Bugaboo'd in the Bugaboos with Bugaboo!

With 21-Minutes left on the computer battery, gotta make it quick...

The parking lot: Marchrist's rig wrapped in
chicken wire: possum proof!

The hike up!

Kiki on belay!

Okay, just fired up the Tortuga to get a few more minutes out of the computer...

Our campsite in the Bugs.

The only patch of earth in the Bugaboos
where our Bugaboo can run free.

Bugaboo Crew! Back at the Sunraider, g&t's and cold beer, and...

...Radium Hotsprings to soak our weary dogs!

As you can see, things are back to going our way! We're now hanging out in Golden BC, hitting the single-track, hiking, but the quads are still oh so sore. More soon!

So Far So Bad

Rolled out of Seattle at 12:30 Midnight Saturday night/Sunday morning and drove through the wee hours of the morn. Parked at a rest stop just shy of Moses Lake where we spent the night. Annie took the first morning shift at 830am and we were in Spokane by 11. We were making good time but somehow we frivvled away 3-hours doing chores: took on petrol, propane, groceries and diapers, then headed North.

While waiting in the boarder crossing line my "oil" dummy light came on and just after crossing I looking into it: we had a gusher! I spent the better part of two hours in diagnosis and tightening bolts that looked suspect and getting myself neck deep in engine mud. Kian and Annie played in a grassy patch near by and we had some auto help from locals. Good times.

Nursed the Tortuga up to Cranbrook, and 3 quarts later we bedded down in the Walmart parking lot with hopes of getting an early jump on the repairs. The good news is that the Toyota dude says its not leaking as fast as I thought and I'm now two quarts high on the dipstick and that I can easily get up to Radium to rendezvous with Mar-Christ. Plans are to leave my rig behind to get worked on while we take 3-4 days up in the Bugaboos getting Bugaboo'd with our little Bugaboo.

If no word from us assume all is well. Cloudless skies and warm temps are the forecast and the current reality. Time to get busy!

The San Juans in August

Forgot to publish some of these:

Lookie us.

Lookie Kian.

Kian lookie.

Hey, lookie there!

Lookie...

Lookie there!

Now would you lookie there!

That's it, the parting shot, into the sunset.
Wait! Hold everything....

...lookie there!

Gimmie Smoovie

A couple of weeks ago I gave Kian a taste of my smoothie and he went ape nuts. Here he is attacking me, all serious and whatnot, trying to get another spoonfulliciousness of the auspiciousness. You might have thought it was the end of the world when we polished it all off. I don't let him get wind of me making smoothies anymore and I encourage you to do the same.

Waste not, want not, my little man.

Must have got a bitter chunk of something. Or maybe
he just tried one of Marlin's durian smoothies.

Two people, two lazy.

Cuckoo Kiki

Here are a few more belated photos from the wedding last weekend before I post some pics from the Chiwawa happenings this weekend.

Making a run for it on their new bike.

Me, just before I started preachin, talkin in tongues, and handlin snakes.

Here's a few more from Hat Night...

I found a little leprechaun, he calls himself Kian O'Conrad.

Annie with her hat full-O-fruit, while Lob is sporting a
Turkmenistanish hat and a very large stein of beer.

Here's Kian Crusher with El Jefe.

Unfortunately this next one is sideways for awhile but its worth the wait. Shows Kian gettin' lively on the dance floor and flirtin' with disaster.

Master of Ceremonies: Minister of Love

This past weekend some of our dearest friends, Christine & Marlin, tied the knot. I was asked to be their "Officiant" several months ago, but never having heard the term I said yes thinking that I was going to be the ringmaster of a boxing match. However this wedding probably turned out to be more fun than a fight, even though the pressure to pull this off was just a little steep. But this was the grandest of honors. And with just one minor screwup: I called Marlin, Marlene, but I managed to flip the joke on itself by calling Christine, Chrislin, and I was quickly forgiven, however, not soon forgotten. The rest of the ceremony went reasonably well and I only cried once but regained my composure before the final benediction.

This is me, the Reverend of Love's Neverend, reading
an excerpt from the "good book": Uncle Wiggily's Travels.

Twenty of us went in together on a Kona Ute
and decked it out as their getaway car.

Just as Mar was rolling up his cuff to
take the rig out on its maiden voyage...

...Kian jumped up there and sped off for the first spin around the barnyard.

Once again, this blog always seems to be
about Kian, the little hamhog.

Check this out: here are before and after wedding pics of the couple...

As you can see, this relationship is one of those
win-win situations for the both of them.

After the ceremony things got a little funky:

The big bonfire.

Fires of passion were burning bright too:
Annie and Summer complete the Alan sandwich.

... whilst Jeff and Dougie make a spicy Jennifer eggroll.

Now this one should take you back...

I forget just how far back, but I would wager to guess that Summer & Jeff's Methow wedding was the winter of '04 (Jeff, Alan, Stephen and I are pictured).

**Special thanks to Nick and Jennifer for many of these pics.

Family Festivus

Sorry for taking so long to get these up, everyone, but our Internets have been down. And I hope that no one is offended but I wanted to open and close with the oyster shots because they are a metaphor for all the great food that we ate together last weekend. O wait, they weren't a metaphor for the food, they were the food -- but thank god not all of it. Thanks for the amazing brunch, Mom and Dad!

Hive-fivin' cause its all-u-can-devour!

Exchanging 45th Anniversary anecdotes: Not fair,
Mom is the only one that remembers the details.

In conclusion....