The Leon's 2004 Photo Album

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Updated: 2004.12.31

December

Zachary working on this year's Pinewood Derby car.

The race is coming up on Jan 8, so we are working on the car over the holiday break. Here Zachary is making sure the wheels are round and smooth. Off to the left, you can see the car body for this year's car, which looks a lot like last year's car. (see bottom of this page) He decided to go with it again since it did well last year.

Peanut loves to catch some rays.

Sometimes when we come home, he runs right past us, so he can run upstairs to lay in the sun.

Sometimes, Peanut finds time for a nap.

Hey, you'd be tired too, after reading the paper and talking on the phone for that long!

This year's gingerbread house.

Always a fun, annual tradition. I think that is "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" playing in the background. :-)

Peanut visits with Mrs. Claus.

Ummmm... yes, I just spoke with Mrs. Santa, and she says I should get a big bag of treats for Christmas!

Jessica opens her new watch on Christmas morning.

Her old one was getting so old that it was just about falling off!

Zachary opens an Air Hog plane.

Love at first sight?! We've already had it out a few times and are getting the hang of it.

Peanut gets some lovin' from Aunt Jill.

Peanut just can't get enough of the lovin'!

The family Christmas card for 2004.

JC Penny damaged one of their rolls of film, so this was actually our second favorite shot, and it was several weeks late.

November

Zachary fishing.

Zachary was asking all year to go fishing. We finally got out there in November, and got skunked. At least it was a nice day. Zachary got a fishing pole for Christmas, so we'll be back.

Jessica at the Awana Grand Prix.

This is similar to the Pinewood Derby, but through the Awana group at the church. She took first place in design!

The banana split car.

She came up with the idea to do the "Make like a banana and split" car - it looks good enough to eat! And the "toppings" come off for racing to lower wind resistance.

Nate's parents come for a visit.

This is us on Pier 39 where we went for lunch one day, and then checked out a few of the sea lions afterwards.

Checkin' out the jellies.

We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and especially enjoyed the jellyfish exhibit. We also got to see the Great White shark they rescued. Of course, the sea otters are always a hit!

The group shot.

A picture of the whole gang before they had to leave.

Thanksgiving at Uncle Dave's house.

Diane's brother and his family live close by so we enjoyed Thanksgiving at their house!

Peanut gets a bath.

He doesn't mind too much, except for trying to get dry afterwards, but he does look like a rat when he is all wet.

October

Zachary's cub scout pack visits the Almaden "Quick Silver" mine.

We took a long, scenic hike up to the entrance of a mine in the South hills of San Jose. They used to get tons of mercury out of the hills there.

Jessica working on her car.

Actually, she is polishing the axles here to make it go faster.

Peanut shows concern for a fellow puppy.

We were watching "Garfield", and there was a scene where he visits the dog pound. Peanut got very interested when he saw a dog that looked like him. He is a very sympathetic guy!

Peanut stylin' the fall outfit.

Peanut can't wait for Thanksgiving!

Jessica and Zachary on top of the world at the pumpkin patch.

It wouldn't be Halloween without our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch.

Jessica volunteered for a turn in dunk tank at the school fund raiser.

Nobody expected it to be cool and rainy that day, but she toughed it out, and got dunked quite a few times.

Our batch of pumpkins.

Jessica did the two little guys talking to each other, and the cob web pumpkins. Zachary was responsible for the fangs, and dad did the big one.

September

Jessica and her friends donating to the Humane Society.

Jessica & friends collected money from around the neighborhood and raised over $200 for the Humane Society.

First day of school picture.

The parents.

Zachary thought it would be fun to take a picture of the parents on the first day of school.

Jessica's school picture.

Jessica is in the 6th grade this year.

Zachary's school picture.

Zachary is in the 3rd grade this year.

August

Dad and Peanut at the beach.

Peanut's first trip to the beach. We went to Fitzgerald State Beach, which is a few miles North of Half Moon Bay. It was a cool beach with lots of tide-pools, but it was pretty over-cast, so we drove about 10 miles South and found a sunny beach to hang out for the rest of the afternoon.

Checkin' out a sea lion.

We saw three or four sea lions playing in the surf. Here Jessica and a sea lion check each other out!

Jessica at the pool.

Here we are at our annual back-to-school fling in Santa Cruz.

Zachary at the pool.

The trip wouldn't be complete without the obligatory "jumping into the pool" picture!

Diane dishes out some road rage on the bumper cars.

We always have a great time at the boardwalk / amusement park in Santa Cruz.

Havin' a blast on the dragon coaster.

The kids rode the dragon coaster a bunch of times, and then they tried the Giant Dipper, and rode that quite a few times. It is a vintage wooden roller coaster from 1924 reaching top speeds of 55 mph. They loved it!

It's harvest time.

This year we planted corn, tomatoes, carrots, and pumpkins. We must have picked about 50 tomatoes from only three plants!

July

Diane and Peanut get in the spirit.

Even Peanut puts on his best 4th of July outfit to celebrate Independence Day!

The kids getting ready for the parade.

People in our neighborhood organize an Independence Day parade, pool party, BBQ/pot-luck, and other games for the kids.

June

Jessica goes Hollywood.

She and her friends performed a dance routine for the talent show at school.

Michigan Trip This summer, we had our 4th annual Leon Family Reunion. This year, we tried a camping trip, but the weather convinced us to go to Plan B after about half the week. We still had a great time being together.
The cousins hanging out before we headed for the campground.	Playing on the beach of Lake Michigan.
Playing "keep away" back at Aunt Rachel's house after the weather chased us out of the camp ground.
Diane's Dad lives about an hour away so we got to visit with them for an evening.	We never got a group photo, but here is what was left of the group after Rachel & Steve's family left.

May

Zachary building a water rocket.

The cub scout pack had Water Rocket Derby day where they each built a water rocket and got to launch them - very fun!

Jessica in the school band.

She played Clarinet in the school band again this year.

The group after a competition.

They took 2nd place in their group and scored an "Excellent" rating

Peanut and Sponge Bob.

Go ahead, make my day...

Zachary's at the USS Pampanito.

His Pack got a special tour, and then we spent the night on it. We even managed to get a few hours of sleep. For more information on the sub, check out the official Pampanito web site.

Zachary checking out the Golden Gate bridge.

After the Pampanito, we decided to find some adventures in San Francisco. Zachary got inspired to walk all the way across the bridge and back - almost a four mile round trip.

April

Jessica's straw tower.

Jessica & Dad participated in the "Future Scientists and Engineers of America" club before school each Friday. The project above was to build a tower out of straws and masking tape. The goal was to have the lightest tower which could hold at least 20 pounds. Jessica's tower got up to over 30 lbs, but it was a few straws heavier than the other one that held 20, so she cut a few straws out, it still held 20 lbs, and she took home the blue ribbon!

Diane tackled a fireplace project this spring, which kinda' evolved into a living room project. The old, large, white bricks (which used to go from floor to ceiling) went away. New tile and a mantle went in, along with carpet, sheetrock, crown molding, and a new ceiling texture.
Before:	After:

The Maples come for a visit.

Our friends became missionaries in Kenya and came back for a brief visit between assignments there. Stephanie wore out before the end of the evening!

Jessica's Birthday party at Petroglyph.

Jessica celebrated her 11th birthday at Petroglyph where the gang got to pick out a piece of pottery, paint it, and then they fire it in the kiln for you. Jessica made a nice replica of our Peanut. :-)

Zachary sporting his new Mustache at Jessica's Birthday party.

Jessica trying out her new bike.

The photo is kinda' blurry, 'cuz she is just that fast!

Zachary took a trip to the Cupertino Museum.

March

Jessica joined a choral group.

She is in the Starlight Singers, and they got to be in a Cupertino parade this year. (She is in the front row, middle)

Peanut watching TV on the edge of his seat.

We happened to come across the AKC Dog Show. Peanut jumped up, and ran over to watch it. He seemed really disappointed that the Cavalier didn't make it into the finals.

February

Our 4th annual trip to the snow.

This year, we brought the dog which was (mostly) fun. We had a lot of snow during our trip, and had a great time sledding as always!

Now that is an icicle!

The kids always look forward to finding icicles on the trip.

Zachary gettin' ready for another ride.

Zachary was always the fastest one back up the hill for another ride, and he was the 1st one to brave the big hill.

Clear the way, I'm goin' all the way to the fence!

I think Jessica set the distance record this year.

The panoramic view from our balcony.

It was great being within walking distance from a really nice sledding park.

January

At the Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet.

We got to enjoy a great performance by the San Jose Taiko Drummers. For more infomation about them, see their homepage.

Jessica playing the clarinet in the Spring concert.

Look out Benny Goodman!

Zachary takes 1st place in the Pinewood Derby.

Here is a close-up picture of the car.

He proceeded to win 4th place in the district finals, missing 3rd place by only .003 seconds!