Christmas 2019!

We decided to spend Christmas 2019 with our family in Vancouver.  We opted for a road trip and left Boise on the afternoon of the 20th.  The first day's drive to Richland, WA, was uneventful and we made it there in time for dinner at Hubby's.  On the morning of the 21st it was 60 degrees in Richland and it did not feel like winter at all!  With the mild conditions, finishing the drive to Vancouver was no problem.

Our week in Vancouver was a whirlwind!  We watched a Canucks game the night we arrived.  It was a great time and the Canucks won handily.  The girls got to spend lots of time with their cousins, including their first time ice skating!  We continued our standard traditions, such as the Christmas Eve church service, Christmas Day brunch, Christmas turkey dinner, and the wacky gift exchange.

After a busy week, we headed home on the 28th.  We again stayed the night in Richland and ate dinner at Barley's Brew Pub, a nice restaurant which was once visited by Guy Fieri.  It was great to see many of our Vancouver family & friends - we had a wonderful (too short!) visit!

Christmas 2019 Pictures!

Florida Trip 2019

It has been way too long since our whole family visited Nana, Papa, and Great Grandma in Florida.  With the kids in school these days we chose to visit at the peak of summer.  We knew the weather would be hot but that also means it would be great pool weather!  We flew to Florida on August 7.  The flight was uneventful except for the technical delay on the soon-to-be-retired MD-80 flying from DFW-JAX.  We are blessed that our children are such great travelers!

Once in Florida, we had a great time catching up with family, eating yummy food, and spending time in the bathwater-temperature pool in Nana and Papa's neighborhood.  The water was almost too warm to stay in too long!  For something unique, we decided to experience the dolphin encounter at Marineland.  We spent about 30 minutes in the water with a trainer and a dolphin named Dazzle.  Dazzle performed tricks, swam by all of us, and even allowed each person to come in for a kiss and a dance.  We all had a great time and I'm very glad we went!

While in town we also visited the St. Augustine Alligator Farm, which is my favorite zoo anywhere.  It was crazy hot but we were able to see all of the exhibits (and the alligator feeding!) before we needed to head home and cool down.  We also took the girls to the beach one morning.  It wasn't too hot at first and things were going well until Claire got sand in her bathing suit - then it was over!  We enjoyed our time at the beach but we learned that Claire is a pool person!

Katie and I also celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary while in Florida!  We had a delicious family dinner at Enza's to jointly celebrate both my parents' 43rd anniversary (belated from July) and our 15th.  On the 12th, Katie and I had a "date night" and enjoyed a round of drinks in town before a nice seafood dinner at Schooner's.  We would have liked to further experience the town on foot but opted to avoid the stifling evening heat!

It was a great trip and a true vacation.  We were sad to leave on the 14th but we had a smooth flight back home.  Thank you for the great times and hospitality Nana, Papa, and Great Grandma!

Florida Trip 2019 Pictures!

Florida Visit

As part of getting old, I decided it would be good to run my hometown running race, the Gate River Run 15K, before I fall apart.  I arranged a trip to do this and also see my parents and grandmother in Florida, who I don't see enough of!

I had a great visit catching up with family, eating delicious food, celebrating birthdays, visiting the World Golf Hall of Fame, and putting in a decent performance in the River Run (1:22:02, for an 8:48/mile pace).  The heat was a bigger factor than I expected - I can't train for that in Idaho in the winter!  Overall I really enjoyed the race - it had a great route over two of Jacksonville's signature bridges and through some very nice neighborhoods.  It was very well organized and featured unlimited free beer after the race.  I may very well return next year!

Florida Visit 2019 Photos!
Gate River Run GPS Track

Playing Catch-up, Part Deux

Yep, that's right, folks - 2 blog posts in a week!! We can't believe it either...please don't get used to it!

So, when last we blogged, we were heading into Summer & looking forward to lots of nice weather. This summer has been a great one, both weather-wise & otherwise, so let's discuss, shall we? Great.

We kicked off the summer at the beginning of July by driving up to Vancouver to spend the July long weekend with my family. We headed out of Boise on the Thursday night (July 3rd) and drove through the night, arriving in Vancouver around breakfast time. The girls did really well on the overnight trip - Nora slept through a lot of it, and Claire slept off & on, but at least when she was awake, she would just talk quietly to herself & look out the window. No complaints from us!

The visit in Vancouver was great - the weather was gorgeous (and hot!), so we spent lots of time with Auntie Megan, Emily & Matthew at pools and playgrounds, which Claire loved of course! We also headed out to Cultus Lake to visit Uncle Dave & celebrate my birthday. Dave has a truly beautiful place to call home - the lake is practically at his doorstep, and is absolutely stunning! The water was amazing & even Claire splashed around in it after some serious coaching & coaxing from various family members. We were able to coordinate this visit with a cross-country visit from my Auntie Cathy who lives in Manitoba, so it was wonderful to see her & introduce her (and the whole family) to Nora!

Zach drove back to Boise & Claire, Nora & I spent another 10 days hanging out with everyone. It was so nice to just hang out at the wading pools & parks while the cousins played together. The girls & I were sad to leave, but had to head back to Boise so Zach wouldn't forget what we looked like! We flew to Portland & then to Boise, and both girls did very well. I was quite worried, flying with both of them by myself, but luckily the flights weren't long (1hr 15mins each leg), and Nora slept for a lot of the 2nd flight so I was able to keep Claire busy.

Our next adventure came in mid-August - camping with an almost-3 year old & a 6 month old! Such fun! No really, we had a great time. We headed out to Lewis and Clark Trail State Park, in Washington State, to meet up with our friends Joey & Sam and their daughters (Cecelia, 5 & Mallory, 2), and Tracy & Dan. We spent 2 nights at the campground, which was just lovely - the sites weren't big, but they were nice & right close to a small river. The girls played really well together & kept each other entertained for long stretches, which allowed the adults time to visit. Both Claire & Nora did very well sleeping in the tent with us - Claire was so worn out by bedtime on both nights that she'd just pass out cold & not even bat an eyelash if Nora woke up & cried! Yay for tired kids!

So, those were the two big trips of our summer, and now that we're heading into Fall, we're very excited to be flying down to Florida this Tuesday to spend a week with Jan & Ron! More about that trip in our next blog post...until then, here are the pictures from the rest of our summer...Enjoy!

Love,
Katie, Zach, Claire & Nora

Late Summer Update Pictures!
Nora Tries the Jumperoo Video
Nora Getting Used to the Jumperoo Video
Nora in the Jumperoo Video
Splashing Claire Video
Nora Splashes Video
Grass Fed Baby Video
Nora Eats Rice Cereal Video
Pool Slide Video
Nora Jumping Video
Nora Tips Over Video
Nora Reaching Video
Carousel Ride at the Fair Video
Jeep Ride at the Fair Video
Boat Ride at the Fair Video
Train Ride at the Fair Video
Camel Ride at the Fair Video
Nora in the Yard Video
Claire Pushes Nora Video
Labor Day Dinner Video

Summer Trip to Tennessee!

We decided that this year's summer vacation would be a visit to Great Grandma's house in Tennessee.  While there, she could meet her Grand Aunt Joy and see Grandma and Grandpa!

We left Boise early on July 3rd headed to Nashville with one layover in Denver.  Claire was a great traveler and even slept a little on the second flight.  For the most part she was content to read books, magazines, and play with her toys.  We arrived in Nashville around 1:30pm and got to meet my childhood friend Doug who is now a lawyer in Nashville.  Doug got to meet Claire for the first time while we got our rental car.  The four of us proceeded on to Trader Joe's to get a Claire a few food items before we began the 90 minute drive south to Great Grandma's.

After bidding adieu to Doug, we drove down to Winchester, arriving at the house in the late afternoon.  It was great to be back at Great Grandma's house, a place where I have lots of childhood memories.  It is the only house from my childhood still in the family!  Naturally, everyone was excited to see Claire and it ended up being a little bit of a late night with all of the excitement and a pizza dinner from Rafael's.

We spent much of our time at the house, partly because of the unusually rainy weather going on during our stay.  On Saturday, we did make a partial day trip to Chattanooga to visit the Creative Discovery Museum.  It is a children's museum and while Claire was a little small for many of the exhibits, she still had a blast and was not ready to leave after two hours when it was time for lunch!  For lunch we met my Mom's college roommate Linda and her husband David at the Big River Grille.  After having a nice lunch and catching up, we headed back so Claire could get her nap.

During our stay we also let Claire play at the Winchester City Park, swam in the pool at the Tullahoma Holiday Inn Express, and even set off a few fireworks.  The fireworks had to wait until the 7th when there was finally a dry evening!  While shopping for fireworks it was abundantly clear that Tennessee sells the best fireworks!  Claire was too young to invest in the "good" stuff though!  On July 4th, we attempted to have family pictures taken but Claire was acting too much like a toddler so they didn't work out as well as hoped.  On the 8th, Doug had to make a court appearance in Manchester and afterwards came out to the house to hang out for the day.  We had a good time catching up, checking out Tims Ford State Park, and having a nice dinner at the Camino Real Mexican restaurant.

On Tuesday, we got up early and drove up to Nashville for our return flight.  Other than the airline person giving us guff for having a suitcase that was too heavy, everything went well.  On the first flight, Claire even got her own seat!  We arrived back in Boise in the mid afternoon in time for Claire's nap.  I had time to mow the yard and get back to the grind at work.  In short, it was a great trip and we wish it could have been longer!

Below are lots of pictures and videos from our trip!  Plus a few others from the past couple of weeks in Boise are thrown in as a bonus!

Claire July 2012 Pictures!
Grandma's Pictures of Claire!
Pictures of Doug and Zach
Claire With the Ducks Video
Claire Sees the Ducks Video
The Sparkler Video
Little Missy Refuses to Dance Video
Shake Your Booty Video
Claire Forward Rolls Video
Claire Jumps and Dances Video
Claire Does the Steps With Daddy Video
Claire and Family in the Pool Video
Claire Eats Spaghetti Video
Claire Does PTL Video
Claire on the Slide at the Creative Discovery Museum Video Part 1
Claire on the Slide at the Creative Discovery Museum Video Part 2
Claire Runs In the Rain Video
Go See the Blue Flowers Video
Claire on the Uneven Bars Video
Claire Splashing in the Fountain Video

Baby's First Camping Trip!

***Disclaimer: I've added some pictures into the text of this blog post, but there are lots more pictures (and videos!) at the bottom of the post!***


On the morning of Sunday, August 12th, we loaded Claire into the (already-overloaded!) car & headed out for a camping trip of epic proportions! Not only was it one of our longest camping trips to date, it was also Claire's first time camping - that's a recipe for success, right?! Well, it ended up being a fun trip, and Claire was a champion camper & road-tripper for the most part. Yay!

Sunday was a loooong day of driving - we left Boise at 7am local time & didn't get to our Bed & Breakfast (Inn at the Lake) in Newport, WA until 7pm Washington time...it made for a 13 hour day, but there was one highlight to the day! Since it was our 8th anniversary on August 12th, we stopped in Spokane, WA for an early dinner, at The Flying Goat & had some absolutely delicious food! We started with their Focaccia, which had fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic & goat cheese...

This was SO good & a great start to our meal. For our main course, we decided to share a pizza, and did a half-and-half, since we couldn't choose just one pizza - everything sounded yummy & it was hard enough to choose two! We ended up with 1/2 "Waikiki":

Waikiki - Zoe's sweet coppa and artisan ham, caramelized pineapple, roasted jalapeno, house cheese blend and plum tomato sauce

...and 1/2 "D Street"

 D Street - Yellow Coconut Curry, chicken, potato, jalapeno, carrot, house cheese blend, cilantro, sriracha and lime juice

 Yep, you read that right - we had Yellow Coconut Curry on a pizza! And, as unsure we were about it, it was absolutely fantastic! The Waikiki (basically a fancy Ham & Pineapple with jalapenos added) was also delicious, but we both agreed that the D Street was our favorite - the flavours worked really well together, the heat of the sriracha (which is a Thai Chili Garlic hot sauce) was a great kick at the end, and the cheese (which I was worried about, in combination with the other flavours) wasn't out-of-place, it just added a little something & played well with of the other toppings. We'll definitely be going back if we're in Spokane again, and will recommend it to anyone we know who is going there! Oh, and Zach loved their beer selection...and Claire liked looking out their window..and eating bits of pizza crust!

Ok, now that my food reviewer duties are complete, let's move on, shall we? After dinner, we stopped at Audubon Park in Spokane, so that Claire could crawl around & play a little before the hour-long drive to the B&B. She had fun on the swings, and crawling in the grass - they even had a little water park, but she wanted no part of that!

The B&B that Zach found for us to stay in was absolutely gorgeous! Here's the view from the dock, towards the back of the house.

 It was right on a lake, and the back of the house (that faced the lake) was pretty much all windows! Claire spent lots of time crawling around & stretching her legs after being in the carseat, and slept pretty well that night. Zach was even able to fit in a little kayak on one of the B&B's hard-shell kayaks...it was a little too short for his long legs, but at least he was able to get out on the lake & paddle around in the morning!

The breakfast, prepared by the owners, was delicious - a Southwestern quiche with tomatoes, bacon & chives; fruit & yogurt parfait; fresh orange juice; a small piece of coffee cake and the star of the show - freshly baked biscuits with homemade huckleberry butter! I'm pretty sure we both would have eaten huckleberry butter with nothing but a spoon, if we could have - it was outstanding.

After breakfast on Monday morning, we were on the road again. We crossed the border & made our way to Nelson, BC, where we stopped for lunch (A&W, which we ate at a sketchy park that was populated mainly by homeless people...lunch was eaten quickly, needless to say!). The views on the trip up were beautiful:

We made it to the campground at McDonald Creek by 4pm & started the camping extravaganza!

It was a wonderful week of camping - we got to spend lots of quality time with my immediate family, as well as my Auntie Margaret & my Mom's sisters, Cathy & Barb, and 2 of Barb's kids, my cousins Graham & Allison. It was so nice for us to get the chance to introduce Claire to the extended family! We wish we could have spent more time with Auntie Cathy, since she wasn't able to get there until Friday & we had to leave on Sunday so Zach could get back to work, but at least she & Claire got to have some quality time.
During the week, we celebrated Mom's 65th birthday, as well as Margaret's birthday - unfortunately we had to leave before Allison's birthday on Monday, but we were thinking of her! The rest of the week was spent splashing in the lake (Claire wasn't a fan of the cold water!), hanging out in the sun (or shade!) and eating lots of good food. Here's a shot of the lake early one morning:

Claire also got to experience sand for the first time, and seemed to be pretty intrigued with it - she kept grabbing handfuls & letting it fall through her fingers. She did (of course) try eating some, but figured out pretty quickly that it was gross.
Zach also got to use his inflatable kayak & paddle the lake - my cousin Graham gave it a try, too.

Since the weather was so gorgeous, some of the crew decided to go for a hike one day - Zach, Megan, Greg, Graham & Allison hiked up to the peak of Saddle Mountain - the pictures are absolutely breathtaking, and it looked like quite a stunning hike, both on the way up, and at the peak. Maybe next time Zach can take Claire in our backpack carrier!

For the Arts & Crafts portion of Camp, my Mom came up with the great idea of making Claire a rattle out of an empty can & some rocks - the top was sealed with duct tape...we (of course) used an empty beer can (because we're klassy like that), and Claire LOVED it! It kept her entertained for minutes, which in Baby-World is basically MONTHS!

Then Allison, Emily & Matthew made Claire an amazing beer can mobile, with sticks, embroidery floss & (you guessed it!) beer cans (we had a few empties hanging around). It was beautifully trashy, and again, Claire was fascinated with it - I was disappointed that we didn't have space to bring it home with us! Thanks again for all your hard work, guys!

We were sad to have to leave everyone on Sunday, Aug 19th, but we had to drive to Pullman, WA, so that Zach could work at his corporate office on Monday. Zach worked all day while Claire & I entertained ourselves - we spent some time hanging out at Sunnyside Park so that Claire could get some exercise & fresh air in preparation for our final leg of the journey home. We picked Zach up at work, grabbed some dinner & hit the road.

Our trip home was long, and made a little longer by some road construction delays, but Claire was (once again!) a road-trip champ & slept pretty much the whole way home. We got home at 2am & passed out!

Now we're getting ready for our next (and final) camping trip of 2012 - we'll be spending a couple of nights in Oregon, with our friends from Olympia, WA. We don't get to see them very often, and they have a 3 year old & a 4 month old, so it will be fun to see the kids interact!

Sorry for the LOOOOONG & rambling post - clearly I have a problem being concise!
Enjoy the pictures & videos!

Summer Camping Trip Pictures!
Claire Crawls Around Audubon Park Video
Claire In A Swing Video
Claire Climbs a Step Video
Claire Beer Can Rattle Video

Canada Day & Fourth of July

We were lucky enough to be able to go up to Vancouver for the week of Canada Day (July 1st for all of our American readers!) and Fourth of July (hopefully that one is self-explanatory!). Zach's work has an office in Burnaby (a suburb of Vancouver), and they graciously allowed him to work out of the Burnaby office for the week. He got Canada Day off (since the office was closed), in exchange for working on July 4th. It was a pretty great deal (you know, apart from the whole fact that he had to work at all), since he didn't have to burn up vacation time, but still got to enjoy evenings & weekends with the rest of the gang.
We left Boise on Friday, June 29th, at around 9pm - in hopes that Claire would sleep for the majority of the trip! Luckily, she conked out pretty quickly, and only really woke up when we stopped for gas. She went back to sleep as soon as we got on the road again, so really, she was a great little traveler. Of course, Zach & I only got about an hour or 2 of sleep each overnight, so we were definitely feeling it the next morning, when we arrived in Vancouver around 7am local time! There are certainly pros & cons to either travelling during the day (risking a screaming baby for the 11 hour drive) or travelling during the night (risking zombie-parents the following day!)
We had a great visit with the Vancouver contingent! It was so great to spend lots of time with my Mom, brothers, and my sister & her family. Claire had a wonderful time playing with her cousins, and they even got to go swimming in a (very warm & awesome!) pool - Claire loved it so much that she wasn't even complaining after 2 hours straight in the water! Needless to say, her fingers & toes were little tiny prunes! Claire, Emily & Matthew (and Mommy & Auntie Megan) also played at the park with some of Emily & Matthew's friends & their moms (Megan's friends). It was nice to hang out with some other moms.
For Canada Day, we had a barbeque with my family & my Auntie Margaret - lots of turkey burgers & hot dogs with great potato salad & green salad. Yum! For Fourth of July, it was pretty low-key - Zach worked all day, and Claire & I went to dinner with a friend of mine. Zach did get to enjoy a pizza dinner (from one of his favorite Vancouver pizza places!) with my mom. Claire wore her holiday-specific tshirts for each day, and there are some pictures below (as well as videos & other miscellaneous pictures).
While on this trip, Grandma Shepherd showed Claire how to sit up on her own from a lying-down position. She can do it herself, but sometimes just doesn't feel like it (it's so much easier to just whine until someone sits you up, right?!)...we're working on it! She also plays "Pattycake" sometimes (again, only when she feels like it!) and is giving high-fives & learning to wave hello or goodbye! It was a busy week!
We were also able to get our last piece of living room furniture (an entertainment stand) from IKEA while on this trip - IKEA Canada had a sale going on, and we capitalized on the deal! Once it gets put together, it will join the new bookcases, end tables & sofa table to complete the living room furniture update - we'll be sure to post pictures once everything is in place!
Now that we're home, we're settling back into our routine & Claire seems to be recovering in the sleeping department! Zach is off to his work's headquarters in Pullman, WA for the end of the week (leaving Wednesday, coming back Friday), so Claire & I will be keeping busy while he's gone!
Enjoy the pictures & videos!
Love,
Katie, Zach & Claire

Vancouver 2012 Pictures!
Claire With Emily Video
Claire Giggling Video
Emily Reading to Claire Video
Claire Likes Books Video
Claire With Cassie Video
Claire Likes Blocks Video
Lunch at the Shepherds Video

Katie & Claire's Vancouver Adventures!

As Zach mentioned in his last post, Claire & I spent March 10th through March 22nd up in Vancouver, while he toiled away in Pullman. We had a great visit with the family, and it was really awesome to be able to spend more than a few days there, since our standard visits are usually pretty whirlwind-ish! We really missed Zach, though!

This time, we had the chance to visit with lots of friends & family. Of course, Claire got lots of Grandma Shepherd time, as well as lots of time spent with my sister & brother, Claire's Auntie Megan & Uncle Dave. We also hung out with my youngest brother, Greg, but he was busy with work & other obligations, so didn't see as much of him as possible. Claire really loved spending time with her cousins, Emily & Matthew, who were wonderful with her & seemed to really enjoy playing with her (except when she cried...then she stopped being cool for a few minutes!). On the family front, we also visited with my aunts & uncles, as well as my brother-in-law & his family. We also headed out to Chilliwack with Grandma Shepherd to see my mom's cousin, Gail, who I hadn't seen for a number of years. Dave is staying with Gail while he is substitute teaching in Chilliwack. While we were there, Claire got to meet her first cat - she only grabbed it's tail once - the rest of the time she just kept an eye on it (as it did the same!)
It was SO nice to see everyone!

Claire got to visit with a number of my friends on this trip, too - she was a popular baby! First, we caught up with my friend Kelly & her 7 month old, Lucas, who is Claire's future husband. They behaved themselves for the most part - Claire tried to pull off Lucas' sock & Lucas tried to grab Claire's face...sounds like the beginning of a beautiful relationship, right?!
Claire & I also got to hang out with my best friend, Linsie, a couple of times and even met Linsie's ADORABLE 1o month old niece, Delyla. I'm sure Claire was jealous of Delyla's abilities to speed-crawl and stand up, but what Claire was MOST impressed with was Delyla's deluxe Jumperoo...at that point, Claire had been away from her own beloved Jumperoo for a couple of weeks, so when I put her into the deluxe Jumperoo, she jumped like a maniac for 15 minutes or more - she was so into it that she jumped both of her socks off!
Another day, my Mom & I took Claire to North Vancouver to have tea with my friend Jenn & her mom (and their huge dog, Holly, who was quite taken with Claire!).
Finally, Mom, Claire & I went to our family friends, the Penafiels. Claire had a great time with Julie (who is a couple of years younger than me), and got to sit in a high chair for the first time - so many firsts!
Again, it was wonderful to have the time to be able to catch up with so many friends!

When we weren't visiting with family & friends, we just enjoyed spending time around Vancouver. We went for walks, played with cousins, and Claire even got to hang out with her D0g-Aunties, Cassie & Sydney!

We capped the fantastic trip off with a fun road trip back to Pullman, thanks to the stellar driving & passengering skills of my brother Dave & sister Meg. They are both SAINTS for putting up with Claire (and me!) for so long...Claire did pretty well for most of the trip, but had a screaming meltdown for the last 45 minutes of the trip. Thank you, Meg & Dave, for not kicking us out on the side of the highway! We had a great time with you!

We had an excellent trip, and just wish that Zach could have been there with us. Next time, he will be!

Here are some pictures (ok, A LOT of pictures...), as well as a few videos for your enjoyment...yes, every single picture & video features Claire...what? Is that surprising?! :-)

Claire March 2012 Pictures! 
Claire Rolls Over Video
Claire in Car Seat Part 1 Video
Claire in Car Seat Part 2 Video
Claire and Emily Video
Claire Raspberry Video
Emily, Matthew, and Claire Video
Claire Bouncy Seat Video
Claire Raspberry Video Part 1
Claire Raspberry Video Part 2
Claire Reaching for a Spoon Video

Christmas 2011

Once again we traveled to Vancouver for Christmas.  This time we were traveling with Claire, which gave us some concern ahead of time but turned out to be a non-issue.  Claire was a great traveler, either sleeping or being quiet on all four legs of our journey!  Someone in the Bellingham airport even called her the perfect baby! Megan picked us up late Wednesday evening after we arrived in Bellingham.  Other than Claire crying in the border lineup, our trip to Vancouver went very smoothly.

In Vancouver, we went to the Festival of Lights at VanDusen Gardens for the first time.  It features 1.4 million lights on display in a garden.  It was much bigger and brighter than the display at the Idaho Botanical Garden but way more crowded.  I think I like the Idaho experience better - less crowded, more spaced out, and it has LED trees!  Dave works at the garden and was very helpful in arranging our visit - thank you Dave!

Our visit to Vancouver was dampened by a stomach flu bug that was being passed around.  Dave, Greg, Liz, Megan, and Emily were all affected but somehow all three of us managed to escape.  Despite at least one person being sick for much of the visit, we did a little bit of shopping, attended the Christmas Eve service at Kerrisdale Presbyterian Church, and were there for the Christmas brunch and Christmas dinner at the Shepherd house. We had lots of good times with family and had a great time giving and receiving presents!  Of course Claire had a big haul, consisting of books, toys, clothes (thank you Dave for the Santa suit!), and other items.  Everyone was excited to meet Claire and we were very happy that she behaved well during her first trip away from home.

Our return trip was also uneventful (thank you Claire!) and was highlighted by a quick stop at Trader Joe's in Bellingham where we got a few things to cram into our already stuffed suitcases and some food to eat in the Bellingham airport.  We got home late in the evening on Tuesday and I had to look forward to two days of work.

We hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Christmas 2011 Pictures!
Christmas 2011 Video
Present Opening Video

Texas Trip 2011

My parents arranged a trip to visit family in Texas so I decided to tag along. Katie didn't go because she is in the third trimester of baking Baby Vickery!

We coordinated our flights and I arrived on Friday the 29th and quickly met my parents at the airport. Pretty soon we had our car rented and were off to the hotel, the Comfort Suites in Grand Prairie. This hotel was memorable mainly for the softball tournament and baby shower it hosted while we were there. Oh, and the bed was really comfortable.

After meeting Teresa and Charles (and their new dog Rosie), we headed to Babe's Chicken in Arlington for a great family style dinner. The place was super popular as we had to wait close to an hour for our large group to be seated. Attending were myself, my parents, Aunt Teresa, Uncle Charles, my cousin Becky, her husband Kenny, their two children Brayden and Grace, my cousin Matt and his fiancee Kasey, Charles' parents Clint and Barbara, Grand-Aunt Joyce, cousin once removed Letitia and her husband Chip, cousin once removed Loretta and her husband Charlie. Suffice to say it was a big group but the restaurant was designed to handle it! The only sad part was that I didn't take any pictures...

A constant theme of the trip was Texas' epic heat wave and drought. As we arrived the Dallas area had experienced high temperatures above 100° for over 30 straight days! Combined with the fact that there had been no significant rain in two months, everything was super dry and brown looking. I'm trying my best rain dances to help but sadly they appear ineffective...

On Saturday we (myself, my parents, Teresa, and Charles) went to visit my Nana in Palestine. Before we got too far down the road we had a breakfast at the Cracker Barrel in Desoto. Along the way to Palestine we stopped at Teresa and Charles' lot where they plan to build a retirement home. It was in a very nice area along a reservoir with a nice clubhouse - sadly, my camera ate the pictures. After the stop, we continued to Palestine where my Nana is in the care of the Alzheimer's unit of the Cartmell Home. She is doing pretty well physically but Alzheimer's has definitely taken a toll on her mind - I think she only had a vague idea about who my parents were and I'm not sure she knew who I was at all. It was great to see Nana but of course very hard to see how much Alzheimer's had affected her. The facility was very nice and the staff in the Alzheimer's unit were impressive - that is one tough job! After we left the Cartmell Home, we had a late lunch at El Toro (yay for their green sauce) before making stops at Pilgrim Cemetery near Elkhart and Crawford Cemetery near Slocum. These two cemeteries are where many of my Vickery and Seymour relatives are buried, including my Papa Vickery. From there we headed home, getting back to the hotel late in the evening.

On Sunday my Mom and Teresa decided we should go to a giant flea market in Canton, which is a little ways east of the Dallas area. This flea market was massive, I would estimate a square mile in area, with countless open-air buildings, parking areas, and even one air-conditioned building. Upon getting there we proceeded to walk around the flea market in the triple digit heat. Both Dad and myself surrendered to the heat after awhile and just sat there drinking water. Teresa, Charles, and Mom did a better job staying at it but the heat eventually got to Mom. Of particular note were the eating establishments at this flea market, highlighted by the fried food emporium. I am proud to say I ate no food at the flea market! On the way back home we ate lunch at the Ranchero (a decent buffet) and stopped at an improbably placed bead store along I-20.

On Monday we went to Frisco to meet my Mom's former co-worker Kathy and her husband Lloyd at La Hacienda Ranch in Frisco. It was Kathy and Lloyd's anniversary so we all had a nice lunch to celebrate! The restaurant was really good and I really enjoyed my enchilada with chili on it. The restaurant was founded by the inventor of the frozen margarita machine which is an interesting bit of trivia. Afterwards Kathy, Mom, and Teresa wanted to go shopping at Sam Moon's and T.J. Maxx. I decided I would rather walk around the giant mall nearby so I did that. I was blown away when I saw that the mall had an ice rink in it. Combined with the Barnes & Noble and Chick-Fil-A, this was a pretty solid place to hang out.

On Tuesday we headed home. Once again we coordinated flights with both of us departing around 10:30am. For once our flights were in the same terminal so we were able to hang out at the gate until our flights were almost ready to board. We said our goodbyes with the memories of a great trip together!

Texas Trip 2011 Pictures!
Mom's Texas Pictures!

Canada Trip 2011!!

2011 has been full of lots of great trips for Zach & I - highlights have included LA/Long Beach in January, our wonderful visit to Florida, and Portland at the end of May. This past long weekend was no different! We headed up to Vancouver to spend some time with the Shepherd/Aprim side of the family. We left Boise late in the day on Wednesday June 30, and drove all night, arriving in Vancouver around 11am on Thursday morning.

Thursday was a low-key day, since we were both pretty wiped out from pulling an all-night drive-a-thon, although luckily we had our Sirius XM Radio in the car, which kept the drive more interesting! Friday was Canada Day, and I spent some time in North Vancouver visiting with my friend Jenn, and then we had a lovely dinner at White Spot with my Mom, Dave & Greg.
On Saturday, I got together with my friend Linsie, and then Zach, Mom, Dave & I spent some time (DAAAAAAYS, if you ask Dave & Zach!) at IKEA, picking up a few things including our new light fixture for the nursery, which Zach is putting up this weekend.
Sunday was a beautiful day for a party, and we had a great one! Mom made delicious burgers, spinach salad & potato salad, Dave grilled the burgers & we enjoyed 2 fantastic dessert options - Pavlova with whipped cream & berries and blackberry pie (or galette, because we're fancy!), made with berries that were hand-picked by Auntie Margaret! YUM!! What wonderful spread of food! Along with Mom, Dave & Greg, we were also able to visit with Megan, Ben, Emily & Matthew, as well as Auntie Margaret, Auntie Maggie & Uncle Barry and Uncle Tom. It was SO nice to see everyone...thank you for the birthday gifts!
Sunday night took a turn for the worse when Greg, who was playing in a co-ed recreational soccer game, got tripped by an opponent & took a very bad fall. He ended up in Emergency, with a fractured pelvis (OUCH!!). He spent the night in Emergency, and was admitted on Monday so that he could have surgery done on Tuesday morning (the morning we left). He's now sporting 3 steel pins & a steel plate in his hip, so we can all call him Bionic Man! Greg, you have seriously been a trooper through all of this!!

Greg was able to come home on Friday, and has been settling in & adjusting to life on crutches. He'll likely be on the crutches for a couple of months, but who knows - he surprised the physio-therapists by dominating the crutches on Thursday, 2 days after surgery, which they weren't expecting! I'm sure he'll be back on the soccer field in no time! ;-)

So, apart from all that craziness, we had a great trip! Tuesday was spent driving home, and we got in around 1am...it was a loooong day, to say the least. Zach left on Wednesday afternoon for his business trip to Loooo-zianna, but he'll get to that in the next post!

Below are a few pictures from our party on Sunday. Enjoy!

Canada Trip 2011 Pictures!

Oregon Camping 2011

In the spirit of past MVP trips, once again we met Joey, Sam, Cecilia, Tracy, and Dan for a short (two night) camping trip. This year's destination was Deschutes State Park along the Columbia River just east of The Dalles, Oregon. We arrived on the afternoon of Friday the 10th and were the first to show up. We checked out the park and played some Scrabble (Katie won) before the Pilons arrived later in the afternoon. Our immediate observation was that the park was quite windy and it nearly blew away our Scrabble board! Fortunately it calmed down just after sundown and was pleasant during the rest of our stay. Another interesting feature we immediately observed was the horde of super-aggressive blackbirds that would swoop down on you, chirp incessantly, and poop in your general direction. Unfortunately, the birds never calmed down!

On Friday night we enjoyed a hot dog dinner and sat around the fire and waited for Tracy and Dan to arrive late in the evening - they made it just after dark. After hanging around the fire and chatting for a while, we retired for the night. Sadly, our sleep was interrupted by the Union Pacific trains rolling by the campground several times through the night - this wouldn't have been so bad if they didn't blow the horn roughly five times each time they passed the campground! Argh!!

Saturday was a great mix of eating, hiking, hanging out in the sun, napping (in between trains), and taking it easy. Just like camping should be! The hiking was spectacular and consisted of a nice trail paralleling the Deschutes River upstream. Sunday we spent the morning packing up and enjoying Katie's lovely bacon and french toast breakfast! After some group pictures, we were on the road just after noon for the long drive back to Boise.

I really liked the campsites and the hiking/biking options at this campground but the train noise was pretty bad. It quickly became pretty obvious why we were some of the few tenters in the whole campground! Even with that, it was a great weekend camping with friends!

Oregon Camping Pictures!

Portland Trip

Katie and I used Memorial Day weekend to check out Portland and most importantly to do some shopping for still-unnamed Baby Vickery. The drive from Boise is long and unexciting but fortunately we had a XM radio receiver to increase the entertainment factor. By far our biggest shopping commitment was at Ikea looking for nursery furniture and various other household items. That store is special because after 2+ hours of looking at stuff I was totally exhausted, particularly mentally. Too much discussion of household decor I think. At any rate, we picked up a few items for the nursery which Katie will be blogging about soon!

While in Portland, we ate at a few interesting restaurants. Upon arrival, the Deschutes Public House was our first stop and along with the top quality beer I really enjoyed my elk burger with a soft pretzel that we shared as an appetizer. We were both amazed that the place, despite being very large, had huge lines the entire time we were in the area. After our great meal, we walked around downtown and then spent some time in Powell's Books, easily the biggest bookstore I've ever been in. Their technical book selection is impressive and I ended up getting a book on functional programming. We also stopped by the Whole Foods before retiring for the night.

On Saturday we visited Pine State Biscuits for breakfast and had some amazing biscuits - our order included them with sausage, chicken, and jam/butter and every combination was outstanding! This nice repast was followed by marathon shopping and a side trip to see the Capitol at Salem. Dinner was at Dove Vivi, which featured some amazing pizza on a cornmeal crust like nothing either of us had ever experienced. Finally, I insisted on a brief stop at the Bridgeport Brewpub for a beer. The beer was definitely good and the menu looked comparable to Deschutes' offerings. It is definitely somewhere to go in the future! We had also hoped to attend a Portland Timbers MLS game on Saturday, but tickets started at $60 on the secondary market and that is just way to much for a soccer game!

On Monday we did some more shopping, visiting Katie's favorite store Trader Joe's and also the Uwajimaya where Katie found lots of exciting Udon noodle varieties. Before leaving town we had a quick lunch at Burgerville which is a pretty good quality fast food place in the greater Portland area.

Despite a lot of driving, it was a very enjoyable trip. I didn't know that much about Portland but I was definitely impressed with what we saw and Portland's beer options are the best of anywhere I've seen. Also, as of this past weekend, we've finally finished getting rid of excess furniture and we can now start the process of assembling all the new furniture we bought and setting up the nursery.

Oregon Pictures! (sorry, the only pictures we took were in Salem)

Florida 2011

Katie and I decided to go to Florida to spend some time with my parents and to enjoy the beautiful weather - and we were not disappointed on either count! We arrived on Saturday the 12th and were immediately impressed with the warm weather and sunny skies which continued for our entire stay!

During the first part of our trip we stayed at my parents' house in St. Augustine. One of the first things we did was stop at a running store, Jacksonville Running Company, for me to reboot my running career after the debilitating achilles debacle of last Fall. They did a video analysis of my stride and diagnosed me with overpronation and recommended the Asics GT-2160 which so far has worked wonders. I was able to run several times in Florida and roughly three times a week since. No more outlet mall running shoes for me!

Other highlights of the trip include bowling at Latitude 30, watching DVDs from my Dad's extensive collection, checking out the Sensus (my employer) water meter technology in my parents' neighborhood, walking around downtown St. Augustine, and visiting the Alligator Farm. The Alligator Farm was outstanding and is much more than just alligators, it is more like a zoo with a focus on alligators and crocodiles. It features every single alligator and crocodile species on the planet, a very impressive rookery, tortoises and other reptiles, birds, and even other animals like tapirs. They even have a zipline which I'd like to try some day. The frenzied alligator feeding was definitely the highlight of our visit!

On Thursday we drove down to Sunrise where we stayed for the south Florida part of our trip. On Friday we went to a Spring Training game in Jupiter where the Marlins played the Astros. I hadn't been to a Spring Training game since 1990 and I was reminded that it really is a great way to watch professional baseball! The game was great, albeit one-sided (the Astros totally dominated). It was an afternoon game and all of us got a little sunburn, in my case despite the fact that I used sunblock. I could definitely tell the difference between the Florida sun and the Idaho sun on this trip! After the game we drove through Palm Beach and stopped at the Flagler Museum, a converted estate. Sadly we couldn't visit because we arrived right as it was closing. However the view from outside was impressive enough!

Saturday we visited the other Miami (not the one in Manitoba). We were hoping to walk around South Beach but the area was totally packed and congested - it must have been the Spring Break crowds? After struggling to find somewhere to park, we instead we went over the main part of Miami and stopped at the Bayside for lunch and a walk along the waterfront. Bayside is right near the cruise terminal and was clearly a tourist shopping area. Once we checked everything out, we headed down to Key Biscayne to visit Cape Florida State Park. The causeway leading over there is beautiful as was the beach and historic lighthouse in the state park at the south end of Key Biscayne. The beach was super popular and for good reason! From there we headed back to Sunrise and a dinner at Scruby's was our final meal of the vacation.

Despite not wanting to leave, on Sunday the 20th we flew out of Ft. Lauderdale and returned to Boise with its 40 degree temperatures and rain. Boo!

Florida Vacation Pictures!

Baby Vickery!

As most (if not all) of our "loyal readers" now know, Zach & I are expecting an addition to the family in the Fall! My official due date is Sept. 11, 2011 - yes, the 10 year anniversary of 9/11. Fingers crossed that the big day doesn't actually end up being that, although apparently 9/11 is also National Grandparents Day in the US, which would be fitting!

So far everything has gone fairly smoothly - no nausea/vomiting (knock on wood), and no other symptoms that have caused much discomfort...yet! I'm definitely not looking forward to July & August, as hot as it gets in Idaho, but I'm trying not to think that far ahead :-) We had an ultrasound last week & everything looked good - the heartbeat was strong & the baby was bouncing up & down doing lunges & using me as a trampoline. That better not continue, kid! I will not be amused!! We'll keep you all posted as things progress.

Here's a shot of the wee little Vickery spawn...currently looking suspiciously like a bobble-headed alien. Hopefully that changes before the big day ;-)In addition to the exciting announcement, we've also been lucky enough to be spending the week in Florida with Jan & Ron. The weather has been insanely gorgeous - in the high 60's & low 70's (15-20 Celsius) since we got here on Saturday afternoon, and should be climbing even higher later this week...not too shabby! We could definitely get used to this kind of weather, especially considering it's March...I know our Manitoba readers are likely more than a little envious of the Florida readers/visitors, what with the recent blizzard. Sounds like it's time for Spring to make an appearance!

On Sunday night we went out for a celebration dinner to an excellent Italian restaurant in Jacksonville, Enza's, along with Jan's friend Susan. The food was delicious - Zach had Grouper (a white fish that we can't get in the Northwest) and I had a grilled chicken & veggie dish with a garlic sauce. Everyone's food looked wonderful, we'll definitely need to go back next time we're in town!
Here's a shot of the group at dinner:
We've also enjoyed a lovely lunch at Ted's Montana Grill (owned by Ted Turner), which is known for serving Bison in addition to Beef & Chicken. Zach & I are big fans of Bison, but Jan & Ron had never tried it before. They really enjoyed it, too! Bison is a healthier alternative to Beef - you get the meatiness of beef without any greasiness. It's much leaner, with lower calories, fat & cholesterol than beef, and is higher in iron & protein, so it's a great alternative.
Now that my apparent endorsement for the National Bison Council is over, back to your regularly scheduled blog...
Apart from these delicious meals, we've also checked out Whole Foods (Boise is getting a Whole Foods this year, so it was great to see Jacksonville's version in anticipation of Boise's), as well as Jacksonville's Costco, which is MUCH bigger than Boise's, and I found a whole bunch of interesting stuff we don't get. It's always nice to comparison shop!
Today we went to Latitude 30, a restaurant combined with a bowling alley, pool tables & an arcade. Zach & I bowled a game (he whooped my butt, but if it had been 5-pin - which doesn't exist in the US - I'm certain I would have been victorious), and then Ron & Jan joined us in the arcade & we played skee-ball, air-hockey & did some faux-NASCAR driving. All in all, it was a fun time, and would be a great option for a birthday party!
Tomorrow, we have plans to check out the St Augustine Alligator Farm & maybe Jacksonville Beach - we'll be sure to get some pictures for all to enjoy! On Thursday, we head down to Ft. Lauderdale/Miami for a few days, which should be awesome - I can't wait to see all the Art Deco architecture, the Cuban culture & what will likely be some amazing food!

We'll post more once we're back from the trip...we have to say goodbye to Ron & Jan on Sunday morning & fly out of Ft. Lauderdale back to Boise :-( but we're SO glad to be down here soaking up the family time & sharing the big news!
--Katie

Christmas 2010

For the fourth consecutive year, we went to Vancouver for Christmas. We flew into Bellingham on the morning of the 23rd where Dave and Megan were eagerly awaiting us. After they picked us up, we proceeded to visit the various shopping spots in Bellingham - Trader Joe's, the Community Food Co-op, and Target - before grabbing lunch at the Boundary Bay Brewery. The lunch was pretty good and after that we were headed up to Vancouver. The border crossing was quick and we were at the Shepherd house around 2:30pm.

We socialized the afternoon of the 23rd and afterward Katie met a friend for dinner while I went to White Spot with Liz before watching Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers at the Aprim house. On Christmas Eve, Katie and I went with Dave to Shota Sushi where we had a very yummy meal! After eating, the three of us helped Dave complete his cleaning duties at the Kerrisdale Presbyterian Church in advance of the Christmas Eve ceremony, which we all attended that evening. After church, we ended up eating Little Caesar's pizza (it was the only thing open!) before wrapping presents.

Christmas Day consisted of the traditional brunch and present opening following by a turkey dinner. As always, we all had a great time seeing what everyone got and socializing. We love all of our gifts and thank everyone for thinking of us!!

On Boxing Day we slept in before attending another lovely dinner with family and friends. The 27th was a quiet day where Katie met up with one of her friends and I went on a long walk to attempt to burn off some of what I ate!

We departed on the 28th. Liz's cousin Rob arrived at the Shepherd house on the 27th and we went for brunch at IHOP before Megan and Greg drove us down to Bellingham. Since we got there a little early, Greg and I ended up getting dragged around the Bellis Fair Mall while Megan and Katie went shopping. We did the smart thing this year and booked an evening flight rather than an early morning one! The flight home was uneventful and we were home at 11:30pm ready to go to work the next day!

Christmas 2010 Pictures!

Lucas-Ross Wedding!

Katie's cousin Jason was getting married so of course we had to be there! The wedding was to be held in Russell in western Manitoba, which is an area neither of us had visited before. For cost reasons, we chose to fly in to Minot, North Dakota, and drive from there. Katie's family chose to fly to Regina and drive from there - the driving distance from the two isn't very different.

We arrived in Minot around 5pm on Friday the 24th. After renting a car and grabbing dinner at Hardee's, we were heading north to Russell. The border crossing and drive up were uneventful except for our stop to gawk at the giant banana in Melita, Manitoba (I highly recommend reading the linked article about the banana). We arrived in Russell just after 9pm and after checking into the Russell Inn (aka "the homotel" due to it having both internal and external doors on each room) we socialized for a bit with the family before heading to bed.

On Saturday I had a nice run around town before being asked to provide some technical assistance on the slideshow that would be shown at the reception. Once the slideshow was in its proper state, I grabbed a quick Subway lunch and got ready to head to the ceremony. We all headed over to the United Church in Russell where the wedding was held. The ceremony was great and featured Jason's four year old nephew Logan as the shy ringbearer. After celebrating the marriage and taking a few pictures, we went back to the homotel to socialize (and enjoy a few beverages) before the reception. The reception started at 5pm and featured a very nice dinner (mmm, perogies) along with an open bar, slideshow, speeches, first dance, cake cutting, and dancing. We all had a good time (though I had too many beers) and some of us chose to walk back to the hotel around 1:30am!

On Sunday we enjoyed a very nice brunch at the reception hall before all parting ways and heading back to our respective homes or airports. Our drive back to Minot was very unexciting and I was forced to listen to the Vikings game on the radio. At the border our car was searched, which hasn't happened in quite some time. In Minot we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express which was disappointing in that it was very noisy due to the nearby pool and thin walls - thankfully Katie brought earplugs! Our dinner in Minot was at the Pizza Ranch which made me feel like I'm too old for pizza buffets.

On Monday we woke up at 5am to catch our flight back to Boise. By 10:30am Katie was at work and I was by 10:45!

Lucas-Ross Wedding Pictures! - due to a camera malfunction, I lost all of the pictures of the ceremony, the town of Russell, and the giant banana :(

Waggoner 60th Wedding Anniversary!

My grand-aunt and grand-uncle celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on September 10, 2010! Congratulations Pode and Elma Jean! Incidentally my Mom was part of the original wedding party as the flower girl!

To celebrate the occasion, my cousins Julie and Dave arranged a dinner on the 10th and a celebration on the 12th and invited everyone in the family. Many people I hadn't seen in 20 years (or ever, in the case of the many new additions to the family), and it would be Katie's first chance to meet almost everyone. Thus we had to go! Due to a miscommunication, we booked our flight before we realized there was a dinner on the 10th so we sadly missed that part of the festivities.

We headed to the airport after work on Friday the 9th. We flew to Denver and arrived around 9pm. We were able to grab some dinner at the Ted's Montana Grill before retiring for the night at a Sleep Inn. The most memorable part of dinner was getting a dish of pickles to munch on before our meals arrived. Saturday we embarked on the highly boring drive from Denver to Alma along US-36, arriving in town around 3pm. We checked out Alma a little bit before meeting up with family at the Alma Super 8. From there we visited the recently built park and pathway along the Alma waterfront before having a nice family dinner at The Station.

On Sunday we all attended the reception celebrating Pode and Elma Jean's anniversary. The event filled the reception venue and was highlighted by Pode and Elma Jean renewing their vows and a great family slideshow put together by Dave and Randy. Pode and Elma Jean looked great and it really was a beautiful scene! After the reception, the family had a nice dinner at Little Mexico in Republican City.

Before departing on mid-day Tuesday we had some good quality family time, visited the final resting places of various ancestors, visited cousin Paul at his insurance agency in Alma, looked at the former homes of Grandma and other relatives, visited second cousin Emily at the Alma City Hall, and did some family research in the Alma Library and the Franklin Library.

On Tuesday we drove home through Norton, Kansas, and Benkelman, Nebraska, doing a little bit of quick genealogical research at each site. We got to Denver around 6pm and proceeded to eat dinner at the Tilted Kilt in downtown Denver. The place had incredible waitresses and some good British beers that aren't usually found in Idaho. On Wednesday morning we had a quick jaunt around town and lunch at Chick-Fil-A before heading to the airport and ultimately home.

It was awesome seeing everyone and once again, congratulations to Pode and Elma Jean for 60 years of marriage!

Waggoner Anniversary Pictures!
Mom's Pictures!

Summer Vacation 2010!

Katie and I departed Boise around 11pm on Friday night, July 30th, for an all-night drive to Vancouver. We took turns driving and sleeping (though Katie got more sleep than I) and made it to Bellingham by the early morning. In Bellingham we visited the site of our wedding before stopping at Trader Joes to buy a few items. We soon crossed the border and were at the Shepherd house around 10am.

We were starving upon arrival so we ordered some Panago pizza. After this nice meal, we crashed for a few hours before meeting Kelly (who was at our wedding) at the Elephant Walk Pub. We had a good time catching up over Kokanee and then proceeded to head home to hang out with Dave and sleep.

On Sunday Katie met a couple of her friends. I chose to use the day to instead hike Dam Mountain in North Vancouver. This also gave me the opportunity to do the Grouse Grind, a famous and incredibly steep Vancouver trail that leads to Grouse Mountain Resort area. The Grind was much more prolonged and tougher than I expected... basically it is a staircase that is the approximate height of the Burj Khalifa. The trail was packed with people, which made the trail feel like some kind of outdoor gym and also meant getting stuck behind people and occasionally being tailed by someone faster. I even encountered one guy having a seizure (he was being attended to) and was just above another guy who kicked a small log down the trail which nearly wiped out one or more people. Basically the trail was nuts and struck me as a little bit unsafe given many of the people on it. After a lot of work I made it to the top in just under 65 minutes - pretty good in my opinion!

Once at the top I checked out some of the exhibits, including the zip lines and the grizzly bears. After some questions about the location of the trail (it was not signed) and the "bear in the area" sign, I was eventually headed toward the peak. Once I got going it became evident that the peak would be shrouded in fog - so much for having a summit view! I continued upward on a much narrower and more rugged trail than I expected - pretty much the total opposite from the Grind and much different from the somewhat busy Mt Seymour which I climbed last year. The trail was kind of surreal because it felt like wilderness but was actually paralleled by a noisy irrigation pipe, was overflown by zip lines, and was in earshot of the crowds cheering as they watched the lumberjack show. After scarfing some M&Ms and checking out the foggy summit, I headed back down to the resort where I managed to catch part of the raptor show. Every time I see that sort of thing it reminds me that falconry is cool. From there it was back to the aerial tramway and parking lot.

Sunday night I was left alone (Katie and Dave were both out and about) so I watched some TV and hit the Flying Wedge for dinner. On Monday we mostly ran errands in preparation for the camping trip, however the three of us did meet Greg and Carmina for dinner at White Spot.

Tuesday started bright and early with a 4am departure for the Syringa Provincial Park campground. After performing the final packing of our two vehicles, the five of us hit the 7-11 then headed east. We had some two-way radios to communicate which also made for good entertainment. We made good time and had breakfast at a Subway in Osoyoos which was memorable mainly for the bad service and the depleted pop fountain. Around 1pm we made it to the campground, being the first of our group to show up. Liz and the Aprims followed shortly thereafter and we all proceeded to setup camp.

Camping was great and was highlighted by the usual activities - eating, swimming, reading, relaxing, walking the dogs, sitting around the campfire, etc. In my case, hiking around the park and kayaking across the lake were also included. We also managed to power through a lot of beers - maybe as many as 100?

On Saturday we packed up our stuff and headed home, leaving the campground around 11:45am. The Aprims headed back to Vancouver, Liz and Dave continued camping at McDonald Creek, and we headed back to Boise. Katie and I did eat at the Subway in Castlegar before heading south. We had a minor navigational faux pas in Trail but otherwise headed right on down. We decided to have a nicer dinner in Lewiston and stopped at Matt's Grill where I had the bratwurst and Katie had the lemon chicken. Both were good and I had my first exposure to sauerkraut - a food I truly don't understand. We arrived in Boise just after 2am and 550 miles of driving. After unpacking a few things and a quick shower, we crashed and used Sunday to recover.

Summer Vacation Pictures!
Dam Mountain Pictures!
Dam Mountain GPS Track

Reno Vacation!

In the spirit of last year's Las Vegas Trip, we decided to use the Independence Day holiday for a short vacation. I had Friday off so I used the day to clean up around the house and try out the new pizza place near our house. The pizza place passed muster and I also managed to get most of the cleaning done. I picked Katie up from work just after 5pm and we were in Reno for dinner. While renting a car I again got upsold to a Mustang... maybe Katie should take care of those duties in the future?

We had a nice patio dinner at the Silver Peak and both enjoyed our meals and brews! That part of downtown Reno had live music going on by the river - it was a great place to spend an evening. After dinner, we checked out downtown Reno a little bit then headed over to the Grand Sierra, our chosen hotel/resort. For whatever reason we got a room upgrade (the "summit") which was on the 20th floor and quite nice. We were also pretty impressed with the resort - lots of restaurants, a bowling alley, a movie theater, a driving range, a go-kart track, a bungee jump, and stores in addition to the usual gaming accoutrements. Katie was happy that the hotel was dog-friendly, so we got to see lots of pups, including a little dachshund puppy & an Old English Sheepdog! We also happened to be there the same weekend as the West Coast Scrabble Championship which enabled us to see ballrooms of people playing Scrabble for the first time.

Saturday we had a nice day checking out the cities of Reno and Carson City. Mostly we just did touristy stuff, like checking out the various historic sites and what-not. We had a couple of nice meals at the Island Cheeseburger place in Reno and Briscola at our hotel. Island Cheeseburger actually had an incredible beer selection which I wasn't expecting. We really enjoyed our driving tour of both places!

On Sunday I got up early to hike Mt. Rose just outside of Reno, while Katie took a walk around the casino & checked out the pool. After I returned from this nice hike, we had lunch at the Lodge Buffet (Katie's first casino buffet) then headed down to Lake Tahoe to see that area. We were both blown away by the scenery of the lake and also how crowded it was! Lake Tahoe has a huge fireworks show on the 4th and we were right in the middle of it - think Spring Break atmosphere! We drove most of the loop road, stopping at various points to check things out. On the way home we drove by Squaw Valley and up to Truckee, CA - which was yet another scenic drive.

On Monday I picked up my sports bet winnings (I won both bets on Rafael Nadal and the BC Lions), which was the only bright spot amongst our gambling adventures. We had a nice lunch at Deli Towne USA, which may be the best gas station cuisine we've had yet. From there we took in a Reno Aces game at their stadium near downtown. The game started well for Reno but eventually the Sacramento Rivercats took control and won the game. It was a day game and we managed to get some of the few (and popular!) seats that were shaded the whole time. Despite being in the shade, we still managed to get a little bit pink! After the game, we hit the Trader Joe's (so Katie could bring back a few items) and had dinner at BJ's. From there, it was back to the airport, ultimately Boise, and work the next day.

Reno Pictures!