madison and the indoor playground

maddy and i went to check out the new indoor playground at the mall.
This structure was 3 storeys high, with room for adults to climb with their kids.



Another shot of the behemoth.



And a view from the 2nd level. We were the only ones there.



A room full of nerf balls in a corner section of the 2nd level.



This sloped net bridge made her nervous.



Getting braver, but in the end we climbed it together piggy back style. She kept saying, "Good camel, good camel."




After some time, she was trompsing like a maniac through net bridges all by herself.



She loved these slides.

scotty

some more pictures of the little guy. He is the most even keeled baby I know. He is almost always smiling or laughing. Madison loves the little fella to pieces. As do the parents.

thanksgiving 2006

The visit up north was small in scale but huge in terms of enjoyment. Took in the sights. Felt the pulse of a different city. Synchronized to the vibe that is San Francisco.

The day after Thanksgiving we went to Chinatown. The restaurant under the lighted white sign is where we ate. It was very popular judging by the people waiting an hour for a table. We walked straight in and my uncle schmoozed the owner of the restaurant, and had a table in under 3 minutes. My uncle's got some serious juice in Chinatown.


My uncle and aunt carving up the bird. My uncle comes from a long line of professional chefs, and has it in his blood to treat the art of cooking with respect. If his Gilligan's island hat helps him get his cooking mojo on, who am I to judge?

Madison enjoyed her ride on the Redwood Valley Railway. It was a ten minute ride on a track carved into a beautiful mountain redwood forest.

A shot of the 'train' as we chugged along. It made me think of that scene in Return of the Jedi when the ewoks and Han Solo were flying through the redwoods, except we were moving much slower. There are other differences, to be sure.

Madison about to board the train. We were mere inches away from a tragic 'refridgerator man' incident that would have been traumatizing to all parties involved.

Choo chooin through the forest with her favorite aunt.

While the ladies were using the outhouse, I climbed an embankment behind the men's outhouse, and was surprised to find this vista. Not the Grand Canyon, but the unexpected view of sheer expanse of land and ocean was breathtaking, proving again that the best things in life are found off the beaten path.

brenda

her grace












her love













her compassion

her smarts

her spiritual thirst















her beauty

....my best friend

and the open road beckoneth.

family road trip coming up shortly. We can't wait to take in the sights and sounds of sf.

milt

Tonight I had dinner with an old friend and his wife, a friend I haven't seen in over nine years. Almost a decade. It makes me feel old to have friendships that can be interrupted by a decade. But I digress....back to the topic of this post, which is old friends. And more specifically, my friend Milton Chen.

I don't know why I do this, but it is my knee-jerk reaction when first meeting old friends - I spend the first five minutes with all 5 senses at full bore, trying to get a read on how life has fared for my friend. It is always the non-verbals that I key in on - the way he walks, the way he takes in his surroundings, his interaction with strangers, but most of all, I guess I'm looking for that certain light burning in a persons eyes. I want to know if a person is truly living life, or just taking up space and breathing up oxygen.

I knew in 7 seconds flat that Milt was truly alive. That whatever he had been through in the past decade, the good and bad of it, was fuel to feed a spiritual drive. I also knew that the hand of God was on his life. I don't know how I knew. I just knew that I knew. We sat down for dinner (Outback- nice cheese fries, if you ever go) and just picked up our friendship right where we had left it in the last century and on the other side of the world.

Milt (and his lovely wife Tiffany) moved to LA to become the youth pastor at Hollywood Presbyterian Church. This is a world famous church, that was the church home to legends of the faith like Henrietta Mears, Bill Bright, Billy Graham, Lloyd Ogilvie, and now Milton Chen. He beat out hundreds of other applicants. We're talking about applicants with history at the church, with educational degrees up the wazoo, with mega church references, with spiritual pedigree, people that are household names in Christian ministry circles. And then comes Milt, the dark horse with an inner city ministry in Houston. Now he is using the same desk that Henrietta Mears used when she discipled Bill Bright and Billy Graham, the same desk she used to draw up plans for Forest Home. Time for some pictures.

Lloyd Ogilvie http://www.2preslex.org/PACE05.HTM
billy
bill bright http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Bright
henrietta mears http://www.intouch.org/myintouch/mighty/portraits/henrietta_mears_213642.html

milton and tiffany. http://www.hollywoodpres.org/chen.htm

random pictures I took on my cell phone

having fun at the mall
getting a haircut. I forgot to take before and after shots.
chilling out watching dora
who could resist this face?

madison's favorite song

jack johnson is madison's favorite singer. She is always asking to listen to him, and she will sit mesmerized for up to 30 minutes listening to him. The first time she asked for me to play him by name, she was only two and a half years old. This is her favorite song.


..and while we're at it, here's another one for your listening pleasure.

two kinds of bliss......

"just been fed" bliss......

sleeping bliss.

Madison at her pre-school's Storybook character day.

The lady wearing the green outfit with wings is the new teacher assistant. It was her first day at work.

Her face says it all.