San Diego and Loving It

First off, our prayers and thoughts go out to those affected by the flooding in the Fargo/Moorhead area. Robin, unfortunately, was sent out to San Diego over this past week for some training for work. I, fortunately, was able to take a few days off to come and join her for a long weekend. We have been having some great times here taking in things like Sea World and sailing out in San Diego Bay on an 80' IACC (International America's Cup Class) sailboat Stars and Stripes (USA 34). From what I understand we will be returning to a snowstorm and more cold weather when we get home which is quite a change from 70 degrees and sunny. Sea World had some great shows and an incredible stadium for their Shamu Believe show which integrates 4 rotating/moving video screens into the show. These Killer Whales are amazing creatures, as are their smaller relatives, the dolphins. We've been missing our little guy at home who has been getting some quality time in with his grandparents. At least we've been able to see him on occasion via video calls. Here's a little of what we've been up to.

The view from our hotel room at the beautiful Town and Country Resort

Two of the stars at the Believe show

One of the stars of the dolphin show

Robin and I hiding in a polar bear den

Robin thinks she's as scary as a shark, you decide.

Robin and I outside of the Star of India at the San Diego Maritime Museum

Launched in 1863, she's the oldest ship in the world that still maintains a a regular sailing schedule.

Here's some pictures of Robin and I on USA-34/Stars and Stripes.


Some of the 3600 square feet of sail on this boat. The mast you see here is 114' tall, or about eleven stories.

New boots

Adam got new rain boots today! We thought it would be fun with all the puddles outside to let him go out and splash around a little. He was having a really good time until he took a little spill, and got a little to wet with the cold water. Here are some fun pictures and a video of his puddle hopping. I am going to miss my little guy when I am gone all next week, but I am leaving him in very, very good hands.

Busy, busy, busy

It has been a busy couple of weeks for us. We are currently in the process of getting our condo ready to be put on the market. I have made a laundry list of little project to get done around the place to get it spruced up. So all of these little project combined with school, toddler, and work have made things busier than usual around here. Last weekend was closet, kitchen and declutter weekend. So now my closets are cleaned out, my kitchen is organized and some of our rooms are looking much less cluttered. This weekend we got the carpet stretched, so we can finally get them all cleaned up.

On Tuesday we got hit with a monster snow storm. The whole city was shut down for two days. Now that things have warmed up the last couple days all the snow we got is practically gone. Here are some pictures we took as we shut ourselves in to wait out the storm.

My parents came to town this weekend and they were a huge help. Ryan and I were able to get some more of our little house projects done, go out with some friends, and even sleep in a little. On Saturday, Erika and I were true rock stars as we finished the St. Patrick's Day 5k in just over 36 minutes. I hadn't really trained to run this race so my body is totally feeling it today, but I am still proud that I was actually able to keep up with Erika (and didn't finish last). Today after my parents took off Aaron came over so he and Ryan could get some gaming in. Adam came down for a little while to hang with the big boys (after they finished playing the more grown up games) and watch them play Wii bowling while I made supper. I came down to find those to teaching our 19 month old the finer point of Wii bowling. I do not condone small children playing video games but he was having a pretty good time, so a one time game is not such a big deal I guess. I, of course, had to get some pictures and video of this video game lesson.

I was cooking the other day and Adam came into the kitchen to help out. Some friends of ours made us all Packer aprons for my birthday. Adam happened to pull his out of the drawer so I put it on him. Robin, of course, couldn't resist grabbing the camera and taking pictures.

And since I wake up first (I guess technically second) on weekends, I get to dress him these days. I was getting spring fever, and with spring training starting up, I couldn't resist pulling out Adam's Twins jersey. I hope he gets to wear it to a game or two this summer.

Also, congratulations to our friends Eric and Denise on the birth of their second son, Alex Dewey Schmidt. Check out the pictures on their blog. http://ericdenise.blogspot.com/