Post Thanksgiving in Denver and Boulder

After the mountains, we headed to Boulder and Denver to visit with friends and to show Eva my old CU haunts.

On a really cold day, we met with Justin and Stacy and took some group pics with Abby. Gotta love the blue Denver sky.
Close to Folsom field with me posing with my favorite animal...and rubbing the horns for good luck.
Eva sitting with her friend, Robert Frost, a Boulder resident and, of course, poet.

This one picture probably doesn't do Pearl Street justice. I will always remember the spring days where there are literally thousands of tulips blooming.

But, the 'Lady on a Swing' is still a Pearl Street landmark...and brings back many good memories.
The beloved Flatirons in November. Ize has a great picture of the Flatirons in each of the seasons. Hopefully, over the next years, I can create my own...
In LoDo with BW. This was one of those pictures that I almost didn't take, but it turned out much better than I had expected.

Thanksgiving in the Rockies

After Texas, we drove into the Rockies to meet up with the Colorado gang for the annual Thanksgiving 'get together' in the mountains.

Below, BW and I shortly before cross country skiing.

Jake and Ben with Abby in the middle. This was the first year with kids for the group, and it was very cool the 'group parenting' that was going on. I think the kids liked it because there were 10+ adults to play with.

The group picture. We had tons of snow in the morning and took us a while to dig out. All in all, it was a great time - as always. We didn't eat or drink healthy, and Deborah still had problems with 'one'. Nina learned a a few american drinking games.

Most important of all, we got to spend time with good friends...unfortunately, we can't make it to the mountains every Thanksgiving, but we try to make it as often as posible.

Pre Thanksgiving in Texas

After a few days in Atlanta, we flew to Borger to visit my parents. Nina flew in as well so she could experience an American Thanksgiving. Here we are below, after arrival, at the Big Texan (home of the 'free' 72oz steak, if eaten within 1 hour)

Of course, everything in Texas is bigger. Here we are on a Texas sized rocking chair.

My mom's famous cheesecake, made from scratch without machines. As a kid growing up, we weren't allowed to walk in the kitchen when a cheesecake was baking - to help prevent the cake from cracking.

Obviously, by the cracked cheesecake, I still can't follow directions as a grown up.

Pre Thanksgiving Festivities in Atlanta

Before we headed to Texas for Thanksgiving, we had a few day stop in Atlanta to see some old friends. It was great seeing folks again, and was very cool that Kelly could make the trip down from DC to Atlanta.
From the first Godiva that I bought Eva for Valentine's Day at the Pittsburgh airport (why at the airport...because I procrastinated and didn't have anything...), Godiva has had a special meaning for us.

Here is Eva at the source: one of the Godiva shops in Atlanta. When we were in Atlanta, we would buy one of the truffles and split it. The sales girls always thought we were a bit crazy splitting a truffle.

You smell like a pepperoni pizza - 1st Wedding Anniversary

For our 1st wedding anniversary, we took a small weekend trip to St. Martin in the German wine country to visit friends of ours, the Dresbachs. They have a small 'hobby' winery and produce about 600 liters of wine each year.

For us, their wine has a special significance: they gave us a crate of wine as a wedding gift, and every time we drink it, it reminds of the good times of our wedding and the beauty of our marriage.

As luck would have it, this visit coincided with their wine harvest and our 1st wedding anniversary. We help them with the harvest (above) and then had a 'wine tasting' with dinner.

I say 'wine tasting' in quotations, because we had, in reality, many different normal glasses of wine. The winery we went to were friends of the Dresbachs, therefore, our glasses were always overfilled, the food was amazingly prepared, we had a 'private' lesson on wine, and stayed up past 2am.

Needless to say, after the 2+ liters of wine I drank, I had a bit of a headache. I woke up with Eva by my side on the morning of our first wedding anniversary, and my first words were:
'You smell like a pepperoni pizza'.

Her hair really had that smell, but it was not exactly the most romantic phrase that I could have come up with.

Here's us during a hike that afternoon.

When we got home, we had our frozen wedding cake. It tasted better than we thought it would. No comments on the coffee mug, but those of you that went to CU with me, I know, will chuckle. (Eva put the coffee mug in the picture.)

Eva's Grandfather's 80th Birthday Party

We were invited to attend Eva's Grandfather's 80th birthday party. For Germans, the 'round' birthdays are very special (40, 50, etc), and the larger the number, the more important it gets. I really didn't know what to expect - after all it was a party with a bunch of 70 and 80 year olds.

Needless to say, it was a half day event with plenty of beer, wine, and schnapps - I was impressed. Everyone had a great time, and I got to meet some of the more 'distant' family members.
Eva's grandfather was an avid hunter. In his house, there is a room with racks of mounted deer skulls (I'm sure there is a more technical hunting term for these things). Above, his hunting club is playing a few traditional hunting songs. Note how straight Eva's grandfather is standing on the right. Very impressive the close knit hunting community.
Above the three sons reading a birthday poem.

Me and Eva's gradfather, Kurt.

A room with a view

After coming back from vacation, we took a look at how the condo progressed. The ceiling supports are now gone, and our place begins to take shape.

This is the view from the living room into the kitchen. The black things that are hanging are the electrical cables - the electrical work is done a bit differently here when everything is in concrete.

The Honeymoon in Corsica - August 2004

We delayed our honeymoon until the weather got a bit better in Europe. We ended up going to Corsica, a French island in the Mediterranean. It was a great fit for us, as it offers great beaches and great hiking in the mountains. We would do a few days of beach at a hotel and then a few days of camping and hiking in the mountains.


But first, we had to drive there. Here's me with some of our camping gear. Let's just say that the trunk of our little VW Golf Cabrio was packed.

We left at about 4am to make it to the Italian coast. From there, we would take a ferry to the island. Our port was not too far from Pisa, so we took the chance to be 'real' tourists.

Above is the typical tourist picture of me holding up the Leaning Tower.Self Portrait. Some other tourist, not pictured, held up the tower for me while we took our picture ;-)
We had some delays with the ferry - like a 5 hour delay. We got up at 5am for a 6am ferry that was 'delayed'. Ironically, we took off with next ferry around noon.

Not allowing my honeymoon to be spoiled by a delay, I pulled up one of our camping chairs and had a beer - at 10am.

Here we are at one of the campgrounds having our four course meal. While simple, it was great food, and the wine (despite the plastic camping cups) was very good.
One of the beauties of Corsica was the lack of cars. We think we saw only one traffic light the 12 days we were there. There is, however, traffic jams, as you can see by the above picture. We had similar encounters with pigs, cows, and a stubborn horse that wouldn't move.A romantic dinner on the beach during sunset. I'm really lucky to have a wife that really thinks that eating fresh fruits and veggies on plastic camping plates is fun and can be romantic.

The coast as viewed from Cap Rossu. The hike to the top was long and hot, but well worth it.

Alonge the GR20, the hiking trail that runs through the island. The fat man in the picture is me. It was this picture that convinced me to finally lose some weight. In this picture I weighed over 180 pounds.

Eva doesn't like this picture...but it was a great dinner at a good restaurant in Porto ;-) We walked to dinner from our 4 star campground (we had never heard of a 4 star campground before...)

Sunset on the island.

Corsica was a strategic military outpost for many centuries. Here is the view of the coast from one of the very important stronghold in Bonafacio.
Self portrait from the same location.

After spending a few days at a campground, we wanted to really splurge on the luxurious things - like a bed and a shower. So, in Bonafacio, we found a great hotel overlooking the bay and dock. The dock was packed with million dollar yachts. As we walked around the dock that night after dinner, we saw the 'Jerome' docked. It was hilarious to find this simple unmotorized boat next to these huge yachts, catamarans, and other large ocean-going vessels.

Eva imitating some of the local art.

In Ajaccio, I wanted to go into the Napolean museum. It was closed, and I threw a fake fit for the camera. Eva was relieved the museum was closed - she hates museums.

For our last night in Corsica, we found a great campground (pictured below) only a few meters from a great beach with the view that you see above. It was a great way to end our time in Corsica.

After we left Corsica, we stopped over in Florence. The Duomo above is absolutely amazing. At first, I thought all the different colors were just painted. As I got closer, I realized that it was different colored marble.

I love signs that seem a bit different or odd. I'm sure this makes sense in Italian...but in English it is a bit funny.

After the serenity of Corsica, the hustle and bustle of Florence and Italy was a bit much. We got into Florence late, didn't feel like a large meal at 10pm, and ended up eating at McDonald's.

The honeymoon was great and better than we could have ever imagined. Corsica will always have a soft spot in our hearts. The country was simple and simply beautiful.

Plumbing is Important

We now have a shower...
...ok, maybe just the pipe for the drain...

Tanja and Rene get married

Tanja and Rene had great weather for their wedding - sunny and warm. Below, the couple shortly before the wedding in front of their apartment.

We drove Tanja and Rene to the wedding. Below, the view from the front seat, overlooking the Fränkische countryside.

We mustered all the happiness we could find for our picture ;-)

We have a roof!

Just a quick note of the progress of the house. It is now late summer and we have walls and a roof.
This is the view from our kitchen to the living room. As you can tell, the building style is a bit different in Germany than in the US. For our condo, our walls are made of 12" thick masonry 'stones' - sort of like solid, dense cynderblocks. Also, the roof is 6" steel reinforced concrete with an additional 4" of concrete on top.

Frisbee Golf at CU

Joel, BW, and I took a Sunday afternoon trip to Boulder to play frisbee golf on our old course. Like old times, we scared a few people...and there are still too many people on campus that want to throw us our frisbees back...

Babies and Peopledogs

On a long weekend between business trips, I snuck up to Colorado to meet the first children from my group of friends...and of course to be with the gang again.


Justin with Abby. BW looking confused.

The timing of the weekend worked out great. Not only did I get to meet Abby, but the Isernhagen twins as well. On the right is Ben and the left is Jake. Wait. Maybe Jake is on the right and Ben is on the left ?!?

Bad timing was that of Ize's softball injury. He was immobile for the first few weeks after the twins' birth.

Krier giving us his tough guy pose. Don't you feel intimidated?

Grilling is almost mandatory. While I have been grilling for a long time, I have never seen Tina's 'peopledogs'. If you cut the dogs just right, when they grill, they will have arms, legs, and a head.

Bocce ball in Wash Park with the gang.