What the #@&* are they wearing?

So there is this Birthday Party picnic that we are invited too. Unbeknown to us in our hast reading the invite there is apparently a dress code. As you can see below this is what our poor eyes laid upon when we arrived. Not much else to say about that, except the captions below.

Yes one of the charming (pronounced with clenched teeth) Birthday boys. Pretty sure he did not get lucky that night. Should have got him a gift certificate for some clothes at Wal-Mart.

This gents name is Brent AKA "Bubba" name he acquired during stint in San Quentin. If you are shopping for a Chris Craft he is your man. (and then some).

Only one word comes to my mind as I look at this ..... SPECIAL......and yes she is a croquet pro as well sponsored by Voit I believe. Good party and the best friends one could buy (at least on my minuscule salary).

Aloha!!! & pictures from Hawai'i Trip

ALOHA

We are all well!! Olivia;s having a grand time. she has grown a bit I think... she's also gotten accustomed to playing in the pool and at the beach, the waves were a bit of a shock at first, but she's getting it. She rolled over (back to front) twice yesterday in her playpen/crib (where she has the mesh walls to push off) and is very close to pulling it off on a hard surface. but hasn't yet gotten front to back... soon tho' i;m sure.

There are more pictures, but here are a few!



FLASH arrived early Sunday morning, crew was tired, but happy. The days leading up to the wedding, we're fun and beautiful and more or less relaxing.

some fun group dinners, lots of trips to the beach for kiting, suring, general splashing around. lots of evenings in the hot tub, feeding the GIANT fish in the old Hawaiian fish pond they had at the house. And some last minute wedding prep (licenses for example)

Lots and Lots of SunBlock!!!

by now, everyone from the wedding has gone back home, Jeff is working at the power plant and Livvy and I are staying at the hotel, visiting with friends, going for walks, trying not to get too much sun, playing at the beach and in the pool.

We'll post more soon! some pictures of the wedding and other fun times!

Aloha!

Off to Hawaii

Aloha, Olivia is styling in First Class while Mom and Dad have to ride coach. Yes, that is a mai tai they are serving her. Apparently there is no legal drinking age in International Airspace. I guess cute goes a long way in fact all the way to the front of the plane. Daddy is lucky that he did not end up in cargo. Race Update - Jody & Skip are in 2nd and I am hoping "Criminal Mischief" is making a mistake on their southerly approach into Kanehoe. Go"Flash".

Jody & Skip leave for Hawaii on Flash

The soon-to-be bride & groom:



Joey Penrod & Jody





The Team aboard Flash:

The start:

You can follow the boat's progress at:
http://www.pacificcup.org/
there are several tracking tools... they are in Division F. boat name "Flash"

Faces of Liv

Liv is turning 4 months this week.

Here are some funny recent pictures...

Olivia the ghost !

This is one of Olivia's latest favorite games. Seriously we are not tormenting her so don't go calling social services. She really likes it and now her favorite toy is yes...... a burp cloth. Pretty much makes me concerned about how much Emily was drinking during her pregnancy.

new pics

Livvy loves trees! Especially if there's a breeze and she can watch the play of green leaves, blue sky, and golden sunlight.

Places Olivia Sits

We had a great day yesterday as a family! Jeff was home and not overloaded with work! We stayed home in the morning, went to the shop in the early afternoon and then took a nice walk over to the Alameda Golf Course for a late lunch & so Jeff could hit some balls at the driving range.

In the crib, watching her Buggy Mobile (ladybug, butterfly, etc...) She loves to talk and wave her feet at them... one of the top 10 cutest things she does this week!


We've brought Olivia to the table in her new high-chair/ booster seat. She joins me while I have my breakfast and sometimes at dinner (if she's not already in bed!) It's nice to have her there instead of on the floor... and getting all of us into the habit of family dinners! :)


Here she's helping me fold laundry! (actually, I had stepped away and Daddy thought this was a great joke!)


Livvy in her stroller as we ate lunch.


Jeff's got an appointment with a golf-pro this week... so he was firmly establishing his swing, before he goes to get it fixed... I guess that makes sense...?


It was a lovely day, and we feel very fortunate.

Funny side note: we were walking on the beach bike path and ran into one of our friend/customers who was out walking with his 3 month old baby (3 weeks younger than Olivia) and as we stopped and chatted another customer and his wife came up with their 3 month old baby (3 weeks older than Olivia). TOO FUNNY!! We totally live in baby-ville!!!

Where has Jeff been?

I have been traveling around the West coast working for Covanta Energy. My primary role is to perform boiler inspections and find any problems. There are 15 boilers in my region that I try to inspect twice a year. The challenge is not only in finding the need for repairs but to work with the management team to fix outside of the budget or plan for the next fiscal year. The plan is to reduce tube failures and unscheduled downtime by 20% this year. Tube failures cost about $50,000 per day not to mention the safety aspect of such a high energy release.


Some areas of the boilers are more accesible then others. They are all confined spaces though. I need to wear a respirator due to the fine ash everywhere. The picture below is one of the most challenging inspections due to the amount of ash on the tube surface. It is these tubes that if get thin enough can rupture and take the boiler down.


Most of the inspections are performed during the Fall and the Spring. Summer is peak power months and the plants have an incentive to run 100% during the summer. I will start traveling quite a bit again after Labor Day.

WebCam!

Olivia's Grandparents got us this great webcam, so that we can "video conference" and they get a chance to see Livvy from across the country. it took a couple tries to get the bugs out... but now that we have, it's a terrific opportunity to see and hear each other!

Here are a couple images from our chats. The images are small and kind of fuzzy, but so cute... because Olivia is just fascinated with the camera lens (it looks (quite creepily) like an eyeball) so she looks right at it!

Sending Grins & Hugs!