New Year's Eve Recap
We spent a very low-key New Year's Eve with family. The Corays drove up to spend the night at our home. We hosted a small dinner and had the Sorensons over. While the kids were having fun, the adults ate and conversed and played a few board games. After the kids retired and the Sorensons left to return home. Kristy and I and the Corays watched a movie (Talledega Nights) and played a card game (Uno Attack!).

When the new year passed, I popped open a bottle of dealcoholized sparkling wine to drink (Sutter Home Fre Sparkling Wine) which I thought was excellent; but no one else was impressed. Actually, a more correct characterization of the reaction was that it was widely spurned. The fact that I was the contrarian of this small sample group is probably a good omen for the New Year. Heh.

Beethoven's Ninth and The Georgian
Per our own holiday tradition, Kristy and I attended a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony by the Seattle Symphony and Chorale tonight (see 2005 review here). As per my own suggestion last year (and it was one year ago today no less), we dined first at The Georgian. We had a wonderful evening and shared it with some friends, Greg and Julie (James).

Our meal was excellent. Like last year, we ordered the 4-course prix fixe menu. Our first course consisted of an Ahi tuna carpaccio with a crab salad stuffed with caviar. It was very good. The appetizer was followed by a serving of petite crab cakes that were placed in a shallow dish of crab bisque. For our main course, Kristy ordered the veal porterhouse with seared foie gras and I enjoyed one of my favorites - seared scallops. My scallops were exceptional. For dessert, we both had the superb Georgian black and white chocolate soufflé - it was just as good as I remember from the year before. Yum yum.

The symphony performance was wonderfully moving. My humble opinion is that Beethoven's Ninth is the single greatest piece of music ever written by the hand of man. We upgraded our seats this year to First Tier box seats - they were great.

We'll be back the same time next year.

Sorenson Holiday Party
We traveled down to the Corays this evening for the Sorenson Holiday Party. We enjoyed a potluck dinner (I made some barbecue pork), did our annual "bring the most hideous gift you can find" white elephant gift exchange, and played some board games. Scott busted out a new board game he has been hyping for several weeks, but we arrived too late to play it - so I'll review it a future date.

From Snow to Snow
We left the Utah snow yesterday and drove back home from our Christmas vacation. Unfortunately we got off to a late start (because of a power steering problem with the ML) and as a result did not arrive back home until about 2am this morning. Before we left, we heard from Matt that Snoqualmie Pass conditions could be a bit sketchy because of a snow storm. It was snowing on the Pass when we drove over, but the plows were out in full force and we were able to summit. However, once we hit North Bend (where the snow plows were turning around and heading back east) the road conditions deteriorated rapidly.

When we spoke with Matt on the phone, he remarked that this would be a day to determine if the extra change we dropped down for the all-wheel drive Mercedes SUV would prove to be money well spent. Well, I'm very happy to report that the Benz performed admirably... and then some. In fact, we must have passed a couple of dozen stranded vehicles on the side of the road between North Bend and our own driveway. On the way up snake hill alone, we passed about 8 vehicles that had pulled off to the side of the road (or had slid off into the side of the road) because they lacked the traction to make it to the top. At the sharp 120 degree curve about halfway up snake hill, an Infiniti SUV was sitting on the road idling while the driver scurried about outside. I slowed to a stop and asked the driver if he needed any help. "Nope," came the reply, "I'm just putting the chains on the tires." I pressed on; the ML made its way to the top of snake hill and required no such assistance. When the day finally comes that we replace the ML, it will definitely be with another Mercedes SUV (I test drove the GL yesterday morning... nice car!). The Benz is a solid choice and has proved to be money well spent.

After we returned home, I snapped a picture of the snow that had built up on the Benz. Check it out:

Today was my last day off for Christmas vacation (back to the grind tomorrow!). The kids and I spent part of the day outside playing in the snow. The kids had been somewhat disappointed by the dry powdery Utah snow because it could not be packed and rolled into snowman components. The wet snow that falls around here is perfectly suited for snowman construction... so we built a couple of them. Fun.

Christmas Vacation: Day 5 - Christmas Day
Well, Christmas Day... it has now come... and gone. The kids have been actively anticipating today for at least a couple of weeks; perhaps a little bit longer. We woke up today and had some pancakes, and then let the kids open their stocking presents. We then bathed the kids and got them dressed and lined them up in front of their "Santa bags". It sounds like we did a lot before the kids could get their first crack at opening presents, but we started opening gifts at a respectable hour... at around 9am.

We didn't get the kids too many toys... they mainly received clothes and little dollar-store trinkets. They did each get one "big" gift. Berkeley got a race track; Eliana got a doll house; and Olivia got, well, she got only small items (she's still little!).

Here are a few pictures we took while the kids opened their presents:

There are many more pictures here.

After we were done opening all of the loot, we packed up the kids and motored over to Bryan/Jess's house to hang out for an hour or so. Then we drove down to Brent/Shantell's for lunch and stopped by Mark/Jen's house for dinner. The kids had a great time playing with everyone else's new toys. When we finally made our way back to Mom/Dad's house, the kids got their first chance to play with their own new stuff. It was a long fun-filled day.

Christmas Vacation: Day 4
James was blessed today. Then everyone congregated at the folks house for dinner and some birthday pie for Bryan, who turned 30 today. Good pie... per usual.

As I mentioned last April (see here), Olivia is part of three cousins (on my side) that were born just 4 months apart. (Eliana is also one of three cousins, on my side, that were born very close together; 4 weeks apart). This Christmas trip has been the first opportunity for Olivia to meet her closely aged cousins (Hailey and James) and to be together at the same time. Olivia (five months old today!) is the oldest of the three. Here is a picture of them together (click to enlarge):

Christmas Vacation: Day 3
For Berkeley, the highlight of any trip to Salt Lake City is to go downtown and ride the white train (UTA Trax). Tonight that is just what we did... drove downtown to Gateway, hopped on the Trax, and then rode down to Temple Square to see the lights. Here are some pictures:

Christmas Vacation: Day 2
This evening my Mom and Dad arranged a Santa visit with the grandkids. This is something my Grandma and Grandpa Berrett did when I was growing up and my Mom and Dad have recently re-established the tradition. Here are some pictures of each of us taken a turn on Santa's lap (click to enlarge):

Christmas Vacation: Day 1
We are now in Salt Lake City on Christmas vacation. We left last night at around 7pm and drove through the night. Kristy and I took turns driving, so we are both tired, but not completely wasted. The kids did great... Olivia pretty much slept the whole way. Berkeley and Eliana watched a movie and then zonked out until we were only about an hour away from Grandma/Grandpa's house.

After we settled in, we bundled the kids up and did some sledding. Here are some sample pictures (click to enlarge):

The full gallery is available here. Berkeley was a much more capable sledder this year than he was last year. His favorite thing to do this year was get a running start so that he could take the hill with a bit more velocity.

In the evening we drove over to the home of Kristy's brother, Robert, and his new bride... Jessica. They prepared a very nice dinner for us. Karen met us there for dinner as well. We stayed and chatted while the kids watched part of a movie. Robert and Jessica leave for Colorado tomorrow and Karen is driving back home to San Diego for Christmas so this was the only chance we had to visit with them.

Holding Her Own
Olivia is slowly developing her fine motor skills. Today she was able to hold her bottle in place long enough (about 30 seconds) to take a few sips before it would tumble to one side or the other. It's still a work in progress, but I'm still very proud of her. Here is a picture:

A Special Bond
I spent last night over at the Thurmond's house with their two kids as well as my two oldest. Matt and Kathy were unexpectedly indisposed for the evening. In order to fit the crew into the ML, I put Berkeley up front on a booster seat and the three girls (Elizabeth, Eliana, and Emily) in the back. We drove over to Snoqualmie and I patched in a generator to their electrical panel in order to fire up the Thurmond's furnace and juice their freezer (they are still without power... 4 days later). We stayed up late (9:30pm), watched some movies, played with toys, and ate a bunch of junk food.

On our way back home this morning, we used the same seating arrangement that we had the evening before - the girls sat in the back and Berkeley sat next to me in the front. With the benefit of the daylight, I now noticed that the booster seat Berkeley sat upon raised his forehead up to my own eye-level. He appeared to be quite content sitting in the front seat of the ML and enjoyed his elevated position - I can't be sure, but I'm fairly certain this was the first time he has sat in the front seat of the ML. I stole looks at him all the way down I-90 from the Thurmonds. As we drove, his expression suggested that he was suppressing a small smirk as he surveyed the unencumbered view in front of him.

While driving north on East Lake Sammamish Parkway toward our home, I took one of those extended moments and looked over at my son. I stared. His hair was tousled from the previous night's sleep; he didn't look unkempt, but the disheveled appearance gave him the look of a much older boy. His eyes were wide open and alert; the soft morning light suffused through the overcast skies and deepened the sage color in his irises. His cheeks and chin were angular and hid what is left of the plump rosiness his face used to bear as a toddler. His hands seemed all at once larger than they should be, or at least, larger than I expected. I took his left hand in my right hand and gave it a few squeezes. He looked over at me briefly and then back toward the road ahead.

"Father and Son... special friends.", he said with a smile.

Then as quickly as I had taken his hand, he let go of mine. I put my own hand on the wheel and looked back toward the road ahead.

Three Days of Darkness
We spent the day at home yesterday. Church was canceled. I spent the morning cleaning out our refrigerator and throwing many of the items away. The others I stowed in containers out on our back porch. In the afternoon, my home teacher brought over a generator that he no longer needed as his power had been restored. I went down to Home Depot and Lowe's in search for some heavy gauge wire and a male L14-30 4 prong locking connector. I found some nice 6-gauge wire, but the hardware stores supplies of the connectors were completely depleted. So instead I used a couple of severed 14-gauge 120v extension cords and patched the generator power directly into both phases of the electrical panel. Soon, I had our entire home's electrical system back on-line. It was nice.

The kids went crazy-happy when the lights came back on under generator power. The cable was still out (both TV and Internet), but we have an over-the-air antenna in our attic to pull down the locally broadcast HDTV channels. We tuned in our TV just in time for Charlie Brown's Christmas on ABC. Kristy and I then busied ourselves doing once-neglected chores around the house for the remainder of the evening.

Our power to the street was eventually restored last night at around 10pm. When I went to bed at around 1am, the Comcast TV cable signal was back on-line, but the cable Internet service was still down. This morning the Internet is back up. So our life now has completely returned to normal after our three days of darkness.

Update on Power Outage
We are over at the Sharps today enjoying their generator and T1 Internet access. The kids are playing, watching movies, and other fun things. We are still without power and our land line finally gave up the ghost. I guess the local POP ran out of battery power or something. Our cell phone network (Cingular) doesn't appear to have power at the local cell towers... so no coverage.

We have heat from our two gas fireplaces and our stove top range is gas powered. So we can heat up food and have warm meals. Our candles are getting smaller, but we have a couple of flashlights and a couple of butane lanterns. We are in no danger of freezing or starving - the power outage, for us at least, is more of an inconvenience than anything. We will need to move our food from the refrigerator to outside today if the power isn't restored. There is frost on the lawn when we wake up in the morning, so it is sufficiently cold around here to keep our perishables (such as milk and eggs) from spoiling. Items in our chest freezer located in the garage still seem adequately frozen.

I just topped off the Mercedes at a gas station close to the Sharps. The station had recently restored their power. I waited in line for half an hour. While I was in line I was listening to the radio and heard reports of people waiting in line for over an hour to get gasoline. Crazy. I also heard that almost 800,000 thousand Puget Sound residents are still without power. Incredible. From the shape that our local power lines are in, I would not expect our own power to come back on-line for a couple more days.

Power Outage
Our power is out due to recent storms and may be for some time; possibly 3-4 days. I'm currently working (and blogging) from the Sharp's residence. Dave has a generator and a T-1. While driving over here, I literally drove under a dozen trees that were hanging over the roadway - suspended in the air by the power lines. Many roads were blocked completely by fallen trees. Most local grocery stores and gas stations are closed. Our refrigerator is getting warmer and warmer and warmer.

I have put off purchasing a generator for too long... I'll buy one next week. I have already done the electrical wiring required to patch a generator into our panel, I just have not got around to buying the actual generator. The generator that I want has a capacity of generating 10000 watts and can run on one of three different fuel sources: natural gas, propane, or gasoline. It costs around 3 grand... ouch. But now that I need one, I'm kicking myself. Lesson learned: Be Prepared.

Our home phone line is still up, but our cell phones are useless. If we had power, I wonder if our cable-based internet service would still be up. Since our phone line is still working, I would imagine that phone-based internet service (e.g. DSL) would still work... so I may want to consider switching ISPs sometime in the future, or possibly subscribing to both a cable-based and a phone-based ISP.

(Update Sat Dec 16 18:37:54 PST 2006 // corrected wattage rating)

Positive Mental Energy
I started watching this video yesterday... it was sent to me by a professional colleague. I have only watched the first 15 minutes of the video (it's over an hour and a half long) and I am intrigued by the underlying message; that of projecting a positive mental attitude. Although many of the motives presented in the video for maintaining a positive mental outlook may not be completely above board (i.e. attaining wealth, acquiring material assets, etc), I believe that there are many other tangible and intangible benefits from projecting positive energy. The video doesn't say it is easy - and it isn't - but I think the benefits are undeniable.

For example, I was speaking with a friend a few days ago on the phone; I needed to get their new address for our Christmas card mailing. We had not talked for a couple of years, but I knew that they had recently moved because of some information I heard through a mutual friend. We knew this family back when we were living in Provo and going to school... as were they. Now of course, our lives are completely different, and so we spent some time catching up. One of the last times I saw this particular person was at a dinner that I hosted in Kristy's honor (when she graduated with her PhD) back in 2000. This friend can still remember to this day (or so she related) how impressed she was with me and a "change" that she perceived in me. She had heretofore thought of me as somewhat of a "curmudgeon" and "anti-social" (which is probably true), yet on that day her perception of me radically changed... to that of someone that was "completely happy" (or something to that effect). Why? Simply because of the way I positively presented myself on a single day. It made an impact.

Also, I have been trying recently to react much more positively to Eliana's tantrums. Though it is extremely difficult to maintain a patient and positive attitude during these tantrums, I genuinely believe that in the last two weeks that her tantrums are decreasing in both quantity and duration. I'm confident that the improvements are the result of reacting to the situation in a much more positive way.

The film describes the result of projecting positive energy as a metaphysical "Law of Attraction" - if we project or radiate positive mental energy, we will attract positive people and experiences. Likewise, if we choose to radiate negative mental energy, we will attract negativity. It seems somewhat of a naïve concept when taken at face value, yet at its core there is truth to the matter. The "light" of persons that project confidence, faith, happiness, and cheer tend to brighten those around them. Whereas, the negativity of one person in a group (such as at home) can serve to darken the entire environment.

Yet, the short term effort required to "be happy" seems daunting at times. It is a struggle... I struggle... with this. It is too easy for me to get caught up in short term strife and forget about how blessed I have been. Only when I back and look at the big picture do I really see everything in the proper perspective. What reason do I have to not be happy? Seriously.

Team Shirts
Berkeley has two rugby-style shirts that have numbers on them. They have, for whatever reason, become in his mind "team shirts" because of the numbers. Every day he asks if he can wear one of these shirts. I suppose he is either interested in numbers or he is interested in participating in team sports. As such, I enrolled him in a sport sampler at the community center that begins early in 2007. He'll attend 3 classes of basketball, 3 classes of baseball (well, tee ball), and 3 class of soccer. A t-shirt was included in the cost of the registration... hopefully the t-shirt will come with a number on the back.

Eliana the Caregiver
I have very dry skin around the heels of my feet; it has become a bit worse lately because I've been jogging Berkeley in the rain. The feet get wet and then dry out and have been cracking. I need to get some heavy duty lotion or maybe a prescription or something. It definitely wouldn't hurt to see a dermatologist.

Anyway, tonight the kids and I took a lengthy dip in the hot tub. Immediately after the soak, we had special time. I spent the evening with Eliana. While I was sitting on the floor playing "dress up", she saw some of the cracking on my feet and expressed some concern:

"Daddy, you have an ow-ie on your foot."

"Yes, I do.", I replied.

Concerned, Eliana continued, "Do you need to see the doctor?"

"Yes, I probably should."

Then Eliana did her best imitation of Kristy and blurted out spontaneously, "Oh, sweetheart!"

Then, a pause as she stood there in thought.

"You stay right there Daddy, I'll get you a band-aid."

"Eliana, that's OK... just a kiss will make me feel better.", I assured her.

And I got that kiss followed by a very concerned hug. It was nice.

Making the Nightly Rounds
Part of my evening ritual before I retire is to walk from bedroom to bedroom and check in on all the kids, pull the covers around them tight, and then give them each a kiss on their cheeks. Sometimes, like tonight, I'll just stand there and look at them sleep for several moments. They each sleep so peacefully. As the kids gets older, I know this privilege of mine can't last... but I am enjoying it for now.

Pray for Knights
Berkeley said family prayer this evening, here is an excerpt:

"Bless that the knights will come and get any bad guys that try and get in our home and that the knights will keep us safe."

Olivia Rolling Over
Olivia is slowly developing a decent command of life's first gymnastic skill: rolling over. Today she rolled from back to stomach to back again quite capably I'm told (I was down in the office working). She is a very active baby and is constantly kicking and grabbing at things that come into her field of view.

She is also just tall enough now to touch the bottom of the bouncer. She doesn't quite have the core muscle development to keep her face from mashing against the inside front pad of the bouncer seat. She does have good neck control though.

Eye Close-Ups
Our portrait is being produced at Brandes next week. The final product is created on canvas and is a combination of painting and photography. As part of the process, we have been asked to provide close-up photos of each of our eyes to match for color. Here is what Kristy and I have prepared for the three kids (click to enlarge):

All five of our eyes can be reviewed here.

Root Beer Floats
A couple of days ago I made myself a root beer float. Berkeley was in the kitchen and wanted a taste. He is now hooked. For dessert last night I made them both root beer floats and again tonight. I offered them a large array of dessert options including long-time favorites like Oreos and milk... none were more desirable than the root beer float. Berkeley claims that root beer floats are now his "favorite thing in the whole world".

The Terrible 2s
Eliana can be the sweetest and most angelic child you could possibly imagine. However, from time to time she will throw herself into a rage over the smallest offense imaginable. This morning she went into a rage because I put milk on her breakfast cereal, and apparently, she didn't want milk on her cereal. When Eliana gets in rage mode, she will scream, kick, bite herself, bite her clothing, and bite others or she will pull at her hair or scratch herself (and others).

Obviously, if we could sidestep the triggers which provoke Eliana that would be ideal... but she has at times gone into a rage instead of stopping bad behavior after being asked. So some tantrums almost seem unavoidable. Kristy and I believe the best way to deal with the tantrums is to respond as positively as possible until the rage passes. Yet, it is difficult to deal with such irrational behavior and I freely admit that, at times, I'm not doing a good job at alleviating these situations and sometimes even exacerbate them. Note to self: a soft voice and lots of hugs work better than anything else.

Berkeley used to get all tense and clinch his teeth and his arms when he became upset at that age. I remember we would respond by acting as if he was flexing his muscles; the result was that the situation turned into a positive one instead of a negative one. Berkeley can still throw a fit now and again, but they have become much less frequent. Hopefully, Eliana will grow out of these rages as well.

Eliana Dental Trauma Follow-Up #2
I almost forgot to mention that Eliana had her final follow-up dental visit for the dental trauma she experienced back in early September. The most damaged tooth, as the dentist expected, has pretty much returned to its normal position. X-rays taken today confirmed that the tooth is healthy... so that is a relief. For as bad it looked back in September, it is incredible that her smile has returned to normal.

Olivia Four Month Checkup
Kristy took Olivia to the doctor today for her belated 4-month checkup. Olivia was measured, inspected, and received four shots. Olivia weighs a scant 12 lbs even, which puts her in the 25th percentile for her age. By comparison, Eliana weighed in at 15 lbs 5 ounces at the same age. Eliana weighed more at 2 months old (12 lbs 4 ounces) than Olivia does now at 4+ months. Berkeley at 4 months weighed 15 lbs 7 ounces.

Despite being a featherweight, Olivia is tall for her age. She measures 25¼" in length, which places her in the 95th percentile. Eliana was a bit taller at 4 months; she measured 26¼" (97th percentile). Berkeley measured 26½" at 4 months.

Immediately after her shots, Olivia wasn't in the best mood. But after a nap and a dose of Tylenol, she was pretty happy. She "talks" quite a lot, or at least, much more than I remember the other two kids doing at the same age. Today while sitting in her bouncer on the kitchen island, she seemed to pick a spot on the ceiling (or the pot rack) and talk in that general direction for about half an hour. Her temperament is normal (happy when fed and rested; grumpy when hungry and tired). She does love personal face-to-face contact and will light up if anyone pays her just a scant amount of attention. She has a great smile; one that reminds me of Berkeley when he was Olivia's age.

Southern California Vacation Log: Day 3: Family Portrait Day
We spent the morning exploring our resort. I doubt we will have much time to hang out here, it's too bad because it is a real nice place. We practically have the whole resort to ourselves. We played at the pool for a bit while Kristy got some spa treatments. Then we played with the outdoor billiards table and some large-sized chess pieces and checker boards near the pool. There is a very nice kids play area almost immediately adjacent to our condo that includes a sand box (with sand toys), a putting green, a basketball sport court, and a toddler playground.

In the afternoon, we motored up to Westlake Village for our portrait sitting with Mark Brandes of Brandes Portraiture. I forgot my shoes and socks at Dick/Bertha's house, so we had to make a quick stop at Nordstrom's in our old stomping grounds, Woodland Hills, to buy some new ones. Oops. Even with the small delay, we still managed to make it to the studio on time... albeit barely.

Mr. Brandes took us to edge of a nearby man-made lake for our family portrait sitting. He set up the chairs in a grassy area in between the sidewalk (we were just a few feet away from a fairly busy street) and the water's edge. I'm sure if I was driving down the street adjacent to the lake, I wouldn't have given the spot where we sat a second thought. So, I tip my hat to Mr. Brandes for having a great eye; our resulting family portrait is fantastic (in my very humble opinion). Here is a low-res version of the portrait:

We also tried to get a picture of just the kids at our outside location, but the kids were not cooperating. Here are a couple of candid photos that April (Brandes) took of our efforts.

		This is a wide shot of the site where we took our portrait. You can see the sidewalk and the road on the left hand side of the picture. Mark is in the foreground waiting patiently while we try and get the kids to sit still for just one second(!).
		More of the same - trying to get a good picture of the kids. None of our efforts were successful. This one is cute of Eliana though.

After we returned to the studio, we spent about a half an hour trying to get the kids to all sit still for an indoor portrait. The results were pretty poor. We did manage to get one decent shot. It's not great (no smiles). But it will do. Here is a low-res version:

We ordered a big (6' by 5') version of the family portrait and a small version (approximate 2' by 1') of the kids portrait. They won't be ready until sometime early in 2007.

Washing Dishes By Hand
Our dishwasher is on the blink, it isn't draining very well. I disassembled it the other day and cleaned it out and that helped some, but it still needs some work. We have resorted to using a lot of paper products lately and are washing dishes by hand when necessary. Surprisingly, the kids love to wash dishes by hand and volunteer to help. Of course, "helping" technically means "playing in the soapy water" but they do manage to clean a couple of dishes. Here is a picture of our little helpers:

Kitchen Tent
After church today I took some time to play with my kids. We made a tent in the kitchen using a blanket to cover the kitchen island. We pretended we were camping. We ate marshmellows and then pretened to sleep. Here are a couple of pictures. I love the one with the legs protruding out from the "tent" (click to enlarge):

Trip to San Diego
Robert and Jessica were married today in the San Diego temple (see pics). We arose early (Kristy, myself, and Olivia) and traveled with Kathy to the airport to catch an early morning flight. We thought we gave ourselves plenty of time for the annoying security checkpoint, but the line was incredibly long. So we used Olivia and a lame (but effective) "nursing infant" excuse to cut to the front. Thanks Olivia!

After a pleasant flight, we arrived in San Diego, picked up our rental car, and traveled down I-5 to the temple. We made it with plenty of time to spare, just under an hour before the 11am ceremony was to begin. While we waited outside the temple doors enjoying the perfect San Diego weather, Kristy's family members arrived one by one. It was great to see everyone. It has been almost 5 years since the last time all ten of Kristy's siblings were together in one place (at the last wedding). Kristy's parents flew back from Ecuador, where they have been serving a temple mission for the past year or so. Kristy's father is a temple sealer (he sealed Kristy and myself); he officiated at the ceremony.

After the marriage, we gathered around outside again and took several family pictures. Then we returned to 11 Center (the Sorenson home base) for lunch. We sat around and talked, relaxed, and played a few games. In the evening we attended the reception. It was held in the backyard of some family friends and was very lovely. The food was quite good. I spent most of the time snapping pictures while Kristy chatted with family and friends. It was a good day.

Personal Visit with Steve Marsing
Before I left for Seattle today, I drove down to Skyline High School and had a personal visit with Steve. He was still glowing from the party the night before... I could tell the party really meant a lot to him. While Steve attended to some administrative matters, I sat in his office and thumbed through some of the old swim team picture books that he had on his shelves. There were many of me in there. Sheesh... I was a tall, skinny kid back in the day. After Steve returned, we looked through a few of pictures and talked about a few of the old memories and then set out for the swimming pool building.

As we walked, we chatted about what we have both been doing since 1987. Steve's oldest kids (two twin boys) were 6 back when I was in high school, and one of his kids had not been born yet. Now his kids are all grown up, two are married, and one is expecting Steve's first grandchild. Time flies.

We arrived at the swimming building and entered. Nothing in the lobby had changed in 20 years. I looked down over the railing to the counter and the doors to the swimming administrative offices beyond... all the same. We walked first up to the observation deck, a place where we had innumerable team meetings. It was filled with gym equipment now. We then walked downstairs, through the boys locker room, and into swimming pool area itself. It all looked pretty much the same as it did 20 years ago, especially the locker room. I went over to my old locker and opened it. Steve told me that they had all been replaced since my day, but they looked exactly the same to me.

The pool had changed somewhat. The diving boards were gone. The permanent lifeguard stand was gone. The analog swimming clocks were gone; replaced with digital ones. The lane lines were in. I walked up to the edge of the pool and looked at the tiles beneath the water. How many hours had I spent looking at those tiles, swimming lap after lap? Steve and I then walked over to the old record boards. The boards were still there, but the old records were all gone now. New ones set in the last few years populated the board... apparently Skyline is now the swimming powerhouse, having won 6 or 7 straight state titles now.

After the tour, Steve escorted me back to the main building. I gave him a hug, shook his hand, and bid him a fond farewell. I doubt I'll ever see him again in my life, but his memory will last my lifetime.

Steve Marsing Surprise Party
Tonight I attended a surprise party for my high school swim coach, Steve Marsing, held at the Salt Lake City Sheraton. Steve recently retired from teaching/coaching and is now an assistant principal at my alma mater, Skyline High School. Steve coached some 25+ classes of kids and all were invited to attend the party. I didn't get an exact count, but there were probably around 300 people there at the party.

Steve was snookered (by his boss, the Skyline principal) into believing he was attending a dinner/conference at the Sheraton supposedly presented by some famous educational author. When Steve arrived, he even had the author's latest book in hand... perhaps to seek an autograph. He was genuinely surprised and completely overwhelmed by the amount of "kids" that turned out for the event. It was great to see his face.

The dinner party was a unique opportunity for me to renew relationships and catch up with many of my old high school friends... not only from my own class (some of whom I've seen since at a high school class reunion), but from the classes before and after me that were a part of the team at the time I was in high school. Before tonight, I had not seen many of these old friends in 20 years... and I may not ever see them again. It was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Scott Bybee, Paul Harding, Julie Leeper, and Scott Teerlink from the class of 1986 were there. Brian Ellison, Becky Hebert, Mark "Sport" Anderson, Elahe Mostagel, Randi Abramowitz, Diana Despain, and Mark Dewyea from the class of 1988 were there. And there were a host of "sophomores" there from the class of 1989 including my brother Brent, Mike Dallon, Becky Cable, Amy Leeper, Chris Atkinson, Scott Johnson, Dave's sister Deanna, and others. My brother Mark was there as well with his buddies (from the class of 1991).

Of course, I also was able to talk with Steve. I had not seen him since my senior year. He was an excellent coach. Someone I wish my kids could have as their coach. He didn't just teach me how to swim, but he taught me how to swim competitively... i.e. teaching skills such as stress management, discipline, self-assurance, courage, selflessness, etc. As a coach, he was an old-school by-the-book disciplinarian and ran a tight ship. Yet we also had some great times playing "Sharks and Minnows" and traveling on the road to many different swimming meets and water polo tournaments.

I had a wonderful time and spoke with as many of my dear old friends as time allowed. Many people are getting together again tomorrow night; regretfully, I fly back to Seattle in the morning.

Here a few pictures from the affair:

The first is of Scott Bybee (class of 1986), Dave, and myself. We were some of the first persons to arrive. The second picture is of my class of 1987 teammates... from left to right: Andrea Levy, Dave, myself, Diana Sherwood, Sue Benner, and Chris Krueger. Chris organized the entire thing. The third picture is taken of Steve just as he entered the ballroom... surprise!

Maryanne Elaine Transformed
I'm in Utah this evening to attend a swim team reunion. While at my Mom and Dad's place I stumbled on a picture of my mother and her older sister when they were little girls. When I saw the picture, I could not believe how much of Eliana I saw in my mother. I scanned the picture and sent it along to Kristy to review. Her impression is that she sees a lot more of my mom in Brent's kids than in Eliana. Judge for yourself, here is the picture (my mom is on the right):

You can see where Eliana got her hair and eye color from. And some of Eliana's facial structure is similar too.

Berkeley's Preschool Class Pictures
Berkeley's brought home his preschool class pictures today. Here are the scans:

The first picture is of his entire class (obviously). His teachers are Miss Karen (on the left) and Miss Katie (on the right).

Voting Day
I cast my vote via absentee today. I've been checking the net to see the latest results. On a local level, nothing I voted for passed. I voted to repeal the state estate tax... but only about a third of my fellow state-citizens voted the same way. Estate tax is probably the most progressive (i.e. unfair) tax on the books; requiring only a small portion of the population to pony up. The estate tax is the polar opposite of a fair tax (e.g. a flat tax) where each person pays the same percentage of their increase... a system that seems to be working reasonably well for the LDS Church.

I also voted to rollback the excessive environmental regulations governing private property that unduly restrict property owners; the initiative was defeated by a wide margin. *sigh*

I voted against forcing utility companies to generate a portion of their energy using renewables... but that passed. Hey, why have the market dictate when renewables are cost competitive? Instead, let's have the government "incent" to force renewables on the market before they are cost competitive (hello higher energy bills!).

Nationally however, I was pleased that the Reagan Democrats turned power back over to the Democratic Party. I've been pretty disgusted with the Republicans in Congress. After a promising start (in 1994) during the Clinton years, Republicans have completely shredded the Contract With America during the last six years. This is an extremely sad development considering that many of the bills that were passed by Congress to implement the 1994 Contract were then vetoed by Clinton; one would expect that similar bills would be passed by the Congress since 2000 and then warmly welcomed (and signed) by Bush. Nope. Congress was too busy rubber stamping Bush's very unconservative agenda. Perhaps a few years in the wilderness will remind the Republicans why the people voted for them back in 1994.

Impressionable Berkeley
Berkeley has a friend in preschool that he is constantly talking about, a little boy named Evan. At first, Kristy and I were fairly excited that Berkeley is making new friends. But lately we aren't so enthusiastic. First there was this:

"Dad, I need some game cartridges.", stated Berkeley.

"What for?", I asked.

"I need to play some video games.", replied Berkeley.

"You can play games on my computer any time like Thomas and Kids CBC, remember?"

Exasperated, Berkeley continued: "But Dad, I need game cartridges. Evan plays games on game cartridges."

"Well, you play games on the Internet. You don't need cartridges to play games."

Then the other day, there was this:

"Dad, do you want to play a game with me?", asked Berkeley.

"Sure.", I said. "What game?"

"Shooters. It's a game where you shoot all the girls until they are dead.", explained Berkeley.

"Uh, where did you learn this game?", I inquired.

"At preschool... Evan taught me how to play."

Needless to say, we have had a few conversations with Berkeley about what he is "learning" from preschool. I'd like to think it is sinking in, but he seems quite enamored with his new friend. Just today after jogging him over to school, I watched through the window as Berkeley walked into the classroom, took off his coat, walk over to his friend Evan, sat down next to him, and just sat there watching him play. Everyone else in the classroom was playing, but Berkeley was just sitting there watching this other little fellow play. When I asked him about this, he said: "I just like to watch Evan play." Um, okay.

Kate's 2nd Birthday Party
Berkeley and Eliana were invited to our neighbor Kate's birthday party today. The party theme was royalty (princes and princesses). The kids love attending birthday parties. Eliana still talks about Jenna's 5th Birthday Party even now... more than a month later. I snapped just a few pictures (click to enlarge):

Eliana's Bedtime "Tents"
One of the unique rituals that is part of putting Eliana to bed is that of making a "tent" for her to sleep under. The tent supports are made by stacking two pillows on each side of her head. Then the covers are pulled up toward the headboard as much as possible and then placed on top of the pillow supports. Then the covers are tucked underneath the mattress (if possible) or just under the pillows. This creates a small covered cavity or cave or "tent" over Eliana's head. She can't go to sleep without asking "Can you make a tent Daddy?" ... it's part of the bedtime ritual now.

Floor Puzzles
I bought the kids a couple of big floor puzzles today; a castle for Eliana and Thomas (of course) for Berkeley. They had a lot of fun putting the puzzles together (we should probably buy more of them... they are cheap toys and seem to provide a good mental challenge). The puzzle activity tonight also reminded me of assembling the 500-piece and 1000-piece puzzles while I was growing up. My mother and I would work on the puzzles on the dining room table. We also did a few over at Grandma Kiser's ranch.

Here is a picture of the kids with the Thomas floor puzzle:

Flashback: High School Memorabilia
My high school swim coach, Steve Marsing, retired from coaching last year after 25 years. I was part of his 6th or 7th group of kids back in my day (1985-1987). Next week I will be attending a high school reunion of sorts. One of my peers is organizing a dinner party in Steve's honor, which will be held next Thursday (shhh!). As part of the party preparations, each alumnus was instructed to contribute some old pictures to be included in a multimedia presentation. I scanned a bunch of old pictures, documents, and newspaper clippings that my mother preserved for me in some remembrance books (my apologies in advance for the image quality of some of the photos).

The first set of pictures are of me (back in the day). From left to right, the first picture was taken at some random swim meet. The lane lines look green, so it could have been at Olympus. The second is a picture of the pattern I shaved into my head before the District Swim Finals in 1986. Each swimmer picked a pattern to shave into their heads one week before the District (or State) Finals (we would then completely shave our heads the day before Finals). I decided to shave the phrase "Buddy Holly Lives" into my very short hair. The pattern was inspired by the graffiti on the album cover of a 1978 compilation album of Buddy Holly's 20 Golden Greats (I was an avid fan of 50s and 60s rock-n-roll music at the time). The third picture is snapped at a water polo game, but I don't have a cap on... so it must have been taken during pre-game warm-ups. The last picture is one of myself and my close friend David Barnes and was taken at some time during our senior year. David and I hung out (through thick and thin) beginning when we were about 12 years old. We are still very good friends today.

The second set of pictures include both the swimming and water polo schedules from my senior year. I also scanned a newspaper clipping that was written about the 1987 swim meet between Skyline and Brighton (the "Battle of the Paddle"). Skyline and Brighton, at the time anyway, were the dominant swimming powers and detested rivals. Brighton was much better than we were, having won the State Championships the previous four years running.

The last set of pictures are scans of portraits taken at various school dances that I attended during my junior and senior years. As can be observed somewhat readily, the same actors are present in many of these pictures. Our swim team was a pretty tight group, probably because we spent so much time training with each other. As such, we dated almost exclusively within our group. Yes, kinda weird. Oh well... we had a lot of fun.

1985 Homecoming Dance This event occurred during the first month of my junior year. Top Row: Me, Unknown Girl (non-swimmer), Diana Sherwood, Scott Sternloff (diver), Julie Leeper, Paul Harding Bottom Row: Scott Bybee, Candi Nelson, Dave Barnes, Unknown Girl (non-swimmer), Jennifer Gillette (Granger swimmer), Aaron Baar

1985 Women's Preference Dance This event occurred (if I recall correctly) during November of my junior year. The young woman that I took to the dance, Becky Hebert, is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. We still keep in touch even today. Top Row: Me, Becky Hebert, Scott Sternloff (diver), Chris Keller, Dave Barnes, Andrea Levy Bottom Row: Aaron Baar, Shelley Rogers, Scott Bybee, Heidi McDonald, Kris McCracken, Paul Harding

1986 Senior Prom The event must have occurred very early in 1986, most likely in January. I can say that with confidence because the boys have all of the hair on their heads. I was a junior here, but anyone was allowed to attend "Senior" Prom at my high school. Our high school proms weren't as formal as some. At my wife's high school, Senior Prom was the biggest event of the year. One where the boys would not think to attend dressed in anything but a tuxedo. That's just not how it was at our school. Top Row: Andrea Levy, Julie Leeper, Unknown Girl (non-swimmer), Becky Hebert, Unknown Girl (non-swimmer), Chris Keller Bottom Row: Aaron Baar, Craig Teel, Scott Bybee, Me, Mark "Sport" Anderson, Brian Ellison

1986 Seminary Ball Our LDS Seminary hosted a ball in February on the weekend before State Finals. It was girls choice and persons of all faiths were invited to attend. I was asked to attend by Kris McCracken, a young woman of the RLDS faith. The one memory I vividly remember from the night was Kris and Scott Bybee (an active LDS boy) engaging in lengthy (and heated) debates about whether or not women should hold the priesthood (the RLDS Church allows women to hold the priesthood, the LDS Church does not). It was an interesting evening. You'll note that I am the only one with a shaved head. Coach Marsing had me tapering for District Finals so I could qualify for State (which I accomplished). So I shaved my head for District Finals which I think was the day before; everyone else pictured shaved their heads a week later. Top Row: Kris McCracken, Me, Diana Sherwood, Paul Harding, Julie Leeper, Craig Teel Bottom Row: Aaron Baar, Andrea Levy, Tara Stauffer (non-swimmer), Scott Bybee

1986 Junior Prom I don't remember much about this date other than it was my first date with Kim Williams. This is only memorable because after the dance a few couples went up Millcreek Canyon and built a campfire. Kim and I then passed the time staring at the fire and pretending that the other couples weren't hidden under blankets making out. It was a bit uncomfortable. Finally Kim and I went back to the parking lot and talked in the car (yes, seriously, we just talked) until it was time to go. Good times! Becky writes: "For the record-- I was not part of the making out in Mill Creek Canyon date. Scott Bybee and I spent the evening not making out elsewhere." Thanks for the clarification Becky! lol. Top Row: Dave Barnes, Sue Benner, Me, Kim Williams, Shelley Rogers, Unknown Boy (non-swimmer), Bottom Row: Andrea Levy, Aaron Baar, Scott Bybee, Becky Hebert

1986 Homecoming Dance This was the first dance of my senior year. I don't remember anything about it, not even the name of the girl I invited. It does appear that many of us invited non-swimmers for the Homecoming Dance (both in 1986 and in 1985), but then as the year progressed we quickly returned to our circle of comfort (other swimmers). Top Row: Steve Bergen, Unknown Girl (non-swimmer) Middle Row: Craig Teel, Sue Benner, Mark "Sport" Anderson", Becky Hebert, Unknown Girl (non-swimmer), Me Bottom Row: Sue Johnson (non-swimmer), Dave Barnes, Aaron Baar, Robyn Galbos (non-swimmer)

1986 Women's Preference Dance This event occurred in early December of 1986 as I recall. I was asked by Amy Leeper, the girl I was dating at the time. Amy and I dated off an on for much of my senior year and my first year in college. We were still dating when I left for Taiwan to serve my LDS mission. As is often the case, we drifted apart while I was overseas. Top Row: Andrea Levy, David Tanner, Becky Hebert, Craig Teel, Amy Leeper, Me Bottom Row: Nick White, Unknown Girl (sophomore swimmer), Becky Cable, Chris Atkinson

1987 Senior Prom My Senior Prom as a senior was pretty low-key. I invited Becky Hebert, who was one of my best (purely platonic) girl friends at the time. Despite the supposed formality of a "prom date", it was a very casual affair. Note: Dave was the senior class president. I think that is probably why he was wearing a tuxedo - he looks sharp! Top Row: Paul Harding, Andrea Levy, Craig Teel, Diana Sherwood Bottom Row: Dave Barnes, Valerie Oakey (non-swimmer), Becky Hebert, Me

Neighborhood Trick or Treat
We dressed up in our costumes again tonight for the real deal... door to door trick or treating. It's been cold here of late, so we bundled them up and put their costumes on over the top of their clothes:

We only take the kids up and down our own street. Excluding our own home, that is just 15 houses. It took about half an hour (maybe a little less) to complete the circuit.

We returned home and let the kids dump their bounty on the kitchen island. We only hit probably 12 homes, but their bags got pretty full. We don't see a lot of foot traffic on Halloween, so everyone was pretty generous. They ate a bit of the candy and then we settled down in the family room and watched what else? The Incredibles! Olivia didn't make it very late into the night, she fell asleep in Kristy's arms while were out trick or treating.

1 in 64
Olivia's eyes almost certainly will be blue. Both Kristy and myself do not have blue eyes (brown and green respectively), but we each do have one blue-eyed parent. It is my understanding that as a result, the odds of each one of our kids having blue eyes is 1 in 4. Now consider the odds of us having three blue-eyed kids - it's 1 in 64. Amazing.

Falling Back
If you have young children, daylight savings doesn't save a darn thing. I was up this morning at 5am with Eliana instead of 6am! Thanks DST!

Trunk or Treat
Our church has a tradition of having an activity called "Trunk or Treat" every Halloween season. The kids all show up at the church in costume and participate in carnival-type games for an hour; games such as "cake walk", "fishing", "bean bag toss", "twister", etc. It's a lot of fun for the kids. After the games the kids go "trunk or treating" in the parking lot.

Participating cars are lined up in adjacent stalls in the parking lot behind the church. Each trunk of the cars is decorated (some are rather sparse and some get quite ornate) and the owner of the car has some candy to give away. The kids walk from each trunk to the next "halloweening". It is a nice opportunity because it gets pretty dark up here in the Northwest pretty early in the evening at this time of year. After Daylight Savings Time kicks in, it gets pretty dark (and cold) by 5pm... so it is hard to stay out very long with young kids on Halloween night. The kids can "trunk or treat" about two dozen cars in 10 minutes and leave with a nice full bag of candy. Great tradition.

The five of us all dressed up as The Incredibles this year... yes, even Olivia had a costume. Of course, we preserved the moment in pictures (mouse-over pictures to get a description of the image; click on each picture to enlarge).

The Hunt for a Low Cost Factory BMW Stereo
The backlight on the stereo in the BMW no longer functions. It has been broken for some time now, but I finally got around to pulling the stereo out of the dash and disassembling it today. I thought that it may just be a matter of replacing a small bulb or something, but it turns out that the part that is malfunctioning, the dim display, does not appear to be user-servicable. Drat.

So I called up a few places today to see how much a used BMW factory stereo would run for an E36 328. The first place I called wanted $290! I laughed and hung up. I called two other wrecking yards but haven't heard back. There is an outfit in Redmond that will repair my current one for $125. That still seems like too much. So I checked eBay and found three listings. Two that are still 4 days out and one that ended earlier this evening. I put a maximum bid at $51 on it, but someone wanted it more than I did (I lost... I need to work on my eBay skillz). Bidding for the other two available (that close in 4 days) start at $50.

Hopefully one of the other wrecking yards will call me back on Monday. I'll use the established market prices on Ebay as leverage to barter the price down (if possible). We'll see.

(Update Mon Oct 30 13:15:16 PST 2006 // no luck with the local wrecking yards)
(Update Mon Oct 30 22:49:52 PST 2006 //

BMW came out with an updated model, the "C43", in 1999 that does not have the same dim display problems as the one I have... which is called the "C33". It may be wise to look for and purchase a used C43 instead.)

(Update Wed Nov 1 00:03:15 PST 2006 // lost out on another C33 on eBay to some guy who looks like he just "flips" underbid BMW parts)
(Update Thu Nov 2 11:07:11 PST 2006 // C43's run about $120 on eBay; or the same amount it would take to repair by C33)

Olivia on "Solid" Foods
We started feeding Olivia some applesauce and rice cereal today. Her reaction was very positive; in fact, she seemed downright elated.

Olivia Three Months Old
Olivia turned three months old today, yet she hardly seems to have been with us but for a couple of days. She is getting bigger... slowly but surely. For fun, I browsed back in time and looked at Berkeley and Eliana when they were three months old. Here is a closeup of each of them (click to enlarge):

The similarities between Berkeley and Olivia are quite obvious. Both have the same eyes, the same nose, and the same mouth. It's hard to see much of Eliana in either of her other siblings... but things could change. The baby pictures for Eliana and Olivia look more alike than do those of Berkeley and Olivia. Time will tell.

The Baby Björn
We bought a "Baby Björn" infant carrier when Berkeley was born. We've used it for each of our kids. It is a lifesaver. I highly recommend it. Today Eliana wanted to carry her dolly around in it. So I put it on her and snapped a picture.

Here is one of a real infant in the Baby Björn... our very own Olivia:

(Fri Nov 3 12:35:35 PST 2006 // now using UTF-8 version of ö)

Still My Little Boy
Berkeley is growing up fast. He is getting taller. His face is lengthening and losing the "baby" look. His vocabulary, sentence construction, and enunciation is often quite surprising (as in "did Berkeley just say that?"). He just turned 4, but some of his "4-yr-old" pants and long-sleeve shirts have become too short. Oh, and he doesn't call me "Daddy" anymore.

Yet, he is still just my little boy in many ways. For example, tonight we went out to eat (at Ruby's). We finished our meal at about 6:30pm and started our drive back home. During the drive Berkeley was thinking out loud about how "busy" his day was... he recited a small list. I was driving and only really listening to him in the background. When we got back home at 6:45pm, I cracked the car door open in preparation to exit the vehicle. As the interior dome light illuminated the interior, I looked back at the kids in their seats. To my surprise, Berkeley had fallen asleep... sound asleep. I carried him upstairs and put him in his bed.

He rarely falls asleep in the car anymore and I don't think he has fallen asleep so early (6:30pm!) since he was probably 1 year old.

Tax Returns and Tax Rates
My accountant has our 2005 1040 ready... he called me up today to inform me that his work is complete. Why so late? He lives in a federal disaster area, so he has been given extra time to get all of his returns completed. I guess he has needed it, since the final filing deadline is on October 31st.

Our accountant is a capable person, but he is also fairly expensive ($150/hr expensive). I think he is worth the expense, at least I hope he is. His bill for preparing our 2005 taxes was about 15% of our federal tax burden. So if he didn't save us more than 15% on our federal taxes, then I guess we aren't coming out ahead (not considering the amount of time he is saving me from doing the preparation myself). We were audited a few years back. It was nice to have him around to represent our interests (he got the case dismissed and we didn't have to pay a penny more than what we had already paid). I'm fairly disgusted with the federal tax system... it seems to require that you retain a professional to file your taxes on your behalf. I recommend we move to a flat tax rate! How about 10 or 15%?!

Speaking of tax rates, last year I read an article by Bruce Bartlett on the subject. Now that I have my completed 2005 1040 in my possession, that article is worth revisiting. After crunching the numbers, my average tax rate last year turned out to be 8.5%, which isn't too shabby considering that my marginal tax rate is 28%. Maybe my CPA is earning his pay after all! And um, forget about what I said about the flat tax rate.

Flashback: ECGL Application for Employment circa 1991
Dr. Jones sent me a copy of my original application for employment to the Engineering Computer Graphics Laboratory. Jim stumbled on the document this morning (click to englarge):

Teacups
One of the unique challenges of being an LDS family is providing entertainment for toddlers during the hour-plus long Sacrament Meeting held each Sunday. The activities need to be engaging, yet reverent. Coloring is good. Reading is good. Quiet playing with cars (and trains and dolls) is sometimes good. But predicting the erratic amusements of a toddler is, like I said, a challenge. Coloring may work one week, but be completely ignored (and useless) the next week.

However, one thing that we do every week to keep the kids somewhat occupied during the actual Sacrament Ordinance itself is provide the kids with a little extra bread and water (which we give to them immediately after the bread and water are served... respectively). We bring the extra bread in a plastic baggie and the extra water in a water bottle. I dispense the extra water into these little plastic cups (the ones that are packaged with liquid Tylenol).

Today, after I had filled up the little cups with water, Eliana somewhat loudly cried "Teacups!" and then tapped her cup against Berkeley's cup (Berkeley responded with a softer "Teacups!" in kind). Immediately after she did this, she then tipped the cup back into her mouth and completely consumed her portion of water in one gulp (as did Berkeley). It was pretty funny to observe, and so I filled up the cups again. The same pronouncement of "Teacups!" ensued, followed by the "chink" of the two plastic cups together, and then the water was consumed. I could only shake my head and I refilled the plastic cups several times.

I'm not sure if they made up their own version of a "toast" themselves while playing "tea party" here at home or if they learned it from somewhere else... my interrogation to this end proved to be fruitless. But the little "Teacups!" interjection and the succeeding tap of the cups is pretty humorous to observe.

Bowling, Bowling, Bowling
We went as a family out to bowl tonight (up in Snoqualmie per usual). When I say "we went bowling", I mean that we went to the bowling alley and then watched Berkeley and Eliana bowl. They are pretty fun to watch and enjoy the activity immensely.

Berkeley will bowl without the use of the ball ramp. Holding the ball in his hands against his midsection, he will take about 10-12 running steps toward the line and then let his ball go. He gets some pretty good velocity on it and even scored one strike. Eliana, on the other hand, relies on the ball ramp to bowl. The top of the ramp is at the level of her head, but she is strong enough to lift a 6, 7, or 8-pound ball and rest it on the top of ramp. I can state with certainty the height of the ball ramp because Eliana likes to head-butt the bowling ball to get it started down the ramp (instead of just using her hands... like a normal kid would). She's a character.

Hiking Snoqualmie Tunnel
This morning I met up with the 11-yr-old scouts for a 5-mile hike. The 12-yr-old scouts had planned a 20-mile hike for their hiking merit badge, so I figured we (the 11-yr-olds) could tag along and then peel off after 5 miles. A majority of the 11-yr-olds hiked the full distance anyway.

The 20-mile hike consisted of hiking along the Iron Horse Trail from Hyak to Rattlesnake Lake (a distance of about 22 miles). The trail is predominantly downhill and parallels I-90 for much of the way. It is an old railway grade so the trail grade is very constant and gradual (about 2%). The first 2.5 miles of the hike consist of hiking through the Snoqualmie Tunnel... in the dark. After another 2 miles, Iron Horse trail intersects with the Annette Lake Trail. It is there that I peeled off with two boys (and two parents) and hiked down to the Annette Lake Trailhead parking lot, where we had parked a car on the way up to the Hyak.

It was a fun hike (the boys especially enjoyed the tunnel), very easy, and didn't take that long (we left at 7am and were back by 10:30am).