Awesome Carl Sagan remix video - Cosmos

I've just watched a really cool video which is a remix of the introduction to the classic Carl Sagan series "Cosmos" which originally aired on PBS in the 1980's. I had heard about this remix on NPR and then someone else at work also blogged about it.



You can see the actual Cosmos intro here. It has inspired me to buy the show and share it with the kids.

Week of appreciation - Yeah Melissa!

This past week has been a big week of appreciation for Melissa for all of her hard work helping refugees resettle in the bay area. For nearly two years she has been tirelessly helping some of the most needy folks in the world get their feet on the ground. These are refugees who come from some of the worst conditions in the world. This in my opinion has been the epitome of concept of "think globally act locally" applied to our global community.

Things kicked off last Saturday with her receiving a standing ovation at our presbytery meeting (elders and leaders from all of our local Presbyterian churches). They also gave her a very nice plaque recognizing her efforts in ministry to those in need.

The next day (last Sunday) she received thanks from our church. She and Elsa (one of her co-winners) read from scripture and then received a thanks and applause by all of the members of the church. It was very moving experience for her (and for me).

Today was the capstone of all of the events. She flew to Portland Oregon with Elsa and Andrea (pictured on the left) for the official award she received for volunteer of the year from Catholic Charities. This was a national award and they were recognized over some pretty stiff competition.

You can read more about it by clicking here.

Needless to say me and the kids are extremely proud of her and work. We appreciate the hard work she does and the passion she brings to the effort.

Yeah Melissa! We love you!!

Great weekend - camping at Castle Rock

Last weekend I took Julia and Lea for a new adventure in a nearby state park. We went backpack camping at Castle Rock state park which is a 5600 acre park that covers a ridge and rolling hills in the Santa Cruz mountains just west of Saratoga. It is only 45 minutes from our house but of course you feel many miles from home.

We went with our friend Scott Peterson and his son Ben (same age as Julia). I rented the equipment I needed from REI and let the girls use a couple of small backpacks to carry their own bed roll and sleeping bag. Backpacking equipment is MUCH lighter now than it used to be so I carried the tent, food, my sleeping back and bed roll. Fortunately there was potable water at the site.

We had a fantastic time and the weather was great. It was a beautiful trail and we hiked 3 miles to the camp site. We took plenty of breaks along the way which included walking through redwood, madrone and oak forests, scrambling along rocky trails and moving through low scrub brush. The trail had many spectacular views of the Santa Cruz mountains and we could see all the way to the Monterrey Bay and to Monterrey itself which was around 35 miles away.

The camp ground was rustic with 25 sites spread around and private. Some were in the woods and some in the open. We chose a site in the woods which had enough space for our two tents.

We had a yummy dinner of Macaroni and Cheese, Red Beans and Rice and Chicken and Noodles followed by a desert of Apple crumble and an mixed berry cobbler! all of this came freeze dried and was very good.

We also had many rousing games of UNO after the sun had set and were joined by a co-worker of Scott's who just happened to be camping at the same site (amazing coincidence!)

We all slept well and had a fun hike back which included more stunning views and some singing to help pass the time.

On the way back we saw a 3 ft Rattle snake traveling beside the trail! It was discovered by Ben and Lea who had the wherewith all to stop and point it out to us. (whew)!

Click here to see the photos. This will open a new viewer and you can click on a photo to see a bigger version.

You can also click this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=162410&id=578330169&l=d3709eb4cd

activity. activity. activity.

We've entered into the full fall swing here in NORCAL and find ourselves very busy across the board.

The kids are in various combinations of things including book clubs, horse riding lessons, karate, swimming lessons, violin, reading books, playing on the computer, and all of that on top of school and daily homework, visits with friends, etc.

Melissa and I have been getting more busy too with prep for an upcoming camping trip, prep for teaching various Sunday school and weekday activities, working on refugee activities, painting (Melissa not me), volunteering in school, shuttle bus driver (see activities above), taking yoga classes, training for a 1/2 marathon, and, oh yeah, and working at a startup in Silicon Valley!

So it is no wonder we are all a little tired and the start of this school year has been a bit shall we say bumpy. In fact you would be right if you said in your best pilots voice "we may experience some turbulence during takeoff"!

The routines are improving so I am sure we will all finally get into the groove and soon (

Family Camp 2009

We've just returned from annual family camp at Redwood Glen near Pescadero CA and we all had a wonderful time. There was again a huge amount of activities to choose from including doing nothing and laying in the sun. We stayed pretty busy and even got a family oriented hike in.

This year was different because we gave Julia and to a lesser extent Lea some free reign around the camp. We let them go and get hot cocoa themselves, go down to events by themselves and even hit the playground without super vision. Julia ranged around the camp looking for puzzle pieces (part of a camp activity). Next year we will get some walkie talkie's for sure so that we can reach them wherever they are. The good news is that there are literally hundreds of adults who will help them and many older children who a) set great examples for them and b) would help them if they needed it. That is one of the reasons we like this camp so much because it is less like camping with strangers and more like camping with an extended family.

Another funny thing this year was Nicolas and his posse of pre-teen girls. He literally had 3-4 girls helping him our / holding him / carrying him and even helping him crowd surf during the events at the amphitheater. We hardly saw him once an event started. Here is a photo of him with one of the girls.

I am not sure he got how cute he was or why he liked the attention so much but suffice to say in a few years he will.

Once again the highlight was the talent show and for yet another year the Kreisa kids did great. There were some very amazing acts, everything from funny, to gross, to humbling talent in singing and musical instruments.

Everyone was all settled in when Lea and Nicolas opened up the 43 acts and nearly 3 hour competition (used in the loosest sense, burping the alphabet counts as talent here) with a skit that nearly brought the house down. Keep in mind that they did this in front of 420+ people who were attending the camp from our church.

Here is the video: (make sure your volume is all the way up and you might want to watch in full screen mode, little window on the video)

Julia impressed the crowd with her sensitivity by reading a touching passage from Louisa May Alcott.

Here is the video:

The audio is a little hard to hear so Melissa has transcribed the passage here (with editorial comments):

A few weeks ago, Julia was in the back of the car reading from the autobiography of Louisa May Alcott. She said, "Mommy, listen to this, it is from Louisa May Alcott's journal. It really inspires me". She read the piece below. I was so choked up -- amazed at how wise and wonderful Julia can be... So she read this at church camp this weekend -- on stage, at dusk in front of 425+ people:

"I had an early run in the woods before the dew was off the grass. The moss was like velvet, and as I ran under the arches of yellow and red leaves I sang for joy, my heart was so bright and the world so beautiful. I stopped at the end of the walk and saw the sunshine out over he Virginia meadows.

It seemed like going through a dark life or a grave into heaven beyond. A very strange and solemn feeling came over me and I stood there with no sound but the rustle of the pines, no one near me, and the sun so glorious, as for me alone. It seemed as if I felt God as I never did before, and I prayed in my heart that I might keep the happy sense of nearness in my life."

Family camp will no doubt be a long family tradition and we can think of no better way to reconnect as a family, a couple and as a community before we head into the hectic fall seasons. I always come back energized, humbled and refreshed.

Heading for The Hinterlands

I've just signed up for a pretty exciting personal vacation trip in November! I'll be going to the Bahamas for a 6 day kayaking trip through an outdoor group with the church. I don't know too many details and actually hoping to keep it that way so that I can go with the flow while we are out there.

Selfishly this is a personal John get away trip. Though I've had many work trips I've had very few days away on my own. Melissa likes to call this my "mid-life crisis" trip and maybe I am having one and maybe not. Either way she has been very supportive and encouraging regarding the decision despite the fact that this will put her out on an already heavy travel season.

A friend Bruce who went on the trip described it this way:

"enjoy your kayaking trip. I'm sure you'll find it rewarding. one of the things I remember was the sense of total isolation. and not in a bad way at all - the outside world just seemed to disappear and become irrelevant. all that really mattered was the here and now - the water, wind, boats, etc. and it allowed me to think about "the bigger picture" stuff in a way I hadn't really been able to before. "

Needless to say I am pretty excited, check out this picture from last year's trip. That is some very blue water and some very white sand. Pretty amazing!

click on the picture for a bigger version.

Nicolas Looses His First Tooth!

It was only a few weeks ago that I blogged about Nicolas having his first loose tooth! Well this morning that tooth came out thanks to a little extra wiggling from daddy. :)

When I woke up this morning Nicolas proudly showed me that his tooth was "really wiggly!"

It was in fact so loose that it would bend nearly all the way forward and all the way back and was being held in by the slimmest of skin. He wanted my help going the extra distance and asked me squeeze him so that his tooth popped out like it did for Lea. Squeezing him did no good so I had to put a finger on the tooth and give it a little extra shove.

Sure enough out it came. He was so excited he ran around the house showing everyone the bloody socket and tooth in his hand. He was also very excited about the tooth fairy who I am sure is preparing to pay him a visit right now. Inflation has been rough on the tooth fairy as the going rate seems to be 2$ per tooth!

Next is the tooth beside the now vacant socket. It was almost as wiggly when I got home so I am guessing the second loose tooth will be very soon.