Going to Maine

We're going to go camping in Maine for our anniversary. The wife and I had been talking that if we don't go this year it probably wouldn't happen. We won't see the ocean since we're traveling to the closer point between us and Maine, but the area is supposed to be beautiful. It will be nice to get away for a weekend, leave our regular weekend routines behind. Do some hiking, take some photos, maybe sonshine will shoot some video. He's actually pretty good at making funny videos, we showed them off to a friend who found them amusing too - so it's not just biased parents ;)

Here's a couple of recent pictures. I took these when we went sugaring back in February.

Photos Soon & Sadness

I got the photos scanned in this weekend and put together the snippets of our trip (I'm hoping it will upload ok); tomorrow is cable/internet install - so hopefully by tomorrow evening the wait will be over.

I do find that I really miss my old church, and I'm hoping once the summer is over and this church gets back into its non-summer routine I won't be so home sick for Rec. Plus all the training I took at Rec - most of it I'll have to re-take - so I can't even start back into my ministries I used to particapate in. I haven't been able to figure out their outreach ministries either - sigh; it'll just take time. But, the wife and I both agree that it will be a much slower integration into this community then we had expected. I miss my old pastor's sermons - so far the ones here are sorta academic, sorta not - so far they haven't spoken to my heart.

I hadn't prepared myself for feeling sad once I got here; but part of me is in mourning. Part of me wants to go back to how life was...but in many ways I can't - it's like God made sure to shut certain doors so that I wouldn't be able to entertain those thoughts for too long.

I need to let go of my doubt and fear...ah, the pains of settling into transitions.

Vacation In California

Here are some photos from la famlias trip to California:

We took quite the trek to get to Grace Cathedral. The church is just beautiful, and the picture doesn't do it justice. I couldn't get good pictures of the stained glass windows nor the intricate cravings on the front doors. We did walk the outside labrynth as the inside one is under repairs.

This is the Palace of Fine Arts which we got to see on our way to the Exploratorium which is right next door. After our hours spent exploring we re-emrged into daylight and walked around Golden Gate Park then took our long bus ride back to the hotel.

San Fran was our training ground for Yosemite [Note: we stopped in Monterey but I didn't include any pics of the Bay]. Which after 2 days of walking those hills made our day hikes here a piece of cake. This is a picture of Yosemite's Upper and Lower Falls.



This was our view from Olmstead Point. This part of the park is only open in the summer, and after driving Tioga road for the hour it took us to get to the meadows it is very easy to see why...by the end of the day the steering wheel was getting that fried electric smell from all the twists and narrow turns. But, I am glad we took the drive.



This is the view from Inspiration Point - way in the back is Half Dome (which I now have tons of pics of) and to the left is El Capitan and if you look really hard there's a waterfall mid-right. We took a 2 hour tram tour of the valley, which was well worth the money.

We managed to have a really good mix of activities our whole trip, so the only day we were bored was the last day before flying out, because we underestimated the length of the drive back and because I didn't want to take scenic stops (though driving scenic 120 without getting out of the car wasn't too shabby either) because I worried about the rental's on-again-off-again fried sterring wheel smell.

If you ask the kids what their favorite thing to do was, they'll tell you it was swimming in the hotel's pool; good thing for scrapbooks (which my wife puts together for the big things we do).

More photos

It may just be me, but can anyone else see/find the face in the tree? ALT, I just had to post my hat pic once I saw yours.

Random Photos

The top two photos are of Garner State Park (a really great park to take the family to).

The mid-three photos are taken at a fellow parishener's ranch in Sisterdale.

The bottom two photos are of Lola and Blue - the family's hermit crabs curtesy of ALT.