Markus' 40th b-day

8-31-08: Today we surprised Markus Perkins for his 40th b-day. It went off without a hitch! He had no clue, and was completely dazed. We all had a good time with him, and he was a great sport. Here are a few shots, some of special visitors!

Who is that riding up on that girlie bike? Could it be? No, it couldn't...but I think it is...it's the one and only, Bambi and Babi, come to wish Markus a Happy B-day!
Wow, what a lucky dude, to be between these 2 hot chicks.
Two Androids (AU alum) help celebrate the big guy's 40th.
Summer looks like she's taking a bath in the jacuzzi!

Junior SS up front in church

8-30-08: Today was the Junior SS class's turn to be upfront, participating in the services today. The whole class sang, "Dare to Run", and then a smaller group of girls sang, "Be the One".

See if you can find Summer! Clue: she's wearing contacts!

They all did a great job, even when there was some technical difficulties in 1st service. Way to go, kids!

A special thanks to Conchita (mom of Natalie) for video taping and taking pictures.

The whole Junior SS class singing, "Dare to Run", accompanied by Thomas "Rasheed" Makowski, Pastor John "White Lightening, Neutralzier" Choi, and yours truly (sitting down).


Some of the Junior girls worked long and hard on he song, "Be the One".

Makowski summer secret!

8-28-08: For over 2 months, the Makowskis (and Martells) have kept a deep, dark, secret. (Ok, not deep and dark, but a secret nonetheless!)

Today, Thomas, Mike, and I had taken the day off months ago to take Thomas's catamaran out sailing at Lake Perris. Unfortunately, I had to bail on them and couldn't go afterall.

Thomas said he "needed a 3rd guy to help load something with the boat" so feeling guilty about bailing, I said I could come over in the AM to help for a short time.
Here's what we saw when we finally went outside...Vivian's car...and trailer hooked up to it carrying a...

...Ski Nautique???!!!!?!?!?!?!?!?! What in the world?!?!?!?!
Needless to say, we were all dumbfounded, especially when we learned they had had it for a couple of months to learn how to drive it and all. No wonder Jenny and Gaby were so good on the knee board and wake board at Mivoden!!!

We were very impressed that they...especially the girls...could keep a secret that long. Wow!

Well, now it was hard for me to bail, so Thomas urged me to take one lap around the lake and then they'd drop me off at the dock so I could go back. So with a borrowed pair of swim trunks and a t-shirt, off we went!

Hmmm, who is Thomas talking to???
Unloading the speed boat at Lake Perris
Mike, White Lighting, and Captain Rasheed
Taking my lap around the *large* lake...notice how dry my hair stayed the whole time. That came in handy later on. ;-) Great wakeboard too!
Nice form, White Lighting!
Mike is still working on getting up...he's almost there, and maybe Rasheed will teach some of us to drive so he can wakeboard if Vashti isn't with us!

I'm sure all the kids will now want to go out with Uncle Thomas on the lake!

Summer in 3rd XRGames Olympics

8-24-08: Summer participated in our 3rd XRGames Olympics at the XRtainment Zone. It was also a fund raiser for her swim team, the Redlands Swim Team. Even though she rarely gets to go to the Zone and play the exergames, she did well, as you can see in the above picture.

Check out the slide show with some of her friends who participated in this tournament!

End of Beach Body Contest

8-24-08: After 3 months of exercise and eating better, our Beach Body Contest ended with our body fats being measured at Todd's house where we then were free to party and eat! Everyone (who came to get measured, about 8 of the 12 guys) lost body fat % and fat lbs, so that was great!

And the winner? Mike Sabangan, with a 5.8% loss. Training for the Disney Half Marathon (this Sunday!) helped a lot! A close second was Corey, who started out at 12% and dropped to 8.4%, so he got 2nd place and his $20 refunded.

Thx to Todd for hosting the end-of-contest party at his place We all had a fun relaxing time playing, eating, and fellowshipping.

Camp Mivoden

Aug. 3-9 - This summer, instead of going to Michigan's Camp Au Sable for our 8th family camp, our group ended up going to Camp Mivoden in Idaho! Why there? Long story, but needless to say, we all had a great time with a very large group of friends from SoCal and Azure Hills Church.

Also saw had a chance to see some friends from way back in our pre-Summer days...Art and Janice Minagawa and Jae and Kristi Lee!

Check out the slide show for all the fun activities that we did with the SoCal gang. Like unicycling, which as you can see, Keri picked up very quickly--look at the trick riding she was doing by the end of class! Amazing!

The staff was great, and we especially enjoyed getting to meet "Dr. Phil" (who's at AU so watch for him at Fil-Am church) and Nolan, Dee's cousin! (Team Asia wants a re-match with Team Middle East in table tennis).

Enjoy just a fraction of over 3,000 pictures from this week at camp!