Beer:30

Jen's company is a bit...um...relaxed.  Drinking is a major strategic company objective.  Every Friday they have what they call "Beer:30".  They literally send a mass invite out to all employees to gather in a meeting area (Dragon's Lair; they name all the rooms in their office) at 3:00 and start drinking.  I asked her yesterday, via email, what the name Beer:30 means.  Her explanation:

"So, they used to have beer at 4:30 – so the name of the event was changed from 4:30 Beer to beer:30.  Then, people argued that the drinking should start earlier, so they changed it to 3pm, but still called it beer:30."

My favorite part....they all work on billable hours.
 

Surfin' Safari

My brother-in-law is an avid surfer.  He grew up near the ocean, so he's been surfing longer then he's been able to walk.  The craziest thing is that he's a year-round surfer and I've heard him openly make fun of people who don't surf during the winter.  Granted, winter in Virginia Beach isn't exactly Chicago-like...but that water gets down in the low 60s and that's dern cold.  A year or so back, he took me surfing and it was one of the better experiences of my life.  Mostly I just tried to keep my balance laying on my stomach on the board.  The few times I swam around, I would just look at Randall and wait for him to tell me that the wave was ride-able.  I am proud to say I fully stood up a few times (well, maybe only once).  But it was incredible.  That's a long story for a short video clip...but here's Randall recently surfing, with a nifty camera mounted on his board.



UPDATE: I've been told the water temp was actually 37 degrees.  That's burly.

Birthday Party

We celebrated the 2nd birthday of our good friends daughter, Ella.  This was Evan's first birthday party and he seemed to enjoy himself.

Jen and Evan enjoying presents being opened.  Evan's tongue is always hanging out now...he loves it.

Ella waiting patiently for her next gift.   We're pretty sure her favorite was the doll house we gave her.

It was pretty cute when she wanted to give Evan some of his toys....

But it was REALLY cute when she wanted to give him a hug...

 Two good looking kids.

Bathtime

Every kid has to have pictures sent around from bath time, right?  Evan digs the bath.  He also found his tongue recently...he sticks it out constantly and makes hilarious sounds.

Focus

The ultimate skeptical face.

No Peas, Please.

He's mastered oatmeal cereal, so we decided it's time to move onto real food.  Jen bought a bunch of stuff this weekend and we agreed to begin with peas.  We probably should have consulted with Evan first...he would have advised against the peas.  Wait for the shudder.

Staying busy

 Evan kept himself busy during the Blizzard, exercising his legs and his mind.

The Blizz

 Snowmageddon, blizzardgeddon, the End of Days...all names I've seen the Chicago media use the past few days.  The total was around 20 inches, of which we probably saw 12+ in our neighborhood.  The killer was the wind.  50-60 mph...and it was was every bit that bad.  Around our house, there are snow drifts as tall as 10 feet.  The city was basically on lock-down, which is pretty impressive given Chicagoan's pride is not skipping a beat no matter the weather conditions.  Although we're not as adventurous as our Boston friend Karyn and her stroller, Jen and I managed to sneak out for a few minutes and look around.

These guys have a lot of work to do.

Outside our front door, skiing down the middle of the street.

A community effort to get cars out of the alley.

Our garage.  The CRV is not going anywhere for some time.

City kids just can't get good sledding. You have to admire the creativity.