Clint and Jen in Colorado

Fundraising for Chezca's Surgery

2011-03-03T10:58:00.000-08:00

If the below widget does not work, or if you prefer to donate directly via Paypal, please use this link. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=L4YSKXMQWE8EE

This is our good friend's daughter, Chezca. She has Moebius Syndrome, a rare congenital neurological disorder. She is unable to move several parts of her body, including her limbs.

I am asking, begging really, for your help. Chezca is also clubfooted and unable to stand or walk. There is a surgery and therapy available that will help correct this, but it is very expensive. I'm asking all of my friends to help me raise funds for this surgery. Even small donations will add up and make a life-altering improvement for Chezca and her family.

Chezca lives a few houses down from our family in Manila, with her two brothers and mother and father. Her father currently works two jobs, and the entire family helps take care of Chezca (she is unable to walk due to having two clubfeet).

There is a way to help her stand and walk again, but it involves an expensive surgery (expensive by U.S. standards, impossibly expensive to a family living in the Philippines) and follow up therapy. Chezca's father helped me learn a great deal when we were in Manila, and when I found out he was waiting for a start date to work on a cargo ship in the Arabian Sea (where Somali pirates operate) for almost a year in order to save some of what would be needed for the surgery, I decided there had to be a safer alternative.

I don't want my friend to endanger his life and have to live halfway across the world from his wife and children. They need him at home, and he wants to be there, working and supporting them on a day to day basis. We can make this possible by donating a small amount, and by asking our friends and family to "chip in", too.

Thank you,
Clint

Chezca

2011-03-02T12:40:00.001-08:00

Tornado in Elizabeth

2009-06-15T16:15:00.000-07:00

You have to watch a lame commercial first, but it's an impressive video from the town just south of us.

June Grilling and Weather

2009-06-07T13:59:00.000-07:00

We had a funnel cloud about ten miles north of us, and another one a few miles south. They didn't come out well in the video, though.

Spring Planting

2009-06-05T16:02:00.000-07:00

After a few weeks of work, we have most of the gardening done, for now. Jen did an amazing job with the containers, as you'll see below. Also, we'll post a couple videos - one of Collette helping with the housework and one of her trying her first curry (she liked it).

Collette in May

2009-05-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

Some random photos and videos of Collette this month.

Collette practices her typing skills:

Collette eats her popsicle:

April Visits

2009-05-01T19:26:00.000-07:00

Good weather for most of April meant some going out and some hanging around the house.

The 32 Best Songs of 2008

2009-04-08T07:46:00.000-07:00

Previous Year's Lists:

2007

2006

2005

2004 and more

2003

2002

2001

And, for 2008...

1. Glasvegas - Daddy's Gone

2. The Duke Spirit - The Step and the Walk

3. Elbow - Grounds for Divorce

4. Glasvegas - It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry

5. MGMT - Time to Pretend

6. Friendly Fires - Jump in the Pool

7. Santogold - Creator

8. The Duke Spirit - Send a Little Love Token

9. Elbow - One Day Like This

10. Black Kids - Look at Me

11. The Ghost Frequency - Lips Stitched Tight

12. Friendly Fires - Paris

13. Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes

14. Elbow - Weather to Fly

15. Santogold - Lights Out

16. Mystery Jets - Two Doors Down

17. Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You

18. The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement

19. Santogold - Say Aha

20. The Duke Spirit - Lassoo

21. Lightspeed Champion - Galaxy of the Lost

22. Magnetic Fields - California Girls

23. Raveonettes - You Want the Candy

24. Delays - Hooray

25. Glasvegas - Geraldine

26. Little Boots - Stuck on Repeat

27. Neon Neon - I Lust U

28. The Last Shadow Puppets - My Mistakes Were Made for You

29. MGMT - Kids

30. Hercules and Love Affair - Blind

31. DJ Mujava - Township Funk

32. Verve - Love is Noise

Hawaii Recap

2009-04-01T08:44:00.000-07:00

We had a great time in Hawaii. Some highlights included:

*Hanging out at the beach with Nyah, Derrick, King and Sharon and seeing Collette get over her fear of the sand

*Eating first loco moco at Koa Pancake House

*Exploring the Aloha Flea Market

*Shopping at the various Exchanges

*Having a chicken curry at Ala Moana Mall

*Going to Pali Lookout in crazy wind, then driving across the rest of the highway and visiting Bellows Beach (best beach we visited on the trip)

*Eating puka dogs

*Having malasadas at Leonards, including Chocolate and Banana Cream ones

*Seeing downtown and Chinatown

*Visiting Aloha Tower and feeding the fish and birds

*Having breakfast at Like Like Drive Inn (loco moco for Clint again)

*Visiting Hickam Air Force Base and seeing several locations that were bombed and strafed as part of the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Hawaii. Also, we got to see/feed more wild fish, visit another beach, and even see the giant lawn Sharon used to mow!

*Ate coco puffs and ensaymadas at Liliha Bakery

*Hanauma Bay was a mess. Super high winds and a billion people were there.

*Halona Beach Cove (which we didn't even get of the car for, since it was so windy)

*Makapu'u Beach, where we watched the bodysurfers get wiped out (for the most part) by big waves and high winds

*Snorkeling, which became un-snorkeling as Clint realized it's a lot easier when you ditch the snorkel and fins and just swim underwater with goggles

*Had fresh mochi (including Sakura) at Bubbies

*Tried mai tais (my favorite), lava flows (Jen's fave), Scorpions, Hawaiian Punch, Blue Hawaii, and a few others

*Touring around Mililani, thinking that would be a pretty nice place to live (if we had to move to Oahu for work some day)

*Eating breakfast sandwiches and glazed malasadas (slightly lemon flavor - great!) at Ted's Bakery

*Getting fresh fruit (although apple bananas aren't that good)

*Visiting the Polynesian Cultural Center. Yeah, it's a bit of an amusement park, but the information and shows and the real "stuff" there is pretty cool. Collette was there with us for over 4 hours and didn't cry or act up at all. She even stayed awake through the entire "Horizons" show, which we liked quite a bit

*Shopping for coffee at Coffee Gallery, touring around Waipahu, and picking up a final batch of Leonard's malasadas from the Malasada Wagon

Hawaii 2009

2009-04-01T08:19:00.000-07:00

We took our first trip to Hawaii this year. With about a week with King and Sharon in Waikiki and a weekend on our own at Turtle Bay.

Just before leaving:

And, in Oahu. First, at the Hilton Village:

Then, at the beach:

At Pali Lookout:

At the hotel:

Somewhere near Pearl Harbor (wont say where, just in case it's still a secret):

At Turtle Bay.

The view from our room:

Waking up from a nap:

Collette, with the great guy from the Samoan village.

March in Colorado

2009-03-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a remarkably mild winter. We'll be in the low 70s this week with sunny skies. It's been in the 60s and no snow/rain most of the year so far. Maybe a few colder days in January and early February, but not many. Only a couple days of snow, and most of it melted away within 24 hours on those occasions.

The baby had her first cold this weekend. Jen has been working overtime to take care of her, especially at night when the runny nose and irritability has been worst. It appears to be paying off though, since Collette has looked and sounded great today (so far). I'll be doing more around the house starting tonight, as well. It was a rough week because I got an incredibly strong cold early last week and am still feeling terrible, but at least I'm not falling asleep every 15 minutes like I was yesterday.

Here are a few shots of Collette from the past couple weeks. Her hair is growing very fast now. She stands up fine and walks when we hold her hand, but she is still afraid to walk on her own. She tries anything we feed her and eats/likes most things. Her day-to-day diet still consists of milk, water, yogurt with fruit, graham crackers, and random helpings of green beans, rice, applesauce, cereal (she eats mini-wheats with me and Oh's with Jen). And, about once a week she gets a spoonful of ice cream which she LOVES.

Names

2009-01-12T08:06:00.000-08:00

When we researched baby names in 2007, two things immediately shocked me. One, the bizarre popular names for both boys and girls this decade (Boys: Jacob as #1???? Ethan? Joshua? Are 99% percent of American boys born in Nebraska nowadays? And Girls: Ava, Madison, Addison (what???), Chloe?). Seriously, what tempts parents who, their entire lives, had friends named Mike, Bill, Nancy, and Karen to suddenly decide, en masse, that Noah is the best name for their son? Or, that Isabella (#2 for girls) was a great name for their girl?

The second bit that was surprising is how quickly each generation gives up nearly all of the names that are familiar to them. For instance, my name was never tops in popularity, but it certainly had a good run in the 60s and 70s, before quickly disappearing. And, Jennifer - quite possibly the name of more people I've met in my life than any other, has similarly had a massive drop in usage over the last 20 years.

But, John, the all-time, never-ending popular name for boys has to still be at the top of the charts, right? Well, not really. Let's see - 80 years in the top 3, another 20 years in the top 10, and now it's down near the low teens? You're telling me "Jayden" is a more popular name than John????

Well, at least the trend of giving girls stripper names seems to have passed. No longer are names like Alexis, Brittany, Candy, Destiny, Misty, or Rayne showing up near the top of girl baby name lists. That phase seemed to have peaked in the late-90s/early-00s.

New Years in San Jose

2009-01-06T14:01:00.000-08:00

We went for what will be our last trip for a while to San Jose over New Years. Why our last trip? Because Collette once again had intestinal problems at the end of our vacation so we're going to give her a rest and hopefully her ability to travel will improve in a few months.

We had a great time visiting with friends and family (and, as usual, there wasn't enough time to visit even half our friends or all our family) and had a chance to eat some of our favorite food - and best of all we didn't even need jackets since it never got below 50 degrees!

The view from our living room just before leaving for the airport.

And the view from outside our hotel in San Jose.

You'd think the San Jose shot was taken in colder weather but it was probably 20 degrees colder watching the deer outside our backyard than it was in the crazy bay area fog.

Here are photos from lunch at Amber with friends:

The rest of the lunch photos came out bad or blurry thanks to my inability to set the camera on the right setting!

Later that night, celebrating New Year's Eve:

Sometimes there is so much excitement, a nap is called for:

A trip to Menlo Park to visit with Donna and jump in the TARDIS.

And then over to Palmira for another get-together:

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T10:15:00.000-08:00

From Collette and the gang in Colorado...

The 68 Best Songs of 2007

2008-12-06T12:32:00.001-08:00

A Bit of a Drop-off, but still some of the best pop music of all time had to have come out of this year.

Previous Year's Lists:
2006
2005
2004 and more
2003
2002
2001
2000

1. Glasvegas – Daddy’s Gone
2. Manic Street Preachers - Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
3. The Cribs – Men’s Needs
4. Rihanna – Umbrella
5. Justice – Dance
6. Biffy Clyro – Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies
7. The Ting Tings – That’s Not My Name
8. Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place
9. Super Furry Animals – Run Away
10. The Wombats - Let's Dance To Joy Division
11. The Enemy - You're Not Alone
12. Klaxons – Golden Skans
13. Blood Red Shoes - It's Getting Boring by the Sea
14. Frendly Fires - Paris
15. The White Stripes – Icky Thump
16. Glasvegas - It's My Own Cheating Heart that Makes Me Cry
17. Santogold - Creator
18. Interpol - Mammoth
19. Arcade Fire – Keep The Car Running
20. Louie - I Know What You're Doing Tonight
21. Manic Street Preachers - Winterlovers
22. Ash - Twilight of the Innocents
23. Lightspeed Champion - Midnight Surprise
24. Ting Tings - Great DJ
25. Black Kids - Hit the Heartbreaks
26. The Go! Team - Grip Like a Vice
27. The Enemy – It’s Not Ok
28. Arctic Monkeys – Brainstorm
29. The Little Ones - Lovers Who Uncover
30. Ash - Polaris
31. Jarvis Cocker - Fat Children
32. Bloc Party - Flux
33. Switches - Drama Queen
34. Arcade Fire – Intervention
35. !!! - Heart of Hearts
36. Manic Street Preachers - Indian Summer
37. Amy Winehouse – Back To Black
38. The Fratellis - Flathead
39. Arctic Monkeys – Fluorescent Adolescent
40. Santogold – Les Artistes
41. Aereogramme - A Life Worth Living
42. Reverend & the Makers - Heavyweight Champion of the World
43. The View - Same Jeans
44. The Fratellis - Cigarello
45. Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong - Lucio Starts Fires
46. Klaxons – It’s Not Over Yet
47. Nine Black Alps - Burn Faster
48. The Enemy - Away From Here
49. Goodbooks - Passchendaele
50. Lightspeed Champion – Galaxy Of The Lost
51. The Little Ones - Heavy Hearts Brigade
52. Jarvis – Don’t Let Him Waste Your Time
53. Bloc Party - Hunting for Witches
54. Richard Hawley – Tonight The Streets Are Ours
55. Kate Nash – Foundations
56. The Enemy - We'll Live and Die in These Towns
57. Ash - You Can't Have It All
58. mstrkrft - Street Juice
59. Manic Street Preachers - Send Away the Tigers
60. Gallows – Abandon Ship
61. Charlotte Hatherley - Behave
62. 120 Days - Come Out, Come Down, Fade Out
63. Little Barrie - Green Eyed Fool
64. Duels - Potential Futures
65. Those Dancing Days – Those Dancing Days
66. Gallows - Black Heart Queen
67. The Films - Black Shoes
68. Cold War Kids – Hang Me Up To Dry

The 103 Best Songs of 2006

2008-12-06T11:56:00.000-08:00

Another very good year for music...

1. Muse – Knights Of Cydonia
2. Basement Jaxx - Good Luck
3. Gnarls Barkley – Crazy
4. The Gossip – Standing In The Way Of Control
5. Hope Of The States - Sing It Out
6. Muse - Starlight
7. Richard Hawley - Coles Corner
8. The Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger
9. Muse - Take a Bow
10. James Roberts - Anyway I Lie
11. Muse - Invincible
12. Rakes - 22 Grand Job
13. The Raconteurs – Steady, As She Goes
14. The Long Blondes – Once And Never Again
15. Guillemots - Sao Paulo
16. Wolfmother - Woman
17. The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldier
18. Muse – Starlight
19. The Fratellis - Henrietta
20. The Sunshine Underground – Put You In Your Place
21. Two Gallants - Las Cruces Jail
22. Nelly Furtado – Promiscuous
23. Arctic Monkeys - The View from the Afternoon
24. Gnarls Barkley - Go Go Gadget Gospel
25. Muse - Assassin
26. Hope of the States - Sing It Out
27. Arctic Monkeys - Leave Before the Lights Come On
28. Muse - Map of the Problematique
29. Larrikin Love - Six Queens
30. The Gossip - Listen Up
31. The Sunshine Underground - Commercial Breakdown
32. Camera Obscura - Hey Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken
33. Duels - Brother & Sisters
34. Gnarls Barkley – Smiley Faces
35. Richard Hawley - Just Like the Rain
36. Muse - Exo-Politics
37. Two Gallants - Steady Rollin
38. Arctic Monkeys - Riot Van
39. Franz Ferdinand - The Fallen
40. Guillemots - Trains to Brazil
41. Muse - City of Delusion
42. Pull Tiger Tall – Animator
43. Dead Pretty Things - Deadwood
44. Justice Vs Simian – We Are Your Friends
45. Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of this Country
46. Larrikin Love - Edwould
47. Two Gallants - Long Summer Day
48. The Holloways – Generator
49. Circulus - Song of Our Dispair
50. Guillemots - Made-Up Lovesong #43
51. Test Icicles - Circle. Square. Triangle.
52. Duels - The Slow Build
53. The Good, the Bad, and the Queen - Herculean
54. Delays - Valentine
55. The Strokes - Hawaii
56. James Roberts - If Time Was All
57. Arctic Monkeys - When the Sun Goes Down
58. The Fratellis - Vince the Loveable Stoner
59. Sebastian Tellier - Broadway
60. Switches - Lay Down The Law
61. Hope of the States - The Good Fight
62. Richard Hawley - The Ocean
63. The Sleepy Jackson - God Lead Your Soul
64. Klaxons – Gravity’s Rainbow
65. The Raconteurs - Hands
66. Larrikin Love – Happy As Annie
67. Midlake – Roscoe
68. Arctic Monkeys - A Certain Romance
69. Outkast - When I Look In Your Eyes
70. Bloc Party - The Prayer
71. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Turn Into
72. Muse – Supermassive Black Hole
73. Forward Russia! - Eighteen
74. Klaxons – Atlantis To Interzone
75. The Horrors – Sheena Is A Parasite
76. The Sunshine Underground - I Ain't Losin Any Sleep
77. Richard Ashcroft - Words Just Get in the Way
78. Richard Hawley - Born Under a Bad Sign
79. Mystery Jets - Diamonds in the Dark
80. Black Keys - 10am Automatic
81. Justice - Waters of Nazareth
82. The Stands - Turn the World Around
83. Hope of the States - Left
84. Orson - No Tomorrow
85. Rakes - All to Human
86. Test Icicles - Boa vs. Python
87. The View – Wasted Little Djs
88. My Latest Novel - The Hope Edition
89. Duels - Pressure On You
90. Maps – Lost My Soul
91. Primal Scream - Country Girl
92. James Roberts - Yeah So
93. Dirty Pretty Things - Bang Bang You're Dead
94. White Rose Movement - Love Is a Number
95. Jarvis Cocker – Running The World
96. Muse - Supermassive Black Hole
97. Mark Ronson - Just
98. Bad Wizard - Sky High
99. Cassius - Groove
100. Razorlight - In The Morning
101. Peter Bjorn & John – Young Folks
102. Wolfmother - Mind's Eye
103. Gnarls Barkley - Just a Thought

Collette's First Birthday and Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T09:49:00.000-08:00

We're trying to get some Christmas shopping out of the way today so there isn't much time to explain the past couple of days. Collette's great-grandmother passed away (rest in peace, grandma). We got our first significant snow storm of the season. Collette had her first birthday party (with her first bites of cake from our favorite french bakery). We found a cat that had got away from its home and he stayed with us for a few days. We had a big Thanksgiving dinner with King and Sharon and Nyah and Derrick. And, we all went to the Wildlife Experience for the first time and ran into one of Jen's doctors (Dr. Tozer - who delivered Collette).

We've been getting coyotes going up and down the street and even coming up to our backyard fence every day for the past two weeks.

He's hard to see here, but in the middle of the road.

Now, on to our long weekend.

Collette likes standing a lot now (she normally cruises or walks when she can use both hands to hold onto something, but King had her walking while using only one hand this weekend).

We were loaded with food for Thanksgiving.

Can you find Derrick and Nyah in this photo?

Party time!

The snow started while we were at Southlands. After picking up a couple Wii games, we returned to this.

Collette, reading a birthday card from Tita Baby.

The 43 Best Songs of 2001

2008-11-23T07:19:00.000-08:00

1. Outkast - Bombs Over Bagdad
2. Roger Sanchez – Another Chance
3. The Strokes - Last Nite
4. Kylie Minogue – Can’t Get You Out Of My Head
5. The Strokes - Hard to Explain
6. Basement Jaxx – Romeo
7. The Strokes - Someday
8. The Avalanches – Since I Left You
9. Daft Punk – One More Time
10. Ladytron - Playgirl
11. The Strokes - New York city Cops
12. Ladytron - Discotraxx
13. The Strokes – The Modern Age
14. The Avalanches – A Different Feeling
15. The Strokes - Barely Legal
16. The Avalanches – Electricity
17. Daft Punk – Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
18. The White Stripes – Hotel Yorba
19. Daft Punk – Aerodynamic
20. The Strokes - Trying Your Luck
21. The Strokes - Take it or Leave It
22. The White Stripes - Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground
23. The Avalanches – Flight Tonight
24. Starsailor – Good Souls
25. The Strokes - Soma
26. The White Stripes - Fell in Love with a Girl
27. Daft Punk – Digital Love
28. Spritualized – Do It All Over Again
29. Outkast – Ms jackson
30. Destiny’s Child – Survivor
31. Daft Punk – Crescendolls
32. The Avalanches – Stay Another Season
33. The White Stripes - Little Room
34. Missy Elliott – Get Ur Freak On
35. Basement Jaxx – Where's Your Head At?
36. Parsley Sound - Ease Yourself & Glide
37. The White Stripes - We're Going to Be Friends
38. Ladytron - This Is Our Sound
39. The Coral - Shadows Fall
40. Ash – Shining Light
41. Ladytron - The way that I found you
42. The Strokes - Is This It
42. The Avalanches – Frontier Psychiatrist

The 57 Best Songs of 2003

2008-11-22T17:00:00.000-08:00

Reposting a lost year before catching up with my favorites from 2006.

1 hey ya! - outkast
2 crazy in love - beyonce
3 familiar feeling - moloko
4 golden streams - hidden cameras
5 maps - yyys
6 this town - hot hot heat
7 red morning light - kings of leon
8 that great love sound - raveonettes
9 time for heroes - libertines
10 soldier girl - the polyphonic spree
11 over and over - moloko
12 oh, goddammit - hot hot heat
13 am i wrong - mull historical society
14 dancefloors-my morning jacket
15 pass it on - coral
16 obstacle 2 - interpol
17 the laws have changed - the new pornographers
18 heartbreak stroll - raveonettes
19 wasted time - kings of leon
20 blind pilots - cooper temple clause
21 stockholm syndrome - muse
22 date with the night - yyys
23 are you gonna be my girl - jet
24 i believe in a thing called love - the darkness
25 ban marriage - hidden cameras
26 move your feet - junior senior
27 the school song - black box recorder
28 nyc - interpol
29 enemies/friends - hope of the states
30 unrecorded - m83
31 vertigo - libertines
32 bandages - hot hot heat
33 tick - yyys
34 asylum - mull historical society
35 gay bar - electric six
36 dont take your love away from me - mull historical society
37 time is running out - muse
38 man - yyys
39 reach for the sun - the polyphonic spree
40 run into flowers - m83
41 nonsense - komeda
42 i love you - dizzee rascal
43 take it or leave it - jet
44 hanging around - the polyphonic spree
45 christmas time - the darkness
46 maximum overdrive - winnebago deal
47 do you love yourself - the glitterati
48 days like this - the polyphonic spree
49 so says i - the shins
50 me and giuliani down by the school yard - !!!
51 sister saviour - the rapture
52 fix up look sharp - dizzee rascal
53 golden - my morning jacket
54 black dollar bills - hope of the states
55 rhythm bandits - junior senior
56 dont think you're the first - the coral
57 sleep walker - canyon
58 the red the white the black the blue - hope of the states

Collette's New Foods

2008-11-10T18:43:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to Boulder to eat at the Scotch Corner Pub and then walk around Pearl Street for a bit before stopping at the Laughing Goat for coffee (goat milk latte turns out to NOT be my cup of tea. um. cup of coffee, that is) and finally Belvedere for chocolates and a cup of hot chocolate. Jen gives the chocolate two thumbs up and feels it's the closest to the European hot chocolate that she loves.

So, at the pub, Collette tried scotch egg (likes the egg but not much else), mashed potato (likes it), cottage pie gravy (likes it), fries (likes them), and baked beans (likes it).

Tonight, she had her first Parmesan cheese (shaved so the pieces were larger and saltier) which she ate several bites of but did not seem to enjoy. THEN, she tried some cheese tortellini and went berzerk. I think we found her first "favorite" food. She was crawling across the room to me for more bites of it, so I think we'll be eating tortellini more often at home now.

Halloween 2008

2008-11-04T05:35:00.000-08:00

We ended up with maybe 15 or so groups come to the door, so most kids got two handfuls of some good candy. And Clint ended up with about 5 bags to eat himself, although Collette likes using Milk Duds and Tootsie Pops as toys.

Collette was dressed as a flower tot but I suspect her costume wont fit next year and she'll be more excited about trick or treating by then, so expect something new in twelve months time.

Sunshine and Indigo

2008-10-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

It's daycare day for Aspen and Sunshine, and, like most Thursdays, while the other dogs rest in the afternoon, Sunshine and Indigo are still wrestling non-stop while avoiding all the sleeping dogs.

Donna Visits

2008-10-22T09:20:00.001-07:00

Donna came out to visit for a week and spent a lot of time with Collette and the dogs (when we weren't trying to get her to every restaurant in Parker).

On Saturday, we went to the Cherry Creek market for tamales, tomatoes, and curry puffs. We get our curry puffs and satay from the wonderful "Wee Bites"

There are always plenty of dogs at the farmer's markets around Denver and many of them love Collette.

After visiting the market, Collette drove us to Silverthorn and then Vail.

And, a few last shots around the house before Donna went off to Philly.

And, Sunshine says bye to Donna.

Around the House in Mid-October

2008-10-22T09:11:00.001-07:00

Here are some shots of Collette in the weeks leading up to her first Halloween.

And a few pix of the maple trees going through their second autumn in the yard.

Collette around the house.

Rocky Mountain National Park

2008-10-22T08:58:00.000-07:00

About three weeks ago we went up to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. We had a fantastic room at the Stanley, but ended up leaving a day early due to baby issues. Here are some snaps of the trip.

At RMNP.

Collette on the hotel bed.

Day two at RNMP. Starting with the Elk.

Collette at the Alluvial Fan.

Jen and Collette outside the Taffy Shop.

October Update

2008-10-11T07:52:00.000-07:00

The weather has changed in the last week. We've gone from 80s to 60s and low 70s and this weekend will be filled with fog, rain, and a possibility for snow. We have to protect the potted flowers today in anticipation of the first freeze of the season.

Instead of visiting our pals who have a booth at the Cherry Creek market on Saturdays where they sell fantastic Malaysian snacks, we're going to stay indoors and head to Lucile's for breakfast. Next Saturday the weather should be more accommodating and we'll have Donna in tow then, so she can check out the entire Cherry Creek area with us next weekend.

Last week we had good weather so we took Collette to sample cheeses (and pick up supplies for dinner) at the the Truffle a couple days before we planned to go for a long weekend in Estes Park. We did get up to EP last Sunday, but the baby wasn't feeling well so we went home the next day and spent our remaining vacation around the house. It was worth skipping the final day/night since Collette was immediately feeling better once we returned home. I'll post photos and video of Estes Park later as the short time we had there was fantastic. We stayed at the Stanley (the hotel from "The Shining") and went to Rocky Mountain National Park twice to see the elk and Alluvial Fan. In fact, because it's early autumn, the elk are all over town again (we saw dozens of them in town last year, too).

Collette's found a couple new shows to keep her occupied while we're busy. She likes a new one called Chuggington, and she seems undecided on Postman Pat, but she gave it a couple tries and we'll see what she thinks tomorrow of the newest episode.

We have Collette's first Halloween costume (she's going to be a Flower Tot) and we'll probably take her up our half of the street for her first trick or treat adventure, before returning home to hand out candy ourselves. Hopefully, we'll have good weather that night.

One of our neighbors picked up a Bernese Mountain Dog earlier this year, named Tank. We love this 6-month old and are trying to work out play dates for Sunshine and Tank since they are both very high energy dogs.

Collette's been sampling more and more food with us and she still loves her Gerber staples (green beans, peas, blueberries, bananas, mixed vegetables). Lately she's started eating more rice, naan, muffins, and wheat bagels. She also had about a dozen different cheeses from Spain, England, and France and didn't get sick at all (despite her parents BOTH getting sick that night).

No recent snapshots, but here's one from about a month ago of our little taste-tester with a batch of tomato/basil risotto we were working on:

and here are a few videos from a month or two ago (not sure of the dates). Here, Collette shows her early standing abilities.

This one has her laughing at Jen's comedy routine:

And this final one shows how Sunshine is always looking out for her. She loves to lay down next to Collette and check out anything new that comes near the baby. She's a good security guard:

San Jose Visit

2008-09-16T08:18:00.000-07:00

A short trip to San Jose and Half Moon Bay for Mya's birthday. Pix below.

Barker Days 2008

2008-09-06T16:49:00.001-07:00

Aspen's first trip to Barker Days was eventful. We saw several folks we know here in town, Sunshine ran off looking for vendors who would give her free food while we were supposed to be playing with her in the pool area, and Collette fell asleep after an hour. Here are some snapshots and a couple videos of our afternoon.

Sunshine retrieving.

Sunshine with a typical mad run.

Around the House in August

2008-09-06T16:45:00.000-07:00

Jen is into container gardening now. Here are a couple of her latest efforts, along with a shot of Jordan (who just moved back to Dallas with Hannah, Jody, and Allen) and Jen.

September Collette Update

2008-09-06T16:32:00.000-07:00

Monday is her nine month check up, so we'll know how she's doing then. In the meantime, she's been keeping busy with us by weekly trips to Tagawa for garden supplies, last week's Taste of Colorado festival, a couple hours at the Denver Art Museum, and today's afternoon at Barker Days. Tomorrow she gets to watch mama ride horses before working in the backyard with papa, and next weekend she'll be in Half Moon Bay for her cousin's birthday party.

She likes standing now, although she usually can't last more than 20-30 seconds.

She loves playing with the pets, too.

Here she is on her personal chair.

I mean, HERE she is on her personal chair.

And here she is, watching one of her favorite shows while practicing her standing.

And here she is, playing with mama.

Big Tornado

2008-08-24T16:44:00.000-07:00

Update (6:00pm mst) - We're safe - the tornado broke up after about 15 mins of on-and-off formation. There's another funnel out near Castle Rock but we (like everyone in town, I'm betting) are watching the local news to keep an eye on the weather for the next 30 mins or so.

I was out looking at houses and the new reservoir a couple days ago where the local tornado formed (about three miles from our house) - now I know not to move there! For a few minutes, at least, 9news is providing online video coverage of the storms tonight: http://www.9news.com/.

Here's a video that shows some of the tornado activity that we saw from our house.

There's a big tornado very close to our house. We're going in the basement. Will post again when it's safe.

Typical Thursday for Sunshine

2008-08-14T09:37:00.000-07:00

It only takes an hour or so before Sunshine has to be separated from the other dogs for playing too much. She's usually back in a few minutes, but she gets so excited to play with other labs that she needs a little time out throughout the day.

Plenty More Collette Pix

2008-08-04T14:56:00.001-07:00

After about 23 straight days over 90 degrees, we're about to drop to the 80s tomorrow. The heat has definitely taken a toll on our outdoor plans, although we did go out a bit last weekend. Here are various shots at the garden center, tea shop, and movie theater (we saw WALL-E - Collette's first movie).

Watching Charlie and Lola.

Having lunch. She's up to vegetable puffs, stage 3 baby foods, and we're going to try her out with cheerios, yogurt, and mushed up banana this week.

Going shopping for the garden.

Watching the dogs play.

At the Cherry Creek Farmer's Market.

Collette at the tea house.

Collette's First Movie (she slept through most of it).

Big Weekend

2008-07-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went to the county fair on Saturday and the Renaissance Festival on Sunday. About four hours in the sun each day was a lot for Collette but she did very well both days (no crying, no diaper changes needed, lots of flirting with all the folks who wanted to see her/hold her hand/etc.).

At the fair...

Walking up to the front gate.

Searching for corn dogs.

We voted for Horse, but Collette voted for Pig.

Mutton Bustin (one of the more popular activities, along with the antique tractor pull, nightly rodeo, and carny rides).

At the festival...

The entrance.

Collette with her turkey leg.

We saw a few folks try, but no one was able to hit the insult-hurling guy at the Vegetable Justice stand.

The tail end of the parade that goes through the festival village (it's a big village and takes about thirty minutes to walk through at a fast rate with no stops. For us it took closer to three hours with all the stops and looking at some of the shows and shops).

New Collette Photos

2008-07-23T15:14:00.000-07:00

Collette has settled into her daily routine, which allows us to sleep through most of the night and keep her pretty happy throughout the day. She's watching an hour or two of cartoons a day now (although she isn't mesmerized the entire time so she'll play or try standing up while the show is on sometimes). Her favorite shows are Ni Hao, Kai Lan, Fifi and the Flowertots, Charlie and Lola, and The Green Balloon Club.

Here she is watching Charlie and Lola on the computer while we clean (no, she doesn't use a high chair, even at restaurants she is fine sitting up by herself in the grown up chairs).

Out Fishing

2008-07-23T15:09:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I fished a small creek up near Fairplay. Lots of little brookies, brownies, and a few mid-sized rainbows. It became a little too windy for me in the afternoon so I left early.

This was the parking lot. It was a ten minute walk to the creek.

Cows were everywhere and I had to share the creek with them.

A typical sized fish from this creek.

Rejected Baby Names

2008-07-14T13:08:00.000-07:00

So she knows, when she's older, what she could have been called if Jen hadn't heard Collette a few weeks before giving birth, here is the short list of names we had for the baby last fall:

*Emma (too popular!! i never met an Emma in my life and now it's the #3 most popular girl's name in America!)

*Sophie (again, it's insanely popular even though there is only one person my age in the world named Sophie)

*Rose (couldn't bring ourselves to name her after Rose Tyler, even though we considered it)

*Madeline (no great short version)

*Isabel (came in last in the short list)

*Boudica (forgot it was on the list when the baby was born)

From the Weekend

2008-06-30T13:01:00.000-07:00

A few shots of the baby dining in fine style before succumbing to the dreaded summer cold.

And yes, the bib is nearly as large as her entire body. That's the smallest bib we could get!

The Parker Sunset

2008-06-30T10:07:00.000-07:00

I went out last night to run the dogs around in the yard, but got distracted by the sunset and spent 20 mins watching the colors in the sky instead.

Collette's First Cold

2008-06-30T09:47:00.001-07:00

Well, it finally happened. Last night the snot, drool, and crying went into overload and today she has her first official cold. Her temp is good and after auto-aspirating her nose a few times she gobbled her breakfast down and is now napping. We let her watch TV this morning after cleaning her up and feeding her. It was her first time in front of the TV and she loved "Ni Hao, Kai-Lan". After about 40 mins we got her to sleep and she's been resting ever since.

Dulce, King, and Sharon Visit

2008-06-25T09:54:00.000-07:00

We had many visitors last weekend: King, Nyah, Derrick, Sharon, Dulce, Kimmie, and Mya were all with us for a few days and we had a great time while they were here.

Around the same time, Collette's first tooth began to poke through her gums and she began eating her first "solid" foods: baby carrots, green beans, and peas. And last month when we were in New Mexico she said, well, shouted is more like it, her first word - "Nyah!". She hasn't said anything since although she loves to sputter and drool and laugh.

This weekend we grilled plenty of food for dinner on Friday.

Collette had a great time playing with her cousins and aunts and uncle.

We went to Southlands to walk around the farmer's market and let the kids play in the various fountain/sprinklers.

I don't appear thrilled here, but that's because the sun was in my eyes. Collette and I had just walked through a fountain.

The kids pose with a giant stuffed bear.

We had lunch later in the day at McCabe's.

At home we played indoors for a while during the day since it was quite hot outside.

And later in the afternoon we went to the playground so the kids could play and Collette could go on the swings and slides for the first time.

After dinner we went home to relax and watch the girls do their dance routines (the first time I ever blasted Hannah Montana from the home stereo).

Santa Fe

2008-06-08T08:26:00.000-07:00

Coming home from Alamogordo, we decided to spend a little time in Santa Fe.

Collette's first cup of coffee.

People love holding the baby. She is definitely a conversation-starter in Santa Fe. Here, Collette's new friend from Nepal, Raj, spends time playing with her.

Jen and Collette light candles in the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi.

We stayed at La Fonda and had a great time wandering the plaza and the side streets off the plaza (no time to check out other parts of Santa Fe we also like this time).

Next time, we'll come back in winter to experience Taos and Santa Fe in the snow.

New Mexico

2008-06-08T08:09:00.001-07:00

We recently went for a weekend in New Mexico to visit family (and attend King's retirement from the Air Force) and stop in Santa Fe on the way home.

The dogs were not happy that we were about to leave them for a few days.

In the hills south of Santa Rosa, we ran into a severe thunderstorm which had a tornado touch down several miles from the road we were driving down. Once things cleared up, we hopped out of the car and took some shots.

The run off from the storm made cool red streams.

Eventually we made it to Alamogordo and the next morning was the ceremony.

The rest of the day was reserved for eating and relaxing at King's house with everyone.

Heading home, took some snapshots of the landscape on the drive through the hills to Albuquerque.

There are black hills/rock in the Valley of Fires.

The next day was Santa Fe, which I'll put in the following post.

Collette Update for June

2008-06-07T05:37:00.000-07:00

The baby had her 6 month check up and shots last week and did very well. She's up to 12.5 pounds and 2 feet tall. She passed most of her development items, although she's still getting the hang of completely rolling over.

Her new favorite things are:

Being outside

Being swung around in wide arcs

Petting the cats

She also started eating peas and drinking out of a sippy cup. We'll transition to a real cup once she's able to grasp large items with both hands (she's still quite small and has a hard time getting her hands around items).

Sitting up is another of her newly found favorite things. She can stay up and play with things on her own but if she tips over too quickly, she isn't able to get her arm out in time to prevent the complete tip over.

Her crib arrived recently so she's started sleeping in her own room at night (with us monitoring and watching her on the TV in a little window while we watch shows).

And finally, we took a lunch hour last week to go to the county clerk and turn in her application for a passport, so in about five weeks she should be ready to travel the world (just when the dollar is at a ridiculous low and oil has caused air fares to double or triple).

Here are a couple shots of her in her, as yet unused, winter hat.

Town and Country

2008-05-26T06:56:00.000-07:00

We survived last week's storms with nothing more than a few rain drops and some debris that landed in the yard. However, there are grey skies again today so we might stick around Parker instead of trying anything ambitious today. So, to give an idea of what life's like, I found a few google maps with pix that can give a street-level view of some of the places we visit around here.

Somewhere back there is the dog park we go to.

This is one of my favorite roads. We take it coming back from the grocery store.

Here is Tealeaves, well the back of it, Jen's favorite tea shop.

Big Jim's - where the best weekend bbq is found.

Hummingbird Hill - where Clint was taking horsey lessons last year.

Here's where Magic Dog is (the pet store that Sunshine's agility trainer owns) out in Elizabeth.

Tornados A'Brewin

2008-05-22T12:18:00.000-07:00

There are very big hail/thunder storms all over the northern part of the state right now, but we're fortunately in a nice pocket that protects us from the baseball sized hail and home/car-destroying twisters up north.

As long as we don't lose power, I'll post another update today if conditions get worse here in eastern Parker.

Last night we watched the far-away thunderstorms that were out by the Kansas border. I was counting up to 40 lightning strikes a minute, and the storms went on forever into the horizon and lasted for what seemed like hours (I gave up and went to bed around 10:30).

Sunshine's First Day

2008-05-14T06:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some snaps from about a year and a half ago, on the day we brought Sunshine home (she had bordetella at the time).

Clint and Collette 2

2008-05-07T17:32:00.000-07:00

Here's how we look after baby bathtime.

Cheapest Gas In San Jose?

2008-05-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

I think we found it on Sunday morning...

Still, it's about 50 cents more per gallon than out here.

Breakfast at Five's

2008-05-06T07:08:00.000-07:00

We went to Cindie and Five's house for breakfast while in San Jose. The kids played while we caught up with the hosts and Chuan and David and Linda.

Family Party at Palmira

2008-05-06T07:03:00.000-07:00

We spent Saturday visiting family and friends. Here are some shots from the day.

Erin and Collette

2008-05-06T07:02:00.000-07:00

Maybe they'll be internet pals when they get older...

Back Home

2008-05-06T06:59:00.000-07:00

After a weekend in San Jose, we return to this.

Bonnie Brae on a Sunday

2008-04-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

We were out by Washington Park yesterday and thought about stopping at Bonnie Brae. Until we saw this:

So instead we went to Larimer Square and got gelato. Win for us!

Mama and Baby

2008-04-28T08:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some shots from around the house last week of Jen and Collette.

For a sense of scale:

Colorado (Denver) Food Map

2008-04-12T08:51:00.000-07:00

Since I always have trouble looking up places to eat at the last minute, I used Google Maps to plot all the places we like eating at, or places we have on our list to try.

I also added in a couple grocery stores we go to on weekends. I should probably put farmer's markets on, too. Maybe in June when most are running around here.

Most spots are in or around Denver but as I remember places we've tried in the mountains I'll add them, as well.

View Larger Map

Fishing Clear Creek

2008-04-05T06:56:00.000-07:00

My first day on the water in 08 was a productive one. Starting above Georgetown in the snow, here is what I found in the small spaces where the snow was melted enough to see creek.

This is where the path started down to the creek. At one point I was going down the side of the mountain in knee deep drifts.

Heading downstream I took a couple shots of Georgetown.

After a few mins below Georgetown Lake I picked up species two (although it was quite a small Brownie).

A few more smallish (~8-10") Browns and Rainbows before hooking a big daddy 'bow.

Here's my instructional video on how NOT to take a video of a fish release when you're sitting in the shade.

Collette Update

2008-04-05T06:44:00.000-07:00

It was a quiet week, although Collette did get her clearance to travel so we'll be going out more with her now that the weather is warming up (49 and no wind = t shirt weather out here). Today may involve a trip to Larimer Square for some buffalo burgers and gelato, but it depends on what chores we get through first.

Here is Collette's first, intentional, play time with the dogs.

And here a few shots so you can see how big she's getting.

Collette "Speaks"

2008-03-26T16:18:00.000-07:00

Besides giggling, the baby likes "talking" at random times during the day. Sometimes to one of us, sometimes to the dogs, sometimes to a pillow. She should get her own talk show soon.

Collette Stands

2008-03-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

Well, kind of. She's been wanting to stand for a couple of months now so we've been giving her more and more stand-up time lately. Here are her efforts at standing up while leaning against the couch and leaning against my hand.

Update From Colorado

2008-03-21T07:25:00.000-07:00

Spring is here and we ended up with a mild winter (I don't think we had more than two days of meaningful snow here in the last two months). Now, even though temperatures have been in the 50s, I'm expecting things to stay cold thanks to the spring winds that make things like fishing and golf very difficult.

The dogs are doing great and now that it's above freezing every day we're able to go to the park more often and they are getting daily exercise again (it's hit or miss during winter since some days it's too cold for Aspen, even with his jacket on).

Collette is still growing, even though all of her newborn clothes are still a little big on her. She goes back to the doctor for her check up and shots in a week so we'll find out if she made it out of the 2nd percentile for size in Colorado yet.

She's been very vocal this month and now she likes making sounds for long periods of time, several times a day. She's also able to keep her head up nearly 100% of the time (except when she's falling asleep). She started standing up with our assistance in January but this month she got to the point where she likes standing without our help all the time so she'll hang on to a shirt or try to balance her hands on ours. When she has lots of energy, we shift her body a tiny bit when she's standing and she takes a step forward. Then we shift the other direction and she steps forward with her other foot. Hopefully, she'll get the walking motion down well enough so that walking will come easy once she's able to balance herself without assistance.

Feedings are becoming very regular and she has developed a great pattern that allows her (and us) to sleep through the night. The crib we ordered hasn't arrived yet so she's still sleeping in the cosleeper but she does such a great job we don't expect the transition to a crib to be difficult for her.

She's also in love with eating her fingers and drooling so it's a constant battle to keep her from drowning in her own saliva. Luckily, she still enjoys the pacifier so we can usually swap her fingers for the soothie pretty quickly.

Here are some newer photos from around the place here.

Some deer were across the street yesterday morning.

Jen and Collette taking a nap.

Collette watching Torchwood with us.

Jen and baby working together.

Collette, practicing her phone usage technique (although, at the rate of change now, I expect all phones in the future to not even have phone service since 90% of cell phones seem to be used for text messaging instead).

Confidential Series 3, Episode 7 : Space Craft

2008-03-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

Muse - Time is Running Out

Joe Brown and the Bruwers - A Picture of You

David Bowie - Star Man

MARRS - Pump Up the Volume

Doves - Words

Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby

Embrace - Ashes

Paolo Nutini - New Shoes

Dinah Washington - What A Difference A Day Makes

Snow Patrol - Set the Fire to the Third Bar

March Videos

2008-03-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

A good mix of old and new...

Glasvegas - Daddy's gone

Tim Phillips - Song For Ten

Mull Historical Society - Am I Wrong

Super Furry Animals - Run-Away

The Duke Spirit - The Step and the Walk

Lightspeed Champion - Midnight Surprise

The Divine Comedy - I've Been to a Marvelous Party

Two Gallants - Steady Rollin'

Cisco.Cricket in 2000

2008-02-29T11:11:00.001-08:00

Here are some photos of the CDC team in 2000 during one of our after-work games of cricket.

Photos From February - Around the House

2008-02-23T11:29:00.000-08:00

Here are some newer shots of Collette and some of the pets.

What do you mean the bottle's empty??

Collette and Butters get along well.

We eat at a restaurant and then THIS happens

2008-02-23T08:45:00.000-08:00

Last year, Jen and I spent a long weekend in Durango and ate at a very good local restaurant named Seasons.

This morning, I check the news and see this:

Seven firefighters were injured when an explosion blew out the front of a bakery and two other businesses on Friday afternoon.

Seasons Restaurant, located at 764 Main Ave. in downtown Durango, caught fire around 1:40 p.m. The fire apparently started in the kitchen.

The fire quickly spread to adjacent businesses. According to The Durango Herald, the fronts of Seasons, the Le Rendezvous Swiss Bakery, located at 750 Main Ave., and Half-Price Tees, located at 758 Main Ave., blew out, sending flying glass and debris into the street.

Why, oh why does destruction follow in my wake! Well, kind of.

It's a shame about Seasons - they had fantastic food and a very professional and warm team working the night we ate there.

Story is here.

A Mild Winter

2008-02-23T06:01:00.000-08:00

Per the plan, it's been a eventless February. We have a few more weeks left where the goal is "no problems with Collette" and then we'll be in spring and ready to travel with her without fear of illness or worse.

She's growing, albeit slowly. Her favorite activities continue to revolve around mealtime and dropping into various depths of unconsciousness. However, she has picked up smiling and a strong desire to (attempt to) stand up whenever possible. She can keep her head up when laying on her stomach - doing a good impersonation of a turtle - for almost a minute at a time now. And, she loves leaning up against us and standing "on her own" while we balance her.

We've also begun placing more toys and musical items around her. She will react to sounds when she's at her most alert, but most of the time she is content to slowly follow any moving parts with her eyes and absorb the sounds coming from the toy.

I tried watching "Beethoven Uncovered" with Collette the other day but I don't think modulation agrees with her (the evidence was in her startled movements and quivering, pre-cry lips) so I switched over to Saxondale and she was quite happy.

Elsewhere, the pets are all healthy and happy, although the dogs get a bit bored (we don't take them for walks when it gets under 30 degrees since Aspen will get too cold quickly) some days. Overall, we've had a very mild winter and it's been in the 50s for several days recently so I expect it will soon be warm enough to take the dogs and the baby out for morning walks.

Stats Update for January

2008-01-30T11:24:00.000-08:00

And Collette has passed her 2-month exam with flying colors! Her weight is up to 7lbs 4 oz (meaning, 97% of Denver babies her age are heavier than her - hey, maybe she'll grow up to be a model) and her height is 21 inches (only 90% of Denver babies are taller!). She got her 5 shots and the doctor told us no travel with her until after her next visit (end of March), so we're going to be stuck in Parker for the rest of winter.

Doctor Visit Today

2008-01-30T07:04:00.001-08:00

We're about an hour from going in for Collette's two month check up. She's been doing great at home and we even took her with us on the weekend shopping trip to Tony's last Sunday. Will post her health clearance later today or tomorrow morn.

Jen and baby.

Collette gets along great with the pets.

Stormy's new thing is to sit up like a big boy.

Collette's head is growing 3 times as fast as her body.

Soon, I'll be able to teach her the joys of mixing this

with this

and having breakfast be the best meal of the day.

This was from last night. She loves her boppy pillow.

Clint and Collette

2008-01-15T15:51:00.001-08:00

In true Daddy-Daughter day fashion, we had a fun time drinking till we drooled, crying when we didn't get our way, and urinating all over ourselves. Weeeeee!

Have you ever seen a happier couple?

Wildlife

2008-01-15T15:47:00.000-08:00

This morning, three coyotes were running around the large open space across the street. I watched them get closer and closer to the road before their boldness evaporated and they bounced back to the trees.

At home, Butters tried to escape via UPS.

Her escape plans were a result of getting caught trying to pilfer water from the dog's bowls.

And Stormy tried to help Jen write thank you cards in the afternoon.

New Year Update

2008-01-07T11:55:00.000-08:00

It's a case of no news is good news. We stayed in and watched the dogs play for New Year's Eve and now that we're both back to work the days are full of working, taking care of baby, and cleaning. Here are the latest photos.

Sunshine watching The Dog Whisperer.

Aspen likes stealing the pacifier.

But Collette likes stealing it right back.

When the kitchen countertop becomes a makeshift changing table.

Baby's first bath (this is the sort of thing that used to go into a 'baby book' which would be seen by 3 people in the entirety of its existence).

Paws stands guard during bath time.

While Sunshine naps.

Butters is waiting for Collette to become interesting.

Baby gets to rest after a long day.

Photos From England - Spring, 2005

2007-12-30T08:01:00.000-08:00

More old snaps, this time from a few days in Manchester and the Cotswolds (including a daytrip to Winchester and Stonehenge).

While visiting Old Trafford.

This is inside a megamall in Manchester. In fact, this was just part of the dining area of the food court. While I ate a curry for lunch, there was a fashion show going on in the center of this area!

Driving to dinner (I think we were in/near Stroud at this point).

While on a walk through a field near Bibury.

Photos From London - Spring, 2005

2007-12-27T10:07:00.000-08:00

Here are some shots of our London visit in 2005...

Taken from the London Eye.

Lots of shopping took place that spring.

Including several visits to the greatest department store on earth (I sometimes think I go to London every few years JUST to spend time in the food halls at Harrods).

Walking around the city is better than following any tour plan. Even seeing 'the sights' from different perspectives makes crowded tourist traps interesting and new again.

Travel Planning

2007-12-27T09:55:00.000-08:00

Ok, in a fit of incredible boredom while Jen and Collette where still in the hospital, I came up with a 20-year vacation plan, based on the assumption we will have to get into a more traditional twice-a-year, 1 or 2 week vacation mode once Collette has reached age 3.

Since not everyone has ratified this plan yet, I'm going to reminisce on some of our recent trips. Here is a map that shows where we've been together in the past few years:

And, once we start traveling to other countries in a few years, I will forget to go back to the site that made this map and I wont have missed out on much as the site will be gone by then anyway. How's THAT for planning?

Day After Christmas Update

2007-12-26T11:15:00.000-08:00

We received eight inches of snow on Xmas and more is on the way tomorrow so I ran to the bakery, Target, and the post office this morning after shoveling snow with Sunshine. Everyone is fine at home although Jen is still in considerable pain from the surgery and this will probably continue for a few more weeks.

We stayed in (obviously since there was a blizzard outside) and made beef and sausage stew while watching movies and doing light cleaning. Let's see, there was 3:10 to Yuma (the new remake) which was good but not great as I was hoping. We also watched For Your Consideration which was more A Mighty Wind than it was Best in Show. Only a handful of entertaining scenes (not surprisingly, Fred Willard was in most of those) sprinkled throughout the movie. We also watched the 4th episode of The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard which continued to impress us. Jen watched Fanny Hill after I bailed on it during the first hour. She liked it more than I did.

Here are some shots of the kitchen to get an idea of our morning routine.

Here is Little C's breakfast set up:

And here is Big C's:

We get our dairy products delivered from Royal Crest Dairy every Friday. December is my favorite time of the year because they make super rich egg nog.

Most mornings consist of tea or coffee and toast or biscuits:

And afternoons are for calamansi juice or fresh limeade if I can find good limes at the store during the week:

Here are some newer shots of Collette. We're bringing her to the doctor in about a week to get weighed and retested for a hearing test she failed earlier. Hopefully there will be good news on both fronts.

Giant lips after gorging on breakfast!

Everyone's Home Now

2007-12-18T19:59:00.000-08:00

After nearly three months of having Jen and/or Collette at the hospital, today was the first day everyone was home together. Here are some photos...

Good News on the Horizon

2007-12-17T16:46:00.000-08:00

We may get some good news tomorrow. Until then, here are some new photos to show how Collette is progressing.

Collette is Out of the Isolette

2007-12-17T07:58:00.000-08:00

Which means, if she continues to gain weight and keep her temperature up, we'll be bringing her home sometime this week. This is good timing as Parker is expected to be snow-free all week and relatively warm (in the 40s) through Thursday. Jen took some new photos last night which I'll put online later today. It's time to walk the pups now then it's back to work for the first time in two weeks.

The Mitchell Report Finds...

2007-12-13T13:22:00.000-08:00

that Collette is clean! Not only that, but she's up to 1745g. and almost at the point where she can come out of her incubator. After this happens, she'll need to prove she can be a full time baby by staying out and keeping her temperature and feeding schedule up on her own for five days. And once THAT happens she gets to come home to the Parker Zoo and compete with the cats and dogs to see who can make the most noise/worst smells. They are all competing for second place, of course.

Jen and Collette (all the weight she's gaining seems to just be going to her head).

Feeding time.

And here is Collette's impression of her dad.

Jen Is Home - Collette Updates

2007-12-09T16:50:00.000-08:00

Jen came home earlier this week and is in the process of recovering from surgery. We're going to see the baby twice a day and she's doing great.

Last night, Collette weighed about 3lbs. 10 oz. We're hoping that once she gets to 4 pounds the nurses will be able to test her ability to keep her temperature up without the hood/lid of her box shut.

So far, 9 days in, she has not needed a feeding tube nor has she needed an oxygen mask. She's had no apnea or RDS. By tomorrow we should also have the results of the latest blood test and if everything is good we should be clear of most of the "big" problems that can go wrong.

At home, the animals are all doing fine, although the dogs run around the house like maniacs during the day since there is too much snow and it is too cold outside for Aspen to stand being in the yard for more than five mins at a time. The Broncos won huge today so most of the town/city is happy and our favorite pastry shop is open again tomorrow so we'll probably get another Brie loaf for breakfast in the morning.

Here are some snaps from a few days ago.

Jen resting with some of the cats guarding her.

Jen and baby.

Mama and baby holding hands.

Collette from above.

Jen's Birthday Gift

2007-12-03T18:18:00.000-08:00

There was a oxygen-shortage scare going on in Jen's lungs this morning but it turned out to be nothing serious and since then she has been on her feet as much as possible. After a couple visits to Bindi today (we're going to see her again in 30 mins) she's starting to look independent enough that (we're hoping) she'll be allowed to return home tomorrow.

She's going to be on bed rest for several weeks during which I'll be attempting to remember all the lessons I've been learning from the incredible staff here at the hospital. I doubt they'll let me wear a nurses uniform, but I'll do my best job anyhow.

We still don't know when the baby gets to come home, but we're hopeful that it will be before Christmas. The nurses here do such a phenomenal job at taking care of patients and babies that we will be able to sleep well knowing Bindi's safe in the NICU.

I'll try to get new pix up in a couple days once Jen is home with all the pets.

Jen Meets the Baby

2007-12-02T12:40:00.000-08:00

It's been a day and a half so Jen is finally awake enough to hold Collette. The light is low and I'm trying not to use flash too much so the video is fairly dark but hopefully it will work.

Baby loves to flap her arms and legs and move herself around. She is also into staring and mouthing quite a bit.

Jen holding baby for the first time.

Bindi (I'm giving this charade up right now. We've been calling her Bindi for months so, despite her official name, it's a lot easier to refer to her the way we do around here) staring up at Jen.

A close up of mama and baby.

And a rather poorly lit video of the first time Jen and Bindi met.

First Day Videos

2007-12-01T17:22:00.000-08:00

Jen and baby at the NICU:

And here was baby last night, about 15 mins after being ripped from Jen's body!

Baby Time

2007-12-01T13:43:00.000-08:00

Not a lot of time, so I'll get right to it... introducing Collette Baltazar Barnes.

She's almost as small as some of the IV scars on Jen's hand.

Her eyes (with the gel in them) are nearly the size of my disgusting hand hair!

I'll have a couple short videos up later today/tonight.

Video Collection

2007-11-25T06:36:00.000-08:00

It's just easier to embed all these videos here than look em up each time I wanna see a video, ok? OK???? Just back off, man!!! I've got a knife!!

Blood Red Shoes

Momus

Ting Tings

Moloko

Louie

Lightspeed Champion

Malajube

Ash

GoodBooks

Manic Street Preachers

Richard Hawley

The Cribs

The Enemy

The Mighty Boosh

Less Than Two Weeks To Go

2007-11-24T06:54:00.000-08:00

We're getting close to kickoff time here in Parker. Within two weeks we should have a tiny girl in our lives, to go along with the zoo at home. We got our second snowstorm yesterday but like the first it was over in less than a day and there's only an inch or two of ice and powder on some of the ground today (full sun for the next few days means everything will be dry soon).

The biggest non-baby news has been the opening of a truly French patisserie right here in town. It seems completely out of place among the Sonics, Starbucks, and fried food joints. But, we're VERY thankful to have it because they provide authentic savory and sweet breads, pastries, and tarts which taste amazing and are so fresh and full of butter, dark choco, etc. Croque-monsieurs? In Parker?? I'm seriously blown away. Not surprisingly, I've picked up lunch and pastries there four times in the last eight days.

After the Rapids horrible season, the Broncos early season problems, and the Rockies getting swept in the World Series, things are improving around here, sports-wise. The Broncos looked good last weekend, the Nuggets are off to a fast start, and the Buffaloes beat down Nebraska yesterday. Looks like it'll be a busy winter around here.

Hopefully the next update will include baby pix and shots of Jen (finally) back at home with the pups and cats.

First Snow of the Season

2007-10-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

Didn't even get through October without a good-sized snowstorm. Here are some shots of the yard and dogs.

Starting with the grill I forgot to put in the basement.

The deck under a layer of snow within a couple hours.

Some of the trees that had lots of leaves last weekend are now bare.

The yard was starting to look like Lambeau Field.

Which means Aspen has to put on his heavy jacket and boots for walks.

After a short walk, the dogs were turned loose in the backyard.

Aspen was very happy to be back inside the warm house (outside temp: 34 degrees. indoor temp: 71).

This is what they love to do in the backyard.

Around Town in September

2007-10-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

Here are a few random shots of our new town and the city we go into for good food (Denver).

The building where I work (compare the two floors of this building to the 50 or so buildings at the campus back in San Jose).

Here is the menu from our favorite coffee shop here (Caribou Coffee). We may seem weird for using the drivethru, but believe me, from November through April EVERYONE uses the drivethru.

The other thing about living close to the countryside is that the bugs are huge. Red ants are the size of your fist (well, maybe not quite). Here's a sample of a spider that was in our garage.

Here is one of the many llama/alpaca/bison farms near our place.

And, in the city last week, we walked around lodo (ate a pretty good meal at Breckenridge Brewery) and went to Coors Field (saw the team practicing) and the team shop.

Around the House in September

2007-10-22T15:57:00.000-07:00

It's been slow this autumn as we're spending most of our time getting ready for the baby and waiting for Sunshine's leg to heal. The Rockies incredible run has made the city baseball-mad (although down here in our little town the mania isn't quite as pervasive as it is in Denver) so we went downtown to visit the stadium and team store last week.

Here are some shots of us and the dogs around the home. Starting off during the drive home from an early morning coffee run.

The trees before the leaves all fell out.

Sunshine, watching Aspen run downstairs.

Sunshine shakes her head.

Sunshine, on her backyard rounds. You can see the lawn starting to go dormant for winter (we had a few inches of snow yesterday that really browned out a lot of the grass).

Aspen and Sunshine trying to figure out what happened to their green grass.

Jen and Aspen.

Stormy checks out the red leaves on the maples outside.

Tux, Stormy, and Sunshine are all hanging out by the windows.

Typical Morning at the Dog Park

2007-10-22T15:42:00.000-07:00

After a couple months off, for Sunshine's healing leg, we took the dogs to the dog park a couple days ago to let them burn off some steam. When we first walked in, a little boston terrier was chasing a big rottie around:

A few minutes later we noticed Sunshine's old pal, Truman, but with a new owner this year:

Later on, with Aspen doing sprints, Sunshine found another old friend to play with:

Here is Sunshine playing soccer with Truman.

Truman guards his prize.

And then shows his good side for the camera.

Jen and the Puppies

2007-09-24T10:58:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago there was a lunar eclipse so I got the camera out and took some photos of it and, later in the morning, of Jen and the puppies.

Sunshine with her cigar (aka, bully stick).

Jen and Sunshine in front of some of the trees.

Jen in the other corner of the yard.

Jen, with the dogs waiting to get back inside out of the sun.

Gone Fishin'

2007-09-24T10:47:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I went up to Tarryall Creek for some afternoon fishing. It was a very productive day (12 rainbow and brownies in about 4 hours), although I broke my 5 weight rod and lost a 20+"er on my backup (3wt). Here are some shots of the day.

This was my first view of the creek.

On the third cast I caught this little guy but snapped my rod at the base.

Switched to the 3wt and caught this little guy a few mins later.

This was the average fish for the day.

Even though I was in the middle of a huge valley, there were very cool little canyons I walked through in the creek.

Here is the creek I had about 2 miles all to myself.

Here's fishin' Clint.

From the road (driving back home), here's a little waterfall next to the dam.

And, part of the buffalo herd I drove past.

In the center of the valley you get a great view of the Rockies.

Mya and Dulce Visit

2007-09-10T16:00:00.000-07:00

Our final summer visitors were Mya and Dulce, who did the opposite of King and Sharon and came during the hottest two weeks of the year.

We had an awesome time with them, despite having to stay in a lot due to the high heat. Luckily, the swimming pool is just a couple blocks away so Mya got to go swimming a few times:

She even took Jen out into the pool at one point:

We went downtown to Larimer Square for lunch and site-seeing and Mya found a cow in the middle of the city:

On another day, the girls went to the Wildlife Experience and Mya learned about animals in Colorado:

But EVERY day we got to eat, eat, EAT!

Early September Update

2007-09-04T07:22:00.002-07:00

My least favorite time of the year is now past and things are improving greatly in Parker. Here are some quick updates on what we've been up to lately.

*Dulce and Mya visited for a couple of weeks and we had a great time hanging out with them. Mya loved playing the Wii and ordering Sunshine around, and we all ate a lot and tried to get out when the weather was cooperating.

*After a couple ultrasounds, we are now sure that the little ninja kicking Jen's insides to pieces is a girl. And before anyone asks - NO, the father does NOT like pink, even if the baby is a girl! If any color scheme is called for, it's blue and orange (she's being raised a Bronco fan!).

*And about that weather - summer was rough for cold weather fans like myself. According to the Weather Underground, only 9 of the 31 days in July were below average temperature for that day. While we didn't get over 100, we had 13 days over 90. We also had 12 days of thunderstormy afternoons, which helped cool things down but made outside fun difficult. August was even worse, with 26 of 31 days at, or above, average. Too damn hot for me. Luckily, September has been nice, so far, and signs are looking like we'll be topping out at the low 80s the rest of this week.

*Our greyhound, Aspen, is doing great - in fact he's laying on his bed, upside down, right now as Sunshine is licking his face and trying to eat his nose. We took the dogs to the dog park and the farmer's market on Sunday and Aspen was happy and very tired after it all. He also had his first stay at the doggie daycare last Thursday and had no problems there, either, so he goes back again this week for his second day away from home.

*After trying about a dozen varieties this year, I've decided the only K-Cups I want to continue drinking are the Caribou Coffee French Roast and Columbians.

*I joined up with some neighbors (quite a few actually, we have about 18 guys out there now) to practice softball and yesterday we had a game against the community down the road from us. I had to take a couple breaks while we were batting to go over to Jen and take it all in - here we are in a small town in the middle of America, playing softball on a sunny day with 25 or so friends and family cheering us on. And, to top it off, the Mayor of Parker was on the team we were playing against. How small town is that? I felt like Norman Rockwell was painting me in at 2nd base.

*We haven't gone anywhere since our trip to San Jose in May, but we're still hopeful of going on a vacation before the baby arrives. At the very least we want to get back to California once more this year to see everyone, but we're still hopeful for something a little more ambitious. A lot depends on how well Aspen does in daycare and when we try him out with an overnight boarding stay.

That's all for now. With football starting up and preparations for the baby getting under way in earnest, we'll be more busy every day now. We'll post again before it snows this year ; )

I Can Do Science, Me!

2007-08-20T21:25:00.000-07:00

Mya and Dulce have been visiting for a couple weeks, and it just happens to be the first two weeks we've had Aspen. We've been trying to go places but it's tough since Aspen appears to have megaesophagus so I have to run home every 3 hours when we are all out at the same time.

We'll post some photos of the last two weeks soon. Hopefully, some videos too since Mya has been entertaining us every day and we caught some of her antics on video.

And now, just because I need something to keep my mind off of Aspen, here are the last five TV shows I've watched:

Simon Schama's Power of Art (the Rothko one, which was one of the best of the series)

The Brainiac episode where Jon Tickle flies with balloons.

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations in Brazil

A newish episode of It's Me or the Dog with two English Sheepdogs

Last week's Fox Football Fone-In that I didn't get a chance to watch until yesterday.

Perlas and Trey Visit

2007-08-06T12:53:00.000-07:00

Jen and Trey came out to Colorado for a wedding and to check Colorado out. They were nice enough to drive way down to Parker to have dinner with us and watch the Simpsons movie.

The lovely couple relax.

Jen attacks Jen.

And then all is well again (as Tux wanders into the shot).

Pet Pix

2007-08-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

In July we adopted a new cat and in August we got a greyhound from Colorado Greyhound Adoption.

Here are Butters and Aspen (the new dog) hanging out in the living room.

And Sunshine still loves to sleep.

Here is a good size comparison between Butters and Aspen.

Aspen is still shy and nervous around others but he's getting better and more confident all the time. He goes out sniffing about in the yard until Sunshine wants to play and/or tries to eat his head.

The dogs like to sleep on the living room floor.

This is what Sunshine looks like when she wakes up.

Jen with the puppies in the morning.

The dogs sniff around in the yard more than they play.

The newest cat in the house is Stormy.

July Storm and Small Flash Flood

2007-08-06T12:28:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we had a storm run through Parker. It only lasted about an hour, but within 5 minutes the road next to our house had become a small creek.

Here are some shots of the storm as it was ending.

And here is a video of the rain less than 2 minutes after it had started.

After taking that video, we went inside and looked at the street next to our house.