Events over the Past week or so

Phx ConGames: I lost Tim to non-stop battle tech games for about a day and a half. I enjoyed several different card and board games. Plus there was this awesome bug tiddly wink type of game called X-Bugs. The kids really enjoyed the children's area. They had these Giant Foam Blocks that built up stuff really high but were highly unstable. Resa sat still for awhile and some older kids in the area tried to build a wall around her. I think it got three bricks high before she crawled through. Mara liked running in and out of an inflated Castle.

Father's Day: It kinda ran into the ConGames but there was special painted cards and what not.

Tim's Birthday: He's now 29. We celebrated the day by just hanging out as a family together like he wanted.

Christen's Wedding: CONGRATS!!! Mark and Christen are now married. It was a fun wedding with alot of folks I haven't seen in awhile and some new family. The only issue is now the kids have 3 uncle Marks. :)

Visit down to S.V. : Just some nice chillin' time with my mom and dad. We roasted hot dogs over an open flame and had some smores a little bit later. Plus Tim got to hang out with his brother some and that doesn't happen all that often.

Well that happens to be the bare bones of what has been going on with us. More pictures and videos to come soon.

Photoshop

If there was any person who happened to not know, I like to go to the zoo. I like to go to the zoo alot. It is a fun place where the kids get to see fun animals and run around all over the place. I also get to learn new and interesting facts every time I visit and I get to take lots of pictures. Many, many pictures. Well what to do with them all? I have been making little scrapbooks with them but I now am rediscovering the joys of Photoshop. Expect to see some interesting things. This current composite involves a spotted bear and Mara.

Some notes on this bear. The spotted bear at the Phoenix zoo is almost always hiding. You have to know where to look. (Behind the bamboo in this one spot you can usually see them but is makes a horrible picture.) To get there you have to go through this one dirt trail that, although it is not the most difficult, it is a little extra work. The trail goes all the way around the bears little love nest (the zoo is breeding them) with some good spots to see the bears all the way through. It's a little bit of a hike for hardly any bear but there is some good birds and fish along the way so it is kinda worth it. But to gear my self up I always tell Mara that we are going on a 'bear hunt'. Well this last time I was really ready to hike this thing because I was going to get a good shot of that bear if it killed me. So we go in and the first spot to see is that stupid bear. Right there. Out in the open. No hunting required. But all that matters is that I got my shot.