I haven’t updated this blog in 5 months, mostly because I’ve just had way to much to do.  I thought I’d jump back on the bandwagon and fill the blog in on everything that has happened in the last 5 months.  It’s been a crazy summer so here we go.

Cirque du Soleil

After I got back from Santa Barbara on what I now refer to as “the cold ass motorcycle ride” we went to see Cirque du Soleil in downtown Portland with Nate and Jennifer.  It was a great show with all the usual acrobatics and amazing maneuvers.  It was bitter-sweet hanging out with Nate and Jennifer because we knew that Jennifer would soon be graduating from OHSU (Congrats Dr. Jennifer!) and they’d be moving away to wherever Jennifer ended up choosing for her residency (which eventually turned out to be our former single-year home, Boise).  

My and Andrea’s Birthday in Bend with Matt, Jennifer and Nate

For my birthday, Andrea surprised me and got together the Ginzton clan to meet up in Bend for a weekend of biking, climbing and skiing.  It turned out that the actual trip happened on Andrea’s birthday weekend, so it was a good celebration of both of our birthdays.  We stayed in the McMenamins Old Saint Francis School, a renovated Catholic school in downtown Bend.  We had a great time and it was a beautiful weekend in Bend.  We ended up skiing at Mt. Bachelor in 70 degree weather, then hitting some of the mountain bike trails which still had snow on them.  Before Matt had to go to the airport to head home, we managed to get a few climbs in at Smith Rock.  

Mark moves to PDX

The third week of April, Mark moved to Portland.  He stayed with us until July when we moved out of our house into a new house.  Mark brought a welcome respite to our lives in Portland.  We, once again, had a good friend close to us to do stuff with.  My view of Portland in general changed drastically once Mark came.  On our almost daily quest to find new coffee shops to work in, we managed to explore more of the city in a month than I had in the previous year.  We also ended up going to the coast and working on Burning Man prep together.  We also managed to fit in tons of disc golf.  I think we’ve now played all of the major courses around Portland.

We’re having a baby!

Shortly after Mark arrived in Portland, we were treated with another surprise.  I was working at my desk on Thursday May 8th and Andrea was getting ready to go to work when she called me down the hall.  She was pointing to the bathroom with this crazy smile on her face.  I thought the cat was playing under the toilet or something.  But then I saw the pregnancy test with a “+” on it.  I was in complete disbelief.  We were so excited we could barely talk.  Mark was working across the hall so we went to our bedroom to figure out what to do.  We decided we wouldn’t tell anyone for a few months since it was so early.  Andrea went to work and I sat thinking about being a dad all day, hardly able to contain myself.  

Our plan completely changed the next morning when I got a call from my mom.  She said something on the order of “Congratulations, there’s a new baby in the family!” I immediately thought she was talking about us so I said “How did you find out?” Then she said, “You’re going to be an uncle!”.  I was so panicked, I could barely talk.  Lisa and Kurt had found out the same day we had.  I told my mom I had to call Andrea to tell her.  I called her and said “You’re not going to believe this, Lisa and Kurt are having a baby too.”  We decided we had to tell at least my family since the timing was so insane.  I called Kurt and Lisa to congratulate them then I told them about us.  They were laughing and yelling.  Then I conferenced Mom into the conversation and I said “I have to tell you something….Andrea is pregnant too!”  We were all laughing and screaming into the phone.  I had tears rolling down my face.  The funny thing about this was I was standing in my almost completed shed since we hadn’t yet told Mark and he was in the house.  So I celebrated with my family on the phone in a tool shed.  

We decided to tell Mark that night, which we did.  He said that explained why I’d been flying around all day.  After that we had a lot to talk about on our disc golf outings.

Nate and Jennifer’s Wedding

Saturday May, 10th Nate and Jennifer got married at the Edgefield in Troutdale.  Andrea had to go to her first wedding without alcohol.  She even got taunted by someone at our table for ordering juice instead of wine.  We just smiled.  We were doing a lot of that.  The wedding was outdoors.  The ceremony lost a race with the weather and the laughing bride and groom ran down the isle while getting poured upon by the heavens.  It was a beautiful wedding, nonetheless, and we had a great time at the reception.  

The next day, we met the Ginzton clan in downtown Portland for a trip to Powell’s and lunch.  At lunch, we could contain ourselves no more and we told everyone about the Baby.  Nate and Jennifer joined us later for ice cream and we told them there.  It was a great weekend.  We were glad to be surrounded by some of our best friends on the weekend we found out. 

Travel to Florida for Jen and Dean’s wedding

Just after Nate and Jennifer’s wedding, I had to go to Davis for a meeting for work.  It was really hard to leave Andrea after finding out.  I ended up telling Matt J, Mark S, Ilkay and a few other people from work.  I was so excited, I literally could not contain it.  Immediately upon returning, I met Andrea at PDX and we jumped on a red-eye to Florida for Jen and Dean’s wedding.  We were there for 5 days and stayed at a historical manor in Jacksonville.  We got to hang out with Helena and Theo, eat a lot of food and spend time with Andrea’s family.  The wedding was beautiful and Jen and Dean looked great.  We helped wrangle the kids while Jen was getting ready and they looked great walking down the isle with their mom.  

Finishing the shed

We finally finished the shed we’d been working on since December.  We got the siding painted a color we liked then we decided to paint the house the same color.  Once the shed was done, we immediately jumped into painting the entire house.  Luckily it went well and it ended up only taking a week total to get everything done.  The house looked 1000% better with the new paint.  We also did a ton of landscaping and planting, which Andrea led with confidence.

New Car

In June, it started to get hot and Andrea’s car once again turned into a greenhouse.  We decided that it was time to get a new car.  Andrea had wanted a Prius forever so we started looking at them and discovered that it was nearly impossible to find one unless you got really lucky.  We finally got lucky one night at 9:00 when we saw one come up on Craigslist at a dealership across town.  We went and test drove it at 9:30 pm and bought it the next morning.  We’re really happy with it and we’ve been averaging >48mpg which is huge since Andrea gets reimbursed at a set rate for all of her work related travel.  

Summer Concerts

We saw several shows at the Edgefield.  Presidents of the USA, Spoon, Nada Surf, Rogue Wave and Death Cab for Cutie were all on the bill.  We also saw the Avett Brothers at the Crystal Ballroom.  It was a great summer of shows.

New House

With the baby coming, we finally decided that we could no longer live in the Parkrose neighborhood where we had bought a house a year earlier.  There is no where to walk, no close shops and no sidewalks, which we figured would conspire to add to the winter depression at a time when we could not afford to be depressed.  We decided to rent our house out and find another house to rent in a neighborhood more suited to our tastes.  We found a house in the Beaumont neighborhood that we really liked and signed a lease with the couple that owned it to move in the first week of July.  We then found renters for our house who agreed to move in the 2nd week of July.  The move was brutal since we had to move all of our stuff to the new house plus we had to get the Shaver house ready for renters to move in.  It was a week long project.  We didn’t actually feel “moved in” to our new house for a couple more months but in the end it was totally worth it.  We love our new ‘hood and have lots of shops and restaurants within walking distance.

Boat

At the end of June, Mark and I decided to go in together and buy a boat to cruise the Columbia with.  After a frustrating multi-week search, we finally found a well-taken-care-of ‘82 Fiberform.  We bought it and towed it home from Beaverton.  We had some crazy nights camping on Sand Island and almost getting blown away by the crazy Gorge winds.  

The Heart Beat

At the end of June, we had an appointment at OHSU to hear our baby’s heart beat for the first time.  The midwife probed around and finally found the heart beat.  We listened for about 30 seconds to the quick swooshing coming through the doppler stethoscope.  The first sign of life we could discern.  We then went home and rented a doppler stethoscope so we could listen whenever we wanted.  I got good at finding the fetus (then about the size of a golf ball) then chasing it around the womb.  

Week 12 ultrasound

A few weeks after hearing the heartbeat for the first time, we went in for our first ultrasound.  Andrea was just starting to show and the baby was about the size of a peach.  We were amazed when the images first came up on the monitor.  The baby looked amazing.  The resolution of the ultrasound was good enough to see fingers, toes, eyes, nose bud and spinal chord.  We left with a CD full of images and very happy hearts.

 

Beach Weekend

Andrea had to do some work on the coast, so I tagged along and worked at a coffee shop in Astoria then we camped at Cape Disappointment for the weekend and hung out on the coast.  It was a beautiful weekend.  We ended up running into kite festival on the Washington Coast which lit up the sky with colorful kites against a blue sky.  This was our first trip camping with the Prius so we finally got to break it in.  

Dusty hurts his ear

One day I took Dusty to the park to play ball.  he was so excited that he tried to cram his head between the gate and the fence.  I didn’t think much of it until later when his year swelled up the size of a golf ball.  I took him to the vet and they drained the blood out of his aural hemotoma, then bandaged his ear up on his head.  He looked like a mummy with his head wrapped up.  Eventually, we took the bandages off, only to have the hemotoma puff up again.  We got it drained again and rebandaged and it finally healed.  He looked pretty stupid for a while though with his head in full bandages.

Mom comes to PDX

The second week of July, my mom made a special appearance in Portland.  One of her friends was coming over for a conference so she tagged along for the weekend.  We had a great time, including going to the Portland Beer Festival and going out on the boat at Rooster Rock.  She also brought some of our first baby gifts that she had made.

Santa Barbara

The third week of July I took off for another work trip to Santa Barbara.  I hung out with Matt, Kelly and Sterling and got a lot of work done with the rest of the crew at NCEAS.  The highlight of the trip was Matt picking me up at the harbor with his new BMW.  Talk about 1st class service.

Canada and Idaho Trip

The day after I got back from Santa Barbara, Andrea and I packed the car and headed to Canada.  We drove up to the North end of Jasper National Park and camped our way back down the Canadian Rockies to Idaho where Kurt was getting married in Laclede.  We saw some amazing sights, including bears, elk, moose, sheep, mountains, lakes and the beautiful blue glacial waters of the Northern Rockies.  We even got snowed on one night at the Athabasca Glacier in Banff.  

Kurts Wedding

Upon successful reentry into the US, we headed to Mom and Dad’s house for Kurt and Lisa’s wedding (which Uncle Jack presided over) and the Berkley Family Reunion.  Everyone was in full party mode by the time we got there.  We headed out on the boat as soon as we got to the river and had a great time tubing and skiing.  The wedding went great and everyone had a blast along the river.  The day after the wedding, we had a family reunion party and did more skiing, wake boarding and tubing.  

Hot Summer Days

After getting back from a great trip to Canada and Idaho, it got hot in Portland.  Really hot.  We spent a lot of time out on the river swimming trying to stay cool.  Mark and I also went into high gear getting ready for Burning Man which was only three weeks away.  We worked a lot on the Playa ChooChoo and getting stuff ready for our first year theme camp.  Mostly, we tried to figure out ways to go on the river because it was really hot working in the yard.

Radiohead

The Wednesday before leaving for Burning Man, Radiohead played near Seattle.  We’d had tickets since April, so we made the trip up to Auburn for a great show.  The really crappy part was the traffic leaving the concert.  It took us almost 4 hours to get back to I-5 so we didn’t get home until 4:30 am.  

Week 19 Checkup

Just before I left for the Burn, we had a 19 week checkup.  Everything is still going well with the baby.  We really like our midwives.  They chat with you as long as you want and they’re all very knowledgeable and professional.  OHSU is also just a really nice place to go for checkups.

Burning Man

On Sunday, Mark and I left at 5 am for the Playa.  We had a great burn, though I was really missing Andrea the whole time.  We setup our own camp this year but we also had the Cosmic Gigglers to hang out with.  We met tons of cool people and had an overall amazing time.  The art was great.  The weather was pretty good and the people were awesome.

We got back from the Burn tired, sunburnt and dehydrated, but otherwise fine.  Great year!  Thanks everyone who made it so!

Week 21 Ultrasound

The week I got back from Burning Man, we had our second ultrasound.   We were able to count fingers and toes and see that the baby is doing great.  Everything is completely normal.  Another great experience at OHSU.

Leanna comes to PDX

Leanna made a trip to Portland on her way to Santa Barbara for Lacrissa and John’s wedding, which we were also attending.  We had a great time showing her around the area.  We headed to the Gorge to see some waterfalls and downtown for food and the Portland staple, beer.  We then met back up with her in Santa Barbara the next week for Lacrissa and John’s wedding.

Albuquerque and Santa Barbara and Lacrissa and John’s wedding

I had a conference to attend in Albuquerque so I flew there the same day that Leanna left Portland.  Andrea then met me in SB.  We all met back up on the beach at Refugio the next day for the rehearsal and Low Country Boil for Lacrissa’s wedding.  We got to see tons of people we hadn’t seen in many years.  It was a full on Bren School reunion of sorts.  Everyone was in high spirits on the beach for Lacrissa and John’s amazing wedding.  Beautiful people in a beautiful place.

So that pretty much catches this blog up on the last 5-6 months.  It’s been a crazy one.  We’re now planning our baby shower/party and getting ready for the baby in January.  It was an amazing summer.  Thanks to everyone who made it so.