Wedding Pictures

Okay, so the title of this blog is a little misleading. I don't actually have any pictures from Leah and Walter's wedding. I left my camera at home during the service and decided to leave photography to the professionals. I did, however, make up for that 1.5 hour lapse by taking a million and one snapshots after the fact.

For those of you who were there (or weren't there for that matter), the weekend was awesome. "We'll be talking about it for a long time," as my mom says. Here are some highlights. Special thanks to Stu for taking all of the dancing shots.


"She said yes!"


"These are the hands..."


Bride and Bridesmaids


The first dance


Steve and Mom, breaking it down


Nora and Stu


I love this picture. "Pour Some Sugar on Me."


The Newlyweds


Steve, Mom and Nora at the Cottage


Leah, Walter and Friends

What a great weekend. I'll post more pictures as they come in.

-chc

"Come aside and rest awhile."

I'm back to the ol' grind now after a great weekend retreat with the ACE (Alliance for Catholic Education) Fellowship. Let me give a little background before showing a few pictures to illustrate just how great this retreat was.

The ACE Fellowship is a recently created network of current and former ACE teachers and friends. Basically the idea is to keep people connected so as to greater serve the needs of Catholic schools. This weekend, though, was very much about stepping aside to rest and reflect, which was something I really needed about now.

Let me also say that I didn't think there was any way we could top last year's weekend at Newport Beach. Leave it to ACE to prove me wrong on that...

Here's the Ocean view we enjoyed for most of the weekend:


And at sunset -- The view kind of reminds me of Cathead:


Good company, some quiet reflection time, Mass with the Pacific Ocean in the background...what's missing here? Why a boat tour of the area, of course. By the way, this "boat" has more square footage than my apartment!


Haha. Get it? This is Andrew. It turns out we both were at Willow Hill Elementary at the same time. He graduated from ACE last year and is still teaching in LA. Small world.


Don't worry, Fr. Scully didn't fall in . . .


Group picture from the top deck: Cort, Dave, Mark, Mike, Me


"Good Golly Miss Molly" -- A little impromptu evening sing-along.


Aaah, the beach...


And finally, a group picture with our more than gracious hosts.

I came back from the weekend really refreshed. It was just a great time, and I think we all enjoyed some well needed rest and reflection. ACE always has a way of organizing the best retreat experiences, and this was no exception.

Love thee, Notre Dame.

-chc

What's not for dinner?

So I went to Disneyland this weekend, as I often do. Hey, I had to start making use of my pass again. Besides, it's the "Happiest Place on Earth (TM)," right?

Or so I thought. Look what I encountered, much to my chagrin!



That's right I can handle the California Screamer (TM) and Space Mountain (TM), but the meatier shower sent me running in the other direction. It was a fun day overall though. We managed to hit most of the big rides and a few of the classics, which was great.

In other news, I've posted a slideshow from week when Mom, Dad, and Steve came out to visit me. You can view under the "San Francisco Trip" menu bar on the left. Enjoy!

-chc