The first touristy thing we did while in Vegas was visit the Hoover Dam. I honestly wasn’t expecting it to be so dam(n) impressive. Ha ha. The damn/dam jokes never get old. At least not to me. If you get annoyed by them that’s just too dam(n) bad. Ha! See what I mean?

Anyway, without further ado (since I’m already a day late with this post) here’s the Dam a la Hoover.

Did you know the dam crosses the Arizona/Nevada border? When it’s not daylight savings time you actually change time zones driving across the dam. Arizona doesn’t observe daylight savings time though, so when we were there both states were on the same time. We were in Arizona when that photo was taken.

This picture looks similar to the last one, but we’re in it – which automatically makes it better….or something. I have to include this though because the picture was so hard to get. I think Dave tried 4 or 5 different times. The first couple of times his head was blocking the dam. We did have no less than 4 friendly folks offer to take the picture for us. Each time we had to explain that we always do the self-portraits.

Then we did decide we’d like someone to actually take a photo of us and there was no one around. Okay, there were people around, but they were all busy or scary. So Dave took a picture of me, I took a picture of him, and then cheated and merged the two together in Photoshop. It’s a secret – no one will know. Okay, you know. But you probably wouldn’t have if I hadn’t told you. And if you would have I don’t want to hear it.

We were able to go on a tour of the power plant as well. That’s where we saw these big huge hydroelectric generators. The baby was not a fan of the power plant tour. It was too loud and the vibrations annoyed the kid. He (or she) was kicking like crazy. Or maybe it wasn’t caused by annoyance and the baby is going to be ultra-nerdy like Dave and Kurt (sorry Kurt) and really likes this kind of stuff.

It really was an amazing place to visit. I’ll leave you with one last bit of dam trivia. There were 112 deaths associated with the construction of the dam. One story says that the first person to die in the construction of Hoover Dam (or Boulder Dam as it was originally known) was J. G. Tierney, a surveyor who drowned while looking for the perfect spot for the dam. His son, Patrick, was the last man to die working on the dam, 13 years to the day later.

For the record, I meant “ultra-nerdy” as a compliment. I heart nerds.

We’re currently in Las Vegas celebrating Dave’s birthday – which is actually today!! So Happy Birthday Dave!! Check out the adorableness that was Dave, in 1978.

One thing you can’t see in that photo are his dimples. Man, I hope our kids end up with those.

Happy Birthday Dave! I love you!!

Yesterday’s ultrasound went really well. They were able to see everything they needed to and it all looks good – two arms, eyes, legs and one nose and mouth. Exactly what we ordered 🙂

They also said that the baby is measuring about a week further along that their original estimate. If that’s true then it gives me an estimated due date of July 26.

Woo hoo. I can’t wait until this baby gets here.

This is Dave’s favorite printout from the ultrasound. He thinks it looks exactly like a little baby all curled up (which is good, since that’s what it is).

Personally, I think it’s sort of confusing to look at – so I labeled it for you. Aren’t I nice?

This one is my favorite. I will not be labeling it – if you need help figuring it out let me know.

For a good chunk of time during the ultrasound I felt like I was looking at one of those magic eye posters that were so popular in the 90s. You know the type – where you have let your eyes go out of focus to see the hidden sailboat or giraffe or whatever. Dave got pretty good at figuring out what he was looking at on the screen. I would normally figure out what we were looking at just in time for the tech to move.

Next, I’m going to show you the absolute cutest little legs. I love how the little baby knees are all scrunched up there. C’mon, say it with me….awww….

Would you like to see the world’s most adorable elbow? Because I can show it to you.

Wasn’t that just the sweetest little elbow?

This last shot was a little creepy (see, I’m not one of those people that thinks everything about their kid is 100% perfect). Okay, I really do think that, but it’s okay, I’m allowed.

What do you see? I had to have the tech explain it to me. This is what we’re looking at:

Isn’t that just the most wonderful little fist?

I did have Dave take pictures of me last night (20 weeks pregnant – woo hoo – we’re halfway done!!), but before I can post them I need to talk about our trip to Boston two weekends ago first. I need to try to keep some sort of chronological order here.

Dave had a conference for work in Connecticut so I flew up to meet him in Boston on Thursday night. Friday we went to the New England Aquarium. That’s really the only touristy thing we did in Boston. We had great plans to visit the Sam Adams Brewery and take a tour of the city, but the tour we wanted to take didn’t start until the end of March and we were lazy.

So yeah. Just the aquarium. We’ll be going back to Boston though – hopefully during baseball season. Here are some pictures of the fishes we saw. I thought “fishes” was improper grammar until Dave corrected me. Apparently it’s okay to say because we saw multiple species of fishes. I wonder if there are multiple species of mooses….

Here’s Dave hanging out with some penguins outside of the aquarium. Dave is actual size, the penguins are not – at least I don’t think they are. Dave thinks they might be. I disagree.

We also saw penguins inside of the aquarium.

They have water spray periodically to clean off the rocks. Most of the penguins jumped in the water when it started. This dude appears to prefer showers.

We also saw sea horses and sea dragons.

There’s a couple of sea dragons in the middle here (there were no sea knights or sea damsels in distress).

My favorite critters were the sea turtles. This is Myrtle. She’s over 70 years old and weighs over 500 pounds.

Here she is with a friend. Dave thinks this one was named Scoots.

And here’s one more turtle – just because I can. I didn’t catch his name.

And here we are. Dave even captured a big ugly fish in the picture with us. I’d also like to point out how wonderfully sweet and sensitive my husband is. When I was getting dressed that morning he was nice enough to tell me that the green shirt I was wearing “sort of just made me look fat and not really pregnant”. I think he’s working on material for a book he’s writing, “What NOT to Say to Your Pregnant and Hormonal Wife”.

And here’s that wonderfully sweet and sensitive man at dinner Friday night. He was not expecting a full lobster at all and really had no clue how to eat it. He (thankfully) only wore the bib for the photo.

So that’s it for our tourist account of Boston. We were able to spend a couple of hours Saturday night with Dave’s grandmother, Rose. We hadn’t seen her since our wedding and so it was really nice to actually be able to sit and talk with her for a while. Rose is another reason we need to plan another trip to Boston (during baseball season and when the Duck Tours are running).

While in Williamsburg we also spent a day at Busch Gardens.  It was mucho fun.

As soon as we got there we went to check out the Clydesdales.  This guy was not impressed by my photography.  I am convinced he stuck his tongue out on purpose.

After the horses it was time for the first roller coaster of the day.  This bad boy:

I decided to take one for the team and stay behind and watch everyone’s stuff.  At least that was my excuse – roller coasters aren’t really my cup of tea.

If we would have brought our boat we could have parked it here.

Oh wait, the correct terminology is “docked” right?

I don’t know, we don’t have a boat.

This bit of fun was outside one of the roller coasters.  Dave’s pretty good about sticking his head in these things and letting me take pictures.

So are Rob and Stacy. I love the look on Rob’s face – that boy cracks me up.

Steven didn’t go for the skier picture.  He preferred to hang out at the rescue station.  That alcohol is purely for medicinal purposes….I think.

Rob tried to win one of those giant stuffed bears at a basketball game.  Okay, maybe he wasn’t trying to win a giant bear – I honestly don’t remember.  As soon as the guys running the game saw me get the camera out though, they were all about the photo op.  So thanks dudes, for being part of our memories, you made the blog.

Rob won a basketball.  I say it was rigged.

Rob was pretty worn out after all that, so I let him and Stacy man the camera while we went on a ride that was my cup of tea.

Well, at least until the ride started and Steven and Dave decided it would be cool to spin at Tazmanian Devil speed.

My stomach gets queasy just thinking about it.  We also did the wave.  I don’t know why, it’s just how we roll – and anything to get Dave and Steven to stop their spinning was cool with me.

Here’s a picture Rob took of my Stacy while we were waiting in line.  She’s so darn pretty.

The next morning before the New Yorkers left to drive home we tried to get a picture for my mom.  She requested a nice photo of the 6 of us.

I think we did pretty good,  considering I didn’t have a lot of time to scope out a location and the lighting wasn’t great.

It helps that we’re such a good looking bunch.

Just a warning Steven, Stacy wants us all to do this again at Christmas time.

Over Columbus Day weekend Steven, Stacy, Amanda, and Rob came down to hang out with us in Williamsburg.  We had an awesome time!!  Stacy and I were able to celebrate our birthday together (a little early, but we’re not complaining).

Saturday we went to a Go Kart place.  I was the official photographer for the day.

Here’s Rob in the Home Depot car, ready to roll.

Dave was sponsored by Goodwrench.

Amanda took the Alltel car.  She looks nervous, doesn’t she? Maybe someone has seen “Days of Thunder” one too many times. Maybe I just make stuff up so I can read myself type.  That doesn’t sound as good as “hear myself speak” does it?

And here are Steven, Stacy, and Rob coming around turn three.  It might not have been turn three.  I don’t know, I didn’t count them.

The word in the pits was that the race was a little slow.  The drivers blamed it on their cars – I’m not buying it.

The bumper cars were the next event.

Here it looks like Steven and Stacy are ganging up on poor Amanda.  Now, that’s just not nice

Um, excuse me, Stacy? See the camera? That means I’m the photographer, please just turn your little car around and go find someone else to hit.

Thank you.

And this was when the Bumper Car Guy decided that the kids had enough fun and turned off the cars.

They went to a different race track next.  Dave was determined to win.

Look at the concentration on his face.  He’d spent years training for this moment.

He had some stiff competition though.  Stacy wasn’t about to hand over her title without a fight.

Then the boys started to race dirty.

Oh wait, what’s that?

I see.

Apparently Steven hitting Stacy on the turn (a direct violation of the posted rules) is really just rubbin’, and rubbin’ is racin’.

Amanda stepped in to help block the boys.

That’s right Amanda, keep them back, and while we’re at it, maybe we can try and keep our eyes on the road too – we don’t want a wreck here.

The girls’ plan worked! They’re cool like that.

Here’s my girl coming down Victory Lane.  I think they are going to make a movie about her.

And here’s the rest of the racers.

We had just enough tickets left for one last go at the bumper cars.

Dave takes his bumper cars very seriously.

Okay, maybe not that seriously.

After the tickets were gone, we spent some time in the arcade.  Steven showed off what he learned in his Hunter’s Safety Course and his mad bike skillz (oh yeah, with a “z”).

Man, Atlanta feels like forever ago! I still have one set of pictures to post from our last day there – but so much has happened since then.  A couple of days after I got back from Georgia I flew up to NY .  I was honored to be able to attend the wedding of a very good friend (the reason for the trip).  I could not be happier for Lisa and Dale.  It was everything a wedding should be – lots of friends and family celebrating and having a good time.  Plus – there were fireworks – what more do you need?

I was supposed to only stay for the weekend orginially.  I ended up extending my flight until Wednesday and then again until Friday.  So I was there for just over a week.  It was great.  I scrapbooked with my sister, got to meet a horse named Candy, and helped my mom set up her classroom (c’mon mom, we did help a little bit).

Dave did really well at his training class in Alabama.  He ended up finishing 2nd in his class (go Dave!).  He got home the same day that I did and now we’re both in the same state for the next month and a half.  It’s a nice change.

My next work trip has been scheduled, I actually booked my flights yesterday.  I’ll be leaving for India on November 3rd.  It’s the longest trip I’ve been sent on so far – I’ll be getting home on December 23rd.  I’m hoping that Dave’s able to come visit over Thanksgiving.

Anyway, that’s about all that’s going on here.  Since I’ll be home for a while I started a knitting class last night and will be taking a quilting class on Thursday nights.  I’m so exciting aren’t I?

Okay – here are those last pictures from Atlanta.  We went to the World of Coca-Cola.

Here we are posing with John Pemberton.  Pemberton was a druggist and chemist in Atlanta and is credited with inventing Coca-Cola.  The beverage was originally intended to stop headaches and calm nervousness (some believe he was attempting to create a pain reliever for himself and other wounded Confederate veterans). Did I mentioned Pemberton was addicted to morphine?  Coca-Cola was originally advertised as a cure for morphine and opium addictions among a multitude of other health benefits.

Inside the World of Coca-Cola was full of all sorts of Coke paraphernalia (isn’t paraphernalia a great word? I don’t think it needs that “r” though – I don’t pronounce it anyway).

The Coca-Cola Polar Bear was also there posing for photos.  Dave got his taken without me.  Which was okay, I prefer the cartoon version on TV, they’re cuter (I’m talking about the bears here, not Dave – I’ve never seen a cartoon version of Dave).

At the end of the tour we were able to try a whole bunch of coke products from all over.  It was pretty cool.  Some were really gross though.  They were not cool.  Here’s Dave and Kurt sampling some of the safer flavors.

So that’s Atlanta.  Fun wasn’t it?  I want to go back to the aquarium sometime.  It shouldn’t be hard to convince Dave, as long as I plan the trip during baseball season.

I’ll have to think of some more things to write about here to keep you entertained until my next trip.  Maybe I’ll take pictures of my knitting.  I’m making mittens – don’t be jealous.

The main reason we decided to go to Atlanta was because Dave wanted to see the Braves play in their home stadium. We’ve seen them play in a few different stadiums, but not at Turner Field. Our hotel was only a couple of blocks away from the stadium and to get there we walked right by where the Olympic Torch from the 1996 games is kept.

Once we were there, Pete found his little league number outside the gates.   21 was worn by the left-handed pitcher Warren Spahn. Spahn was Inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame in August of 1999.

Once we were inside Dave took his standard “view of the field from way up high and behind home plate” photo.  We both were pretty excited about that thing in the upper left corner, to the left left of the Delta sign.

Still can’t see it? It’s a 40 foot tall, 15,000 pound tomahawk chopping mechanical cow.  Awesome! Dave wants one for his sports basement.  For the first time, I’m actually sort of glad we don’t currently have a basement.

And because I should include at least one photo of the actual game, here’s Dave’s boy Jeff at bat.

Dave was a happy boy.  He got his fill of baseball food: peanuts, beer, hot dogs, dippin’ dots, and of course a sno-cone.  10 points if you can guess what color it was.

(see those freckles I mentioned before?)

He was nice enough to share it with Pete.

I got to wear my brand new Braves’ jersey for the first time.  I think I need a couple more Braves shirts so that I can mix it up a little and keep the scrapbook pages from being too boring (I’m a dork, I know).

Oh, and the Braves beat the Giants (11-5).  There was much rejoicing.

Wow.  I haven’t had much to say since I got back from Russia have I? I’ve been doing a lot of reading since I got home and today I just signed up for a knitting class.  Aren’t you glad I’m not boring you on a daily basis with all of that excitement?

I did just get back from a weekend trip to Atlanta though and so I have plenty of other things to bore you with.  I flew down to Atlanta (my most favorite airport ever) Friday after work.  I was a little concerned when I checked in and did not have a seat assignment, but it all worked out okay.  Dave’s parents were waiting for me there (his mom actually flew in about the same time as  I did).  We went to our hotel, checked in, waited for Dave to show up, and then all had a late dinner together.

Dave’s been spending a lot of time in the sun this past month – you should see the freckles on that boy.  Okay, you probably will see the freckles, I have pictures.

Anyway, Saturday morning after Dave’s brother and his family showed up we decided to head to the Georgia Aquarium.  We had some time to kill before the baseball game that night and we like fish.  Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure everyone else that was going to the Braves’ game that night had the same idea.  The aquarium was packed.  I’m really hoping we can go back again sometime, especially since we missed the sea turtles (my favorite).

Despite the hordes of people Dave got some really nice pictures.  He’s good like that.

We saw a whole bunch of Jellyfish (Sea Nettles to be exact).

And a whole bunch of other critters too.  This aquarium has over eight million gallons of water in it. They even had a tunnel we walked through and so were able to see the fish swimming over and all around us.  Very cool.  I could have sat and watched them swimming around all day.

We were trying to figure out if the fish could see us too.  Most of them seemed pretty oblivious to all the people, except for this guy.

He was staring like that the whole time we were there.

We were not limited to fish though.  We also saw these Giant Japanese Spider Crabs.

And here is the Giant Pacific Octopus.  Did you know that the each arm has two rows of suckers and may have has many has 1,800 of them per arm?  That’s 14,400 suckers!

Of course our trip would not have been complete without some quality time with the penguins.  The penguins at the Aquarium wear beaded bracelets to differentiate between them. Females wear pink and males sport blue.  African penguins may have up to 300 feathers per square inch on their body.  They also mate for life.  Aren’t you glad I include all these little facts? You’ll thank me when you’re on Jeopardy.

I think we spent the most time with this Beluga Whale.  Did you know the beluga whale is the only whale with a flexible neck?  Well, now you do.  The beluga whale is also called the white whale.  This guy is not Moby Dick though, his name is Nico.  He’s 17 years old and 12 feet long.  He came to Georgia 3 years ago from Mexico City on a Boeing 767.

And look who else we found before we left! It’s Deepo, not to be confused with the Disney character with the simliar name.

Next post: the baseball game! You’re excited, I can tell.