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Hibernation is over...

Sorry, we've been hibernating for the long, misearable winter. Don't worry, we woke up just in time for this....

Best night ever! Thanks for the crazy ride, guys! NCAA, here we come...

Weekend in Georgia

I was finally able to make it to Atlanta and visit the CDC while still an employee. Dj and I got to spend a three day weekend seeing the sites. We got a city pass and were true tourists. I was surprised by how much I liked it there.

Olympic Centennial Park, still decorated for the holidays.

Woodfire Grill

For any Top Chef fans out there, this was our favorite season. We had to visit the Woodfire Grill, home to the best chef-Kevin. We treated ourselves to a tasting menu. Well worth it.


If you look closely, you can see all the goodies we got to eat, including antelope. It was amazing. Should have taken pictures of every dish (which half the resturant was doing--it was just that good).

Kevin was super friendly and took a minute out of his cooking to pose with us.

We were seated at a table with a direct view of Kevin's woodfire grill, so we were able to see him cook all night.

Atlanta High Art Museum and CNN

The City Pass included tickets for CNN, High Art Museum, Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola, the zoo, and a natural history museum. The CNN tour I was least looking foward to, buy ended up enjoying it a ton. It was really cool! First, we got to ride up this giant escalator that made me dizzy. Then we got to see everything, including the actual broadcast room.

We walked from the art museum to CNN and passed by the house Margaret Mitchell lived in while writing Gone with the Wind. Yeah, one of my favorites.

The art museum was having a special display on the drawings and sketches of Leonardo di Vinci. A lot of horses and battle scences.

Atlanta Aquarium and World of Coca-Cola

The aquarium is pretty awesome. They have a huge aquarium filled with a ton of fish and four whale sharks. They call this area the theater. Dj and I sat there for a long time just watching everything.
We were lucky enough to be there for feeding time for the whale sharks.

Everyone enjoying the view.

Sea otters = adorable. Can I have one?

Jellyfish.

And of course, the world of Coca-Cola, my favorite pop.

The famous tasting room. I was hoping I could get a Turkish Coke, my ultimate favorite, but no luck. They only had weird, fruitty stuff from around the world.

Atlanta Natural History Museum and Zoo

We happened to be in Atlanta during the coldest weather they have seen for ten years. This made our visit to the zoo a little short--it was way to cold for the animals. Eventually the sun came out, some some of the animals came out to say hi. The zoo was nice and gave us two free tickets to return. Anyone planning a trip to Atlanta in the next three months? Here are some of the animals that came out to say hey:

And finally the natural history museum. Kind of cool place. Had an entire floor dedicated to hands on science stuff.

OBX Christmas 2009

For Christmas this year, The Family decided to gather together at the Outer Banks, NC for some festive relaxation. Dj and I woke up at 3:30 am to try to make it by 1pm. The weather channel was warning of snow, but the most we heard was 4 inches. We packed the Big Green with the weeks food supply and headed on our way. And the snow fell. We slowly traveled, trying to stay behind snow plows, and the snow fell in complete white out at times. After 3 hours and only making it to Cumberland (not even an hour on a good day), we decided to pull over (ok--mostly I was scared out of my mind). We checked into a hotel, watched bad movies all day, and watched the snow fall. The next day travel went smoothly, for the most part, and we made it to our beach paradise. Here is a view out of our hotel window at 7am. It snowed another foot after this. Part of the adventure!

The 30 minute drive from Nag's Head to Corolla was the longest part of the trip. The house did not disappoint. Here is the first view as we pulled in.

Here is a picture of the great room. Amazing ocean views, a gas fireplace, decks all around.

The kitchen area.

This is a view of the house at night. A huge place! Notice every single light on. It was well lived in for the week.

Dj and I took a day trip to Corolla. We saw some sights, at some good southern BBQ, and enjoyed the sunshine. The weather was perfect all week, sunny and not too cold--just a little rain on the day everyone left. Corolla is home to the Currituck Beach Lighthouse. Unfortunately, it was closed for the season. It was built in 1875 and is still being used.

Across from the lighthouse was a nature trail. It was posted with signs, so we were able to learn about the sound's native habitat. Somewhere out there is the mainland.

Corolla is also home to the Whalehead Club, built in the 1930's for fowl hunting. For the very, very wealthy. Now it is a nice park, and the house is being restored to its former glory.

Admiring our private beach view from our private pier. I think I saw one other person on the beach the entire week. Nice to have it all to ourselves.

We bought a tree while there and decorated it the good old fashioned way: popcorn and cranberry garland and collected seashells. It was adorable.

A full view of the tree. Dj and I found a washed up buoy on the beach to top it off.

Shipwreck!

Dj and I enjoying a very memorable Christmas Eve lunch with the traditional steamed shrimp. Front row seats to the waves!

Decorating a gingerbread house with the kids.

Lots of guitar hero played during the week! Dj and Josh rocking out.

Also lots of puzzles put together. I think we finished two. This one did not get finished. The house had a perfect, sunny nook for reading and puzzles. I think it might have been empty a total of ten minutes the entire week.

We took daily, sometimes more, walks on the beach. Dj and I got lucky one night and found two star fish (one was alive) and a ton of hermit crabs. We attempted to take Maiya out the next day, but had not luck.

Because the Play Station wasn't enough, there was the Wii. Dj and old man getting a work out.

It was an incredible trip. We did a lot of R&R-- great company, great food, great surroundings. Lets do it again!

Ornaments for 2009

Buddah from Korea.
Washington Ferry From Vashon Island.

Olyve Oyl the octopus from the Seattle Aquarium.

For our last WV Christmas.

In memory of Peekaboo. Black, white, and pink.

Thanksgiving in Seattle

We spent the week of Thanksgiving in Seattle. I met with the UW program I am interested in, Dj made some dental job progress, and we looked at some condos while we were there. It was kind of a bummer of a trip for two major reasons-- did not get really great news from the school (the school is lacking in funds right now during this recession) and did not think rent would be so much (as in add a zero to the monthly rent we are paying now... 10x our rent....). However, it was good in a lot of ways. We stayed right in the thick of things in downtown. We got to explore that city like we were natives. We learned which streets to avoid walking up to avoid the major steep hills. We learned how reliable the bus system is, which will help us as we look for a place to live. We ate really amazing food. We got to spend Thanksgiving day with the best company- Julie and her family. Plus the trip really brought us back to reality. We realized we need to enjoy the good things of WV for just a little bit longer. And then the adventure of living in a HUGE city will begin, increased rent in all.
We took very few pictures while we were there. We did get to watch the Macy's parade on black Friday, and really enjoyed it.
Marching bands from all over. My secret dream is to be a parade judge.

Everybody was dressed in all types of costumes: dogs, cats, cowboys, flowers, elves, everything, etc.

Our favorite part was all the dog clubs. The clubs in the area each had a section for their dogs to march. It was adorable. The St. Bernards were so cute with little carts to pull.

It was fun to be there for the start of the holiday season. They had lighting ceremonies all over the down town area, with little carnivals and fun things. It was fun seeing the Christmas trees for sale at Pike's Market along with misletoe and amazing wreaths. The weather was very agreeable--it rained on Thanksgiving Day while we were inside anyway.