The last trip to Catalina Island...

...for field work!  I spent last weekend (Saturday through Monday) at Catalina for my last weekend of field work. 

Hooray!!

Here are a few photos from my trip.

Tying the sync cord to the leg of the stand, so it doesn't get bashed around when the water comes in.  At high tide, it will be about 5 ft deep where my feet are.

My advisor, Dr. Carlos Robles.

A couple of sea lions (young ones) that we scared while we were working.  Cute little things, but don't mess with them!

These sea lions are sheltering away from some pretty big waves (that we had to brave!) and jumped in the water when the boat went by.

Some of the other wildlife we often see include crows (the smaller birds, wingspan ~3 ft.)  It's the bird of prey that is unusual.  So far, the guesses include an eagle or a young osprey.

These little birds are California quail.  There were several running around near the room where we stayed.

There are lots of beautiful plants, here, too.  This is a closeup of flowers on a lovely tree near the dorms.

Just one of the many kinds of amazing flowers.

And, finally, my buddy Gerry.  He put up with me and my crazy schedule ("Can you get us to Bird Rock and back?  We need to go at 2am and come back at 5am.  Thanks!") for three years.  I sometimes bribed him in brownies or cookies.  He would have taken us anyway.  It's his job, but he always does it with a smile.  

Thanks, Gerry.

(And, yes, he looks a lot like Uncle Mike.  They even have the same voice.  Creepy!)

New journals and Bistagne's first win!

A.J. mentioned a journal the other day, so when I was at Target last time, I picked up a simple composition notebook for him.  I also happened upon a cool one for little guys that has space for drawings at the top and the lines are extra wide for new writers.  So, both boys got a journal.  They were awfully excited to get it, and immediately sat down and started writing.

 Levi wears that silly sweatband all the time.  He loves it. 

And in other news, A.J.'s team won their first game!  I wasn't sure if that would happen this year.  His team is quite small, and most are rather inexperienced.  However, they have made huge strides just in the last couple of weeks, once the games started.  A.J. ended up only playing first base in this game because he smashed his hand into the corner of our chimney while playing basketball on Monday and bruised his fingers pretty badly.  He could catch fine, but throwing was another matter.  It's been a crazy season so far, having two kids playing, and A.J. has moved up a level and now plays two games a week.

Always ready.  We've had other coaches comment on #42 and how hard he plays.  It kind of makes me proud. :)  Notice the tape on his right hand...that's to try to hold the bandages on.

As Promised

You wanted a little bit about Levi's birthday and other goings on besides sicknesses and evacuations?
Ok, ok. Here goes.

Levi had a Spongebob themed birthday with a homemade Patrick Starfish cake and games headlined by Extreme Jellyfishing (popping balloons tied to kids' ankles), but also including pin the nose on Spongebob, and a Krabby Patty relay.

 Mommy's birthday theme was you're getting older aren't you. She didn't seem too pleased that the candles said 40 instead of 30.

Things got pretty busy around the time of Bethany's birthday as I had to spend 2 weeks in Phoenix and she had to make a trip to Catalina for a rain shortened research trip. We decided to go back to Catalina over President's day to have a little fun kayaking and looking around. We got this great shot of Levi falling asleep looking out the window on the boat ride back.

The other major happening of course is the start of baseball season. Levi likes baseball, but for him its more just an excuse to look good for the camera in his new uniform.

AJ likes helping out at Levi's practices and games. The kids on Levi's team call him Coach AJ.

That's all for now.

-Aaron

How A.J. got sick

Hello guys its A.J. again,

I first threw up Thursday night after baseball at about 9:30 and I had a headache but after that I said I felt better but I had more throwing up to do.And I threw up again at 11:30,12:30,1:30,and 2:30.On Friday evening I threw up at 5:30 and I don't even remember it because I fell asleep right after that.
    The next morning I had the fever with a 100.9 temperature.I had baseball practice at 2:00 at batting cages so I knew I could go.I did and by then most of my fever was gone so that was good.The rest of the day went fine and today nothing bad happened.                                                                                           
                                                                                                Sincerely,
                                                                                                                 A.J.

Mom's note: Isn't that way more than you wanted to know?  He kept asking, "what detail can I add to my sentence?"  This is because detail is what he has to work hardest on when writing for school.  I told him that this time, no one is really interested in the details.  :)                                                                                                  

Baseball season is coming soon!

Baseball is almost here!  We got info for A.J.'s team today, and Levi's should be coming soon.  A.J. was a little bummed that his team won't have an MLB team name this year, but that's what happens when you move up a level.  The teams at his new level all have corporate sponsors.  His is the Bistagne Bros. Body Shop in Glendale.  They must really like baseball, they've sponsored a Foothill League team for at least the last four years.  It also appears that a son/grandson/nephew is in the Twins minor league system.  He is lucky enough to have four friends on the team, though.  One of them is from the Pirates last year, and we know he's pretty good.  And, since the manager backed out at the last minute, Aaron is now it.  He had signed up to be an assistant, but got an email yesterday from the league president asking if he'd be the manager.  I  think he's kind of excited about it.  :)

We think that Levi will be on the same team as another Pirate "little brother."  And, Coach John, the assistant from the Pirates is planning to coach that team.  So, we're looking forward to two great seasons this year.  Levi can't wait to get his uniform.  He's asked about it several times, and every time I say something about t-ball, he asks again.  And, he thinks he'll be the best player on his team.  We'll see about that.  :)

Oh, What a Week

...and the craziness has really only just begun.  As a quick recap: It started raining on Sunday, with only a couple of breaks between then and Friday morning.  With the severe burn in the mountains this summer, there are no plants left to either soak up rainwater or prevent erosion, so there was a pretty great risk of mudslides.  Therefore, homes that were deemed vulnerable were evacuated as of Wednesday morning.  That night, residents were allowed in with ID.  Whew.  Thursday, however, was a different story.  Levi and I were not allowed past the barricade, so we called Aaron, who was at home with A.J., and we all headed out.  I am lucky enough to have an awesome cousin that lives in Las Vegas who had already invited us to stay at her place if we needed it, so I took her up on it.  It was so great to have a relaxing weekend with lovely sunshine.

This week, Aaron is in Phoenix until Thursday afternoon.  I'm supposed to leave for Catalina Thursday morning.  He leaves for Phoenix again on Sunday before I get back and he'll return again on Friday.  Oh, my goodness it's going to be challenging.

However, I did take a few pictures of the fun.

Since Jake and Carrie were taking Lila to Disney on Ice Friday night, and our boys were absolutely not interested, we went to an aquarium instead.

Look at the size of that fish!

This aquarium is one of the most interestingly decorated I have seen.  It's in the Mandalay Bay casino/resort thing.  Because ALL entertainment, including movie theaters, in Las Vegas are in casinos.  Not my favorite place, but there's not much I can do about it.  Casino money buys nice looking stuff, though.

They had a really neat exhibit that made you feel like you were inside a shipwreck, and then one wing was a tube, so the sharks and rays could swim all around.  It was pretty fascinating.

This is a very impressive waterfall that we missed the first time we walked past because from the back, and upstairs, you can't even tell it's there.

And finally, one of my favorite photos of the trip.  The three little ones together.  A.J. and Levi and sweet little Lila.

Ten years and two weeks...

and counting.  Yep, Aaron and I have been married for 10 years.  Doesn't seem possible sometimes, it's gone so fast. 

Jon was still here, so he watched the boys for us while we went out to dinner at a place in Pasadena.  Red, White and Bluezz has live jazz every night.  We went on a Monday, so it was just a solo guitarist, but he was pretty good.  Here's to another 10 years!