Sunday, December 26, 2010

Chillin with the new toys after a sick sunny day at alta

day number 2.  This is now becoming ritual.  Party hard on ski mountain, sleep all the way back home.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

XMas 2010

Let the Xmas festivities begin!! What could be better than a three year olds' rendition of Rudolph? Well, honestly, not a whole lot.

Aside: Alexi was sort-of able to follow the Rudolph movie this year, but kept getting caught up on why the abdominal snow monster lost his teeth? Subsequently, he is not so keen on those people called 'dentists'....have to admit, I am right there with him, makes my mouth water just thinking about it....




On to the main man, Santa...



And then the day we had all been waiting for, or at least Alexi had been waiting for...true joy, ripping paper, overstimulation, jubilee, celebration and of course...Lightin' McQueen!! 




And Spidy too..




Matching jammies!! Alexi loves to scream, Mommie, wear your T-pants so you can be just like ME. No, I'm not sure what T-pants are either, but you get the idea....



And a game boy...how do you work this thing??



It was enough to wear out even a Pug. Pictured below, Theo hiding out with Charlie in the quiet basement...



Not pictured here (to protect the innocent) was the favorite present of the day... the whoopie cushion... enjoyed by adult and child alike. So much so, it was "blown" out w/in a few days...

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Yes. One tired cowboy.

Wiped out from first ski lesson

Alexi ripper from 9 am to 2 pm. So tired on last run, he stopped once
on the hill, leanned forward, and passed out while standing.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Discover gateway photo shoot

 My boy made the cover!














Little bug, or should I say big bug as he is not so little any more (the guy is about one meter tall), did a photo shoot for the Discovery Center  Children's Museum at the Gateway mall.  He was so cute he made the cover of a membership drive brochure. 

Is this the beginning of an acting career?

High fashion modeling?

or just politics? 

Who knows!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Powerful stuff

There it is.

What will I find?

Cold but beautiful

On a cold day in our nations Capitol I visit the mall to take in the
African museum and natural history museum

Saturday, November 20, 2010

New Zealand 2010

Another chance to take a trip over to NZ. Who could say no??  So packed up our boy and grandma for another trip. A few days spent in Nelson where one of our emergency medicine residents was doing a rotation. As opposed to the US, NZ has a very strong primary care base, and EM MD's can actually turn patients away that have issues appropriate for primary care?! and patients can actually get into see a PCP in a timely manner??!! Whoa. In addition, the physicians are much more judicious about testing and imaging is much more difficult to come by. In fact, the all Xray techs in the country were on strike when we arrived, making even plain films hard to come by. Physicians rely much more on the basics of history and physical, which, at times, seem to be a dying art in the land of diagnostic testing that we have created in the US...

On the drive back from Nelson: stunning sunset



After our first trip, we came back in anticipation of cold temps and rain, bugs, etc. but happy to report the weather was outstanding. We lucked out, only having rain on the days we had to drive. What a change from the last trip...First stop Mt. Cook. The first morning, a bit cold and cloudy, but soon cleared up with amazing views and blue skies.

Gma and Alexi geared up

First Look at Mt Evans, as the clouds lift


Surrounding Mts, with active avalanches coming down, fun to watch...from a distance


Mt Adams

Spring flowers in bloom


Silly boy hamm'n it up

Snack time

After lunch went on an iceberg tour, a bit skeptical at first, but actually very interesting. This lake had formed relatively recently, the icebergs were approx 300 yrs old by the time they were birthed into the lake from the main glacier. Only 10% of the total iceberg is visible above water, and up close they looked like giant 3-d puzzle pieces




Alexi and momma on a hike approx 1-2 hours out of Queenstown, stayed in a wonderful lodge near the largest lake in NZ. The owner would treat us to homemade meals at night, and had a great set up in a beautiful spot.

Swinging bridge
Alexi giving his full attention to the task at hand..
Moved on to TeAnu to check out the glow worms...which really aren't worms but glowing maggots...but that would be a bit harder to sell...glow maggots..not too appealing. 
Anyway, these little creatures attract insects with their glow and then inject venom into them which basically dissolves their insides, which then gets suck up by the glow worm. A bit gross, but luckily all you see in the cave is thousand of tiny lights hanging from the ceiling.
On the way to the glow worm cave

No pictures allowed of the litt'l fellas, but here is where they live

Alexi bounc'n it up

Cap'n Alexi on board SS Milford

Alexi and his sheep

Milford Sound


Clouds lifting off the rain forest

Some more spectacular views in Milford

Last stop was the tip of the south island, a little surfer hang out, but still relatively pristine and free from development.


view out the back door

Alexi checking out some petrified logs


In the afternoon, sea lions would come out on the beach to sun bath

Pay close attn to the subheading of the mag...that's my boy!
Walk to Cathedral Caves


Cathedral cave, accessible at low tide



On the reluctant ride back to the airport, a quick stop to stretch our legs. A spot where hundreds of calcium carbonate spheres have fallen out of a cliff face and rolled down into the water. They range in size from small nodules to giant balls over 4 meters in diameter. Said to be the result of slow growth around a nucleus, the spheres are referred to as “concretions” and are thought to be the result of tiny amounts of mineral precipitation taking place over 65 million years.
Moeraki Boulders