Life Snacks

Christmas at the Bradley Lodge

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 05:12:00 +0000

Christmas at the Bradley Lodge was full of adventure. Luke had his first sledding and first snowman building experiences! I got to ski with my dad and brother. And we opened lots of great gifts. Luke loved all his new cars toys to play with.

Luke's 2nd Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:34:00 +0000

Luke's favorite movie provided the theme for his second birthday party.
Before the party he helped us with building his play structure - which kept the guys busy throughout the party and late into the night.
Opening presents...Luke got a haircut from daddy before the party. As you can see his eye is still healing from falling on a rose bush.
This is what happens when you leave a box of packing material open near Luke.

Happy Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:30:00 +0000

Luke loved trick-or-treating with his friend Jackson.
They took turns pulling each other around the block in the wagon.They caught on pretty quickly to the whole idea of knocking on doors and getting candy thing.

Sunset Sailing in Santa Cruz

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 02:11:00 +0000

Great evening away with my wife on the Chardonnay II, complete with wine, cheese, beer, and a great sunset!

Yummy dinner at The Crow's Nest at the harbor was a perfect way to finish off our much needed date night.

Memorial Park Camping Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 01:40:00 +0000

Camping with 7 families and 13 kids. This time instead of going all the way to Yosemite, we stayed closer to home; right up the hill in San Mateo.
Each family was in charge of one or two meals which made packing and meal planning a little more manageable. Here's an example of one of our breakfasts -- the parents try to get a few bites of food in here and there while running around making sure the kids are taken care of.
Luke enjoyed hanging out with his friend Annelise.Luke manages to get dirty no matter what he's doing, whether it's playing in the dirt with his trucks...or picking berries in the mud... or (not pictured) jumping into the river and making his dad jump in after him so we had to hike all the way back to camp soaking wet.

Day Trip Hiking in Saratoga and Dinner in Carmel

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:26:00 +0000

Great view of the Bay Area on the hike up from the Mountain Winery.
Luke taking a break from the hike to throw big rocks. We were amazed by his endurance; he ran full speed all the way up the mountain - and back down.Luke loved running around the Pebble Beach golf course. The Spyglass course has some great areas overlooking the ocean for pictures.Finished off the evening with some dancing to Jazz at Roy's.

Luke still loves his guitar

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:24:00 +0000

Rockin' out on his ukulele as usual.

Dinner at Roy's

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 08:13:00 +0000

This evening we borrowed a friend's convertible and drove down to Carmel - The Inn at Spanish Bay - for a great dinner at Roy's.
Good food, great scenery, and even a guy walking around the course playing bagpipes.
and we took a stroll on the beach at sunset.

Happy Father's Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 05:21:00 +0000

Capitola Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:26:00 +0000

The best place to recover from Surgery is the Capitola beach. Especially on a Monday.
Luke had his first kite flying lesson.
And we played in the waves. Luke has no fear, he sprints into the water any chance he gets.
Luke enjoyed blowing sand out of his spoon,
and trying to jump into the river...
We ate breakfast on the wharf. I still can't open my mouth all the way, but I was able to eat small bites of my omelet.

Stanley tools

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:11:00 +0000

My grandma's last name is Stanley so we like Stanley tools.

Grammy in town to help during my recovery

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:14:00 +0000

I'm feeling good and getting a lot of time to read and watch movies. Still drinking my strained food through my wired shut teeth. Glad Sharon is here to help Natalie and keep her company while I'm out of commission. Looking forward to getting the wires cut tomorrow.

Day after jaw surgery

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 24 May 2009 05:07:00 +0000

Surgery went well and I'm feeling good. Although it's a little hard to eat with my jaw wired shut. The masks you see are a cooling mask for keeping the swelling down and an oxygen mask to help me breathe. Heading to Sacramento today so my family can help take care of me and Luke while I'm healing.

Half Moon Bay Surfing

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 17 May 2009 23:44:00 +0000

Beach day with a couple other families.
The guys did a little surfing. I'm so out of shape I barely caught a few before I had to head back to shore. Luke had a good time playing with all the other kids.Then he crashed and took a good nap before we headed home.

Craig's Surprise Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 16 May 2009 23:29:00 +0000

Joy planned a great surprise party for Craig, and it was very kid friendly.
Luke couldn't get enough of the inflatable jumpy gym thing...
and playing in it with his friend Annelise.His favorite part was throwing all the balls out.

Play Date at some new park with water fountains

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:26:00 +0000

Luke tried to drink the water from the fountain each time it shot up. Big slide!..

Shopping for Apples

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 03 May 2009 23:19:00 +0000

Luke has developed a new technique for testing apples at Safeway -- just take a bite out of each one until you find one you like. Genius.
He still won't let us put anything in his cart though, it has to be empty - always.

The Shopping Cart

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 02 May 2009 17:19:00 +0000

This picture was taken after Luke did about 10 sprints back and forth across the length of our backyard; he likes to run.
This look by the shed means he wants to take a bike ride.
Doin' the dishes...
Luke would push his shopping cart all the way to Sacramento if we let him. He runs all over town with this thing. Here he is on his 27th run down the driveway.

Easter in Seattle

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:25:00 +0000

After returning from Austria I flew up to Seattle meet up with Natalie and spend Easter with Natalie's family. After breakfast at the Crumpet Shop, we met up with Nick and Steph at the Pike Place Market.
Natalie and Stephanie drove up from California a couple days earlier, stopping at Pat and Les' place in Oregon for a good night's rest on the way. Luke enjoyed riding the toy airplanes.He also enjoyed playing the piano at Pops' place.
Luke enjoyed searching for easter eggs in grandpa's backyard.
and he likes walking around with his friend Blake. This is my sister-in-law's sister-in-law and her daughter.
Luke and Grammy hanging out in the train at the Old Spaghetti Factory before Natalie and I started our long drive from Seattle to Sacramento.

Klagenfurt, Austria

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 19:19:00 +0000

I'm working on a home-use laser skin resurfacing device in collaboration with Philips, so I went to Klagenfurt to meet with the Philips engineering team. This is the conference room we were stuck in all week:
Got to see a beautiful sunset as I flew in over the Alps into Klagenfurt.Here we are getting on the little plane in Munich to make the short trip into Austria.This is what a plastic part mold looks like.
The hotel I stayed at was called the Palais Porcia.
It was located right in the middle of town on the town square. The gathering of people by the statue is a nice little outdoor coffee and ice cream stand; great place to hang out on a beautiful sunny day.
Klagenfurt was very clean, easy to walk around, and lots of areas like this to find food and people watching.
Here's the view of Klagenfurt in the distance from a lookout tower on the Worthersee. I didn't want to call a taxi for the ride back so I met a nice young couple visiting from Romania who drove me back into town.
Here's the small one terminal Klagenfurt airport as I walked out to the plane to head home...
This is a video of one of the machines assembling a lady-hair-puller-outer-device, see if you can understand the explanation in German:

Huntington Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:55:00 +0000

Natalie and Luke took a trip down to Huntington Beach this week to visit Natalie's college friend Allyssa, her hubby Jason, and her son Kelly.
Check out Luke and his buddy in the VW bus.
Luke couldn't wait to run down to the water...

Easy Chair

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:06:00 +0000

Luke loves sitting in his chair, eating, and watching DVDs. We don't let him watch very often, so he thoroughly enjoys it when we do. First thing he does almost every morning is run to his chair, sit in it, and point to the TV saying "wanna wonna choo choo", which translates to "Good morning mommy and daddy, may I please watch a Thomas the Train DVD while I drink my milk this morning?" He's so polite.
Then he says, "a-a-a outside, a-a-a outside", which means he wants to go outside. He pretty much wants to be outside all day.

Petting Day at Deer Hollow Farm

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 04:28:00 +0000

While Natalie was out getting flowers and gardening supplies to prepare for spring, Luke and I had some good father-son time at the farm. This goat is pregnant with twins...
Luke's not afraid to walk right up to the big sheep...
Awe... baby sheep.
When we got home Luke helped build the fire.

Sick Luke

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 04:21:00 +0000

Luke hasn't been feeling to good this week. He doesn't have quite the energy he usually does...
Just lounging around...When he's sick and tired he just wants to hang out on the couch and watch Thomas the Train videos...

California Academy of Sciences - San Francisco

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 04:01:00 +0000

Climbing on the fences at the California Academy of Sciences was more fun for Luke than seeing the animals:
Turtles...
Lots of fish Big fish tank...Petting the starfishThe most fun part of the day was when Luke found this cement ledge between the glass wall and the garbage cans; he ran up and down this thing for a half hour, laughing all the way.Museum review: The California Academy of "Sciences" is basically a religious institution with a small zoo inside. One side is dedicated to the worship of macro-evolutionary theory, and the other to man-made global warming. We went soon after the renovation so it was also very crowded, no where to sit, long lines for a hot dog lunch, etc. -- but we had a great time! Lots of interesting animals to see.