Shannon's Marathon

Shannon decided to run a marathon this summer with her roomate Sarah, so together they started training. Part way through their training, Sarah decided she didn't want to run the race, so they both quit training. About a month later, Shannon still ran the race, which took place in Big Bear at around 7000 ft. The most Shannon had ever run was 10 miles during her training at sea level. She did finish the race, and we are all very proud of her for doing it. Way to go Shannon!







We called Andrew to give Shannon a little USMC pep talk at the halfway point.








Alethia tries to lend a hand.


Shortly after this point I joined Shannon for the last 6 miles of the race to help encourage her along, and I left my camera with Torrey who didn't take any pictures.

This is not related to Shannon's race, but later in the summer we went to the LA county fair, and Alethia loved the petting zoo portion of it, so here are some pictures from that event.

Mmmm, hay.

3D Pictures from the Philippines

I have another set of 3D pictures to share. If you need help figuring out what to do with them, check this out. If you want to see a bigger version, you can click on the photo, then select the magnifying glass icon at the upper left of the image on the page that comes up. Enjoy, and give me some feedback in the comments.

Visit to the Philippines

Back in August Torrey and I spent two weeks in the Philippines visiting the LRF where we hope to be moving to sometime in the next year or so. I won't say much or I will never get this thing finished and posted. So without further ado, here are some pictures from our trip.

We flew into Butuan where we stayed a few days at this lovely hotel called Dottie's Place.


Alethia liked the pool


And the mini jeepneys were fun too.


It looks like it may be just about time to get her a butterfly net.


We traveled by bus to Iligan.


At the LRF Alethia made friends quickly.


The LRF's jeepney needed some work done on it, so these guys dove right in.


I was actually pretty impressed when I saw the thing running the following week.


I tried to get Alethia to wear a parrot nose, but she never did go for it.


Scott did though.


Alethia's favorite pastime was kissing the dogs.


Scott wouldn't try that one.


Here is the hill behind the LRF.


And here we are taking a walk up the hill.




I tried Rambutan for the first time.


Tasty lechon manok.


At the LRF they use coconut shells to make charcoal that they use to cook rice with. This was fascinating to me.


The streets of Iligan


Near the village of Tagoloan


And one last sunset from the LRF.


My next post should be a bunch of 3D pictures from the Philippines, so stay tuned for that.

Just for Fun

Torrey's parents recently celebrated their 40th anniversary, so I made this into a card for them. I had this project in mind for several years, but I hadn't ever taken the time to put it together until this latest event. There is a Leland Ave near us and a Barton Rd a little further down the road. I pieced the Sharyn Ave together from several signs that contained the letters I needed. I would do it a bit differently if I had to do it over again, but that's the way it goes. You live and learn. Overall I am pleased with the way it turned out and it was a whole lot of fun.

Michigan

In June we spent several weeks in Michigan and thoroughly enjoyed the area, which was a great change of pace from SoCal. Here are a few pictures from our visit highlighting some of the places visited.

One of those was a bird sanctuary.


Alethia wanted to touch everything, but we weren't so sure the geese would be very nice.




We took a long walk through the Kellogg experimental forest.


Torrey's favorite place was a Kellogg dairy farm, where she was sure she could spend all day watching the cows getting milked. Alethia was interested in the cows but not quite sure about them.




There were quite a few flowers in bloom in early June.






Including some massive dandelion-type thingys. It is never too late to act young.


I found this mayfly hanging out on our window, so I invited her into my studio for a little photo session.


And this little guy spent quite a bit of time next door.


Finally, here is a little project I spent a little time working on one evening just for kicks. Good times with milk and cherries.