Images in the Backcountry Blog » Family

Merry Christmas

Mike Matenkosky — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 20:38:23 +0000

Just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everybody here! The manger scene is a scratch-built building using balsa wood, plastic sheet and ordinary twigs and sand. I included two grain of wheat lights for lights made to look like lanterns and hand-painted the 4-inch figures.

Manger Scene

Thanksgiving at Yosemite

Mike Matenkosky — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 20:32:13 +0000

One thing is for sure, sometimes it takes a while to decide if I want to post some of my experiences or photos. This is one of them.

Some of you know by now, my wife booked us (me and the kids) room at the historic Mariposa Hotel Inn for Thanksgiving. She woke me up Thanksgiving morning and told me to pack! We had no plans for the day, no Turkey to cook and her mom and dad were visiting out of state.

Sounded good to me. We like things a bit un-traditional. We found only one restaurant open and instead of ordering the Turkey buffet, we had hamburgers instead.

Since we were 45 minutes from Yosemite, I had to drive up the next day and do the “tourist thing”. My wife suggested doing the nature walk at 3pm, so that’s what we did.

Had to stop and get a picture of Cathedral Rocks.

Cathedral Rocks

Had to photograph the trees while we were on our nature walk.

Trees

We “missed” sunset as we were on the bus. Didn’t see any ‘wow’ moments anyway. Had to stop here and try and capture the last bit of light on El Capitan.

El Capitan

Tournament Week 1: Girl’s MYSA U15 – Merced Strikers

Mike Matenkosky — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 03:21:08 +0000

First week of the tournament didn’t pan out as we had hoped for. The girls fought hard but in the end they lost both games 1 – 2 and 3 – 5. Hannah took an arm to her face within minute being subbed in on the second game and didn’t play again.

Week 7: Girl’s MYSA U15 – Merced Strikers

Mike Matenkosky — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 01:38:16 +0000

At the Merced College Field #1, our team the Merced Strikers played the Merced Vipers. Unfortunately we lost 5 – 0.

Week 6: Girl’s MYSA U15 – Merced Strikers

Mike Matenkosky — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 02:20:25 +0000

At the Merced College Field #4, our team the Merced Strikers played the McSwain Mustangs. Another exciting game and we tied 1 – 1.

Week 4: Girl’s MYSA U15 – Merced Strikers

Mike Matenkosky — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 22:34:42 +0000

Boy, what another exciting game at the Merced College Field #4 this afternoon! Our team, the Merced Strikers, played the Merced Chargers. When the dust cleared we tied 1 – 1!

Week 3 Girl’s Soccer MYSA U15 – Merced Strikers

Mike Matenkosky — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 23:47:32 +0000

It was an interesting game. Who in the heck decided to turn the sprinklers on during the soccer match? Thankfully, it only watered it for about 15 minutes. I took a few pictures before it “rained”, but I decided to watch the rest of the game, so I only got a few pictures.

Game-wise, it was a great game. Both teams were evenly matched and the final score…. 2 – 2! I added some pictures from this week’s practice too.

Week 2: Girl’s MYSA U15 – Merced Strikers

Mike Matenkosky — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 05:01:09 +0000

Hannah and the “Strikers” won their soccer game this afternoon, 4 – 0!

Busy Weekend: Karate Camp and Soccer

Mike Matenkosky — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 01:57:55 +0000

What a busy weekend! Sarah had her fall Karate Camp this weekend at Castle Park in Atwater and Hannah’s first Soccer match was at Merced College, Field 4 on Saturday.

After this weekend at Karate Camp, Sarah advances to low-purple belt.

Hannah’s team didn’t win their first match, but I think they all had fun.

Sarah as the New Hi-Orange Belt

Mike Matenkosky — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 22:31:50 +0000

It was a packed house (studio) yesterday at Moore’s Karate in Atwater. Shifu James had the beginner, intermediate and advanced students show up to take their new belt test.

Here’s a few photos of Sarah…