Welcome to Team Medina's Blog!

Harold Iwarohi - Draft video

2011-03-10T01:28:00.000-08:00

2010 in Review!

2010-12-23T05:42:00.000-08:00

12-23-10: It's finally here! Only 3:43 long, check out Team Medina's 2010 in Review. Had to do some serious editing to get it down to this size. Sorry for all those other pixs/events that got left on the cutting room floor. Wanted to include it all...enjoy!

2010 Video Slideshow Coming Soon!

2010-12-23T00:03:00.000-08:00

12-23-10: If you rec'd a Christmas card and are looking for the slideshow, it will be up very soon. Uploading it to Youtube as I type, so check back shortly!

Pathfinder Ski Day Video Clip

2010-02-21T22:50:00.000-08:00

Here's a short video clip of our ski day...enjoy!

Pathfinder Ski Day!

2010-02-21T22:47:00.000-08:00

2-21-10: Today was the Pathfinder outing to Snow Summit. While the weather was a bit uncontrollable, the kids had a great time, judging from all the noise and laughter.

Thx to Nanci, Florence, and Ellen, for watching our stuff in the lodge while we skied/snowboarded.

Check out the pixs below!

Sneak preview of Carmen Slide Show 2

2009-12-12T00:57:00.000-08:00

12-12-09: This is a sneak preview of the slide show for Pastor Carmen's farewell party later tonight (Sat PM). Enjoy!

Bike-a-thon

2009-12-06T13:36:00.000-08:00

12-6-09: The Azure Hills Church sponsored it's annual Christmas is for kids bike-a-thon to benefit kids of the families served by our food bank. Funds raised would go towards gifts for these kids.

Jerry and Beth Bernatos, directors of the food bank, helped to coordinate the event, while Jan Michaelis and Tom Haglund organized and led out in the bike ride itself. There were 3 groups: 50-mile, 25-mile, and a 10-mile Family group (led by yours truly ;-).

It was cold and overcast, but it wasn't raining and the sun did peek out a bit. We rode on the bike path that runs from the mountains all the way to Huntington Beach, so we didn't have to deal with traffic--nice!!!

Check out the pictures and see how fun the ride was!

For more captions in Facebook, click HERE!

Davy's first off-road hike!

2009-11-21T22:31:00.001-08:00

11-21-09: This afternoon, the Azure Hills Church's Pathfinder's club did a 5-mile hike in the hills of Loma Linda. This was also Davy's first time to go walking on the dirt roads. He seemed to enjoy it more since there were no big scary cars out there, and ended up walking most of the 5 miles.

It was a gorgeous day for a hike, in the low 60's, clear skies, and great company. There were other dogs out there as well besides Davy and Roxy, so they weren't alone.

Here are some pixs from our hike. Enjoy!

Flash to the past!

2009-11-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

11-10-09: After 34 years, I returned to the days of my youth, the youth that was pre-MI. Where Kim and I spend most of our early years, and Chris was just a baby.

8222 Colfax St., in a suburb of Philadelphia. Being here for a conference in downtown Philly, I took some time to go visit our former home. After finding the directions from my hotel on Google maps, it showed me how I could get there by public transit (wanted to get more "virtual space miles" for our trip to the moon!).

So after a 20 min. train ride, I got off the at the Holmesburg Station and looked for a taxi. Nada! Fortunately, I had written the directions down for this part of the trip so I could see if the taxi driver was going the right way. Now I used it to start walking, though I wasn't exactly sure how far it was! Well it turned out to be almost 3 miles there, and after asking for directions a couple of times (to make sure I was heading in the right direction for the next street), I arrived! None of it looked familiar till I actually got to Colfax St.

Below are some pictures of this little journey back in time. And check out the little surprise I ran into!

On my walk there, I saw Kim opened up a food market very close to our former home! Why hasn't she told us this yet? A little secret side income stream that Cor doesn't know about???
After 3 miles of walking, wondering when I'd get there, I finally saw the Colfax sign! This is the very corner that Kim and I would wait for our school bus to GPJA where we went to school for our first 5 grades.
Looking down the hill from the corner is where our former house is.
Walking down the sidewalk, getting close to the spot where I got beat up by Patrick. ;-)
There it is! It actually looks nicer than I remember it. Must've been fixed up.

Looking up the street from the house.
A picture of me just to show that I was really here! LOL!
On my way back, I saw this man working in his garage. I stopped to ask him if he knew who lived there, and we got to talking. His name is Frank Crocco, a former cement contractor, and he's lived here since 1958--52 years! He moved in when they were first built! I told him that we used to live here 34 years ago and he then remembered my parents and me! Pretty wild. We talked for awhile, told him what happened to us after we moved, and he told me who was still in the neighborhood and who had left. He remembered Patrick and his brothers across the street. Pretty neat!
After saying good bye to Mr. Crucco, I started back up the street and saw this man, Mr. Frank Esposito, coming out of his house with his dog. I stopped to pet the dog, and we got to talking. I told him what I was just visiting and that I used to live at 8222 and before I told him who I was, he said, "You're Ernie!" My mouth dropped open, I couldn't believe that he remembered my name! He couldn't figure out how he remembered my name, he just did. After we chatted for a bit, we parted ways and I started on my long walk back to the train station (though it seemed quicker this time since I knew where I was going now). What a blast to the past!

More Davy Firsts!

2009-09-07T05:08:00.000-07:00

9-6-09: Have been updating our FB account more often, but here's a little something! Davy had more firsts...espcially his first walk outside in public! Check it out at this FB photo page.

Dog play

2009-07-05T12:35:00.000-07:00

7-5-09: You'd think that after a hard run with a mountain biker in the hills, they'd be tired! But no, here they are! They definitely are 1 year olds, full of energy!

Nabi, the retriever, belongs to the Choi family, and we're dog sitting for them.

Piano recital

2009-07-05T10:16:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, for some reason, it didn't upload, so let me try again...

Piano recital, then mtn. bike ride

2009-07-04T23:12:00.000-07:00

7-4-09: A day after turning 12, Summer tries something she has never done before: riding in the dirt!

After playing in a piano recital, the sun was setting and Keri wanted to give the dogs their evening run, so I decided to run with them and Summer to ride her mtn. bike for the first time in the hills where we ride and hike.

It was actually already sunset when we started, so we knew we were pressed for time. By the time we got to the top, it was getting dark (as you'll see in the video), and Summer was scared of the downhill, the speed, and the sand, so she ran down while Keri rode a little of the first part, but then it was too dark for her, too, so I got to ride down--yeah!! That was much better than running down with a dog pulling you to go faster. Roxy and I waited for them at points down the hill, back to the park.

Nice first outing--she did really strong on the flats and uphills, with little help from me and only getting off to hike-a-bike twice!

You can send her a comment to: summeralyssa@gmail.com ;-)

BTW, here's her piano piece she played just prior to this mtn. bike ride (great idea...the little kids played first while we sang, then we went thru line for the potluck food--filipino food!, and then we got to eat while the older kids played their pieces. So it went by really fast!)

First video of downhill run with Roxy!

2009-06-13T21:35:00.001-07:00

6-13-09: First video of Roxy running downhill with her friend, Nabi, and owner Pastor John.

MaMiMe 2009 is completed!

2009-05-25T22:01:00.001-07:00

5-25-09: We just finished up another MaMiMe event and it went over very well! Check out the pixs as we honored our moms and kids a bit late. ;-)

BTW, some in our party did NOT want any video of our performance posted....so I'm honoring their wishes. If you REALLY wanted to see the performances, e-mail me directly and we can figure something out. ;-)

Thanks to the Makowskis for opening up their house for the annual 1-day event for the moms.

Enjoy!

Calvary09: Behind the scenes

2009-05-10T07:09:00.000-07:00

5-9-09: Last night, we had our Calvary cast party and showed the following video clip, as well as the DVD for performance #3 (Sabbath, 2nd service). If you weren't able to make it, enjoy!

For this "Behind the scenes" video, I would like to thank Pastor Carmon for videoing Jesus and his disciples outside, and for Natalie and Jenny for doing all the "interviews" at the end of the video. Great job, girls!

Foxy Roxy's 1st visitors

2009-03-26T08:33:00.000-07:00

3-25-09 Foxy Roxy had her first visitors, the Choi family! Soon, we'll have to introduce her to their other family member, Nobi. ;-)

Nathaniel says, "Hey Roxy, wanna meet my doggie, Nobi?"

Roxy seemed pretty calm around all the kids.

She's home!

2009-03-24T21:42:00.000-07:00

3-24-09 We welcomed our newest addition today after I picked her up at the vet, where she was spayed this AM. Check out the pixs as she checks out her new home and neighborhood. BTW, the vet techs thought she was part shephard part lab, not chow. Her tongue is definitely pink! LOL!

We're still deciding on a name, but "Foxy Roxy" is the leader right now...we're seeing how it fits her. She does look like a fox in the sun!

Nice to have a dog back in the house...just didn't seem the right.

New dog!

2009-03-24T07:19:00.000-07:00

3-24-09: Last Sun., we visited and shelter and found this 1 year old half chow half lab female dog there and fell in love with her. She passed all of the Dog Whisperer's tests for a shelter dog, so we adopted her!

Picking her up today at 4 PM from the vet where she's getting some of her shots, fixed, and chipped, so stay tune for more pixs and vid clips! No name yet...holding off till we have her a few days to see what fits.

3-21-09 Evening piano recital

2009-03-21T23:16:00.000-07:00

Summer and her cousins, Jake and Josh, had a piano recital after the hike, so they quickly cleaned up and changed. After playing, they also received their awards, including their trophies for playing in the Inland Empire Piano Festival and getting honors in CM.

Summer also was one of 8 of Helen's students who earned Convention honors as well. Helen said that 5% of the 250,000 piano students in CA who do CM earn Convention honors, so that was a nice honor. (We can't go to play in Convention since it's up in Northern CA.)

They all did a great job tonight!

3-21-09 Another busy Saturday afternoon!

2009-03-21T23:14:00.000-07:00

The weather was gorgeous today, again, so we decided to take advantage of it and go for a hike in the hills of Loma Linda after church today. While there, we had an unexpected surprise of running into the kid's gymnastic teacher from Camp Mivoden last summer, Emily! They happened to see her in the park from afar but were too shy to go up and make sure, so I went up to check and sure enough, it was her! They had a good time chatting and doing a pyramid. (She's down here from WWU for her brother's wedding.)

Busy weekend!

2009-03-15T22:44:00.001-07:00

3-15-09 Here I thought it was going to be a calm weekend, but no such luck! LOL! OK, it was a blast, and here are the pixs as proof.

Saturday Sabbath, we taught Sabbath School Juniors, had a potluck/meeting for our Outreach Committee, Easter practice in afternoon, and b-day celebration in evening, including a suspended King of Ping tournament.

Sunday started early, around 7:30 AM, with a hike up Blue Mountain with about 500 other people. Then rushed back down, met some people at XRTZ at noon, then zoomed over to Summer's Honor's piano recital in the afternoon.

Whew! What better way to spend the weekend with family and friends, worshipping and having fun together.

Ready to start the week now. ;-) Hope ya'll had a great weekend, too!

Saturday in pictures:

Sunday in pictures:

RST takes 1st place in Red/White Championship!

2009-03-09T06:28:00.000-07:00

3-8-09: Our swim team, Redlands Swim Team (RST), hosted the Red/White Championship for the Easter Section which we belong to. Almost 900 swimmers converged on our 2 pools over this weekend.

Out of all the teams there, RST took 1st place with almost 2,000 points! Congrats to all the swimmers, parents, volunteers, and coaches for making this meet a success!

Summer, Melissa, & Michelle hanging out between their events.

The girls holding RST's 1st place trophy!

The traditional post-meet glycogen replenishing trip to Souplantation...

Pathfinders make meal @ Ronnie's house

2009-03-09T06:22:00.000-07:00

3-7-09: The Pathfinders, led by Directors Mike and Ellen, organized the Pathfinders into 2 groups: 1 made spaghetti at the Ronald McDonald House, while the other group made salad and cupcakes at the church. The church group then brought their food over to the Ronald McD's house for the families to enjoy. (The Ronald McD's house is special housing for families who have kids in the Children's Hosp. across from the street.)

They all had a great time cooking and playing afterwards in the backyard! Great community service outreach activity! All the kids did great helping to cook the meal.

Sorry, I didn't have any pictures from the church--I was with the "house group".

Sabbath afternoon hike

2009-02-28T22:59:00.000-08:00

2-28-09: It's a gorgeous winter day in Loma Linda, CA, and the kids and dogs want to go out and run around in nature, so off we went to the local park to hike in the hills. A great way to spend the Sabbath afternoon with family and friends.

We ended back at the park and sang some songs with our featured guitar players, "3 Shades of Heaven", and then after sunset, headed to Souplantation for dinner! Nice end to the Sabbath.

Sat. night craziness!

2009-02-21T21:55:00.000-08:00

2-21-09: After Easter play practice, the kids wanted to get together, so we had a "short" get together (some of the kids are going tubing tomorrow with Adventurers, while others have a swim meet!).

Here are some of the crazy stuff that we did at the Makowskis after sundown worship. These kids have endless energy!

Pathfinders hit the slopes!

2009-02-15T21:03:00.001-08:00

2-15-09: The Azure Hills Pathfinders hit the slopes of Snow Summit for a day of skiing and snowboarding. Although a bit crowded because it was a holiday weekend, and because we were in between storms, the snow, weather, and most of all, the friends were great! Check out the videoclip. Sorry I didn't get everyone in there (like the Choi family), and we're glad that Moriah, who had a couple of crashes on her first run and spent time with first aid and the ER, is fine.

Newest all-girl trio!

2009-02-14T21:54:00.000-08:00

2-14-09: Watch out Dixie Chicks, you have another all-girl trio coming out of Azure Hills! Check out this video clip of Hannah (recorder), Gaby (trumpet), and Chloe (violin) jam as they practice for their debut in church in a couple of weeks.

AU Alum get-together

2009-02-14T21:40:00.000-08:00

2-8-09 Braving cold drizzle, about 100 SoCal AU Alum gathered together at the Spaghetti Factory in Riverside to catch up on the news from AU. It was great to see our friends from AU--Alumni Director Tami, Recruiter Chris (not pictured), VP Faehner, and President Andreason.

Great meal and great fellowship!

IE Piano Competition

2009-02-14T21:19:00.000-08:00

2-8-09: Summer, her cousins Josh and Jake, and some swim teammates, all played in the Inland Empire Piano Festival. They played before 2 judges and awards were given. While she didn't win any awards, she did very well and we were all proud of her. It's very high pressure, and a great experience, sort of like swimming in a competition when everyone is watching and you're being judged!

Congrats to Jake and Josh for getting "honorable mention" in the duet division. You can see a clip of their piece here. I haven't converted Summer's solo and duet yet, but will upload it here when I do.

Dee celebrates his 50-something b-day!

2009-02-14T21:02:00.000-08:00

2-7-09: Dee "The Sultan of Slam" Elias celebrated his 50-something b-day by inviting a few close families out for his fave treat, Cherry on Top yogurt. It was very yummy and a new way to get yogurt--we can see why it's his fave!

While the adults had a nice time chatting in the warm yogurt parlor, I had the good fortune of bringing all the kids outside in the cold drizzly rain to play games (or they would've torn the inside apart! LOL!)

We had fun playing all kinds of games, and fortunately, no one ran off and got lost. Too bad I didn't take a picture of the security guy asking us not to play on the lamp post--I did ask if he had handcuffs and would he handcuff one of the kids, but he just smiled and walked away.

New fence for future dogs

2009-02-14T20:59:00.001-08:00

1-28-09: In order to get new dogs, we had to replace our broken fence (Ozzy was too old to try and get out of the backyard). Thanks to our 3 neighbors sharing the cost and AAA home insurance, we were able to get a vinyl fence! No more staining and sealing--yeah!!!

Pathfinder Gamenight!

2009-02-14T20:54:00.000-08:00

1-24-09 What fun we had at Pathfinder Game Night! After a short vespers, we made cookies and played games! Directors Mike and Ellen are doing a great job with our Pathfinders.

1st trip to snow in '09

2009-02-14T20:32:00.000-08:00

1-20-09: Rasheed, Mike, Steve, and I took the AM off to head up to Snow Summit for some ski/snowboard time. It was gorgeous, as you can see! Check out Steve's jump on the video clip...he's young!

Sydney & Sophia visit their SoCal cousins!

2009-02-14T19:52:00.000-08:00

1-18-09: Our visit visit with Sophia Taylor, the newest cousin. And Sydney is growing so much!

Pizza night at Choi's

2009-01-18T08:48:00.000-08:00

1-17-09 Sat. night pizza at the Choi's! Whole wheat thin crust Boboli crust...mmmm!!! Knowlton clan came over after their b-ball games. A chillaxn evening playing Up-and-Down the River (where the Rockets won...can't believe the Ninjas lost!). Will Nanci allow a ping pong table in the living room? Yeah, right! Can't forget when Nanci almost came into the bathroom to help me "clean up"!!! Wish I had an "oculcam" to capture the expression on her face when I opened the bathroom door. Priceless!

1st 2009 Party!

2009-01-18T08:37:00.000-08:00

1-5-09 Because so many friends were gone over the holidays, we didn't have our get-together till tonight! Thx to the Elias family for hosting our first get-together of the new year. Besides the purple kangaroo gift exchange, the finals of the King of Ping tournament was held...see who won that trophy! ;-) Special visitor from MI, Uncle Ben, the ping pong master, and his son, Ben Jr.

Ozzy, 1992-2009

2009-01-18T08:28:00.000-08:00

1-2-09: The new year went downhill quickly with the passing of our 17-year old first dependent, Ozzy, who we had for 14 years. It was quite emotional for the family, especially Summer, who has known Ozzy all her life. We've had so many great memories with him, and look forward to seeing him in heaven with us, as he was family. We're working on a slideshow of his life, so stay tuned!

Here are his final days with us...may Ozzy boy rest in peace.

Welcome 2009!

2009-01-18T08:26:00.000-08:00

1-1-09 We start off the 2009 with our annual New Year's Day sunrise hike! Folks from Azure Hills church and Beaver Medical Group gathered together at Hulda Crooks Park to do a short hike and hear some words of inspiration from Pastor John Choi. Check out the pixs!

Summer's ballet solo

2008-12-18T07:18:00.000-08:00

12-17-08: Summer's ballet solo, with fan commentary by Pastor Alex and Chris Harter, and Natalie and Conchita Portilla. This was her solo in among the rest of her class's number, which she danced with as well.

Christmas Ballet Prog

2008-12-18T06:47:00.000-08:00

12-17-08 Last night, Summer had her ballet school's Christmas program. She had a blast because she is now on pointe and had a solo! Check out the video clip for that. She had a nice crowd of family and friends on the front row--Grandparents Kuniyoshi, Conchita and Natalie Portilla, and Pastor Alex, Chris, and the kids.

Even standing on pointe, Summer is still shorter than Natalie!Gisella gives her "serious model" look...
Grandpa and grandma drove all the way from Upland in the dark and rain to see Summer.
Swim teammate Mei also danced in a jazz and ballet number.
Another swim teammate, Victoria, danced ballet as well. She's a very good dancer!
Conchita insisted on getting a parent & child shot, so here we are!
With her Ballet IV class. No, she's not a ballet protege, she's just short! The girls are all about the same age as Summer!
This is what happens when you stand on pointe too long...arch cramp!!!

Foosball championship born

2008-12-18T06:44:00.000-08:00

12-13-08 Later that evening, we went over to the Choi residence (I can't remember his first name...what was it???) and tested out their foosball table. Unfortunately, Team India lost, but we will be back!!!

The moms can now be like Nanci and make sushi!

Christmas tickle of the ivories

2008-12-18T06:40:00.000-08:00

12-13-08 Had our annual Christmas piano recital with Auntie Helen (Juman). Summer had 2 duets. The Knowlton boys had a duet as well. Stay tuned for the video clips!

Oct to Nov whirlwind!

2008-11-08T21:24:00.000-08:00

11-8-08 Wow, since the Agassi gala in Las Vegas early Oct., it's been a crazy whirlwind this last month so far. And the big holiday start is around the corner so I thought I'd just stick in a slide show catching you up on what's happened this past month. Sort of a potpourri of pixs. Enjoy!

(Click on the "pause" if you need more time to read the captions)

Hanging with celebs!

2008-10-15T08:36:00.001-07:00

10-15-08: Sheila Hodgkin, Development Officer, made it in the news this AM with her selection in an Oprah-sponsored women's leadership contest. You can read all about it in the San Bernardino Sun online article.

It mentioned her work with Andre Agassi, and here are some pictures from our recent trip to his gala for his schools.

Here's Sheila, hard at work with Andre, telling him how his school can benefit from having exergaming in it. Notice the XRTZ business card in his hand...great job, Sheila!

Also got to meet some other celebs there, like Dr. Knowlton here with David Foster....
Sheila and Judy Peterson (wife of COO Joel Peterson) with Nick Cannon and Mariah!
Sheryl Crow was very nice...
I was able to get in one picture with Steffi, one of my fave female tennis players. Kim had a poster of Agassi from his long-haired playing days and was able to get both Andre and Steffi to autograph it for her. Go Kim!
Coach K was very friendly, shaking our hands and asking our names. I asked him how it was dealing with all of those NBA-sized egos and he said it wasn't hard at all because, "...they really wanted it (the gold)."
This was for Kim's 3 sons, who love watching Emeril on TV.

Pathfinders hike 10 miles

2008-10-04T22:21:00.000-07:00

10-4-08: The Pathfinders completed their 10-mile hike as part of their work on their Hiking Award today at Silverwood Lake. It was a very cool day (in the 50's) with a brisk wind and fog/low clouds coming in and out. Perfect hiking weather on the Pacific Cost Trail!

After playing for the Adventurer's church song service at camp, Thomas, Pastor John (on mtn. bike) and I chased after the Pathfinder group which had left over an hour ago. After getting lost and going back and forth, we finally got on the right trail. Here, Pastor John is navigating a tough single track on his mtn. bike with flip flops!
Thomas gives Pastor John a boost on the trail.
We finally made it to the Pacific Coast Trail, a trail that stretches from Mexico to Canada! Is that Pastor John on a mtn. bike there at the left? (Mtn. bikes are not allowed on the PCT.) You can see the trail following the side of this ridge about Silverwood Lake on the right. Somewhere miles ahead were the Pathfinders, so off we went.
Finally catching up to them after 3 hours, we take a break. Here Jake is giving some of his water to Bella.
Summer passes out some goodies to her friends?
A beautiful view of Silverwood Lake on the left.

Part of the Pathfinder group pauses for a picture.Treking along the single track of the Pacific Coast Trail.

Finally making it back to camp, some came crawling in while Pathfinder Director Mike passes out water to the weary.Next up in Nov: our final 15-mile hike at Joshua Tree National Park (in the desert).

Bonding at Hanger 18

2008-10-04T22:15:00.000-07:00

9-27-08: Part bonding, part having a fun outing, Coach Matt brings the Age Group swimmers to Hanger 18, a rock climbing gym. It's quite the workout, and the kids (and some parents) and coaches had a blast scaling the walls.
Here's Summer trying several different routes....rated in the 5.6 range.
This was her hardest route she had to navigate...a bit too far apart for her but she gave it her best shot.

The RST Age Group team with Coachs Audy (left) and Matt (right) hanging behind.

RST Awards

2008-10-04T22:10:00.000-07:00

9-28-08: This Sunday, Summer's swim team, the Redlands Swim Team, had their annual awards banquet at the Redlands Bowl. Over 300 people showed up for this event. It's a time when various awards are given to the swimmers for various outstanding achievements and records set during the past swim season.

In Summer's division, the B+ division (which she just promoted out of), she receives the "Iron Woman" award by Coach Audy and Coach Vicky. This represents her hard work and never giving up in practice.
Summer and some of her other friends also received cool RST swag for setting Southern California Reportable Times. Summer set this record in her 100 butterfly event.

Choi's new food processor

2008-10-04T21:59:00.000-07:00

9-27-08: Pastor John wanted to try out their new food processor, so we saved Nanci the work of chopping up the onions. Here we are doing our best Vanna White impersonation.
We were amazed at how fast and finely this thing chopped up the onions!

Nanci inspects our handiwork and says, "Wow, look at all those pieces I have to wash now...I could've done that with just a knife and cutting board to clean up!"
We also made good work on some purple cabbage.
We sent Nanci looking for more things for us to chop up...but alas, she couldn't find anything else.
While waiting for the others to get there, we have a mini Rock Paper Scissor tournament. Here Summer can be seen beating Pastor John.

Dryland workout in Age Group

2008-10-04T21:47:00.000-07:00

10-1-08: With the new season, Summer and a bunch of her teammates were promoted up to the "Age Group" division (from B+). That now includes dry land exercises before swimming on T and Th. Here are a couple of shots of her doing their exercises.

"Come on, Summer, throw that medicine ball harder!"
Fellow ballerina Victoria and Summer show excellent posture in this squat.
High-stepping it in 90-deg heat! Man, they can't wait to get into the cool water.
Making killer abs and core on land makes them faster in the water.
Summer & Jenny get down to do push-ups because they dropped their medicine ball.
Bands are a key part of their dry land workout.
Some can't help to use the bands for other purposes. "Pow!" "Ouch!"
Hooded Jenny wants to get in the water now!

RST home meet

2008-10-04T21:02:00.000-07:00

9-19-08: Summer's swim team, the Redlands Swim Team, hosts our first meet of the short-course season. Here are a few shots from her first short-course meet as an 11 year old.

In her first event, the 200 yd breast stroke, she has to go up against teammate Helena, who as you can see, is a bit bigger than Summer! While Helena eventually pulled away from her, shena did a great job in pulling Summer to reach a PR in this event, coming in 2nd.
Doing her best to keep up with Helena...
Keri writing her heat and lane assignments on her hand.
Summer wears her team tattoo proudly.
Summer on her first 11-12 y/o relay team. This was for a freestyle relay.

Pathfinders' 5-mile hike

2008-09-20T21:17:00.001-07:00

9-20-08: As part of their Hiking Honor they are working on, the Pathfinders took a 5-mile hike today up in the hills above Hulda Crooks park, in Loma Linda. Temps were nice today, thankfully! Kudos to the Adventurers and younger siblings who made the hike! Led by Director/Master Guide Mike Sabangan, we ended with a nice vespers in the park. What a nice way to end the Sabbath!

(Pause the slide show to read the captions. You can also click on the picture and it'll take you to my Picassa photo album where you can see a much larger picture.)

Summer becomes Surfer Chic!

2008-09-14T23:16:00.001-07:00

9-14-08: Summer has officially become a California girl! She is now a surfer chick! We were invited to the beach house of the Schlenk's--the kids are on the same swim team with Summer. It's practically the end of summer and it was our first time to go to the beach! It was our first time to try out our boogie boards we bought during the fall last year, and Summer got to try out surfing!

Thanks to the Schlenk family for being great hosts and teachers! We had a great time there.

Summer catching a wave on her boogie board...
She's wearing goggles because the salt water stings her eyes! And the wetsuit because the Pacific is COLD!!!
Marina and Summer pose with her surf board.
Dan and Ronly sit with Keri, watching the girls play in the water.
Surfer chicks getting ready to catch a wave!
Marina teaches Summer her first surfing lesson. Here she helps get the tether on her ankle.
Heading out into the wild, cold, Pacific Ocean...check the video clip below to see how she did.

The first video clip is Marina teaching Summer how to surf. You'll see her several tries, then her best run; the 2nd clip is of Marina catching a nice ride into shore.

Pathfinder Induction

2008-09-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

9-13-08: Today was Pathfinder and Adventurer Induction (dedication) service at church. Pathfinder Director Mike Sabangan led out. Primary 1 also did special music, led by Mephi & pianist Gladden. Later that evening, went to Souplantation with some friends!

Summer (middle), with friends...
You can see cousins Josh (sleeping) and Jake.
Cousin Javan...
Cousin Joelle sings with Primary 1...
Mephi conducts the Primary 1 choir
Carly does a jig in her t-shirt dress!

The Girl Gang posing at Souplantation

While moms away, dads play!

2008-09-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

9-3-08: While many of the moms went to a Women of Faith event all day yesterday, the left-behind dads and kids met for lunch and Sabbath activities at the Elias residence after 2nd service. There were a few moms who stayed behind that helped out--yeah!

The dads helping the kids get their food.
Pastor John plays a new version of rock-paper-scissor with Summer while Emily looks on.
The fearless hardworking moms who stayed behind (L-R): Sylvana, Conchita, Keri, and Nanci
Some of the crazy kids!

Working hard in the kitchen....
Look at the sweat on their brows...
Pooped out after a long afternoon in the kitchen!Some dads were pooped out without slaving away....Once the rest of the moms returned, we had a massive sundown worship
Holly helps to lead out in guess-what-song?
Todd (in the background) thinks: "Hmmm, I'm a physician, so I should probably help this poor lady who is trying to strangle herself. Eh, on second thought, I'll see where this goes first. I don't know what insurance coverage she has."
Todd does some wild crazy dance moves while helping Holly lead out in song service.
Pastors Alex and John help leading out.
After most had gone home, we started up a ping pong tournament, which went on till after midnight! The competitors were: Dee (aka Moadeeb, aka the "Table Tennis Terror"), Mike, Corey, John, and Ernie. Round robin format to determine seeding in a single elim. tourney. Here Dee and Mike battle like ping pong gladiators.
Dee is the victor! He defeated the #1 seed (Ernie) to win the coveted "Ping Pong Gladiator" trophy, which I'm sure he'll proudly display in a prominent place in his home.

4 b-days @ PF Changs

2008-09-01T22:38:00.000-07:00

9-1-08: Lots of b-days happening, and we celebrated 4 of them at PF Changs tonight: Josh (11 on Aug. 27); Keri (Aug. 27); Todd (Aug. 31); and Kim (Sept. 2). I missed getting a picture of all 4 of them together--what kind of photojournalist am I...I'm slacking!

Look at the winner of our Beach Body contest just a week after we ended and a day after doing a half-marathon--chowing on all that dessert!
One of the b-day celebrants (Kimbo), sneaks into my picture of me flashing my "I love U" hand signals. (No, there are not gang signs!)
All the kids had their own long row of tables while us adults sat at another row next to them. We were pretty loud!
Pastor John and Nanci taught us a Korean twist to Rock-Paper-Scissors (or as Rasheed and I like to call it, "Ra! Pa! Sci!"). It's a cool new way to play!
Our waiter Evan definitely earned his tips tonight with our group! He did a great job.
Must've been some additive in the food that caused the kids to go bonkers afterwards. (Missing are the Makowski girls and the Martell boys.)
I know hurricane Gustov is a long ways off, but look at how the winds are just blowing Dee away!

Markus' 40th b-day

2008-08-31T22:30:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-30T14:41:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-28T23:15:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-27T08:04:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-27T07:49:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-26T07:35:00.001-07:00

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!

Madison in Jungle Book!

2008-07-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

7-29-08: Madison Garner, friends of Summer and Natalie, is in the middle of a 14-day run of Jungle Book at the Perris Hill Bowl in San Bernardino. We enjoyed the program last night, and she did a great job!

Who would guess this quiet girl in our Sabbath School enjoys performing in front of hundreds of people every night? She auditioned end of May, got a part in her first attempt, and has been in rehearsals ever since then.

Congrats to Madison for a great job and all the best as she finishes out this week.

Can you find Madison, the monkey? She's the one in the middle, 4th actor from the left.
There she is again, with that one monkey's hand almost on her face!
And there she is, the shortest monkey in the middle.
The whole cast, with the Jungle Boy coming out to bow at the end.
Summer and Natalie with our "star" of the show!
She was kind enough to autograph our programs for us. Who knows, it may be very valuable someday?!
We all know behind every aspiring and rising young child actor are dedicated parents who bring them auditions, classes, and rehearsals galore Congrats to Cindy and Eric (who was working the cold drinks concession stand during the intermission) and any other relatives like Grandpa Dick and Grandma Gracie for their support, sacrifice, and dedication of Madison's budding career. We can't wait to see what the future will bring for her!

Rasheed and Nate's b-day

2008-07-27T00:11:00.001-07:00

7-27-08: Tonight, after some tricky planning with Nanci, we surprised Rasheed (aka Thomas) for his 41st b-day. Also celebrating a b-day was Nate the Great (aka Nathaniel Choi). Rasheed said "he knew", but he really only had a hunch and didn't know exactly when or where, if even something was going to happen since it was a "minor" b-day year this year. So we gotcha ya, Rasheed! Just admit it...LOL!!!

This couldn't have happened without a lot of people helping out. Nanci was the main starter of this whole thing, pulling me in after concocting the basic logistics of all of this. She was also the main cook for the incredible spread of food we enjoyed--it was like being at a catered meal!

Mike and I planned the "games" that we did afterwards. Ya gotta see the pictures!

Thanks to everyone else for helping out with prep, cleaning, etc.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures and video clips of the action!

Nanci slaves over a hot stove--the food was incredible!!! Great job, Nanci! You really could open up your own restaurant or catering business. Cheer up, Nanci, we really did enjoy your cooking!

The 2 birthday boys, Rasheed and Nate the Great
Donut eating game...though Rasheed has a larger "donut" than the others!
Caught in the action (see the small crumbs flying), Dee helps one smiley face get real close to the other smiley face (pie).
Doesn't he look like the lion on the Wizard of Oz?!?!
The winner of the pie eating contest, Chloe, gives her mom a sugary, sticky kiss for passing on the genes for eating pies very fast. (Holly won the pie eating contest at family camp last summer, though there is still some dispute on the real winner, based on the pictures....LOL!)
Summer says, "I've waited almost a year to use this haiku on your card, Uncle Thomas. It's about sailing." (Thomas is a certified captain for sailing.)
All the kids with the b-day celebrants!

Our practice surprise on Vivian....

The real thing--surprising Rasheed...

Wizard of Oz @ Redlands Bowl

2008-07-25T23:33:00.001-07:00

7-24-08 Because of Summer's swim practice, we haven't been to the Redlands Bowl in the last couple of years. The Bowl is the longest running free Bowl series in the USA, so we're fortunate to have it right here next to Loma Linda.

This year's feature play was the classic, the Wizard of Oz. What started out as a few friends going grew to a quite a few families. Being the most free, and due to my ninja skills, I was tasked with going to reserve seats for our group of over 20 people!

Got there at around 5:45 PM and spread my 2 blankets to reserve to sections of benches. By 7 PM, it was really starting to fill up, and people were even ignoring my blankets and sitting down! They were quite unhappy when I told them it was reserved. Anyway, I started to call everyone to see where they were at and fortunately, reinforcements were on there way...just in time! I didn't have to resort to violence to protect our seats. Even then, with most of us there, some people still tried to squeeze by and sit down in our places! Go figure!

Overall, we had a great time watching this classic and the characters all did a great job! For a free event, they were superb. Enjoy the pictures! (BTW, I took some pictures in complete darkness, and it was suprising to see what I caught! To spare the "innocent", I have refrained from posting them here for all the world to see.)

Who is that paparazzi taking my picture??? How dare they!!! Oh wait, she's using a Canon...ok, she's cool.

Look at the crowds! It was a packed house at the bowl.
Here's the "kid's row" with the "parent's row" behind them. I had to really fight off some people to protect these 2 rows! It almost got ugly but fortunately, I refrained from using my ninja skills and only use verbal tactics, which is part of our ninjitsu training.
Nice stage and acting. That little boy was sure a good dancer!
The stars of the show! They all did a great job, like the originals!
Tonya and Keri enjoy a break in the play.
Congrats to the cast. They did a super job!

MaMiMe de Soleil's amazing performance!

2008-07-22T07:10:00.000-07:00

7-22-08: Airing for the first time, produced by Spicy Curry Productions, we present the troupe above all troupes, the acrobatic team above all acrobatic teams, the gymnastic team above all gymnastic teams, presenting, the one, the only, the MaMiMe de Soleil!

Be prepared to be amazed, in awe, and gasp in wonderment at their feats of strength and flexibility. The creativity of the choreography will stun you with it's complexity, it's intricacy, interwoven in a simple tapestry.

Watch, be mesmerized, and enjoy...

What will MaMiMe Restaurant think of next to top this? Stay tuned for the 2009 MaMiMe's performance...already in the works!

Belated Mother's Day Brunch

2008-07-20T21:04:00.000-07:00

7-20-08: After months of preparation, we finally did our annual Mother's Day Brunch at the world-famous, MaMiMe Restaurant. This year included 2 new kitchen help--Todd and Pastor John, and the return of 2nd year Dee. Of course, the founders of the restaurant, Thomas, Mike, and moi were on hand.

This year, to break in our newest help, we had Pastor John and Dee waiting on the moms and kids, while Todd had his hands full with the fruit appetizers. Mike was on the potato duty and he and Thomas were on omelettes, while I took care of pancakes and everyone helped with everything else.

We had 2 feature programs this year: a magic show by the girls and the Mamime de Sole Troup, who gave their premiere & finale performance of a lifetime (some of us saw our lives flash before our eyes on some of the routines!)

Thanks to the Makowski's for hosting this annual event once again. We hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we enjoyed doing this (even with as tough and demanding customers as these women and girls! LOL!)

Updating our prayer group list

2008-07-20T00:30:00.001-07:00

7-19-08: This Sat. AM, instead of our usual prayer group praying, we had did a working prayer group breakfast where we went over our requests to update them, sometimes calling the person to see what the latest was on their request. It was good to see what has been answered so far! Some of our members weren't there, so they missed out on the good food!

Dance intensive showcase

2008-07-20T00:24:00.000-07:00

7-18-08: Summer's been in this special summer workshop for dance, and this was a showcase to show what they've learned so far.

Here Teacher Andrea has them demonstrate various ballet moves on the bar. (Summer is on the front left. What you're seeing is the reflection in the mirror.)
Summer is on the front (darkened) leading out in the tap number.
One of their contemporary dance numbers.

Soup with Cunnans

2008-07-19T23:45:00.000-07:00

7-13-08: After the last ditch meet, we ended up going to our usual place - Souplantation - with Coach Vicky and some teammates. This was probably the *last time* we would be swimming and eating out with the Cunnan family since they are moving up north after JO's, so we were glad to have one last final meal at Souplantation with them.

Mia swims in Summer's group, while Nathaniel and Calvin are a bit younger. Mom Nina is filipina while their dad is a very tall Irish guy...making Mia the same ethnic mix as Olympian Natalie Coughlin!

Summer has enjoyed getting to know Mia these few short years, especially since Mia joined the dance school this past year so they've done that together as well.

We wish them the best in their new home up north, and hopefully we'll keep in touch with them and see them when they visit down here.

The swimmers surrounding Coach Vicky.

Calvin shows me his version of hiding the sprinkles under the cup. I'll miss racing him on T and Th nights at REV when we are able to get an empty lane. He's a fast little kid!Nathaniel strikes an interesting pose while playing a fave post-souplantation game on the tables, Sharks.
One last pose with the gang!

Last Ditch Meet

2008-07-19T23:40:00.001-07:00

7-13-08 Summer entered her "last ditch" meet to try and qualify for JO's, and even though she didn't quite make it, she has plenty of time in her new 11 & 12 y/o category to improve her times.

Summer's starts off the block have steadily been improving. She's now launching herself out there more instead of just diving straight down into the water.
Almost made her 100m fly JO time as an 11/12 y/o by less than a second. She'll get it soon!
Concentrating on her breaststroke...

Conchita on Telemundo

2008-07-19T23:36:00.000-07:00

7-15-08: Conchita and I got to be on Telemundo, the 2nd largest Spanish station in the US. Then later, on Sunday, we got to watch it--in Spanish, of course!
Here we are on Sunday, watching it at the Zone.

Another b-day!

2008-07-19T23:31:00.000-07:00

7-12-08: Had a jam session at the Makowski's and while there, celebrated Christopher Choi's b-day! Thanks to Holly and Summer for the photos.

Summy's b-day

2008-07-19T23:26:00.000-07:00

7-5-08: We celebrated Summer's b-day quietly this year, with one of her best friends, Natalie. Since they are "only's" (Natalie does have some step-siblings), they are like sisters. Enjoy the slide show on how they celebrated together!

Bikers on a Sabbath cruise

2008-06-11T00:06:00.001-07:00

6-7-08: Sabbath afternoon found a group of us cruising the bike path, a great place to bike with kids since you don't have to deal with cars. Check out the slide show and video clips!

(If the video clips below don't show or has no sound, hit the refresh button at the top and try again. They all have sound.)

Javan enjoys the ride

Cruz'n Claire

Is Dee drunk, distracted, or devious???

Summer reeling me in

Spying on them thru the tunnel

Carly is zonked!

Oh no, not again! White Lightening and Rasheed racing...and crashing

Oh oh, White Lighting does a Danica, while Thomas is the sly one

If you can't hear what Thomas said: "I got him again!"

Post ride swim in the jacuzzi. Carly takes lessons from Summer

3 miles in just over an hour!

2008-06-06T23:20:00.000-07:00

6-6-08 Today was Summer's swim team's swim-a-thon. This is their major fundraiser for gear, equipment, awards, socials, subsidies, etc. You could swim whatever distance you wanted, though many of the kids took on the challenge of swimming 5000 yards (just over 3 miles). That is 200 laps (lengths) in our 25 yard pools.

Summer was a swimming machine! Her coaches say her strength is the middle to long distance because she has quite the endurance. Here are her stats:

5,000 yards completed in 1 hour, 9 minutes, 20 seconds (1:09.20). To receive special national recognition, 10 & under swimmers had to complete 5,000 yards in 70 minutes...which means she just made it!

Ave pace per 50 yards (2 lengths): 41.6 seconds (she kept that up for 200 lengths!)

A special thanks to all those who sponsored her for this swimathon. She raised over $600 for her club! You'll be receiving a receipt and special thank you from the swimmer herself.

This also means that I (Ernie) now have to swim 3 miles since she beat her last year's time of 1 hr 20 mins. Argh!!! She did say I could use short fins or a pull bouy and complete it over the course of a few days. Whew!

We're very proud of Summer for her accomplishment and all her hard work in the pool. She kicks both Keri's and my butt in swimming! Thanks again to all those who supported her in this fundraiser as well.

Rush hour in the lanes! Both pools were used, and each lane had anywhere from 5 to 7 kids in it! It got crowded in there--I'm surprised there weren't more collisions.
All the parents counting laps and timing.
Summer passing the two boys--she had to watch out for oncoming traffic!
Keri is diligently counting her laps as she does her flip turn. I was on the side, yelling her splits to her...which she said she never heard me! Ah well, I felt useful.
Summer lapped the kids and one adult swimming in her lane several times. Here she gets some open space to swim in for a bit...till she caught up with the group again! While most kids stopped to take drinks and rest, Summer never stopped once--she was gunning to make that national time!
Keri was also counting and timing Melissa in the next lane over--her mom was busy helping with the administration of the swim-a-thon.
Ah, they're so happy they're done their 5,000 yards! From left: Hannah Sabangan, Summer, and Melissa Pepper.
The coaches have to sign off on your lap count sheet to certify that you really did it.
They're either very hungry or are camera shy.
Oh no, they don't want to get caught talking to the "big" boys!
Gal pals like to hang out after a good swim workout. (L-R) Michelle Sabangan, Summer, Melissa Pepper, Emily Rigsby (she just turned 9!)

Newest ride @ Elias Wonderland

2008-05-26T22:33:00.000-07:00

5-26-08: Check out this self-propelled train at the Elias Wonderland--their newest ride!

Team Medina does PossAbilities Tri!

2008-04-28T07:36:00.001-07:00

4-27-08 Early on a bright and clear Sunday AM, Team Medina entered the 6th Annual PossAbilities Triathlon, here in Loma Linda, CA. Start time: 7 AM, so we had to be there early! This sprint tri consisted of a 3 mile run, 10 mile bike ride, and a 150 yard swim. It is a fund raiser for challenged athletes, and many of them were there competing as well. Quite an inspiration to see someone in a wheel chair passing you on the course. ;-)

This was also the time where the child (in this case, our 10 y/o Summer), gave the parents (Keri and I) a lesson in pain, suffering, and humility. In short, she schooled us! LOL! Ah well, we knew that time would come...we just didn't know it would come this soon. (Our last triathlon we all did together like this was when she was 5 years old and she was cranking on the run, used a trailer bike connected to my bike, and hung on to my during the swim.)

My, how the tables have turned...LOL!

Summer checking out the "competition" while she's getting her leg marked with her race #.

Ran into some friends from church doing the race as well. Go Susie Alonso!

Here we are at the start of the run portion of the race.

We waited for the start with Summer's friend from swim team, Heather, and her mom, Sheila.

The 3-mile run was out to a point where you turned around and came back on the same path. Keri and Summer started pulling away from me around Mile 1 so this was taken shortly after they had gone around the turn around point at the 1.5 mile mark. It was the last time I would be this close to them the rest of the race!
Notice my bike is the ONLY one here--Keri and Summer already left the transition area! I did see them on the 3-loop 10-mile course, but could never close the gap on them. Good thing Summer's 24-inch mtn. bike didn't have slick tires on it or she would've pulled even further ahead!
Finally caught up with them! Well actually, I caught up with Keri in the pool on lap 2 (of 6 laps). Summer was waiting for us at the finish line, cheering us on. Keri's just ahead of me as I get a shot of her crossing the finish line. We both finished with a time of 1:25, good enough for 12th place in our age divisions.
Posing with our medals at the finish line, where Summer was patiently waiting.
She gets to meet Julie Swail, the overall Women's winner and pro triathlete who is on the US Olympic team for triathlon heading to Bejing!
Summer, joined by her swim club teammates who also did the triathlon. Holly (right) got 1st place in the Girls 12-14 y/o division with a 1:06 time and Helena (left) got 2nd place in the same division. Summer placed 1st in her age division (Girls 11 and under) with a 1:21 time. Go RST!!! (Excuse the water spots--I swam with my camera and didn't clean off the lens).

Team Michaelis, from church. Jan (taking the picture) stayed with his daughter, who was doing her first triathlon. Mom Retta (in black) cheered them on).
Team Medina at the end of the race with our finisher's medals. Maybe at our next race, I'll be able to keep up with the little pip squeak!!! Oh well, it was for a great cause and a great workout, so the "school'n" was worth it. ;-)

Meeting the author of the "Blue Zone"

2008-04-28T07:21:00.001-07:00

4-26-08 For Sabbath lunch, we had the privilege of meeting the author, Dan Buettner. If you'll recall, he wrote that National Geographic article a few years ago about certain groups around the world who lived better and longer than those around them--he called these the "Blue Zones".

One of the places featured was Loma Linda, CA, where he featured Seventh-day Adventists and how our lifestyle helps us to live longer and with a better quality of life. This is the only Blue Zone in the USA, so despite the smog and all, SDAs here in Loma Linda are doing something to protect themselves compared to their neighbors.

He's in town to do a book signing for his new book, "Blue Zones", and we had a chance to meet with him at a private luncheon at Sheila and Steve Hodgkin's home.

Besides some LLU dignitaries, 2 people in his book, Marge Jetton (103) and Ellsworth Wareham, MD (93), were also at this lunch so it was cool to meet them in person.

Dan leads out in a toast honoring Marge and Dr. Wareham, and the Adventist lifestyle.

He has a nice historical write-up on the SDA health movement and learned some things I didn't know about. You can order his book from Amazon, which I did so he could sign my book.

Even though he is famous worldwide, he was very down-to-earth and graciously signed all those who had a copy of his book.

I encourage you to get his book and read about the secrets for living a long and healthy life from all the Blue Zones in the world!

Girl-band in the making

2008-04-13T11:59:00.000-07:00

4-13-08 Check out the all-girl band in the making. Here they are playing for song service in Sabbath School. Now all they need is a lead singer, bass, and drummer! The Spice Girls, Dixie Chicks, and Point of Grace better watch out! ;-)

L-R: Summer, Emily, and Jennifer jam on the guitars....
Michelle (aka "the other Alva") on the keyboard...

Game night!

2008-04-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

4-13-08 After a nice haystack dinner and sundown worship, we like to have some fun playing games. It was quite a houseful, especially since the A/C decided not to work on this very warm Sabbath! (Thank goodness for the whole house fan that cooled things off rapidly after sunset!)

Pastor JC (aka "White Lightening") gets hammered in "Up and Down" after teaching all the newbies kids!

Check out the crazies!!!
Pastor JC does his best Stevie Wonder impersonation, to the delight of Cor and Mike.

Triple b-days!

2008-04-06T23:03:00.000-07:00

4-6-08 Today we celebrated Jake's 9th b-day and his cousin Sydney's 1st b-day! Happy b-day to both of the celebrants. And in MI, it was Lolo Medina's (my dad's) b-day as well. Happy b-day to him, too!
Cousins Sydney and Jake, surrounded by family and friends.
Nancy Choi poses with Keri.
Cousins Sydney and Summer
Robby, Leng (and ?), Keri, Sydney, and Summer

Sorry these clips are dark--it was done outside so it was dark!

Utah for Spring Break

2008-03-28T22:09:00.000-07:00

3-28-08: During spring break, almost 20 families from SoCal headed to Brian Head, Utah, for some fun in the snow. We had great weather (though no powder) and Keri and Summer definitely improved their snowboarding and skiing skills, respectively.

Fun in the snow!

Fun out of the snow, too!

And so ends our 2nd trip to Brian Head. Lots of memories of great times with family and friends. Watch for the video clips here in this blog soon!

Easter @ Redlands

2008-03-28T22:05:00.000-07:00

3-22-08: We also saw the Easter play at Redlands Church. They approached the Passion play through the eyes of 3 women who were touched by Jesus. Very well done! Summer knew some of the actors.

Darryl Wheeler (left) and his daughter, Mackenzie (center).

Summer's friend from ballet.

Timothy Wheeler was one of the main actors.
Summer's friend on left is on RST and girl on right used to go to our church.

Easter Play 2008

2008-03-28T22:02:00.001-07:00

3-24-08: Once again, the Azure Hills Church, under the direction of Pastor Alex, led out in our production of the Easter program. Corey did a great job playing Jesus (again), and Mary was played superbly by Vivian Makowski. Check out the slide show for some shots--sorry I didn't take any shots of the actual play--I was busy on one of the video cameras! We did 4 programs to capacity crowds and it was quite a blessing for all of us involved.

March Misc. Happenings

2008-03-28T21:37:00.001-07:00

March started off fast and furious. The time is flying by! Check it out...

Helped the Adventurers with their fund raiser at the XRtainment Zone. Started off with vespers.

Another b-day party that Summer went to--this time for another RST teammate, Emily (in middle). See Summer's blog for more pictures!

Guests of Steve and Sheila Hodgkin allowed us to get all dressed up--this was the LL Children's Hosp. gala. Chance to show off my new tux. Going to another gala and found that tux rentals have gone up quite a bit since I lasts rented, so with a sale, it was cheaper to buy!

Some of the women, all dressed up for this gala.

Josh and Summer were selected to play in an "honor's recital" based on their performance in the previous testing. Here's Josh jamming on his piece.
Summer played with virtual no mistakes (that I could hear!). Whew!
With teacher Helen and her awards.

More February Fun

2008-03-28T21:34:00.001-07:00

Here are more things that happened in Feb. '08. Enjoy!

Spring JO's

2008-03-28T17:18:00.000-07:00

Feb. '08: Over 40 RST kids made it to Spring Junior Olympics this year. That's the most RST has ever sent! To get there, you have to make JO times in the events you want to enter, so that was a great accomplishment for all of them. Summer was qualified to swim in events, so she swam Fri. Sat. night, and Sun. What a long but fun weekend!

Early 2008

2008-03-28T17:17:00.000-07:00

Here are some misc. shots from the start of 2008. Enjoy!

Meeting Sunny after 20+ years!

2008-01-12T22:42:00.000-08:00

1-12-08 Tonight was a special night because after 20+ years, we were reunited with our cousin, Sunny Tumangday. We also got to meet his wife, Charity, for the first time, as well as his two sons, Petey and Nick. We met at his oldest sister's (Ate Joy) new home.

The Sarno cousins in SoCal all got together to welcome Sunny and family (L-R): Ernie & Keri Medina, Corey and Kim Knowlton, Sunny and Charity Tumangday, Ate Joy Debulgado, Mephi and Ate Glad Herrera, and Mike and Melanie Quion.

Here are all the 2nd cousins, our kids. Can you name them all? (Click on pix to enlarge)Charity also had some relatives who were there as well, so it was nice to meet them, too.

Check out the pictures and click on the slide show to see more pictures of our fun get-together tonight. It sure brought back a LOT of great memories from our time in Beechwood C-41, in Berrien Springs, MI.
Check out the slideshow (click on pause to read captions):

My view on my commute...

2008-01-12T22:40:00.001-08:00

1-7-08 Many folks have this pre-conceived idea about Southern Calif., Well I just wanted to show you a picture of what I see on my way to work. Where else can you be driving by a field, orange grove, and have palm trees against snow-covered mountains??? Talk about inspiring and enjoying God's handiwork.

New pastor brainstorms

2008-01-12T22:34:00.000-08:00

1-11-08 One of our newest pastors, John Choi, came with his family to start brainstorming his "spiritual formation" responsibilities. The Makowski's also came to help. We had a good time eating, fellowshipping, and brainstorming together, even though our eye brow discussion was so rudely interrupted! ;-) Can't wait to see what this year will bring in our church!

Pastor John can really jam. He is teaching us some new chords to expand our horizons. I'm happy to jam on the bass while they jam on the guitars. (Even Thomas (middle), former lead guitarist for German Christian rock band, Iron Cross, picks up a few new chords).

Is Nancy sleeping, bored, meditating, or the serotonin is kicking in?

Glory of Christmas

2008-01-12T22:29:00.000-08:00

1-5-08 A group of us went to see the final showing of the Glory of Christmas at the Crystal Cathedral. It is quite the production. It was cool to see the angels fly right over our heads. What a nice way to end the holiday season and start the new year.
These yahoo cowboys were lucky that they were allowed into the church for the program.

Marina's home

2008-01-12T22:25:00.000-08:00

1-4-08 We had a wonderful dinner at the Shlenk family's home. Marina and Noah are on the swim team with Summer. The food and company were awesome! We definitely enjoyed getting to know them better. Marina is like Summer's big sister!

2008 New Year's Sunrise Hike

2008-01-01T09:28:00.000-08:00

1-1-2008: Happy New Year to you all! A brave group of friends joined me on my traditional hike up a tall peak to greet the sunrise on the first day of the year. Even though this is SoCal, it was very cold (in the low 30's). Brrrrr!

Riding my mtn. bike to and from home was the coldest, but riding up the Mother was fine. Everyone else hiked, while Sheila (black vest, white sleeves) jogged along side me.

Check out the rest of the pictures in the slide show. (Do manual advance to read the captions.)

God bless you and your family in 2008!

Winter Fantasy

2007-12-23T21:53:00.000-08:00

12-19-07: Summer's School of International Ballet had it's Winter Fantasy Recital in the fellowship hall of our church. It was a packed house of almost 150 people. To see more pictures, click on the picture of the girl playing the piano:

Winter Fantasy Recital

AA Meet & Dead Sea Scrolls

2007-12-16T18:39:00.000-08:00

12-16-07: What a busy weekend! We left Thur. night for the Dec. AA Winter Championships. In order to enter this meet, a swimmer has to obtain a minimum of a "AA" time which is just below Junior Olympic times. These are times (AA and JO) that swimmers work hard to improve to. If they get these times in certain events, they can then enter in those events at these types of meets.

She also swam on the 200 IM relay team (the butterfly leg, she's the girl at the right end), and they cut off some time of the RST team time.

Summer qualified for 6 or 7 of these events this weekend, but since some of the events fell on Saturday, she only swam in the events on Fri. and Sun.

On Saturday, we drove down from LA to San Diego to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit with the Sabangans. Chloe and her parents and Natalie and her mom also joined us from home.After going through a very tight security checkpoint, we couldn't take any pictures of the actually exhibits, so here are just a couple more shots we were able to take.Afterwards, we had to zip back up to LA so we could get the girls back in bed so they would be well-rested for their last day of racing.

Overall, it was a pretty good meet for Summer. She added some time, matched her PR, and set new PRs, but the biggest achievement was just getting here, so we were pretty happy for her.

For Summer, she loved it because she got to be with friends and eat out all weekend, two of her favorite things.

She also was able to have a "big sister" for the weekend. Marina, whose parents couldn't make it to this meet, was under our care (except when we left Sat., then she was watched by some others.) They are very much alike, and could really be sisters. She fit right into our family for the weekend and we enjoyed "adopting" her.One of the things Marina and Summer have in common is that they both love FOOD! (I asked Marian what she wanted for Xmas and she said, "FOOD!") Amazingly, for someone who loves food so much, she had never eaten at Souplantation, so we just had to take her there for lunch after their first day of swimming on Friday. Here we are with the Sabangan sisters, getting ready to replenish glycogen stores!Surrounded by delicious, healthy food, Marina thought she had died and gone to heaven!
Food is always tastes best when eaten with friends ;-)Here's what swimmers do when they're not racing--having fun in the water! The girls are enjoying the jacuzzi at the hotel where the team stayed at.The team enjoyed going out to eat in the evenings--this was an interesting place because it had peanuts all over the place, and you were encouraged to throw the shells on the floor! Unfortunately, Summer is allergic to peanuts, so we had to created a "peanut-free zone" around her, so the kids came to visit her in her "bubble". Congrats to all the AA Champ swimmers!

Bike Ride for Kids

2007-12-12T19:05:00.001-08:00

12-9-07: Azure Hills Church organizes a bike ride to raise funds for kids who may not have a very merry Xmas. This year, I and some friends decided to ride the 25-mile ride. So after starting my training on my mtn. bike about 3 weeks ago, and borrowing my sister's road bike and riding it once the week before, I was ready to go!

Here I am (in the flourescent green) with Thomas and Vivian, and bro-in-law Corey. (Jake took the picture--nice job, Jake!)
The peleton cruising along the bike path. It was a gorgeous day (after raining the last few days) and it was so nice not to have to worry about cars on this bike path. Eventually, this path will be connected so you can go from the mountains to the beach!
The Knowlton train with Jake powering the rear of the caboose.
The goal was to raise $2500 this year, and so far, we've raised almost $4,000! Thanks to all those who sponsored me. On behalf of the kids, I think you!

Health Ed's Xmas Party

2007-12-12T19:05:00.000-08:00

12-8-07 We had our Xmas party at Drew's home (she's one of our RDs). She and her husband, Kevin, just finished remodeling and it was gorgeous! Here's our fearless leader, Kayla, with her newest child, Aubry, looking a bit tired. ;-)

Maria, one of our Admin. Assistants, with her son, Sebastian. He's going to be a future baseball player, he's got quite the arm!
Drew had us bring $3 so we could play this dice game called "Left Center Right". It was really fun and guess who won the pot? Meg! As you can see, she was very excited to win the pot.
Here's the gang for our group shot.

Azure Hills Church Christmas Program

2007-12-12T16:59:00.000-08:00

12-15-07 This past Saturday, we had our annual church Xmas program. It's organized by Music Director Kim Knowlton (yes, the one I call "Kimbo" because I'm her elder) and Pastor Alex. Despite some a particularly "weak" shepard soloist (the first one), the program went very well.

When I wasn't playing shepard, I shot video so Summer was the main photographer. She shot over 630 pictures during both services! Thanks goodness for digital photography. You'll see some of her shots here, as well as more in her own blog.

We had to be at the church early, so Summer was able to get a lot of crazy candids before the 1st service.

Who's that crazy shepard in the background? That's none other than Rasheed! (the former lead guitarist for Germany's renowned Iron Cross band and now pro cyclist and part-time cardiologist practicing under the name of Thomas).There's that crazy shepard again, with his "black sheep" Gaby. (Next year, he said he wants to sing a solo--are you reading this , Music Director Kimbo???) And who's that crazy filipino shepard in the background??? Maybe he can do a solo next year as well.

Shepard boy Josh fuels up for.......his solo! Great job, Josh!
Conchita helps get Natalie ready.Going over the program with Natalie. She was going to take over the video while my part was up.
The "stars" of the show were Mary and Joe (aka Holly and Dee Elias). Holly sang great and Dee looked very "josephly". Joe was thinking, "Hmm, Mary is really getting into her part here with the baby...does that mean she wants another child now??? I guess having 4 girls would be ok...but that sure is a lot of weddings to pay for...hmmmm...I'd better slow down on my car collection and start pulling a lot more teeth!"One of Joe and Mary's real girls, Carly, who is trying to frown, but is there such a thing as a frowning angel??? (Summer loves taking pictures of Carly, as you can see).Jenny did a great job as the "girl in the stable".
Lots of great music, organized by Kimbo (seen here in front of Keri and Conchita).
Kim conducting the Ladie's Chorus. They sang like angels! (I told Summer to take various angels of the singing, so she did!)

The little cheribum kid's choir...
"It's cold out tonight, in this God-forsaken place, and we're stuck here with a thousand sheep...." this was my 1st...and LAST public solo!"We're not exactly every woman's dream!" (Ok, maybe one woman's dream...;-x) "See, I can sing just as well as that filipino shepard...where's my microphone?"Chloe (daughter of Joe and Mary) does a great job on her solo, as did Bailey and Julia.Mephi, the husband of cousin Gladden, was also involved in the program. He's a strong singer!
Must run in the family because their youngest, Joelle, did a great job singing a solo!
After the show, many group shots were taken to remember this day by. Here are some of the women in red : Conchita, Florence, Vivian (aka Vashti), and Keri (aka Arti).