Greetings from La Push!

Liam gets three days off for Mid-Winter break and President's day. Add the weekend to that and we have a five day mini-vacation. This year we headed to one of our favorite campgrounds on the Washington coast. The town is La Push in the middle of the Quileute Reservation which is fully surrounded by the Olympic National Park. One of the things we love about this spot is that Summer, our three year old shepard/lab/husky/who-knows rescue dog can run off the leash. She loves to play in the ocean and there are no rules here about that.

This started as a very questionable trip. I had a horrible cold. On the drive in we drove through a fierce snow storm. The forecast was rain and overcast everyday. I pretty much anticipated sitting around the fire and watching the storms blow in. We arrive, 24 hours later my cold is gone, the sun is shining and the beach is fantastic. It turns into a fantastic trip. Liam has a friend from school with him, Tom, and they just have a blast together.

Our campground in La Push

As always, I wander around with the camera taking pictures. Above you see our 5th wheel travel trailer and behind it you can see the truck we pull it with. Everything here is so scenic. I took a lot of pictures of the beach and the kids. For some reason the driftwood especially grabbed my attention on this trip. If you want to look at the photos from the trip, they are here: La Push, February 2011

Folsom Prison Blues

To this day I recall the albums we owned when I was a kid growing up in Tucson. We had Hank Williams, Johnny Horton, Porter Waggoner and an album of Polkas. I still remember every word to "Too Fat Polka". I grew up listening to, and loving, country music. It wasn't until I was an adult that I really even had listened to any rock music. Today I would say that what I love is classic country, classic rock and some of the newer country as well.

About ten years ago I started hosting the Wednesday Night Music Club. Some fellow musicians and I get together every Wednesday night to play music for a couple of hours. We even get out and gig from time to time.

Some videos from shows we have done

Pictures from the jam over the years

As you might expect a bunch of us are Microsoft geeks and this past Wednesday night our keyboard player is recording video on his new Windows Phone. I didn't even know he was recording. The room is very dark and a phone is not really what you think of as a video camera. The next day he has published a clip from the jam. The clip starts about half way through the song but as you can see we are usually having a good time...

Daniel - Folsom Prison Blues

I guess the apple never really falls far from the tree....

Liam's first swim meet

Liam has been swimming and taking lessons since he was five years old. He is a nut for the water. This last year he joined swim team. Some practices he swims a mile! That is 52 laps (104 lengths) of the pool. I never have been a strong swimmer and truly am both impressed and proud of his ability.

This morning he participated in his first ever invitational meet. Marlaina and I both went to watch and cheer. Wow, what a zoo! There were probably a hundred kids there. Liam competed in three events. The 400 yard team medley (backstroke), the 50 yard freestyle and the 50 yard backstroke. He didn't win, but he did get his feet wet (haha). He knows a bit more about what it feels like to compete. Super job!

I took some pictures. They aren't great but they do capture the spirit of the event.

Liam diving from the starting board

Liam in the 50 yard backstroke

More pics of Liam swimming

Heading to Amado for Grandpa's Birthday

Hi everyone, it looks like we're all going to be in Amado for Grandpa Moore's 95th birthday celebration. Wow, that is certainly a lot of living. I must say that I rather enjoy the prospect of a long life courtesy of the Moore genes.

There is a lot of email flying around on this. If you want info and don't have it, please drop me a line. Send email to Daniel

Miriam is looking into the availability of the Cow Palace. They are closed right now but are expecting to be back open in March.

Velma is looking into the availability of the Longhorn Grill. I have put pictures of both below just because they are cool to look at and represent years of history for the family. Grandpa's 90th was at the Cow Palace also.

Right now the plan is Dinner in Amado at 4PM on Sunday afternoon, March 27th. Which establishment is still not certain, but you should be able to park once and go to either one!

Cow Palace

Longhorn Bar and Grill

If you need to feed your GPS, this will get you there:

Longhorn Bar & Grill

28851 S Nogales Hwy, Amado, AZ 85645

(520) 398-3955

Hope to see you all in Amado at the end of March!

Happy Holidays!

Wow, another year gone by in a blur and just a moment of closure. Every christmas I ask the kids to sit for family photos. Each year I get a bit better at taking them. This year's crop of photos is here.

Liam just turned 11 and just got his first video game console (XBOX 360 with Kinect). We've all been doing the Dance Central game. Personally I hate the music. It's mostly got that rap sound to it. It has got us all up, dancing, learning moves and exersizing though!

We've had a very quiet, stay at home holiday. The kids all came over for Christmas eve dinner. Since Kate is one of the other photographers in the family I had her take the photo of Liam, Marlaina and Me.



We've had another great year and we're looking forward to some changes in the coming year. Marlaina is starting to work more in a salon in Bellevue. I am starting a new position in a different group at Microsoft. Liam is having a great year is school so far.

I hope this post finds you all in good spirits and good health.

Happy holidays from Daniel, Marlaina and Liam

Our Eagle Photo Trip

Dad and Liam went on a trip this past Saturday up to the Nooksack River near the Canadian border to photograph bald eagles. I had organized a group from the Microsoft Photography Club to meet at a local restraurant in Deming and then go out to the river to photograph.

Here is the group that we were out with at Il Caffe Rifugio prior to starting the day.

Photo by Karan Bagga

If you look closely you will see me and Liam standing at the very back of the room.

It was an incredibly fun day. Lot's of great people in this group. The weather was very kind to us all. I haven't gotten around to even downloading my pictures from my camera. I did get Liam's downloaded though and posted some to his photo site. Link to Liam's eagle pictures from this weekend. He always appreciates comments on his photography, so if you take a look, please leave a note for him.

Dad, can I please borrow the car?

OK, here we are in Sneedville, Tennessee spending time with grandma and grandpa. One bummer about this post is that I bet grandma and grandpa would like to view it. Well I guess they'll have to wait until they're at the local library since the 28.8 modem dial up connection they have at home would take about a month to download this little video. No YouTube or Netflix for grandma and grandpa.

I flew into Nashville, rented a car (a new Dodge Charger) and drove five hours to the other end of the state. Now we're out in the country. Pasture and farm land. What a perfect opportunity to put Liam behind the wheel.

OK, that was fun! One more life experience impinted on the mind of the child! Stay tuned, next we go for firearms training.