We had an amazing week up in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in July. We camped at Lodgepole and had a sweet spot right on a river bank (next to a nice family from Palm Springs.) On our first night, we saw mother and cub rooting around in the river bed below us.
Simon earns his brown-black belt in Korean mixed martial arts (formerly Kuk Sool Won.) Next he goes for his black belt which takes a year. He figures the martial arts will be helpful in water polo.
The BIRTHDAY BUTTER is an Alameda tradition. You have to swim through the gauntlet -- swimming butterfly -- while all of the other swimmers splash and rock you with waves from their kickboards.
Kari had a work function in Puerto Rico and managed to hop over to St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. and visit Kirk and Cara.
Coincidently, her visit was just before Kirk's 40th birthday. Happy Birthday Kirk! At this moment he is celebrating on St. John with Cara friends, and I sure can't blame Kari if she wishes she were still there. Kirk zipped her around on his little boat to some choice snorkeling spots around St. Thomas and St. John. (Little did he know that a party was being set up in his honor for later.)
Kirk also partook in his trademark hunting routine. He puts on his snorkels, mask, and glovesand dives down w/ a little crow bar to scare up some crustacean. Bingo! THAT'S a big lobster. Kari is usually vegetarian but in this case: "it was pretty good, I guess, for lobster."
Peter and Catherine have a new baby girl! Sasha Eleanor Boeger was born June 26, 2008 at 5:10 a.m. in Seattle. She weighed 8 1/2 lb's, 20 1/2 long, and came quickly. Everyone is happy and healthy... pictures (hopefully) coming soon. Update: Pics are here!
Kirk reports from the Virgin Islands following today's 7.4 shaker:
"You wouldn’t believe what I heard / felt. We get a lot of quakes here, but I had never experienced it quite in this fashion. I was snorkeling with a friend, freediving for lobster. I go down, and the noise when you got to the bottom was unreal. It was shaking big time. We both came to the surface looking for boats, as it was similar to a huge large prop boat that seemed very close. There was nothing. We looked at each other and said “Holy crap, you hear that”. Went back down and listened more. It lasted for several minutes when you were underwater with your ear to the ground. Unbelievable actually. We both knew it was a quake, but I haven’t heard the confirmation yet until your email."
