intoduced daughter to the Mountain

Starting back in 1989 I was introduced to another aspect of motorcycle racing. Canyon riding. The nearest Mountain was Palomar MTn. which produced some of the windiest rodes in Southern Cal. we used to go to the top riding single, with a bunch of friends, and sometimes double with Kim on the back.
It is also what got me aggressive enough to jump to the next stage which was roadracing on a closed circuit track.
I continued to ride up Palomar Mtn. but in the last 10 years I had only made about 4-5 trips. I decided it was time to show my youngest daughter what had inspired me. We loaded the bike in the back of the trunk, and took the freeway about 38 miles, and unloaded the bike, and hit the twisties. We rode up the tight side of the MTn. stopped at Mothers kitchin at the top and hung out with the boys.














We jumped back on the bike and drove to the observatory at anopther peak of the Mtn.
We took a quik tour, and a few pictures, and headed back down the back side of the Mountain. We made one or two stops along the way back to the trunk for a total of 80miles of riding. She was a great passanger, and I look forward to doing it again soon. Maybe her sister will go.















The 200-inch (5.1 m) Hale Telescope (f/3.3) was the world's largest effective telescope for 45 years (1948 - 1993). It is still a workhorse of modern astronomy. It is used nightly for a wide range of astronomical studies. On average the weather allows for at least some data collection about 290 nights a year.

Cova Wedding

I am very happy to announce the wedding of two very good friends of ours. Freddie, and Virgie.
The have been together , or known each other for a few years now, but they went to High School together with Kim and Marylou.
It was a nice and not over the top.
A ceremony was performed beautifully by Freddies good friend Marco, at Humphreys overlooking the San Diego bay. The sailboats made for a very nice backdrop.
Kim stood in on the wedding as one of the brides maids. We had a party afterwards. Here are some pictures:

Sea World

Monday the CLarks took our kids with them to Sea World.
They saw a few exibits, went on a few rides, watched the Shamu show.
The saw tanks with Sharks,













tanks with Star fish,














And they even have rides that get you wet.

Went to the cove in La Jolla

We set out to La Jolla along the coast about 11 miles from the house. They have a nice park with grass, some great shopping, and cliffs with beaches (some for the seals, and some for the kids)
We took a lot of great pictures, but there is not enough room on here for everything.








"A" was at a tournament doing her best, and we met up with her later.

The Clarks

We were blessed to have the Clarks visit us only a few days after Oma. The first day, we were rapping up softball, when they arrived. We took a few pictures, and headed to the beach. I put Mitchel on the back of the motorcycle, and the rest of the crew rode in Jen's suburban, along with the to Young kids Lauren and Justin. WE made our way to Mission Beach, and walked around and watched the freaks. The kids rode the roller coaster, and some bumper cars. We walked some more, and headed home. We introduced the Clarks to some authentic San Diego food, and took them to Rubios for fish tacos, and Shrimp burritos. We headed home.









Sunday we got up and Leslie and rob needed a workout, so they went to the YMCA, and worked out while the kids slept in. Except Amber who went to a softball tournament that would last all day ( they went 2-1 in the tournament, which is great!) the rest of us loaded up and went to La Jolla cove, and saw some seals, and wave soaked rocks. We had a nice lunch at a local cafe. We went to a few shops, and browsed, and then we looked at an open house Condo that overlooked the beach.
We split up, the boys went to the grass park by the beach and watched the scenery walk by. The girls went shopping.

We returned home, and had some dinner, and started a fire in the chimineah, smoked a cigar, drank some wine and said good-bye to Rob. Rob left for his new duty station, and is driving across country, to Camp La June in NC. I will miss him dearly.



















"A" showed up after her tournament she felt pretty good about her performance.

Today they are going to Sea World!

Dirt bike riding today

Me and "S" went to the track today, but the inspiration came from this guy:

Eastor Sunday

We were going to go Golfing with the boys, But Rob couldn't find his purse, and his wife whipped him into shape and jerked his but into Sunday Mass. We missed him, but we altered our plans. I called up my good buddy Dennie, and we loaded up two dirtbikes, and headed for the mountains. To me, there is no greater church then standing at the top of the Mountain, and looking over the great View of nature that God had created. I said my thanks, and headed into Gods Country. We rode 23 miles, and hit some fire roads, and some tight trails. Dennie took a picture of me. We headed back to San Diego, about a 50min ride. We washed the bikes, put them away, and showered up to get ready for dinner.
We are having the Breeds up, and the Youngs are coming over.

Oma's Birthday

We had a little celebration for our visitor.
Oma woke to a cinnamon roll with a candle. We went out to dinner at Red Lobster. We came home to the house, sang happy Birthday, and had, more cake. The nieghbor kids came over for the festivities.

Oma generates yard work

Oma is in town, and as a result, we have kicked yard work into high gear.

The weekend started off with a tournament that started on Saturday, and we played our 3 games, and were home by 3:30pm. We left the tournaments pool play 1-2. We beat So Cal Starz, who had beat us the week before, and offered us advice on how to play better. "Thanks for the advice Starz!". There was some rain overnight, and it was enough to cancel the the remainder of the tournament, until another time. We stayed home, and made some plans to do some yard work. We also made trip to the Home Depot to get some plants, trellice, and fertalizer.
We removed a plant or two, in the front entry, and arranged some rocks. We removed two plants that have been in for years, but because of there offensive odor, they were voted out.

















In the back yard, We cleaned up the dirt and rocks, added a trelice (sp) for a plant to creep up, thus hiding some of the things stored behind the shed... (you know, more junk). Sod will be placed where the yard meets the newly moved stone wall. We may move a palm from the front yard to the back to livin it up.
"S" and "A", did what they could to help by shoveling, racking, and moving the dirt in the wheel-borrow. It's good to let then get dirty now and then.

Presidents Day weekend at Glamis

We had the whole gang out to glamis to test out our bikes, quads, sand rails, and our ability to cook, sleep, and live in confined quarters. Some more confined then others. Some friends had their own RV rig. Some had rented trailers 27' long. The Ratza's rented a trailer form the Marine corps base. IT was 9' long, and was noticable smaller then anything out there. IT gained notorioty, and a few nick names ( the tylenol, marshmello, crackhouse on wheels) either way, after spending our last trip in the dunes in a tent, this was a monumental improvement.

















It was very busy the first night, the maniacs were out in full force loud partying went on until 4am. The next night was a little better, and the nexct night (Monday night) was even better I am told. We had already left.



















It is hard to get shots of people riding, because it tough on a camera to take it out into the sand with you riding. Some shots of camp: