It's beginning to look a lot like X-mas

I'm not sure if the UPS guy is fed up with us yet - he's been making trips to our apartment all week! YOWZERS! Thanks everyone! We're in danger of covering up our mini tree (or Renee). We're still waiting on Ingrid's box though...I wonder why we haven't gotten anything from her yet...

Renee's Birfday!

Renee had a beautiful sunny day for her Birthday on the 5th! We dcided to go out for an early walk.



On our way up to the rose garden the sun was streaming through the misty trees. So cool!



It was so pretty!



Renee got a piano for her birthday - she was so excited to start practicing that she couldn't
't wait for Brian to put the stand together!

Welcome to the North Pole?

Some clever person has switched one of the bulbs on the Portland Oregon sign. We are ready for some snow!

Renee went to Mexico and all I got was...

Thanks to Renee's recent trip to Mexico we can wear these awesome Mexican Wrestling masks around town!

Matching on Halloween!

Renee and Olive on going to a dog party on Halloween!

Dr. Zoom und Robot Ralph

A few weekends ago we went to the coast. One morning we stopped at this super old coffee shop that was filled with vintage posters and photos from the area. This one caught my eye as I'm always interested in old poster design and the "Hello Der" was too funny not to get a picture of.

As I was taking the picture, one of the locals leaned over and said, "you know, the original Dr. Zoom is right here" - he pointed to the guy next to him. The guy next to him was less than pleased at being pointed out and crabbed at the guy to "never do that again." for about 10 minutes.



Given his reaction I didn't want to ask for a picture with him and his poster - so I resorted to secretly taking pictures of him with my phone - and listening to their banter about learning math and geometry when they went to school as kids.



I'm kinda worried that he saw me take this one! Run!!!

Read more about Dr. Zoom and his HERE!

Glassblowing!

A few weekends ago Brian got the opportunity to take a glass blowing workshop.



The workshop was only 3 hours, and he thought he would be working pretty small-scale. WRONG! Bring on the full size molten glass!



Here is is rolling it into some colored glass flecks.



It was about a 15 step process and inbetween each step you had to keep it heated in the furnace.



Who needs gloves? Apparently they don't use those...



So cool!

Surprise!

One of Brian's students was bragging one day that her mom was a very accomplished baker. The next day she came into school early and brought him cold pizza her mom had made the night before to prove it. YUM!

Newport, Oregon!

This weekend we headed to the coast to relax! On the drive, Renee requested to stop many times to take pictures. If you look closely you can see her in this picture (taken from the car).



Renee's requests did result in some really cool pictures though.



Some of the viewpoints boasted their amazing attractions!



Once we arrived at Newport - we stopped at the Aquarium.



This is a view of the hotel we stayed at!





The hotel had a tram - that seemed to have been built quite a few years ago.



Renee was a little more than skeptical on the ride down to the ocean.



We saw lots of wild seals! They are cute, but we kept our distance!



This is tangled seaweed on the beach.



Exploring the coastline - we found a few caves to climb in.





During the low tide we slipped through a hole in the rock to a giant crater-like hole in the middle of the cliff that they call "The Devil's Punchbowl"



Here's a view from inside the punchbowl



Renee checking out the punchbowl at the mouth of the tunnel.



Here is a better view of the whole thing - it is humongous! Click the image to see it larger

Berry Pickin!

A few weekends ago we headed out to a small farm-island about 10 minutes out of Portland because we heard they have excellent berry picking. You can see the excitement on Renee's face as they pulled us out to the patch!



Renee was very focused.



Here she is displaying a good cluster she found.



Definitely not enough yet.



That's more like it! It was about 90 degrees by the time we finished.



Here is the final haul!



And this is where the berries ended up! Yummy!

Roadtrip back to Portland!

After returning from Costa Rica it was time to hit the road once again! This time we convinced Carla and Mike to come back with us!



We had more people to take turns driving, those of us in the backseat got a chance to relax.



...and relax....



...and RELAX!



Our first tourist stop was Mt. Rushmore! The girl at the gate told us the fog was covering it, but it lifted just as we got to the mountain!



awwww....



Next were the badlands!



Maybe they should be called the crabby lands?



We had to leave Olive in the car for this section.



Pose!



To give you an idea of the scale, here is a picture of Renee and Carla. Click on the picture to see them better! We were amazed by the lack of railings/restrictions by the cliffs!



Click this one to see Brian and Mike!



After the badlands we saw a "billboard" adverising our motel. Apparently the selling point was that you could save money...it made us slightly nervous.



The Motel was hard to miss in the town of Wasta, SD (population 80). It did not disappoint our preconceptions about it.



However, we DIDN'T expect the clerk to tell us our motel room was in a broken down house across the street.



We were also confused at the pool being closed, we got there before 9pm!



In another abandoned section of the motel we saw a sign the motel was a filming location for the movie Thunderheart with Val Kilmer. Of course when we got back to Portland we had to rent it. You'll all be glad to know that we all survived our night in Wasta.



The next day we visited Yellowstone National Park. It was absolutely beautiful.



We saw tons of bison.



There were lots of boiling sulfur springs.





Hey there, black bear!







This picture is unreal. It was amazing.



The boiling spring pools were steam.





Because of the amount of sulfur, the pools have a very "distinct" smell. Here are Renee and Mike enjoying it!





The colors were incredible - be sure to click on this one for a closer view!



We waited for over an hour to see Old Faithful.



Once it finally came, it was what we expected. But now we can say we've seen it.



Directly to the south of Yellowstone is the Grand Teton National Park. It was probably the most beautiful part of the whole drive. Amazing.



Again, clicking on this one will give you a better view :)


After that it was time to hit the road! Portland here we come!