Friday, December 28, 2012

a year in review...

as we reflect on another year, we are grateful for the many wonderful people that fill our lives, the many comforts we enjoy, and for each other. we had another year filled with travel for work and play, new adventures, and time with family. some highlights...

JANUARY: one of my goals for 2012 was to explore more of our "backyard" and see some of the many natural wonders in the great state of california (and drag pete and cassie along with me). so in january we headed east to the grey lodge wildlife refuge south of chico to witness the waterfowl migration. i used to hunt birds with my dad and brother when i was growing up, so i have seen my share of huge, huge flocks of geese and ducks leaving a refuge in the morning to find food and returning at night to find shelter. despite how many times you have seen it, though, it is such an awesome sight (and sound). many of the geese at the refuge in january were snows and blues but there were a few canadas to be found as well. 

Fly off at the Grey Lodge Wildlife Refuge

FEBRUARY: backyard exploration in february was facilitated by pete's family. every year on presidents day weekend, they get together at a house at the pajaro dunes, 20 miles south of our house. this is another birder's paradise, particularly for shore birds. it is always fun to spend three days all in the same house playing games, walking the beach, and enjoying family.

Pajaro Dunes

MARCH: we flew the coup in march and drove to seattle, washington. pete was heading in that direction for work so i tagged along so we could visit our dear friends tish and morgan...who were pregnant with our future god daughter! we had a great weekend exploring seattle, eating great food, and enjoying the company of many friends. 

Seattle Space Needle

APRIL: lots of trips were made to minnesota again this year to visit my family and help my mom whenever possible. i got to spend the day with my brother on his birthday...something that has probably not happened since 1996! 
i also made my yearly pilgrimage to pinnacles national monument to see the spring wildflowers and to try to catch a glimpse of the resident california condors. an unplanned "detour" resulted in the only condor siting of the day!

Pinnacles National Monument

MAY: pete's coworkers convinced him that he should join them for a 100 mile bike ride. he agreed to a 100 km ride so i started training with him and we rode the strawberry fields forever ride in mid-may. our training totally fulfilled my desire to explore our backyard as our training rides took us all over the three county area...and allowed us to see things that we might not notice in a car. 

the riders from the USGS Marine Facilities (MarFac) - and me
(one of these things is not like the other...)

JUNE: this was a VERY busy month. pete and i drove to the airport together in early june to board two different planes bound for two different states. he was going to north carolina to spend a week with roy underhill and learn the trade of hand tools, while i flew to miami, florida, for a conference and a bit of diving in the florida keys. shortly after our return, our god daughter was born! and shortly after that our niece madeline arrived in california to spend two weeks with us. 

Roy Underhill after a hard day of work

Vizcaya Garden, Miami

melina and pete warming up to each other

maddy hugging her first redwood in Henry Cowell State Park

JULY: i was back in minnesota in july to be with family for the first anniversary of my dad's death. we were able to gather as a family and share memories of his life and love. while we miss him every day, i feel so lucky to have five other immediate members of my family that i love dearly. sarah, steph, matt, and i also ran our first running race all together! 

the Foley running crew

AUGUST: pete and i both traveled to the elwha river on the olympic peninsula of washington state...but we didn't travel together. i had to leave mere hours before he arrived and we passed like ships in the night as i drove east by land and he drove west by sea. the elwha is my future field site when i start working at the USGS in march 2013. hopefully pete and i will be able to better coordinate our schedules then so he can drive the boat while i do science. :)

 Elwha River lagoon

SEPTEMBER: the month started with a trip to Alaska for our friends terry and moorea's wedding. our trip only lasted about 48 hours. mama cass, our beloved black lab, started getting sick just before i left and declined very rapidly. pete's parents provided doggie hospice until we could get home to be with her. she died in our arms after nearly 15 years of unconditional love. we miss her so much.

whale watching on resurrection bay enroute to the wedding on Fox Island

mama cass - 18 december 1997 to 6 september 2012

OCTOBER: we managed to travel together! a last minute injury to one of pete's coworkers resulted in a trip to hawai'i for me! we were working with other USGS scientists off the coast of kona drilling coral to learn about groundwater seeps in the area. neither of us had done coral coring before - it was hard work but really interesting. we were on the water long days so we didn't get a chance to explore the big island at all, but we did get to be together for our 3rd anniversary!

NOVEMBER: my mom arrived just as we flew home from hawai'i to spend ten days in california, soaking up as much sun and warmth as possible before returning to the minnesota winter. we had a full agenda - symphony, state capitol (thanks to a work meeting), monarch butterflies, the beach, and hearst castle. 















Natural Bridges State Park and Hearst Castle State Park

DECEMBER: lots of travel made the last month fly by. we headed to minnesota for an early christmas and managed to miss two major storms. we were in oakland for actual christmas and are heading to mexico for new years.


writing this post and going through photos makes me even more thankful for all that we have and all that we are able to experience throughout the year. wishing you all a happy, healthy, and blessed new year.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

an early, white christmas in minnesota

pete and i managed to travel to minnesota for an early christmas in between two major weather systems. in addition, it was above zero the entire time we were there...a christmas miracle! a small system brought a mix of freezing rain and snow making for a beautiful winter wonderland. pete set straight to work on the project list my mom had made for him and managed to finish them all before the nieces and nephews arrived (maybe he should have saved a few for his own sanity?!). my mom and i kept up our holiday tradition of making lefse. we tried something new this year for me - gluten- and dairy-free lefse. it turned out a little more like naan than lefse so i was happy we had a batch of regular for the rest of the family! sarah, the kids, matt, and michele all arrived on friday evening and steph braved the "wintry mix" saturday morning. 

back row: madeline, melissa, pete, michele, matt, stephanie
front row: kieran, sarah, al, mom, luke

madeline (14!), kieran (6), luke (4), and alexandra (2) are all growing up and changing *so* fast! 

 december marked the two year anniversary of the end of cancer treatment for maddy. she turned 14 last week and is now officially taller than me! :( 

kieran and luke are always on the go...finding mischief is their specialty! kieran was getting ready to throw this "snowball" at his uncle pete.

those dimples can only mean one thing...trouble! 

 al is an independent two-year old who loves all things dora the explorer.

 there might be a few cheeky monkeys in the group! 

we had fun with the boys "digging" for dinosaurs and sledding with maddy and the boys. being able to play outside is essential for group sanity! 







it is always wonderful to spend time with family, but it is also a reminder of how far away minnesota can be sometimes. wishing you all a wonderful 2013!

melissa, stephanie, sarah, mom, and matt
(we miss you everyday, dad)

Monday, November 19, 2012

friends and their babies!

i've been lucky enough to see or meet two sweet babes and their lovely parents in the last couple of weeks. tish, morgan, and melina stayed with us on their way to a conference in monterey. we also got a chance to do some tidepooling with melina on a spectacular november day. 

melina hanging out with her (favorite) auntie and uncle. :)

loving algae from an early age! 

hooray for the intertidal

hard core training for the "wife carrying relay"

 there were lots and lots of humboldt squid washed up on one of the
beaches. as i was taking this photo, i realized that this one was still
alive. i put it back in the water and it started turning all sorts of cool
colors. it eventually swam away from the beach a bit, but they all seemed
to come back and beach themselves after a short while. and the gulls
were waiting for them in droves....

this past weekend i got to meet my kiwi niece - sofia louise barnes. jen, grant, and sofia arrived from new zealand early in the month to do the U.S. grandparent tour through oregon and california. i cannot wait to see them all again soon in auckland! 

we stopped in at OSU for a trip down memory lane - go beavers!

while i was in oregon, i took the opportunity to scatter some of cassie's ashes and hike in a place we both loved and spent many of our days. cass was my #1 running buddy when we lived in corvallis and would keep me company while running the trails in mcdonald forest. there are so many good memories in those trees and trails. i miss them both...





Friday, November 16, 2012

visit from mama foley

my mom was able to come out to california for ten days at the end of the october. my goal for her for the trip was rest. she had carpel tunnel surgery at the beginning of the month and had since been raking piles and piles and piles of leaves. not the best thing for healing, in my opinion! so we did lots of activities that required little wrist movement, including lots of hiking and sight-seeing. 

 monarch butterflies congregating for the winter at natural bridges


 hearst castle! i've been wanting to visit since i moved to
california, so my mom's visit was the perfect excuse to go!

 so out of place, but crazy cool...

 the view is pretty spectacular!

 a few yearling elephant seals were hauled out at piedras

 the weather was amazingly beautiful - piedras blancas

 we toured the piedras blancas lighthouse

had a very nice hike out to my old field site along the big sur river

a little beach time at natural bridges

we also squeezed in a trip to the san francisco to hear lang lang (an amazing pianist) play with the san francisco symphony and evensong at grace cathedral. a work trip took us to sacramento. in exchange for seven hours in the car, we decided to treat ourselves to a tour of the california state capitol. it is a really beautiful building, so i'm glad we got the chance to check it out. 

thanks for visiting, mom!

Thursday, October 11, 2012

a quick jaunt to seattle & seward

pete and i had planned to be away for two weeks in early september to visit our godbaby and friends in seattle, attend a wedding in seward, and play in denali. unfortunately, cass was sick so we cut our trip off after the wedding. despite being really worried about cass, we had a nice few days with tish and morgan and a fun 48 hours in alaska. here are the highlights!

 pete holding melina for the first time...
he's not so sure about this baby thing

smiles all around...getting more comfortable

embracing the role of godfather

 ultimate bravery - pete changing his first ever (and possibly last) diaper!

 story time with mama and uncle pete

sleepy time with melissa

hiking in sunny seattle! 

 our yummy dinner one night. between tish and i these were the food restrictions - NO gluten, eggs, dairy, soy, corn, or meat. we were kind of a disaster. but the spring rolls were so delicious!


 ALASKA!

a bit of pre-wedding hiking in seward (aka looking for bears & moose)

the wedding venue on fox island (loved the algae!)

the happy couple - terry and moorea

trying to stay warm on fox island

i found the moose!

we got to spend a bit of time at the alaska sealife center in seward. the photo is a bit fuzzy, but this is a baby walrus...and the cutest thing ever!

 we managed to get in a slightly soggy hike to exit glacier before we flew home. i had hiked to this glacier five years ago with my parents...it was amazing to see how much it had retreated over that short period. 

pete with part of the glacier - there were lots of bits floating in the river