Sasha!

It's unsurprising, but still pretty remarkable, that the arrival of such a small creature can cause so much...commotion. So many regular activities, so much of life's daily rhythm, blown completely away with the birth of a child. It certainly made a difference that this particular child (my daughter! even a few weeks in, still somewhat strange to think of oneself as a father) added to said commotion by arriving well ahead of schedule, by a whole five weeks!

As lucky as we are to have Sasha healthy, despite being pre-term, we're equally fortunate to have our families and friends so involved, and so very generous. It's far too easy to take those around you for granted, but ocassions like this really bring all the generosity, caring, and concern, into focus. Whether a beatiful baby shower - complete with a special guest, the actual baby! - or the food that nieghbors, family, and friends brought over, or a grandma who hopped on a plane not twelve hours after the birth to come help us out for a few weeks, or grandparents who cleaned our house, took care of our furry, non-human (sorry to break it to you Marty, but you're actually a dog) daughters, and outfitted their first grandkid with enough clothes to last until she's age five, it's all been quite cool to have all of you around and watching out for us. Thank you.

Will this blog turn into "All Things Sasha"? I don't think so; I've tended not to include too many personal/family posts in the past, and that trend will probably continue. But there will be updates here and there. And you never know - after all, one shouldn't underestimate the enthusiasm of a proud dad...

Sweet Tail

Here are a few photos from our whale-watching excursion while we were in Boston a few weeks ago. We were up there seeing the sights and visiting Lis and John, who graciously put us up for a few nights and showed us around.

This past weekend was another crazy-busy weekend filled with Matt & Amy wedding stuff. A fun time, but it took us a few days to recover from all the activity and all the people.

And now Mr. Grau is a father. And the apocalypse is not upon us! Weird.

Western Excursion

This past weekend, Jenny and I were in Florissant, Colorado for a family reunion of her mom's side of the family. Not what I would call a relaxing trip - our bed in the lodge that we stayed as was less than comfortable, plus we were hanging out with seven kids, all under the age of twelve, and most under the age of six, so that can certainly wear one down after a while - but a good time nonetheless, with gorgeous weather most of the time too. I'll have to post or link to the photos from our Sunday hike at a later date (still need to download and sort through the pics).

Amongst the plethora of entertainment options at this place - pool table, ping pong, foosball, air hockey, swimming pool - was something I had never seen before. An outdoor horseshoes-like game, we didn't even know what it was called, but Jenny's cousin Rob had played it before so at least we knew how to play. Turns out it goes by several different names (at least according to this morning's web search) - Monkey Bar Golf, Ladder Golf, and Bolo Ball are three names that I found. Bolo Ball seems to make the most sense, because this game's sole relation to golf is that golf balls are used to construct the bolos; you could easily use another type of ball.

Fire Island NY

We just took a few days off to extend the (otherwise always-too-short) weekend, and drove up to our friend Tammie's family vacation house on the eastern portion of Fire Island, a barrier island just south of Long Island. Well, we didn't really drive all the way out there, because there are no roads to speak of on Fire Island - hell, the "fire department" is a fire hose and pump mounted to the back of one of those golf cart sized John Deere wagons. The weather was kinda blah for most of the stay (we have our theories about that), but still an enjoyable and relaxing trip. Nice beaches, no commerical development at all, and there are even deer running around the island, fully acclimated to people. We had plenty of food at the house, and more importantly, plenty of alcohol, including a Piña Colada concoction that included ice cream and donut holes.

On Monday we drove into Manhattan to have lunch with Ben, Jenny's brother. I've only driven in NYC once before, but that was on a weekend - midday on a weekday is a whole different experience, almost non-stop thrills! We had lunch in Harlem, which isn't too far from Ben's apartment on the Upper West Side, at a cool little soul food place. Then, after less than two hours in the city, we hit the road again. You know, I dig New York a lot and like visiting, but after every trip up there, I still come home thinking that a small big city like Baltimore is still more my speed.

7/7/77: Happy Birthday to Jenny!

The celebration actually started eight days ago, when Em and Dave were in town and we went to an O's-Phillies game. I had called the O's a day before, and gotten Jenny's name - and upcoming age - up on the scoreboard with the other birthdays! She was (probably?) happy that her name was up there, but less than thrilled about her age being displayed, since she still had eight more days of her twenty-eighth year to enjoy.

Little-known fact: Jenny shares a birthday with fashion icon Pierre Cardin! (same day, but back in 1922)

27 Points of Light, or 1 Blazing Inferno?

What can I say, a bit of Easter-weekend inspiration! Either that, or I was just really hungry for brownies, and who has time to place and light 27 individual candles when the brownies beckon? Regardless of the motivation, I have a feeling that a new family birthday-celebrating tradition has been born!

Happy Birthday Matt! Hope you win big this weekend, bro, like I always do (haha! I'm so funny!). Just remember the words of the King: All you need's a strong heart and a nerve of steel...

A Birthday Conspiracy

Jenny and my parents arrived at my office Friday around noon, with my sister Em as a special surprise guest! (Jenny had flown her in from Charleston) We proceeded to the National Zoo - my Mom's idea, she's a panda fanatic - and that evening Jenny and I trekked back to the Charm City for a fantastic birthday dinner at Sascha's. Little did I know then, that the festivities weren't yet over....

Saturday - my parents and Em were going to come out to Baltimore for dinner with us that night; a dual celebration of mine and Em's birthdays (hers is today, happy birthday Em!!!), or so I thought. Jenny claimed that she had to go into the office that afternoon, since she was out all day on Friday. Very plausible; I didn't think twice about it. Nor did I think twice when she claimed early that evening that she left her cell phone at the office; again, very believable, since she's been known to forget or misplace things from time to time. I also wasn't suspicious about Barry & Helen wanting to watch the end of My Cousin Vinnie on TV instead of heading out to eat earlier than planned (everyone was already hungry around 7, reservations were for 8) - after all, they love that movie.

But then again, I didn't have any reason to be suspicious! I had thought that something was going on for the last few weeks, with Jenny on the phone with my mom a few times per week, but when Em showed up I figured hey, that was it. Nope. Most everyone who's reading this knows the rest - I show up at DuClaw in Fells Point, everyone's there, I am genuinely surprised, we drink, eat, mingle; a good time is had by all!

Now for the second round of birthday thank-yous! Thanks again to the whole family - Barry, Helen, and Em for helping out with the planning and the photo album, and Dave, Amy, and Matt for all your love (I know you all would have been there if you could; get well soon Amy!). Thanks to everyone who showed up, especially the LTIers who made the journey from DC - special thanks to Scott for coordinating with Jenny to make sure I didn't inadvertently spoil any plans - and our Patterson Park neighbors for taking time to celebrating with a guy that they don't know too well. Finally, to the wife of the year, Jenny - what can I say, you pulled it off marvelously, babe. It's gonna be tough to top that in another year-and-a-half, when it comes time to celebrate your second 29th birthday....I'm up to the challenge though (mwaahahhah!!).

Walking on the Moon

No, not literally. But that is what I felt like I was doing on occasion during our recent trip out to Utah for Jenny's brother's wedding. That feeling stemmed not only from the wedding, which had facets that were unfamiliar in a bizarre way, but also from our subsequent trip to Moab and Arches National Park, a landscape that was unfamiliar in a spectacular, otherworldly way.

Utah is...different than the East Coast, there's no mistaking that. I had been out there three (?) times previously, so I thought I was getting used to the culture. Then we went to this wedding. Foremost, it was a Thursday affair, which is unheard of in the East. I can only assume that the Thursday date was necessary so that Chris and Jen (the newlyweds) could have use of the Salt Lake City temple for the ceremony. It probably saved them a few bucks too, something that I can appreciate since we're still paying off our own wedding that took place last November.

I had never attended a wedding in which I was barred from viewing the actual ceremony, until last week. The Mormons have a closed-door policy for their weddings, evidently. Actually, my understanding is that the closed-door policy is for the temple, but since the wedding takes place within said temple - in nerd-speak, according to the distributive property - it applies to weddings as well. So Catholic heathens like myself waited outside the temple, along with the non-temple-worthy Mormons in attendance, children from Mormon families, and everyone else. That worked out OK; the weather was nice and we played with - and, when necessary, chased down - niece and nephews. The reception was fun, with live band and food, although the absence of a bar or any adult beverages of any kind was striking. I was warned beforehand, but it's still weird to be drinking lemonade (w/o whiskey) at a wedding reception. At least the reception was uneventful, unlike the previous evening's rehearsal dinner. During which the bride's parents both chose to mention that they wished that the bride's previous fiancee (boyfriend?), who was in attendance with his wife, had been the one to join their family. Never mind that Chris is a fabulous guy who's a lot of fun to be around, and that one would be hard-pressed to meet a nicer person, and that he was sitting right next to them hearing this crap! - the parents of the bride should really know better than to be so rude and disrespectful of their daughter and future son-in-law, right?!? I'm not sure I would have believed that it happened, were I not there to hear it myself.

I don't think words can do Arches National Park justice. The hiking was amazing - challenging and beautiful. Sometimes we would stop, not for a rest, but simply to look around for a sec. The weather was pleasant enough too, aside from the wind on the first day. It was what I would imagine the surface of Mars to be like, except with more cacti, shrubbery, and butterflies. Truly an alien landscape, but maybe all too appropriate that it's located in Utah? Don't get me wrong, I like visiting, and Jenny's family is wonderful. But it's still good to be home.