Heat wave
It's summer in Livermore and the last few days have been hot, really hot. 103 degrees F (39 C). But we just crank that aircon harder and life is the same indoors 
Welcome to California.
The kids are great. Polly will be 5 in December. Polly is swimming laps of the pool freestyle and working on backstroke and butterfly. She has recently discovered mermaids and now prefers to spend her swimming lessons under water. It's summer break from pre-school so Polly is enjoying being at home all day with Henry and Sally.
Last week was a nature camp at the local reserve and coming up is ballet school for a week. So she's a busy girl. Her Nana and Grandad are visiting in August and Polly is beside herself with excitement. After the summer, Polly has 1 more year of pre-school then off to big girl school. We can't believe how quickly she is growing up.
Henry is quite the character, he will be 2 in December. He is as tough as nails, throws himself off everything and will try anything once. He can say "up please" as a question for all occassions - pick me up, put me down, get me my milk, get me that snack, put my shoes on, where is my ice-cream... you get the picture.
We are working on his vocab and he's trying to talk - but he's not there yet. He loves being outside and he loves being wet. He has started sleeping with his teddys but he doesn't seem to mind which one, he has even taken his soft toy emu to bed a few times - thanks Pa! The first thing is says in the morning when he wakes up is "Poppy!" because he wants to play with Polly, but she usually sleeps much later than him so he walks past her room with his finger up to his mouth saying "shhhhh". We are just starting the power struggle phase with Henry but
he doesn't seem to mind being sent to his room to read a book and contemplate his problems so thats helping us stay relaxed.
Sally looks fantastic. She is working hard at the gym and very strong and fit. Her knees are doing great and she has really done a great job recovering from knee surgery last year. As usual she is over committed to mums club stuff and park days and hanging out with friends, and other activities - but somehow she manages to keep waking up each day, although I bet she could sleep for a week if I gave her the chance.
She spent a great break in Vegas earlier in the year and has visited friends back in San Luis Obispo. She has also completely landscaped the garden and it looks awsome. I am ashamed to say I don't have many photos of Sally in the last year - but I will correct that over the coming months!
I have been busy as usual. I climbed Mt Shasta in May, via Casaval Ridge - we had perfect weather.
I have done a few backpacking/fishing trips and I'm enjoying getting back outdoors over the summer. I climbed Mt Shasta with a new friend Tom, and we are planning to climb Half Dome later in the year and then a winter ascent of Shasta or another fourteener (> 14 thousand feet). I have been doing a few 100 mile bicycle rides, one followed stage 2 of the Tour de California and ended with a Category 1 climb, it was a great event. I plan
to start road racing this year and next year do road racing and time trials - time will tell if I really follow through with this plan I resigned from Molecular Devices and got a job at Carl Zeiss Meditec, 10 minutes down the road in Dublin. This week is my second week and I love the new job. I am writing device control and data acquisition algorithms for an OCT device (Optical Coherence Tomography) which can image the retina. I already feel like
I'm making a good contribution which feels great. The people are really nice, the technology is cutting edge, the commute is awsome - I am so happy I made the move from MDC.
Mum and Dad will be here in 3 weeks and we are all taking a trip to San Diego. They are also taking a trip to Canada. I will take Dad and Polly to Yosemite so Dad can watch her rock climb and we might go fishing while we are there. I can't wait for them to get here.
Well that will wrap it up for this note. More news in Autumn or Winter - best regards from Nick, Sally, Polly and Henry.
Welcome to California.The kids are great. Polly will be 5 in December. Polly is swimming laps of the pool freestyle and working on backstroke and butterfly. She has recently discovered mermaids and now prefers to spend her swimming lessons under water. It's summer break from pre-school so Polly is enjoying being at home all day with Henry and Sally.
Last week was a nature camp at the local reserve and coming up is ballet school for a week. So she's a busy girl. Her Nana and Grandad are visiting in August and Polly is beside herself with excitement. After the summer, Polly has 1 more year of pre-school then off to big girl school. We can't believe how quickly she is growing up.
Henry is quite the character, he will be 2 in December. He is as tough as nails, throws himself off everything and will try anything once. He can say "up please" as a question for all occassions - pick me up, put me down, get me my milk, get me that snack, put my shoes on, where is my ice-cream... you get the picture.
We are working on his vocab and he's trying to talk - but he's not there yet. He loves being outside and he loves being wet. He has started sleeping with his teddys but he doesn't seem to mind which one, he has even taken his soft toy emu to bed a few times - thanks Pa! The first thing is says in the morning when he wakes up is "Poppy!" because he wants to play with Polly, but she usually sleeps much later than him so he walks past her room with his finger up to his mouth saying "shhhhh". We are just starting the power struggle phase with Henry but
he doesn't seem to mind being sent to his room to read a book and contemplate his problems so thats helping us stay relaxed.
Sally looks fantastic. She is working hard at the gym and very strong and fit. Her knees are doing great and she has really done a great job recovering from knee surgery last year. As usual she is over committed to mums club stuff and park days and hanging out with friends, and other activities - but somehow she manages to keep waking up each day, although I bet she could sleep for a week if I gave her the chance.
She spent a great break in Vegas earlier in the year and has visited friends back in San Luis Obispo. She has also completely landscaped the garden and it looks awsome. I am ashamed to say I don't have many photos of Sally in the last year - but I will correct that over the coming months!
I have been busy as usual. I climbed Mt Shasta in May, via Casaval Ridge - we had perfect weather.
I have done a few backpacking/fishing trips and I'm enjoying getting back outdoors over the summer. I climbed Mt Shasta with a new friend Tom, and we are planning to climb Half Dome later in the year and then a winter ascent of Shasta or another fourteener (> 14 thousand feet). I have been doing a few 100 mile bicycle rides, one followed stage 2 of the Tour de California and ended with a Category 1 climb, it was a great event. I plan
to start road racing this year and next year do road racing and time trials - time will tell if I really follow through with this plan
I resigned from Molecular Devices and got a job at Carl Zeiss Meditec, 10 minutes down the road in Dublin. This week is my second week and I love the new job. I am writing device control and data acquisition algorithms for an OCT device (Optical Coherence Tomography) which can image the retina. I already feel likeI'm making a good contribution which feels great. The people are really nice, the technology is cutting edge, the commute is awsome - I am so happy I made the move from MDC.
Mum and Dad will be here in 3 weeks and we are all taking a trip to San Diego. They are also taking a trip to Canada. I will take Dad and Polly to Yosemite so Dad can watch her rock climb and we might go fishing while we are there. I can't wait for them to get here.
Well that will wrap it up for this note. More news in Autumn or Winter - best regards from Nick, Sally, Polly and Henry.
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