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Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Thanksgiving in VA

After a great time in Vegas, we headed to VA to see the family and have a fantastic Thanksgiving Dinner. We didn't have much time at all, but we got to see a couple people and Kristin did a little bit of baking for the dinner!

Harmony and Katie playing with Play-Dough

Kristin and Jackie

Kristin's addition - Pumpkin Spice Cake and Coconut Cream Pie

Rick trying to carve the Turkey...

Ed actually carving the Turkey!

Harmony - not holding back!

After a great dinner, Kristin and Ed headed to the Eastern Shore to visit Ed's family and they got to meet RACHEL!!! Their VERY FIRST neice! We didn't have the camera while we were there, but we did get copies of some great pics that Virginia's friend Jenny took soon after she was born in August.

Late Friday night Kristin came back to say good bye to the family and decided to head out for a beer tasting with Harmony and Busa!

Vegas Nov 2010!

Sorry it's been a little while since our last update but we've been traveling! The weekend before Thanksgiving we left little K-Falls and headed down to Las Vegas to celebrate our 2 year anniversary AND Harmony's 21st birthday! Harmony flew in to meet us that Saturday night and got to see the lights of Vegas from the plane!

On the way down, we dropped Alee off with her breeder who was at a dog show in Paso Robles, CA. We got to see Alee's dad place first in one of the rings!

Alee's Dad - Koda

Koda in the ring

After dropping our sweet Alee off, we headed for Vegas! We stayed at the Mirage Hotel and LOVED IT! It was way classier than the hotels we've stayed in before. Upon arrival, a cab driver suggested that we eat at Nobu in the Hard Rock Casino - so we did! It was delicious and a perfect start to the weekend!

On Sunday we headed to the Hoover Dam for a tour and a 6 mile hike to the White Canyon hot springs in the Lake Mead Recreational Area. On the way there, we stopped for breakfast at the Coffee Cup, a famous breakfast spot that's been on the food network.

Coffee Cup at the Coffee Cup!

Ed Harmony and I at the Hoover Dam

White Canyon near the Hoover Dam

On the Hike

Colorado River!

Hot Springs!

The trail wasn't always a "trail"

That night we ate at the Mirage Buffet and then headed to NY NY to see Zumanity! It was a GREAT show but definitely not for children!

On Monday, we started the day with breakfast at another famous restaurant - Hash House A Go-Go! Then (because of some awesome connections) we were all offered a more detailed tour of the Hoover Dam for free! We actually got to go down to the base of the Dam! How exciting!

Ed with his "Fried Chicken and Bacon-Waffles"

At the Base of the Dam

The new bridge!

Looking downstream from the base of the Dam

Harmony and Ed touching the super fast spinning turbines

After what seemed like an exhausting 2 days, we decided to spend the rest of the time checking out the casinos on the strip - the most impressive was the Bellagio by far!

Revolution in the Mirage

Outside of Ceasar's Palace

Ceiling at the Bellagio

Orchid Room in the Bellagio

Gardens in the Bellagio

Bellagio Fountains

Pic taken on the bus - it was totally an accident that Harmony's reflection was captured - but it looks like she's drinking the martini!

After a great few days, we all hopped on a plane to fly to VA for Thanksgiving.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Diamond Lake and SNOW!

Well, winter has definitely started in Oregon! Our first snow came in mid-October, but was gone quickly. Since then, the snow has been off and on at least once a week BUT in the mountains, it's actually staying around! In light of this new season, Ed and Kristin decided to take Alee to play in the snow! We tried to head to Crater Lake (where's there's a full 3 feet now) but they don't allow dogs on their snow (even on their unplowed roads).

So, we headed to Diamond Lake a few miles to the north. They didn't have as much snow - but it was certainly enough to play in! We put Alee's fleece jacket on so she wouldn't freeze and off she went! She had tons of fun jumping in and out of the snow and running up to us and stopping on a dime to create a puff of snow.

It was cloudy but still so beautiful!

"This is very different from the gravel backyard..."

"It's too cold to sit properly!"

After all that exhausting playing and running, it was time for bed. I guess when you're THIS tired...comfort is really not a necessity.

Quick trip to Houston!

Being that Denver was so close to Houston, Kristin decided to hop on a plane to Houston for the weekend with the hopes of catching Christina's delivery of Baby Gosling. Unfortunately Baby Gosling was not interested in joining us (even after Kristin delivered an eviction notice), but at least she got to enjoy some great home cooking by Paul! Luckily she also got the chance to hop to the west side of town and see Christy and Eshaan and Shannon and her kids! It was so great to see everyone, but the visits were definitely too short on this trip!

Kristin and Christy at Cafe Adobe - yay for great Mexican!

Eshaan - up and walking/running everywhere!

Kristin and Jessica!

Denver and the USBR Labs!

For the first week of November, Kristin had to go to Denver for a "Value Engineering" study - a totally exhausting process where she learned a TON! The highlight of the week was the trip to the Bureau of Reclamation's hydraulics lab and concrete lab. For the fellow civil engineers - this stuff was so cool!

Here's one of the scale models - this is the description of the "problem"

The scale model - you can't see it - but there's a ton of various sized gravel in there

The end of the model, where the water is collected and pumped back to the beginning

After browsing the hydraulics lab, we headed to the concrete lab to see a large concrete break on a 5 MILLION pound press! When it broke - the whole building shook! The press actually sits on it's own separate foundation.