pile; it is more impressive in person.

The family operating dangerous machinery

Slow weekend. Did two dog walks, one of which was a return to Pipe Hike (aka Manchester Preserve).

* Elfin Forest Reserve - sans kids, did the Way Up Trail to the top. Only 1.5 miles but straight up. A bit too hot still, but will be a good one to try during winter.

* Hiked Calaveras Mountain for the first time. We didn't make it to the top this time but plan to in the near future. I give the city of Carlsbad two years max before they develop this land.

* Hiked Elfin Forest Reserve for the first time.



* Adventure Guides event at Indian Hills.

* San Elijo Lagoon nature center hike - the new nature center is started to come along nicely. It is still too big for my tastes but I can't wait for it to be completed.
* Choctaw kickoff meeting at Poinsettia Park
* Fun at Cottonwood Creek Park

* A nice hike at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. We really enjoy the nature center their as it is very hands on and the people are great.

* Replaced a broken belt tensioner on the car.
* Fixed a leaky tub drain.
* Birch Aquarium - nothing new to report, although the octopus is getting very large.
* Drove around the UCSD campus and made a stop at the Geisel Library. It is a very striking building from afar, but the concrete constructions looks very rough when up close. We went up to the 7th floor to see the views but the windows were quite dirty. They had a couple of neat exhibits. One contained a small sampling of Geisel's artwork and books. On the arts and music floor, they had a Etch-A-Sketch display. Apparantly, the library will give you an Etch-A-Sketch for you to draw with and they will put it in the display. We might go back and give this a try. The kids had lots of questions about college. My daughter was very interested in the independence that college offers (mainly that no one forces you to attend classes).

* Hiked San Elijo Lagoon from the La Bajada trailhead. Halfway to the 5, Jaya sprained her ankle quite badly and it swelled up like a peach. I had to carry here piggyback most of the way back.
* Walked Sophie at Cardiff Seaside beach during the evening. I love the beach in the late afternoon to dusk.

* Lunch with Chuck at Dave's BBQ in Vista - the BBQ was excellent
* Finished painting and replacing the hardware on the garage entry door.
* Installed Tiki torched in front patio.
* Attended Cardiff Dog Days of Summer for the third straight year - this was the hottest year yet and Sophie still does not like other dogs. It seemed like the vendor booths where more popular this year but the contests were less popular, go figure. Another phenomenon was the number of pet portrait services. I don't remember any from last year but this year I counted at least 4, from photography to paintings.

My parents live in Santa Ana, last refuge of the "safe and sane" fireworks. Growing up, we bought fireworks, but never to the quantity that I wished. A couple of years ago, my brother was in town for the 4th and we were like kids in a candyfirework shop. This year, we bought a large (but not quite "block party" size) box of pyrotechnics. The kids loved the little items: ground bloom flowers, sparklers, worms, lightning bugs, etc. It gives a parent great satisfaction to teach their brood how to start the fuse of an explosive device without losing a finger or hand. As we set off our fireworks, the rest of the neighborhood joined in. There were multitudes of air-burst rockets, like mini-Disneyland fireworks. I imagine they were purchased in Tijuana given the area's large Mexican population. In any case, I was very jealous; the bottle rockets we had as kids were pathetic compared to the new ones.

* Started a big maintenance job on the BMW: fix two leaky hydraulic hoses (more on this in a later post), replace the transmission filter and fluid, replace the front brake rotors, fix the front brake squealing, and replace the rear brakes.
* Fixed the front garden irrigation system.
* The kids had their final piano concert until classes begin again in the fall.
* Had a PTA transition meeting from the old board to the new board (I am El Presidente).

* Trip to the dump - here was the goodbye committee:


* Saw "Prince Caspian" - not a big fan of the Narnia series but my daughter is and she won out over Indy.

* Fixed the kids' closer doors - they were a 1/8" too long due to the unevenness of the floor, so we had to shave some material off the bottom to fit in the floor guides

* Cleaned up the backyard - with the old playhouse off to the dump, I vacuumed up all the leaves and pine needles and put in a new light fixture; it looks very nice now

* Saw the whip snake at San Elijo again - this is the second time we have seen it roughly the same spot

* Biked 10.5 miles
* Great Adventure Princess event at Indian Hills

* Zoo - haven't been in a while. Noticed the new giraffe home and saw the construction for the new Elephant Mesa. The slow loris was a no-show.
* Finished the front yard patio
* Dinner with family and friends on Orange County
* Started the back yard rehab
* Did a nice 7.4 mile ride from my house to the 101 and back.

* Laid down the patio pavers.
* The pool was finally warm enough to go in.

* More work on garage and front yard.
* Mother's Day BBQ with one grandmother out sick and one wife with a jaw wired shut.

* Indian Guides trip to Vail Lake
* Got sick at Vail Lake
* Spent Sunday in bed

* Dorado cocktail party (stayed verrry late)
* Sick on Sunday (not from party...I think)

* Jyoti's jaw surgery.
* Kid's at the grandparents: ate ice cream, watched E.T., went to Disney's California Adventure.

* Spent most of Friday at Disneyland on the kid's new annual passes. Lines weren't too long and it wasn't that hot.
* Waited out the heat in our nice cool house (sans a/c).
* Grilled up a fabulous pork tenderloin with my rotisserie grill attachment. Haven't used it in ages, but it cooked up the roast beautifully.

* Adventure Guides event at Hurkey Creek near Idyllwild. Great times with laser tag, hikes and nice creek to get muddy in.




* Starting planting out the garden and getting rid of the big mound of grass I ripped up

* Jaya's 10th birthday party at Pelly's Minigolf
* Dog time at George's beach

* Pipe hike
* Started the garden rehab
* San Elijo Lagoon hike - saw 3 deer between the flood control dike and the freeway, a buck and 2 does
* Easter at Grandma's

* "Horton Hears a Who"
* Called into work
* Pompeii exhibit at the San Diego Natural History Museum
* Jaya's piano test, the performance part
* Choctaw meeting

* Adventure Guides trip to Dos Picos

* Very muddy pipe hike
* Encinitas library grand opening
* Cleaned rooms during another rainy weekend

* Attempt to keep dog alive after she ate a bunch of chocolate (she made it)
* Hike at Manchester Open Preserve
* Kids at Grandma's
* Clean carpets and other stuff around the house
* Jog along 101 from Java Hut to Chesterfield
* Lunch with wife
* Trail walk beside El Camino Real from Lavante to La Costa

* Walked dog at Viewpoint Park and checked out soon-to-be completed Encinitas Library. Went down D Street and strolled in the Seaside Bazaar.
* Kids had a piano recital and both did great.