Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Updates

With less than a week until "Operation Lone Wolf" (re: wifey going back to work), I thought it'd be wise to do some updates while I still had the chance. =)

New additions to the extended family:

Ingrid Rose Van Bruggen
(Rochelle's brother and sister-in-law)
8.13 lbs, 21 inches
Born on 03.13.08

Jacoby Chavez
(Rochelle's cousin)
7.14 lbs, 20 3/4 inches
Born on 03.13.08

Also, with it being so warm (mid to upper 40s) and sunny this week, we decided to take advantage of the weather and do some classic skiing with Xander. This time we skied at one of our favorite local places called Virginia Meissner. Here's a few pictures of that adventure:





I've also uploaded some new pics of Xander (thank you for your many reminders). You can click here or use the link to the right to check them out.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Snow day II

A nasty winter storm continues to hit our area. Unfortunately, the plethora of snow is also being accompanied by strong winds. Anyone that knows Bachelor, knows that formula makes for a complete white-out. Long story short, I didn't make it up to the mountain today. Instead, I kept myself busy shoveling large quantities of snow (of which I'm getting quite adept at).

I also spent some quality time at Wal-Mart getting the oil changed on the family truckster (read: Nissan Pathfinder). Every visit to that store only increases my disdain for the franchise. Not only do I have to go there, I must also find something to occupy 40 minutes of time while the Pathfinder is being serviced. *sigh* Why can't REI or Best Buy add this basic auto service? Imagine the sales!

So anyways, after spending entirely to much time rummaging futilely through the 3 dollar DVD bargain bin , I head to the service area. Mistake number one happens here. After a quick peek through the service bay window, I inquire if the car is ready. The guy behind the counter asks for my name and searches through service log. "Hmm... nothing by that name in the system" he says. I'm quite exasperated and amazed by his short-term memory loss.

I point to the deserted service bays (from which the car was neatly drove into) and ruefully exhale. Right about the time I begin to ask him to check again, it dawns on me. The car is registered in their system under Rochelle's maiden name (another *sigh*, longer). After getting into the car and driving towards home, mistake number two happens. I hadn't bothered to check if the windshield wiper fluids had been filled. Have you ever heard of not getting your wiper fluids refilled after the 41 point inspection/check/service routine? Curse you Wal-Mart!

Here are some images (cell phone camera quality) from snow day part deux:



Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Home alone

Rochelle and Xander left yesterday to visit the grandparents in Tucson, AZ. I must say, I'm not used to how quiet it is in the house. Meanwhile, it continues to snow outside and a huge dump (15 inches) is predicted for tomorrow. Hopefully the wind will stay down so I can get some pow. =)

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Snow day

It is absolutely dumping snow here in Bend!

Saturday, January 5, 2008

A January classic

Xander got a taste of what's to come in later life when we took him classic skiing out to Tumalo Falls. (Is 1 month to early to introduce winter sports? ;) Accompanying us on our trip were Deb, Aaron, and Allison. It was lightly snowing, no wind to speak of, and perfect snow conditions. Here's a shot of us next to the creek...



(In order to avoid a scenario where I crashed on the skis with baby Xander (read: newbie), Chelle had pack-mule duty. Baby Bjorn rocks!)

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Let it snow

Loads of the light, fluffy (well, heavy concrete-mixer like) stuff has been coming down for the past few days with no let-up in sight. I've been getting in some good sessions in at the mountain without the weekend crowds.

This year I've gone pure wireless, and I can't tell you how nice it is to be rocking a unified system. My setup: Giro G10 Helmet w/Wireless Bluetooth TuneUps. I link my Blackberry Pearl 8100 (phone) and Samsung P2 (MP3 player) to the helmet and hit the slopes. The helmet as your typical music controls (fw, rev, play, stop, etc). The icing on the cake is when a call comes in, the music mutes and a hands-free call commences. Now only if there was a switch to make my FS board-slides better.

We have a bunch of relatives coming up for the holidays, so I'm praying that everyone has safe travels. Below are a couple of shots of Xander, taken by our brother-in-law Ben at a recent Christmas get together. Ben is on extremely gifted and talented dude, be sure to check out his other stuff.



Wednesday, December 12, 2007

El nino blanco

We are stoked to report that Xander's bilirubin count is back to normal. No more hours in the tanning-suitcase-light-bed thing anymore, as well as the daily trips to the hospital for blood testing.

On a side note, my appreciation for the simple act of sleeping has been deepened. *yawn*