Xmas 2005

What a great Xmas this year! Cooper is really at the age where he 'gets' Xmas. And Allison is getting cuter every day. (If I do say so myself!) We had Xmas eve at Grandpa Paul's and Grandma Janet's with Uncle Ted, Aunt Emily and cousin Nicholas plus great Grandmother Dorothy and cousins Eleanor and Sara.

Then, Xmas morning at our house with just Amy, myself and the kids. For Xmas dinner Grandpa Fred and Grandma Sukey joined us with their friends the Vaughans from Irvine. And yes, that meant that Cooper and Allison had not one, not two, but THREE present opening sessions. Just a super weekend!

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Weeks Xmas Eve Visit

My oldest friend, Darrick, and his family made a trip out to California from Colorado for the holidays this year. Everyone is so busy during the holiday season, but we both made sure that we had a chance to see each other. His daughters Riley and Addison are growing up so beautifully, and their mom, Cay is as charming as ever!

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I left my heart in San Diego

San Diego has become a regular Lunenfeld vacation spot in recent years. It's hard to beat in terms of activites, beauty and accessibility. This year's trip did not disappoint as we enjoyed the usual tourist traps... Balboa Park, Sea World, The USS Midway, Seaport Village, etc.

All the highlights were made even more enjoyable because we got to share them with our friends, the Brights.

Most of these photos were taken at Balboa Park. The one shown here was a typical sunset off the balcony of our condo. (As a UCSD alumni I remember lots of incredible sunsets.) Thanks to David for finding a condo so perfectly situated on the beach, and even with a big screen TV! Can't wait to go back.

See more images from our trip here.

Fire!

When we woke up this morning it quickly became apparent that this was not going to be an average day here in TO. With helicopers buzzing and sirens blaring we stood watch as the flames grew closer and closer. By the end of the afternoon the hard working firefighers, with the help of changing weather conditions, put out the nearby flames. We're very greatful for the day's outcome and hope that our friends in nearby West Hills and Bell Canyon remain safe as well.

Click here to see some of images taken from our backyard over the course of the morning.

Don't forget me!

While looking back at our last few weeks of blogging, we noticed that there was a glaring omission in our posts. If you didn't know better, it looked like we had a photogenic daughter, but no boy-child to speak of. Well, we decided to fix that today.

Allison Models Our New Backgrounds

We received 2 new backgrounds for our studio this week. Someone had to do some modeling, and Allison volunteered for the job. What a trooper!

Rocket Science

This was the view from our driveway just after dusk tonight as we watched the launch of a military rocket from Vandenburg Air Force Base, which is about 120 miles northwest of us. The eerie colors were caused by ice crystals from unburned fuel from the rocket reflecting sunlight high in the atmosphere.

You can also see bright Jupiter getting ready to set on the left side of the picture.

Cooper added an exclamation point to the event by pointing his nose skyward and shouting at the top of his lungs, "THANK YOU, ROCKET!"

September Afternoon - Kids

Fall has sure snuck up on us here in Thousand Oaks. It seems like, overnight, the temperature has dropped 20 degrees and its getting dark 2 hours earlier. So we got our park time in early this afternoon, and the kids had a great time in the fall sunlight.

Allison spent most of her day crawling (almost walking!) toward Daddy's camera, making it very hard to take a snap a picture of a moving target!

More pics here.

Allison Turns One

As much as I will miss asking Cooper how old his sisters is, and him answering, "Zero!" It was great to usher in Allison's first full year with friends and family. The little princess simply absorbs attention. There doesn't seem to be any such thing as too much! Happy Birthday Baby Allison!

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Visit to the Mizenkos

We had a real treat visiting our friends John and Lynn Mizenko today. We got to see baby Johnny who just happens to have been born within a few minutes of Baby Allison. Synchronicity.

A fun day in their backyard pool for Allison and Johnny, and a big treat for Cooper when after lunch we went to visit John's music studio and Cooper got a drum lesson!!!

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August Summer Evening

It was a beautiful evening, and the kids just wanted to be in the back yard. Life is good.

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Let There Be Light

Every once and a while, I feel like a real MAN. Today was one of those days. Today I installed low voltage lighting in the front of our house, and with no professional help.

I:
- wired the transformers to the 120V AC
- routed wire through the garage wall into the yard
- ran wire to the front of the house, including under the sidewalk
- hooked everything up and it WORKED!
- did it all on a Wednesday night after work.

Mmmmmm. Accomplishment...

Lunenfeld Family Portrait

Amy has been anxious to get us a decent family portrait since we started doing family portraits for everyone else the last few years.

Thanks to the Magalski's who were kind enough to come to Lunenfeld Studios and work the camera, distract the kids, AND bring pie. How cool is that?

Here is the first picture of all four Thousand Oaks Lunenfeld's in one place.

Cooper Audio

So, I'm really enjoying podcasting. I'm loving it in fact. And so I've been thinking about things audio, and it occured to me that Coop is at a stage where he is saying things at 3 that he won't ever say again. So, I've set out to capture some Cooper-isms and save them for posterity. And why not share them at the same time?

Here is a sampler (these will load in your MP3 player):
"I'm a big boy."
"Let's go to the Dodger Game"
"Please / Thank you / Your Welcome"
Daddy and Cooper do the Alphabet







And here are some just for the family:

I love you!
- Grandma Sukey
- Grandpa Fred
- Grandma Janet
- Grandpa Paul
- Aunt Emily
- Uncle Ted
- Cousin Nicholas

(Photo 1: Coop on the swing at Grandpa Fred and Grandma Sukey's back yard- 7/9/05)

(Photo 2: Coop under an oak tree on a hike in Thousand Oaks - 7/10/05)

A Summer evening in Thousand Oaks

It was another beautiful evening in Thousand Oaks this Friday, and it seemed like a crime not to take some pictures of the kids as we played in our yard. Cooper is in his "I'm too cool to smile" phase. He looks like he is posing for his portait after being appointed to the Supreme Court.

Allison, on the other hand, is in her "I never stop smiling" phase. Hee!

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-- Pete

Our Little Slugger

Cooper had his first day of T-Ball class the last weekend in June. We're not sure that he was totally ready for instruction but he sure had fun running around. Coach Tyler had the kids catching, hitting and running bases by the time class was over. Much to Daddy's delight, Cooper was able to solidly hit the ball off the T. Now Coop just needs to show the Yankees how its done.

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Sara's Graduation

Sara celebrated her graduation from Cal Poly Pomona in fine style at Chase's house in Cayucos. We were lucky enough to stay at a beach house a short distance away. We didn't get to stay long enough! During our brief visit Cooper and Nicholas got to go swimming and play together.

Prior to the photos we took at Sara's party, Pete snapped some at a visit to Grandpa Paul and Grandma Janet's house. I love the ones of Cooper and Nicholas together!

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Don't Feed the Animals (or Cooper)

This was our first family visit to the Santa Barbara Zoo. Cooper particularly enjoyed the train ride and the park areas. ...Oh yeah, and he got to see some animals too. Coop took a pretty good spill off of one of the rocks towards the end of our day. We healed it with an ice cream sandwich. Guess Coop was the one who needed the cage.

We loved the zoo. Can't wait to go back.

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Baby Allison - May 2005

Time to do some portraits of Baby Allison before she's not a baby anymore. She's growing too fast! These will be treasured for years to come as we remember what it was like to have a baby girl.

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Cooper at the Track

Time again for the Thomas Festival in Fillmore. We were joined by the Brights and the Bacharachs for a busy day with the trains.


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