Declan's Blog

Wow, what a whirlwind! 12 days, 4 locations, 6 out of 7 siblings, tons of friends and extended family. We’re pooped, but had a great time.

I tried to blog on the fly using the new iPhone, and got some pictures and a little text posted using the WordPress for iPhone app. It did a good job. I’m still not used to the iPhone keyboard (this is short hand for “it sucks”), so I didn’t include much text. I think people like to look at pictures more any way! 🙂

The trip started in a very exciting manner. As I’ve blogged earlier, the Stupid Dog has a skunk fetish. After the second run in and subsequent spraying, we hired a skunk trapper. The traps were set up in the backyard for about a week with no real action, so we kind of ignored them. Robert, our house sitter and driver, came over on Weds to take us to the airport. He took Stupid Dog out to the backyard to let him take a pee before we left, and guess what?!? There was a skunk in a trap that we didn’t notice. Stupid Dog noticed…

The trapper had wrapped the traps in garbage bags to contain any spraying, so Stupid Dog ripped through that and got sprayed full in the face. At this point, we’re thinking about finding his embedded chip, cutting it out, and setting him free. Ok, maybe that was just me. Elaine quickly changes clothes and does the dance – peroxide (oh, we’re out – Nathan RUN to the store), vinegar, baking soda (where IS it now?!?) – finally getting the dog into some state of smell that we can lock him up in the house and Robert can still breath over the smell.

This whole time we’re watching the clock because we have a flight to St. Louis at 12:05…

We made the flight, but in the rush to get out the door, I forgot my camera, and we forgot car and house keys – things that we’ll need to actually get back to the house after the trip. Nothing like a little extra stress added to a long trip…

Long story short, Robert shipped my camera with a ton of insurance, and later shipped keys once we got those logistics figured out. Robert kicks ass. 😉

There are already a lot of highlight photos below. I’ll put in a view of all the pictures here, then some specific collections.

Nathan was promoted to Brown Belt in Kajukenbo last weekend:

Lots of cool action shots:

Let’s hope he uses his power for good… 😉

I’m way behind on blogging, so I set aside some time this morning.

It’s been a hectic couple of months, and appears to be the same in the near future. Lots of work and personal travel, Nathan graduating high school and getting ready for college, kid management during the no-school summer months, skunks, new toys… The list goes on 🙂

Today we’re getting ready for Robert McDonald’s going away party, my trip to the UCCSC, then off to Illinois for 10 days to visit family and celebrate Rich and Judy Koch’s 50th wedding anniversary. We did a blitz house cleaning last week so Robert could house sit without dealing with our mess. Makes for a nice house for the last week 🙂

Congrats to Nathan (on the right – his buddy Gerry is on the left)!

Nathan graduated from Westview High School yesterday. Grandma came out to see:

And Diardra and Doug flew out too!

Erin was thrilled to cheer on her brother:

After the ceremony:

(Can you spot Nathan? 😉

We went to Adams Avenue Grill for some nom:

Of course, since I borrowed a killer lens from Patrick (thanks dude!), I got a few nice shots around the restaurant as the sunlight was fading:

Here are lots more:

Yes, I’m too young to have this going on:

Last Sunday, we went to see our buddy Victoria from the libraries play in her drumming group called San Diego Taikos. We were late, as usual, so we missed part of the opening act, the Super Sonic Samba School. We got a standing spot a bit at the back of the World Beat Center by Balboa part, a little left of the stage, hence the pole in some of the pictures:

Samba group:

Here’s Victoria, on the right:

Some comic relief:

Victoria works the abs:

Lots more pictures here: