Christmas 2015

This year we thought celebrating Christmas with our families would be much easier since we're back in the states.  While we certainly feel closer with a smaller time zone difference and no more international phone calls, the travel distance is still pretty significant, especially if you have to factor in layovers and indirect flights.  Now I know why they call it the red-eye!

San Fran --> Atlanta --> Fort Myers

Fort Myers --> Minneapolis (!) --> Hartford

Hartford --> Atlanta --> San Fran

Our first destination was sunny Florida, where my parents were vacationing.  My brother and his girlfriend also came in from Chicago, and it was really nice getting to catch up and enjoy the warm weather. My favorite part was visiting Marco Island and swimming in the gulf, while watching dolphins jump in the distance.  That, and all the early-bird specials and happy hours...

I think they're happy we're back  :)

 Marco Island

I'll take beaches over snow any day!

Gotta watch out for those heaps of gators...

After spending time in Florida with my family, our next stop was to Connecticut to visit Ryan's side.  Strangely we had a layover in Minneapolis to get there - but on the upside it provided us enough time to enjoy an American reuben sandwich for dinner.   Hadn't had one of those in a long time.

Christmas morning in CT we opened presents with Ryan's family and my favorite little elves:

...and then in the afternoon we went to auntie Patty's famous annual party.  I was having so much fun I forgot to take a family photo...so here's the best i've got.  Nice table, right? But seriously, this is what Christmas at Patty's is all about - lots of great food, wine...and more food...and fun times spent catching up with all our cousins, aunts and uncles, and of course, Grandma! 

Most importantly the Yankee Swap is where we all end up with some ridiculous gift.  Like this fantastic headlamp.  Thanks Kevin for sharing your prize with me!

And of course someone had to bring the smack-yourself-with-whipped-cream-in-the-face game...

Soon after Christmas it was time to fly back to San Fran.  It was nice being able to enjoy some extra days off to relax and unwind after the trip.  Coco was also very happy to see us, and she appeared a bit more plump.  Apparently while we were away she developed a 5pm addiction to her favorite treats: catisfactions.  The woman taking care of her while we were away must have given her a bunch of treats at the same time every day, because she was meowing for treats like crazy at the same time each day after we got home!

In our free time we decided to support our local hockey team by going to a San Jose Sharks game.  First time i've ever seen a shark zamboni!

And then for New Year's Eve we also decided to support our local costume shop, and bought some viking costumes for a theme party in downtown San Fran.   Luckily viking gear keeps you pretty warm...

Hagar and Helga!

After New Year's, when we were back in Mountain View, we decided to take a bike ride around town and explore a bit.  We discovered the Steven's Creek trail, which goes past the NASA Ames research center, Shoreline Amphitheater, Linkedin and the Googleplex.  I love Google's gigantic T-Rex skeleton...because why not?

Looking forward to summer concerts!

Stanford U

It's been a while since the last post, but fear not, I'm still here! It's been a hectic few of weeks with job interviews and holiday shopping, and soon Ryan and I will be taking off for Florida and then Connecticut to celebrate Christmas with our families.  On Wednesday this week I took a  leisurely bike ride around the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, just to enjoy the sunny day and relax a bit before going to the mall next door for some shopping.

Here are some pictures from the Main Quad area.  Something about this place brings back nostalgia from Spain...

 

Memorial church

 Went a little crazy with the filter here - looks like a drawing but i promise it's a real picture!

 An orange tree!

 Hoover tower

And here's one of the engineering buildings, with a much more modern look and feel.

Across from the engineering buildings (with names like "Hewelett" and "Packard") is the William Gates computer science building.  

I went inside to explore a little bit and see what these geniuses are up to...

 what's in the fishbowl room?

 I love this.  In the announcements area there's a sign indicating "B" is for Basement (so people know what button to press on the elevators).  It appears some students added their own insights here, such as "A is for Algorithm"  and "C is for Cookie".... :)

 Oh, and you know, the 2012 Nobel Prize winner in economics will be the guest lunch speaker, before the "Designing Life" lecture.

Some artifacts in the historical exhibit.

After leaving the computer science building I biked around campus a bit more, and came across a totem pole:

And last but not least, I stopped by the Rodin sculpture garden on my way out.

 So all in all, I give this campus a 10 out of 10.  I suppose getting to enjoy campus without the stresses of studying for finals adds to the overall positive vibes.  But seriously, WOW.

On another note, Ryan and I have been enjoying some of the finer things in life, like Silicon Valley "Ones and Zeroes" wine...

Oh, and last night we had a pretty funny experience.  We took an Uber home from the company holiday dinner party at Ryan's boss's house, and the driver asked us where we were from.  Upon learning we'd just moved from the Netherlands, the driver explained how he knew the Dutch language himself after living in South Africa and learning Afrikaans for several years.  Turns out he himself founded a startup in the healthcare industry in New York several years back, and he and Ryan talked startup talk for the duration of the ride.  Funny thing is, within five minutes of dropping us off at our apartment and saying goodbye, Ryan and I both had LinkedIn invitations from our Uber driver.  Only in Silicon Valley...
 
Before signing off, I just want to give a shout out to some of my all-time favorite American conveniences which I don't know how I survived without over the past five years.  Ladies and gentleman, may I present to you the laundry DRYER!!!  This machine is magnificent!  No more three hour dry cycles in a semi-functional washer/dryer "combo" machine.

 And for the other all-time favorite, especially for Ryan,  we have the jumbo American refrigerator with an automatic ICE MACHINE!!!    No more drippy ice trays or buying bags of ice from the local quickie-mart.  This thing just keeps on pumping out ice cubes like there's no tomorrow.

It's an ice machine miracle!!!!! :) 

Thanksgiving Part 2 - Welcome to the Wild West

Hello again! Now it's time to give an update on Part 2 of our Thanksgiving extravaganza.  This is a long entry, but I can assure you it's mostly pictures.  A picture says a thousand words...

For the official Thanksgiving this past Thursday, we travelled to Carefree, Arizona to reunite with Ryan's two west coast uncles and their families.  We knew the trip was off to a good start when his uncle Sean picked us up at the airport in a huge truck.  Welcome to the west!

When we arrived at their house, we were greeted by the the cutest puppy (bear?) i've ever seen.  At eight months old, Annie is such a bundle of joy with an unlimited supply of energy and kisses.  You can rest assured that she'd make sure no fallen food scraps got left behind...

This Thanksgiving feast was certainly one to remember.  Ryan and I are both so thankful to have been able to celebrate this holiday with family for the first time in five years.  When we went around the table to say what we were thankful for, some happy tears were shed (thanks Lana!)  It was such a wonderful welcome back to the US.  :)

The turkey was perfect, the ham was hamtastic, and all the sides were incredibly delicious.  I'm getting hungry again just looking at these pictures!

 Sean, the master carver

 One big happy family

 My plate (round 1)

post-dinner food coma by the fire

cousins <3

The following day, after sleeping off our food comas, we drove to a nearby park for a sunny hike among the cactuses to try and burn off some of the Thanksgiving feast.  While the pictures below look more like playing than hiking, I ensure you that we did hike a few steps.

a real cowboy!

Cactus fun!  

While the girls played on the swings...

...the boys talked about manly things. 

After the park, we went to a very unique shopping center: The Town Dump.  This place had all kinds of crazy stuff inside for sale, and I'm not really sure who even buys it, but if you need a life-size grizzly bear statue this is the place to go.  

She's got some big...er...shoes to fill.  

In the evening, the original plan was to go to the Buffalo Chip Saloon around the corner, where they have legitimate professional bull-riding on Friday nights.  You can literally ride your horse up to the bar here to get a beer.  However, the town was shocked when on Thanksgiving morning the Buffalo Chip was burned down to the ground.  Luckily no one was injured and the bulls were all okay, however there's currently an investigation to figure out what happened.  I hope when we come back again soon that the Buffalo Chip will be back in business!

Instead of bull-riding, we went with Plan B and drove to Scottsdale to see the Christmas lights at the Fairmount Princess Resort.  I quickly learned that in Arizona, they take their Christmas lighting very seriously! There's this little train you can go on which takes you past all the lighting displays, so of course we had to hop on for the ride...

This guy REALLY likes Christmas

After the train we took a ride on the carousel.  Somehow the 6-year-old ended up with the big horse and I ended up with the small one...

Personally, my favorite part of the whole night was the petting farm - they had baby goats, an alpaca, sheep, and a piglet!! I couldn't help but take some selfies with farm animals...

On our last day together, we got up early and drove an hour and a half to Sedona to see the red rocks.  It was a beautiful drive there, through desert and cactus fields, and finally to the land of red rock.   The first major site in Sedona was Bell Rock, which is a famous energy vortex.  Fun fact: In 1987 over 5,000 New Agers gathered here to be part of the worldwide "Harmonic Convergence," waiting for Bell Rock's top to open and reveal a rising spaceship. 

There were no spaceships during our visit. 

After driving past Bell Rock, we stopped at the Church on the Rock to walk around and enjoy the view.

That big house in the middle is owned by the inventor of Lasik eye surgery.  Funny how an eye surgeon could create such an eye-sore!

After driving through Sedona a bit more, our next destination was Oak Creek, where there are some really nice hiking trails.  Along the way, we stopped at a gas station for some snacks, and I felt a sudden burst of joy when I saw a huge gas station hot-dog station.  USA! USA! USA!

southwestern-style "taco" dogs

Once we arrived in Oak Creek we did a short hike together and enjoyed the scenery.  We quickly learned that when we would hold our little cousin's hands and lift her up in the air while walking, that she would ask for it again and again and again!!!  We must have done the entire hike swinging her in the air, something which I paid for with muscle pain the next morning... :)

 

one...two...three...wheeeee!  AGAIN!!!

After our hike in Oak Creek we drove to Jerome to have dinner at the Hungry Hamburger.  Such a cute little town, with an amazing fudge shop.  We then called it a night, and drove back to Carefree afterwards to relax and wind down before our early flight back to San Francisco the next morning.

Saying goodbye was hard after such an amazing and adventurous weekend with the west coast Hinchey's, but I'm sure we'll be back again soon.  And next time we have bull-riding to look forward to!  We have so many things to be thankful for this year, and getting to spend Thanksgiving weekend back home in the US with our family is certainly at the top of the list.