More Photos From Our Day At Alyeska!

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High speed internet access sure makes this updating/uploading stuff a lot easier. Too bad we don't have it on Kwaj. Some shots from the lower part of the mountain.
Laura ripping it up at her first snowboard lesson.

These cars had only been parked there since around 10:30AM and it was only about 5:30PM when I took this photo. Look at all the snow!

This is Derek's volvo after being parked for only about four hours!

Snow, Snow, Old Friends, and More Snow!!! Makes For A Great Day!!!!

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Alaska...Whoooooo Hoooooooo!!! Brandon is back, and playing in the snow again!



Yesterday Laura, Jones -aka- Derek Jotzat, and I went up to Alyeska in Girdwood Alaska to get in some turns; and did we pick a good time to go! Can you say powder? Lots and lots of powder. It was a little rough at first, the light was flat and the snow was coming down so hard that I couldn't see where I was going. In the four hours we were there we must have got between 8-12 inches of snow judging by how much was on the car when we got back to it. Visibility became much better after they turned the lights on...and then it was on!!! I wish I had more time, I actually contemplated cancelling the rest of my trip and spending the next month on the slopes. I don't think the rest of the family would appreciate that though.

Derek is a guy that I shared a house with in college. I just found out he was in AK the week before we got here. Turns out he moved here about a month ago from Colorado. It was good to catch up.

This was Laura's first time snowboarding and she did great; she's a natural. She kept switching back and forth going just as easily in either direction. She can't decide if she's goofy or regular. But I guess she doesn't have to...that's my girl!
Laura all bundled up registering for her first snowboarding lesson.


My buddy Derek approves of the ski conditions.
Laura during her lesson.

US Tour

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Hey all we are about to start our Tour of the US. Time to go visit the Folks and immediate family members as well as hook up with a few old friends along the way! We wanted to stop and see everyone but just couldn't fit it all in.

December 19th: Arrive in Baltimore, MD
December 20th: Arrive in Anchorage, AK (WoooHooo! Snow! I get to ride my snowboard!)December 27th: Arrive in Seattle, WA
December 30th: Arrive in Frederick, MD
January 5th: Arrive in Chicago, IL
January 7th: Arrive in Detroit, MI
January 12th: Arrive in West Palm Beach, FL (will be checking out the club scene in South Beach Miami!)
January 15th: Back in Baltimore, MD
January 16th: Arrive in Honolulu, HI
January 17th fly across the international date line and jump a day into the future; so...
....January 18th Back on Kwaj.

Wow we are going to rack up some flight miles in the next 30 days. This should keep us in elite status with the airlines for another couple years. Maybe Laura and I will use some miles to go to Bali in May, that and I'm sure I'll have enough to take care of my tickets for the big surf trip to Pohnpei in February or March.

Hope to see some of you soon!

Phoebus

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OK, my friend Alex suggested we come up with a name to call the fetus, so we can talk to it or refer to it without calling it "it". Well a few of us were sitting around my living room going through baby books, when I came across the name Phoebus. As a lame joke I suggested the name as a potential name for our baby to Laura. Immediately my former friends (kidding about the former part) started laughing and yelled out “That’s it! – Phoebus!!!”

So now our fetus has a nick name and yes it’s Phoebus.

The meaning behind the name is much cooler than the name sounds. My Grandfather just sent me some info about the name. Apparently Phoebus literally means, "the radiant one". In Greek mythology, an epithet of Apollo because of his connection with the sun or as descendant of the Titaness Phoebe (his grandmother). The Romans venerated him as Phoebus Apollo.
The Lamp of Phoebus, the sun.

Baby's First Picture!!!

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Dr. Horner giving Laura her first ultrasound.

Well here it is! I know, I know...whenever your friends show you an ultrasound photo you look at it and say "yeah I see it", when really all you see is a page of grainy black and white fuzz similar to the "snow" on the old televisions when they lost the signal. In fact it seems that it was easier to see Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster in those now infamous poor quality photo hoaxes.

Well the baby is there, laying on it’s back, and there is just one of them. Two arms, two legs (so the doctor tells me), a huge head (takes after it's dad), and I could see the little heart beating (I got it on video too). How cool.

8 weeks 2 days. That means the baby is due around July 21st, 2007. Looks like there is a chance the baby could share it's birthday with my Dad. Wouldn't that be a cool birthday present for Grandpa!

Pregnancy: Hormones and Morning Sickness

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“Hormone” comes from the Greek word hormao, a substance that starts, urges on, initiates, irritates, stimulates and excites.
Powerful stuff those hormones. Laura had just been saying how she has nearly made it through this first part of the pregnancy almost symptom free (except for the frequent trips to the bathroom…every 30 minutes). That is until the other day when she started balling because she couldn’t find her snorkel before we went on a boat trip. Now keep in mind we do have four other snorkels that she could have used, but when I suggested that, she replied while wailing, with tears steaming, “but I can’t, I don’t know who might have used those. BWAAAHHHAAHAHAAAAA….BWAAAAAAHHAAAUUUHHHHAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaa……” So after some hugging, coaxing, and wiping away of tears off to the store she went to buy a new snorkel while our friends and I all waited on the boat for her to show, our group trip delayed for about an hour. Oh and during the entire 4 hour trip she may have used the snorkel for a total of about 5 minutes.

Around 3AM the next morning is when the next set of symptoms showed. The dreaded morning sickness. I woke to the sounds of dry heaving. I was so proud of her though, because this time she actually made it to the bathroom to throw up. Our history has been a little different. She has thrown up on me more than once in the bedroom since we’ve been together. So what does this mean to me? It means I have much to look forward to. Instead of my dear wife throwing up on me I will soon have a new baby to do that…and you know what? I’m really looking forward to it…all of it.