Pre-sabbatical lunch

Soft shell crab po boy at Kona Grill.

Solar savings

We just got our first bill where we've had the solar panels for the entire month. Compared to last year, we saved $149 this month.

Indoor Soccer

We signed up both kids for indoor soccer at the Y this summer. Cole was in the 3 to 4 year old division while Lauren was in the 5 to 6 year old division.


Here's one of the few times that Lauren is actually practicing before the match. It was hit or miss if she would actually want to practice or play.


Another action shot of Lauren.


I think this was the kid's favorite part of soccer. Snack time!


The kids are learning good sportsmanship.


Lauren loved that she got a trophy.


It's important to know which direction to kick the ball...


...even at all levels.

Solar System

We finally got our solar panels up and running. We have a 6.24kw system that should offset around 40% of our energy usage. The system consists of 26 Centrosolar 240W panels. 20 of the panels are on the front of the house while another 6 are on the south side. Since we are on SRP's time of use program, the best financial return is when you have the panels facing Southwest. Since the panels are facing 2 different orientations, we installed an Aurora Power One 6000 that could handle 2 independent strings.


Here you can see the other 6 panels on the south roof.


This is the roof mounting system. You can see how the mounts attach to the roof and then go under the tile so you don't need to cut holes in the tile. Here you can also see the jacket that will allow the wires to go into the attic.


Here you can see all the roof tiles put back in place with only the mounts showing.


Now the rails are attached.


Here's the inverter mounted inside the garage.


Here are the solar meter and the utility disconnect in case anyone needs to disconnect the panels from the grid.


Finally here's our daily energy output for the last few weeks. We've been averaging around 34kWH a day. We typically consume about 100 to 140 kWH a day.

New Sunglasses

These glasses are so much more fashionable.

First day of Kindergarten

Deja Vu

Second day in a row I had to resort to the car.

Nap time

Cole wouldn't nap in the hotel room so we had to resort to desperate measures.

Cole and his Peeps

Rainy 4th of July

This year's 4th of July HOA Parade didn't disappoint. The fire engine made a showing and started the downpour a little early.


Cole loved playing in the puddles and rain caused by the fire engine.


It was Cole's turn to be the smallest one in line.


"Of course I'll take care of him. Can't you tell he's scared!"


"Cole, if you put your arms out to the side, it makes it scarier!"


"Close your eyes!"


"This is the life."


Lauren made it further this year in the hula hoop contest but didn't win. Maybe next year. She did manage to enjoy herself and the weather as we were leaving.

Nothing you can say....

will change my mind. I want to wear my sweater in July.

New Toy

We recently upgraded our camera to the Nikon D5100 (body only). Our D40 has served us well but has started to show signs of trouble. We and many others were getting a shutter release error where you can't use the camera. Although people claim the WD40 trick works, we figured it was time. Usually a good whack does the trick but not always.


The new camera takes video and has a live monitor so you don't always have to look through the eye piece. It also has 11 auto focus areas which means it should focus a lot better than the D40's 3 areas. The megapixel's also increases from 6MP to 16MP. The high ISO performance works really well making it a lot easier to catch Lauren's and Cole's indoor soccer matches.

Cutting the cable

We recently cancelled our cable TV service since we mostly just watch network TV. In order to get good over the air (OTA) reception, I installed this HDTV antenna in the attic. The antenna has received a lot of good reviews but if you don't believe me, you can read another review here.

Penne with mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, and zuchinni

Flying friend

Our owl friend is back although this time on our chimney.

Soccer

The kids start indoor soccer this weekend and you can see them trying on their new shin guards. And yes both of them are wearing Princess dress up shoes.

Pool light therapy

We recently upgraded the pool light to a multicolored LED light from Pentair. The pool now is just like our old bath tub.

Swollen cheeks

Dad gave me the wrong milk and here I am at urgent care. Look at my
cheeks! They are so swollen. Okay just kidding. I'm puffing them for
effect.

Goodbye training wheels, hello freedom

Now that I'm 5 yrs old, I figure I can't really be seen with training wheels anymore. Here you can see my bike without the training wheels. I'm also taking my first ride without them in a big field so in case I fall, I won't get hurt.


And I'm off....


and 10 seconds later I'm down.


I look pretty cool huh?

Better late than never

I made this sun shade for the pool equipment over a year ago. It works great until there's any wind in which case it becomes a sail and flies away (slight exaggeration). My previous attempts to combat this were to taking fishing string and tie it on or use zip ties to prevent it from flying away. None of those solutions worked very well. However, I think I have finally found the solution.


Here I drilled a hole and then put in a long screw so the pole can't fly away. However, there's still room in the back to lift it out if I need to remove it.


I did the same thing on the other side except this one you can't remove. You can also see my previous solution of the fishing string.