published on in Owen Caralyne Family Featured

year one the good the bad and the weird

Since I/we (the family) have made a fairly drastic change in our lives, I thought I would give the “Year One” run down.

In pictures only.

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My first day at work, and the last time I showed up before 8am!

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The room I rented while the family was in antioch was a real gem. The manager of the home ripped the bathroom out after he cashed my first check.

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My room didn’t come with a washer/dryer so I hit up the Laundromat… Once. It was expensive and I think someone stole my green polo.

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My desk with a window, and plants that love it.

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The scenery I enjoy on my lunch walk or jog. West Cliff Dr.

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One day, a strong wave hit this rock formation and soaked me. I was in mod jog and that really woke me up.

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One Tuesdays, I would drive to Monterey to have dinner and band practice with Glenn and Erin. Delicious french bread vegetarian pizza with lots of cayenne pepper!

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Consensus says the pizza is in fact delicious. And hot, like molten lava

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We did some house hunting in Felton. This was a really nice place that had an incredible meadow in the back. We didn’t get that place, but it was nice to see and helped us feel pretty excited about the area.

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Watched out! Here comes Owen the Train, driving on the Felton covered bridge.

Super cute Video of Owen the train!

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Got to see Buckethead at the Catalyst as well! It rocked.

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After moving from Antioch to Felton, we hit up the Boardwalk.

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Saying goodbye to our house in Antioch. We had a few more little trips back to grab the rest of the items.

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First meal together in the new (but now previous) house in Felton. Redwood Pizza and salad!

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Owen’s school has a nice view in the parking lot.

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Caralyne and I finishing up her cool robot, and Owen being Owen.

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Since the Henry Cowell park is just down the road, we went for a little walk through the redwoods. Its pretty amazing.

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After practice on night, Glenn Erin and I met up with their co-workers from An Olde Town Tattoo Shop and played two rounds at the bowling alley. It was a lot of fun, and I can still hold my own.

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The kick ass progression of the work truck Glenn and Erin painted. It’s pretty impressive to see a hand painted truck, and they did an excellent job. I would meet them there on our practice nights and we’d jam in the dark at the farm. Thanks Serendipity!

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Getting closer…

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Almost done…

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YEAH! I snagged this from Serendipitys facebook page

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The kids playing in a stream at the beach. I’m pretty sure it was grey water run off though…

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Here are a couple of pictures from our front porch/deck in Felton. I really liked the view and coverage.

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The other half…

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Our new location is Scotts Valley. Bay Photo bought Seagates building (well, 3 of them) and has spent a lot of time preparing it for an open production and manufacturing environment. Larry and Patrick are pretty amazing, Bay Photo has some very dedicated and talented leaders.

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Our sign that can be seen from Scotts Valley Drive and Disc Drive.

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Back to the prettiness! Henry Cowell State Park

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I still get dizzy looking up at these giants. Its probably just low blood sugar.

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A creek. Probably filled with salamanders and frogs

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Memorial Day Parade in Felton. Felton and Ben Lomond are two cool little towns. It puts us a little out of the way when it come to food and services, but the community is nice.

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Owen and I running around the park together. Every so often I work up the gumption to be a good father and take him out, play with him, and then feed his endless appetite.

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New servers at the Colo! Go bayphoto.com!

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We just moved to a little bigger house in Ben Lomond, and this is part of the front yard. This is the view from my desk, so when I work from home I still have a kick ass view :)

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Caralyne and I hanging out downstairs.

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We threw a minecraft birthday party for Caralyne. Michele did an impeccable job on the decorations and of course, the minecraft cake.

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Another day at the Boardwalk. I took owen to the kid rides, but that wasn’t enough. There was a big car ride that he barely met the height requirement and he was insistent that he went of that one. Keep in mind, Owen is incredibly tall for his age (probably because he requires a daily growth hormone injection), so I was a little scared for his sake. Well, it turns out, he freaking LOVED the fast and scary ride. For a second, I couldn’t tell if he was screaming from excitement or terror.

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In our new house, there is a really cool map of the area. It looks to be handmade and reprinted

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Owen and I building the first fire of the year. I love a good fireplace, and apparently so does Owen. Lets hope he doesn’t do all of the things I did as a kid with a fireplace.

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“Picking up pumpkins at the Boarchard Farms near Moss Landing. They had a corn maze too, and I lost Owen in it. Since it is near Moss Landing, I expected Zombies to come out and devour us. That place is right out of a HP Lovecraft story.

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Owen posing as well

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Caralyne went to a local science camp over the summer. She got to sleep out under the stars on one of the last days. Owen didn’t stay, but he pretended too.

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Caralyne also offered to repaint and clean up the stall sign for the horse she rode. It looks great right? She might have to start helping Glenn and Erin paint vehicles! BTW, Snuff is a weird name for a horse. I’m not going to tell you to look it up on Urban Dictionary, but seriously, google your horses name before you name it.

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I’m proud of this. For the first time in my life, I fixed my own lawn mower without any assistance. The cord broke (Because Coal chewed it up, I’m happy his legacy is still lasting until now :) ). I bought the replacement cord only to find out the housing that keeps it wound up is riveted in. So, I drilled them out, replaced the cord, and use a pop-rivet gun to re-secure it. It was fun.

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This is the weather on July 4th. Thats right, we got to celebrate what is normally an unbearably hot day in the comfort of sweatshirts.

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Owen was happy about the cool weather too

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We went to a nice neighborhood in Santa Cruz with our old Antioch neighbors, and had a nice time parading around the streets with the kids all festively decorated.

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A nice tree at the new building in Scotts Valley. Looks like a Live Oak,I could be wrong though.

Wildlife roundup!

The santa cruz mountain area has a lot of interesting wildlife. Aside the the family of deers that hung out around our house (and ate our garden), we’ve gotten more familiar with the local fauna

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Banana Slug!! I don’t like slugs, no matter how cute and anthropomorphised the college tries to make it, its still kinda gross

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A Salamander! Right in my yard! These were scarce in the east bay, too hot

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Our cat, Minnie Bee, brought us an Alligator lizard. I rescued it from here and observed it in a plastic bin before letting it scurry off.

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Aww what a cute little spider…

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Holy Sh*t thats a big spider. Its not the same as the one above, but it weaved it web right in front of our door, and I walked into its web daily. It wasn’t until a week later, late at night, that I finally say the creator of said web. I was shocked, this thing was BIG.

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A frog that lives in our front yard, and likes to hang out in the garage.

So that is it.

Have we enjoyed ourselves here? Yes

Did everything go as expected and smoothly? Well, no, not really. Nothing really does though, and we’ve learned a lot. I’m still enjoying myself at Bay Photo, its a small company that would not be able to function if the people there were not as passionate and in love with it. In my first year I think I’ve done well, but I’m just getting warmed up!