The Year in Pictures: October 2007

October is the beginning of birthday season for us. Well, September is actually, if you include Audrey's, but somehow the boys' birthdays somehow warrant more attention than our own. Tony opted out of a conventional party this year in exchange for a family day trip to North County San Diego and Legoland. This proved to be a refreshing change of pace for all of us, and the fact that we could conclude the day with a dinner at Pizza Port Carlsbad certainly gets me on board with the idea. We did manage to also hold a small cupcake celebration at home on Tony's big day itself. Despite a momentary flare-up, he was able to extinguish all eight of his candles just fine.



October also brings what is fast becoming one our favorite weekend events of the year: a block party of sort at Burton Chace Park in Marina del Rey. Tony's cub scout pack passes out free hot dogs, which are always welcome, and there are fire trucks and other cool equipment on display, but the real highlight is the extensive collection of blow-up "bouncers". For the second year in a row, the boys' favorite was the giant red slide, and it proved to be a great spot for action shots.



The cub scouts also organized a return trip to Tanaka Farms in Irvine, this time for pumpkin picking (what else?). While most agreed that May's strawberry trip was better, the pumpkin patch did at least help get us in the Halloween spirit. And we managed to get in and out of Irvine just ahead of the horrific wildfires that engulfed much of interior highlands of Orange County and the rest of Southern California for the following weeks.

The Year in Pictures: September 2007

This is an easy month. It was back to school for all of us, which meant a busy but regular schedule following the free and easy days of summer. It was busier than usual, too, as now we had TWO boys going to Ocean Charter School and TWO boys playing soccer. This also meant I was coaching TWO soccer teams, including one that met TWO days a week with midweek practices joining Saturday games as part of our routine. Add in the fact that I was teaching a new class for the first time, and that I also began my TWO-year stint as co-chair of the Environmental Affairs Committee at the college, and the free time to brew beer and take photographs disappears. Indeed, we've only got a pair of photos from the month to share below, as I decided to go camera-free to the months two main events: a weekend trip for Audrey and me to San Jose for her 20th high-school reunion (fun time!), and a big party at my Mom's the weekend before to celebrate (belatedly) her 60th birthday and the completion of a big landscaping project she and Woody commissioned over the summer.

As for the photos, the first is of the two brothers on their way out the door for the first day of school. The second shows Everett (blue #10 on the right) in action during his first soccer game.

The Year in Pictures: August 2007

As the calendar turned to August, our summer camping trip continued northward along the Big Sur coast. We made an extended stop at Point Lobos, on the south side of the Monterey peninsula, to revisit an old girl-scout destination of Audrey's. The skies were characteristically gray--and the poison oak was literally everywhere you looked--but we still had a great time exploring the tidepools and hiking along the rocky coast. There wasn't a whole lot of marine life visible, but the seabirds and poppies were plentiful. Indeed, both boys insisted on a photograph with a particularly majestically perched gull (see blurry white blob in the background, as the poor light made me and my camera rather depth-of-field challenged).



Following a nice few days visiting Audrey's folks in San Jose--including a special family trip to watch The Simpsons Movie (Spider Pig!)--we turned the family truckster back south, passed through scenic Hollister (where we failed to see both Abercrobie AND Fitch), and stopped for a couple days at Pinnacles National Monument. As expected, the daytime temperatures were quite a bit warmer than along the coast, but not unbearably so. And the swimming pool at the campground provided a nice refresher after a long day of fantastic hiking up into the volcanic pinnacles themselves. Moreover, the campground was rather empty of people but teeming with wildlife, including deer, feral pigs (whose origins date back to either the Gold Rush or the Spanish, depending on whom you ask), and bobcat! We kept our distance from the latter--and she from us--but it was still a great encounter.



From Pinnacles we continued south, but also backtracked toward the coast. Following a very welcome pit stop in King City, and a memorable lunch of pizza and Firestone Walker Double Barrel Ale on draft, we made our way to Morro Bay and Montaña de Oro state park. The camping was better than Pinnacles, but the hiking--at least not the trail we chose--was worse, and we were all starting to long for our own beds back home. Nonetheless, we did spend some fun time wading in the water and climbing the rocks at Spooners Cove.

The Year in Pictures: July 2007

Summer! We started the month with our annual visit to the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix bicycle races. I'm indefinitely "retired" from the road racing scene, so only the two boys represented the Morris family in competition. And both did themselves proud. Here is a rather serious looking Tony awaiting the start of his heat:


Just a few days later was another landmark of summer, the Westchester Fourth of July parade.


Then it was time to travel. First it was a few days up in the Sierra Nevada visiting Pappy and otherwise frolicking in the woods while avoiding the poison oak. (Plus there was the annual waiting for the garbage truck.)



Upon returning to Southern California, we then headed further south to North County San Diego, where we mixed in visits to Legoland and the Wild Animal Park with visits to local brewing landmarks Pizza Port in Carlsbad and Stone in Escondido.



And if that was not enough, we took off at the end of the month for our main vacation, a two-week camping trip through central California, up to San Jose and back. We took the coast route up north, first camping for a night in Ventura at McGrath State Beach, followed by a night above the crashing waves of the Big Sur coastline at an old favorite of mine, Kirk Creek. We were fortunate to be treated to ideal weather, and also to snag a perfect campsite where the boys were able to scooter to their hearts' delight.

The Year in Pictures: June 2007

OK. I guess I better finish this year in review at least before the end of January.

In most families, I suppose, the month of June is celebrated as the long-awaited end to the school year and the start of summer. While that's not completely untrue for us, it must be admitted that an even bigger reason we look forward to June is the annual open house hosted by our local garbage truck drivers at the West L.A. District yards of the Bureau of Sanitation. Garbage trucks are just the start, as all sorts of heavy equipment are on display and the burgers, hot dogs, soda, and chips are all free! (It makes the perennial increase in waste-collection fees a little more palatable. A little.)


In addition to the school year (including Tony's first acting performance), June also saw the culmination of the spring sports season (including the presentation of Everett's first trophy!), scouting, and guitar and ice skating lessons.


We also found time to squeeze in a family outing to the beach and some good quality time on the bikes.