Favorite Runs - Orchard Hills

Today's favorite run is Orchards Hills. This is a beautiful 5-6 mile loop around the Orchard Hills parkway. Orchard Hills is an Irvine Company development that only has an apartment complex, shopping center (Pavillions, CVS, Wells Fargo, etc.), and a newly built, beautiful K-8 school. This will be Mark's middle school when it opens for 5th and 6th grades in September.

From our neighborhood, I turn right onto Portola Pkwy -- AKA "Portola Dragstrip" for the late night racing that goes on year-round. Fortunately, this summer Portola is being torn up to add new drainage pipes so the racing has subsided dramatically.

When you first reach Orchard Hills school (shown below), that can be a 3 mile loop, or you can run on its dirt track behind the school (it was locked up this morning or I would have taken photos). The view from the track is lovely. You can see clear out to Newport.

Continue past the school along the beautiful walkways lined by avocado orchards (hence "Orchard Hills!").


Can you see all the million-dollar homes built here? Neither can we!! Irvine Company planned this development to be nothing but $M+ homes, but then the market tanked and the builders cancelled their projects. So now the area lays fallow with lots of sage brush. Starter attached homes (1600 sq ft) with no yards were priced at $1.3M (Cough, Cough). If I'm going to pay $1.3M for an attached home, it better have an ocean in front of it.


A view from the highest point on the run and the 5 mile turn-around. In the near distance is Northwood High School. In the far distance are the Tustin Marine Corp Air Station hangers famously shown in many movies "Pearl Harbor" and many commercials.

More great views out to Irvine business center near the 405 and John Wayne airport.

Northwood High school....

The foothills above Orchard Hills. These are the hills that were burning during the October 2007 fires that consumed Southern California.

The fun playground at Settlers Park next to Orchard Hills School. My children love to play here because they have a paved scooter/tricycle route.

Finished! 5 fun miles before the heat came on! It's 100 degrees today! Swimming -- take us away!

Project - Driveway landscaping

Boyd's weekly work-out...digging up the dirt along the fence and dumping it into the green waste disposal containers. This is all yucky clay soil that doesn't let anything grow except weeds.

Half-way progress! The new soil in front of the upper part of the driveway. Boyd had to dig up and remove the old soil, then get a delivery of high-quality fertilized soil and replace the dirt. He also repaired the sprinkler lines. Now we need to seed with grass or add shrubbery.

The weed patch at the end of the driveway...we and the neighbors can hardly wait until it is gone.

Our maple tree that suddenly went dormant. We think Boyd's work in digging out the bad soil and replacing with new soil may have caused shock to the roots. The leaves are all dead, but the branches themselves are supple still. We're not sure if we should remove the tree or let it revitalize. It was very pretty until the leaves died.

Brent learns to swim!

Brent just started taking swimming lessons 2 1/2 weeks ago. He started with a fear of putting his head under water, so he was put in a class of total beginners where the first lesson was "put your face in the water and blow bubbles". Then he progressed to keeping his face in the water while the teacher helped him learn to float on his tummy and then on his back. Now he is learning to kick and use his arms for freestyle stroke. I was amazed when after a few runs down Laurel & Mike Evan's pool slide with Mark catching him at the bottom, Brent decided he could do it all on his own. Yep! The next time down he figured out how to come to the surface and swim to the side. What great progress he has made (but this is another reason to wait until your kids are truly ready to learn how to swim). It was 95 degrees yesterday so perfect swimming weather. Today it may reach 100 degrees. I think we got the East Coast's heatwave from July 4th weekend!

I tried inserting this great little video of Brent sliding down into the water and swimming to the edge, but so far, I can't get it to upload. So for now here is a photo of our little Cootie!

Blake launching himself off the fun slide of the Evans' pool...

Jocelyn going down the slide (she wanted a photo included on this post, even if it is not a great shot!)

Laundry Riddle

Q: What happens when your 5 year-old tosses his pull-up in the laundry basket full of whites and it inadvertently gets thrown into the washing machine because his mother was in manic-mode trying to get the laundry started while rushing the kids into the car for swimming lessons?

A: A HUGE (we're talking H-U-G-E) MESS! The pull-up disintegrates into millions of pieces of lint and the water-absorbing crystals not only clog every single hole of the laundry tumbler, but they also absorb every drip of dirty rinse water and then get stuck in the rubber ring that surrounds the door. So basically the only way to clean up the mess is to hand clean one tiny hole at a time and to wipe up the rubber liner over and over and over as more and more of the grime keeps coming to the surface. I don't have pics of this (should have taken them), but it took me 1 1/2 hours to clean it up. Oh, and then you get to hand rinse every article of clothing that was in the machine because they are also covered in both lint and crystals.

Lesson learned: Don't ever, ever, ever let a pull-up or diaper go through the wash if you have a front-loading machine. Many thanks to Brent for today's laundry lesson.

Favorite Runs - Peters Canyon Trail

This morning I ran one of my favorite runs -- the Peters Canyon Trail. Finishing the run with a 1/2 mile dash up Citrus Ranch hill makes the total run 7.5 miles.

There are several other runs inside Peters Canyon Regional Park, but I call those the Peters Canyon Loop (extra 5 miles), the Peters Canyon Hills (extra 2-3 miles but feels like extra 6 because of all the steep hills), and the Big Red Hill Run (same distance but twice as painful...you'll see why below). Below are the highlights and beautiful sights I see on this run in the peaceful mornings.

Running by Peters Canyon Elementary school garden.

The million-dollar mansions lining the jogging paths. Beautiful homes...beautiful prices.


The Peters Canyon area before the start of the trail. I often see coyotes here. It is very cool and refreshing in the morning (and so quiet!).
Here we are at the trail head. Lots of mountain bikers ride these trails.

The oh-so-smelly latrines by the trail head. I am amazed when I see people actually go in & out of these. But Orange County Parks does keep them cleaned and serviced regularly, so perhaps they are less scary than they smell. (I'll never know!)

Trail to the mini-grove...

A modern architecture house that backs onto the trail...very pretty. I watched it built over the past two years. It has a steel frame and industrial doors (like at a school).

The last uphill stretch....got to run to the fence...

Yea! Gotta touch the fence!! This is the 3.5 mile turn-around. From here you can start the Loop trail and add another fun 5 miles to the run (but not that often!)

Beautiful morning sunrise over Peters Canyon reservoir (but I have never gone into the brush because lots of rattlesnakes bed near the water).

Big Red Hill....straight up and so named for the red dirt. I have never been able to RUN up this hill. I usually make it half way before my legs burn too much. You can several people on the hill using it for their morning work-out.

The mini-grove....a sweet sight along this peaceful trail. This is also the 5 mile turn-around.


Sunrise along the jogging trails back through Tustin Ranch.....

Pretty bougainvillea growing along the trail sides....

Top off the end of the run with a thigh-burning jog up Citrus Ranch Park hill to the overlook. Those are lemon trees in the groves.

View from the top of Citrus Ranch hill! Isn't it beautiful! Just below is Tustin Ranch golf course (about $75 for a round on a weekday, $150 on the weekends). From this hill, you can see all the way to Newport Beach. A tiny white dot in the distance is the Newport Beach temple (but I can't get a closer view from my camera). This is actually a pretty clear morning so it is nice to be able to see this far. The brown haze in the sky is the "marine layer" that usually comes clear up to our foothills and makes the morning skies grey.

Yes, I finished another long run!

At the finish line! The STOP sign behind our house! It feels so good to reach the end!

My private bathroom at the park. I go in here to wash my hands and freshen up at the end of each run. Then I stretch my legs at the park. It is the perfect finish to a nice run!

Done for another day! Have a great day!

Our New Arrival....

We joyously announce the addition of an HP 4200dtn LaserJet Duplex Printer to the Hill Household!

Adoption date: July 10, 2010

Weight: About 574 lbs. (according to Boyd who had to carry it up the stairs)

Height: Tall enough to be too bulky for a desk

Space it takes up: The ugly cord-crowded space between Wendy's desk and the bulky armoire that Boyd is so looking forward to getting rid of as soon as we can afford a flat-screen t.v. and new t.v. stand so that the armoire is no longer blocking our only a/c vent in the master bedroom, causing it to be the hottest room in the house during summer, which is yet another really stupid construction design in the house considering the master bedroom takes up half the upstairs (but I digress.....)


Price: In its full-time legal career days, this printer cost Boyd's office over $2K, but in today's recession-weary times, we happily took it off their hands for a mere $125. (Now that is a bargain that even e-Bay or Craigslist can't match...where are you going to find a top-of-the-line laserjet printer for $125? We couldn't pass this opportunity up!)

Siblings: Our new LaserJet joins a happy household of four laptops and one desktop that are in desperate need of faster and sharper printing power than the well-used and much-abused HP OfficeJet5000 could offer.

Features: It comes complete with two full-size paper drawers (haven't quite figured out how to get my computer to print to the second drawer where I loaded the cardstock for Young Women's lessons) and an envelope feeder for just those times when you need to send a mass mailing of Christmas letters but are sick and tired of hand addressing every single envelope and are seriously considering canceling the whole, time-consuming, annual project but know you can't because it is a tradition and traditions must be upheld at Christmas, even if they are annoying and time-consuming and cost wayyyyy too much in postage and card costs.

It also came with recent maintenance completed (not due for another 17K print jobs) and a new toner cartridge (which Boyd's office sold to us for their cost of $70, far below the extortion-level price of $174 that HP happily sells to lowly consumer masses who don't realize what a racket printer ink really is and how it is priced at 1000% mark-up).

Welcome to the family LaserJet! May you print many journal entires, e-mails, well written resumes and correctly completed homework assignments! And may you never run out of toner for a long, long, long, long, long, long time!

Parting shot: Had to include a photo of Boyd's desk being CLEAN because we gave him the HP OfficeJet printer, so he got into the clutter-free spirit and cleaned up his desk on Sunday....enjoy it while it lasts.....

Blake's 1st Grade Year

Blake was in Mrs. Denene Barrone's 1st/2nd grade combo GATE class. He had a terrific year. Mrs. Barrone was incredibly patient and supportive of him, even when he was having a tough day and when he started to exhibit nervous ticks. She simply encouraged him to be happy, keep working hard and do his very best. He enjoyed the children in his class and got along well with everyone. I loved that his class was a wonderful blend of many nationalities and cultures. The children shared their heritage in many ways -- delicious foods, fun traditions, and great presentations. The parents were great to work with and supported every class activity. Mrs. Barrone even commented that she had never had as much parental support as she did this year. It showed in how successful the class was. The 2nd graders excelled in their writing, science and ancestry projects, and the 1st graders excelled in their writing, math, reading comprehension, and rainforest projects. The 1st graders did so well that they finished their math requirements early, which had never been done before. As a delightful culmination to the year, during the last week of school, the class practiced and performed the cute musical "Jack and the Beanstalk". Blake played one of the farmers who buys Jack's cow with the magic beans. I pray that Blake's 2nd grade year is as wonderful as his 1st grade year was. He truly thrived!


Blake and his dear 1st grade teacher Mrs. Barrone. Mrs. Barrone has also taught Mark and Jocelyn in 1st grade, so she is very special to our family.

Blake with his Spider Monkey rainforest project. He worked very hard on this project. He also enjoyed completing the Sloth and "When the Monkeys Came Back" writing and art projects in class. His mother helped his class work on these projects many, many days.


Blake's class performing Jack and the Beanstalk. The three girls in the center (Alyssa Howie, Sydney Hom, and Crystal Millar) were the three gold eggs!


Blake and Ahkilan playing the farmers in the Jack and Beanstalk play.

In May we had great fun with Marc, Cindy and Shannon Taylor when they came to Disneyland for a week. Blake insisted that Wendy go on the rapids ride and she got totally soaked (but so did everyone else, despite wearing jackets!)


Seismic proof of the Blake-quake....I remember this time well because I was laying in the recovery room following my late night C-section when the earthquake hit. I bolted straight up in bed when the room and bed began shaking. I said, "What is that!!??" and the attending nurse said, "We're having an earthquake." Welcome to the world Blake! It must be happy you are here to give you a rumbling welcome!

The Blake-quake!! We toured the L.A. Science Museum during spring break in April. Jocelyn found the seismic recordings of the earthquake that centered in Yorba Linda the night Blake was born in 2002. We were all so excited to have Blake pose in front of proof of his earthquake!

Blake and Brent running the annual TMA jog-a-thon to earn a free Jamba Juice smoothie. Blake and Brent will do anything for a smoothie (even compete for the finish line!)

Blake ran 10 full laps!

Blake is one fierce tetherball player...he hates to lose! His proudest accomplishment was being voted "Best at Tetherball" by his class. Go Blake!