7/7/07

Last weekend we went to Michigan for Mike's cousin's wedding.

The weekend was a total whirlwind, since in addition to all the wedding events, we also squeezed in a celebration of Mike's father's birthday. Mike's dad is a frequent commenter on the blog, although he sometimes uses aliases. . . .

Here are a few birthday shots:
Next: the wedding. First, Friday, there was an out-of-town guest dinner, complete with skits/roasts.
The bride and her brother:Toasts:
Roasts:

[this is a skit showing how the bride and groom met]

Last, the lovely bride and groom [and a strangely glowing lamp - why don't I ever notice these things before I take the pictures?]

Saturday, we had a lovely brunch outside in the backyard, followed by a little jaunt to get our hair and make-up done [the gentlemen did not accompany us for this!].

Then, we headed to the wedding. The bride looked lovely, the groom looked handsome, the flowers were amazing, and we had a wonderful time!

Pete Lake

SYL and I headed for the hills yesterday. We drove up over the Cascades to the Pete Lake trailhead. First, there is an amazing amount of development going on up near Roslyn - just a few years ago Mike and I drove the Salmon La Sac road and there was nothing out there. Not so much any more.

Anyway, the trail to Pete Lake was far from the bulldozers so we were okay. The trail is actually mostly flat (no Lake Serene switchbacks, thanks very much) and through a very beautiful old growth forest. The size of the trees is really hard to capture, but here are some attempts.The trail had a fair number of stream crossings, and there was no shortage of bugs (despite bug spray, I'm a little bitten up today).

But, Pete Lake is beautiful! It was such a lovely day yesterday and we really felt like we had the place to ourselves. Perhaps the heartier hikers had ventured on to Spectacle Lake (I think there is some elevation gain associated with that!).We had a late lunch at the lake and then we went swimming. Yes, it was cold. Very.

What a fun day!

Summertime

and the livin' is easy. Unless you're Babar.

SYL's half-birthday

On Sunday we celebrated SYL's half-birthday. Since she shares her birthday with a very famous dead person, her birthday doesn't usually get much fanfare.

This year, though, it was different. We went all-out. The sort-of theme of the birthday party was "six years old." So we had masks, party hats, a piñata, goody bags, pin-the-nose-on-the-puppy, and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey.We also had alcohol and sushi. You know, just to adult it up a little. And yes, there was cake. Can you find the two cakes in the picture below?A good time was had by all. I think SYL should have a half birthday every year!

Our favorite Japanese baby

Here is a picture of our favorite Japanese 2-year-old, gearing up for the rainy season:According to his parents, he will become a big brother in September!

Navajo Peak

To celebrate the first day of summer, yesterday I went hiking with some friends.

We left Seattle in the gray mist, climbed over Snoqualmie Pass, and found the sun. On the east side of the mountains, it was 80 degrees and there was not a cloud in the sky! Happy summer, indeed!

We went up the Stafford Creek trail toward Navajo Pass. The trail is lovely, running up the valley just above the creek. The whole hike is through old growth forest. The hike also had a decidedly eastern Sierra feel to it - dust, shale, pines, the creek, and the super-bright sun. The only difference was the butterflies - I think the part of the Sierras that I know best might be too high for many butterflies, since I can't recall seeing them in the numbers I see them in the Cascades. Yesterday was no exception.At the head of the valley, we left the trail and hiked up a very steep slope to play in a lingering patch of snow (otherwise the entire trail was totally snow-free). We didn't hike as far as the junction at four miles that the article mentions, so I guess we probably went about 3.75 miles up the official trail before we began our cross-country adventure.There were some great views!

My weekend

Well, while Mike stayed here and slaved away on his dissertation, I went to San Francisco for my cousin’s high school graduation.

I had a great time! First, a shot of their dog, Jake:The graduation was held at the big Masonic auditorium in San Francisco. For the record, my cousin did not go to a Masonic high school.

The happy parents:

Graduation entertainment:

The diploma (ta-da!):

Family shots:

We had a super-yummy post-graduation lunch of crepes. Later that evening, my cousin’s parents had a little open house to celebrate. The open house featured great Mediterranean food.

Saturday, the weather was, well, very San Francisco. Finally, in the afternoon, the sun broke through the fog and we went for a short walk on the hill near my aunt and uncle’s house.

I saw an owl on the walk.Saturday evening we ate the leftover party food and celebrated my grandmother’s 90^th birthday. This was a bit of a surprise party, as my grandmother sent an email several months ago explicitly forbidding any celebration of her birthday. Yeah, whatever. Also, for the record, I didn't even receive said email (I'm not sure what that says about what my grandmother thinks about me).

We had plenty of champagne on hand.

And my brother made a very delicious cake.

My grandmother, however, was not allowed to cut her own cake because, you know, we all wanted pieces we could see.

A question for our readers...

This question is directed at our readers who have earned PhDs or are familiar with the process. Is it a good idea to pay the extra $45 to copyright my dissertation? I am having trouble figuring out what benefits a copyright confers, but I am definitely open to the idea.

Please discuss.

Graduate school is a long road

with few high points. But I just reached one of them. I just submitted a draft of my last dissertation chapter to my committee. Yay!

For the record...

in the last year, people have found our blog with internet searches for phrases including "champagne cupcake recipe"; "knitting jokes"; "why are we supposed to eat fish on fridays?"; "aloe yogurt, michigan"; and "big lebowski origami cranes."

You can find a complete list of searches here.