From our last post, all of you know that Mark has no desire to go “Surface”.  No ships for our favorite midshipman (which begs the question…then why the Navy?  But that’s another discussion…).  Our favorite mid has decided that Aviation is his calling (something he’s wanted since he was about 8)…that is…unless the Sub Bug bites him.  Sub week was a huge success!  Marines aren’t his thing…unless he’s a Marine Aviator, of course.  But Navy Air or Subs are both calling his name, so let’s see what this whole ProTraMid thing was about.

I won’t bother with Surface pix.  Unless the pix came from the decks of an aircraft carrier, Mark didn’t seem thrilled.  Marine week was first — let’s start there.

Can anyone see Mark dressing for work like this every day?

I admire the Marines (a lot), but as a parent, I kinda’ take issue with the problem of our Marines getting shot at all of the time.  Obviously whoever shoots at one of our Marines is a damn fool…life is short when the Wrath of God rains down upon you in the form of return fire.  But I’m not a fan of putting one of my kids in that kind of environment.  They do have some cool toys though…

As Mark points out, “these things float.”  And that they do –

In the Marine Aviation part of the world, here comes a ride:

And hanging out the side of one is kinda’ cool –

But I’m not seeing it.  Unless Mark changes his mind, I have a feeling the Marines won’t get a crack at him.

But Subs?  Well…that was the surprise of this training block!  Going in, Mark swore — swore! — that nothing could convince him to consider the Sub pipeline as a training/career option.  But I guess that changes when you climb on board.  This shot doesn’t do this sub any justice, but here are some mids standing on top of one of our nuclear subs getting ready to go below.  Oh, and they’re standing right above a whole bunch of ballistic missiles…

Mark had an opportunity to stand on top of that sail you see in the background.  You can’t tell, but it’s up there…and the effect is magnified when you’re at sea.  These things are huge.

But not an inch is wasted down below.  Looks a little tight, right?

Subs are cool…but I think we’re going to see this kind of work-wear in Mark’s future.  It’s more “him”, right?  This is “dressed and ready to go” for his training flight:

Today, it’s the back seat.  Tomorrow?

Check this out: Mark called this shot “diving to San Diego” –

Notice the angle they’re on…looks pretty much straight down to me.  I’m surprised he even held onto the camera.  But what kind of maneuver leads up to a dive like this?  I can’t say for sure, but it probably looked something like this –

Now I’m really surprised that the camera didn’t end up on the roof of the cockpit.  He calls this something like “upside down mid-loop”…and if you look at the wing, you can rest assured that it’s not the camera that was upside-down.

What else do we have…

Oh!  SeAL time!  The mids ran through the SeAL “O-Course” (Obstacle Course).  SeALs do it in about five minutes or less, and the mids did it carefully to learn the ropes.  Here’s a shot of Mark and a buddy right after they completed it.  Even going “slow” he appears to have broken a sweat.  How are those workouts coming, Mark?

He looks to me like he’s in pretty good shape.  But Karen says “Marky-Mark gets his butt kicked when he gets here, baby…”

Mark, how do you spell kettlebells?  We’ll find out in about three weeks!  (“Where’s the men’s locker room…I’m not feeling so good”…who said that?)

So!  Will Mark opt for dolphins?  Or wings?  Both would look mighty nice on his collar!  Or…

…will it be Grad School first?  So many options…must be nice!

He’s earned it!  More soon –

Mark was one of the “Fencers of the Decade” in Passaic County.  Just as importantly, two of his teammates were named, and a couple of his friends/competitors made the list as well.  All good guys, all deserving!

Mark is in San Diego right now for ProTraMid (Professional Training for Midshipmen).  He may even be out to sea (this week being Surface Week).  His phone is dead, and staying in touch with him during the week while training is near impossible.  Last week was Marine Week (at Camp Pendleton), with Sub Week and Aviation Week coming up.  He’ll hopefully see all of this over the weekend when he has some time off.

Congratulations Mark!

Kristin wrapped up Year One at Patterson University.  One down baby!

Cameron recently managed another skateboard related injury.  This time it was a severe concussion.  The discussion over helmets being worn at all times has already happened on several fronts.  When he finally remembers what year it is, I think he’ll consider favorably all of the helmet advice he’s getting.

Paris wrapped up another successful school year.  She tested and qualified for every available accelerated learning opportunity offered in our school system.  It’s certainly nice to have choices…

We celebrated the end of school with a short trip over to Disney.  Four days of fun in Paradise!

More info soon!

As most of you know, we spent most of “the Holidays” in the New York area. It was great seeing family and friends, but as always, we didn’t have enough time. We did a lot, but we would have liked to do (and see) more.

I don’t have a lot of pictures from our trip. It was just that kind of time…we enjoyed everyone’s company, we had a great Christmas, but we were fairly “relaxed” when it came to pictures. So I’m not going to include any here.

Quickly: the kids (in order) –

Mark continues to excel at USNA.  Out of modesty (on his behalf…certainly not mine), I won’t mention his exact Order of Merit (class rank — the all-important number) , but let’s just say he’s in the top 100 out of about 1,250. The top 90 even. Did I say top 80? Okay, we’ll stop there…

Kristin…Kristin! Oh my God Kristin! Kristin just finished her first semester at William Patterson. She did well. Okay, she did very well. How should I put it…umm….she kicked ass! Everyone getting a visual?  Kick, kick, kick!  I’ve got a number in mind…hmmm…does something around 3.5 sound right?  Yeah…that sounds about right.  Nice!

Cameron…oh Cameron…

Cameron’s big hurdle this past semester involved surgery.  He managed to finally get one of his knees to go in a direction it wasn’t designed to go in.  Everything took a back seat to pain, surgery, and recovery.  But he’s going to bounce back this marking period, and his Fencing team is dying without him.  They send me notes telling me so…

Paris: the youngest of the four that benefits greatly from the experience of her siblings.  They treat her like gold, and she worships the very ground they walk upon.  Watching Mark, Kristin or Cameron with Paris is like watching magic — it never stops amazing you.  Mark and Kristin were each here (separately) after Christmas (Cameron was practicing his limp), and Paris loved every minute of it!

Like her oldest siblings, she is an academic wonder.  She’s a first grader reading on a fifth grade level now, and she’s just wrapping up third grade math.  She reads encyclopedias for fun (I’m not making that up).  She can tell you more about how the human body functions than most adults can.  She explains planetary movement to me.  On the way to the bus stop this morning, I got a lesson on the North and South Poles and why they’re so cold (and how that relates to the cold spell we’ve been suffering).  She is something…

Anyone get the idea that I’m proud of my kids?  Amazing…all of ‘em.

Speaking of “cold”, wanna see what happens when you combine Floridians with water and cold?  This looks like a gardening experiment gone awry…

I have no idea what someone was thinking here, but it involved running water when it shouldn’t have…

Okay!  This next chunk is about boxing.  For those of you not interested, please stop here.

A little background:

As usual, Mark worked out with Aaron Jaco while he was here, and we’ve got some video.  Mark asked me to get him the video for review, and the easiest way to do that is here on the site.

This is not a “normal” video.  I didn’t edit anything — I simply slapped together raw footage with a few explanatory comments.  No cool soundtrack.  This wasn’t intended for regular public consumption — it was simply a learning tool for Mark.  But since it’s here, we might as well explain it.

(By the way, Kristin enjoyed a session at Aaron’s gym too.  Yeee haaaaaaa!  Isn’t life great, Kristin?  Kristin?)

Okay, everyone remembers Aaron, right?

Yeah…he’s a hard guy to forget.  If anyone new wants more info on him, get it here and here.

Aaron has a twin brother — Adam.  Adam is also a professional boxer.  This is Adam’s promo shot:

This is Adam recently destroying an opponent and being awarded the victory:

(That might have been the only shot Adam’s opponent scored…who’s bleeding?)

Another one for the ‘W’ column

So!  Adam is a great guy outside of the ring, and at Aaron’s request, he gladly agreed to let Mark come over to his (Adam’s) gym to work out.  Adam is getting ready for another pro fight on January 22nd, so this was no small deal.  We really, really appreciate him making the time for Mark.

In a little “kill two birds with one stone” action, after some warm up, Aaron decided that Adam was going to spar some four minute rounds.  (That’s a one minute “bonus” for those of you unfamiliar with boxing.)  The format was straight forward: Mark and another young guy would take turns going one minute each with Adam.  That means the young guys get to rest so Adam gets a relatively “fresh” opponent every minute.  Oh, and Aaron would set new “rules” for each minute: “Adam, left hand only!”  “Adam, you can’t hit him!  Slip and move only!”  “Adam, body shots only!” You get the picture.  Adam was put at a distinct (and new) disadvantage every minute.  Like it mattered…

As you’ll see, Adam is going at about half speed.  I’ve seen this guy fight.  He’s a pit bull.  No mercy.  If his opponent slows down or drops his hands, the opponent is dead.  He was gracious in allowing Mark to work at “learning” speed…

The video is below.  You’ll need Quicktime to see it.  If you don’t have Quicktime, a link should appear that takes you to a download site (it’s free).  There’s a control panel on the bottom of the video, but if all you see is a black box, double click on the box to start and single click to stop the video.

Mark has improved a lot since the last video we posted of his sparring sessions with Aaron.  Some of that comes from boxing with the team at Navy.  But a lot of it comes from the time Aaron made for him while Mark was here.  Aaron went all out to be available for Mark over a whole bunch of hours while Mark was here (and we appreciate it!).

Oh, and Kristin will confirm…this shit will tire you out!  Enjoy!

Paris has always had her own Christmas tree in her bedroom.  Each year, we set up the Big One, and we set up one for her.  Santa always leaves presents under both trees, so as you can probably imagine, the Bonus Tree is quite the bonus!

Today was a bit on the chilly side in Paradise, so Paris broke out the cold weather gear.  We managed a high of 67 degrees, but hey!  67 is chilly in Paradise.  She’s had the hat since she was two –

We’ll continue getting ready for the Big Day!

Speaking of Big Days, we’ve got a Big One coming up this Saturday!  Army-Navy 2009!  This is “Beat Army!” week at the Academy, and we always do our part to participate.  Raise the banner!

John Gallen will be pulling for Army at the game, but we don’t hold that against him.  His Dad and his father-in-law are both Army vets.  Even so, we know that deep down inside he’ll feel a sense of pride when Navy kicks Army’s ass!

Right John?

John?

Hey, you Northerners!  If it’s chilly and/or wet next Saturday, send warm thoughts to midshipman Mark!  He’ll be entering the Stadium early for the march-on, and then he’s in his seat until the end!  Last year was cold (if I recall correctly), but this year may be better!  And for anyone going like John is…be sure to catch the march-on.  It’s one of the coolest traditions in College football!

Go Navy!  Beat Army!

Those shoes are not the girly-girl variety.  Somehow or another, Mom found the kiddie version of a punk rocker boot.  Paris may be slam dancing this weekend, I guess…

Add the black lipstick before heading out to hunt candy!

Oh!  And proof that candy will rot your teeth, kids!  Paris lost another one!

I have not seen any pix of Kristin or Cameron in costume.  However, for those of you so inclined, there are some pictures of Mark in costume on his Facebook page.

Sami and Jacqui are the proud parents of a new baby boy.  Please say hello to Alec!

Alec’s brother Jack recently took a break from his elder sibling responsibilities to pose for a few pix in his Halloween costume.  I have it on good authority he was back to his big brother duties quickly!

Congratulations guys!  We’re thrilled for you!

Grammy and Kristin were here for a week (ending this past Wednesday).  Kristin is excited about the start of school, and Grammy was excited to hang with the girls (Kristin and Paris).  Mark flew in on Saturday and added to the mix, and then Cameron joined us on Wednesday.  We’ve been having a blast!

But!  All of this fun and games makes it hard to gather thoughts and photos from Yosemite.  I promise more Yosemite is coming!

Until then, let’s talk boxing.  Whenever Mark is here, he loves visiting Aaron Jaco.  Everyone remembers Aaron, right?  Former National Boxing Association Light Heavyweight champ.  Trainer extraordinaire.  All around good guy.  If you need a refresher on him, check out  this post.

So Mark wants to train with Aaron.  As an added bonus, Cameron decides he wants to as well.  Cameron’s first day was Friday.  It’s safe to say he learned a lot, but it was a tough day for him.  Everyone’s first day is a tough day.  Cameron threw more punches, did more push-ups, and did more ab work than he’s probably done in his entire life.  All of this in one, joyful hour.  But he did it!

After the workout, I asked him what he thought.  “I’m going to puke”, he said.

“Nah”, I said, “that’s just your ab muscles doing a little spasm thingy.  You’re fine!”

“I might need Mark to stop the car.  I’m not feeling so good.”

It turns out we made it home without stopping the car.  On the way, I said “Cameron, you did such a great job today that tomorrow I’m going to introduce you to kettlebells.”

“Oh my God, Dad.  Is he worse?”  (Kettlebells aren’t a “he”.  Kettlebells are weights.  Cannonballs with handles.  I think Cameron was a little tired.)

So Friday was a success!  Mark and I enjoyed the workout, and Cameron is really looking forward to Monday.  Yes!  He’s excited!  This is a good thing.

As an added bonus, Mark sparred with Aaron on Thursday.  Aaron likes to “slow things down” when sparring with someone new to the sport.  He coaches the whole time, he offers a ton of encouragement, and he’s pretty easy-going on his sparring partner.  Do not confuse “easy-going” with “easy”.

Mark busted his butt.  Aaron had fun.  We have the video to prove it!  It shows Mark — decked out in a 2009 Detailer shirt he won from an upperclassman.  And it shows Aaron — shoes off, having fun, hands down while encouraging Mark to “throw your jab!”  Mark learned a ton…

…but learning can hurt.  Check it out:

Important note to current or future plebes that get clever and find this: Mark is most certainly better now (when you read this) than he was in the video.  You probably want to exercise a little discretion.  Comments about this post or video will absolutely make your day-to-day more difficult.  Just a thought…

Many of you were expecting immediate updates on the Yosemite trip.  I even warned you, right?  “Expect  more frequent UPDATES! in your inbox…”

Well, life has a way of imposing itself upon you sometimes, and after eight days incommunicado, I had a lot of catching up to do.  I’m even forsaking some work-related issues right now so I can write this post while enjoying a cigar.

So!  On July 10th, our crew descended upon San Fransisco airport and loaded up for Yosemite.  It’s a bit of a ride on California highways at first (traffic), and then it turns into a bit more of a ride on the mountain roads and passes leading into Yosemite National Park.  “Roads” in the Park are not like roads in the civilized world — they’re Narrow Lanes of Death.  On more than one occasion I wished that John would slow down to about 4 MPH so we might better avoid the side of the road…which amounts to about three feet of stone and then a vertical plunge a few thousand feet into oblivion.  Don’t these mountain people know what a freakin’ guardrail is?

A 27-foot RV does not handle like a sports car, but John is a mountain goat.  I guess he figures that whatever skills he uses to command his body up insane mountain sides also apply to said RV doing 45 MPH on the traffic equivalent of a balance beam.  We arrived at our first campsite alive and well.  The boys got their RV beds ready; I set up my tent.  (Hey, if you’re going to go into the wilderness for eight days, you might as well do it right, wouldn’t you agree?  I am proud to say that my tent was put to good use every night, i.e. protecting my exhausted body while it tried to recover from each day’s adventures.)

As we drove into the Park, we got a chance to see some incredible views and get a lay of the land.  Here are Paul and John playing with a small rock on a slab of granite:

Yeah…that thing was just sitting there.  Glaciers are powerful things, right?

Okay, with the first night behind us, we moved on to our permanent camp in Tuolomne Meadows.  At 8,600 feet, Tuolomne Meadows is an excellent spot to acclimate to altitude, and it’s a perfect starting point for the treks John laid out for us.

Our first hike was scheduled as an “easy” one.  John figured we’d do a “simple” day hike to get a feel for the trails and the elevation.  The plan?  Hike up to May Lake and then head on up to Mount Hoffman.  The guidebook calls this hike “moderate”.  Smitty claims the guidebook was written by sadists.

Here’s what a recent hiker posted on his blog about Hoffman:

At 10,850 feet, visitors can see Mount Hoffman easily, but for the occasional or novice hiker the trail to Mount Hoffman can be forbidding. The glacial advances over the last 1.5 million years buried this area under ice several times. The last of the retreating glaciers, about 11,000 years ago, finished the job of carving the spectacular spires and domes in Yosemite National Park. It is well known; the panorama view of Hoffman showed all the spender of these magnificent peaks.

A little quick math…let’s see…from Tuolomne Meadows to the peak of Hoffman is about a 2,200 feet gain in elevation.  Spread over 3.5 miles, this amounts to well less than 1,000 feet up per mile.  Should be easy enough, right?

Umm…right.

Here’s a view of the peak(s) as we got started:

The boys heard me repeat this over and over, but for everyone’s benefit, let me be clear:

I like to think I’m in halfway decent shape.  I run, I box, I bike, I swim, I spend some time in the gym.  Paul spent a bunch of time in the Army, so he knows a thing or two about humping through hills with a pack on.  Smitty competes in triathlons, and he once asked me to swim the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim for kicks (that’s 4.4 miles in open water, folks).  As mentioned earlier, John is a mountain goat.  All of us should be able to tackle a “moderate” hike, right?

You’d think!  But for the uninitiated, a long, uphill walk at altitude is like sucking air through a cocktail straw.  That someone bent in half.  Plus, at 9,000 feet (for example), the sun beats down on you and life feels “warm”.  At almost 11,000 feet, the wind whips around you, the altitude sucks every ounce of water out of your body, and life starts to feel “chilly”.  Standing at 11,000 feet is decidedly different than standing hillside at 9,000.  Let the learning begin…

So up we go!  Yosemite is filled with well-marked, well-maintained trails.  Rangers will tell you anything you want to now abut the trails.  But!  Trails tend to go around peaks and through passes.  Rarely do trails make their way up to the peaks, and when traveling with a mountain goat, the peaks are the destination.

Up to May Lake!

Incredible!  The lake is beautiful and crystal clear.  It’s cold too.  Hoffman is in the background, and the peak is the hump on the left.  The stuff on the right is a collection of “false” peaks.  From the lake, the false peaks look like they need conquering, and conquer them we did.  But those false peaks are the mountain version of a head fake; the real deal is the summit, and that’s on the left.

Here’s another look:

The tree line ends at about 9,600 feet.  In June, Yosemite enjoyed heavy snowfall at 6,000 feet.  The nice-looking, seemingly accessible pile of rocks is a different world.  Any plant life above 9,600 feet is hundreds of years old.  Fallen trees near the treeline have probably been “fallen” for two or three hundred years.  Nothing rots at this elevation, and in the warmer months, there’s very little precipitation or moisture to encourage decay.  When the precipitation does fall, it falls in the colder months when everything is frozen.  So…it’s like walking back in time.  An incredible experience!

Here’s a look back at our way up.  You can see the trail sticking out in the dust and granite, and this part of the hike really is a long walk uphill.  But as noted earlier, trails don’t lead to peaks.  Rangers won’t even discuss peaks.  What’s a group of hikers to do?

Follow the mountain goat, of course.  As the trail came to an end, here’s what we were faced with:

That antenna you see is the peak.  That’s where we want to be.  And yes, that’s a person next to the antenna.  We’ve come a long way, but we have a little more to go.  All we gotta do now is scramble up these rocks.  No big deal, right?

Being an efficient kind of guy, my eyes were glued to the rocks and ridge lines in an attempt to find the easiest way up.  John was scurrying around like a little kid in a toy store, so as I made my way up, he was a little below me.  I didn’t have my mountain goat guide to lead me up the side.

See that flat spot to the right of the antenna?  I chose that as my line.  I figured “hey!  Get on up to that ridge, and then it’s a flat hop, skip and jump over to the peak!”  Brilliant, right?  Check out what I saw on the other side of that ridge –

The camera’s depth of field is having a hard time rendering reality.  The green stuff you see ain’t bushes — it’s trees!  The white stuff is obviously snow.  What isn’t so obvious is that the snow and the trees are about 2,000 below me.  Straight down below me.  Ooopsie.  My “efficient” route suddenly seemed a lot less efficient.  Time to regroup.

(As an aside, on our way down, I encountered a girl bunched up in the fetal position near this ridge.  I took one look at her and said “You looked over the side, didn’t you…”  She said “yes” in a voice that came from miles and miles away.  I suggested the alternative route up that I had found, but she insisted she wasn’t moving.  Not up.  Not down.  John saved the day by escorting her up to the top so she could join her friends.  It was assistance that was offered over and over again to many a terrified soul during our travels…)

Once on the top, life was good!  Cold.  But good!  The view from the summit was the basis for the panorama I posted in the first Yosemite post.  The view from the summit is the view our commenting hiker (above) made on his blog.  The view is incredible!

And here are some views from the false peaks –

Pretty amazing, right?

And check this out — snow cups!

These guys are formed by the movement of the sun.  John can explain it in detail, but it has something to do with the depth of the snow and how it melts as the sun crosses the sky.  Here are the boys playing on some:

John is on the left, Paul on the right.  Maybe they’re not playing…John has that look in his eye.  I think he was planning the attack on the next peak.

The hike down was faster but no less work.  Going up means fighting gravity; going down means fighting gravity too, but in a different kind of way.  By the time we got back to camp, I was ready for bed.  We did a little dinner, but if I remember correctly, the sun was still up when I zipped up my sleeping bag and passed out.  It was certainly a day of firsts, and it was a day that set the tone for the rest of the week.  John is an expert, but the rest of us quickly realized that these “long walks” were going to be challenging.

Hoffman was a 7 mile trek round trip.  The next ones were going to be longer.  And higher.

Yeeee haaaaa…

Stay tuned.  More to follow.

Earlier Yosemite posts:

Yosemite — a taste

]]> http://trunzo.com/2009/07/31/yosemite-mount-hoffman-and-early-travels/feed/ 1 http://trunzo.com/2009/07/19/yosemite-a-taste/ http://trunzo.com/2009/07/19/yosemite-a-taste/#comments Sun, 19 Jul 2009 20:59:19 +0000 Jay http://trunzo.com/?p=821 Seven days in Yosemite…

I’ll be posting a blow-by-blow over the next few days, but to get things started, here’s a panoramic shot I managed to put together:

There’s no way I can post the full sized photo on the site.  It’s actually 26 individual photos “stitched” together.  If you’re so inclined, you can click this link to open the image for better viewing.  It’ll take about fifteen seconds (depending on your connection speed).  Go ahead and do it — you’ll be happy you did.

The trip was organized by our good friend John Gallen.  He’s a Yosemite veteran, and he made sure we started off slow (this photo) and ended with a bang.  I guarantee you’ll like the bang!

Our group was rounded out by the venerable Chris Smith (a fellow Georgetown alum) and Paul Schmeling (a frequent traveler to China introduced to us by John).  Paul is going on our email list until he begs to be removed…

We based ourselves at Tuolumne Meadows.  Our visit was broken down into treks: Day 1 was Mount Hoffman.  Days 2 and 3 encompassed our first overnight in the wild as we made our way up to Vogelsang and Fletcher peaks.  Day 4 was spent checking out the sequoia trees and visiting Yosemite Valley.  Days 5 and 6 included another overnight as we made our way over Clouds Rest and up to Half Dome.  Day 7 was the pack and repack day with the whole trip being bracketed by travel days.  I don’t know about the other guys, but I’m shot.

So stay tuned!  We managed almost 1,000 photos!  I’ll do my best to pull out a few good ones.  At the risk of sounding cliche, Yosemite is a National Treasure.  You gotta see it to believe it, and hopefully our pix will offer a glimpse into a place I thought was amazing.

More soon!

Venice sends fireworks up from a barge in the jetty (making the beach an ideal place to watch).  But as an added bonus, three other communities further up the beach (looking north) use their beaches for fireworks too.  So while our main show is going on, three others are going in the background.  It’s pretty cool!

Paris was prepped and ready to go!  Check out her tattoos –

Things start heating up as sunset approaches.  The crowd starts building…

…and the ever-present drum circle gets freakier and freakier…

…oh yeah.  You gotta stay upwind of these folks or you end up getting just as whacked as they are…

Patriotic spirits are high…

And we’re getting close to sunset…about 40 minutes maybe?  The sun is hiding on us…

…while Paris entertains herself while waiting for the show to start.

And then…

Boom! Check it out!

The show was great (as usual), but the interesting part of the night always revolves around the “resident-fired” fireworks.  Fireworks are legal in Florida, and the beach gets pretty smoky from all the lunatics trying to blow their damn fingers off.  We saw geniuses lighting entire boxes of sparklers (while pointing them at their little kids and shouting “hey!  look!”).  More candidates for the Darwin Awards aiming roman candles at their pre-adoloescent offspring…you name it, and we saw it.

Sanity prevails in some parts, though.  Some folks take their boats into the intercoastal and set up their own show with their own barge-like platform.  Rivalries develop between boaters, and as we walk to our car after the show, we get another show that looks and feels like a war zone.  Call it “local-flavor”…

The day was a success!  Stephanie is visiting with us for the weekend, so we enjoyed good company.  We had some barbeque before hitting the beach (the kind somebody smokes for days on end…not the one in the backyard)…Cameron, where were you?  The drum circle girls were looking for Kristin…all in all it was a momentous day.

Oh, and it’s also Peter’s birthday!  Happy Birthday Peter!