Red Rock Overnight Camping Trip

Originally I had planned on setting up a tent for the kids to sleep in and I would just sleep outside on the cot. But since we end up getting up to Red Rock around 8pm and there was no moon that night, it was really dark. The weather was beautiful though (no wind, not hot, and not to cold). So I asked the kids if they were ok with sleeping on the air mattress in the back of my truck and it was an instant adventure for them. Jordyn, Tanner and Dalton each slept in the back of the truck on the air mattress so they could look up at the stars during the night. Shad and I slept on the cots.

It was quite all night long with very clear sky's. a sliver of a moon actually came out around 5am. It was a very peaceful sunrise. But one the sun came up, it started to get hot. 98 degrees by 8:30am.

I let the kids explore all the crevices and winding paths in the canyon face. They were having a blast exploring and laying "claim" to all the "houses" they could find.




Around 10:30am I decided it was getting a little hot and that we should go up to Burrow Schmidt tunnel and explore it. Much cooler inside there. After walking through the tunnel and back we headed back home.


The kids seemed to have really enjoyed the trip, minus some skinned elbows, bruised butts and all the dirt and grime you can handle for a long time.

More Expeimental Photos

Metal Arch

The metal archway for moms front yard garden. The birds look awesome and the faucet handle flowers and tiller sun works great on this piece.

Relay For Life 08

The Relay For Life event went off pretty well. I was raised $540 toward the event. And then walked for over five and a half hours. Which wasn't to bad considering that I was there at 6am in the morning to help set up our company site and then left around 11am to go to Magic Mountain with some friends. So you can imagine walking around Magic Mountain for about five hours and standing in all the lines. Then going back to the Relay event at 8pm and staying until 3am when my shoulder started hurting so bad I decided to head home to get a heat pack for it then head back out. Unfortunately I put the heat pack on and sat back waiting for the pain to subside a little and passed out. But did get back out there at 6:30am on Sunday morning to finish out the event and help break down the site. Overall it went rather well. The last tally I heard, we had raised over $4000 in donations.

The Hooper crew came out for the Survivor and Care Giver laps. As pictured here. Also ran into Renee, Tracey and Bonnie from the Softball teams. They walked until about 10 or 11pm at night. Not sure what time they got there. All I know is that I had passed them not noticing them (audio book on the ipod) and then had two people tapping me on the shoulders. Turned wondering 'who is tapping on me', and there they were.

So it was great to see others out there and thank you to all the people who supported this fundraiser.

Hopefully the blisters will go away soon. But I will continue to walk, because I feel so much better when I do.

Seaside Cross Country Invitational Sep 2008

Combined photos of Trevor pushing all the way through to the end. He was trying to pass a few more and gain a few places. I believe he did, since he got 26th I think. I was set up to shoot photos of each of them as they crossed the finish line, so I wasn't able to watch his final sprint or at least the last 50 feet or so.

One Week Out

The relay is only a week out now. Thank you to all who have donated so far. We have almost reached our fund raising goal for our company.

The event will be starting on Saturday the 20th of September at 9am and continuing through 9am on Sunday the 21st.

Please help by making a donation for this event.

Click here to visit my personal page.

Click here to view the team page for Arcata Associates

Remembering: (this list will probably grow)
Alice Schlicker (2006)
Tommy Jones (2008)
Rebecca Hooper (survivor)
Sally Hudson (fighting)
Ernie Rodgers (2002)
Less Thomas

Event Date
September 20 & 21, 2008

Event Location
Highland High School
39055 25th St. West
Palmdale, Ca 93551
** MAP IT! **

More Sunsets

These were taken way out on 200th west I think. We had been having some bright sunsets with just a sliver of a moon visible.

Flowers from Grandmas Jungle

Tanner and his worms

We found these worms eating grandma's tomato plants last weekend. So when we pulled them off the tomato vines and were going to dispose of them, Tanner 'saved' them.

We tried to get him to lay them out on the hot concrete, but he would have none of that. We had to coax him into taking them across the street and letting them go in the desert over there.

I was really surprised he did not bring them home.

The kids really loves bugs. One of these days, we will notice a pocket full of them when doing laundry I am sure.

Dads latest creation

This is the latest bird creation / junk art from my dad.

Great detail in the feathers. And as always all the junk parts come together to for a great character.

Click here to see more of my dad's Junk Art