Amberito turns 9 Today!

Amber Nicole Martin celebrates her 9th birthday this morning!

As is tradition in the last few years, I am about to walk upstairs with Seany and Mom and pray for her as she sleeps. We will wake her with sound of singing happy birthday. Sure glad she actually enjoys this...

We are so thankful for the gift of Amber. She is a great child full of life. She is doing so well in school, loves to read, play her piano, sing, and now the guitar that she is learning. This is in addition to basketball (which she rocks!), games, and countless other activitities. She is constantly moving and enjoying life every breathing minute of the day...!

We all look forward to many more birthdays together.

Time to get the pancakes rolling as well as part of the tradition.

God bless you Amber and Happy Birthday!

Seany Boy - Rocking The World Since 2003!

Seany Boy turned the age of 6 today.

We are so proud of the little man. He has really been making great efforts in school and has learned to actually do some chores in the house. Over the past week, Sean and I have spent time building a crane from his erector set - about half way through.

Sean wanted to wake early and celebrate his birthday together with a pancake breakfast. We are going to rally for Sean today to celebrate his birthday.

We love you sean. You are a delightful gift in our life and we wish you a very happy birthday this morning!

Christmas 2008 is here!

Our celebration started mid day yesterday on Christmas Eve when I left the office bound to get home and dig in with the family. It was taking some time since I just came out of several days in bed with a vicious cold virus that seemed to go one after another in a chain of events ending with yours truly. I'm better, just with a nagging cough.

Enjoyed just coming home to the kids, the wifey, the parents, and John and Donna ready for some celebration over the next 24 hours. We started with some mid day movies and hanging out and got ready for some Christmas Eve Worship Celebrations at both my fathers parish St. Patricks Church and our beloved Grace Church. St. Patricks was slammed with worshippers in their 4pm mass and there were so many folks present that I stood in the aisle with my daughter, along with my Dad, and Jenn and Sean found a seat next to the Bachmanns. Sweet message, mass, and production put on by the children of the parish. Caught up with the Bachmann Clan briefly but all very sweet to tell my dear best friend Rudy Merry Christmas along with his whole family. We were then off (in a rush) to pick up my mom, John, and Donna to run to Grace Church for family Christmas Worship.

We arrived just before 6pm and the crowds were starting to motor in. Met many families I have not met before and enjoyed hymn singing and reflecting on the birth of our savior Jesus Christ! It was great and there was some interaction time with our Pastor and our children at the front. Ended with a candle lighting and prayer. Sweet time and my heart was finally just jumping into Christmas celebration and joy. We ran home for the next phase of the celebration - Mom prepared the Christmas meal...!

All of us went across the drive and stayed at the parents with sweet fellowship, some wine tasting, and a delightful rib eye roast. Delicious meal and great time. After dinner, it was time to get the kids tucked for bed and ready for the deliveries by St. Nick. Before bed, we prayed together as family in front of the tree and enjoyed praising the birth celebration of our Lord and Savior. We were continuing with the evenings call - Jesus is the light of the world! Kids we're stashed into bed by 10pm and then Jenn and I just enjoyed some time together before crashing for the early morning wake up.

I crawled out of bed before 6am and made some coffee just enjoying the peace of the morning and the true significance of our Christmas celebration. Just about the time I began to pour some fresh brew, my daughter Amber sprang down the stairs with the most genuine smile and joy ready asking to approach the tree where the gifts were waiting. We both agreed to wait until the balance of the family joined and it did not take long for Amber to make the rounds of wake up calls including walking to across the drive to wake the balance of the group. Presents were opened at will and the kids were delighted as well as some of adults. Jenn and I for the first year elected to gift the balance of the family but not ourselves and it did not change the joy of the morning celebration at all.

We generally lazed around all morning and just enjoyed the day. We finally made a road trip up the coast just to get out. We saw some beautiful coast line and some elephant seals. Just good times together. We are home as I write this making some burritos and again ready for some more rest.

God is faithful in our lives. We have so much to be thankful for. And the whole beginning of the Gospel in the birth of Jesus can actually be overwhelming if you let it... Overwhelming with joy and total appreciation!

Merry Christmas to all! Jesus is the light of the world!

God bless you all.

Daughter of Jacob

When you say it this way, it sounds a little scripture like...

Meet my great niece Sienna. She has her mothers eyes and her fathers nose and lips. She is a beautiful little girl.

My sister, Jacobs mom, recently visited and sent us this picture. Jacob and his wife Jillian are doing well in the new home of Portland, OR.

Share the Road

Share the road with family and friends!

Enjoyed a ride with my family this weekend on the road. Sean, Debbie, Donna, Mom, Dad, and myself enjoyed a 35 mile ride essentially around the vineyard areas of Orcutt and back along the beach and home. Great little clip and so encouraged with my parents health and joy in cycling. Everyone in this group has been riding most of their lives and it really shows.

Took a picture from the back of the group as we were pedaling 21mph with both parents in the line.

Great time together this weekend.

Thanksgiving

Much to be very thankful. Thank you Father for your bounty, blessings, mercy and grace!

Enjoyed a great Thanksgiving day at my sister Tammys house and she and her husband Brad treated us to a fabuous dinner feast. Great fellowship and we even took the time to read the Proclamation of Thanksgiving of 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln. It was great to listen and share the reason for the nations holiday and he mentioned God no less than 4 times to my knowledge. Crazy how our public policy has changed over time. Great time with family...

The balance of the weekend was great and we spent 2 days erecting the kids long awaited tree fort. They have been reminding me daily that it needs to be done. Well - about 75% there and we need to side it, finish roof sheating, and other trims/paint. It was a great time to show the kids fruits of labor, simple carpentry, and working together as a team. Loved it...

Sean and Amber helping to secure bracing... Safety first!

Amber has her eye protection on and appropriate flip flop attire... Wacking the nail!

View of the deck through the door. Cannot show the balance until it's complete so stay tuned... Kids are loving it already.

Big Blue

Sean and the rest of his Loredo Pals. Cool Pic.

Blue Ninjas

AYSO completed the regional finals this weekend. 4 games in one weekend! The weather was in the 90's and we had mainly day games so it was time to stay hydrated.

Amber's team Blue Ninjas almost took a very close fought victory and ended up second place within the region. It was their first loss of the season. Amazing!

Regardless of the second, they took first in effort and attitude and we are thankful for the experience of the loss in light of the continuous record. We appreciate any place in this sport and thankful for the lessons of wins and losses (albeit AYSO does not make this a point).

We are thankful for the coaches and the young ladies who gave it their all. God Bless them all!

Tooth Puller

Seany boy yanked on his first tooth. Just a few days later, yanked the next. The boy has no fear in this regard...

Morning Sun at Refugio

Woke early before the sun came up. Prayed a bit while making coffee before everyone woke. God is perfect in revealing His majesty and beautiful handiwork.

Jenn joined me just before the sun came up. Enjoyed some great time with family and friends.

The Opener

Rudy treated me and Juda to a dive trip to Santa Cruz Island the first day of the Lobster season. The experienced folks call it "the opener." Met Rudy at 5am to load and drive his boat to Santa Barbara Harbor and made the channel crossing to Santa Cruz Island. Thankful for maps, compass, charts, and GPS since we were in total fog until we reached the island. It took approximately 1:15 since there was moderate chop on the water.

Cap'n Rudy at the helm with a very accurate land in fog on the north end of SC.

We arrived on the north end of the island and immediately found a spot, anchored, and jumped in. Rudy dove with me and we spent time exploring this edge for over an hour on the first dive. It was an amazing experience.

First Dive spot. Note the beautiful and shear rock faces and kelp forests. The caves are were the bugs are.

Our first dive was awesome and Rudy really showed me the ropes. Between a dive depth of 20-50 feet at various areas, we saw Calico Bass, a few lobster (I missed it...), crabs, and many other sea creatures. It was amazingly beautiful and full of color and adventure.

Rudy and Juda suited up while I ran a live boat for better dive access.

Rudy in his ocean element. Look at the smile!

Judas monster bug!

Yours truly took the run home. I was pretty off the return run in the fog but not too bad.

Finished and ready for the drive home. Rudys boat is one amazing craft and very sea worthy. The SB Channel has its reputation and this boat can handle some very nasty seas.

Pictures in the live well.

Well, not so live. Dinner table the following night! Tasty buggers!

Really enjoyed my first California opener. Between myself, Rudy and Juda, 17 total bugs on the trip. I was not much help to these experienced lobstermen since they both limited out. Time and experience will kick in and make me more productive. Looking forward to more dives and ocean runs with Rudy.

City to Sea

Jenn, along with many friends, participated in the City to Sea Half Marathon this weekend. The event entailed heading to SLO town early in the morning for the downtown start and running 13.1 miles to the beach. It was a sunny day with mild winds but uncharacteristically very cold at 33 degrees at 7am. They all looked cold but appeared to immediately warm up at the start. The group ran from SLO town to the beach at Dinosaur Caves Park in Shell Beach.

Jenn finishing the final 50 yards with the Sea in the background.

From L to R: Christina (niece), Jenn aka wifey, Nicole Shipley, Lindsey Cheney, Katie Ernstrom, Joy Newman, and Jenn Collins.

Very proud of the wifey with her hard work and encouraging attitude towards the challenge. She and and all her friends did a great job. Congratulations to Jennifer and the rest of the group.

Riders of the Storm

Hello,

Update on my dive trip. This is our second day on the boat. We had great diving on the first day on an island 15 miles north of Loreto. We shot lots of fish and have slot of fish to take home. I shot mostly red and yellow snapper. Today we woke up to cloudy skies and we are near the northern edge of the hurricane. We did one dive this morning then headed for shelter due to the swell. The diving was still good with visibility to 50 -60 feet.

Talk to you all soon!

Sean Martin

A message from my brother Sean in the path of Norbert in Loreto, Baja. Norbert is a fully developed hurricane with 73-100 mph sustained winds. Sean and his crew are living it out in the sea with this monster going over the top of them. They have anchored close to shore in a protected cove and riding it out...

Seany - The Little Warrior

After much discussion about bows and arrows, Sean finally got his wish. We went to Farm Supply and outfitted Sean with a junior level bow and arrow. Make no bones about it, he has the real tools of a warrior and he is all about it...

Sean in action - look at the form!

Sean really enjoys seeing results of his work and discipline. Not bad...

Sean is learning discipline in safety around weapons, tools, and other similar things in the outdoors and his dads garage. Taking the time to teach him to use tools, hands, and other things that are a lost art in the households. He loves knives but he is not old enough to handle them safely. Soon he will be able to and wittle on wood around the camp site like we all did.

Good job lil man!

Cannel Plunge

As long as I can remember, I have a profound respect for the wilderness and the pitfalls surrounding those unprepared. Well, we fell right into the unprepared category and it will not happen again...

Jenn and I participated in a recent group ride which entailed riding the Cannel Trail above Kernville. My brother Sean, Wife Debbie, friend John, and three others from the Valencia area joined Jenn and I in Kernville. Jenn and I work at 4 am last Saturday to make the drive to Kernville and arrived just over three hours and fifteen minutes. We all stashed food, water, and everything we could into the camel backs preparing for at least a half day ride.

We all boarded a shuttle and headed further north into the Sierra Nevada mountains and hit our starting location just below Sherman Peak. As we all unloaded, it dawned on me just how far north we were since I could see Olancha Peak directly east with Mt. Whitney and the western divide within easy view north of us. Smokes, we were up there.

Pre-shuttle ride in Kernville.

The ride started just north and almost immediately turned into a hike. Within the first mile and 1/2, we ditched the bikes in the trees and continued the jaunt to Sherman Peak to see the views. The mountain peak was spectacular at 10,200 feet above sea level and offered a strong view point of the largest mountain peaks in the continuous continental United States.

From Shermin peak, it was double back the trail to the starting spot and head south on the Cannel Trail. The trail consisted of very loose late season decomposed granite and pumis and was not much different than trying to ride beach sand up hill...! The first 6 miles was lots of walking and riding through meadows. The next 12 miles was a mix of meadow riding and very technical rocky downhill sections until we reached our half way destination at Big Meadow. After this lunch, this was where the real adventure began...

Big Meadow in the distance. The ladies were real troopers...

Following lunch, we jumped on our bikes and began to cross the meadow. Since our path was in sight of several very large and looming bulls in the meadow, we took a different line and re-converged on the other side of the meadow only to believe we were on the correct trail. Little did we know we took the wrong trail and spent the next 1 hour plus searching the foothill for the correct trail head. We ended up doing the worst thing possible, trying to navigate a short cut and ended up having to go back to the start of the meadow to begin it all again. Only this time, we lost valuable time. Although we were not in panic mode, I had a strong suspicion that our time for the dark zone would be close or within an hour of our completed ride. From here on it, any camera time was always with the comment "let's go, we are burning daylight."We still had 18 plus miles of riding to go...

Opposite end of Big Meadow. Let's keep it rollin girls!

Under normal circumstances, 18 miles could easily be ridden under two hours. On the Cannel, one would be lucky to maintain simply five miles per hour and it was 3:52pm when we left the meadow... Do the math, it was going to be tight and it was constantly on my mind and my wife and sister in law have my pushiness ingrained in their heads...

From the meadow, it was a continuous grind of hiking bikes up very difficult mountain trails and not descending much faster. Also, did I mention we ALL went critically low on water!!!

We all kept our cool and maintained a reasonable progression and even took a few minutes to photo log different parts of the trail. Although we were a little strained with concern of time, we knew we were getting out before nightfall so we took occasional moments to witness just a small glimpse of Gods glory in the mountain landscape.

Crazy unique landscape...

We reached Cannel Peak and looked below at the 8 mile highly technical descent consisting of 8 inches of loosely packed sandy decomposed granite with bouldered adjacent structures. This descent took just under two hours and placed us just a mile north of the town of Kernville and we were simply stoked to be done and safe from the crazy mountain adventure.

The ladies heading into the final 8 mile plunge.

We rode straight for town, bathed in the Kern River, and went to a local pizza place to scarf as much calories as possible. Cold glasses of water never tasted so sweet since I had not had much more than 1 litre of water since 2pm and it was 7 pm when we finished!

After a good meal of pizza and real hydration, Jenn and I drove home. It was beautiful full moon drive and was a silent trip home. Not in the bad sense of the silent time, just obvious reflection of the risk we just took. God was faithful in keeping us safe and moving us through the woods with just a few minutes to spare.

Details: 9 hours, 4300 calories, approximately 40 miles, 4,500 foot ascent, approximately 7,000 foot descent, and hovered at 8,000-9,000 foot for most of the ride. The final 8 miles dropped 5,500 feet!

High Points of the trip:

Time with the wife and very special family
Personal challenge and teamwork
Seeing Gods handiwork
Talking about bear territory only to have a bear run up the hill in front of us
Excellent riding by the ladies - they were amazing!
Seeing Whitney from the backside
Understanding what it is like to be very thirsty
Nobody hurt
Praying continuously
Watching my brother care for his bruised wife

Low Points:

Not being fully prepared
Stress on the ride
Heavy thirst
Watching Debbie crash at least a half dozen times and continue forward

All in all a great experience. Just don't want to experience it again anytime soon.

Fall Changes - SCHOOL!!!

Amber and Sean started their next year of education at Royals Oaks.

Little Seany boy started Kindergarten which is the true beginning of the formal education experience. Check out the little man getting adjusted.

Amber and Sean sporting their required attire. Love the snappy uniforms...!

Seany ready at the front of the line...

Amber taking her brother under her wing and showing him the ropes of the playgrounds...

Amber is always confident and ready for school. She loves everything about school.

Very proud of the kids and glad to see them enjoying their education. We very much appreciate the staff at the school and the great teachers.

Johnny Dive Lately

Well some of you know that I ponied up on SCUBA lessons. Yep, I added another activity to my already activity saturated life. Whatever! It's fun outdoor activity that I only want to do 3-4 times per year if that. God's handiwork is also in the oceans and I have an interest. This is also not to mention my brother Sean and close friend Rudy want me to share in the fun...

Completed my lessons in the last two weeks and had my first two open ocean dives this morning between time at the office. Have two more on Monday and then the next dives are a trip to the Channel Islands to grab some "bugs" or lobster as the novice say it.

My instructor Jeff has done a fine job and we are thankful for his care and fun. Rob Boneso decided to join the private lesson and it has worked out great. Rob is doing a fine job at the new adventure as well.

Underwater today and saw crabs, fish, nudebranks(?), otters, jellies, and many of the creatures God made.

Suiting up!

Instructor Jeff and Yours Truly.

Me and Rob Boneso.

What a great day and almost there on the instruction. Did you know my brother Sean is a Master Diver and is likely the most experienced waterman you may ever know? Sean is the real deal in the water and I respect his confidence since I am not quite there but cutting into the realm...

Take care all and thanks for reading.

July and August Fishing Updates

Loved the fishing this year! Spent time at Port San Luis much of the summer fishing for Halibut. Also, some Mammoth area fishing as well as the Stanislaus valley. More to follow on that summer trip. Let's share some of the fishing tales...

Sean with his first Halibut of the day. We landed 10 with 5 keepers!!!

Debbie was in the hunt on the day and landed this one near the breakwater. Great land Debbie!


Fishing on the Duck Lake trail above Lake Mary. Mammoth Brook Trout had by little Amber.

Seany boy nails a sweet brookie.

The wifey in her groove spot on Rock Creek Lake. We love this spot in the evenings. What a blessing to enjoy such special times togethers.

What a land on the end of the trip. Caught this 18 inch Rainbow Trout in the Stanislaus near Beardsly. This fish breached twice in a deep pool and was one of the finest trouts I've ever landed. What a great time.

Grace Church - Our Church Family

Just thought I would share our beloved Grace Church with you. Our family is commited to worship and fellowship in this Gospel centered community. God is faithful in leading us here. We are also thankful for the Grace Church family and I encourage you sample the church by listening to sermons, reading Pastor Tim's Blog, and seeing what Grace is all about...

Also, I cannot remember ever having such a close personal relationship with my Pastor. Tim Theule, my pastor, is also a close personal friend who I occassionally push pedals with. He does not like to fish and we will not hold that against him.

Any way - please check out Grace Church http://www.graceslo.org/

Specialized Athletic Training

Sean and Jeff working on specific and specialized athletic training.

Refuse to grow up! February 8, 1968 and 40 years...