#sjf

A few excerpts from the last two+ months, where we had a really fun visit from the Stampas, a fourth birthday party for Leah, and some time with Maya Clements. (18 photos)

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Oma Elsbeth & Grandad Ken were in town this past weekend, and boy did we keep them busy! Friday they went to Sea World with Dylan, Saturday to the Children’s Museum, & Sunday it was the Long Beach Aquarium. The three (walking) cousins are so cute together that I can’t help post multiple shots from the same few moments.

Reminder: you can click these thumbnails, and then click the right side of the photo to go “forward” and the left side if you want to go “back.”

Autumn 2009 (all)

More Leah pics! A bowling birthday party for friend Patrick and finding pumpkins with Sienna. And thank you to Lisa for sending me that last one – great close up from Jason’s birthday.

These were filed under Autumn 2009 on the photosite, but then i realized that there’s some summerness to them too, being pool & lake activities… So consider these “amibuous season in southern cal” photos:

Busy times, these are! Leah had a swine-flu scare at her school (they closed the school b/c several kids got the flu at the same time, none of them had H1N1), and she was sick for 2-3 days (sorry we missed your party, Uncle Todd, Aunti Meile, and Cousin Aiden) after which she proceeded to fly off the bed and land on her left arm. We thought for sure it was broken, but then, after a trip to the urgent-care where there was NO X-RAY MACHINE (how is THAT possible??), she toughed it out overnight with a splint & a sling (+ children’s tylenol). Turned out she didn’t break it, and cast the sling aside after about 48 hours. Whew!

Just then, Dad got the flu. Took him down for 3 days. Fever/chills, nausea, you name it. He slept a lot. He’s better now. STAY HEALTHY MOMMA!

Some more photos of Leah-bean:

Hope all is well with you & yours!

Decided to stop posting photos by month – too many months pass where we get too busy, and then you, dear reader/viewer, are stuck wading through folders which contain, say, 4 pictures. Lame-o. So, introducting the whiz-bang completely new never-before-seen concept of dividing things up quarterly, by season (what’s that, you fellow californians ask? there are FOUR seasons? Yes. Go look up Spring and Fall on wikipedia or something)

Here’s the first batch of Summer 2009 photos. (I’m quite sure there will be more)

And the highlights:

Editor’s Note: This post sat in draft status on my blog and was sadly forgotten…until now. Enjoy!

Monday June 8th, James Snyder, SMHS class of 1987, got a great big surprise from his wife Hala. When the two of them went to dinner while on vacation in Santa Barbara, they ran into one of James’ previous girlfriends. James felt awkward, and thought it was an odd coincidence. Later, when they walked into Q’s Bar downtown, another long-time friend greeted him at the door. He was shocked. He was stunned. And then he looked around, and realized he knew EVERYONE in the joint! Major props to Hala for pulling off the biggest & best surprise  birthday party in the history of…James’ life!

There are a few more photos in this folder.

Just a few snapshots of #lb (aka Leah Bryn) for the fam:

May 16th, 2009 will be recorded as a special night in San Diego music memory. While we here in southwest corner of the country enjoy arguably the best weather in the nation, we often play second fiddle to LA and other larger cities for concert date schedules. Not. This. Time. Saturday night was a fantastic confabulation of good weather, great friends, and killer music. (oh, let us not forget the good tequila, either, because it certainly did not forget Us come Sunday morning) (continue reading…)

I set out last Sunday early in the morning to take some photos intended for publishing in Barnett’s magazine — but it turned out to be more of a learning session. I learned that I don’t operate well in the early morning, and I spent too much time at a location that offered flat light instead of taking advantage of the soft tones of the early morning sun. Oh well, some of these came out okay compositionally, I just need to learn to back up a bit and then crop in. (and I haven’t spent any time adjusting these at all, could emphasize the lighting and add some color/saturation, just don’t have time right now)

Well, she’s not as big as a gorilla…yet. But she is a whole lot cuter.

I’m a sucker for gorillas, birds, and butterflies. And the occassional well-lit flower.

We had a fantastic 5-day trip with the Miller family to Sugarloaf, just East of Big Bear Lake. Here are some photos from the excursion which included fishing, hiking, snow-play, and just a whole lotta fun! Many thanks to Brian and Lisa for including us in the adventure!!

Leah at the Bowling Alley, having a Great time.

Michele has been taking Leah to swimming lessons 2x/week for the past several months. (thanks Honey!) These two short videos — which I should compress and refine, but have not --  illustrate what her progress is like.  She really enjoys it.

Learning happens in a myriad of ways, but recently I’ve noticed that there are more and more vehicles and mechanisms available for the broadcast and consumption of information. Blogs. Podcasts. RSS feeds. Twitter. “Regular” web sites. Video sites. Social sites. The list continues to grow almost daily.

I remember the first computer in our house, an Apple ][+, which is to say that, although I have been around computers most of my life, while i was growing up, they were not a significant source of information gathering or broadcasting. We learned *about* computers, not on them. (continue reading…)

Well it has been a few months since I touched this blog. What’s a geek gonna do with a free day off work? (hey, in my defense it is raining outside today) Upgrade the blog, that’s what.

So now I have a shiny new version of Wordpress(2.7) and a dirty new theme, I feel dirty theme by studio ST.

If you use wordpress, please send me a list of your favorite widgets.

So far I’ve installed

• tweetThis (share me in the cloud)
• twitter for wordpress (oh you lucky twats)
• wptouch (check me on your ipod/iphone!)
• smart youtube (vids coming to this blog – wO.ot)
• upgraded Slimbox (note to self: go test older posts)

Thanks to Brad, Rick, Dave, Jack, Craig, and especially Christo for a fantastic weekend in the Lake Mead, Nevada Recreational Area.

Was going to write an extensive trip report, but I’ll let the pictures tell the story — I had a phenomenal time, and am still in awe of how much we were able to do and see in the 2.5 days we spent along the river.

75 Photos from the trip

Some highlights included:

• First night around the campfire, most of the group has their blackberry out and is texting. hehe. getting away isn’t what it used to be.
• Capsizing on the rapids (me) and losing nothing — my cellphone still works, and my second sandal came floating by 10 minutes later! (wallet is gonna need replacing tho)
• Cliff diving – although I did not jump, I had more fun taking the pics.
• The food! Yes, we drank like fish, but we also ate like Kings – Christo is a true Master. (pizza, tri-tip, pancakes, breakfast burritos, smores, you name it)
• Hot Springs, rain, ducks, slot canyons, friendly folks, losing and finding my glasses…ah, just go look at the pics.

I’m about a month behind on posting photos to finkels.net…