Lunenfeld Central

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Allison's 3rd, Alumni's 20th

2007-09-15T10:31:00.000-07:00

It's a cliche to say "how time flies", but there's a reason. When you're a "grown up", it truly does. The evidence was all around me last week when we had our UCSD friends over to help us celebrate Allison's third birthday. I don't know where the last three years have gone with Allison; yet I feel like she's been with me forever. Much more startling is that I don't know where the last twenty (gulp) years have gone since I met my college friends. As I chatted with them I could have just as easily been sitting in the quad with notebooks in my lap wearing my letters sweatshirt. I suppose the subject matter has changed from majors and careers to kids and, well... still careers. Regardless, I'm grateful that despite the passing of two decades, much has remained the same. And I have a three-year old daughter.

Click here to see the photos.

Lake Winnipesaukee

2007-08-23T13:56:00.000-07:00

It's taken me several attempts over the last couple of months as I either e-mailed friends about the location of our trip, or looked up information on the internet... "Lake Winnepo...", "Lake Winnese...", "Lake Winoposakee..." Never got it right. Today as I write this post I made yet another attempt to spell Lake Winnipesaukee, checked it, and for the first time I got it RIGHT. After spending 5 days there I can honestly say its a place worth learning how to spell. I'll let the pictures speak to the natural beauty of the area. New England was completely new to us, and we still wouldn't have a clue if it weren't for Debbie and Larry's kind offer to let us come with them to the Browne lake house in New Hampshire.

Given the fact that all nine of us went through stomach flu on this week-long trip, its amazing to me that we still had time to take nearly 700 pictures!!! Yes, all Lunenfelds are shutterbugs, but that number should give anyone reading this an insight as to how much we saw and wanted to remember once we returned. So if you've got some considerable time on your hands, sit back and enjoy the "best of the best" from the photos we took at the lake (over 150).

To begin, click here.

Go Boston!

2007-08-23T07:56:00.000-07:00

Our Lunenfeld-Bacharach vacation this summer started in Boston. What a city! Such an interesting mix of old and new. We walked through most of the city during our brief two-day stay, taking in the Public Garden, Boston Common, Beacon Street, and Faneuil Hall. We purchased a "Go Card" to see the aquarium, the Museum of Science... and yes, even the Duck Tour. We got a lot in but wished we could do more. We'll definitely be back.

Postscript: A Boston Red Sox hat was purchased by Pete for Cooper during our stay. No photos were taken of Cooper wearing the hat so you will have to imagine what he looked like walking the streets of Boston. (I assure you it was very cute.) The hat made it home, intact, and remains in Coopers closet.

Click here to see the photos.

Family Reunion in Bass Lake

2007-08-05T21:55:00.000-07:00

This year we were invited to "Hoffman's Haven" in Bass Lake for some water sports and summer fun with the family. Turns out we got all that and so much more. In the mornings we toured Yosemite and in the afternoon... well we got our pick of jet skis, speed boat, kayaking, or plain ol' swimming. We even got three wonderful dinners. Thanks to everyone for pitching in. Special thanks to Aunt Karen and Uncle Tom for allowing us to spend a few days at this wonderful corner of the Earth.

Click here to see the pics (155!)

The Boys camp on Mt. Whitney

2007-06-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

So... the first real camping trip for the boys. (That means tents, sleeping bags and everything!) What a great time. Cooper and I spent 2 great nights with Randy, Amanda, Carly and our new camping friends on the slopes of Mt. Whitney. For those of you who don't know, Mt. Whitney is the highest peak in the continental U.S. We had everything you could want out of a camping trip: hiking, water, campfires, smores and lots and lots of dirt! Cooper made lots of new friends, especially 'Miss Meighan', whose lap is prominently being sat upon by Cooper in several of the pictures around the campfire!

See more pics!

Ironbirds T-Ball Game - March 31st 2007

2007-04-02T19:18:00.000-07:00

Ironbirds - Game 5
Click here for more pics (46).

Ironbirds T-Ball Game - March 24th 2007

2007-03-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

Another Ironbirds game, another great day of baseball. Are these kids gettin' good or what???

Click here for more pics from Game 4 (64 photos)

Ironbirds T-Ball Game - March 10th 2007

2007-03-18T10:33:00.000-07:00

Play ball!

More pics from Game 2.

Cooper the Rock Star

2007-03-08T23:06:00.000-08:00

So there we were, in the midst of our February photo shoot with our actual rock star friend, Lynne, when Cooper presents himself with his guitar and decides that he needs his rock star photos too. Who are we to say no?

Click on the photo for more Cooper rock star pics.

(We are trying out some new gallery software, so tell us what you think. If you click on the menu item called 'view' you can toggle between gallery and slideshow modes. Try both and see which one you like. Thanks!)

First Ironbirds T-Ball game!

2007-03-03T13:45:00.000-08:00

What a great day (but a little windy)! Gotta love baseball!!!

See more pictures of the game

Pete: New and Improved! Now even MORE geeky!

2006-12-16T21:06:00.000-08:00

(A tale of ham radio)

So, because I felt that my geek-cred needed a bit of polishing, last weekend I took and passed my FCC exam for the Technician-Class amateur radio license. My newly minted call sign straight from the Federal government is KI6HAX. (That's Kilo-India-Six-Hotel-Alpha-Xray!)

The cool part of the story falls back a few weeks when I mentioned my new interest to my Mom and Dad around Thanksgiving. Strangely, instead of my Mom rolling her eyes and giving a quip about 'another new hobby', she immediately brightened and asked if I knew how much her dad loved ham radio. (My grandfather, Dr. Everett Dye MD, died in 1957, long before I was born.)

My Mom even remembered his call sign (from 50 years ago!): W5WV. Just for giggles, we punched the old call sign into Google, and what did we find? W5WV was now the call sign for the Plainview, Tx amateur radio club. Plainview is where my Mom grew up! Apparently after my grandfather's death, the club petitioned the FCC to keep his call sign for the club as show of respect. The old hams have a great euphemism for dying, they call it becoming a 'silent key'.

For fun, I sent an email to the Plainview club sharing this story, and emails started arriving from people who either knew or knew about my grandfather. One lady, who is a ham and belongs to the Plainview club was telling my story at the local grocery store and the checker not only remembered my grandfather, but my grandfather had delivered 3 of her children. Now that's a small world!

Here is a picture of my grandfather in front of his radios in my Mom's attic in Plainview from 1953 or so. See any resemblance?

Anyway, funny how things circle around.

73 de KI6HAX (That's ham talk for Regards from Pete!)

Thanksgiving at the Beach

2006-11-27T22:36:00.000-08:00

After a delightful Thanksgiving feast at Uncle Ted and Aunt Emily's house, we made our way to Laguna Beach to let the Cooper, Allison and Cousin Nicholas burn off some of that turkey. Gotta love our California weather!!

For a few more pictures, click here.

Cousin Nicholas Turns 3

2006-09-24T09:26:00.000-07:00

Its that birthday time of year, and Cousin Nicholas turned 3 and celebrated with an awesome Superman birthday party. Is my handsome nephew Mr. GQ, or what?

Check out some more pics from the Party here.

Cooper's First T-Ball Game

2006-09-21T21:54:00.000-07:00

Cooper played in his first baseball game last weekend! Jack's dad, Peter, is the coach of the 'Yankees' (who else!) and we had a great first game. Coop got two hits off the tee and played a mean left-center field.

Here are some action shots of Coop and his teammates!

Allison Turns 2

2006-09-09T22:24:00.000-07:00

Allison Elizabeth Lunenfeld (who entered the terrible-twos several months ago) finally made it official and turned two years old on Saturday the 9th. The weather was perfect and the all of us enjoyed the 'secret park' with some family and friends.

See some more photos of the day.

(More) Rocket Science

2006-08-13T14:41:00.000-07:00

"So do you like Rockets?" asked our friend Peter Austin a couple of weeks ago. He wasn't talking to Cooper. The "big boys" decided to go play out in Irwindale yesterday... and of course we took the little boys, Cooper and Jack, too. Even Allison got into it saying, "bye bye rock-et". Thanks to Cynthia for bringing water and toys, also the awesome rocket paint job!

See more photos

Fiesta!

2006-08-13T14:24:00.000-07:00

We were invited to join The Bacharachs for the annual Children's Parade at Santa Barbara's "Fiesta" this year. It was the first real parade the kids watched and they loved it. It was a very full day with the parade, pizza, dancing near State Street, snake handling, kayaking, touring Montecito, and even a Mexican dinner! Whew!

See more photos

Beach Trip

2006-06-25T20:29:00.000-07:00

The weather has been hot but cloudy, uncharacteristically humid for Thousand Oaks. So what to do? The beach! A tad bit cold, but boy do the kids love the water. And they love sand crabs. And they love dogs. Neither is a big fan of sand, but 3 out of 4 ain't bad.

Allison

2006-06-22T22:52:00.000-07:00

It seems like forever since I whipped out the camera and took pictures of my own kids for a change. And sure enough, the bug struck me at about 8 o'clock tonight, just after the sun went down behind the hills. Too dark to get any great shots.

I'll try for some more this weekend, but until then here is the single usable shot of the evening: Ally.

Frog Blog

2006-04-27T21:47:00.000-07:00

Every once and a while our lives are met with some randomness. And tonight our randomness was dressed in green.

A frog half again as big as my fist made his way into our yard this evening. I decided to bring him inside and surprise the kids. The kids weren't that surprised, but Amy sure was. Heh!

Allison immediately lavished him with choruses of "Froggy! Froggy! Froggy!" and proceded to try very diligently to poke him in the eye. Allison even managed to kiss the frog before I could consider the hygiene ramifications. Alas, he did not turn into a prince.

Cooper vehemently declared that he was NOT afraid of the frog, but when I asked if he would like to hold him, he politely declined. Cooper did pet him repeatedly and asked if the bumps on his back were what caused him to go "ribbit."

At about the time he peed on my hand (the frog, not Cooper), we decided it was time to let him back outside to enjoy the rest of his evening. Allison saw him to the door with a hearty, "Bye bye Froggy!"

Easter in The O.C.

2006-04-19T22:24:00.000-07:00

We spent Easter in Orange County with Amy's family. Thanks to a generous visit from the Easter Bunny, the kids got their fill of candy and toys. Coop and Nicholas particularly loved the egg hunt. Thanks to Grandpa Paul and Grandma Janet for hosting such a nice day!

See more photos.

Yosemite Vacation - Day Two, Three and Four

2006-04-14T22:53:00.000-07:00

Day Two - We couldn't wait to get into "The Big Park"! We were a little surprised to find that once we got to the front gate, we were going to have to wait a bit more. The drive from the gate to the valley took us an hour, but it was worth it. On the way we drove through snow, then rain. When we finally got out of the car, just barely a drizzle. Our initial view of the valley was breathtaking... the rocks were flocked with snow and the waterfalls were pounding. The rest of the day was spent getting a feel for the layout of the valley and planning what we'd do the next day.

Day Three - Back into the valley with picnic lunches in the trunk. The weather was cloudy and cool but thankfully no rain. We spent most of our time in the meadow beneath Cathedral Rock and The Swinging Bridge. Coop threw every stick he could find in the stream. Allison went for a record number of "What's that?" We hit the indoor pool later that night. It was strange to see snow outside as we swam, but we loved it.

Day Four - Sun! We hit the Sugar Pine railroad after our third huge breakfast buffet. (no scales in the hotel room) We road the historic logging railway and learned all about that area's logging industry in the early 1900's. Of course Coop had a big time. After the ride we hit "The Big Park" for one last look and a chance to see Yosemite Village up close.

We had a great time and took in so many wonderful sights. We left thirsty for more and I'm sure we'll return.

Click here for photos.

Yosemite Vacation - Day One

2006-04-10T20:41:00.000-07:00

Yea! It is Lunenfeld vacation time again! This time, our blog comes to you from beautiful Fish Camp, California, just outside Yosemite National Park. We arrived at the lodge just in time for the snow to start falling (and yes I know it is the middle of April!). Here are some pics of our litlle bit of snow play in the beautiful Sierra Nevadas. More to come!

Dora, Dora, Dora The Explorer!

2006-04-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

Dora visited The Santa Barbara Zoo on April 2nd. Cooper was soooo excited to see Dora that he asked if he could give her a hug.

Click here for more photos!

Xmas 2005

2005-12-30T11:38:00.000-08:00

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!

Click here to see more photos!

Weeks Xmas Eve Visit

2005-12-30T11:07:00.000-08:00

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!

Click to see some more pics.

I left my heart in San Diego

2005-11-02T19:53:00.000-08:00

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!

2005-09-29T18:26:00.000-07:00

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!

2005-09-24T17:19:00.000-07:00

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

2005-09-23T20:56:00.000-07:00

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

2005-09-22T21:33:00.000-07:00

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

2005-09-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

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

2005-09-11T22:10:00.000-07:00

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!

Click here for more photos.

Visit to the Mizenkos

2005-08-27T22:28:00.000-07:00

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!!!

Click here for more fun pics!

August Summer Evening

2005-08-11T22:26:00.000-07:00

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

Click here for the rest of the photos.

Let There Be Light

2005-08-03T22:04:00.000-07:00

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

2005-07-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

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

2005-07-24T12:33:00.000-07:00

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

2005-07-08T21:15:00.000-07:00

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!

Click here to see the rest of the pics

-- Pete

Our Little Slugger

2005-06-25T18:39:00.000-07:00

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.

See more photos from this day

Sara's Graduation

2005-06-12T18:11:00.000-07:00

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!

See more photos from this trip

Don't Feed the Animals (or Cooper)

2005-05-14T18:06:00.000-07:00

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.

See more photos from this day

Baby Allison - May 2005

2005-05-11T21:57:00.000-07:00

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.

See more photos from the shoot

Cooper at the Track

2005-05-01T17:56:00.000-07:00

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

See more photos from this day