We're gearing up for Murphy's first Halloween in our house in a real neighborhood. I expect lots of trick or treaters... people are serious about Halloween here in Rock Creek. There are lots of Halloween decorations!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Murphy at Halloween!
We're gearing up for Murphy's first Halloween in our house in a real neighborhood. I expect lots of trick or treaters... people are serious about Halloween here in Rock Creek. There are lots of Halloween decorations!
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Last Days of Summer
I start my new job tomorrow! The past week has been crazy. We successfully moved in to our new place and have most of the boxes out of the main living area and can nearly park one car in the garage. Kevin and I have been scoping out new furniture and hope to build a fence, but otherwise the place needs very little extra work.
Our friendly new neighbors gave us tickets yesterday to the Rockies game last night. We usually make it to about one game a year and we hadn't made it this season yet. Unfortunately, the Rockies lost, but we had a nice time there.
I'll post pictures of the new place soon!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
We are going to miss this place...
I'm getting pretty nostalgic about leaving our place. I know we will love our new house, but the view we are leaving is so beautiful. Last night, we shared a bottle of wine out on the patio and watched bunnies, birds, Murphy, and neighbors out in grass and the open space and finally a SPECTACULAR goodbye sunset. You can see why we'll miss this!
Friday, August 22, 2008
This Week
The past few weeks have been busy on the house/job search front. I've been packing up the house and coordinating contractors to fix items on the inspection list, Kevin has been very, very busy with work, and poor Murphy got neutered yesterday. Of course, I am a bit nastalgic about leaving our place- I'm sure we will never have a view or wildlife like we have now. There have been beautiful sunsets, egrets, and foxes. This morning I even scared away three raccoons fighting (they were LOUD!) Finally, Kevin and I celebrated our third anniversary this week with a nice night out in Boulder. It's been fun!
Beautiful view of the Indian Peaks from our front porch
Kevin and I in front of Conor O'Neill's Irish Pub in Boulder where we met
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Our Baby's Getting Bigger!
Folks have been asking for updated pictures of Murphy! His energy is a bit more modulated these days and he can entertain himself a bit without destroying things. He had a great visit to Utah with his grandpa and "uncle" Riley. He has started obedience classes and attends a small dog play group and everyone things he's the cutest dog around. Kevin and I both agree he has brought a lot of joy to our lives. Here ya go!
Five Second Clips from our Trip
It was impossible to capture the over-stimulating sounds and sights of the places we visited through still photography alone. We took over 100 short video clips with out little point and shoot camera, which Kevin has compiled into a video. Enjoy!
Five Seconds in Japan and Thailand from Kevin Menzie on Vimeo.
Five Seconds in Japan and Thailand from Kevin Menzie on Vimeo.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tokyo, Thailand, Boston and back- barely
On July 5 I took, and passed (yeah!), my PT licensing exam. I drove straight from the test to take the dog to the airport to meet my dad, who would take him to Utah to stay with my parents for 3 weeks. And then it was a frantic day of packing before we left on our adventure!
We began this adventure in Tokyo. We arrived and headed over to the fancy Penninsula Hotel to meet Kevin's Uncle Don, in town on business, for drinks on the top floor. Over the next three days we experienced the Imperial Palace and gardens, the Tsukiji fish market, the electronic district, the lights of Shibuya and Shinjuku, traditional japanese theater, buddhist temples and shinto shrines and awesome sushi! I am so thankful I didn't listen to the lady from the state health department that recommended that I not eat sushi! Kevin and I were totally awed by the extremely orderly, neat way that the japanese create peaceful space for themselves within such a massive city. Subways and trains were silent- everyone was texting on cell phones but no one talked. The city was so clean- we even saw a man scraping the dirt by hand from the grout between tiles in the subway station. And the city was a fantastic mix of super modern electronics, light and sound and traditional temples, geisha, and tea ceremonies.
On day four we boarded what we thought would be a short flight (turned out to be 6 hours!) to Bangkok and then another flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand. We had arranged in advance for a private trek through the hill tribes of Chiang Dao and this turned out to be the absolute highlight of our trip. It wasn't so much what you think of trekking as a four hour hike (which was difficult) and then being shuttled to a bunch of touristy things. We had a great guide, who spoke fluent english, who explained everything to us from the food to the culture and how the society views the current king (they adore him). We climbed in caves, saw a traditional rural market, hiked, rode elephants, and rode a bamboo raft down the Ping river.
Once back in Chiang Mai, we toured the city's temples, or Wats, and took a cooking class. If you come over, I promise we will cook for you. It was amazing! We even rented a motor bike and navigated through the extremely scary Thai mountain roads to see Doi Suthep, a mountaintop Wat. Oh, did I mention our house got an offer and we went under contract while we were in Chiang Mai?
After Chiang Mai we headed down to Phuket. I was so curious how the tsunami had affected things and while the idea of it lingered in my head, we were hard pressed to find outward signs of the destruction four years ago. Most glaring were the tsunami warning signs posted everywhere. We took a boat out to Ko Phi Phi, the island from the movie The Beach, and one of the hardest hit islands in the tsunami. The beach was gorgeous from far away, but up close was covered in trash and tourists. Our guide explained that the trash is partly from lazy tourists, but also from the corrupt government officials that man the beach and don't clean it up. As it was the monsoon season, we had our rainiest day in Phuket, which meant not a lot of time to sit at the beach or by the pool. But we did manage to catch a few rays and a coconut cocktail! Our resort was ultra modern and very chic- themed after an old tin mine that had the same spot. We were upgraded to a private villa and felt like royalty in our little corner of paradise!
Finally we we returned to Bangkok, where we were greeted by our friends Banc and Holly. They just moved to Bangkok from Boulder and it was great to have dinner with them and get the inside scoop on the town. Our final day in Thailand was spent looking at a bunch of Wats, the Grand Palace, and on a long boat canal tour through some of Bangkok's pungent neighborhoods.
You can see all of my pictures on Flickr here.
We zig-zagged our way home to Denver on the 22 and were to leave again on the 24 for Boston where Kevin was best man in his best friend's wedding. I think Kevin best describes the unimaginable trouble we had getting to Boston in his own blog. One of the highlights of our trip back to Boston was breaking into his mom's house because our flights were cancelled. Seriously. Kevin climbed in through the window. I came home via Salt Lake City to get our beloved puppy, now a full 6" longer and cute as can be. Kevin and I are amazed that all that is going on with us right now. We are off to go house hunting tonight, the job I had lined up here has fallen apart and now I need a job, and our lives are charging forward! One thing I do know, I don't really want to travel for a little while!
We began this adventure in Tokyo. We arrived and headed over to the fancy Penninsula Hotel to meet Kevin's Uncle Don, in town on business, for drinks on the top floor. Over the next three days we experienced the Imperial Palace and gardens, the Tsukiji fish market, the electronic district, the lights of Shibuya and Shinjuku, traditional japanese theater, buddhist temples and shinto shrines and awesome sushi! I am so thankful I didn't listen to the lady from the state health department that recommended that I not eat sushi! Kevin and I were totally awed by the extremely orderly, neat way that the japanese create peaceful space for themselves within such a massive city. Subways and trains were silent- everyone was texting on cell phones but no one talked. The city was so clean- we even saw a man scraping the dirt by hand from the grout between tiles in the subway station. And the city was a fantastic mix of super modern electronics, light and sound and traditional temples, geisha, and tea ceremonies.
On day four we boarded what we thought would be a short flight (turned out to be 6 hours!) to Bangkok and then another flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand. We had arranged in advance for a private trek through the hill tribes of Chiang Dao and this turned out to be the absolute highlight of our trip. It wasn't so much what you think of trekking as a four hour hike (which was difficult) and then being shuttled to a bunch of touristy things. We had a great guide, who spoke fluent english, who explained everything to us from the food to the culture and how the society views the current king (they adore him). We climbed in caves, saw a traditional rural market, hiked, rode elephants, and rode a bamboo raft down the Ping river.
Once back in Chiang Mai, we toured the city's temples, or Wats, and took a cooking class. If you come over, I promise we will cook for you. It was amazing! We even rented a motor bike and navigated through the extremely scary Thai mountain roads to see Doi Suthep, a mountaintop Wat. Oh, did I mention our house got an offer and we went under contract while we were in Chiang Mai?
After Chiang Mai we headed down to Phuket. I was so curious how the tsunami had affected things and while the idea of it lingered in my head, we were hard pressed to find outward signs of the destruction four years ago. Most glaring were the tsunami warning signs posted everywhere. We took a boat out to Ko Phi Phi, the island from the movie The Beach, and one of the hardest hit islands in the tsunami. The beach was gorgeous from far away, but up close was covered in trash and tourists. Our guide explained that the trash is partly from lazy tourists, but also from the corrupt government officials that man the beach and don't clean it up. As it was the monsoon season, we had our rainiest day in Phuket, which meant not a lot of time to sit at the beach or by the pool. But we did manage to catch a few rays and a coconut cocktail! Our resort was ultra modern and very chic- themed after an old tin mine that had the same spot. We were upgraded to a private villa and felt like royalty in our little corner of paradise!
Finally we we returned to Bangkok, where we were greeted by our friends Banc and Holly. They just moved to Bangkok from Boulder and it was great to have dinner with them and get the inside scoop on the town. Our final day in Thailand was spent looking at a bunch of Wats, the Grand Palace, and on a long boat canal tour through some of Bangkok's pungent neighborhoods.
You can see all of my pictures on Flickr here.
We zig-zagged our way home to Denver on the 22 and were to leave again on the 24 for Boston where Kevin was best man in his best friend's wedding. I think Kevin best describes the unimaginable trouble we had getting to Boston in his own blog. One of the highlights of our trip back to Boston was breaking into his mom's house because our flights were cancelled. Seriously. Kevin climbed in through the window. I came home via Salt Lake City to get our beloved puppy, now a full 6" longer and cute as can be. Kevin and I are amazed that all that is going on with us right now. We are off to go house hunting tonight, the job I had lined up here has fallen apart and now I need a job, and our lives are charging forward! One thing I do know, I don't really want to travel for a little while!
Sunday, June 29, 2008
My First Aquabike
Kristin's Aqua Bike from Kevin Menzie on Vimeo.
I had just started to like triathlons when my knee really began to bother me with running a few years ago. Thankfully, they have an event out there called an Aquabike- a triathlon minus the run! Yesterday, I headed up to Loveland, Colorado for the Loveland Lake to Lake Triathlon and Aquabike. It was a blast! It started with a 1500 meter swim in chilly Lake Loveland. I was chastised for not practicing in a wet suit. Somehow I arrogantly assumed since I am a decent swimmer I shouldn't have to do that. I did ok, but it would have been helpful to have thought things through a little better! Next came a 30 mile bike ride around Loveland. The course was beautiful and took me past Horsetooth Reservoir (site of a 10K swim that I am interested in doing one year). Again, a little more advanced planning and training could have come in handy- I had only done one training ride that rivaled the distance that I raced. However, I finished and placed second in the women under 40 category! I even got a snazzy medal.
The day was really fun because my friend, Sara, also did the race (although she got to tack on a 10k run to her day), I got to see many friends from the DU Masters swim team, and Kevin and Murphy cheered me on. Kevin made this great little video of the day!
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