New Zealand Log Crawl 2012

Yesterday I went on my first Log Crawl.

It was kind of like a Bar Crawl, only New Zealand beach style.

We arrived in Westport and promptly made our way to West Coast Brewing Co. There we engaged in a beer “tasting.” This consisted of the brewing assistant giving us some glasses and pretty much leaving the taps open for our choosing for the next two hours. We chatted with some locals and travelers and enjoyed our brew.

When we left, we took a “rigger,” which is basically an empty 2 liter pop bottle filled with beer to go.

Westport is a beach town, so we made our way to the beach with our rigger in tow. We decided we wanted to walk the beach, but we didn’t want the rigger of beer to get warm in the car, so it came with us.

From that point on, we stopped at each comfortable log along our walk, sat down and sipped some beer and then moved on to the next cozy looking log. When our rigger was half way gone, we turned around and headed back.

Thus two litters of beer and two miles of beach led to my first unofficial log crawl.

Kiwi State of Mind

Greetings from New Zealand!
We have to pay for the internet here – so I’m just posting quickly to say by some crazy miracle Andy’s knee has been no problem for him hiking. He’s actually still faster than me on the trail half the time, which kind of makes me want to break his other ACL.

He did develop some blisters on our final day coming off of one of the trails. He was angry at his hiking shoes for betraying him after five years and hundreds of miles. So he threw them away less than a minute after getting off the trail.

And now just a few pictures/highlights from our adventure thus far:
Lunch spot on our first day in New Zealand:

A rainbow over Te Anau:

Andy discovering New Zealand:

Kepler Trail complete:

New Year’s Day Picnic:

Crossing my fingers that our good luck and sunny days continue.

Like Son, Like Father

The memory of Toby's 3 ACL surgeries is still fresh as the snowfall we received in Michigan last night.

That's actually an old snowy Toby photo, but you get the idea.

His injury occurred 2 weeks before we left for Ireland.  My Mama helped nurse him back to heatlh while we were away.

So, here we sit, 2 weeks before we leave for New Zealand, for the hiking trip of a lifetime.

Toby's ACL is still in tact.

Andy's ACL?  Not so much.

He injured it at soccer and got the MRI results today. 

Fortunately the doctor thinks he can fit Andy for a brace that will keep him stable enough for hiking.  It might mean a little less than we'd planned, but we'll do what we can.  It might just mean we'll hike less and visit wineries more.  And more wine is never a bad thing.

So we'll delay surgery until our return.

At which point I should probably schedule a vacation and have my Mama nurse him back to health.

Whaddaya think Ma? At least you wouldn't have to fight to keep a cone on Andy's head.

So until we leave, Andy will be commiserating with the one furry guy who can best relate to his pain.

O Canada

After Andy completely outdid himself surprising me for my 30th birthday, I knew I wanted to do at least a little something fun for him when he turned 30.

For some reason we passed on Chuck E Cheese and decided on a joint birthday road trip with friends to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.

He was excited about the destination, but he screamed like a kid on Christmas when I told him our hotel was at the casino.  I also told him I would give him the gift of not standing over his shoulder and nagging his face off while he gambled.  I'm generous like that.

Soon after crossing the border, I began my love affair with Tim Horton's and proceeded to be fueled by TimBits for the rest of the weekend.

Our friend had a slight issue with his passport.  It was expired.  And it was 10 years old.  And he went bald.  And he grew a beard.  Thankfully some border agent took pity on him and let him pass.

Slight difference.

Andy borrowed another friends blazer to complete his "I'm an engineer" outfit.  Please note the too short jeans and white tennis shoes:

Trendsetter.

The next day we slowly made our way to the falls. Do you know how difficult it is to keep a group of 11 individuals who are easily distracted by shiny lights and beer together?  It's a lot like herding cats.  We almost managed one group photo:

Team America minus one.

We visited a brewery afterwards.  Although the beer was good, the poutine was even better.

More majestic than the Falls.

We continued indulging at a Brazilian Steakhouse for dinner.  That's two hours of unlimited meat delivered to your table every few minutes.  Although it left me with a stomach ache and gave me the meat sweats, it was still amazing.

After a little more drinking and gamling, our Canadian Dream came to an end and we made our way back home. 

O Canada.

Thanks for the memories, America Jr.

This Thanksgiving

This morning I woke up and started to prepare my share for the family Thanksgiving meal.  As I started to prepare my stuffed mushrooms, I set out a container of cream cheese on the counter to soften:

At some point I went upstairs.  When I returned, this is all that was left of the box, cream cheese, and tin foil encapsulating the cream cheese:

Somebody feasted early today.

Today I'm thankful I had the foresight to buy two blocks of cream cheese.

Happy Thanksgiving All.

The Furminator

On Sunday morning, many people 'round these parts brush up on their Bible at church.

I brush up on my dog instead.

Fur ever and ever, amen.

It's Alive!

Work + Life = Busy These Days

This means I've neglected this blog for the past few weeks.  Here's a quick run down of what's been going on the past month of my life.

We tailgated with good friends:

Halloween happened:

Fireman Jackson was very excited.

We also went bananas for the holiday.

While one brudder was clueless about the fact he was wearing a costume, another brudder was less than amused.

We went to Chicago and I got to snuggle this little sweetie:

We continue to plan our upcoming 3 week adventure in this place:

source

That's the South Island of New Zealand kids, and it looks like one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

source 

Andy finally caught up to the rest of us and turned 30. 

On his birthday he declared, "Yeah, so I'm pretty mature now.  I no longer find fart jokes funny."

And then he farted and giggled like a 5 year old.

He also brewed about 25 gallons of beer in the past month.

Doesn't everyone come home from work to find a 5,000 mL flask full of yeast on thie stove?

Finally, because I want to make your Friday a little better, here's a video of a cat that sounds like an old woman saying "No, no, no."

You're welcome.