Goodbye 2008

So this is the last post for 2008.

It probably deserves some deep reflective prose detailing the highs and lows of 2008 and what I/we are planning for 2009.

Instead, I will leave you with this. I believe it sums up the year quite well.


That's right, another coffee cup with my "name" spelled wrong - wrong being an understatement. I received this gem yesterday. And you wonder why the American economy is in the toilet ...

Hope you all had a great 2008.

Hope 2009 is even better.

Cheers,
Trey

Happy Birthday Jebus!

Today started out pleasantly on the lazy side. It was raining when we woke up, so it is always a treat to lay in bed and listen to the rain.

Eventually the kid demanded to be fed from the other room. Now that we are encouraging Callum to self-feed, the messes created at meal times are increasing astronomically. We have given up on regular bibs to keep him clean and moved on to full body smocks. Luckily his Nandi gave him one a while back.


Pretty quickly after breakfast we moved on to the highest priority of the day and that of course was opening presents.

Last year, Callum was a day shy of being 1 month old on Christmas Day, so it would be a stretch to say he was truly engaged in the events of the day. But this year he has been much more interested in what has been going on. In particular he was very much into the opening of presents. He had a lot of practice just a month ago for his birthday, so he was basically an expert today.

Jen received some presents too. Including her now traditional new set of pajamas (notice she is wearing the black set of pajamas she got last Christmas).



I also received a couple of presents.



And here we are getting ready to eat Christmas lunch.


During lunch we discovered that Callum has a spectactular phobia of Christmas crackers (or poppers or bon-bons depending on where you are from).

However, we also discovered that he is mad for Brocolli. Here is the aftermath of him sharing our Brocolli side dish that we had for lunch.


Later in the day we couldn't help but bust out the Santa suit again.



We bought Callum a Santa suit last year as most goggle eyed new parents would. We passed that suit along to Alison this year (perhaps this is the start of yet another tradition). Jen was semi-keen to get another suit this year, and I was attempting to be the voice of reason and discourage it. But at Babies R Us last weekend, Jen found a Santa suit on the clearance rack for $5, which sounded like a good deal that I couldn't deny. But when we got to the cash register, they took another 50% off of the price, so we got the suit for $2.50, so there really was no way to justify not buying it at that point.

We hope everyone else had an equally enjoyable day.

Alison Goes All Father Christmas

Loyal readers, do you recognize the Santa suit?

Christmas Eve Recap

Both Jen and I unfortunately had to work yesterday, but mercifully we both finished up our work in the early afternoon. I picked up Callum from day care where Donna & Alice (the daycare ladies) had baked us a coffee cake and also had a wrapped present for Callum and also one for Callum to give to Jen and I.

It was forecast to rain during the afternoon and it looked threatening, but we really got very little rain until well into the night.

We walked across the road to the Stadium Brewing Company and had an early dinner. Callum wore his new Christmas outfit to dinner and as a result was the center of attention, which he took full advantage of. Oddly, we didn't actually take any photos (I know you are shocked). The restaurant brought out chocolate covered strawberries as a bonus for eating there on Christmas Eve and we ended the meal with a "festive" shot that the bartender decided looked Christmassy (I think there was Baileys invovled).

When we came home, we did take (just) a couple of photos. This is Callum pretending to be a newly arrived package.




After Callum went to bed, we made Egg Nog and cookies. The Egg Nog was from a recipe we found on the internet. Based on the amount of bourbon and brandy in it, we renamed it "Booze Nog". The taste test was positive, that recipe is a keeper. We have decided that making Egg Nog from scratch will be one of Christmas Eve traditions going forward . The cookies were "Apricot Chocolate Chip", which apparently is an odd combination for some people to get their head around, but it seemed like a good idea to me. Those also turned out well.



With some time up our sleeves, we got a head start on Christmas lunch by mostly preparing the soup and the crust for the tart as well.

One other tradition that Jen and I have decided to adopt from my early childhood is the leaving of food out on Christmas Eve for Father Christmas/Santa Claus and maybe even the reindeer. Now, until recently I never figured out the rouse that my parents (mostly my Dad) had perpetrated on my sister and I on Christmas Eve. Most families leave out cookies and milk. In my family we left out beer, cheese and crackers!! So once we went off to bed, my Dad had an "obligation" to drink beer, and eat cheese and crackers. Genius!

So last night we left out for Santa Claus a baked round of Brie that had Cranberries, Apricots, Almonds and Brandy on top of it. We also left out 2 bottles of specially selected beer. The first beer was the 2008 Gift of The Magi Ale from The Lost Abbey Brewing Co. (you will recall we visited them a little while ago). The second bottle was a La Fin Du Monde from Unibroue. We believe Santa had a really good night.


The Gift of the Magi Ale is a special Christmas beer that they have made for the first time this year, they apparently intend to make a special Christmas beer each year going forward. From the label on the back of the beer "And so the Three Wise Men set out from the East bearing gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. Along the way, they followed a bright light. The Bible neglects to mention if they brought beer or not. Who goes crossing the desert without beer? How smart are we to believe these wise men were?"

After all the cooking was done, all that was left to do was to drink some more and wrap some last minute presents.

Merry Time-Zone-Shifted Christmas

Well it is precisely 2pm here on the west coast of the US on Christmas Eve. That makes it 8am on Christmas Day in Brisbane, Australia. My baby niece Alison will be waking up to her first Christmas right about now. My Mum, Shari, Leon and Alison are spending their Christmas this year in Brisbane. My Mum is 2 for 2 in terms of spending her grandchildren's 1st Christmas with them (you will recall she was here in the US last year for Callum's first).

So a special Merry Christmas to Brisbane, or more specifically Forestdale, Queensland.

Also, a special Merry Christmas to my Nanna Dickson and Nanna Sandery in Adelaide, South Australia this year.

Also, a special Merry Christmas to Jen's parents, Ted & Les in Lincoln, California. Also to Jen's sisters Vonda and Natalie and their families in Yuba City and Roseville.

Also a Merry Christmas to everyone else. Or more specifically:

In Australia -

• Strathmore, Victoria
  
• Sutherland, New South Wales
• Petrie, Queensland
  
• Darwin, Northern Territory
  
• Aberfoyle Park, South Australia
  
• Adelaide, SA
  
• Blair Athol, SA
• Crafers, SA
• Cumberland Park, SA
• Edwardstown, SA
• Elizabeth Vale, SA
• Flagstaff Hill, SA
• Glenelg, SA
• Happy Valley, SA
• Mile End, SA
• Mitcham, SA
• Moana Heights, SA
• Morphett Vale, SA
• Netley, SA
• North Brighton, SA
• Old Reynella, SA
• Onkaparinga Hills, SA
• Penola, SA
• Risdon Park, SA
• Seaview Downs, SA
• South Brighton, SA
• Warradale, SA

In Africa -

• Luanda, Angola

In Europe -

• Neuchâtel, Switzerland
  
• Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland

In North America -

• Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
  
• Chester, New Hampshire
• Farmingdale, New York
  
• Mount Penn, Pennsylvania
  
• Chicago, Illinois
  
• Mennekah, Oklahoma
  
• Fort Collins, Colorado
  
• Post Falls, Idaho
  
• South Ogden, Utah
  
• Sparks, Nevada
• Chandler, Arizona
• Bainbridge Island, Washington
• Seattle, Washington
• Scio, Oregon
• Aliso Viejo, California
  
• Anaheim, CA
  
• Bakersfield, CA
• Burlingame, CA
• Capistrano Beach, CA
• Citrus Heights, CA
  
• Costa Mesa, CA
• Huntington Beach, CA
• Irvine, CA
• La Habra, CA
• Ladera Ranch, CA
• Laguna Beach, CA
• Laguna Hills, CA
• Lakewood, CA
• Lincoln, CA
• Lodi, CA
• Long Beach, CA
• Mission Viejo, CA
• Newport Beach, CA
• Oceanside, CA
• Orangevale, CA
• Placentia, CA
• Rhonert Park, CA
• Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
• Rio Linda, CA
• Rocklin, CA
• Roseville, CA
• Sacramento, CA
• San Diego, CA
• San Jose, CA
• Santa Ana, CA
• Stanton, CA
  
• Stockton, CA
• Sutter Creek, CA
• Trabuco Canyon, CA
• Tustin, CA
• Kodiak, Alaska

Have a great day everyone!

Does This Blog Make Me Look Cool?

I'm Getting Bored of Facebook

In my continuing battle to resist Facebook, I give you this gem from YouTube.

The Haircut Virgin

Callum got his first haircut this morning.

He had a typical one year old's head of hair going on, with some long areas, some short areas and general unevenness. On certain angles when the hair at the back of his head was caught on the collar of his clothes, it looked decidedly like he had a mullet. That was the deal breaker.

We were quite concerned about him having a total meltdown when the shiny sharp scissors and the strange lady got close to his head, so we had toys and food on hand to try and distract him long enough. But as it turns out, our super-mellow baby shone through again.

Here is a couple of before shots.



Your eyes do not deceive you, he is actually sitting in a rocket ship. This was a fancy kids hair salon near our place. We decided to go with specialists this first time around. And consequently, we paid specialist prices. We may consider the budget option next time around. It's just hair after all. It will grow back!

The hairdresser cut some locks off of the back of his head to start with and put them in a little envelope for us.

Here is an action shot.


And some video.




When the haircut was over the hairdresser actually put gel in his hair and spiked it up! I realize this seems to be the fashion, at least in ultra-narcissistic southern Orange County. But seriously, gel in a 1 year old's hair? Anyway, here are some after shots (with the spiky hair in front).



Callum received a certificate from the hair salon to mark the occasion.

All things considered, Jen and I were blown away with how easy and uneventful it all was.

Weather!

I mentioned the other night that we were actually expecting some winter weather in southern California this week. Well we certainly got some. Rain, cold temperatures, wind and snow. All of the freeways heading north and east over the mountains were closed yesterday and some are still closed this morning because of snow. There is snow on almost all of the mountains I can see from the house and on the way to work. This is the view from my office currently:

Palm trees in the foreground, snow in the background.

It is 10:30am here and it is still only 45°F (7°C).

Of course, before someone else points it out, I realize that this kind of weather is common place in many parts of the US and the rest of the world. But for this area, this is quite unusual. So don't rain on my parade (pun absolutely intended).

What Goes Through An Infant's Brain?

When you hang around a child who is too young to be able to communicate much at all, you often find yourself pondering "I wonder what he is thinking right now?".

Perhaps this is the answer.

Justified!

Another reasons why I still do not have a Facebook account ...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28255716/

Callum The Human Pincushion

So this morning was Callum's 12-month well-baby visit to the pediatrician. He weighed in at 25.9 pounds (11.7 kilograms) and was 32 inches (81.2 centimeters) tall.

The doctor was happy with his development. She does want us to ween him off of bottles and move entirely onto sippy cups. We will see how Callum feels about this tonight. He has been drinking water from a sippy cup for a while and actually increasing his intake that way, so maybe he will be OK with it. She also wants us to basically move him completely onto table foods, which we have already started. Just last night I cooked Callum a salmon and rice dish from one of the toddler cook books we have. He seemed quite happy with it.

Unfortunately for Callum though, the 12 month visit comes with 4 vaccinations. Plus, just to add insult to injury he needed to get the 2nd half of the flu shot he had before we went to Australia, so that meant 5 needles today. 3 in the legs and 2 in the arms. Understandably, he screamed like a baby as they were administered.

To add further injury to insult he also needed to have some blood taken for a routine CBC test. Callum had some blood taken right after he was born, and then again the day after we left the hospital when he was jaundiced, but nothing since and that was all taken from the heel. Today they wanted arm veins. The kid is no dummy. He knew something bad was about to happen based on the 5 jabs he had had a mere few minutes before upstairs. As soon as I took his top off he was crying and squirming. The lab technician selected her target arm, I held the other arm and legs and in the needle went - kind of. He squirmed so much she was having trouble keeping the needle in the vein, and eventually the needle popped out of his arm altogether. She didn't even fill one tube and she needed to get two tubes worth. So she taped him up and we flipped him over and started again on the other arm. Success this time, though Callum did his best to thwart our efforts.

So if you weren't counting, that was a total of 7 needles this morning. Even for an adult that would be a lot. He had so many band-aids and cotton balls taped to him when we left, it was almost comical, if it wasn't for the glassy eyes and pitiful sobs of course.

Conveniently Jen was not available for the appointment today because she was out of town. Coincidence???

I looked up his test results tonight online and they all looked normal based on my layman's understanding of the situation.

Solo Dad Again

Jen left for Columbus, Ohio this morning for a week of work. Needless to say she was not particularly excited about getting on another plane, as we only got back from Australia just last Sunday. By the time she gets home on Friday she will have spent 5 of the last 6 weeks away from home.

The forecast for Columbus is to be either marginally above or below freezing all week, with snow possible. Normally, that is a very bitter pill to swallow, when southern California is usually in the mid 60s to low 70s (18 to 22°C) this time of year. However, we are expecting a winter storm tonight through Wednesday with 2 feet of snow on the mountains tonight alone and rain and wind down where we live and cold temperatures. The thermostat in the house actually turned the heater on tonight. Crazy!

Of course the biggest problem about this storm is that all of the areas that were burnt in the fires at the end of November are now super susceptible to landslides if we get enough rain because all of the vegetation is gone. So the folks who were lucky enough to have their houses spared during the fires were all on the news tonight sandbagging their houses in hopes of saving them yet again.

Home!

Right now it is about 9pm and it has now been Sunday the 7th of December for almost 40 hours. International travel is super fun!

Overall the trip back went smoothly. We made our 2 flights with time to spare. The flights were roughly on time and our baggage did not get lost. Based on the state of today's airline industry, we basically beat the odds and should probably buy a lottery ticket.

We had a few hours to kill in Brisbane airport between our two flights, so my sister Shari met us at the international terminal for a coffee and some last minute niece/nephew time. I think she took some photos, but I do not see any on our camera, so we will have to wait and see if she sends us any.

Normally the flight back to the US from Australia is actually a little easier to deal with than the other direction. The flights are basically during regular waking hours (if your body is on Australian time that is), so while the flight is long and boring, you are not also dealing with being suicidally tired, like when you fly overnight coming to Australia from the US.

Of course, that is for adults. For infants that means they are awake and bored and restless instead of being tired and asleep. So Callum was hell bent on testing Jen and my tolerance for grizzly babies the whole way back. He rubbed it in by falling dead asleep about an hour before we landed and all the way home in the car.

We slept when we got home, after badly needed showers. We roused in the very late afternoon, mostly because of the kid being adamant about being hungry. Off to bed early tonight. Back to work in the morning. Sweet.

Last Day In Adelaide

Today is our last day in Adelaide. We head back to the US at an extraordinarily early time tomorrow morning via Brisbane.

Today we did some packing, which took longer than expected. Callum received so much loot for his birthday that we are bringing back a cardboard tea chest as an extra piece of luggage tomorrow, full of just his presents.

We had afternoon tea at Trent & Kelly's place, where we were luckily able to catch up with Sally and Brad. I have known Brad since my first year at university and I only found out today that he is deathly allergic to coconut. I have no idea why I didn't know this before now, I am just happy I didn't accidentally kill him somewhere along the way with a Lamington.

My Nanna Sandery came up to visit and play with Callum for a little while also today. We didn't take Callum to Trent and Kelly's house as he was/is showing signs of having a cold so we did not want to get their tribe infected. I think Nanna saw this as a golden opportunity to be able to get some exclusive Callum time at Mum's house.

We had a family dinner of one of my favorites, lamb chops. Americans simply do not eat enough lamb, not even close.

Anyway, up early in the morning and the next post will be from the US.

Back To Adelaide

We headed back to Adelaide today. The road from Adelaide down the coast to Robe passes through the Coorong National Park. The Coorong is a long thin body of water that runs north-south, created by a thin finger of sand dunes that run for the best part of 200km (124 miles) that separate it from the ocean. It contains endless species of birds and fish and truly is an amazing place. Unfortunately it is under threat presently because of the main tributary river (the Murray) in the area is being over used for irrigation and drinking water further upstream, so the volume of water making it to the Coorong has shrunk to non-existent. Here are some photos looking from the mainland side across the water to the barrier sand dunes.


We stopped in a small town called Meningie (Meh-nin-gee) for a little lunch a stretch out of the car. There is a playground on the shores of the lake (part of the Murray/Coorong water system) that Callum was keen to take a closer look at.


Here is his very first time on a slippery dip (slide).

Before we got back on the road, Jen was in the middle of changing Callum's diaper when he escaped her grasp in the car and decided he was going to drive the rest of the way home.

In Robe

Well, today did not really go as planned. Originally, we intended to spend the whole day at the beach. But of course, man plans and god laughs. The weather was really nice when we arrived last night, but it turned against us today and was windy and rainy most of the day.

So instead of the beach, we had a lazy morning in our cabin and played with the kid. Eventually we ventured outside and went to the other pub in town for lunch (not the one we went to last night). Originally we intended to walk to the pub, but we ended up just walking a few blocks and deciding it was just not fun with the cold wind. In the end we had the restaurant to ourselves, and picked a table with a water view and settled into a long lunch with a couple of pints to wash it down.

Here are some photos of the ocean being whipped up by the wind. You can see the brilliant turquoise color of the Robe water out beyond the waves - this is on an overcast day, you can imagine what the water looks like on a bright sunny day.


After lunch we bought barbecue supplies and headed back to the cabin. Around late afternoon the skies opened up and it poured with rain for the best part of 3 hours. Some of our neighbors saw some minor flooding around them with 3 to 4 inches of water building up. The rain broke long enough for us to barbecue outside, but we ate inside because it was way too cold outside.

Here is Callum looking out of the cabin door watching rain - easily the most rain he has ever seen.

Here are some other shots of the scenery around Robe.

A Vacation Within A Vacation

Jen and I decided that we had been pretty busy so far in Australia, so we wanted to take it super easy for the last few days that we have left.

We decided to head down the south coast for a couple of days to a small little town called Robe. Robe is one of those towns that when you see a sign in a store detailing their opening hours, there are 2 sets of times - "High Season" and "Low Season". In the summer it is a busy little place with tourists busting out of the seams, but in winter it is a sleepy little fishing town. Later in December, High Season would be in full effect, but right now it is still a pretty quiet little place.

We packed up the car this morning, said goodbye to Shari, Leon and Alison who are heading back to Brisbane today and set off down the coast. The drive is about 4 to 5 hours long depending how many stops you make etc.

One of the larger towns along the way is Kingston. Generally speaking, Kingston is most famous for Larry The Big Lobster. Larry was supposed to be mounted on the roof of a local business, but the builders made a mistake when translating the plans into reality (something like using meters instead of feet or something) and Larry ended up being many times bigger than he was meant to be, so much so that it was not structurally possible to put him on the roof of the business anymore. So now he stands at the northern entrance to the town and is a perennial tourist attraction. Here are Jen and Callum standing underneath Larry - you will need to look closely as Larry is actually genuinely pretty big, so Jen and Callum are pretty small in the pictures.


Now some of you may be feeling a little confused about Larry - he doesn't look much like a Lobster you would get from the northeast of the US for example. So here is the scoop. Larry the Lobster is actually designed after the Saltwater Spiny Lobster, which do not have the trademark big claws. To confuse matters more, in most of Australia they are commonly called a Crayfish (different to a Crawfish though from the southern US). So why on earth it is "Larry the Lobster", when everyone in that part of the world calls them Crayfish (or just "Crays") is beyond me. Anyway, enough of the biology lesson.

After we had finished basking in Larry's glow, we continued on to Robe. We ate out at one of the local pubs tonight and are chilling out tonight catching up on episodes of The Flight of the Conchords that we haven't seen yet. Oh, and we are drinking. Did I mention that I like party leftovers?

The Barossa Valley

Adelaide is a very spoiled city when it comes to wine. To the south side of the city is the McLaren Vale, a world class wine region especially famous for its Shiraz. On the north side of the city is the Barossa Valley, another world class wine region also notable for its reds, including the infamous Penfold's Grange. Also within driving distance of Adelaide is the Clare Valley and the Coonawarra region, also both excellent wine regions in their own right. So, if you love wine and are visiting Australia, include Adelaide on your itinerary.

Today we went to the Barossa Valley. There are some world famous wineries in the Barossa like Penfolds, Wolf Blass and Jacob's Creek, which I have been too in the past, so today I wanted to hit some of the lesser known ones.

To prove that the world is an ever shrinking place, to decide which wineries to go to today, I reached out to my boss' wife back in the US. As it turns out, she is a wine rep. in the Orange County area and sells Australian wines. She gave us the names of a couple of wineries that she represents currently.

We were a little late leaving the house today, so by the time we got to the Barossa, it was time for lunch. We stopped at Kies Winery, which just happens to be home of the Monnkey Nut Cafe (just in case we hadn't had enough of monkeys at Callum's party). Lunch was very good, lots of local produce used and good wine to accompany the meal. Here are some photos from around Kies.




We then moved from the restaurant and into the cellar door where we tasted some more wines and purchased just a few bottles. We were somewhat restricted as to how much we can buy by how much we can transport back to the US and get through US customs.

After lunch we attempted to visit Tait Winery, but unfortunately their cellar door was not open today. We'll have to catch them next time.

Next on the list was Heritage Wines, which was open (since one of us was smart enough to call ahead on this one). More wines were tasted, more bottles were purchased. Surprising, I know. Here are some photos from Heritage.




Our last stop for the day was Saltram Wines. On my trip to Australia in July I bought a bottle of beer that Saltram makes. I forget if I mentioned it, it is a beer that has some shiraz grape juice (not wine) added to the beer. I wanted to see if they had another beers available. Turns out they do not. I did taste the beer again at their cellar door though, just to be sure of course. When I asked the lady behind the counter what style of beer it was based on, I got kind of a panicked look, I rephrased the question, and got a stammered answer of "it's an ale". Which I guess is technically correct, but it was not the detailed answer I was hoping for. Apparently knowing about the beer they are selling is not yet as important as knowing about the wine. The beer revolution is coming people, you should get ready! Anyway, here are some snaps from Saltram.