Merry Christmas: Baby, Guns, Demo

This time of year is usually fun and exciting and Christmas 2010 is proving no different.

Ultrasound picture from 18 weeks

The first Christmas present came a few days early. I went with my wife to her regular Dr's appointment and for the first time I actually heard my daughter's heart beat in the womb. 29 weeks along and Baby Q is doing fine! The final 11 weeks will probably fly.

The next present was from me ... I am exercising my 5th Amendment right to bear arms. I bought a gun after much careful deliberation and thought. This was probably a more painful buying process than it needed to be, but having never owned a gun I wanted to explore all my options. I took it out to the gun range today with my brother ... not sure what to say about the gun other than it goes bang. But it was still fun to shoot. The picture is a running joke among my friends.

The final present came from our builders ... We got all our permits and we were finally ready for demo! On Christmas Eve a backhoe was left on our door step (literally). Today the actual demo took place. They let me knock down the first wall and I have to admit that was pretty awesome! After 10 minutes I decided to let the pros take it from there. Another 20 minutes and the entire house was down to a neat pile. It will take a few days to clear all the debris and then we'll be ready for the foundation. The "fun" will start happening fast and furious from now on.

Two Year Anniversary - Washington DC

The Mrs wanted to go somewhere to celebrate our two year wedding anniversary and we found a good deal on flights to our nation's capital using miles. With the baby due in 3 months and a new home built in ~6 months this will definitely be our last trip for quite a while. I think I said the same thing about the trip to Australia, so I may say this again in a couple months.

Anyhow, it was an enjoyable trip filled with good food, good fun, and good company. We saw all the usual DC sites in all their splendor and glory. But rather than bore you with the same old, same old I thought I would share our unique experiences.

For starters, we were pretty sure Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (President of Iran) stayed in our hotel and followed us around while we were site seeing.  After further photographic review it probably was not him, but for a time it was the strangest celebrity siting of our lives.

On our last night in DC we spent time with a good friend and watched the latest Harry Potter movie. The movie was of course fantastic ... but as we left we were treated to a second show outside the theater by DCFD. About 3-4 fire trucks with sirens blaring roared up the street outside the movie theater and blocked off the street. You would have thought a whole city block was on fire but from what we could tell it was a heroic, roof-top kitty rescue. It was too cold to wait around much longer to confirm this as true, but we certainly did not see any flames or smoke.

All in all another great trip. For all the real pictures see my album here.

New House - Part 1

We played our cards right and were lucky to sell both of our houses within 3 months of each other. And despite moving two times during that time and now expecting our first child,  we have decided to go "all in" on this beautiful home:

This is our dream home ... well not quite yet.  To say this house is a disaster would be an understatement. In true Houston style, this will be torn down to make way for something that hopefully my family and I will live in for many years to come.

Suffice it to say the previous owner was quite old and was a hoarder. But friends and family were interested to see what hidden treasurers might lie within the layers of trash. We found $100 in cash, a bunch of old coins, a loaded .22 pistol, and well ... lots and lots of trash.

This will be the first of many blogs where I will chronicle the progress of this grand adventure we are undertaking. I have no illusions that this will be easy or without it's difficulties (my blood pressure is already equal the the cost of this house and rising!), but I hope this will be a good way to share the goings on and try to enjoy this once in a lifetime process.

Wish us luck!

Australia Day 13 - Heading Home

The flights back were just as bad as the flights here. But we had all sorts of fun and memories to keep us company on the hours and hours and hours of flying time!

I learned a lot about Australia ... they drive on the wrong side of the road .... they say "no worries" more than they say "g'day mate" .... Burger King is called Hungry Jacks .... Fosters is NOT Australian for Beer .... and not every Aussie looks like Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.

All in all it was a wonderful trip. Can't wait until the next great adventure ......

Australia Day 12 - How much is that koala in the window?

My wife insisted that while in Australia she pet as many marsupials and other cute and cuddly creatures as possible (but apparently bats don't qualify as I learned the night before). She'd already gotten kangaroos and wallabies out of the way. Now all that was left was the koala!

Rather than go to the zoo, we agreed to go quite a ways out of the city to a Koala Sanctuary. It was cheaper and we got more up close and personal contact with the koalas. However it took us longer to get there and back, than it did to see and pet the koalas. But that didn't matter. We got our quality time petting and watching the cute little guys in the trees.

They are kind of smelly with wiry hair. Not so cuddly after all. That didn't matter to a certain someone. 

That night we took a ferry to Manly Beach for dinner and a nice stroll along the beach. It was a low key end to our Australian Adventure!

Australia Day 11 - A good day to climb a bridge

Today was the highlight of the Outback Adventure ... we walked across the Sydney Harbor Bridge!

After walking around a street market in the morning and buying a few souvenirs we headed to the Bridge Climb. I knew this was a popular tourist activity, but I never thought it would such an efficient operation. They have tours going all day, every 10-15 minutes, with 10 people in each climb group! Apparently the hefty price tag doesn't discourage other adventurers. Each person is set up with cover-alls, head sets, a friendly tour guide, and a 10 minute safety walkthrough. After that it's a 3 hour walk around the top of the bridge.

The views are obviously incredible, but they won't let you take your camera ... for "safety" reasons. Of course they're happy to SELL you pictures at the end of the trip. Regardless it was worth the price of admission. It was not as difficult a climb as I thought it would be. And I was strapped in at all times and never felt at all unsafe. Definitely a great experience (even if everyone and their mother also went on this climb).

After eating dinner, we took in a rugby match. The entire trip I saw rugby and Aussie rules Football all over TV. They make American's obsession with the NFL look tame. I didn't know the rules or how to tell which sport was which. But it was entertaining. After a week and a half I had figured it out enough that we decided to see a game in person. Besides, football and rugby are much more exciting than cricket which would have been our only other option.

The game was fun, but the real adventure was getting to the stadium. We took the train to the central station and had to walk a couple of miles. When the stadium was in sight we were walking through a park. It was dark and a little spooky. I kept hearing weird noises when out of no where a great flying beast came swooping in to attack. I naturally threw my wife in the way of danger to save myself. Thankfully we were both unharmed but I was rattled and my wife was angry that I tried to use her as a human shield.

We had been admiring these bats feeding at dusk from our hotel balcony the night before. Come to find out these are actually quite a nuisance to the city of Sydney and apparently also a threat to young American married couples. They are called flying foxes and that name is probably very appropriate.

Regardless we survived and enjoyed a rugby match. The end to another great day.

Australia Day 10 - Hello Sydney

We arrived in Sydney late last night. Our hotel is fantastic! We are right in the middle of everything. The Opera House is just around the corner. The Harbor Bridge is a short walk the other side. Inside it's another suite with separate bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and balcony. We've been lucky with good hotels at the beginning and end of this vacation (although there were no deals on this one, it was expensive).

Today we relaxed, explored the city, and got our bearings. It's a wonderful, vibrant city. My wife said it reminded her of Boston, but I've never been so I can't say if that's true. Certainly seems like a good comparison, a harbor town, very old, British connections, and they talk funny. Only draw back I see is their train system is a little more complicated than it seems it should be. But we're figuring it out.

We made dinner reservations at a fancy restaurant. It was one of the best meals we've ever had and also ranked as the second most expensive meal we've ever had. Conveniently my wife did not realize this restaurant had been voted one of the best restaurants in the world for 2 or 3 years in a row until after we were already seated. Oh well, we're on vacation.