Happy Birthday America! (And Happy 30th to me!)

Today I have had a fabulous 30th birthday. Emily made me Peanut Butter M&M pancakes for breakfast. One was even shaped like an 'N'. Then I opened my presents from Abe and Banjo. Abe got me a 2-player Settlers of Catan card game (so now Emily and I can get our Settlers fix while we don't have any guests). Banjo gave me a book about a man and his dog as they walked the 800-mile Alaska Pipeline one summer. Emily's gift is still in the mail. Then we did a nice hike at South Fork Eagle River. And for dinner we had pulled-pork sandwiches (with homemade BBQ sauce), homemade coleslaw and potato salad, and corn. I even played a little DJ Hero that I bought with my birthday money from Jeanne. And I received many birthday well-wishes from friends and family. It was a great 30th birthday!!!!


Emily calls this, "Tired Yankke-Doodle"Check out that stylish backpack!
By the time Emily was carrying Abe, he was pretty tired.

I thought it would be fun to think back to all of my past birthdays and reminisce about where I was on past birthdays, what I've done, and what some of my favorite presents were.

1987 - Family reunion in Black Hills, South Dakota. I got some cool Transformers. And went to Mount Rushmore.

1988 - I got a bike AND a Nintendo. Pretty much the coolest birthday ever, presents wise.

1989 - For my friend birthday party, we saw UHF at a theater downtown that is now a Banana Republic. And I had a sleep-over. Lots of fun.

1990 - Went to see the fireworks at Gasworks. And had Ezel's Fried Chicken for my birthday dinner. It was a lot of fun b/c I got to stay up past midnight (since it took so long to get home after the fireworks b/c of all of the traffic).

1991 - I was in Chico Hotsprings, Montana for another family reunion. Had lots of fun playing with my cousins. And I pushed the neighbor lady from "The Hogan Family" around on a Merry-go-round, b/c she was filming "A River Runs Through It" nearby.

1992 - Had a neighborhood party at Ravenna Park. But it absolutely POURED (like many a 4th).

1993 - I think this summer Scott worked as an ice-cream man. For my birthday he got me WWF Royal Rumble for the SNES. My brother and I spent many hours playing that game together. He said he paid for it with nothing but 1's and change - and it was like $70!

1994 - World Cup - USA vs. Brazil. I watched the game with my Dad and Scott (my Mom had to work). After we watched the game we saw 'Blow Away' in the theater (pretty bad movie). Had burgers for dinner, and Scott made guacamole.

1995 - Medora, North Dakota. We were in Chico again for another family reunion, and afterward we kept going east. We were suppose to see some fancy play with horses and whatnot in Medora. But they canceled that show b/c it was so rainy and wet - too dangerous for the horses. That was all fine with me, b/c I just really wanted to play Pinocle with Scott, Dad and my Grandma Dorothy (which is what we did).

1996 - Long Beach, WA. This is where Scott was working. It was crazy along the beach - people lighting fireworks off like crazy. There was smoke everywhere. And we saw 'Independence Day'.

1997 - Went to Tony Roma's with my Mom and Dad for some ribs. Then I went to my friend Bill Hope's house (with Teddy and Karl) to light off boat-loads of fireworks.

1998 - ???

1999 - What I remember about this birthday is that while I was working at Video Update, my high school friends came by to drop off my present. But I had to go out to the parking lot to receive it, because it wasn't very appropriate (i.e. - pornography. They gave me pornography).

2000 - I think this was my first birthday celebrated on The 'Juan (San Juan Island). We went to the parade in Friday Harbor, which was real cool b/c the UW marching band was there. Then we went to Roach Harbor for some Fish 'n Chips, look at all the expensive yachts, and watch the dounut eating contest. And I got a Gameboy Advanced.

2001 - I turn 21! But I celebrate by waiting in line at the ferry to go to the Island with Scott. My Dad said there was an 11:30Pm boat - there wasn't. The next one didn't come until 5:30am. So my brother did what any great older brother would do - he took me to an Indian casino and I watched him shoot craps!

2002 - Ketchum/Sun Valley/Hailey, Idaho. I got to spend my birthday with my Aunt Val and cousin Jim. It was real fun watching the fireworks at night.

2003 - My first birthday with Emily (sort of). My family went to the Island for the 4th, so Emily and celebrated before we left. We went to see 'Spellbound', and she gave me a baseball (that showed how to grip it differently to throw different pitches) and a brownie. Around this time we were laying our 800-square foot deck made of paver stones. My whole family worked our tail off laying that sucker - but we took the 4th off, because I've never worked on my birthday.

2004 - More parade and dounut-eating fun on the 'Juan. Emily came along. She got me an M's hat, tickets to a game, a bag, seat cushions, and a score card.

Dog park break.

2005 - Up on the 'Juan with Emily and my family. Emily got me a cool USA Men's National Team soccer hat, which I sported at the World Cup the next year in Germany.

2006 - Scott and I had just returned home from the World Cup. We celebrated up on the Island, during the day. Emily was in China with her family. I actually went back down to Seattle the night of the 4th b/c my first day of work at Amgen was on the 5th. Which meant I was able to go to Teddy's 4th of July party at his family's apartment, which is about 4 blocks from the Vine Maple.

2007 - First birthday as a married man. We all went up to the 'Juan to celebrate. And Emily's parents came up for the day as well.

2008 - First birthday in Alaska! Emily's family was visiting, and we drove to Homer that day. Hannah bought me a bottle of whiskey. I was a month removed from my jaw surgery, so when we stopped for lunch at Subway, all I could have was their clam chowder. (HINT: Do not get the clam chowder at Subway)

2009 - Emily, Banjo and I had a picnic up at the loop by the parking lot for Flattop. We went to a baseball game at night - and someone hit a grand slam in the first inning.

The family gathering 'round for a tasty birthday/4th of July dinner.
Now that's a 4th of July meal - corn on the cob, cole claw, potato salad, and pulled-pork sandwiches. Yumm........
Abe helped me blow out my candle (we had to improvise a bit). That key-lime pie sure was good.

Lord I was born a travelin' man

Abe was a travelin' fool in June. His trips included two nights down on the Kenai Peninsula with Teresa in Homer, Exit Glacier, and Seward. Then it was off for his first cross-country flight for a 10-day trip to Washington, D.C. There he visited the sights, met Molly, Jimmy & Mary, Lexie, and even went to Baltimore. Then it was back to Alaska for another road-trip - this time up to Fairbanks with the Lockes. That was a 4-night trip. All in all, Abe spent 15 of the 30 nights of June sleeping somewhere else besides his comfy crib. And at one point, he was spent 16 out of 22 nights away from his home (counting the last night of May down in Homer). I bet he traveled over 8,000 miles. What a travelin' little boy!


Taking in the great views in Seward. It was hot that day!
Beach combing in Homer.

Here Abe is in front of the White House.Eating outside the yert at Chena River Hot Springs
Abe taking in the view at the top of Angel Rock hike in Chena River.

Videos

So I'm going to try this Dropbox thing again. I've put some videos in Dropbox. They're really slow on our computer, but I'm hoping that's just because our computer is way old and slow. Your feedback on how the links and video work will be greatly appreciated.

Abe and Banjo playing

Abe (few months) and Neil

Abe in carseat

Tale of the Missing Turd

Abe has been eating so many solids these days, and it shows! (in his diapers that is) Yesterday Neil was changing his diaper and called me in for back up to dispose of said poop. But for some reason when I got to the bathroom with the diaper the turd was gone! I looked and looked, but could not find it anywhere. I started yelling at Banjo, thinking that he must have eaten it somehow while I wasn't looking. We were sure it had disappeared, until Abe moved his head, and low and behold...there was the turd. Chillin' out next to Abram's head.

Babies make it okay to post poop stories on the internet.

Crisp 'N Juicy

No that is not the name of a strip club. It's the name of this sweet chicken place by Jimmy and Mary's in DC. I think it's Argentine, or El Salvadorian. Jimmy got some chicken for us for lunch for the US-England World Cup game. The chicken was way tasty, and it came with two different kinds of sauce - yellow and orange. Ahhh, to live in a real metropolitan city again where you can get GOOD ethnic food...
If we're not putting pictures of Abe or Banjo up on our blog, we're putting up pictures of our food! This chicken lived up to it's name - crisp and juicy!
Jimmy and Mary have three cats - Lucy (or Snout as she's called), Olivia and Rudy. Abe had never really been around cats before. They were very interested in Abe, and Abe liked them too.
The cool thing about staying at a friend's place who are about to have a baby is that there are lots of cool baby toys around. These were soft blocks that could make a giraffe. Abe loved these. I would attempt to juggle them (unsuccessfully) or throw them at him. Hey, they're soft, and he liked it.

Lunch wasn't the only thing Jimmy brought back. We had told him of our adventures of playing Settlers of Catan with Teresa in Homer, and Jimmy's sister had told him about the game before. So when Jimmy returned with lunch, he also returned with Settlers of Catan. So of course we played a few games Saturday night, Sunday morning, and Sunday night. But Jimmy didn't stop there. He also downloaded Settlers of Catan on Mary's iTouch and plays on his computer. Mary says we've created a monster.

Between games of Settlers on Sunday, we drove to Baltimore. It's only a 30 minute drive. Being from the West Coast where other major cities are at least 3 hours away, it blows my mind how places are so close to each other on the East Coast. We went to the Inner Harbor and toured around. Apparently that the only real thing to do in Baltimore.
We toured around the Baltimore Aquarium. It was real cool. I hadn't been to an aquarium in years. Here is Emily putting on a little costume for Abe (and our) amusement. I think she makes a pretty good fish!

Sadly, our time came to an end on Monday morning. Jimmy was nice enough to get up at 4:45 to drive us to the airport (Emily's flight left at 6:45, mine at 7). Of course Emily's flight was delayed because it didn't have a flight crew, which meant she missed her connecting flight in Minneapolis and had to walk around with Abe for 6 extra hours. But everyone got home in one piece at the end.

Little Buddy Turns 10!

Under the Midnight Sun

We went to the latest baseball game in the world played under natural light. It started at 10:30 pm & got done at 2:00 am. (We didn't stay the whole time.) Fairbanks beat the Military Reserve team in extra innings.
21 hours & 50 minutes of daylight. It never really gets dark. More time to celebrate my birthday. Too bad I don't really celebrate birthdays. We had a dinner of pulled pork (my choice) with lava chocolate cupcakes. Thanks to grandma for my one present to open. (This kids got us dance lessons earlier.)
Putt Putt golf at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks. Emily was the winner with a score of 53, which included a hole in one. As you can see, Abe seems to be a natural.

They learn how to ride ATV's young in Alaska.It's about 10:30 pm at the Fairbanks Summer Solstice festival, which lasts until midnight. It's the biggest event of the year. There were numerous food & craft booths & several music stages.Father's Day Dinner of steak & lobster in our vacation house in Fairbanks. It was a really nice house with a view of the valley. Every room had it's own bath & the kitchen had all new SS appliances in a very large combination living/dining room. It may have been built as a B&B. We played a lot of Settlers of Catan on this table.
Long, story,but this is the cabin we were supposed to stay in Chena. We couldn't get in because we didn't have the combination to the lock. It looked like it would have been fun. At least Emily will get credit towards another rental cabin.
Since we couldn't get in the cabin, we stayed at Chena Hot Springs Resort, which wasn't too far. This is the Yurt that Hannah & Jacob stayed in with Banjo since dogs couldn't stay in the hotel with the rest of us. The hotel wasn't much nicer than the Yurt, but a least we had a place to stay. It wasn't until about 9:00 pm that we got here.
Abe likes the water, however, he swam a little too hard & fell asleep in the pool.
Here we are up on Angel Rock, which was about a 1.5 mile hike in Chena. We had to put on a lot of misquito repelant to keep from getting bit.


The Rock Pool at Chena Hot Springs. The temp was similar to a hot tub.


Abe on a plane in Talkeetna on the drive up to Fairbanks.
Mom & I went to Denali on the way back to Anchorage. We saw several wolves, which is pretty amazing since there are less than 100 in the 6 million acre park, several grizzly bears, a moose, fox, cariboo, golden eagles & mountain sheep.
The Raging Grannies at the Seattle Center during the Folklife Festival. (This has nothing to do with Alaska, but Grandma doesn't have her own blog.)

Guest Post by Grandpa

Lexie in DC

While we were in DC we met up with my old friend Lexie. I'll write more later, but I have to pick up Abe and Emily (and my bags). Hooray!

Lucky I was able to get a hold of my good friend Lexie while I was in DC. Emily, Abe and I visited her at her apartment after my training on Friday afternoon. We were able to rest and relax and catch up. We walked around Lexie's neighborhood (it's pretty freakin' sweet living in a real city - where there are cool parks, restaurants, and even embassies all within walking distance). Lexie took us out to this real sweet El Salvadorian restaurant. I had some paupapas (I'm sure I messed up the spelling) and Emily had a sandwich. Even Abe got in the mix and had a side of avocados. Lexie told us all about living in DC, her wedding (she just got married in April), and her husband Marc. And Abe was even able to take a min-nap too.

After visiting with Lexie we went to Jimmy and Mary's. Jimmy is my old college roommate. We hadn't seen Jimmy and Mary since Dim Sum after our wedding. They are excepting their own little Abe in less than three months - except theirs will be a little Mia. For dinner we went to this Korean restaurant. Jimmy said that the miso soup had been described to him as "a midget dancing on your tongue after he's stomped in dog shit". With a description like that I had to try it. It tasted like normal miso soup to me. I had some BeBimBop and it brought me back to my travels in Korea with Scott 8 years ago for the World Cup.

Lexie, me, and Abe.
Lexie, Emily and Abe. I think Abe might be a tad grumpy.
Mary and Jimmy at the Korean restaurant. Jimmy and Emily each had some meat on the table-top grill. It looked pretty good.

Nationals and Pirates

Last Wednesday Emily, Abe and I met Jimmy and Mary to catch a Washington Nationals baseball game against the Pirates. It was Abe's first baseball game. We had really good seats, but we didn't sit all the way down the aisle because it was raining a bit and we didn't want Abe to get wet (it was a little rainy). The Nats won and we had a great time, even though we missed Stephen Strausberg's start by one day!!! Arghh...that would have been so cool. They sold out for the Strausberg start, but there might have been 12,000 people at the game we went to. It was nice b/c we had lots of room to spread out and put Abe's stroller. Now I've been to a Washington Nationals game and a Washington Capitals game (my only NHL game with my Dad by in 1999). Now I just need to go to a Redskin's game and a Wizard's game, and I'll have all the DC-sports teams in person in DC.

Here is the happy fam in front of Nationals Park.
Mary, Jimmy, Abe and me. I figured since we were in DC I should sport my old school Murresan jersey. That's Gheorghe with 2 H's!
Abe likes sitting in his own seat.
Check out our seats. As you can tell, not a whole lot of people at the game.

Trailer, Sweet Trailer

This will be a little out of order, but I am now back home in Anchorage. I say "I" and not "we" because Emily and Abe are currently flying 34,000 feet above Canada on their way home. Emily's flight was delayed because they didn't have a crew (wtf?), which meant she missed her connecting flight in Minneapolis. So instead of arriving in Anchorage at 12:15 PM, Emily and Abe won't arrive until 6 PM tonight. I arrived at 1. At least this gave me some time to run to Costco and get some food.

And of course when I got into Anchorage, the stupid airline lost my bags AGAIN!!! They lost it on the way to DC, and now they lost it again on the way coming back. Are you freakin' kidding me? You'd think when you pay close to $100 to check your bags they'd be able to actually give them to you on time, like you pay them to do. Good thing the FBI is paying (if I can find my receipt).

Once I get Emily and Abe, I'll go pick Banjo up from his home-away-from-home. It will be nice to have the family all together under the same roof again tonight. And I'm sure Abe will like sleeping in his own crib again (I think he's been on the road 12 out of the last 14 days - what a little traveler!).

P.S. - I'm listening to the M's - Cardinal's game and the Mariners are garbage!!! Hitting the runner with the baseball at a play at the plate, are you kidding me? Way to squander that 2-0 lead to make it 6-2. Check that. 8-2.

Forgot one!

I guess I didn't take any photos in the zoo, but we did get this one outside of Starbucks, right outside the zoo. What a strange looking dog.

Molly and Chris in DC!

Last Friday Abe and I flew cross-country to our nation's capitol. It is both of ours first time here! Abe was a charmer on the 6 hour and 2 hour flights. I was a little worried, because Neil didn't fly out to meet us until Saturday, but he did great.

are kind of famous). We also saw a zebra, gorillas (including a very playful baby gorilla), a butterfly exhibit, and a bunch of other animals. Abe mostly enjoyed people watching. On Saturday, while Neil spent the entire day flying, Abe, Molly, Chris and I went to the Smithsonian zoo. It was extremely hot out! We saw the panda bears (which unbeknownst to me. In the evening we joined Chris's brother and his girlfriend for a nice picnic in the park near their apartment.

The next day we all toured the national mall. Again it was extremely hot and humid. Poor Neil had to wear his long pants, because our luggage was lost.

My shirt got a lot of comments!



Chris and his brother got a kick out of feeding and playing with Abe.

Kenai Fjords National Park

On our way back from Homer we took a detour to see Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park. It's the only part of the park that is accessible by road. After living in Alaska for almost 3 years now, this is only our 2nd national park that we've visited. The park had a little visitor's station and a ranger how took us on a guided walk and trip up to the bottom of the glacier. He reminded Neil and me of our professor from Whitman (Drabek)--such a nice grandfatherly figure, with a very peculiar way of talking. After the glacier visit we drove the rest of the way down the seward highway to Seward, where we had some gelato and walked around and enjoyed the HOT weather.

This is as close as banjo got to exploring the park. No dogs allowed!
Exit glacier

Pretty cool backdrop for a playground.