http://www.melephant.com/index.htmlFun in the life of Stevoenstevoh@berkeley.eduCopyright 2007 Stevo2010-08-23T20:52:08-07:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Mon, 23 Aug 2010 21:15:57 -0700stevoh@berkeley.eduNone2010-08-23T20:52:08-07:00http://www.melephant.com/files/e71a06d03a762b0a3c7fab58658e896e-103.html#unique-entry-id-103http://www.melephant.com/files/e71a06d03a762b0a3c7fab58658e896e-103.html#unique-entry-id-103WSIKF stands for the Washington State International Kite Festival, which takes place every August in Long Beach, Washington. While not exactly close by, 2.5 hrs or so, I would still call this my home field since I fly here more than anywhere else nearby. It’s just a great location to fly! That said, this weekend I didn’t fly anything of my own, but rather enjoyed watching everyone else fly their kites. It was, as Amy wonderfully described it, a perfect beach day. It started off a bit cloudy, but cleared off for a sunny warm afternoon. Oh, and the winds were a bit weak...which is why I didn’t bother flying anything myself. One fun thing to watch was the group of flyers trying to set the record for most number of revolution kites flying in formation together. They got 60 up the day we were there, but actually set the record on Thursday with 64. This is a really amazing feat given that each kite has 4 lines. That’s 240 kite lines all flying in essentially the same space! Overall, a very fun day, and Amy only had a good natured sit down strike at the very end as we were heading back to the car. Lucky you can drive on the beach, since I brought the car to her :)


]]>stevoh@berkeley.eduNone2010-08-23T20:24:48-07:00http://www.melephant.com/files/9775ecdee34be69d38698e4e586ad6be-102.html#unique-entry-id-102http://www.melephant.com/files/9775ecdee34be69d38698e4e586ad6be-102.html#unique-entry-id-102A couple of weekends ago it was obscenely hot in Hillsboro, so we headed to the coast. It was supposed to be perfect beach weather, 80’s and sunny, with winds oddly out of the Northeast. Well, that was the forecast at least. It was beautiful when we arrived, but the winds were actually coming out of the Southwest, and they blew up some mighty fog. The winds were nice though, and while it was a bit chilly, it was still better than the 103 F temps back home. The real fun, though, was drying everything out in the backyard the next day.


]]>stevoh@berkeley.eduNone2010-08-23T20:21:53-07:00http://www.melephant.com/files/c39f6b0334843593a605e63c799cfba1-101.html#unique-entry-id-101http://www.melephant.com/files/c39f6b0334843593a605e63c799cfba1-101.html#unique-entry-id-101People have been asking for some pregnant Amy photos for a while now. So earlier this month we got out in the yard on a sunny day, and I got some approved photos :)

Pretty Pregnant Amy

]]>stevoh@berkeley.eduNone2010-06-19T19:20:35-07:00http://www.melephant.com/files/d14e6930322c9f12ca940e05761bc418-100.html#unique-entry-id-100http://www.melephant.com/files/d14e6930322c9f12ca940e05761bc418-100.html#unique-entry-id-100

For a brief moment last weekend, summer decided to grace Oregon. Not only that, but there was wind! So with my mom in town to see a pregnant Amy, we all three headed to Long Beach to fly some kites. For the first time since I received my Peter Lynn Cuttlefish last year, there was finally enough wind to get him off the ground. It probably only needs about 7-10 mph, but even that had been asking too much of the Oregon coast in the fall and winter. Now we had 15 mph, and on his initial flight I realized I’d underestimated his pull as I watched his sandbag, probably 75 lbs, get pulled out of its hole and start dragging down the beach! I quickly jumped on the bag, dug in my heels, and stopped his travels. After a couple attempts we got it right, two big bags deeply buried. Luckily I’d brought the full size shovel. With Cuddles in the air, and stabilized with a lifter, I got to work putting up some other kites while Amy and my mom enjoyed the sun and beach. One thing about flying kites of this size is that they always attract a crowd. In this case, not only did it stop traffic on the beach, both foot and car, but it even brought people out of their homes and rentals on the other side of the dunes to see what was going on down at the beach! At the end of the day the winds hadn’t died down, so it took both my mom’s and my combined weight to walk down Cuddle’s line. We packed up, had dinner at our favorite restaurant in town (The Depot), and headed back home. It was a very full day of kites and sun, and it sure felt nice after a long winter.

]]>stevoh@berkeley.eduNone2010-06-02T22:10:30-07:00http://www.melephant.com/files/87c5c7ae83621b6592a1624676d8a6dd-99.html#unique-entry-id-99http://www.melephant.com/files/87c5c7ae83621b6592a1624676d8a6dd-99.html#unique-entry-id-99We recently made it out to the East coast for one last quick vacation before travel becomes much more complicated. We were only out for a long weekend, but we had a pretty busy schedule between Amy’s friend Liz’s wedding and a baby shower Amy’s sister, Lisa, was throwing for us. It was a bit of a whirlwind, but it was a welcome break from work and the dreary weather in the Northwest.

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