June 22, 2008 - Scott
Last weekend we went back to La Crosse for Dan's graduation party. One day we went geocaching with my mom. She is better at it than we are. Last Friday, Serena, Odessa, and I went strawberry picking. It was like heaven on Earth for the little one. She was eating strawberries faster than we could pick them. She just kept stuffing her mouth. Occasionally she'd pluck a whole one and stick it right in, leaves and stem intact. This didn't seem to bother her. We tried hard to keep her from eating everything, but it was impossible. Tomorrow night we will sleep in an igloo.
June 6, 2008 - Scott
Our vacation to Oregon was from Friday, May 23 to Saturday the 31st. Friday morning we left before sunrise, Odessa still in pajamas, for the Dane County Regional Airport. We had a flight to Minneapolis, and then on to Portland. We were unsure how Odessa would tolerate the plane ride, but we had a pretty good idea that it wouldn't be pleasant.
She ended up doing well for the first flight. The longer ride to Portland was much more difficult, and for the last 45 minutes everyone else on the plane became very familiar with her voice. Throughout the vacation, Odessa really struggled with transportation in general. She was asked to sit still for a very long time, whether in planes or cars, and I am sure it seemed very unfair to her.
It was raining in Portland when we landed. We dropped some things off at the house that Emily, Bonnie, and Emily's friend Rachel shared, and then drove east into the Columbia River Gorge. It was a beautiful place. We stopped at Multnomah Falls, which is a gigantic 600ft waterfall. It was very impressive. We continued east and drove around in a valley where there are orchards and wineries before returning back to Portland for a very nice dinner that Bonnie and Rachel had prepared. It is my belief that Bonnie is some kind of super human.
On Saturday we went to the markets in downtown Portland, which were great. Later in the day, everyone but Serena and I headed to Seaside, OR while we stayed behind to be on our own for a bit. That afternoon we headed back into the gorge to get better looks at the many waterfalls there, and they were spectacular. It was sunny for most of the day, but as we were making our return to Portland we were caught up in a very intense hailstorm.
The next day we drove into Washington to take a 13 stop waterfall tour I had planned out ahead of time. It was an ill-fated endeavor from the outset and the first negative was the persistent morning rain. Many of the falls I picked were in somewhat remote areas. We spent a lot of time on gravel roads, sort of in the middle of nowhere in a state I had never been to. After driving for a while en route to the first falls, we eventually came to a gate. The road was closed.
Looking at the GPS I planned an alternate route to the first falls. That road, too, ended up being closed. So we backtracked about a half hour and tried yet another route. This one ended up working, but we had lost about an hour's worth of time. This wasn't good because I had the day pretty tightly scheduled, but it wasn't the end of the world.
After the next couple falls weren't much trouble things seemed to be going more smoothly. We were on a gravel road and had been for almost an hour. It was kind of a creepy road. We were in some high elevation areas and there was a lot of fog and haze. Downed trees and snow lined, and sometimes crossed parts of, the road. We didn't see any other cars the entire time. Eventually we had to stop the car because the road was covered in snow.
I got out to scout around, but it was clear that we could go no further. The snow was two feet deep in places and continued for as far as I could see. Our little rental car wasn't quite made for this and it would be a pretty awful thing to get stuck out here. We had to turn around and go all the way back to the beginning, abandoning the waterfalls that lay beyond and losing a couple more hours of time. Because of the time lost, I had to start cutting more future waterfalls out of the tour.
The centerpiece of the day's tour was to be Falls Creek Falls. From what I had heard about it, it was supposed to be incredible. The thing was, it required a 3.5 mile round trip hike which I figured would take about 2 1/2 hours total, including the time to photograph it and to do a nearby geocache. The distance wasn't the problem, the precious time it would take to do the hike was. We talked about whether we should cut it out in order to see more waterfalls, but we ended up deciding to try it anyway.
We made our way and began our hike. It was a beautiful area, but we couldn't help but feel hurried. We found the geocache with no difficulties, thankfully. When we got to the falls it became immediately apparent that we had made the right decision. Its magnitude and power were immense.
It started to rain on us on our walk back, and we were pretty wet for the second time in two days (yesterday we got drenched by a waterfall's spray). I cut another two waterfalls from the tour, and we headed to our next target. That waterfall was hard to view because a tree had fallen and knocked out the viewpoint. Then we went to our two final destinations only to be met by a washed out and collapsed road. Of my top five waterfalls of the day, we got to see number one, but numbers two through five eluded us. We made our way to rejoin the others at Seaside where Bonnie had prepared yet another delicious meal for us to devour.
The next day we went tidepooling, which was something I had wanted to do even in Alaska. It was fantastic and I could spend hours doing it. Following that we went crabbing. We split into two teams by drawing cards and decided to have a friendly competition. Utilizing very skillful tactics, such as cheating, they were able to win.
Bonnie and Rachel had obligations in Portland on Tuesday so Serena and I offered to drive them back, and then we would explore Portland a little bit ourselves. We walked around downtown for a while. It is a neat area. Then we left to go visit Leah, a friend of Serena's, who lived in the Portland area. We didn't spend too much time there but enough that I feel comfortable saying she is one of the friendliest people I've met. While there, Odessa tripped while playing outside. It was her first real fall on cement and had her parents quite alarmed, but she was just fine.
On Wednesday everyone went to Astoria, which is in the northwest corner of Oregon. We walked around, ate at a restaurant, went in a weird store, and visited a tribute to Lewis and Clark in column form. The next day we split up a bit. Serena, Emily, and their mother went shopping, Brad and Odessa went for a walk, and I went out looking for wildflowers and waves to photograph. Following that, Serena and I went tidepooling again for a short while before rejoining the others at Seaside. We went to the local aquarium and Emily did her first geocache.
On Friday the weather was nicer and Serena, Odessa, and I planned to drive south along the coast. Like the other trip I planned, the waterfall tour, this one had its own share of complications. We lost two hours in the morning because our car keys couldn't be found. We even had a guy come and pry open our door but the keys weren't in the car. We eventually located them in an unlikely place: Brad's coat pocket. Before the day was over I would also lose my sun glasses and rip a hole in my pants when it got caught on a fence. That evening, we all met up and ate a nice dinner in Cannon Beach.
In the morning we packed to leave. The plane ride back to Minneapolis was mostly uneventful. Serena's mother is very good with Odessa and actually got her to sleep for a large part of the flight. There was a thunderstorm over Minneapolis which delayed our landing a bit, somewhat shortening our three hour layover. After waking up just a few hundred feet from the Pacific Ocean and sixteen hours of travel time later, we finally made it back to our apartment in Madison.
The trip was a lot of fun for all of us. We thank Serena's parents for their incredible generosity and also Emily, Bonnie, and Rachel for their hospitality.
Pictures:
May 23 & 24
May 25
May 26
May 27 & 28
May 29
May 30 & 31
June 1, 2008 - Scott
We are back from our trip out west. At some point this week there will be a large update including many pictures of neat things like waterfalls (which few will care about aside from me) and a vacationing Odessa (which anyone who still comes to this website will probably want to see). Even as Serena and I were looking over our photographs together I would say something like, "Isn't that columnar basalt beneath the lichen fascinating?" Then she would reply, "I'm bored, let's get to the pictures with people in them."
As I say, pictures will be forthcoming later this week. And for those of you want an update on the squirrel saga, I can see no evidence of additional house-devouring.
May 19, 2008 - Scott
In case you were worried about the suspicious lack of posting lately, it is not related to the squirrel incidents. And while the areas around our front door are quite well gnawed off, the squirrel hasn't been around for about a week.
A lot has happened recently. Serena finished her semester, and consequently her first year of Pharmacy school, last Friday. We had our fourth wedding anniversary on the 15th. And today it was Serena's birthday. One of the things she wanted to do was to take some family pictures in the blooming UW-Madison Arboretum. We attempted to do this, but weather didn't cooperate and neither did a little girl who just wanted to run around. Regardless, we still got some great pictures, including the most adorable photo of a toddler smelling a fragrant lilac bush you will most likely ever see. Check out the pictures here.
On Friday we leave for Portland, OR to visit with Odessa's Aunts Emily and Bonnie, which we are all very much looking forward to. Planes are still kind of scary, though.
May 3, 2008 - Scott
There is a squirrel eating my house.
April 30, 2008 - Scott
It was a busy week last week. We went to the zoo and had some fun there. We also attended Serena's White Coat Ceremony, where she got, unsurprisingly, her white coat. To cap it all off, that weekend we traveled to Minneapolis to celebrate Mark and Alyssa's wedding. It was a very nice ceremony and I think everyone had a pretty good time. I think some people also had a pretty crazy time. There was a little boy there that was Odessa's age, and it was fun to watch her chase him playfully. Pictures can be found here.
April 16, 2008 - Scott
What a beautiful day it was today. Odessa is just getting over a cold that I gave her, and now her mother has a sore throat. It's about time I get them sick, instead of the other way around like it usually is. I've uploaded a collection of photos of Odessa taken over the last two weeks. You can find them here.
April 9, 2008 - Scott
Yesterday we went to the Brewers game at Miller Park vs. the Reds. It was a much more exciting game than today's, with a win in extra innings. Odessa didn't really like sitting there for so long, but she was a good girl overall. In the 9th I promised her that there was only one out left and that we'd go home after that, but then the Reds hit a home run and forced another inning. Before the game we ran into the Racing Sausages walking around. We tried to take some pictures with them, but Odessa was mortified by their existence. It took her a long time to relax after encountering those monstrosities.
April 3, 2008 - Scott
Baseball season has started, which is a big deal in our house. So we're pretty happy about that. In other news, Odessa seems poised to climb out of her crib. I think in general her favorite activity is finding new ways to horrify her parents. She is able to get her entire foot over the edge of the rail. We think the only option we have is to transition her to a toddler bed, which we'll do after Serena's next pay day. That should be so much fun and I am so lucky that Serena is willing to allow me to be the one who sits in there with her every night to make sure she stays in bed. Until then? Pillows outside her crib.
April 1, 2008 - Serena
This is probably not the place to announce such things, but I'll be honest and admit that I just don't want to deal with the backlash. So here it is: Being a graduate student is really tough, especially after taking time off to work as a nurse in Alaska. I know I'm young, but I feel old and I just feel like I can't keep up with everyone else, which isn't good when you're being graded on a curve. The worst of it is that my daughter is growing up without me because work and school consume all my time. Because of this I am dropping out of the graduate Pharmacy program and UW-Madison. I'm not ruling out a return in the future, but for now I just can't continue the way things are. I don't know how we're going to work out the financial situation of our family yet, but we will figure it out. That's all I have to say up front, if you want to know more about it you can click here. I hope those concerned will understand that this has been a very hard choice for me.
March 25, 2008 - Scott
Here are some pictures of Odessa. These were from the walk we went on a few days before our D.C. trip. She found slipping on the ice to be a terrifically entertaining endeavor.
March 23, 2008 - Scott
Apparently we didn't get into an airplane crash. And, even though I was terrified of taking off, once we were in the air I really enjoyed it. We had a good time in the D.C. area. Below are the links to see some photos from the trip. As promised, a few pictures of Odessa being cute will be put up in a few days.
March 17 - Flying into Dulles, Udvar-Hazy Center, Old Town Alexandria
March 18 - Arlington National Cemetery, Mount Vernon, Georgetown, National Cathedral, Potomac Waterfall
March 19 - National Mall, American Indian Museum, Botanic Gardens, U.S. Capitol
March 20 - National Mall, Holocaust Museum, Memorials, White House, Archives
March 15, 2008 - Scott
Hope everyone enjoyed Pi day yesterday. It was a very nice day in Madison, and Serena, Odessa, and I went for a walk. Odessa found it exceedingly amusing when she slipped on the ice and attempted to do so again repeatedly. If she actually fell, it was all the more entertaining for her. While the fact that she delights in such dangerous behavior was somewhat disconcerting to her parents, we allowed it so long as one of us was holding her hand at all times. Cute pictures will be forthcoming, but not until after we get back from DC. We'll probably have some pictures of that too, assuming our Southwest flight doesn't rip a chasm down the side of the fuselage, sending us to our doom either by being sucked out of the plane or scorched and crushed upon the bloody impact. If it hasn't come across yet, I am a bit apprehensive about the whole ordeal. But, like I said, barring that outcome(which probably only has like a 10% chance of happening) we will most likely post some cute pictures of Odessa when we get back.
February 29, 2008 - Scott
I asked Odessa, "Who is the cutest girl in the world?" and she thought for a moment, then pointed at me and said "Da!" I am pretty cute, so I'll take it as a compliment.
On my mother's request, here are photographs from when the Von Rudens visited Alaska in June of 2006. It was the first time I'd seen them since moving up there in May of 2004, and there were a lot of things to see and do.
February 21, 2008 - Scott
Ostensibly there hasn't been much to write about. Serena is back in school, Odessa has started using words, we planned a trip to Washington DC for March even though we have no money, and there was a lunar eclipse yesterday. See, that wasn't much, was it?
Here is a bunch of pictures of Odessa being cute for bath time. In addition, I've added a gallery of pictures to Odessa's page which spans months 12 to 16. Finally, you can see my attempts at photographing last night's total lunar eclipse here.
January 22, 2008 - Scott
So there haven't been many updates recently. Serena was on winter break, and since I usually write my updates when she's either at school or at work, I haven't really had time to do anything. And Serena usually does her updates, well, never.
Little has been going on. Odessa had a doctor appointment yesterday. Wasn't that exciting to hear all about? Odessa still likes her mother about thirty times more than me(I guess I can't blame her). That doesn't really bother me. She likes me a lot when it is just her and I, but when Serena is around she prefers to stay near her mother. She will even sometimes cry when Serena hands her over to me. Even that doesn't really bother me. However, the fact that she reaches out to every single strange woman she meets and begs to be picked up is something that I could do without.
And this is true. Any random female she runs across she flails out her arms, beckoning for salvation. It could be the grocery cashier. Or the nurse for her appointment. Every woman she sees when being carried down a hallway. It's ridiculous. But give her to her father and the tears come out. Of course this has something to do with the fact that she is highly suspicious of men in general.
Oh, here are some aurora pictures from October 10, 2005, one of my favorite shows.
January 9, 2008 - Scott
We have been trying to get Odessa to say things. She babbles incessantly, but none of it makes any sense to us. However, we are very proud to declare that she now consistently uses a word to refer to something. Yes, she learned the word 'da da', or at times, 'daddy'. Isn't that great?
Except she doesn't exactly use that word to refer to her father. No, when she says 'da da' she is referring to a green octopus with a goofy smile, pink spots, and a single solitary triangle-shaped tooth; an image of which adorns a side of a play tent my mother bought her for Christmas. Thanks, Mom.
Every time she sees the eight-limbed apparent patriarch, she gets excited, uses her long index finger to point, and says 'da da!'. Did I mention it has a triangle tooth? Her first real word association. What a milestone to remember.
January 1, 2008 - Scott
Happy New Year. As you can see, I've moved the last six months of stuff to the 'Old' section because I am utterly infused with a passion for cleanliness and organization which manifests itself biannually. For the holiday season Serena and I cooked a duck for dinner on Christmas Eve which tasted super awesome, Odessa opened some presents but enjoyed the wrapping paper more, and we spent time with our families in La Crosse. Serena beat me in Monopoly which makes her a bit happier than I think her achievement warrants.
Here are some photographs from the holidays.