The Weatherman

I’m not sure a blog entry can do this justice.  The short summary…

We closed on our new house on July 7th.  I moved 30 boxes of stuff over on July 8th.  We flew to Kauai for our big summer vacation on July 9th.  Flew back on July 16th.  Moved stuff all day today.  Packing and moving small stuff after work this week.  Going to the Seattle/ManU game on Wednesday night and our big moving day is Friday.  Oh, and we still haven’t sold our current home, thus our stress levels are tad high.  The Kauai vacation helped that a lot.

First, our new house…very excited to finally have the keys.  Good thing it has a roomy basements cuz we are filling it.  Fortunately, we are probably 2/3s done with moving all non-furniture stuff – so we’ve made really good progress.  We need to box and move things all week so the movers can quickly get our furniture over there.  Since the house closed, the last owners obviously didn’t do much work in the yard so I’ll have plenty of weeding and clean-up to do once we move…just realized I’ll have to do this at two homes…guess I’ll be walking our lawn mower back and forth.

Now for the Kauai trip…one of the most relaxing vacations I’ve ever had.  Now that the boys are older it is easier to hang with them as they are pretty self sufficient when they play.  Our routine was get up, some mornings I went for a run, walk down to Poipu Beach, swim in the water and snorkel, get back by lunchtime, eat, the boys would take naps, then we’d go to the pool for a few hours, then have dinner, and the boys would generally go to sleep early.  On two days we did excursions – one day to the north side of the island where we spent a couple of hours at Tunnels Reef/Beach.  I got to snorkel with sea turtles – one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.  We had a good lunch in Hanalei Bay.  Another day we took a drive up Waimea Canyon and to a viewpoint on the Napali Coast (think Jurassic Park).

We stayed at the Villas at Poipu Kai - awesome place.  We had a 4 bedroom 3.5 bath penthouse poolside villa with it’s own elevator.  Very luxurious – probably the nicest placed I’ve stayed in.  The pool was a good size (not resort huge which was good) – roomy enough to play around but easy enough to keep an eye on the boys.  Nate and Zach are getting better at swimming.  Zach depends on the floaties but he isn’t afraid to jump in the water or go under water.  Nate didn’t like the floaties – he preferred the inflatable tube and he didn’t like going under water.

On the beach the boys loved sitting in the shallow water and letting the little waves run them over – they thought that was the coolest thing ever.  They also enjoyed riding the boogie board on the little waves.  For me, the coolest thing was the snorkeling – I couldn’t get enough of it.  Next time we are bringing more than one snorkel set so we can go out in pairs.

For the photos – all of them are located here.  Below are some of my favorites.

Nice shot of Steph, Jan, and their mom.

Tunnels Reef/Beach where the snorkeling was awesome.

The boys acting out Lord of the Flies.  Nate used cheetos to paint his face!

Looking south from Princeville.

Our cool pool area.

I have lots of these photos…the beach and pool seriously tired them out…it was awesome.

Poipu Beach – this is where we played most of the time (and ran into my parents neighbor’s daughter and family)

In the Grand Hyatt grounds near where we stayed.

Cool clouds south of Waimea Canyon

Nice shot of Jan and Mike.

My beach girl.

Vivid colors of the Napali Coast

With 40 coming up like food poisoning, Steph is wondering if I’m in the middle of my mid-life crisis. Why? I promptly traded in the mini-van today for a 2010 Xterra Off Road! Shazam! I’m going 4 wheelin.

Seriously, yes, I got rid of the family van. We didn’t need anymore now that we have the pilot. For me, it was either a Jeep or an Xterra. Uncle Mike has the Jeep so I opted for the Xterra (Off Road version of couse). Now I need to get it lifted with F’in big ass steel bumpers, a winch with an air compressor, and gas cans…then I’ll feel cool and 10 years younger again. Oh, and don’t forget the huge ass tires and wheels…and the noisy muffler. It already comes with kick ass Rockford Fosgate sound system. Anyway, here are some shots after cruising Alki…

Nice front sunset shot on Alki Point.  Gotta love the off road lights on the roof.

Lookin good in the sun.

Profile shot!

Yeah, they could be beefier, but better than the standard Xterra.

Now we’re talkin…this is what it’s all about.

Yeah, I got the covers on…but these will be really COOL!

Basic inside.  The Off Road is based on the Xterra S (not SE) so it doesn’t have leather or heated seats or any of that crap.

It was also an incredibly beautiful day in Seattle.

Over Memorial Day weekend we visited Steph’s mom and grandma in Michigan (Traverse City).  We stayed at the Sugar Beach Hotel (right on East Grand Traverse Bay) – so we had plenty of sand, water, and pool stuff to do.  It was wonderful weather (mainly in the low to mid 80s).  The boys were very good on the flights and during the trip.  Great Grandma enjoyed seeing her great grandkids – they entertained her for hours.

In Steph’s words…

We went to Traverse City, Michigan over the Memorial Day weekend.  We left early on Saturday morning.  The boys were very excited to visit Grandma and Great Grandma.  My mom was already in Michigan visiting her mother.  My Grandma (the boys Great Grandma) had only seen Zach when he was 8 months old, and had never met Nate.  Needless to say, she was excited.

Caught a flight out of Seattle to Chicago on United.  We boarded the plane between first class and coach.  The flight attendants immediately asked if the boys wanted to see the cockpit.  Paul immediately yelled, “YES!”  Both Nate and Zach got a chance to sit up in the cockpit and I got their pictures.  Paul wished we could have spent more time in the cockpit.  As we left, we walked through first class and Zach said, “I want to sit here.”  Me too, kiddo.  Me too.  They boys got their “wings” on the flight.  Zach insisted on wearing his wings on every outfit for the rest of the trip.  I had to convince him that he could not wear them on his jammies.

Zach sat with me on the plane and Nate with Paul.  I had got them both backpacks prior to the trip and they enjoyed carrying them through the airport and getting their toys and books in and out of them.  Zach was easy on the plane, once we were cleared to watch movies.  I guess Nate slept some and mainly played with his headphones.  We had an hour layover in Chicago.  They were tired, but hung on.  During the hour short flight from Chicago to Traverse City, they both mainly just looked out the window.  Zach and I also spent a lot of time looking at his “I Spy” book.

The time spent in Michigan was a lot of fun.  Fortunately, we had WONDERFUL weather.  80 degrees and great beach weather.  My Aunt Betsy and Uncle Bob came out for a visit at Grandma’s.  Uncle Bob brought Central Michigan hats for the boys (“Go Chippawas!”).  Grandma and Great Grandma had some hula hoops and other toys ready for them.  Fortunately, we could play outside a lot in the nice weather instead of destroying the house.

We spent time at the beach.  It was beautiful being able to sit in a chair with our toes in the water and bask in the sun.  The boys loved playing in the water and the sand – getting wet and dirty.  We also spent a lot of time in the indoor hotel pool.  Zach wasn’t into the pool at the start, but then loved it.  He is so tall, he could walk half the distance of the pool before it got too deep.  Other highlights included riding the Carousel at the Grand Traverse Mall.  I guess my mom has been trying to find an excuse to ride that thing for years, and finally had a reason with the boys visiting.  The boys got great farmer tans on the trip.  They both look more blond than when we left.

Overall, it was a really fun trip.  Kids were good on the planes on the way back.  It was almost a disaster since our first flight was an hour late – such that we would have missed our connection.  But that plane was late too!  Never been happier to have a delayed flight.  Great Grandma got to have fun watching the boys play with bubbles and balls and other toys.  She watched them eat a ton of food – especially fruit.  And also now knows why it is never quiet in my house when she calls.

Next trip is Summer Camp at Lake Chelan.  Cannot wait.  I like vacations!

Now for some photos.

Nate playing with bubbles.

Zach having a grand time playing outside.

They even take breaks.

The four generation shot.

Another 4 generation shot including Aunt Betsy.

Loving the beach.  I sat on an Adirondack chair with my feet in the water…very calming.

Nate loved running in the yard.

Zach wondering how to get more time in the pool back at the hotel.

Steph and her grandma.

Almost all happy kids…Nate was tired.

Definitely a wonderful place to relax, enjoy the sun, and play in the water…hope to be back soon.

First, a picture of Zach in his ski clothes during our trip to Big White (and a photo looking off of our balcony).

At least he looked good.

That is the ski run along the bottom.

This last week I returned from my work trip to Luxembourg and Ireland.  I was able to get some site-seeing done in Luxembourg and Galway as well.  Here are some photos:

Homes and businesses along the river.

Nice view of the river.

Inside the Galway Cathredral.

Thirsty!

Popular Galway waterfront.

The Cliffs of Moher.  Not common to have such a sunny day – we got lucky.

Token picture of me.

Looking north along the Cliffs of Moher.

Ancient tomb in the Burren.

The Burren…kind of like the moon.  It is covered in limestone eroded away by rain and wind.

Ruins next to an abbey.

The walls of the abbey.

More photos can be had in my image gallery.

Now, for this week.  Our yard partial yard renovation begins this week.  We have contracted with Andy at Ecoyards.  In a nutshell, we are having our front yard re-landscaped with new plants, lawn and borders along the driveway.  Basically, a real good cleanup.  For the backyard, we are replacing our brick patio with a paver patio, enlarging it a bit, adding steps to our lawn, removing some lawn, and adding in some gravel pathways.  The back half of the backyard will not be changed.  We are definitely excited.

First, the injury update.  During the marathon I noticed that I had some left calf pain but the pain had dissipated by the end of the race and was completely gone for 2 days after the race.  Once the initial muscle soreness left me, I noticed that my left calf was strained.  About two days after that my Achilles Tendon became very sore and a little swollen.  Well, over a week later and I’m still suffering from Achilles Tendonitis (my own self-diagnosis).  I’m using a lot of ice, some Aleve, and now Arnica (thanks Mike).  If the pain/swelling doesn’t subside this week, I’ll either go for acupuncture or a doctor.  This is keeping me from running, so I’ve joined a gym and started some cross training (which is probably a smart thing to do anyway).

July 4th was Nate’s birthday and it was absolutely beautiful up here.  My parents, sister, and brother-in-law were town for the weekend so they got a good dose of a nice Seattle summer weekend.  The highlights from the weekend included an Argosy boat cruise through the locks, the West Seattle 4th of July Children’s Parade, and of course Nate’s Birthday party.  We had a few of the PEPs families over plus John/Kim and family for a BBQ.

This weekend we have a Sounders game and West Seattle Summer Fest – pretty exciting.

The BubbleMan was in the Junction tonight doing a bubble show.  Zach is right there in the middle of it all.

Watching the BubbleMan.

Nate on his birthday.

Zach helping with the gift opening.

Nate likes his Handy Manny toolbox.

Illegal fireworks we can see from our house.  Yes, those are not legal!

One more shot of the illegal fireworks.

Yeah, I know, I haven’t written much in a while…nothing on Facebook either.  No real excuse…just busy.  Zach and I took a trip down to the Bay Area to see my grandparents and the following weekend we drove down to Eugene in the new car.  Oh yeah, we traded in the Acura TSX for a Honda Pilot.  I must say, the Honda Pilot is pretty awesome vehicle – probably my favorite so far of any car we’ve owned.  Steph drives the Pilot as the minivan is mine 

I also performed my longest run ever of 18.5 miles at the end of May.  That was longest until my marathon on June 27th, which is coming up very quickly.  I’m in the final preparation stages…all that means is I need to taper off in my running – the last two weeks are all about recovery and healing.  I can do that.

Here are some photos from our recent trip to Eugene.

Not often do you get a 2 year old to pose as well as Nate did.  Great shot of Nate and Auntie Jan.

Nate is a hangin.  We took the boys to a bounce gymastics facility where they had open play time.  This really wears them out.

Oops, Nate fell down.

A mid-air Zach.  It’s tough to get in-focus shots of Zach since he moves so quickly.

Grumpy Nate on the swing.

Goin down the big slide.  Check out that smile!

A pano of the Tokyo skyline..I forgot to put this up a while back. Click on it for a bigger version.

In other news, we took the boys to see Up this weekend at the movie theatre.  Aside from both kids wanting to sit on mommy’s lap, they were both very quiet and good in the theatre.  We made it through the whole film.  I think Steph was the most excited as she finally made it to the movies – it’s been a while.

Yesterday was nice also.  I finally had a long run where it didn’t rain.  Plus it was the first time I’ve run 13 miles.  It hurt but I feel good today.

Today we went to Seward Park in morning and I did some gardening (weeding, composting, mowing) in the afternoon.  I also did this while downing a rum and coke (good gardening drink), a few Bob’s, and finally some wine.  Yeah, I was little drunk, but have since recovered to write up this blog post.

Here are some photos from our trip to the park.

Nate pretty happy throwing rocks.

Let’s throw a stick now.

Diggin for that special meal.

Look out Tim Lincecum.

You tell me.

Yes, Spring does happen in Seattle.

Nate isn’t always happy.

A nice morning at the park.

The other night Nate had one of those 20 month old moments…you know, crying for no reason for 30 minutes.  Anyway, it wore him out and he fell asleep on the couch.  I captured this photo of Nate right before trying out for the Stray Cats.

That is one tired boy.

Of course, I need to throw up a photo of Zacher playing around the house…what a ham.

Zach posing for the camera.

After a snowy weekend we’ve had some very cold weather in Seattle – lows in the 20s and highs and 30s and 40s.  But, on the good side, we’ve had some very clear weather.  This morning I captured this panorama on my way to work.

View of the Olympics from West Seattle (click to see larger image).

We are supposed to get rain this weekend.  No other plans but to go running.

The first Seattle Sounders FC game is on Thursday and we have season tickets – can’t wait.

This weekend we had a planned 80 minute run for Team N Training.  We met at Golden Gardens (in North Seattle) at 8am.  On the way up the temperature dropped from 40 degrees to 36 degrees and it started snowing.  Fortunately, the snow stopped for the duration of the run.  I ended up running for 90 minutes which was probably about 30 minutes too long since I was just getting over a nasty chest cold.

As for the snow, it snowed some on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday…just a little each day – enough to cover everything with a thin layer.  Tonight the temps are supposed to drop down to the mid 20s (already 32 outside) so things should be nice and frozen in the morning.

I also picked up a new camera bag.  I had the following requirements:

* good balance between weight and size

* carry a laptop

* carry my camera body with a 70-200 f/4 lens, 17-55 f/2.8, 50mm f/1.8, flash unit, accessories, ipod, and plenty of other little storage.

* meet carry-on requirements

* provide a tripod holder as an option

I first picked up the Tenba Shootout small backpack.  What a little beast.  This thing had some girth.  It was pretty thick, heavy, and not very comfortable for me.  On top of that, my Dell D410 (small) laptop did not fit into the laptop opening.  So I returned that bag.

It was now between a Kata R103 and a Crumpler (either the Sinking Barge, Customary Barge, or Whicky and Cox).  Glazer’s Camera had the R103 and the Sinking Barge.  Both were very comfortable.  The R103 met all of my requirements whereas the Sinking Barge lacked enough camera space.  So I went with the Kata R103.

I’m very happy with the bag.  The camera gear I listed above easily fits in the bag – I could even add my 12-24mm f/4 if needed or I could swap out the 70-200mm for my 300mm f/4.  Laptop and power brick easily slip into the laptop holder.  It has plenty of accessory pouches (FYI, one is hidden inside large lid) for stuff like charger, cables, ipod, headphones, etc.  I still have room remaining for other small items and I could even fit a paperback book in there.

As for the rest of the weekend…it was pretty quiet.  Since the temp never went above 40, we stayed indoors for the most part.  Nate went to the camera store twice with me, whereas Zach was happiest at home with mommy.