Robyn and Jeff Attend Conference in West LA

Rachel, Austin, Ryan and Jeff
In front of Raustin's new apartment in UCLA Married Student Housing Complex.
We stayed there while at the attending the conference--Raustin and Ryan were visiting family and friends in Utah.

Robyn and Jeff
Attending the annual Kleinfelter's Syndrome 47XXY conference.
Held this year at Mt. St. Mary's College in the beautiful hills above Brentwood in West LA

New Phase

It is wonderful to have our married families living close by!

Christian, Katie and Dylan finished law school
and have moved back to Foothill Ranch

Austin and Rachel have moved into their UCLA Student Housing Apartment
--ready to start Medical School.

House Painting--Summer 2009

Austin and Rachel have been painting our house this summer.
They planned the project, procured the paint, prepared the house, and have already done the hard stuff--including painting under most of the eaves.

Austin and Rachel on the "Stairway to Heaven"
Its a 32' extension ladder.

Austine working on the eaves. Don't look down.

Rolling the front of the eaves

Thanks, Austin and Rachel!

Mt. Conness Hike--Yosemite 6/30 to7/3/ 2009

Mt. Conness Backpacking Trip:
Three Families, Four Cousins, Two Birthdays and Four Days in Yosemite.

We had a great backpacking trip, Greg and Nathan, Jeff and Ryan, Brent & Debbie with Ben and Josh. Hiking together, with backpacks or cross-country, over 18 miles of beautiful and rugged Alpine Yosemite terrain, we learned a lot about love, mutual support, teamwork, and accomplishment. Plus, we became experts in packing and unpacking "bear canisters" to keep the food away from the bears. Debbie celebrated a birthday milestone on the trail, as did Ryan (#17)!

Mt. Conness Expedition Members
Ryan, Jeff, Brent, Josh, Nathan, Debbie, Ben, Greg

Day 1: Gathering in Yosemite, Tuolumne Meadows Campground

Arriving in Yosemite Valley

Beautiful vista, 5 min from our first campground

One hour spent packing all food into bear canisters the first night.


Oops. Brent forgot two old sticks of gum in his and Debbie's camelback water packs.
The bear found it during the night, ate the gum and a bite of the foam padding for good measure. Debbie's pack survived; Brent's did not!

Debbie laughs off the bear visit.
She says the bear sounded like someone's "scratchy" snoring.

Day 2: 6 mile hike to Young Lakes, via Dog Lake

At the trail head.

Greg leads us across the first of many high-water streams

Brent and Debbie celebrate the stream crossing. Brent's ankle, sprained badly only three days before, is miraculously strong.

Happily exhausted along the trail, about 1/2 way there.

Rest time.


Lunch stop at a meadow along the way.

Ben, Josh, Nathan and Ryan hiked ahead. They beat the oldsters to camp by 2 hours. Here's their trail marker to let us know we were still following them.

Day 3: 6 miles, cross-country to Mt. Conness & back to base camp

Starting out for Mt. Conness, 7:30 am

Pointing the way to the peak

The 4 Amigos, peak in background

Greg and Jeff

Ryan and Dad.
Happy moment for Dad.

Nathan and His Dad.

Timmy the Marmot, looking for lunch.

At the highest point on Mt. Conness's shoulder.
We didn't pick up the summit trail, and so turned back before it got too late in the afternoon.

Nathan and Greg

Ryan and Jeff, Roosevelt Lake (at the base of Mt. Conness) in the background.


A quick video showing our group along the shoulder of Mt. Conness, above Lake Roosevelt
Brent and Debbie are crossing the slope below.


Ben, Josh, Ryan and Nathan, heading back down to Base camp, which is about 3 cross-country miles away under the high peak to the right ("Ragged Peak")

Self-portrait, arriving back at our base camp on Young Lake, late in afternoon.
We were hiking cross-country for about 9 hours.

Brent and Debbie share a romantic moment, walking across the meadows below Roosevelt Lake. It's Debbie's Birthday!

Fixing Josh's packstrap

This is the second tent site selected by the seasoned scouts.
Unlike the first, this site was on level ground so people didn't slide out during the night.

Here's the waterfall "shower" enjoyed by Nathan (pictured), Ben and Josh, while Ryan watched hoping no one would slip off into the snow/rocks/lake.

Day 4: 6 mile hike out, from Young Lakes to trail head

Wishing Ryan a happy 17th birthday at camp on Day 3. He's opening his present (wrapped in a paper bag), a Yosemite bookmark with his trademark "Wolf," from his "Yosemite hiking buddies." Debbie received a similar bookmark, with a picture of a gum-chewing Yosemite bear.

The group, assembled ready to hike back. Nathan asked, "Dad can I have the keys to the car?," knowing that they'd rocket down the trail and arrive hours before the 50-something hikers.

I literally walked the soles off of these boots.
I had to tie the soles on to keep them from flapping off.

Ryan rocks.

Greg kept us all positive as we hiked along, telling his true stories of trail wisdom.

Josh was great for boosting morale.

When there was a slippery snow slope or difficult stream to cross, we could count on Ben to lead the way.

Nathan, a trail gazelle; nothing seemed to slow him down

A million thanks to Brent for getting the trip organized, and to Debbie for her loving family spirit that kept us all together.

This picture is for Mom and Dad:
Brent, Jeff and Greg, heading down the trail.
Thanks for teaching us about the wonderful world of High Sierra backpacking,
and for all the happy trail memories past present and future.