Satellite view of San Diego home

Just wanted to send along my own satellite link to the San Diego condo. If you zoom in, you can see the "U" shaped building, the second building as you travel to the right of the intersection. Inside the "U" is a small courtyard. If you move the satellite view farther to the south, you can see Balboa Park, where all the museums, the San Diego Zoo, and the Old Globe Theatre are located.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1411+Robinson+Avenue,+san+Diego&ll=32.752921,-117.150993&spn=0.005606,0.009785&t=k&hl=en

Google maps - Japan

For a cool look at how crowded downtown Tokyo and Japan is click:

Google Maps - Tokyo

Then go closer in or further out using the slider on the left side. Drag the map to move around the city. Also you can see street names in Japanese using the map button in the upper left.

Diane and Kevin: As you scan around Japan, can you see any places you were at?

Camping Pictures

Me and our tent!!

Dad and me on the motorcycle!

This was the creek right next to our campsite

Our weekend

Our friends, Jim and Martha were here for the weekend from Wisconsin. They came last Thursday. On Friday we shopped at Ikea where we ate their famous Swedish meat balls for lunch. That night, J. & M. took us to Sunsets on the Bay, a restaurant in Wayzata on Lake Minnetonka. Nice.
On Saturday, Martha and I attended a shower for her granddaughter Melissa. It was held in the 'summer house' of the hostess--a big square room with windows on all sides under the big trees in her back yard. It was a little eerie when the sky turned green and then black as night in the middle of the forenoon. Then the wind blew and it poured. But we went right on with our games, gifts and eating as if nothing was happening.
Saturday night, Bill and I had tickets to "American In Paris" at Orchestra Hall. What a great way to spend an evening. (J. & M. had another commitment). Prior to going inside where it was cool and comfortable, we sat outside on Peavy Plaza and listened to 'salsa' music and watched people dance (sort of Mexican dancing) in the unbelievable heat and humidity.
(link added by Paul: all time record high dewpoint in MN on Sat night)
We ate out again on Sunday with some mutual friends, so there wasn't much cooking at home.
The four of us played dominoes every chance we had and ate our meals out on the patio the few times we ate at home. A relaxing weekend.
J. & M left on Monday for their new town home in Wisconsin, so all is peace and quiet this week at our house.

Camp Omega

On July 10-15, I went to Camp Omega with my friend Jenni from church and school. We went swimming, canoeing, had Bible studies, and other things, too. Every night we played 2 large group games like Romans and Christians, Eagle's Nest, and Dare Base. I made some new friends. One of my favorite times of the day was F.O.B. time, which stands for Flat On Bunk time. It's quiet time where you just nap or read, but you have to stay on your bunk and be quiet. I loved it. I even got pretty far on my knitting during F.O.B.! I also liked swimming. We didn't swim in the lake because it's green and contaminated. Instead they have a pool that we swim in. It was a really fun week. Here's a picture of Jenni and I in front of our cabin, Alpha. The next picture is of my whole cabin and our counselors. I am on the top row on the very left in the red. I think I will go to Camp Omega next year, too.

Happy 29th Anniversary Paul and Nancy

Paul and Nancy's 29th Anniversary

Diane's Trip to New York

One weekend in June, Deb from church and I took a trip to visit our friends who had moved to New York City last year. Since then, they have added a baby girl to their family and we had to go see her in person. We arrived on a Saturday morning and stayed until Monday morning. On Saturday, we spent about eight hours in New York City (Manhattan), visiting The Empire State Building (see pictures), Chinatown and Little Italy, The Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero. I enjoyed it very much and many times couldn't believe I was actually in New York. We had a great time catching up with our friends there, t00. There's also a picture of the sweatshirts I got for the girls. I had to barter for them in Chinatown (I wasn't very good at it, but my friends helped).

Kevin's Favorite Place

Kevin has been remodeling our garage into a place where he can work on mowers, snow blowers and various other mowers. If you remember it was a dark, crowded place before. He's painted and organized and rearranged. Here's a picture of him a few weeks ago (Nice socks, Kev).

More Fourth of July Pictures

Here are a few more Fourth of July pictures taken at the parade.

Camping with my dad

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I went on a camping trip with my dad. We packed up the motorcycle with camping gear and headed for Calendonia, Minnesota. It took about four hours to get there. We stayed at the campground at Camp Winnebago. The scenery was beautiful. We unpacked our stuff and put up the tent. We ate freeze-dried food for supper and we bought stuff at the grocery store for other meals. There was a pond covered with green slime that was infected with frogs. As you can guess, I spent most of my time there and I identified two or three species of frogs that resided in these murky waters. I also saw a snake swimming in the water, which was a new experience for me. On Tuesday, we went hiking at Beaver Creek State Park and caught fireflies. On the last day we were there, we woke up to thunder and we tried to pack up quickly before it started raining. Unfortunately, it didn't work very well and we had to take our tent down in the rain and move all our stuff to a picnic shelter where we stayed for two hours. When the rain finally let up, we packed up the motorcycle and started our five hour ride home. We arrived safely. It was fun. We'll publish some pictures when they're developed.

A new easy way to post pictures on the blog

Blogger just set up a new way to post pictures on this blog. It is much easier than using the "hello" program. See this link for instructions:

How to post pictures on my Blog

VBS July 4-8

I had a full week with VBS at our church (Oxboro Ev. Free). This year it was called "Kingdom of the Son - a prayer Safari." I was a "Safari guide" for 6-8 year olds. It was a great experience although I didn't participate in many of the games. We had story time, singing, scripture memory, application and crafts and a lot of 'animals and animal sounds'. Nearly a hundred of the kids who attended were not from our church. On Sunday the children gave a presentation with singing some of the songs they had learned during the week. Also, there was a slide show showing pictures of the week's activities and the kids. We closed the program with everyone singing some of the old Bible School songs from years ago. (They sing different ones now days.)

After church, Oxboro put on a community picnic for anyone who wished to attend. The invitation went out to all of Bloomington! We had hot dogs, brats, chips, pop, sno cones, popcorn and cotton candy. Also, there was a monster moon walk, games and a dunk tank. Needless to say, at over 90 degrees there was quite a line for those who wished to get dunked. About 450 people attended and it was a great outreach into the community.

Ben golfing

Ben has been doing something different this summer. He's taking golf lessons (at Hawthorn Hills Golf Learning Center) every Tuesday afternoon. It's been hot, but he's having fun and is pretty good at it.


Ben and Conrad


Conrad, Ben and Matt

Finally a break

Amy last mowed our lawn on July 2 when I was still in the DR. I just mowed it again today. It was long but easy to mow. The last eight days were above 90 degrees and there has been no significant rain since July 4th. A front moved through last night and we only got a quarter inch of rain. The high today was 79. So with that break in the weather, I got out and mowed.

Our week

After a week back from the DR, I am feeling back in shape again. The weather makes me feel like I am still there though. Nancy's tooth is still being worked on next week. The root canal wasn't quite finished yet. Her shoulder still hurts. The doctor originally said bursitis, but xray showed there might be some arthritis.

Amy left Wednesday morning at 8 AM on a shuttle from Rochester to Winona to catch the Amtrak to Jewell's. The train was two hours behind schedule in Winona, so she missed her original connection at Union Station in Chicago for Grand Rapids. Amtrak was going to put her up in a hotel for the night, however, they found another train to Dearborn (an hour from Grand Rapids) and Jewell and Mark picked her up. She got there at 10:30 PM.

We haven't heard from her since Wednesday night. I know that she was planning on going to a midnight Harry Potter party at a bookstore last night. She is planning to return on the train on Thursday.

The white car needed expensive air conditioner work and it is still in the shop.

I picked up a new life bird last night. A birder friend told me about an uncommon bird he had been seeing at Chester Woods Park near Eyota and said he'd help me find it. We hiked about a mile through knee high grass in the 85 degree heat at 7 last night and found it. It is a Henslow's Sparrow (click the name to read about it). That is #338 including the 11 new ones I saw in the DR this year. I also saw a new Minnesota bird for me near the parking lot. An Orchard Oriole. That was # 288 in MN for me.

4th of July

Diane and Dad


Alena and Amy


Katie


Sara


Greg


Katie


Katie and Mom


Greg and Mom


Sparklers


Tiffany and Kevin


Amy and Kevin


Nancy and Kevin