The Happiest Place on Earth

For our birthdays this year (back at the end of Nov-beginning of Dec) we went to Disneyland! We drove up on a Monday morning, partied hard for a few days and then drove home Thursday night. It was fantastic!

As most of you know, Jonathan is a bit of a Disney fan :-) So, Jonathan planned everything and showed me the ropes. We had a wonderful time. We stayed at the Grand California Hotel and could go straight from the hotel into California Adventures. This was really convenient for mid-day naps and clothing changes after water rides.

So, here are a few pictures of our trip.

Here's the view from our hotel room. We were overlooking California Adventures and the monorail.

This is us the day we arrived just inside California Adventures.

On two consecutive nights we went to ride the Pirates of the Caribbean right before the park closed. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip . . . twice. Both times we got a boat all to ourselves and there were no people in boats ahead or behind us. It was like our own private tour. Plus, it was a kind a romantic holding hands and drifting through the scenes.

Jonathan in front of the ghost driven carriage next to the Haunted Mansion. For Christmas they had the "Nightmare Before Christmas" overlay which was so fun.

Jonathan is looking thoughtful while we ride Mickeys Fun Wheel. The first time we opted for a basket that rolls back and forth. It was terrifying rather than fun. I highly recommend the stationary baskets.

This is Jonathan's game face while shooting on the Toy Story ride. We really enjoyed the interactive rides like Toy Story and Buzz Lightyear.

This is us sitting in the Jeep on the Indiana Jones ride before it started.

Me screaming as we went down the Splash Mountain drop. This was Jonathan's favorite ride and we went on it several times.

Me in front of the Small World ride. It was particularly cool at night with all the Christmas lights.

A Word About Food

On our first full day we went to the Blue Bayou Restaurant. This is the one that you pass by when you're on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. They have the pretty lanterns and the piped in frog croaking noises . . . and the best thing ever -- the Monte Cristo sandwich. These are fried turkey, ham and cheese sandwiches that you dip in whipped blackberry jam. Unbelievably good!

We also had a great breakfast at the Storytellers Cafe one morning. This is a restaurant located in the hotel. It was a buffet and we stuffed ourselves silly. We also saw Chip (or possibly Dale) who stopped by to greet all the kids.

The Storyteller's Cafe serves yummy Mickey waffles.

On our first day in Disneyland I spent a few minutes staring longingly at the caramel apples at a candy store on Main Street. So . . . Jonathan bought me two!

A chocolate covered, caramel covered apple. Yum! You should have seen the mess I made eating it too!

Return of the Native

My younger brother and I were born in New Orleans but our family moved to California when we were too little to remember life in the Crescent City. The oil spill response however, provided me with an opportunity to explore my geographical roots.



Originally, I was going back and forth to Mobile, AL to help with the oil spill but the operation there shut down and we all moved to an office building in New Orleans across from the Super Dome.



I took my last trip (Yeah!) in mid-November so these pictures are all a few months old. I love the balconies and the pretty iron scroll work in the French Quarter. They even had horse drawn carriages . . .

A co-worker and I went on a "Haunted History" Tour in the French Quarter. We met up with our group around 9pm in the evening at a local Voodoo Shop. We then walked around for 2 hours while our guide, an aspiring stand-up comic, told local legends and pointed out dark and creepy buildings. We were sweating buckets but it was still pretty great. Unfortunately, none of my pictures came out well so I stole the one below from google images. The French Quarter has these great gas lamps and at night they give everything an old fashioned spooky feel.

One of the "must see" places to go is Cafe Du Monde. This is "the" place for beignets in New Orleans.

These are the classic Beignets (french donuts). Imagine a humid afternoon, a couple of these babies, a tall glass of cold milk and a little jazz music wafting through the air. Oh yes!

Post Script: This picture in no way reflects my personal powdered sugar preferences. They just come that way, OK. . . OK !!

My Summer Vacation . . .

Well it isn't much of a vacation but I'm just finishing up my second rotation in Mobile, AL. I've been out here making maps for the NRDA (Natural Resource Damage Assessment) response to the oil spill. It's been super interesting not only being involved in the response effort but also spending time in the South. Check out this video of the BP Command Center in Mobile.

CNN Video of Mobile Command Center

I haven't been working in the Command Center though. It was too crowded a couple months back and our group was moved to a conference room in the Marriot Hotel. It's been really nice--much quieter and lots more room. Though, the latest gossip around the proverbial water cooler is that we will be moving back to the Command Center later this month.

This is me at the Marriot. Notice the chaos! It's 7 days a week, 10 - 12 hours a day. I make maps for the field survey teams and then manage the GPS data they bring back. I'm currently on a 2 week rotation (2 weeks working in AL and 2 weeks working back home). Everyone I work with is really great but 2 weeks is a long time. Actually the truth is that 2 weeks feels like a long time when I'm away and a short time when I'm home.

So, you are probably wondering what Jonathan has been doing for his "summer vacation".

Well, that's him with his head under the sink. We had 2 leaky faucets and so he has been doing some home maintenance. Unfortunately, what could have and should have been a fairly basic process turned into a major difficulty. The gentleman that lived in the house before us apparently wasn't much of a plumber. He did several poorly executed patch up jobs. Poor Jonathan ended up replacing 5 faucets and even some piping.

However . . . we now have beautiful bathroom faucets. So here is the before shot.

And this is the after.

Aren't they pretty? What can I say . . . I married a man with skills.


And what about Otis you say? How is his summer going?

Well it's all fun in the sun to him.

Fur Kids

Forgive me friends for I have sinned. It has been 4 months since my last confession (I mean blog).

Well much has happened at the Clare house but this post is devoted to our furry, four-legged, kibble-crunching children. First and foremost let me introduce Otis.

We got Otis from a shelter in December. He 's a red smooth hair dachshund just like Jonas but he's a miniature and weights about 12 lbs. As you can clearly see he is ADORABLE. He is also willful, high-energy and obsessive (doggy OCD for sure). He loves toys. If he glimpses something that might be a toy on a desk or a counter he will sit in front of it and whine until you pick him up and let him inspect. He'll pick a favorite toy and carry it around for days. He'll take it on walks. He won't eat unless that toy is next to his bowl or in his bowl. If you put it away he will look for it . . . for hours. He always remembers where he left it the day before. And his greatest joy--and surely his purpose for existence--is to play fetch.



If you get tired of throwing the ball to him he will throw it for himself. His second favorite game is to "lose" the ball under a bed, couch or ottoman and make you fish it out for him. He'll even point his nose to show you right where it is.

On New Year's day, after we had Otis for less than a month, he slipped a disk in his back. We took him to the vet and he gave him a shot and told us to keep him quiet for several days. Two days later his back legs were paralyzed. He didn't seem to be in pain but his eyes had that pleading "help me" look. We took him to our regular vet and then on to UC Davis Veterinary Hospital for emergency back surgery. They removed 4 discs in his back.



Here are some pictures of his staples and his shaved back. Poor little Odie!

The Hospital kept him for several days and then we brought him home for 4 weeks of crate rest. At first we weren't sure if he'd be paralyzed forever but after a couple days he started wagging his tail. And then gradually his back legs could support his weight. We weren't supposed to let him walk around but sometimes we would open the crate and he would dart out and run around the room legs flailing. I guess it never occurred to him that his legs might not work right. He improved day by day.


This is a picture of Otis last week. His legs are strong and he runs and moves just fine. He is back to playing fetch and whining for toys . . . just as he should.


Here's a picture of Jonathan with Dante, our other fur kid. We got Dante in October of 2008. Unfortunately, Jonathan is allergic to cats and some dogs (although he hasn't had a problem with either of our dachshunds) so Dante was an outside kitty but he slept in the garage. Well after we got Jonas we started to feel a little guilty. Did Dante feel sad or unloved because the dog lived inside and he didn't? Surely he knew that the dog got lots more attention than he did. Did it hurt his feelings watching Jonas and then Otis coming in and out for walks, or taking rides in the car?

This is Dante with his BFF Smokey.

Well a about 2 weeks ago our next door neighbor came by to make a confession. He had been feeding Dante and having him in their house. He told us that he and his wife just loved Dante. They are an older couple and they live by themselves, their kids all grown up. Jonathan and I were so excited. We went back to the neighbors and offered them the cat. They were ecstatic! We gave them Dante's bed, food, kitty litter, toys, etc. So now he is a mostly inside kitty. He sleeps in a house and gets lots of loves. He comes to see us sometimes and he is all soft and well brushed. He was meant to be their kitty.

Jonas

Its been a difficult Thanksgiving Holiday for the Clare family. Jonas was diagnosed with Mitrol Valve Insufficiency on Wednesday. On Friday morning he was put to sleep. We miss him terribly.

We only had Jonas with us for 8 months but in that short time he filled our lives with joy. He added a warmth and vibrancy to our lives that we hadn't experienced before.

Jonas wasn't too fond of other dogs but he adored all people. If Jonathan or I were sitting down Jonas felt that he should be in our laps. If our faces were in striking distance he would stretch himself until he could lick our noses. If he couldn't lick a nose he would lick the air. In fact, his air licking tendencies would have made any obsessive compulsive proud.

Second only to his love for nose licking was his love for food. Peanut butter and french fries and banana bread were his particular favorites. He also enjoyed licking out our yogurt cups and would often have a yogurt ring around his muzzle. In his last few months as he felt more secure in his role he believed certain food scraps belonged to him. He would sit and huff until we gave him his due. What a character!

On Tuesday evening, he was breathing heavily and didn't want to eat his dinner. We got him to eat part of it but could tell he wasn't feeling well. We decided to call the vet first thing in the morning. We took him in on Wednesday morning and after some testing were told that he had Mitrol Valve Insufficiency. The Vet was able to show me the current x-ray compared to the one taken 8 months early. His heart was visibly larger than it had been. His enlarged heart was pressing on his trachea and making it difficult for him to breathe. As a complication he also had fluid in his lungs. The Vet gave us 3 different medications and sent Jonas home. The prognosis was decent. The Vet figured that with medication Jonas would have about 2-3 years.

Unfortunately, the medication did not help as the Vet had hoped. Jonas got progressively worse Thanksgiving Day. His breathing became more and more labored, he stopped eating and going to the bathroom. We wanted to give the medication time to kick in but we knew he wasn't improving. At midnight we took him to the emergency animal hospital. He was put into an oxygen chamber to ease his breathing and given medicine intravenously. We still hoped that he would bounce back. On Friday morning the animal ER explained that Jonas' heart was just too worn out. They said that they could keep him alive for a couple weeks but recommended euthanizing Jonas to relieve his struggling.

Jonathan couldn't bare to be there. (Jonas was his special buddy.) I went to the animal hospital to say goodbye. Even though he was so sick he stood up and wagged his tail when he saw me. I took him out of the oxygen chamber and held him for a few minutes. He licked my nose at first but then had to concentrate on breathing. He was so tired. I got to hold him as the Vet injected him and he put his head down on my leg. I held him and told him what a good dog he was and he was gone.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I want to say how grateful we are for Jonas and the time we had with him. Our house is feeling pretty empty without him.

The Cook and the Lobster

We hope everyone had a Happy Halloween. We stayed home and passed out candy. We had a lot of kids come by and were back and forth to the door all evening. (helped us work of those extra Halloween calories) Jonas wanted to see everyone that came to the door and got tons of praise and petting. He even tried to follow a few of the kids home.

We didn't dress up to pass out candy but Jonathan and Jonas dressed up for work on Friday. They turned out super cute and I wanted to share a couple of pictures.


Chef Jonathan and the lobster.

Front view.

Side profile.

Family Visits -- Joe Graduates

A few weeks ago my family got together for Joe's graduation. Mom and Dad came down from WA and Alan and Kristina came up from So. Cal. We stayed all together for a couple days and it was so much fun. (The previous post is from our family BBQ in the park.)


Here are a few pictures.

With niece and nephew . . .


With his sisters . . .


With Mom . . .

With Dad . . .


After walking in . . .

Receiving diploma . . .


Walking off the stage basking in the glory of a Master's Degree!


Beaming with the joy of accomplishment . . .

Training

Inspection of the weapons.


Cadet Amara.

Cadet Ethan


Desention in the ranks.


Joining forces to attack the enemy.

Fleeing from the enemy.