Familiarity & Newness

A couple highlights from this week...

Our friend in Eugene, Michael, took it upon himself to round up this collection of Eugene goodies to send along to us through a friend of his that was coming through Juneau on the ferry.  SO NICE to have familiar, feel-good items sent our way :)

 And here are some shots from today's new hike, overlooking the Mendenhall Glacier and Lake...

2012 Olympic Track Trials

Because we essentially missed all of the Olympics this year, I'm extra glad we made the effort to go to the Track & Field Trials when they were held in Eugene.  

We had seats very close to the track, on the non-finish-line side, and it was awesome!  We got to see women's pole vault, women's discus (which turned out to be very exciting, actually), men's shot put, and a few sprints.  Men's 100m, Women's 400m, and Men's 400m.

When the winners did their victory laps, we actually got to give them a high-five and offer our personal congrats!

This is the reigning gold medal discus thrower.  Her coach was sitting near us, so when she came for pointers, we got to listen to him talk to her.

All the other athletes jogged their victory lap...except the shotputers :)

It was a neat event to experience; the security was like TSA and the energy in the stadium was palpable.  Lots of tight muscles to admire, too, along the way :)  Go Team USA!

The Family/Friend Tour comes to a close

For the rest of our Midwest tour, we did:

• visit all remaining grandparents...
• have a lovely visit with Lew & Val, including going to the Newport Aquarium, playing lots of Quiddler, spraying ammonia and warding off the raccoons with Rush Limbaugh radio, sharing a meal with their friends Carmen & Deanna, and trading ZB/Massage sessions... 
• and we went to our friend Travis' wedding in Missoula, catching up with all kinds of old friends from FPC and the YMCA...

And we loved all of it!  Now if only I had photos of it.... :)

Regardless of no photos, just wanted to say a big thank you for helping make our summer a wonderful one!

Nationwide is on your siiiiiide!

After Louisville, we returned to Lew & Val's for the rest of our Ohio stay.  One of the days, I drove to Columbus to have lunch with Caroline at her work, Nationwide Insurance!  It was great to see her and visit, even for just a lunch break :)

Thanks for extending your lunch hour, Caroline!  Loved getting to see you!

Louisville or bust!

After D.C., we flew to Cincinnati to visit Lew & Val.  We basically slept and recuperated a little more and then drove to Louisville, KY to visit Ben, Becky, Alex & Brooke.  This was our first time seeing their home, meeting Brooke, and our first time seeing Alex since our wedding!

One touristy thing we did was take a tour of the Woodford Reserve Distillery, which is about 45 minutes away from their house.  Since Brian is a fan of scotch, this was a big treat for him.  

The tour was really interesting and informative, and caused us to become fans of Woodford Reserve.  They're one of the distilleries that's consciously decided not to go huge-scale like Jack Daniels.  And, Ben helps farm with the guy who farms all the corn for W.R.  Pretty cool! 

The infamous Brooke stare.  I wonder what she's thinking!

Once again, we just couldn't seem to make picture-taking a priority, so we're savoring these few!  It was sooooo nice to be there!  We basically just hung out at home and played with the kids a lot (yay!), went to church, visited with Becky's mom who was also visiting from MN, and did our best to stay out of the heat by going for early-morning jogs :)

Thanks for a wonderful visit, B&B!  We loved it!

Mr. Elliot Vander Naald: Memorial Day Baby!

We visited Kevin & Tracey during the last week of June in Washington, D.C.  This was our first stop of our family/friend tour, and it was a full trip!  First of all, we got to meet their new baby boy, Elliot.  At that point he was only about 5 weeks old, and is a strong, healthy little guy who is a spittin' image of his dad!  We enjoyed getting to stare at him, hold him, ride with him in the backseat, shoosh him to calm, and swing him around in his carseat (that'd be Uncle Brian's trick) :)  

For our first full day there, we went to the National Museum of Art to see a human-interest photography exhibit that looked interesting.  We also got to benefit from the fact that Tracey is a natural tour guide (and a professional one!) and so we learned all sorts of fun facts as we drove through the streets of our nation's capitol.  We also went to a neat little food store where Kevin was friends with guy working, and we got some delicious treats (sausage, pesto, cheese, and chocolate chip banana bread!)  Nearby the store was a sandwich shop where we ate some amazing gourmet-type sandwiches.

During our time there, they got a crazy thunder storm, and the power was out for just about two days.  We made the best of it by hanging out at Wegman's, a cushy grocery store with an impressive prepared food section!  We joined lots of other power-outers there, playing games, eating food, and enjoying the air conditioning.  We even went to the movie theater to see The Avengers, and little Elliot was a champ, not making a noise once through the whole movie!

We have Kevin to thank for these lovely photos, as we didn't have our act together enough to take any pictures of our own!

Thanks for a wonderful visit, K&T!  It was good to be with you and see a little bit of life in D.C.!

Fisherman Brian

Yesterday Brian walked out the door at 8am saying, "I'll probably be back around noon..."  At 9pm, he finally came home.  With half the bounty from the day: 1/2 a salmon!

They got lots of bites, but only one catch throughout the day.  They also saw lots of whales; even a mama whale and her calf which was coming up out of the water quite a bit, about 50 yards away from the boat.  Needless to say, Brian had a great time :)

Here's Brian with their 7-8 lb. salmon

The lone catch

 And, of course, more beautiful scenery...

We're going to enjoy our first Alaskan fish (or 1/2 a fish) tonight for dinner!

Juneau Harvest Fair

Yesterday was Juneau's once-a-year Harvest Fair, where vegetables are sold and judged for contest, food is served, games are played, and garden plots are rented.  In the rain, lots of people came out and it was a fun vibe in the air.  There was a bluegrass band playing and kids playing and running around in the  mud.  It was...charming and quaint. 

We shared a lunch combo: corn-on-the-cob, baked beans, and hot dog.

the eating area

Award-wining veggie exhibit

Chicken Poop Bingo!

The bingo board getting cleaned...

We bought some rhubarb and I came home and made a strawberry-rhubarb pie...from scratch!  This is what's left of it :)

As I write this, Brian is off on his first local fishing excursion!  A fellow Anthropology professor invited him to go out on his boat this morning to fish for Halibut.  The weather today happens to be gorgeous, so it should be a great time.  He was so excited, like a giddy kid in Carharts!  I can't wait to see what they bring back...

Brian's radio debut

Here is the link you can use to find a recording of Brian's recent radio interview.  He did a great job!

http://www.ktoonews.org/2012/08/23/juneau-afternoon-82412/

If you click on the audio line, above the article, it makes you listen to the whole stream.  His part is at about the 4:43 mark, and I don't think there's a way to fast-forward to there, so you'll need to just let it run to get to it.

This morning at the Harvest Fair, we ran into the guy who interviewed him and he showed us his wife's garden plots and sent us home with fresh veggies.  So generous!

Massage in the making...

Slowly, but surely, I'm taking steps toward being a practicing massage therapist.  I'm actively seeking work at facilities in the community, and in the meantime also getting my ducks in a row to set up my own independent practice. 

Remember this room? 

Now it looks like this!

Mt. Roberts

This past Sunday, after church we headed out for another hike because...well....we can!  Plus, it was sunny and beautiful so we kind of had to :)

This hike was full of tourists, daredevil mountain bikers, and more gorgeous views.  The tourists take the Mt. Roberts Tram up the mountain, eat at a restaurant, and then hike down.  The locals hike up and then maybe take the tram down.  We even saw three people running up the mountain, and then running back down the mountain.  That's all it took for Brian to set his new fitness goal :)

We didn't go all the way to the top, because Brian is fighting a cold...and he ran 14 miles the day before!

Why?  Because the UAS Social Sciences department is gearing up for the Klondike Run, which is a relay race from Skagway to Whitehorse Sept. 7-8.  To help train, a group of 7 of them got together Saturday morning and ran "up the hill" (2 1/2 miles) to the Eaglecrest ski area (near our house), and then back down, and then he and another girl ran another 9 miles, just because....  The girl he ran with is named Megan Busby, and she's a Math professor, and from all accounts she appears to be super human.  She pushed Brian to his limit, and they had a great time.  She plays in some volleyball leagues, too, so I'm hoping to connect with her through that sooner than later.

Hope you enjoy the pics and such!  

Brian's UAS office

Here are some pics to give a glimpse of where Brian's office is.  It's 10 miles away from our house, and he has been commuting by bike and bus.  He rides his bike one mile to the federal building, and then catches the express-bus which gets him there in 30 minutes.  He appreciates the extra time to read/answer emails/etc.

This is the view at the turn-off to head toward his building.

Heading toward his building.

This is Fireweed, and everyone says that once the petals reach the top of the flower, then summer is over.  Looks like we have a little bit left!

The view from the parking lot.

And there he is.  The barefoot economist :)

They've taken very good care of him, helping get his office all set up with the proper tools, technology, etc.

He loves these monkeys, and I think they add a nice touch to the filing cabinet :)

Brian started going in to the office just a few days after we got here, just to ensure he was all set up and ready to go once his contract actually started.  I'm so impressed by him!

***sidenote on B's work:  One of Brian's classes only has a couple people signed up for it, and he's been told it will still go on despite the low numbers.  He had the PR person make a flashy flyer to try to attract more students.  And, they're giving him a radio spot next week to plug it...ha!