Author: mpl

Categories
Hiking

Tilden Park – Little Farm to Laurel Canyon


Calliope, Mikey and I went on a fun little hike in Tilden Regional Park today. We started at the Little Farm looking at the animals. Calliope was totally scared by the chickens, but she loved the rabbits. We then hiked up and down Laurel Canyon. The way up was on the fire road which was somewhat boring. On the way down, we took the smaller trail and Calliope had a super fun time crossing all the small foot bridges.
Total Distance: 3.83 mi
Total Time: 02:18:24
Moving Time: 01:52:55
Average Speed: 1.7 mph
Average Moving Speed: 2.0 mph
Max Speed: 5.8 mph
Min Elevation: 544.62 ft
Max Elevation: 902.23 ft
Elevation Gain: 357.61 ft
Recorded: 9/15/12 10:51:03 PDT
Time Stopped: 9/15/12 13:09:30 PDT

Categories
Adoption

Great info-graphic on adoption

Adoption in America
Brought to you by MSW@USC: Online MSW Programs

Categories
Uncategorized

Trying out our new wagon

Just in time for strawberry

20120818-085338.jpg

Categories
Uncategorized

Google, I'm breaking up with you

I’m done with this relationship. I don’t feel loved any more. I have been reduced to being a trophy husband. Anyway, all my email and calendar is moved to Exchange (never thought I would choose to move to any Microsoft product again, but Exchange 2010 works great with iOS devices). Web search has been moved to bing. I’m done and never looking back.

Categories
Calliope

Calliope's First Birthday

We just want to say thank you to everyone for making it to Calliope’s party yesterday. She had a lot of fun and enjoyed spending time with everyone (so did Dad and Daddy). Days like yesterday always bring so much joy to Mikey and I as we are reminded of the true great set of friends we have.
Here is the money shot for all of you that we not able to join us:

Categories
Jogging

GG Park – 4.0 miles – 02/03/2011

I took yesterday off to sleep in. Calliope had been up all night, poor thing. So an extra hour of sleep was definitely need for the parents.
This morning was nice and calm and serene. I felt a bit tired but I expected that since I just started back up on the running. Everything was shaping up to be a nice morning, until that serenity was broken by a set of news helicopters. WTF is going on at 6 in the morning that they need a fleet of news helicopters flying over the city.
Update: So it turns out that something really terrible had been going on. Our hearts go out to the members of our community who have lost their homes in a tragic fire.

Categories
Calliope

We are in trouble now

The crawling has begun

Categories
Calliope

Swinging in the park

Just having fun in the park

Categories
Calliope

I'm sure this will be a constant refrain

So I will just preface this with the following disclamer: I think I will be saying this a lot over the next several years.
So Calliope did the coolest thing this evening when I got home.  She had been with Mikey all day, and he was feeding her while sitting on the couch when I came in from work.  I came in and stood next to them and said hi to both of them.  Calliope stopped sucking on the bottle and just looked at me and smiled.  The really crazy thing is that she didn’t go back to the bottle, she just watched me even though the nipple was right there in her mouth.  She did that again a few minutes later after I had left the room.  She definitely recognized me and it was amazing.

Categories
Calliope Vacation

Our first vacation

Mikey, Calliope, & I went our of first vacation this week down to Palm Spring (technically Ranco Mirage).  We spent a week at one of our time share’s sister resorts, The Westin Mission Hills.  Jenn, Eddie and his niece Christina joined us for most of the time there and we had so much fun.
Calliope had her first time in the pool and loved every minute, except the getting out part.  I think we need to get her signed up for swimming lessons very early on.  She really loved being in the heat and slept so well poolside.
We played a lot of Carcassonne which is one of our favorite games.  I think Jenn, Eddie and Christina all got hooked.  We even resurrected Canasta after Eddie and Christina left.
We leave tomorrow for a 10 hour drive home (allowing for stops).  Calliope did great on the way down and hopefully will be just as much a trooper on the way home.
You should have seen all the stuff we brought (especially me for all the kitchen stuff).  We did end up using most of what we brought, except for maybe the pool toys.  We leave tomorrow and I’ll be spending the morning packing up the car again.