The Leon's 2011 Photo Album

Updated: 2011.12.28

Click on the thumbnail pictures to see the full sized pictures

December

The Christmas portrait.

Our annual visit to the Photography Studio.

The Christmas card.

It's large!

Peanut patiently (?) waiting to open his stocking.

He always knows when there is a rawhide bone waiting for him in his stocking!

Sporting his new antlers.

He didn't realize wearing these was part of the deal! Actually, he didn't even mind (notice?) them until after he had devoured the rawhide bone.

November

Ball handling skillz ...

The Team pic

Happy Birthday Diane!

Nate made her favorite cake (yellow cake with chocolate frosting) and we all enjoyed it thoroughly. :-)

FaceTime with Jessica

Diane got an iPad for her Birthday, and wasted no time using it to talk to Jessica via FaceTime!

She also got her very own UCSD shirt

Jessica is in the Revelle College at UCSD

October

Family Weekend @ UCSD

In October, we all went down to visit Jessica at UCSD, and had a great weekend visiting her. It was the first time Zachary got to see the campus.

What's in the suitcase?

Birch Acquarium

UCSD also has a strong Marine Biology program. Here we are outside the Acquarium down by the coast, less than one mile off the main campus.

Relaxing @ the Beach

Well, if you're this close to the beach, why not?!

Diane and Jessica in front of the pier

Diane and Jessica looking back at the cliff. The beach is close enough to walk from campus, but is quite hilly, so luckily for the students, there is also a regular (free) shuttle bus.

September

The obligatory school picture

August

Peanut continues to love and amuse us. He doesn't normally sit like this, so it cracked us up, and we caught this pic. He just turned nine this year, so he's getting up there in (dog) years.

July

Celebrating Zach's BDay

Can't go wrong with celebrating a Birthday at Beni Hana!

Anniversary

This year, Diane got us a room at The Spindrift Inn right on Cannery Row in Monterey.

This was anniversary #23 (for those not familiar with Sign Language :)

The bed was quite comfy as you can tell

We had a really nice view, over-looking the bay

June

Senior Ball gown

Jessica attended the Senior Ball

The party was a SF bay cruise

Graduation

Jessica graduated from High School this spring and we had a great celebration of all her hard work!

Diane hung a ginormous banner

Mom & Dad decorated the car for the event.

One of Diane's favorite pics from the whole year

The event was very well documented, so even Nate got in front of a camera or two!

You can see how Zachary has passed her up in height

And...

it's official!

The proud family shot

A great post-graduation shot with all the grand-parents

Grad Gift from Grandma & Grandpa

Next stop, San Diego!

Mexico Trip

Diane and Zachary went back to Mexico to work at the Orphanage again

They extended and painted a fence around a soccer field

They cleaned up a local park

and after a long, hard day of work in the hot sun, they enjoyed the newly cleaned park!

and even took the kids down to the beach one afternoon

May

Pfeiffer State Beach

Relaxing at the beach during our annual Memorial Day camping trip to Big Sur

Big Sur

And our annual tree pic at the end of the weekend

April

18th Birthday for Jessica

Celebrating Jessica's 18th Birthday, with a cake sporting her favorite color of Teal.

March

This month left blank intentionally. :-)

February

Steve & Rachel visit

At the end of Feb, Steve had a class out our way, so the whole gang came for a week-long visit. We had a great time spending the week with them, and showing them around the area.

A classic San Francisco attraction

At the end of the pier, you can see Alcatraz just over Zachary's shoulder

We walked about 1/3rd of the Golden Gate bridge for some great views and strong winds!

Just North of San Fran, we hiked through the giant Redwood groves of Muir Woods

We also went South to Monterey and Pacific Grove. After playing in the tide-pools here, we had a picnic lunch over-looking the bay, and then spent the afternoon at the acquarium.

We started off the last day in Golden Gate Park, at the Japanese Tea Gardens.

Then we had Sourdough, clam-chowder bread-bowls at Boudin's for lunch over-looking the SF bay, followed by a trip to the Museum of Modern Art, and concluded with a whirl-wind visit to The Exploratorium. It was an exhausting day, but super-fun!

One day, we took it easy, and only visited one major attraction. :-) Here we are in front of The Winchester Mystery House.

January

swim team

Jessica's swam varsity again this year, completing her 4th year on the High School swim team