San Juan Island: John and Marian's 60th

The Bolte clan got together the week of June 22, 2008 to celebrate my folk's 60th wedding anniversary. We rented two waterfront homes on the southwest side of San Juan Island and everyone except Zach (away in Austin, Texas) was there! To cover all bases, we brought the bikes and kayaks from Santa Cruz. The two houses were great. Both were on the water with great views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the Olympic Mountains and Victoria B.C. One house was architecturally interesting (called the Water House) the other had a pool table, hot tub and great beach for launching kayaks.

The weather was classic Pacific Northwest. Sometimes overcast, windy and cold, sometimes warm and sunny. We had a couple of days when the water was calm and like a mirror for as far as you could see (a pretty long way). There were deer, eagles, sea/shore birds and at the Water House a family of foxes.


There was lots to do.

Kayaked every day with flat water most of the time, biked, played chess and Scrabble, shot pool, soaked in the hot tub, went fishing, sat on the decks looking for whales and did alot of visiting and catching up.

We enjoyed a very nice anniversary dinner one night at a great place called the DuckSoup Inn and then champagne and carrot cake back at the Water House.






The whales were there 3 out of 6 days. Saw a minke briefly on Tuesday, and orcas Tuesday,

Wednesday and Thursday. They were feeding and went through pretty quickly. Had a couple of encounters from the kayaks.

All in all a wonderful week. Great weather, really great to get together and a terrific event to have the privilege to be able to celebrate.

The Boyz

One of the big pluses of moving to our current house in two years ago was that John quickly became best friends with two boys in the neighborhood. The Three Musketeers (sometimes the Three Stooges) are pretty much inseparable this summer. Video games, airsoft, football, bike riding, skateboarding and hanging.

It's great.

Girls Rock, Castle Rock April 2008

Our good friend Sara Lucatello visited from Italy this Spring. She is always up for trying new things and we packed up the crash pad, a lunch and the climbing shoes and headed for the Magoos boulders up at Castle Rock.

It was a beautiful day. Sara went from 4th class to 5.8, Kitty cranked some good problems and I struggled up some problems that used to seem trival.










Had lunch in the little cave at Pyramid Rock and hiked back to the car. Reminder to self--get out to Castle Rock more often

Spring Break - no snow left in the Sierra this year headed to Yosemite for some sightseeing and climbing. Weather was great, cool but sunny(ish). Met up with the Latifs.



Swan Slab was on the climbing agenda. Bouldered a bit, then Steve headed up Penelope's Crack with Kitty belaying. Yikes! Midway up Steve comes off and pitches headfirst for a 15' fall. The last piece holds and Kitty catches hims before he hits the ground. Next try is good and he's up. Anisa, Kitty and me up next.





Steve on lead, Anisa following





Next up Kitty takes a go at leading Hanging Flake, John laybacks up behind her. We go the rest of the way up and rap down Penelope's Gully.










Everyone makes the short hike below the Lower Falls and Steve fires up the first pitch of the Jamcrack Route. Kitty follows and is lowered off, we ask Steve if we can pull the rope and he says "sure" apparently thinking we are kidding but we do! Still a ton of gear up there at the belay it turns out. No big deal! Steve re-leads, I go up as it is getting dark, clean everything and rap off the rings. The moves in the first 10 feet are the crux, then bomber jams to the ledge. Fun route.



Steve leading, Kitty following the Jamcrack route

Skiing 2007/8

The Winter of 2007/8 the kids and I got out skiing and snowboarding more than ever and had a lot of fun.






We started at Mt Baker over the holidays visiting my folks/sister/brother and the cousins, then had some fun trips to the Tahoe area (Boreal, Tahoe Donner and Sugar Bowl) and Badger Pass in Yosemite. The kids got WAY better on their boards and I think have left skiing behind forever.

I'm still a green circle gumby on skis although I can get down most blues (just don't have that much fun). The last trip of the season to Sugar Bowl was a little glimpse of the future. The kids did a warm up run or two with me then said "see you later Dad" and headed off to some more challenging slopes...




Badger Pass on a sunny day

Whidbey Island 2007 Holidays

December 26, 2007 we headed to SFO to fly to Seattle. Light rain in Seattle as we drove up to catch the Mukultio ferry to Whidbey Island. Up in time for dinner and a little Christmas
celebration.




San Francisco Airport





Ferry to Whidbey



Everyone was doing well. The weather was even colder and wetter than I remember from our years in the Northwest.










The old folks




We went skiing to Mt Baker one (looong) day. Lots of snow up there and more was falling all day long. Kitty skied for the first time and found it easier than snowboarding. Matt, Chris and Zach disappeared immediately to the black diamonds on their boards. Little John, Kitty and I poked around on the bunny slope and greens and had a great time.



Also hit the climbing gym in Everett one afternoon, Nice little gym. Kitty smoked the big strong cousins.




Kitty, Matt, Chris & Zach, the old guy and Little John (clockwise)











It was nice to have Zach there this year.






New Year's Eve party animal (she was up and firing off her shotgun at midnight)












The cousins are all looking great and doing well



Matt gets some air






Jan 1, 2008 on the ferry heading home. These kids are bummed.

Christmas Day 2007

Sunny and nice in Santa Cruz 25 December 2007. Scotts Creek Beach