Summer fun with the Family

After Kindra and I got back from our trip we were lucky enough to have Mel, Jeff & Megan visit for a week and my parents visit for 3 days (two weeks later). We had a blast playing with our niece. We went to the Wild Animal Park, Sea World, Kindra's parents pool and the park. Jeff and I went golfing twice and good times were had by all. Megan is growing up so fast, but is so cute. I am emailing my sister to get her to send a couple of the pictures through e-mail and I will add them to the message!
My parents and us had a great time relaxing, playing games and of course went for a drive with the Chevy. I miss my family and it was so nice to have them down here in wonderful San Diego!

A Trip to New Zealand & Australia, yes please :)

Kindra and I spent three weeks traveling through the amazing countries of New Zealand and Australia. I could write about this trip for days on in and many of you got my e-mails from the trip when we were on it (so you have heard many great stories). If you want to hear more stories, see pictures, watch me be only a little scared on my bungy jumping video just ask and Kindra and I wold love to share our adventure with you. It was probably our best trip yet. It could have been a combo of traveling in only English speaking countries, or it being our 3rd trip together, or the great things we did, but the trip was awesome and we did so many great things. Here are two pics of our amazing trip. I am in the process of making an I-video of the trip, so hopefully I can show everyone that so you can get a short version of the trip. Cheers!

I must be getting older!

In the middle of June, one of Kindra's youngest cousins got married in Costa Mesa. I remember when I first started dating Kindra, Beth was 15 and just a little bubbly High Schooler. Now, she has graduated from college, married and getting a job teaching. "Life goes by pretty fast, if you don't stop and check it out every so often, you might miss it" We had a great time spending time with family at the wedding :)

Messi is simply the best...

If you like soccer at all, or even if you don't like soccer but you love great athletes, you need to watch Argentina play and watch Lionel Messi. He takes over a soccer game the way Pele and Maradona did 40 years ago. His touch, speed and plain old talent is unreal. Talking about unreal, Qualcomm Stadium for a Mexico vs. Argentina game is unreal. It was the craziest crowd I have ever been a part of. The moment we walked into the stadium the energy level was amazing. I have never seen or felt anything like it. It was also weired to me that the whole game was commentated in Spanish (isn't San Diego still in an English speaking country? :) Amir, Louisa, Jared, and Mike had a blast watching some of the best play soccer in our neighborhood!

Was there a slip-n-slide sighting?

Memorial Day weekend 2008 was spent in Palm Springs with Josh, Sarah, Sarah's bro and girlfriend and Josh's buddy Steven and his girl. The 8 of us had a blast enjoying the great weather, pool and fine beverages. We played different games from Beirut, to beverage pong, to full contact water basketball, to floatie races in the pool. Yes, we did find a slip-n-slide and had a blast on it. Crazy how much fun a bunch of late 20's early 30's people could have with one toy! Josh loved the place so much he almost bought the house, but we will have to take some more trips out there and try some other houses to see if there is an even better one for us. :)

Holy cow, its already been two years!

Time flies and Kindra and I's first two years of marriage have gone by fast. We have enjoyed so much over these two years that I can't even imagine how many other great things we will do over our lifetime. Kindra and I wanted to do something special, but not crazy so we decided we would spend the night in Temecula at the South Coast Winery. We had a beautiful room and spent the next day having a private wine tour and relaxing together. A great way to celebrate the start of our 3rd year of marriage together!

6 Championships has a nice ring to it!

Was there ever a doubt that we were not going to win our sixth consecutive UCSB alumni softball tournament? When we were losing by 15 runs in the 5th inning, I think all of us were thinking about how good our run was and that the legacy was over. Instead, we started hitting single after single and after a ten run 5th inning and a ten run 6th inning we had a lead and held on to a one run lead through the 7th. Great times with friends all weekend while playing softball, going golfing at Sandpiper, hanging out at our house or going downtown. A grand weekend for another unreal title!

Megan's 1st Trip to Disneyland

In April, my family traveled down to Anaheim while Kindra and I took the day off work and we had a blast with our niece for her first time at Disneyland. We had a good mix of doing rides with Megan and doing all the classic rides at Disneyland. Next time with Megan will be even better :)

Kindra's 1st Triathlon!!

In late January, early February Kindra decided she wanted to do her first triathlon. We signed up for a local race hosted by UCSD on Fiesta Island (Mission Bay - San Diego). It was a sprint triathlon - 500 meter swim, 12 mile bike, 3 mile run. It would not be easy, but with training was doable. As Kindra got a month into her training her goal went from simply finishing to beating a certain time. I would love to say that she decimated the time by over 14 minutes. Her strongest area was surprisingly her bike leg. She road on my mountain bike and had only really started biking in February (where she had run and swim for years before). Her strongest area going in was supposed to be the swim, but adrenaline and being her first race freaked her out and she did not have the swim time she wanted. As I said before, she had an amazing bike split and then ran a solid 5k run to not only finish her first triathlon, but to do it in a great time. I also raced (my first one since September of 02) and had an okay swim, a decent bike and a pretty good run. We had a great time and I was so proud of Kins!

Time to Celebrate with Leah & Raj

In March we went up to the Bay and celebrated with Leah and Raj as they hosted their wedding reception. It was at the Admiral's House in the old Shipyards of Vallejo. The location was awesome and we had a great time celebrating their wedding reception. Just like that, another joins the marriage club. I am feeling old right now :)

Celebrate my 28th, Vegas style

Kindra and I ran into trouble with people coming with us to Vegas for my birthday weekend, but that did not stop us from going. We had a blast drinking our favorite margaritas, hanging by the pool and not getting lucky gambling :) It was a lot of fun walking around Vegas even though the snow was near and it was cold. We stayed at the Imperial Palace and had a really nice room there. We went to Benihana's for dinner to celebrate my birthday and I tried to reclaim my youth by hanging with the 4 twenty-one year olds we sat with. Good times by all but it made for an earlier evening. I guess next time we go we will make up for it and Kindra and I will actually make it out to dance at Tao!

Camping Trip in February?

But of course! Amir, some of his buddies and I took off for the beach camping this time around (a year before we did a little Anza Borrego forest camping). The weather was overcast the whole time but that did not keep us from having fun eating lots of food, playing over the line and HORSE with a soccer ball. Always a good time relaxing and camping.

New Years 07-08

Once again Josh threw an excellent fiesta and we had a blast. Two of the best moments was the UCSB Alumni versus everyone else in flip cup and all of us singing Karaoke. McDonough and I were of course unbeatable in Beirut. Good times was had by everyone that was there. You can't really complain when you are with your closest friends and the people they love!!

McGurk Family Olympics - Year 2

Year 2 of the McGurk family olympics were once again dominated by Julia and Brandon. Kindra and I were full of confidence but started the day by failing to pin the dot on the donkey and that hurt us dearly. :) We did finish first in the bobbing for apples contest (our combined time was the quickest), which put a smile on our faces. The family olympics were created by Kindra a year ago and they are great times doing goofy or alternative tasks. Good times! This Thanksgiving we will win!!!

The 70's are back and I am looking good!

Amir had a 70's theme party at his house. We played poker, played foosball, had some beverages and looked good. I was of course a 70's soccer player (or at least that was my goal) :)

A Wayne & Garth sighting?

Halloween 2007 was spent at Josh's house. For the second year in a row Kindra dressed up as a man. (The year before we were Mario & Luigi). This year we were Wayne and Garth and I think hit the costumes straight on. A lot of credit goes out to my beatiful wife for being creative! We had a great time at Josh's playing games and enjoying the company. The celebration got up to about 25-30 people who were all decked out. Daniel and Diana flew down to LA and three of the boys were together to celebrate. That's what I am talking about!!

Shhh, it's a surprise :)

Mel, Jeff, Kindra and i planned a surprise 60th birthday party for my parents in late October. It was halfway between my Dad's and Mom's birthdays and thought they would love a surprise to celebrate with family and friends. We had the surprise party at BJ's Restaurant in Cupertino and had a blast. It went off pretty well for having to be so secretive. The only thing we were surprised about was what door my parents walked in to, but they were very surprised and couldn't believe the surprise was for them. Great times with friends and family. Love you Mom and Dad!

Time to Dress up Again!

Kindra's best friends sister Lizzie got married on the cliffs of La Jolla. Kins and I had a blasting dance the night away and enjoying the beatiful view. This was a great place to have a wedding. The combination of ambiance and people made for a jolly good time. This also put an end to our 2007 wedding season, which had quite a lot of festivities :)

Nick Joins the Club Too!!

In early September overlooking Capitola and the coastline Nick and Lis got married. I got to celebrate with Kindra and my family again. Also celebrating was B-Cups Mike F., Mike G. & their significant ladies. The venue was nice and cozy and we had a great time congratulating Nick for grabbing a great lady!

Keller Gets Married :)

Marcus joined the married club in the early evening of August 25th. It was a great ceremony and party in the beatiful foothills between Half Moon Bay and San Mateo. Above are some pictures of Kindra and my family with me at the wedding. Kartik and I made a great speech :) and good times were had by all. Congrats Keller on a job well done!