Happy Birthday Courtney!

In honor of Courtney's 29th birthday, here are some January/winter pics

Late 2002 (SBU graduation)


Late 2004 (in Israel)


2006


2007




2008



2009

October 4, 2008

Courtney with my cousin Sarah who will be married October 24, 2009!


I wonder if I can photoshop out that little guy on Courtney's shoulder.

Just for fun, here is a picture of me from October 4, 2008, with my cousin Ben.

Arkansas Trip - Wedding Anniversary 3

Arkansas got chosen as state #3 because it was within driving distance. Sure, we could have flown somewhere with low cost. But we didn't consider it. It turned out to be good because we spent time with family. Next time around I think I'll be ready for more adventure in some random state far away.

The lesson learned in this trip is to completely discuss all plans with your family ahead of time. It is not ideal to search the Internet for stuff to do WHILE in that town! It all turned out fine, but I can go without the stress. And to further reduce stress, we will definitely buy GPS before our next driving trip. I think I have always gotten lost on the way to places, but I didn't really notice until I got married and had someone get impatient with me for getting lost. To me, a main goal of trips should be to have low stress. I feel that having GPS and planning ahead are things I learned for next time.

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I am a very slow packer and reluctant to leave the house, so the fact that we left ahead of the planned time was an accomplishment. Courtney drove the first part of the way, all the way to Springfield. Along the way we made a stop at Osceola Cheese. When we drove up I said "I thought it would be a lot classier." The outside look didn't matter. They have hundreds of cheese samples it seems, and a lot of creative flavors, such as Taco, Pepperoni, Spicy Garden Vegetable, Hickory, and so on. We chose a gift for Uncle Paul and Aunt Martha, and settled on the Basil Tomato Cheese and we also got a summer sausage.





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As you drive into Arkansas from Branson, it gets really curvy and hilly. The scenery is beautiful, and I saw some camping areas that I'd revisit if I ever get into camping. A few hours later we reached Bradford, AR, the home of my aunt and uncle.


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Paul and Martha live in a house with a long driveway. They have two dogs - one black one that barked at us the whole time, and didn't get close to us. He "took his job seriously". Then they also have a golden retriever that wanted lots of attention. Uncle Paul was mowing and welcomed us in, and Aunt Martha was visiting her mother, who had fallen recently and was in the hospital. He cut up the sausage and cheese we brought, and we caught up. Aunt Martha came later and we had a nice dinner together. Then we talked in the living room and caught up some more.


Me and the nice Golden Retriever


This clock is in their kitchen


The next day we went out and played disc golf, especially because rain was in the forecast for later that week, and we wouldn't get the chance later on. Uncle Paul went along. The course was in a town about 20 minutes down the highway. We got turned around and had to ask for directions at a gas station, and no one knew where the road was. And they pulled out a map, and it happened to be about 2 streets down. We couldn't find the first tee, but a shirtless middle aged man (it wasn't hot outside) sitting in a car told us all about the course. We had fun completing the course, and headed back to town. We had dinner with the family again, and packed up and headed down to Little Rock.

Courtney captured this stunning photo in Bradford, next door to their house:


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At the Ramada hotel we were greeted by a sign printed that said the pool was closed - sorry for the inconvenience. We didn't bring bathing suits, but we believe there should be some accountability for hotels and travel sites to communicate about broken amenities. The person at the desk was not really that friendly - and I signed a couple of things and gave a card for incidental damage. It was just not that welcoming. But the only thing that matters in hotels is a comfortable sleep, and we got that.

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In the morning we picked up Jennifer (got slightly lost along the way, even though it's a mile away from the hotel). She directed us to the Big Dam Bridge. There were two 5Ks ending, so we had to park a ways away, and we walked to the bridge




We headed down to the Clinton Presidential Museum. It truly is partisan and self-aggrandizing. I mentioned this and Jennifer said, "Are you really surprised?" The silence on the issue of Monica Lewinsky was screaming out in my opinion. But it is a good museum in the sense that it chronicles a lot of the political and cultural events of the 90s. It also has an impressive collection of gifts to the president from many countries.



We found a place to park and a place to eat at the River Market - Big Whiskey Bar and Grill. We really got to get to know Jennifer better. Then we *should* have walked down the street and gone to the Old State House museum because it was still open, but we did visit Ten Thousand Villages and some girly store. Then we went to Jennifer's apartment and played some Settlers of Catan. And we had dinner at Caruso's and continued to hang out with Jennifer, and then we took her to get her car from the shop, and headed back to the hotel.


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Sunday was my favorite day of the trip, because it was the least filled with uncertainty about what we were going to do. This has to do with how Courtney researched things to do and wrote down directions to everything.

First stop: the Central High School museum. This is right across from the high school and chronicles when the 9 Black students showed up to the integrated school and were greeted by a mob. And the military came in to help the students go to class. Just imagine how they were treated on the inside. This museum is spectacular.



Second stop: Riverfront. We didn't really find the "art on the riverfront" but we had fun walking around. We eventually went inside the hotel there and looked at the trained ducks that they have in the lobby. We took a ride up and down the elevator.

We went next door to the Old State House museum. This was the previous state capitol building until it deteriorated in the early 1900s. The first area had documentation on how they made the building a museum. "A museum about the museum." But there were better things, like recreated rooms with original style of furnishings, and first lady of Arkansas inaugural gowns.

Then we drove across the river to get a tour of the Inland Maritime Museum. It's an old submarine that is sitting in the harbor.




We left the submarine museum and headed West, then North through the scenic route through the mountains to Fayetteville.

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When we arrived at the hotel in Fayetteville, the receptionist said, Mr. Gras? I asked how he knew, and he replied sarcastically "We're really busy." We watched the Simpsons, and then decided on a place to eat. Then we cruised around the U of A. It is really compact, and has less green space than K-State. I'd say it's not impressive looking for a major state university. But the sports complex is right on campus, which is nice.

In the morning we decided to go to Devils Den State Park, which is 30 minutes South of Fayetteville. I really enjoyed it. I think the most fun things Courtney and I have done on trips are the outdoor/ hiking things. We took a nice hike and looked at caverns and waterfalls. Then we headed back home. state #3 down. Happy 3 year anniversary!!

Bday

Here are some pics from my birthday

St Louis Trip - Feb 2009

The fact only two people commented on my previous post could mean several things:

1. Not enough people even read my blog
   
2. People somehow feel uncomfortable commenting that my wife is attractive!
   
3. I maybe didn't write the post well enough to elicit comments.
   

In any case, I will keep blogging now.


We trekked to St Louis last weekend, and had brought the nieces along on the return trip.

The first thing we did was to walk to the local art muffin shop. Avery and Maya were upset that they didn't get to eat muffins right there. But we distracted them by making it cool to use crayons to decorate the box that they were in. A 5 minute trip turned into 20 as Avery looked for "treasures" as we went along - rocks and other stuff.






Then we had some King and I Thai food - at least the third time I had been there through the years. And I learned first-hand about the challenges of sitting down in a restaurant with a 3 and 1 year old. (Is there a theme yet about how kids change everything? I don't mean this to come across negatively - just making observations.)

Saturday we visited the gem stores of Brentwood - Trader Joe's, the Container Store and REI. Trader Joe's was great as usual. I'm looking forward to trying out my dried dragon fruit, whatever that is. REI was like a small Galyans - i almost bought a small Nalgene. And Container Store was actually disappointing to me. I wanted to see some awesome displays about how to organize my garage. But it turned out to be like a Wal-mart or Target, just with a bunch of products on shelves.

That night, Steven put on his movie-watching glasses, and we watched "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", our next Best Picture winner. I went in with high-expectations, and i don't think they were met, but it was still an entertaining movie throughout.

Sunday morning, we loaded the nieces into the Jeep, and left town in a new way because of a highway closure. Then with only one stop we made it home.

Thanksgiving at Bades

We got to have Thanksgiving at my in-laws and my parents went as well! Mo was not able to make it because of work, and she went to Manhattan over the weekend to spend time with relatives. Courtney's brother Ryan was there, but left before the picture was taken

It was nice to stay in town and sleep in. The food was excellent. And I loved how it provided my parents to connect with Courtney's parents and brother.

I got an awesome gluten-free flourless cake out of the deal that Kenny picked up from Whole Foods!

The cats also enjoyed the time because the dogs were boarded up for the day

Labor Day 2008

We had the Gras Labor Day get together in Hoyt KS. I never seem to want to write at length about it afterward, maybe because most of my blog readers were there. Also, it would take a lot of time to completely describe the weekend.

I uploaded pictures to Facebook. I've been struggling with finding the best way to display large groups of pictures on the blog. It seems to be the most practical way to display them on Facebook, even though I can't use it to put a slide show on my blog. But here are a couple of my favorites:

Shed #2 Demolished

Shed #2 has always sat in the shadow of its big neighbor, "The Shed". It is a small quaint white shed, useful for storing junk. It had about a year to prove itself since The Shed was removed, but it did not get used for anything, only an empty metal trash can and a broken seeder . The disgusting floor and smell probably had something to do with it.


Over the weekend I was reading the Shawnee newsletter and found out that "Big Trash Day" is Saturday. With the nice weather arriving, it was the perfect time to demolish Shed #2 and put it on the curb. So immediately on Monday I recruited Dad to help me tear down Shed #2.

We were accompanied the entire evening by the white boxer next door. He happens to be deaf, so during the noisest part when we were tearing down the walls, he was just looking inquisitively.


Most of the screws on the exterior were filled with paint, and were not removable. But we got up on the roof and removed that first, as you can see. We found that Shed #2 was very well built. Not a screw was loose or missing. It was reinforced by all kinds of special panels. There were screws in the remotest corners of steel. With the especially stubborn ones we eventually slammed with the dull end of an ax.

The most fun part was taking down the walls with crowbars. It was extremely noisy and physical.

Here are some more pictures:

Only the concrete remains, and we hope to remove that with a non-pain-inducing power tool. I don't know yet if a jackhammer qualifies for that. Actually I'm pretty sure it doesn't.

Thanksgiving Weekend 2007

We kept busy this past weekend. I had rented two movies in anticipation of having tons of free time, but we used it all on social time, sleep, and home projects! We didn't watch any movies

It started out with a time with the Tim and Janice family. I had many cousins there and 2nd cousins, including a 3.5 week baby. Baby below with parents.

Then after the wonderful food, we had a music and sharing time. (Courtney is thankful for me. yess!) I'm thankful for her, and for my enormous extended family who live everywhere. We played some Rummikub. Then I practiced some songs at the piano with Aunt Janice for Elissa's wedding. Courtney played a game named Set.

Then we headed to their neighbor's house, where Ben's girlfriend was housesitting. (By very strange coincidence, they are great friends with their next door neighbors). We watched the KSU basketball game on TV, along with Ben's new dogs, who had bad gas from gorging themselves on the cat food stash.

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Friday, we spent a couple of hours raking and bagging leaves. Courtney cleaned out the gutters. Then we went to Nate and Ann's house just to hang out and make sugar cookies. Second cousin Elizabeth was awake for the first part.



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Saturday, Dad came over, and we measured and cut the bathroom baseboards for a couple of hours. Then Courtney and I headed to the Bade's for Thanksgiving dinner. It was excellent, and we watched part of the KU-MU game, which I thought was very boring, and didn't live up to the hype.


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Sunday we headed to Union Station and saw a Christmas tree auction, and a really tall fake Christmas tree, with a train for kids around it.

Here are a few labor day pics

We had a nice family time over Labor Day weekend. My first niece is talking quite a bit. I am impressed. She read a book out loud to me. It's also very fun when my second niece says things.

We went to a farm South of Overland Park. We shared the time with chickens and turkeys, who roamed the lawn.