The Parentals!!!

My fabulous parents just came up for a visit. Hmmm . . . pretty sure most of the visit was organized around one of two things. First, where do you want to eat? And two, what tour should we go on next? It was wonderful. Here we are getting ready to go on a float plane tour of Seattle. Yes, that would be my brave, brave mother. She hates flying but because she knew that my Dad and I wouldn't go without her, we went. What a trooper!

Look how outrageously small the cockpit is! There were six of us in there but it was remarkably roomy. In the future, when the kiddos complain about being too close to their siblings on long car trips, they will certainly find their mother less-than-understanding. I was super comfortable.

And here is the view from the south end of Lake Union, looking towards what should obviously indicate that yes indeedy, I do live in Seattle.

And, here is where I work on south Lake Union. Typically, it is me in the building looking out. Well, to be accurate, it is me looking at the freeway (our lab is on the opposite side). But, it's pretty!

And here are the two buildings where I've spent some very happy summer evenings and some very loud, screaming, and wet fall nights.

And here they are at the locks. We went to Ballard/Fremont like a hundred times. We had dinner out there the first night, went to the locks, went to the troll, Golden Gardens, Theo Chocolates, Paseo, we also went on the Boeing Tour, Diletantes, Thai One On, Nasai, Snoqualmie Falls, and everywhere else. Thanks Mom and Dad!!

Snoqualmie Falls from the boardwalk down below.

Holy Frijoles!

Look what Megan and I just found in the fridge. Yes, under those two inches of mold are the forms of some primordial beans. Gross. Megan and I do this from time to time. We pull stuff out of the sink (one time it was an entire container of rotting tomatoes that we found under a pile of dishes), fridge, carpeting (one time it was a chunk of meat), that the magic house fairy leaves behind. It gets more and more interesting every time.

Last Time.

Here's the cake I made for the SweetMeet. It's certainly the last time I'll ever go. Not that it isn't wonderful, it's just that I've seen some sweet people have their feelings hurt. It's a dessert auction where people bid on desserts and then find out later who they will be spending the evening eating dinner and the dessert with. I don't like how girls and guys both get ditched because the person who bought the dessert can't be civil, polite, or courteous enough to spend twenty minutes talking to someone new, just because it wasn't their secret crush. This year I made a dessert and gave it to a girl to auction off because she didn't have enough time with work and catching the bus to possibly make her own. That's the way to go. Do a good turn and not have to endure the annoyance of the actual event. It's a bad attitude but since I was in charge one year, shouldn't that bankroll like a future six events of me not going?

Keystone

I had a conference at Keystone in Colorado so I was able to spend some time with Lisa's family in Denver. We went to the aquarium and saw the river otters and a tiger (aquarium?) as well as figured out the best way to reconfigure Carson's GeoTrax. Well, I should have taken pictures of the huge front room wall we painted, but it looks like I only grabbed pics from when I was skiing later that next week. It was gloriously blue, bitterly cold, incredibly beautiful. Here's where I took the slow and windy ski lift ride up the mountain instead of the quick enclosed gondola next-door. No wonder the lines were so short.
Just me and my shadow. Keystone had three mountains to ski on and I think I only doubled up on a run once or twice despite skiing for about 4 or 5 hours. Best resort ever!!!
Here's the site at the top of the front mountain towards the end of the day. It was absolutely fantastic and I couldn't have picked a better day to go. It would have been nice, of course, to have had some friends along. But, they don't all have glorious jobs like mine, so oh well.


And, I did actually go to most of the conference. See? Here are some of the fantastic people I met. The guy and girl in the back had gotten engaged just hours before. They're both from London. The other girls were from Sweden, Germany, and the States.

New Year's Resolutions, by month.

I can't believe what a difference the new year makes. I feel like graduate school (as fun as it is) will actually end some day. Hmmm . . . 2008 is going to be great. Here's the game plan: January-immunology conference in Colorado; February-go skiing with the parents when they come visit; March-get crystals of frankenproteins; April-go to ALS at Stanford and solve structures; May-win Weintraub award, or just go to the dinner at the aquarium anyway; June-committee meeting results say graduate in fall; July-write and submit second paper; August-go to immunology conference at Oxford and then vacation in Peru; September-start writing thesis; October-start interviewing for post-doc positions in England, New York, Baltimore, Bethesda, Boston, San Diego, and Seattle for kicks; November-continue interviews and finish thesis; December-done.

Looking at this there's a sense of, I've got to be kidding myself. But, if you don't work hard, it won't happen. That's the real guarantee of life. It's hidden in the subtext of the second law of thermodynamics, but it's there. So, this is the work hard resolution. Now I just need to figure out the play hard part of equation. Well, that might be the potential two weeks in Peru.

Christmas Break!

Here are the pictures of the kiddos et. al. from the break. We had a spectacular time. Here's Isaac at breakfast with his train pancakes.This is my favorite picture. My dad took it of the boys playing with the train by the tree. I think Carson spent about 15 hours a day watching that little train chug around the tree.
Look how much I love my mom. She is a wonderful chef and baker. Here she is with her delicious sugar cookies and icing.

This is the cookie Carson was making for his mom. I'm not sure if he put enough sprinkles on it. As everyone knows, sugar cookies should have at least three inches of frosting and sprinkles on top, not just two. But, he's young still and so hopefully he'll be able to figure that out.

Carson, Grace, Jeff, and Isaac decorating Christmas cookies. I was impressed that the kiddies weren't super interested in eating all that sugar, just playing with it. Well done sibs.
Um, this is one of the 17 attempts we had in trying to go out and play in the snow. This is when we tried to go cross-country skiing at Aspen Grove. Apparently, they were taking a holiday as well. Go figure.
Okay, this kid has just the funniest expressions, so that's why there are two of Colter. Sorry to the other three wonderful kids for fewer pictures. I'm sorry but this little 18-month-old is obsessed with jackets and shoes, clearly making him his Aunt Christine's nephew.


My dad and I finally went a half-day skiing at Sundance. It was bitterly cold with high winds and blinding snow. I think we managed to squeak out about four runs on the back mountain before we called it a day. We were still all smiles though, we had been trying to go skiing for days.Here's the sunset over Idaho as seen from the plane. Good thing I had been moved four times by other passengers and the flight attendants or I wouldn't have had such a great view from the exit row bucket seat. Actually, I was grateful for the first three moves but now I know to stand my ground for the fourth. No way is the jump seat comfy. At least it was a short flight.

By the light of the silvery moon.

Aunt Jo, Uncle Frank, Lisa, Nate, Dad, and I rented snowshoes and went up the canyon to South Fork. It was a crystal clear night with a full moon and beautiful snow glistening in the trees. We hiked along the river, found an elk bedding, and figured out how those complicated snowshoe straps worked. It was fabulous fun and I'm glad we went then because the next day, I came down with the second worst case of food poisoning I've ever had. So . . . needless to say, I wouldn't have felt up to it.