Hazel and I had an absolutely fantastic trip to the Eastern Sierra. Kind of last minute, we threw all our gear in the truck. We left Saturday AM at 2:30, which was early enough to get great parking at June. All weekend we had spectacular

We took a road trip after Christmas, but it turned out to be one of the wettest weeks on the west coast. Tons and tons of rain, including some of the heaviest rain I’ve seen in a long time, and snow. This changed our plans

Winner winner! We’re in Bend, OR, on a last minute trip. Went to an outdoor gear shop and spotted a fun looking place with a collection of food trucks. The girls wanted to eat dinner there, so we did, and discovered it was also trivia

After two wins Saturday, including an amazing comeback game, they secured a spot in the semifinals and their best tournament finish to date. Unfortunately they struggled against a really good team in the semi finals and lost. Some tears were shed. They placed either 3

Second part of our local-ish staycation, a visit to an old favorite place. 28 years I’ve been coming here and loving it. A couple days of camping and climbing. Gravity felt strong to me, but it felt great to knock some rust off and get

A quick mini bike tour vacation.Sunday we left the house and headed to Melrose ave, to ride the ciclavia event there. Honestly, not my favorite CicLAvia , but still fun. It was a short course, and had some fun Stranger Things themed decorations, but it

Absolutely legendary. I’ve been fortunate to go to a lot of concerts over the years, especially in the 1990-2010 range. And there have always been a handful of shows that have stood above the others as memorable to me. Tonight David Byrne (Talking Heads) put

Hazel had her first high school soccer match, starting for the JV team. It was pouring rain and pretty cold! Hazel played great, with 3 solid assists for goals and almost a goal in the first half. At halftime they were winning by 5-0, both

Margot had her last game for the fall league yesterday. They played incredibly well against a strong team and ended tied 3-3. It was a great season. They moved up a flight, and started the season with some losses. But they didn’t give up, they

Hazel was teasing me a little about my pie not being “from scratch” because I used a gluten free flour blend, while she mixes her own flour blends. I pointed out that I grew the apples, and it doesn’t get much more from scratch than

Had a fun Thanksgiving. Both girls dressed up, Hazel went with friends to trick or treat and have a sleepover. Kim and I met up with Margot and her friends and went trick or treating. Margot won a $20 gift card from a costume contest!

Another 5k. 1300+ entries. Margot was 3rd in her age group, 10th female overall, and 56th overall! Hazel was 14th in her age group. Proud of them both.

Margot was very happy with this assist to her teammate Selena for a goal. She’s #9 that takes the ball from the opponent in light blue then passes to her teammate right in front of the goal, who kicks it in.

Hazel has been working really hard at school this year. Soccer practice 4 days a week after school, volunteering, an AP class as a freshman, student newspaper, homework, etc. There have been some late evenings and skipping some family stuff to work. She’s been putting

Margot ran her second ever cross country meet today, at Mt. Sac. She finished 32 out of 106 in her race, and was pretty upset that she thinks she could have done much much better. Before the race we had watched other races finish (

Hazel and Margot ran a local trail 5k this morning. Both did great. There were about 60 people entered, and Margot was 8th overall, 3rd female, and 2 female under 18!

Kim picked pomegranates this morning. Most of these are the size of a softball, and the tree still has lots.

Margot had her first official race with the middle school cross country team today. There were about seventy girls from 6 different schools In the middle school category. (6,7,8th grade). Margot was 13th overall, and 4th for 6th grade! Big thanks to Coach Adam for

Margot recently decided she wanted to crochet a chicken. She didn’t have a kit or instructions. She just looked at some pictures of chickens online for “inspo” and then made this up in her head then crocheted it. I’m amazed at how she just figures

Pulp and LCD Soundsystem Hazel loves Pulp. She was a little surprised to find out they are in their 60’s and that most of the crowd is my age or older, lol. We had a really great time at the concert. Kim and Margot decided

As part of our Asia Trip, we spent a few days in South Korea.

Our last week of our asia trip was spent in Japan.

We spent two weeks in Taiwan, and had a great time, was super fun to watch the girls navigate a new country, and to use the mandarin they have been studying for years now.

I love Ciclavia. Such a simple idea but so great.

Margot plays for the Surf Soccer Club, and really loves to play. This album is for favorite pictures of her playing from the Fall 2025 season, and I will be adding pictures throughout the season.

As parents, we often get caught up in trends we don't fully understand. Trader Joe's mini cooler bags have gained immense popularity, with people eagerly queuing for them! My daughter Margot was excited to find the perfect peach bag for her school lunch. After months

Even after 16 days in the Grand Canyon, Margot asked if there were any cool hikes we could do on our way home from Flagstaff. So we did a kind of really silly long way home extension and hiked Wire Pass Gulch in Grand Escalante

Video from my recent Grand Canyon trip with my 11 year daughter. Her second time down the canyon, and she has done other big river trips. But I was nervous because she was the only kid on the trip, other trips she has at least

I’ve been blessed to find myself with invites to row the Grand Canyon 3 years in a row. This year the invite came from Michael Picker and Nini Redway, and I was eager to accept. It was just Margot and I this year, but we

Scorpion story: After rigging our rafts the night before launching down the Canyon, we went to Marble Canyon Lodge for dinner. They have a gift shop, and Margot fell for a stuffed scorpion. She said ” I hope we see a scorpion!! “ Me: “Well,

This is House rock rapid, one of the first big rapids encountered. Those rafts are 18 foot rafts for scale. I was too far left and we very nearly got swept off the boat, but I caught the oar tower on the way out and

Detour in the Mojave on our way to the Grand Canyon

I love Junior Guides Rafting Summer Camp for all the fun and confidence building it provides for the girls. I also love it because it’s a great chance to meet and hang out with other like-minded parents, who often run off and go paddling during

Jr. Guides Raft camp! A favorite. It’s a three day raft camp aimed at teaching some raft guide skills to kids. That’s little Margot in the guide seat in the first two photos, with the white helmet. Hazel in the black helmet in the last

I have a bit of a reputation amongst some friends for having somewhat ambitious travel arrangements. But even by my standards, today felt a little crazy. We woke at 4:45 a.m. Saturday Japan time. Took Metro about an hour to see the tuna auction and

For anyone going to Japan and considering TeamLabs. Teamslabs Planets in Tokyo is a crowded, touristy cash grab, but a well done one and probably worth a visit. TeamLabs in Osaka is a touristy, crowded cash grab, and kinda boring and I’d give it a

Vacation rules. Coke and sushi for breakfast after a 4:45 wake-up.

Today we did a Samurai and Ninja class at the Samurai “museum”. It was a little cheesy and kind of expensive for what it was, but good fun anyway. Margot had long been interested in ninjas and similar, so she was particularly excited, but we

Kim and her mom both like matcha. Kim had expressed an interest in learning about how to make it properly, so I signed us all up for a class. It was not a formal tea ceremony, but just an informal and fun class, well done