TEXAS and Birthday

This is Texas BBQ, just in case you were wondering. Our group of friends has acquired a Texan (sixth generation) and so we were privileged to eat some of her homestyle cookin'. On the menu we have brisket, baked beans, and cucumber salad. Basically it was the business.










This on the other hand was my 23rd birthday. It was a crazy day but we had a good time just messing around at the townhouse. Alana and friends were the masterminds behind the whole scene and we had a great time. After a BYU soccer game we headed back to the townhouse and played some games and ate a wicked chocolate cake. 

Exercise Take 2

In keeping with the exercise post from last time I found another great write up. There was an interesting quote that goes along with it, "Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.” - Edward Stanley. That just seemed to be such a profound statement. It is sure going to get me out of the house (despite the ever increasing cool weather we are experiencing now). Check it out by clicking here.

Fleet Week - San Francisco

Yesterday, Dan and Helen had the opportunity to watch the Fleet Week Air Show in San Francisco from the deck of a 225 ft. Buoy Tender Coast Guard Cutter - Aspen. There were other Coast Guard and Navy families as well on board. The Blue Angels from the Navy were the high point of the afternoon, doing their famous aerial stunt maneuvers over the Bay. It was quite spectacular! Since we were aboard a buoy tender, at the end of the afternoon, the crew had to hoist a 2200 lb. buoy up on the deck to be transported back to the Coast Guard station. In addition, they had to also haul in the two concrete "anchors" that kept the buoy in place during the air show. The combined weight of these two anchors was 20,000 lbs. Needless to say, this ship had some heavy duty equipment to handle this job. It was a beautiful afternoon to be out on San Francisco Bay. Next year, why don't you plan on attending this event with us.

 

Get your Run on!

Well as some of you may or may not know I may be joining the Medical branch of the Army. There are a variety of reasons for this, but mostly it is just something that Megan and I feel good about. I am not worried about any portion of the requirements for this program except for the running. So I started running last week. I am sooooo bad at it. I have been searching for a good plan to get going and I think I found one. If you are also thinking about getting going with running check this page out. Click here.

Coast Guard Academy Parent's Weekend

This past weekend Grammie, Grampie, Margaret, Evan, Helen, Dan, and Erin went back to the Coast Guard Academy for its annual Parent's Weekend. It was a beautiful New England fall weekend. The Academy is in a beautiful location on the Thames River in New London, CT. On Friday we went to class with Jeannie and toured Chase Hall (the dorms where she and all the cadets live.) Friday night we had some activity in our hotel as there was a fire alarm that went off at 2:00 am because there was an attempted suicide. The whole hotel had to wait outside for about and hour in the cold and we crammed 7 of us in a small compact car to stay warm. On Saturday we watched Jeannie play volleyball and also caught part of the football game. We all left Sunday evening and had a great time visiting Jeannie at the Coast Guard Academy!

 

Evan's 16th Birthday Weekend

For Evan's 16th birthday, he wanted to go see the musical "Wicked" on Broadway. It coincided with Parent's Weekend at the Coast Guard Academy in CT so Margaret and Evan flew to NYC, on a redeye, and arrived in NYC at 6 a.m. on Thursday, Evan's birthday. They went to Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, FAO Schwartz, Central Park, Time Square, Fifth Avenue, and ended the day with seeing the musical "Wicked" (highly recommend seeing it). We took the train to Stamford CT that night, where Dan and Erin picked us up and we drove to New London. Friday we went to Jeannie's classes with her at the Coast Guard Academy and on Saturday watched her play a great game of volleyball when the Academy went up against Williams College (they won in the best of 5 match). We also toured the subase at Groton where Grampie spent a year back in 1944 training to be a submariner. It was a great weekend to be with all of the family.


 

Germany Needs a Big Can of Raid!

I saw this posting on Digg the other day and I thought I might share it with anyone who reads this blog. So as many of you know Google maps provides satellite images of the entire planet. They obtain these images by scanning in photos that a satellite takes from space. It would seem that an earwig found his way into the scanner and he was not caught by the folks at Google. The result is a 200 ft. bug in the middle of a feild outside Salsburg Germany. I wonder if this is going to turn into a huge tourist trap now... Check it out here.

The Holland Bike Trip

Even though we were in Brugge, Belgium (the canal picture) and had to take a quick trip to France (it was a new country for Shing, Helen, and Susan), most of the cycling was done in Holland. We were on the barge, Iris, for 7 days where we cycled during the day, with some sightseeing and then docked in quaint villages on the canals for the night. Our barge slept only 20 people so we got to know our bargemates well. One of the more unique places was the kinderdijk, a UNESCO sight with 17 working windmills - the windmills were, and are, used to drain the land that is below sea level and also to grind the grain. It was a great trip, and Mom and Dad kept up cycling with even the youngest cyclists.


 

Live, from Amsterdam...

In case anyone did not receive this video by email I thought I would post it up here. It is Margaret, Nantie and Shing at the Anne Frank Museum. They all put in their 2 cents, well maybe Shing only puts in her 1 cent :)

Bedroom Makeover

Kibaki's Korner
Dan and I just recently finished painting one of the bedrooms. Now we just need to get our room finished.

Veterinary Destiny

Megan and I are always trying to figure out the letters that go along with people's phone numbers. There is a nifty website that can tell you all the possibilities for any phone number. For instance, my number would be 51-PAW-0-RUB-0. Paw Rub??? Coincidence? I think not. Try it out for your own phone number and those of other people. Fun times. Click here.

Free Backup

Ok, so everyone knows how much I harp on backing up your pictures. They are the only ones you have. Think of the pictures on your computer as negatives, once thay are gone you can never get that picture back. If you are reluctant to get an external drive (which is a great option) then I would recommend a new service online. It is FREE and called Xdrive. It is put out by AOL. It gives you 5 GBs for free which should give you enough room for about 5,000 pictures. Give it a try and back up! Click here.

Moving In and Moving Up!

This past weekend, Erin and Helen helped Allison move into her new apartment in San Luis Obispo. It is a very nice complex and so close to campus and shopping areas. Whenever you are in the area, I know Allison would love to show you her new place and have you over for a good, home-cooked meal!. It's a cute place. On the other coast, Jeannie and the rest of the corp of cadets took a trip to their rival school, the Merchant Marine Academy on Long Island. The women's volleyball team won, but the football team lost. This is a picture of Jeannie and a few friends, one of which is the commandant of the Coast Guard, Thad Allen!! Jeannie sure picks her friends in high ranking places! If you are wondering why Jeannie is the only one NOT in uniform, it's because she just finished playing a volleyball game, which gives her the option of being out of uniform.  

Marketa and Evan Fly to Santa Barbara

Our good friends, Bob and Julie Davey, asked Evan and Marketa to go to lunch. . .in Santa Barbara. So they flew them up there and they had lunch near the ocean. Evan and Marketa both got to pilot the Mooney plane. . .the weather was great and they got to see much of the coast. . .Marketa had never been up in a private plane before so it was a treat for both of them. Bob and Julie have been so generous with taking all of the family and guests up in their plane over the years. . .what a great opportunity it has been for all of us!


 

Tica Living In The Big City

Helen and Erin went to the San Francisco Bay Area earlier this week. We hiked around Point Reyes National Seashore - which is located north of San Francisco in Marin County. We saw very beautiful scenery and a lot of wildlife, including a bobcat, deer, Tule elk, and a fox. The hike offered breathtaking views of the coastline. Then we met Tica in San Francisco for dinner. She lives in the Pacific Heights district (which usually offers spectacular views of the city, but it was foggy on the day we visited.) We are on the stairs where she gets quite a work out running up and down. Behind Erin is Senator Dianne Feinstein's house. We visited Tica's apartment where she can see the whole city from her bedroom. Tica is doing great as a career woman in the city! 

Lighthouse Lodging

Over the Labor Day weekend, Dan, Helen, Allison, and Erin stayed in a Youth Hostel at Pigeon Point Lighthouse. It is located on the California coast between San Francisco and Santa Cruz. The lighthouse was erected in 1872 to guide ships between Monterey and San Francisco. The lighthouse is now owned by the state park system, but due to structural damage we were unable to take a tour of the lighthouse. It was a chilly weekend, but the location was beautiful - right on the Pacific Ocean.
 

RIP Mate

A sad day in history mates. Steve Irwin (aka Croc Hunter) was killed today in a freak accident. He was out swimming with some stingrays while filming a documentary. He was stung through the heart and died before help could arrive. I for one am saddened but not shocked by this news. One must admire his love of the animal world and he died trying to bring it to the rest of us. I know there is a nice big swamp waiting for the guy on the other side. RIP. Here is a link to an article about his passing.

Marketa "Czechs" out Disneyland

We took Marketa to Disneyland and California Adventure two days ago. She loved all of the rides, especially the Tower of Terror in California Adventure. We also had lunch at Club 33 and feasted on all of the great chocolate desserts. Another favorite was Thunder Mountain. Marketa can't wait to go to Magic Mountain to go on all of the roller coasters.

Showing Marketa the Southwest

After our trip to Northern California, we drove to Utah (via the roller coaster at New York, New York in Las Vegas - Marketa had never been on a roller coaster - she's going to love it when we go to Magic Mountain next week). Marketa really wanted to see a desert so we thought we would show her the best. ...the Mojave, complete with many Joshua trees. We stayed at our neighbor's cabin (the Marino's) above Cedar City in the mountains for several days. We went to Zion National Park one day and hiked the Narrows and then went to Bryce the following day. This terrain is way different from anything that she has in the Czech Republic.