Happy holidays to everyone!

Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and are still having a great Hannukah! We spent our Christmas eve and Christmas day eating tons of delicious food and hanging out with some cute pups

I'm too lazy to write much more, so here are some pictures instead.

Isaac doing a fabulous job carving the Christmas turkey

The National Christmas Tree in the ellipse
The Virginia state tree and the Washington monument (I know, cheesy).
Our menorah on night 2 of hannukah (the menorah was a wedding present - most likely from here)

Happy new year to everyone!

Yet another marathon!

This time around, Isaac did not run any part of it. We helped a friend cheer on her husband, who happens to be the daddy of this cutie pie
I guess I should mention that I am talking about the Marine Corps marathon, which was run on October 30, 2005. Last year we went down to Rock Creek Parkway and watched at the 7 mile turnaround. This year though, we went to many more spots. We were at the 14 and 15 mile markers and the finish line. Isaac had a great time taking pictures of runners and here are a select few.

Captain America nears the finish line!
Imagine running 26.2 miles in a getup like that!
Or carrying a flag!

NYC

We went to Manhattan the weekend before my birthday and got to see a really good friend of ours who lives in Switzerland. Took her out to lunch and then wandered around the park. We found a new place we had never been before, Belvedere castle.

Here's us at the castle (taken by a kind passer-by)
And here's what had happened earlier when we tried to take the picture ourselves:
It was great to see Chrissi after so long and especially great to have her nearby now (if even only for a year!)

We stayed with Isaac's cousin (here's a picture of his adorable cat, Mintens, and James' feet):

and saw our friends Rich and Monica and their 1.5 year old son. He had a great time with the beanbag chairs at FAO Schwartz (I thought that place closed!):
I love New York city. If only I could think of some reason to move there...

Baltimore half marathon

This is waaaaaaayyyyy late, but Isaac ran the Baltimore half-marathon on October 15! He did it in his anticipated time of 2 hours and 10 minutes too! Pretty amazing if you ask me. Unfortunately I don't have too many pictures, but here are a few:

Isaac and Andrew, the guy he ran with, at the start line.

Isaac's back at the finish line
(don't ask why I don't have a better picture, it still makes me mad and involved some swearing)
Resting before the walk back to Andrew's place.

Announcing babies!

Ha!!! How many of you thought I meant our babies??? Come on, fess up now, don't be ashamed. No, we are not have any babies or even a single baby, but I did notice some new additions to our fish tank this morning:

They are much smaller than they appear here - they're probably about 3/4 of an inch long and 1/4 inch high. They're marble mollies and there are 3 of them total.

Oh and that green you see, there is some algae in the tank, but it's not really that bad, I promise!

I have no idea when they were born (we only have one marble molly in the tank, guess she was pregnant when we got her a couple of months ago). I also have no idea if there were more of them that have been eaten. I tried to get a picture of the mama, but she was too fast. I separated them this morning and got them a separate net/tank thing to go into in the main tank. I'll let you know, internet, how they're doing.

yeah for fish babies!!!

Self-Portrait Tuesday

We don't officially participate in this, but these photos from this weekend are just too great. These were all taken across the street from Eastern Market.

Isaac by Serena

Serena by Isaac

Isaac by Isaac

Serena by Serena

Oh Canada!

Ok, so this is a couple of weeks late. Better late than never!

We went to Canada (Lund, BC to be exact) over Labor Day weekend and it was AWESOME!!! We had such a great time being with family, in cool weather, spending time outdoors, on the water almost every day, feeding milk bones to teeth-chattering, cone wearing dogs and eating lots of yummies. It's looks pretty much what you imagine the Pacific Northwest looks like. And there were seals and sea lions all over the place. The seals would pop their little heads up out of the water every now and then and look around. There are really not enough words to describe how enjoyable and wonderful it was. Enjoy the pictures! (They only took me 2 days to figure out how to upload).

Our first stop in Canada (after the main terminal and the south terminal of the Vancouver Airport). We had a great lunch with fresh fruit and smoked salmon and salads, walked around, ran into Isaac's cousin and blew off a cabbie. All in all a great introduction to Canada!

The plane for our 20 minute flight from the south terminal of the Vancouver Airport to Powell River.

This is the airport in Powell River. No, seriously, it really is.

This is where you get your luggage at the airport. There is a little garage door that has a little wooden ramp in front of it where you get your luggage. The guys basically open the door and put your luggage on the ramp.

The road from Powell River toward Craig Road (That's Isaac's aunt's car in the front there).

Isaac's aunt's store is up there on the second floor (right above Nancy's bakery). Can you see the Pollen Sweaters sign?

The view from the shop. Not too shabby...

I am a spectacular photographer. That right there would be a sea lion jumping from his warm spot on the rocks into the water.

Oh no! We seem to have a problem here! A crab is attacking Isaac!

We found a kitty on the beach! He's Canadian.

Sunset from Savary Island

This is where Isaac and I stayed. It's a cabin that Isaac's cousin bought from a resort down the road. The cabin came complete with all of the furniture in it. Isaac's grandparents once stayed in this exact cabin. Cool, eh? No electricity though, so we basically slept there and that was it. It was nice though. And dark.

Me on the boat - what a life. Isaac's uncle built the boat!

Savary Island from the hike we took near Lund.

Hiking near Lund. Pretty, eh?

Savary Island. We almost got lost on the island and would have missed our plane back to Vancouver. Oh darn!

The view from the puddle jumper from Powell River to Vancouver. We just stared out the window the entire 20 minutes of the flight - both there and back.

Annapolis 10 mile run

At the start line.

Isaac has definitely become a running maniac. He ran the Annapolis 10-mile run on Sunday morning and did quite a good job. He ran it last year too, but I think did much better this year and was definitely pleased with the run. I am very proud of him and like this race, because I can walk to a bunch of spots to see him run by. The guy that won was super fast and super skinny. There were tons and tons of people in the race too. After the race, we went home and took a nice long nap.

Scroll down for more pictures.

Around mile 1

On the road passing right next to the stadium.
Isaac did a good job of spotting me the 3 times he passed by wherever I was waiting.

~ mile 3.5. Looking good!

Look Ma! This watermelon is the size of my head!

In addition to the usual post-race food (bagels, bananas, water, gatorade), the Annapolis 10-miler has the distinct claim to fame of also serving humongous pieces of watermelon sliced with machetes, hummus and beer. Because, after running 10-miles, the first thing everyone wants is beer - at 10 in the morning especially (sorry, no pictures of that).

Any watermelon seeds in our teeth?

Hey! You just ran 10 miles! Here's a boat. What the ?!?!

Isaac's 30th birthday

I finally put up pictures from Isaac's surprise party. Only took two weeks, but I had to get approval for the pictures I put up from a certain birthday boy.

Click here for the link to the video of the surprise. (thanks Mark and Cora!)

Pablo, Serena, Isaac, Mark, Cora and Laurie.
Mark and Cora helped me get Isaac out of the house so that we could surprise him and Pablo and Laurie were the first people Isaac saw when he opened the door.

Isaac, Louie and Theresa

Supatra, Isaac and Jeff