A short trip to Tahoe with Hannah

One day during our stay in Reno there wasn't much to do and I wanted to go take photos at Tahoe. Minna and none of my siblings wanted to go for the drive. So I invited Hannah, who is pretty much up for anything.



We got out of the truck and it was really cold. I didn't want Hannah running around (we were at scenic outlook where lots of cars pull off) so I put down a sweatshirt on the snowbank and put some gloves on her and she sat there happily while I took photos.


This thing has arrows pointing to various sites around the lake. None of which you could see because of the fog. Hannah wanted to sit right there.

Sledding on Christmas Day

This is Jane and I sledding on Christmas Day. She loved it, despite not having gloves or mittens. She laughed and laughed at Lucy (the dog) running along with us. It was such a fun snow day.

Merry Christmas!

The most memorable thing about this Christmas is the snow. We woke up to a few inches, we opened presents and it kept on snowing. Eventually we went out to play in the snow.

Skeet shooting

I did ok for doing it twice in my life. I really enjoyed shooting this over-under shotgun.

We are related

Sometimes I'm amazed at Hannah, she is so beautiful.

My mom's head injury

My dad was watching Ben and I playing ping-pong in the garage and Minna came into let my dad know that there had been an accident.

We went in to find my mom sitting on the floor in pain. She had tripped backward and hit her head on an end table. There was a pool of blood on the floor and someone was holding a white cloth with red stains to her head. Her hands were tingly and she said she saw stars.

She cut her head open pretty good.

She refused to go to a doctor, so we called my brother the doctor and he recommended we put some stuff on it to hold the wound closed. That didn't work. We called our veterinarian friend and he sewed her head shut. We were all entertained as he was very handy at the needle and thread.

She is fine, and has been medicated and so she doesn't have a head ache. It's been quite a Sunday afternoon.

This photo is from when we were sending photos of the wound to Jeromy. And we took photos with a ruler. We were trying to see if he thought we should take her to the doctor.



All us kids were very impressed by her tolerance for pain.

An announcement

I would like my three readers (all relatives) to know that I've started a new blog dedicated to taking quality photos with an inexpensive point-and-shoot camera.

Click here to go to my new blog.

I'm Twittering

I'm finally doing this. http://twitter.com/dandyer

My Birthday

I never really wrote anything about my birthday, so now I will... nearly three weeks later.


The Chiropractor
We started the day going to the chiropractor for Minna. I was happy to have her feel better. Her back was really bothering her.


Boom Noodle
Minna's parents took care of the kids. Minna and I went to Capital Hill in Seattle and ate at Boom. This delicious noodle place, where I had the biggest bowl of soup I think I've ever eaten.



Toy Store
Right around the corner from Boom was this awesome boutique toy store. We played with all sorts of toys. It's so fun to go into a toy store without kids.

The Movie
We watched Twilight. Which wasn't as good as the book. But the movie was entertaining.

At Home
We had a little celebration at home where Minna gave me a stove top grill! Minna's parents gave me the Planet Earth DVD set. I also received the first Horatio Hornblower book.


I really, really enjoyed my birthday. I had so much fun and it was all so stress free. It was one of the best birthdays I can remember.

Jane getting chocolatey

After Thanksgiving

On "Black Friday" I went with Minna's dad to get a couple Christmas trees. Hannah joined us an played a key role in the whole event. She kept our trees from getting "claimed" by others. It was raining.



Hannah and Papa with one tree.


Hannah and myself with another tree.


Hannah with the prize of the day.

I went into Manhattan for dinner

I had a work dinner where we celebrated a recent finished project. I'm glad its done!

We ate near Times Square.


The only photo of the food. It was a tasty salad.


On my way home I was playing with my camera's timer setting, in the subway waiting for the train.

I had a good laugh at this today

Fun with photobooth

My commute home

North - From Seattle to Albany

I woke up really early and flew from Seattle to Albany. This was the first leg on my way the cold north. I would like to note that this was video taped was while Minna and I where dating, just a few months before I asked her to marry me.

Playing Hide 'n Seek with Hannah

I find Hannah.


Hannah finds me.

Are YOU going to vote?

Well are you?

Minna's Birthday Cake

I've never really made cake before. I mean... I have, but not a layered cake, which is really what a real cake is.


Hannah helped me with mixing the frosting.

One thing about this recipe is that you should follow the directions about putting paper on the bottom of the pan before cooking. I didn't and the cake is so soft I had to insert two needles (attached to each other with string) around the sides of the pan and cut the cake away from the pan.



Did I mention how soft the cake is? You have to freeze it just to be able to work with it, as mentioned in the recipe.





Make sure to let the chocolate glaze cool, it helped with the thick dripping effect.
I'd also recommend keeping it in the fridge before slicing, otherwise you'll just mash the cake down.



This cake is found on my favorite food blog Smitten Kitchen

Happy Birthday to my amazing wife

Minna is 34.
I love my wife.

Queens at Night

I finally found out that the roof access in the other stairwell is open. I've been wanting to go out on our roof for a long time. My hope was to be able to see the lights of Manhattan. I can't, but I can see Queens pretty good.


You can barely see the building I work in. It's the building on the horizon that is right above where the lights of the train disappear.

This photo is actually looking east. The train streaking by is headed in the opposite direction toward Manhattan.

The big buildings on the left are apartment buildings.

umbrella in hurricane force winds

Something I would love to try someday: umbrella + wind tunnel =



(cause when the wind blows at 80 mph an umbrella will help keep you dry)

found here

33 people named Dan Dyer

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 33 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

But on Facebook there are 108 people that match "dan dyer". Check here.

Punched in the face

I laughed. I love slow motion, especially for this type of wonderfulness.

Watch This

Found at kottke.org

The train by our house

I just like this photo. Taken today while we were out for a walk with Minna and the girls.

A snack at the park

On Saturday while Minna was busy I took the girls to the park. Even with playground equipment it's pretty easy to get them to sit down for food. They had these tiny little tables for little kids.

Chained to a bunkbed with a velociraptor

I could survive for 1 minute, 19 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

Another day taking photos from a kite, with a twist ending

It was just another normal day taking photos from a kite. Minna's cousin Amy was in town and we were all down at Rockaway Beach. This was just hours before hurricane Hanna swept across New York City. It was perfectly windy... or so I thought.




There were so many surfers. The waves were big and plentiful.


There was a really cool jetty that I walked out on. I got splashed a couple of times. You can see me in this photo.


With the kite still in the air, I walked it back to the beach. Where suddenly without warning it turned straight down and landed in the water.


The camera landed on the damp sand. And appears to be working fine. I had to fish the kite out of the ocean. Pulling on a kite in water is a hundred times harder than pulling on a kite in the air.


I'm glad the camera landed on the sand. The water would have been bad.

The kite still flew, it was just heavy with water. It's nylon and dried out pretty quick. The camera still has some sand in it but works fine, so no harm done. Just another story to tell.

Water temperature

We don't control our water temperature. We live in a building with a boiler so it should be a little hot but isn't this excessive? (out of the tap)

The Carnival at Atlas Park

This evening was really fun. We decided on the spur of the moment to go to this carnival and take the girls. They have never been to anything like it.







It was fun to ride the ferris wheel with Hannah. I think she might have been slightly nervous, or more like curious. You can see it in the video, as she realizes how awesome the ferris wheel is. You can see it all on her face, from the time we start moving...


Hannah on the Ferris Wheel

Sometimes just one thing...

...can make you 10 times more cool than you really are. In my case, on this day a motorcycle did just that.

Luckily, Shane stopped recording just as I realized I was going too fast for the stop sign and skidded to a stop.

Hannah's view of seagulls.

Hannah and I were having a talk on the bed and she was showing me how seagulls land in water (she was showing me how they do this by jumping straight up and landing on her bum on the bed).

"And then they splash in the the water, and go potty and [it] turns yellow"

Playing with Photo Booth

The rest of the trip

It's been so long since I went on a long road trip. And it's been so long since I was on a long road trip out west. Everything was beautiful and new.


We drove from Salt Lake City to Lava Hot Springs Idaho.


It was nice that Shane was driving. Minna and I shared the backseat with Hannah.



From the backseat I could see:
Large trucks


Kerianne


Shane


Pretty much the only things to do at Lava Hot Springs have to do with water.


We had a ton of fun with our Family. I just wish the reunion was a day longer, it would give me more time to get reacquainted with all my cousins. Not all of them were there and I still didn't even get to talk to some of them. Candice ended up posting a ton of photos of the reunion, go take a look. Be sure to scroll down and see the synchronized swimming routine video by our family.

Then back to Provo. One of the most fun things about the whole trip is when we went to "Jump On It" to entertain the little kids. Well needless to say Shane and I probably had more fun than they did.




It was also Sharalee's birthday while we were there. (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!)


At the end of our trip we went up into the mountains with Tony and his wife Jocelyn.


It was very muddy


We were up very high. It was very beautiful.


The remainder of the trip was filled with no sleeping red-eye flights. No one felt like taking any photos, so we have none.

I ended up taking a jumpseat from Salt Lake to Vegas, then taking a jumpseat again from Vegas to JFK. That was the red-eye portion. Then I tried to go to work the next day. Around lunch time I actually went into a conference room and took a little nap.

It was a hard trip but family is always worth it.

The photo album is here.