The Year in Pictures: May 2007

The month of May began with a weekend camping trip to the Temecula Valley, for a rendezvous with my mom and Woody, Lisa and Jon, and a large and rowdy contingent of fellow homebrewers from throughout Southern California. The occasion was the annual SoCal Homebrewers Festival, and it was our first year in attendance. The weather was on the cold (and windy!) side, and the camping at Vail Lake resort was disappointing--neither appropriately rustic/picturesque nor especially luxurious. But the beer fest itself didn't disappoint. During Saturday's festival, I intentionally left the camera behind, so as not to lose or damage it in a drunken stupor, nor come home with any embarrassing photos. But I did at least get a couple of nice shots of the boys playing with their trucks around the campsite.

The rest of the month, at least photographically speaking, revolved around Tony's school and cub-scout activities. One weekend it was a trip to the tide pools at Abalone Cove on the Palos Verdes peninsula, where we were treated to a bright sunny day and lots of wildlife and other photogenic natural features, such as Sea Stars, Marbled Godwits, and ocean-sculpted Altimira Shale.

Later in May, Tony and his den officially earned their Tiger badges, and crossed the bridge toward a second-grade year as Wolf cubs. Never has a sense of pride shined more brightly across Tony's face, and it was a moment to reflect on what truly had been a very busy and productive 2006-07 school year.



Speaking of school, May was marked by the annual Ocean Charter's annual Spring Faire. This is a huge event for the school, both a "Waldorfy" celebration of the changing seasons and the major fund raiser of the year. The latter more or less consumed Audrey's spare time and energy during the preceding months, and it was nice for all of us to get that task complete (at least until next year!). But the celebration was also much enjoyed by all, beginning with a traditional Maypole dance by Tony's class and followed by a day of play. Combined with the regular routine of school/work and weekend t-ball and ice skating, May was a busy month indeed.

The Year in Pictures: April 2007

With Spring Break rolling around, April theoretically should have been a month of out-of-ordinary fun. Unfortunately, my week off at SMC didn't coincide with either of Tony's TWO weeks off from Ocean Charter, so any sort of long trip was out of the question, and it was more or less business as usual.

April wasn't an entirely routine month. Thanks to the generosity of both my parents and my in-laws (thanks!) I treated myself to a new digital-SLR camera for my 40th birthday. The birthday was in March, but the new camera got its debut in April. With Tony starting ice skating lessons, and Everett playing T-ball for the first time, I had some great subject matter to start with. And as I shared at the time, I was very pleased by the early results. Here are some more:




The month ended with a fun day trip to Tanaka Farms in Irvine for fresh strawberry and vegetable picking. This trip also was detailed in an earlier blog entry. Here are a couple of additional photos from that day:

The Year in Pictures: March 2007

March was a landmark month for me, with the occasion of my 40th birthday. I know I'm hardly the first, or last, person to make this observation, but an age that once seemed so old, now seems quite normal, even young. Having a pair of active young boys around, and staying in shape with a regular program of bike-commuting, also help slow down the aging process (although there are moments with both the boys and the bike seem to speed up the aging process, too.)

While an otherwise ordinary month of school, work, etc., it was a bit more noteworthy for Tony. After taking a group, general music class for a couple of years, he graduated up to individual lessons on the guitar (which continue today). It was also Pinewood Derby month for Cub Scout Tony. And his first Derby car performed quite well. A model of a hot-rod San Francisco garbage truck, it flew down the track to consistently finish in the top 2 or 3 of all of its heats. The real highlight of March for Tony, though, would have to be his school's fund-raising beach clean-up. It was a chance for Tony to lead his fellow first graders in an activity that all knew was close to his heart.

The Year in Pictures: February 2007

February proved to be a much more memorable month for the Morris family, "anchored" as it was by a Presidents' Day weekend trip to San Francisco. The trip included a much too rare visit with Aunt Kari and Uncle Eric, at their old place on Russian Hill, and some good exploring of the city on foot and by cable car--something the boys had never really done before. The official occasion of the weekend getaway, though, was a double treat for Pete: beer and bicycles.



The beer event was the annual California Homebrew Club of the Year Celebration hosted by San Francisco's own Anchor Brewery. And Pete's club, Pacific Gravity, was the winner for the second year in a row! This was a not-to-be-missed party, featuring endless supplies of the whole slate of Anchor beers and a delicious BBQ lunch all served up by Anchor employees smack dab in the middle of their brew house. Great beer, great food, and an unsurpassed view of the city from Potrero Hill. After a refreshing cab ride back into the heart of San Francisco, it was off to a nostalgia-laced, pesto-coated dinner at Caffe Michelangelo in North Beach, an old favorite of ours that we can happily say has changed very little in the last two decades.



The bicycle event was Sunday's opening Prologue Time Trial, along the Embarcadero waterfront, of the second annual Tour of California. The threatening rain held off, and while a bit cool and windy, it proved to be a nice day to hang outside and watch the spectacle of professional bike racing flash by--including a first-ever appearance by Italian superstar Paolo Bettini in the United States, in the world champion's rainbow jersey, no less! It wasn't quite the same thrill as drinking in the Anchor Brewery, but it wasn't a bad encore either.

The Tour was only getting started that weekend, of course, and like the year before, we (or at least Everett and I) went to see the final stage the following weekend here in the Southland. This year, the race ended with a 10-lap circuit race through the Long Beach waterfront. The cool, somewhat blustery weather continued, but it still was a chance to see the famous--at least in our household--Jelly Belly team car parade behind the peleton.

The Year in Pictures: January 2007

Since I've done such a lousy job of late keeping current with this blog, I thought I'd catch back up with a year-in-review series of posts. Cliché, I know, but kind of fun nonetheless. Well, January was rather mundane. With the new year beginning on a Monday, school for both the boys and I started up on Tuesday the 2nd. That meant New Year's Day itself was a get-unpacked-and-all-sorted-out kind of day, after driving home on the 31st from our annual Christmas trip to San Jose. Other than seeing off Pappy and Aliza as they left back to Israel, we couldn't have launched 2007 with a more mundane start. I did manage, however, to get at least one good photograph to share: Tony showing off some of his 1st-grade (in both senses) handwork from school. And I promise this series of posts will get far more interesting for February and beyond.