Tahoe Climbing!

Connie, Em and I ventured up to South Lake Tahoe last week for a few days of bouldering. We met up with Judy, Roger, Patty, and Kelly (Thanks Judy for organizing the trip).

Em was in a nasty mood for this trip. She had a major vomiting episode a few days before we left so that combined with a plane ride, off-schedule feedings, a long car ride, and a strange hotel room, and you end up with one cranky kid. This is her better mood ;^)


Our first day of climbing was at an area called Bliss. Roger and Judy had been there before, but that was several years ago. Packed up and ready to go...


Uh, it's suppose to be out here somewhere...


I think I've seen this rock before in Moab (Arches NP) and Smith Rock (at Asterisk Pass). In Tahoe, it's called the Balancing Rock.


Tahoe bouldering is very scenic.


Em had several caretakers...



I think she has a thing for Auntie Patty - well, at least her hat.

This is the Go Crib. We were looking for something really portable that we could take on trips like this. Em is more mobile now so we can't confine her to a bouncer any more. So after searching the web, we found this inflatable crib. The interesting thing is that the company is based in San Diego so we met the owners, and got the whole development story. It only weighs 11 lbs, and fits into a small backpack so it's much easier to lug around than something like a Pack n Play. The inflatable design is based on inflatable kitesurfing equipment which is the industry the owners use to work in. It's an extremely durable and surprisingly strong design.


To save some set up time, we (Roger) carried it around fully inflated to the different climbing spots. It's also serves double-duty as a mosquito net ;^)


Some warm up climbs. This might've also been the infamous knee-injuring boulder that Roger and Aaron both injured their knees on several years ago. There's a problem on the corner to the right that requires some serious knee action. Roger and I were able to send it on this trip without injury. Would've been pretty dumb if we injured ourselves knowing the history.


Roger and I found this problem that had a bit of a burly start, and then went to some crimpers, and a somewhat reachy finish (if you're short). None of us have been climbing much recently so a lot of the problems felt really hard. Fun stuff nonetheless.

Roger on the same problem - Warning: Uncensored video with expletive! Roger apologized to baby Em who was watching nearby ;^O

Ok, this time he focuses, sends, and no expletives.

This was kind of an awkward problem going mainly up the arete. The highlight is Em's commentary in the background.

Em's first boulder problem.

Ok, something steeper...

Yoga class? Judy was climbing hard for someone who hasn't been climbing, and had injured fingers.


On Day 2 we decided to head to an area called Echo View. We didn't find too much to our liking there so we headed off to another placed called the Pie Shop. Legend has it that there use to be a pie shop on the road nearby, but it has long since vanished. The boulders in this area looked a lot more promising so we spent the rest of the day working the Pie Shop.

This is Em's view of the boulders. I think she was interested - a little.


Connie and baby Em wondering when it's gonna be their turn to climb. Connie was a sweetheart, and took on most of baby duties which allowed me more time to climb. I owe her on the next trip.


What do you do when you're bored? Chew on Sophie the Giraffe's leg.


This problem may have been the highlight of the trip. Roger and I started working it, and couldn't deal with the tiny crimpers. Then Judy gets on it, and fires it after a few tries. It was starting to look like it was more conducive to the tiny fingers of the female gender. Since Judy now had the beta, she coached Kelly through the climb. And sure enough, she sent it adding credence to the thought that it was a woman's climb.

Well, I had to test the woman's theory one more time so I decided to give it another shot. I first tried Judy's beta, but could not get anywhere. So I went back to something I had tried previously (the guy beta which means less finesse and more grunt), and crimped for all I was worth. Somehow it worked, and I ended up on top.

The infamous Pie Shop Traverse. I think I surprised Connie by sending this on the first go so she wasn't able to capture the vid she wanted. She asked me to repeat it for the camera, but I was too burned out by then. Here's Kelly giving it a go.


The end of a nice trip - a little too short, but probably about right for Em.

Ah, Cool Air!

We finally replaced our old, shoddy air conditioner which never really could cool the house. I'd been monitoring vendors and prices for several years, but hadn't come across a good combination. That is until one of Connie's co-workers recommended a guy name John Christian at Nova Heating & Air. I had always felt that a large part of our problem was the poor ductwork in the attic. Only one guy I had previously talked to had addressed this issue in his quote, but he was way expensive. Most guys would just focus on the air conditioner side (it was a known fact that our old 4 ton unit was undersized). But John immediately said that all of the ductwork had to be replaced, and that our returns were grossly undersized. Since his price was reasonable and we qualified for the Federal Tax Credit, we decided to go for it. We'll also get some payback on our electrical bills with the increased efficiency as the new unit is rated at 16 SEER while our old system was only 10 SEER.

This is the outside heat pump (it's a Carrier 5-ton unit with a 2-stage compressor). It is so much quieter than the old unit. The fan coil (with variable speed drive) is located in the attic space.



Our return duct was undersized so we added a second return in the hallway.


This is the new thermostat. What's the big deal about a thermostat? I wouldn't think too much, but this is our 3rd one. John initially installed one of Carrier's high-end thermostats, but it just did not control the temperatures properly. We would have wide (up to 5 deg) swings in temperature no matter how we set it up. John thought that maybe it was defective so he installed another one. Same problem. So this time he switched to a different thermostat made by Source1. This did the trick as the temps are now tightly controlled.


A cool feature with this thermostat is that it works with wireless sensors. That makes it really easy to experiment with different locations until you find good spots to sense temperatures. You can have the thermostat control to its internal sensor or average multiple sensors. I have a second inside sensor that monitors the first floor temp.

This is a temporary location for the outside sensor. Being able to sense outside air temp opens up more control possibilities...


We're thinking about adding on a feature called "Free Cooling". Now of course nothing is free, but by knowing the outside air temp and adding an outside air supply to the fan coil, we can program the thermostat to use outside air instead of the heat pump when the outside temp is cool enough. Since this house retains heat well into the evening, this should save a lot of energy by not running the heat pump when we don't have to. We could (should) just open up the house in those situations, but more often than not, we forget about that and you hear the AC running at the strangest times. With the Free Cooling mode, it will "open" the house for us automatically, and allow us to be lazy bums :^)

Surf Baby Training: Step 1 - Swim Lessons

First step to becoming a surf baby... take swim lessons! We've enrolled Em into a swim class that is structured for babies starting at 3 months. I have had two recommendations from people I know with kids that went through this program and gave it high reviews and comments from people that know of other kids that took this program, so we decided to give it a try.

While we are not at the point of assessing the progress or the program itself, it is exciting to see Em in the pool learning to have as good of a time as a baby can have. I even bought her a cute pink polka dot swimsuit with built-in swim diaper that she looks really adorable in. (I'm not biased at all. =) )

Em with Dadda testing out the waters on the 1st lesson.



She is naturally comfortable in the water, but is definitely more interested in the toys.



The classes so far seem geared at getting her comfortable with the water through repetitive familiarity and slow submersion. First class started with having her swish around on the surface of the water and occasionally dripping water down her face.

Ryan with Em during 1st Swim Class


Second class seemed to be repetitive of the first, but include occasional swishes where Em would be required to hold her breathe a little as the water came up to her face.

Wide View of 2nd Swim Class


2nd Swim Class



We have 9 classes for this first session of swim lessons, so we'll see how effective these are and how Em does at the end of the 9 classes!

Ze Hair! Ze Hair!

Take a look at what I found one morning...





This kid has a head full of surprises. heheh.

Emilia's 1/2 Year Report Card

Hard to believe but Emilia is now at the 1/2 year mark. We just had her pediatrician checkup today, and she passed with flying colors (i.e. everything is normal). They took the usual measurements, and here's the data:

Length = 25.75" (48%)
Weight = 14 lb 4 oz (16%)
Head Circumference = 16.6" (41%)

So she's basically a long, skinny thing with a big head ;^)

We've been a little concerned that she wasn't eating enough, but she certainly doesn't look emaciated. Her weight gain has really leveled off; however, her eating recently took off again, and she's now eating what would be considered normal for her age. So maybe we'll see a little more chubbiness next month.

The big news this month is that Em has made the giant leap into the world of crawling. She's not a true mall crawler yet, but she does get mobile with sort of a hop and lunge technique. She seems really excited about this method of transport, and her eyes will light up when she sees something she wants and now knows how to get to it.

The other major development is her sitting prowess. She just learned to stay in a seated position by herself last month. During the course of this month, she has gotten really stable in this position, and has held it for up to 30 minutes. And now she's also able to plop down to the tripod position, and then crank herself back up into the sitting position.

There are some common baby developmental milestones that we've been tracking to ensure that Em is progressing as she should. So far she has mastered the first 3 major milestones: Head Control, Rolling, and Sitting. Next up are Crawling, Standing, and Walking. Over the next few months, we'll be working on: 1) a more effective crawling technique, and 2) getting her to stand up on her own with the aid of a support. I'm also working with her on a handstand, believe it or not. She's so strong that I look for ways to challenge her, and she seems to enjoy it. Of course, I'll help her to balance her legs, but she'll do the rest of the handstand herself. We're about 50% of the way there now.

Last month we said that the new adventure for this month would be solid foods. Well, it has been a little crazy to say the least. We started off with rice cereal, and that didn't go too bad as she started to get the hang of it in a couple of days. But then we upped the ante by introducing some veggies. First up was peas, and she made some weird faces as she reluctantly ate it. Feeding her solids is always a messy proposition as she does all of the following:

Spits it back out
Sucks her thumb
Moves her head just as you're about to put the spoon in her mouth
Puts her hand in her mouth of course with a mouthful of food in there
Grabs the food bowl
Sucks her thumb
Grabs the spoon
Sucks on your arm
Grabs your hair
Clutches her bib
Sucks her thumb

I don't know what we were thinking, but we decided to try giving her some avocado. It wasn't mixed with anything - just mashed up avocado. Since we live on an avocado farm, you have to like avocados, right?! Wrong!!! I guess for some of us, including me, it's an acquired taste.

More Em Trivia:

• I call her daycare "The Spa" because she is pampered there beyond belief. She gets soothing baths, massages, skin care, hairdos, dressed up, held a lot, played with whenever she wants. She has one-on-one attention from a woman who really knows and cares about babies. It's been a couple months now, and we're over the initial anxiety of leaving your baby with a complete stranger. We feel very fortunate to have found her.
• Em no longer comfort feeds when breastfeeding. It's straight on-and-off food time now, and she is done in 15 minutes. Momma misses the days of comfort feeding. Then again... maybe not. Em used to feed for 1.5 hours every 3-4 hours.
• One of the benefits of breastfeeding is that the poop doesn't smell so bad. But now that we've introduced solids, we've been brought back to the real world of stinky poop. Pehhh-ewhh!!! Time to get her diaper trained soon!
• She's a Pisces - she's suppose to love the water. So Em is now enrolled in Baby swim classes.
• Em is also nicknamed Archie. When she disagrees with something, she forcefully arches her back.
• We're reminded at times that Em is a caulbearer with special powers. I was entertaining her by flipping pages quickly on a random book. She stuck her hand out, and grabbed what I thought was a random page in the random book. I looked at it, and it was the "Amelia" page in the Baby Name book. Weird.
• Stranger anxiety. Yup, we believe she still has it. She tends to freak out when we hand her over to someone she doesn't know. But if she has met you before (even only once or twice) she seems to remember.
• Her voice seems to be changing again. She went through a phase last month of making these gutteral sounds. Now she seems to be back to a more normal voice - at least for now. Still no real words but lots of sounds.
  

Oh Missouri! Part II

Not only did the babies have fun, so did we. Perfect weather with just the right amount of humid and warmth, a pretty lake with thousands of cicadas buzzing aloud, a chilled bottle of beer and a glass of red wine, and good friends to goof off with.


Speaking of goofing off...


tubing on the lake present a few memorable moments.


The dads and moms took turns to hit the lake. While the moms (and K) were out having tubing fun,


the dads and kiddies hung out til we returned. Then we swapped and the moms had the babies while the dads and friends went back out tubing.


While I missed out seeing the splat-acular event of all the guys being thrown off the tube, it didn't surprise me as with THESE guys, there is always a good (and luckily no injury) spill.

Other highlights of fun:

Ping Pong Round About


Ping Pong Finals


Always a good time even though time flew by in an instant, enough for a few good laughs with good friends.