Aruba

This past month has been really busy for Ian and really fun for me. One of my good friends from college, Yuki, works for Hyatt and gets 12 free nights anywhere in the world a year. She decided to use four of those nights to take Kristi and I to Aruba for our 30th birthdays! We had a great time. The hotel was recently renovated and was just beautiful. We did not do a lot, just hanging out by the pool or by the beach, eating lots of yummy meals and gambling at the casino (I won $115 on night, but lost on the other nights). We also rented a car one day and drove around the island went snorkeling at two different beaches. The snorkeling was good - not quite up to Hawaii standards - but we had blast. I really liked Aruba and I am so glad that I have a friend like Yuki who can take me to such wonderful places!

Oktoberfest in Breckenridge

On Ian's only free weekend this month, during Pediatric Surgery, we made plans to go up to Breckenridge with friends from DU, Kristi and Mike and Jeff and Jenny who were visiting the mainland from Hawaii. We discovered the day before we left that it was Oktoberfest in Breck that weekend. You can understand how excited Ian was to learn that! We had a great time hanging out with friends, going out to eat, some of us drinking our favorite beer (Paulener Oktoberfest) and enjoying some beautiful fall weather in the Rocky Mountains.
It had snowed in the Rockies earlier in the week, but was beautiful when we got up there. We spent a lot of time on Saturday sitting by the river, looking at the mountains and chatting. Peak 9 was covered in snow and looked beautiful! We have ski passes this year and this is one of the mountains we will be hitting often.
Ian, being who he is, decided that after drinking all day Saturday he needed to hike the highest mountains in the Rockies on Sunday. While I stayed in town and shopped and ate yummy food, Ian hiked 9 miles and about 4,000 vertical feet to the top of Mt. Elbert. He said it was his second favorite hike out here - after Grey's and Torey's Peaks.

August Update

So I have been told that I am not a good blogger and that I need to update the blog more often. I have decided that I am OK with not being a good blogger. I read a number of blogs that are written well (Rachel Roberson writes a great one, Alex Bain always includes pictures) and a number of blogs that are updated regularly for grandparents that live across the country. Since, at the moment, I don't fit into either of these categories, I will just keep up with my blogging style. Here is a brief update on what Ian and I are up to.

Max's First Birthday

Unfortunately, Ian had to work the weekend of Max's first birthday, but I got to go out and help him celebrate. It was a great party in Sara's parent's backyard with BBQ and swimming. My Mom and I made 75 cupcakes for the guests and I think that everyone had a great time. I was also able to see some friends from San Francisco for dinner on Saturday night (I had to go to Japanese food, because you can't get Nabeyaki Udon in Denver) and a Stanford friend for lunch. Overall, it was great to be back in California and to hang out with my friends and family. And Max is getting cuter by the day! For his present, I gave him a trip to the new California Academy of Science in San Francisco , although I have to take him in December because the Museum does not open until next month.

New England

During Ian's first week of vacation this year (he gets three weeks total), we went back to New England for a long weekend. Ian also managed to get a few hikes in in Colorado (see the posts below) since I could not take off all the days from work. We had a great time in New England. We got to see Ian's parents, spent two nights at an Inn in Vermont for Ian's friend John's wedding and hot to hang out with some of Ian's buddies from college. Here is a picture of all the Williams alumni at the wedding.

#2 and #3

I started my first week of vacation, so of course I went hiking. On August 13, I hiked my 2nd and 3rd fourteeners- Gray's Peak (14,270 ft.) and Torrey's Peak (14, 267 ft.), the highest points on the Continental Divide in the the United States. This is a picture of me on Gray's Peak with Torrey's in the background. I was also fortunate enough to run into a family of mountain goats on Gray's Peak. I couldn't have asked for a better day.

Ian's First Fourteener

In case you were wondering why I moved here- I spent my first day off during my month in the ED at Denver Health climbing Mt. Bierstadt (14,060 ft.)- my first Fourteener (and only one and a quarter hours from our house). One down, 52 to go. It's a good thing this is a four-year residency program.

July Update

I have been told by a faithful blogwatcher that I do not post often enough. I really only like to post when I have pictures, so I thought I would take pictures of the latest happenings in Colorado today, but I can't find the camera. So, here are the latest happenings without any pictures to go along with it.

- Ian and I got new bikes yesterday. I went to look at bikes while Ian was sleeping between shifts and I realized that the bike shop was closed on Sunday, when Ian was off. So, on a whim, I bought both of us bikes without asking Ian. Luckily, the bike I got Ian was perfect and the owner of the bike shop even gave me the basket for the front of my bike for free. I went out today and bought helmets and locks and rode down to the farmer's market in the town center to get some produce and homemade pasta. Ian and I rode down to town center this evening to have dinner and we had a great time. I am really excited to be able to ride around Stapleton!

- The vegetable garden that we inherited from the previous owners has begun to bare some fruit. We had broccoli for dinner on Saturday night, and we have corn and tomatoes that are looking like the might actually bare some fruit. I have actually weeded the garden and the flower pots and orange tree that I bought are both still alive! I am pretty proud of my green thumb.

- Work is good but long for both Ian and I. Ian has two more days on Surgery and will be glad to be done. My new teacher start tomorrow morning, and I am really excited to meet them. I am sure they are more nervous than I am, but I think it will be lots of fun. I will be sure to update my blog and let you all know how it is going.

Our Outdoor Space

Today I went to the floral nursery and picked out some flowers to make our house look more inviting.

I also got an orange tree for the side yard. I don't know if orange trees can grow in Colorado, but I am willing to take a chance for some fresh oranges from my own tree.

This is our outdoor furniture. We have already cooked kabobs on the grill (I only burned half of them) and had a fire in the fire pit! It is a great space. I love having the outdoor room.

Ian's First Week of Work

This is Ian after his third day of work in the surgery department of Denver Health. He is exhausted, but was a good sport when I wanted to take his picture. I was in Houston for the first three days of this week on work, so I didn't get a chance to get a picture of his on his first day :( He is working Monday - Thursday days (about 14-16 hours) and Friday-Saturday nights (8pm-8am) this month.

When he is in the ER - which he will start on July 23rd for a month - he gets to wear cool scrubs with his name on them. I made him take a picture with them even though he doesn't get to wear them yet.

Deer Mountain

We went on our first hike as Colorado residents today. It was a great hike in Rocky Mountain National Park up a mountain called Deer Mountain. The hike was 6 miles round trip and 1000 vertical feet, which isn't too bad. It is a great hike for people who are coming from sea level, because you get great views but you don't have to go too high. If you come and visit, this will be a hike we would love to take you on.

The mountain on the left side of the picture is Longs Peak

This is part of the Mummy Range (I think). The highest through-highway in the US runs through this range

The pointy mountain is Hallert Peak and the big flat snow covered thing next to it is Flattop Mountain. We climbed Flattop when we came through Colorado on our road trip in 2003. It had less snow on it then

Since there was no one else at the summit, we had to take a picture of ourselves. We did manage to get Longs Peak in the background.

Our New House

After signing the papers on June 11th, we moved into our new house. Here are some early picutres of the house and some of the new furniture that we bought - since we moved in with almost nothing.

This is an exterior shot of our new house in Colorado. It is a great corner lot!

One of our first new furniture purchases - a dining room table. It is so nice to have real furniture.

Our kitchen is all set up thanks to help from Adie's parents, her wonderful Aunt Kathy and Kathy's grandson Tyler. They were are great help and had the whole kitchen done by the time Adie and Ian finished unpacking their clothes in the bedroom

Here is our new bedroom. The painting on the wall is by Grandma Mary

Our new living room furniture - this is not a great picture, but there were too many boxes behind the cameraman to get a good shot