some time out witht he pups

This past weekend we took the pups out twice! Usually not uncommon but we have been super busy lately! On Saturday we went up to College Cove Beach. It seems our typical Humboldt winter has finally started to set in.... it was foggy, drizzly & muddy! Which can make for just as pretty pictures as good weather. The waves were pretty decent and there were a ton of surfers out there!
Sunday we futzed around the house most of the day... but managed to make some time for a walk in the slough. It was again... foggy and moist!
Banana slugs out in force!

Eureka made the National News!

Even though most newscasters had no idea where Eureka actually is- they sure were talking about our earthquake the other day! The 6.5 magnitude earthquake hit Humboldt County just before 4:30pm Saturday evening. We had been up at the air station, Alex was using the machine shop to mount some new ski's he had bought. I had just ran down to Safeway to grab a few things when it hit! It was pretty intense, everyone was freaking out and started running outside! There were things falling off the shelves and the light posts outside were swaying back and forth! Alex said that he could hear the beams and hanger door creaking and saw all the cars in the parking lot bouncing up and down on their shocks! The radio was saying that most people were without power, but the air station was fine. And by the time we had gotten home our power was back on too. We had minimal damage at the house, a bunch of stuff fell off of shelves but only a few actually broke. We were worried about the large mirror we have hanging above the stairs, but it survived!

Here are some vidoe's and photos people have taken in the area....





Times Standard photo gallery

Humboldt Soccer League Tournament

The soccer league we play in held it's first tournament the first weekend of the year. It was 2 days of non-stop soccer! There were 2 divisions with 4 teams in each... we did not make it to the finals but they had a good time playing!
The pups started out watching from the bleachers....But were quickly scooped up by the kids! A great way to entertain both parties!Our team was all Coasties called "Super Groupers" and they made T-shirts that claimed them as the '09 tournament champs... even though no tournament existed in 2009. Caught a few people off guard!

Home for the Holidays!

We got to go back to Pennsylvania for Christmas this year! And it was a white Christmas at that! Alex had some trouble with flights and the snow storm.... but eventually made it home. His delay wasn't all bad, he got an impromptu visit with Brian & Petra! While home I took a few days and went out to see Charlotte & Brendan's new place and then over to Staten Island for a visit with the Hollopeters & Reeds! We also got to see Mike & Melissa's new house, and visit with Dave before he left for Florida for the rest of winter! Our time flew by so quickly- we're grateful for the folks we got to see and hope to see the ones we missed next time we're back!

Thanksgiving in San Diego

For Thanksgiving Alex & I drove ALL the way down to San Diego to spend the holiday with John, Trine, Bobby & Shelly! It was a long drive, but well worth it! We had a great time getting see them all again! John and Trine have 3 dogs, so with our 2 mutts we had 5 hairy monsters running around the house! Hanna as usual was a bit of a grump at times- but overall they all got along great! Here they all are at the beach!
One of the guys John works with came over on Thanksgiving day with his famly (and another dog!) for dinner! We definitely had a full house! After dinner to digest all that great food we took a walk up the hill to check out the crazy display of Christmas lights! Every house on this block was decked out! It was fantastic!Instead of hitting the stores on Black Friday we decided to hit the zoo instead! It deffinitly was packed, but overall you didn't notice it too much- only in the real "big-ticket" confined areas like the polar bears or Gorillas.Here are the pups at another dog park- its this huge open field, well technically an island, that is totally dog friendly- we did a 2 mile loop or so and let them run around and play in the water.They were pretty tuckerd out and lounged around on the "dog-ottoman" All but Hanna of course! She would only get up there if she was by herself, or if it was only Ned or Emma up there with her.Ned LOVEd this purple bone! On Saturday we walked around Balboa park- before the rain drove us away! YES it actually rained in SD- John said we have to come visit more often and bring the rain! We then went back to the house and had some fantastic turkey day leftovers for lunch! Alex & I then packed up and hit the road in hopes that we wouldn't hit too much LA traffic! Surprisingly enough we didnt' hit ANY! It was Fantastic- and thanks Bobby for the reccomendation on which roads to take!Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Slacker!

I know I know... it's been months! There's been a lot going on, but at the same time nothing at all! We haven't really done much "blog-worthy" adventures but I promise I'll be better in the future!

my office makeover

A few months ago we made some office moves at work. I actually got really lucky and was moved into a bigger office with 2 large windows. There was this extra window that looks into the next room- but that room is full of bookshelves so my view was of plywood. After much deliberation I picked one of my photos to blow up and put in as our "scenery"!

Before
After

C&B do a drive by

Charlotte and Brendan are moving from LA to NJ! They were taking a long cross country vacation to get there and stopped in to see us on the way! It was just one overnight stay.... but it was great to see them!

Gina & Matt do Humboldt

Gina & Matt came out to visit back at the end of August! It was a short visit- but we had a lot of fun!

did the obligatory drive through the redwoods- always fabulous!
Alex had duty Friday night so we drove up to check out the helo... an of course the night vision goggles!
I made some cupcakes!
Played with Mr. Ned!
Saturday we headed inland to swim in the river and soak up some sun! Ned still had his stitches so the pups had to stay home. Alex was happy he had some rope swing buddies!
Sunday we rented some whitewater kayaks and headed to Willow Creek to raft some rapids!
We had a great visit and can't wait to see them again over Christmas!