We’ve had a lot of rain on this trip, but yesterday it was approaching biblical levels. We had a river tracing day planned, but it was cancelled and it was pretty clear we needed to find something to do indoors. I had earmarked a stone
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
I’ve been lucky enough to do a fair bit of travelling. I’ve seen a number of tourist attractions that I didn’t get. I think “really busy crosswalk” might be on the short list of tourist attractions I most don’t get
There are drink vending machines everywhere in Japan. Even in some surprisingly out of the way spots. But fewer ” odd” vending machines than I expected. Margot was excited to get the toy she wanted (1/4 odds) at a train station vending machine. Today we
I’ve been enjoying our Asia trip, but it’s definitely been a fair bit city focused. I was seriously feeling the need to “touch grass”, so I signed the girls and myself* for a half day trip rafting. It was about 45 minutes by train outside
Taiwan->Korea->Japan this trip. Inexpensive -> A little more Expensive -> most expensive Not very touristy-> some tourists -> Tons of tourists* *I’m sure there are some less crowded/touristy parts of Japan, but comparing the capital of Taiwan, the capital of Korea, and not-the-capital of Japan,
Contributing to the delinquency of the famous bowing deer at the deer park in Nara, Japan. Margot loved it. Hazel has stacks of empathy and was upset by the poor behavior of some of the tourists, but she did enjoy feeding the deer.
