Orrin's Raingutter Regatta

Orrin made a cool pirate ship this year.

The competition was stiff this year and Orrin was outmatched . . . we'll try again next year.

North Carolina is a bust! One more year in San Diego! WOOHOO!

Well, the Navy medial detailer has now informed us that we will not be moving to North Carolina this year. We will stay in San Diego for another year. "Why?" you ask. Well, the doctor Christian was to replace was supposed to retire but while processing his paperwork they discovered he did not have a full 20 years in the Navy to retire. So, he has to stay another year. They thought about moving us to Jacksonville, FL, but ultimately the Navy is out of money and needs to wait until next year to move us. We could then move to Virginia, North Carolina, or Florida.

At first we were shocked . . . then sad . . . then grateful . . . and then happy. We were sad because we had planned some fantastic trips this year including a cross-country trip, as well as trips to DC and Disneyworld in the fall. We'll just have to hold off until 2010. We're grateful to be staying and that we can renew the lease on our house for another year. We're happy that we don't have all the moving stress right now and that we have another year to dejunk our house and get organized.

Dino Mountain at the Wild Animal Park

Every few years a traveling animatronic dinosaur show comes to the Wild Animal Park. This year featured more baby dinosaurs. We liked the last set of dinosaurs that came a few years ago because they showed dinos eating dinos . . . it was more realistic :-).

Amara brought her friend, Lea, along.

Aleya loved all the baby dinosaurs hatching out of their eggs. They made cute squeaking noises.

The boys enjoyed this dinosaur again . . . the spitter. I can't remember the name. I assume in prehistoric times it spit some sort of acidic toxin on its prey to blind them, or something.



The kids always love the T-rex. Aaron (Orrin's friend) was thinking about going back to get sprayed by the spitting dinosaur, again.

This year they had a whole family of T-rex dinosaurs.

This Pteradon is defending its nest against scavangers.

After seeing all the dinosaurs, we found a really cool nature trail at the North end of the park.

The trail took you through desert terrain as well as through some mountain water ecosystems. We had never been to this part of the park and had a nice time exploring and eating some snacks while enjoying the views.

Memorial Day at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery

Each year we have made it a family tradition to visit Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery for Memorial Day. This year Joseph, as a Scout, helped put the flags on the graves, the Saturday before.

Here's where he placed the flags. We should have brought the whole family to participate in flag placing.

This cemetery is pretty full, so from here on out they only allow cremated remains to be placed in a long wall vault, as seen here.

Aleya enjoyed removing all the flags from the graves . . . but we also showed her how to put them back.

The 2nd best thing to do in this cemetery, 2nd only to running through the long lines of graves, is climbing their awesome trees. They have the most unique and ENORMOUS trees (must be good feritilizer . . . all the decay).

Orrin went out on a limb . . .

We found a new tombstone honoring the members of the Mormon Battalion.

And we found more climbing trees. Did I mention that the view is amazing from the cemetary with views of San Diego Bay and the Pacific Ocean?

Here's a cool witch hat shaped tree that the kids climbed.

Memorial Weekend at the USS Midway Museum

For Memorial Day weekend, we finally visited the USS Midway Museum . . . a retired aircraft carrier.

The kids loved trying out the "racks" where the enlisted Navy seaman sleep.

We climbed a lot of ladders through all the decks.

Here's the ready room for the helicopter pilots.

This is the F18 ready room. Dad's the CO, mom's the XO, Amara's maintenance, and Aleya's Special Ops. Orrin's the top gun, while Joseph's the photographer (reporter).

Orrin was hot-doggin' again and ended up in the brig.

It wasn't long before his brother and sisters joined him for disorderly conduct.

Dad sprung the kids from the brig on orders from the admiral. He needed their expertise in the operations room.

Next, Aleya waited to take her fighter jet up the elevator to the flight deck.

Amara prepared for take-off.

The girls pose on the slingshot that launches the planes off the deck of the carrier.

Orrin takes a closer look at the engine.

Christian admires the view off the end of the Midway. The tip of the USS Ronald Regan is off to the left.

Here's a better look at the slingshot (the black line) on the right side.

Joseph receives the next operational info from the Pentagon and relays it to the admiral.

The children assume their positions in the operations room and await the admirals orders.

"Yes, sir. I understand. Launch the nukes!"

Aleya enters the coordinates for the strikes.

Joseph and Orrin check the flight deck to make certain things are going according to plan.

Joseph takes over for the Air Boss and directs the squadron to prepare and wait for their turn to take-off on their next mission to Iraq.

Joseph helps place flags on graves at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery

Joseph volunteered with other Scouts to place flags on the graves at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery on Memorial Weekend. They started off with a nice ceremony honoring the fallen veterans.
This cemetery overlooks San Diego Bay on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other.

What a memorable opportunity for Joseph. Christian wishes the whole family had come to participate.

There were tens of thousands of graves to place flags on, and Joseph helped in this section.

Neighborhood Movie Night at the Park

Our neighborhood shows movies at our park every few weeks in the late spring/summer. They even had hot dogs and nachos for sale. The movie wasn't that great and was a little inappropriate for children, sadly, but the atmosphere was pretty darn fun.

Some pre-show games.

The girls had front row seats and a nice cozy blanket to keep warm.