5 year anniversary

Luckily wifey pointed out to me the significance of this particular anniversary or I might have tried to get away with flowers and dinner. I never really thought that a five year anniversary would be any different than a 3 or 4 year but I have once again been proven wrong. I am just glad that we live in the days of internet shopping and 2 day delivery with fedex. I ordered her a pair of 1/4 ct. diamond earrings and they cost a fair amount. When I got them I couldn't believe how small 1/4 ct. is. I was wondering if I got a size too small fortunately wifey doesn't suffer from having a gigantic melon like I do and therefore the earring look just fine. We went out to dinner at a nice local restaurant and came home and watched a movie. My wife spent some time on the present she got me. She put together a bunch of memories from friends of mine which is one of the best presents I have ever gotten because I will actually remember the present.

Turning 30

A lot of people seem to have trouble turning 30 but I just did and I didn't think it was that big of a deal. I guess I might have more of a problem with it if I was going bald or something like that. I am getting a couple gray hairs but that doesn't even seem to bother me. I was going to have a big ol' party for my b-day but recently went to a friends party and it was awesome and I figured I couldn't top it so why bother trying. I was trying to make my 30th seem like something special but it just seemed like another day. I worked for most of the day and then played basketball that evening and that was pretty much it. I think I actually enjoy being older(don't get me wrong I had fun being younger) but there is a certain amount of respect that comes with age that I didn't get in my early to mid 20's. I got a card from my sister in law that said "happy 30th b-day. When life really begins". I think I'll stick with that idea.

Big blue eyes

Baby E now wakes up somewhere between 6-7 am and guess who gets to get up with her...Me. Wifey gets to stay in bed for another couple hours until it's time for me to go to work. She told me not long ago that she wanted to start waking up with the baby and me so we could have family time together and I recently called her on this and her response "I'm a woman. I can change my mind" which brings to mind the comment by Captain Jack Sparrow when he is accused of cheating and responds "Pirate". I suppose my wife can just do whatever she wants and when called on it, she need only respond "woman" and what can I say...I guess it's true. I am finding that it isn't too bad to get up with her. If I am really tired I just put her in her high chair and throw food at her while I am trying to get a little more sleep on the couch(which doesn't really happen). After she is done eating I take her of the the chair, make sure there are not valueble items lying around, and let her run(crawl) wild. She likes to hang around within sight of me usually which is fun and cute but can get old. The other day I went in her room with her, closed the door, threw toys all over the room hopeing she would stay occupied and tried to get some sleep on her floor. I think she grabbed my hair no less than 50 times and crawled over me no less than 20. I actually managed to sleep through some of this though. She is growing really fast and I can't believe that it won't be long before she is walking. She moves around pretty well on her own now and I am frieghtened what it will be like when she can walk.

Cutie

With a baby this cute why wouldn't we want to have about 4 more?

Alcatraz

When I lived in Eureka CA, back in 1999 I had a chance to go to San Fran. I had never been and didn't really look into what there was to do there but I knew that I wanted to go to Alcatraz. We didn't have a lot of time so we went down to the wharf and were screwing around and made our way over toward Pier 39 where they leave for Alcatraz. When we got there I found out that I had just barely missed the last tour of the day. I thought to myself, "no biggie, I'll just come the next time I go to San Fran" but not really knowing when or if that would ever happen. At the beginning of this year a training opportunity through work presented itself and I was able to go San Fran again. I had a big scare the day before leaving as I went on the Alcatraz website and saw that they recommend buying tickets before arriving as they often sell out. I was nervous that they would sell out but fortunately I was able to make it(as evidenced by the picture). I was hoping to recognize more places from the move "The Rock" but I am sure a lot of the Alcatraz scenes were shot elsewhere. It was still pretty cool to see it and I had a great time. Now I have to go back again sometime and take my family. It'll probably be another 8-10 years(man I am getting old).

Presents

This is a pic of me wearing my Christmas presents. Watch out Mexican lucha libre-her I come.

It has begun

In the mornings, I wake up and get baby E cuz she wakes up about the same time as I do. When I am using the bathroom, I put her on the floor to entertain herself and when I came out, this is what I saw. I don't know if you can tell from the pic but the garbage can has fallen over and is leaning against her head. I didn't put her very near the can and she can't crawl but she is pretty good at rolling around to where she wants to go.

Pelican

This picture was taken from the deep sea fishing boat on the way back to dock when the guides were cleaning the fish.

Deep Sea Fishing

Wifey's dad and I went deep sea fishing on the last day of our vacation. It was a great day. In this pic you will see the only fish between the two of us that was a keeper. I caught 5 red snappers but they are not in season and I had to throw them back. We went about 11 miles out to sea and the porpoises followed our boat around as we stopped at each location to fish. On one occasion when I was reeling in a fish, I felt my line jerk really hard and then something started stripping the line out. It then gave me some slack and started stipping line out again. I was excited and freaking out cuz I had no idea what I had on the line. One of the guides told me I might have a dolphin on the line. My line went slack and then there was nothing. A couple seconds later the porpoise surfaced and smiled at me as it ate the fish it had stolen off the end of my line.

Shell Island

It was a great day for beach combing on Shell Island. We only found a few good shells because right before our boat came into the dock, baby E dropped a bomb in her diaper and we were late getting off the boat. She was so tired that she fell asleep with her head against my chest which is actually very rare and only occurrs during extreme exhaustion. It was a beautiful day and I wish that it would have lasted longer and that we could still be there becuase the weather here is rainy as usual.

Christmas with the in-laws

We went to Florida this year for Christmas. It was interesting being in that kind of environment for Christmas but overall it was one of the better vacations I have had. In this pic, wifey's family is just chilling in a pontoon boat that we rented and took around for the afternoon.

Santa's little helper

She doesn't actually get very much work done for Santa. It's more like making a mess for Santa.

First Christmas Tree

In a picture just before this, baby E was eyeing the candy cane. I guess she will take after me.

My crazy looking kid

Gotta love the shades

What a cutey

Dress provided by Grandma

Bargain Shopper

Baby E has started bargain shopping at a young age. Wifey will likely be sure to tell her that you don't want to shop for too many things at Shopko though.

I'm Hungry

Baby E taking a bite out of one of her first Christmas presents

Jefferson Park

The day couldn't have been much better. We hiked about 12 miles cover a couple thousand foot elevation gain and had an awesome time. This pic is taken from Jefferson Park Ridge. We hiked down into the park pretty much straight ahead of us until we got to the base of the mountain. There is no trail to the top of the mountain and it's my understanding that this mountain is the most rugged in Oregon and isn't summited that often.

Smiles for mommy

I have gotten some pretty big smiles and some good laughs from baby E but she saves the best for mommy. See how she is looking to the side...that's were mommy is at. It's pretty standard for her to do this. It's funny and sad at the same time. I think she knows dad as the boring guy who comes home late at night, swaddles her and puts her to bed. That's boring. Mom gets to play with her during the day. If it sound like I am a little jealous, that's cuz I am. If I could stay home and never work at my job again, I would do it in a heartbeat.

What a wreck...or two

I recently went mountainbiking with some kids from church but what they failed to tell me or what I failed to ask was what kind of biking we would be doing. It turned out to be downhill mountainbiking whereas I have only done crosscountry biking. I didn't really know that it mattered that much what kind of bike you have but apparantly mine does not work very well for downhill biking. It would be like trying to use cross country skis for downhill skiing, technically you could get down the mountain but it wouldn't be pretty and you would probably crash a lot. I did.

When we first got there, people were jumping this man made jump where you went down a hill, shot up the jump and landed on a wooden man made landing. As I watched others do it I realized that I have never done anything like this before but I didn't want to be outdone by anyone. As I prepared to head down the jump I said out loud, "what is the worst that could happen? I could crash". I did just that. I headed down, hit the jump and got plenty of air and distance but when I hit I was too far foreward and went over my handlebars and landed on my shoulder, arm, hip, and leg causing scratches and bruises to all those areas(some pretty good ones too). After that I only took smaller jumps until we headed up the mountain for the single track downhill.

On the way down I went off this little ramp that they built on the trail with a small drop off. My front tire went down first and I went over the front of my handlebars and landed right on top of my head, rolled the the side, and then my bike fell on top of me. I was pretty much done after that. I cracked my helmet and broke my sunglasses. I rode down the rest of the mountain and ended up bending the sprocket on my bike.

All in all it ended up being a pretty painful and expensive day but also a pretty good story.