The Swofford Family

State Signs

2009-07-25T10:35:00.001-05:00

Tim and I are on a quest to get a picture with every state sign. I love the northeast...so many little states so close together! We actually debated driving 45 minutes one way just to get a picture from Connecticut, but we decided that might be a little too obsessive, even for us!

Polo & Plymouth

2009-07-25T10:34:00.004-05:00

Our final state was down to Rhode Island...sweet, little RI! Weather still wasn't bright and sunny, but the rain had mostly stopped! We went to a real live polo match...seems very New England doesn't it? It was the US versus Scotland...and sadly we had our horses's rears handed to us losing 17-to-5! We also toured some turn of the century homes built by the Vanderbilts and such...gigantic mansions that were merely summer homes! Our very final stop on the way back up to Boston to fly home was Plymouth. We walked through a replica of the Mayflower, from which I learned that if it had been up to me, our ancestors would never have left Europe and come to the great land of America...because there is no way I could have survived on a cramped, tiny sad little boat sloshing and swaying and rocking for months upon months over the great wide ocean...no way!

Maine & New Hampshire

2009-07-25T10:32:00.007-05:00

Ahh Maine...we've heard it's beautiful...maybe if it had stopped raining we would have been able to better appreciate it! We drove up into Portland Maine, and spent
time at their very lovely mall while trying
to wait out the rain! When we weren't
having much luck with the weather, we
headed back down to New Hampshire.
We stopped at Kennebunkport (where
daddy Bush has his summer home) and
perused their quaint New England town
shops. We then to returned to Portsmouth. NH where we were staying. The clouds had started to clear some, so we drove to a local lighthouse, because it seemed insane to go all that way north and NOT see a stinkin' lighthouse!

And of course...what do people eat on Maine? Nasty, creepy seafood - exhibit A on Tim's plate! I just don't get it. I actually set up a barrier with ketchup bottles and drink glasses so his flying pieces of nasty lobster shells wouldn't get on my delicious burger! Eeeewwwww!

Freedom Trail

2009-07-25T10:29:00.007-05:00

We traveled the famed Freedom Trail (or Red Line) in Boston...from the very beginning (pic with me)...to the very end. It's literally a red line...either painted or brick...that walks you through Boston past Revolutionary Landmarks. There was the threat of 70% chance of rain, but we were quite blessed and were bothered by a light rain for only the end portion of the trail.

Tim with the cannon is on the USS Constitution, the first commissioned military vessel, commissioned by George Washington himself. It's nickname is "Old Ironsides". It's actually still in commission.

On the north end of Boston (along with the gazillions of Italian restaurants) is Paul Revere's house, and the Old North Church (one if by land...two if be sea). The church was really awesome to see...it's just one of those quintessential American history icons. Much to Tim's dismay, they didn't actually let you climb up into the tower!

Toward the end of the trail is the Bunker Hill Monument, where Revolutionary soldiers, outnumbered, took on hoards of those silly Redcoats....we actually lost, but we took down a lot of the British trying! The dude in the statue was an American Colonel (obviously, would be pretty silly to have a statue commemorating a British leader!) at the battle who coined the phrase "Don't fire until you see the white's of their eyes."

Boston

2009-07-25T10:22:00.005-05:00

Tim and I both had vacationable time in June...so we closed our eyes...spun our finger around...and it landed on Boston.

A couple years ago we took a road trip up to New York and DC, but neither of us had been around New England any more than that, so we figured we would do a little exploring.

These are pictures from our first day paling around in Boston. The statue is of 'ol George W. (Washington, not Walker!)

Caution! Naked puppy dog pictures!

2009-06-07T21:48:00.017-05:00

Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of meeting our darling Sadie realizes what a giant ball of fluff she is...very curly...very afro...lots of fur!! And she's always panting, sleeping on the tile instead of the carpet because she's so hot, and leaving fur everywhere!! So, after much gnashing of teeth, we finally decided to let the fine folks at the PetCo Grooming Salon have a go at her...and she is now our nakey-Sadie-Lady! We can't tell if she really has noticed a difference...but Tana sure freaked out when we brought her home, I've never seen Tana sniff something so earnestly in her life! Sadie still feels amazingly smooth. She actually feels like a horse, except for her crazy boa of a tail that she has left. We're planning on going to the lake tomorrow and I hope she doesn't get sunburned!!

Bi-Plane Adventures!

2009-05-10T20:23:00.003-05:00

Tim's big splurge on the trip was a tour of Kauai on a bi-plane. The plane itself was really neat...our call sign was Snoopy 2! But, again, I got nauseated. No throwing up this time like on the boat, but I was sticking by head out of the plane as far as it would go without pushing my eyeballs back into brain in order to get enough air to keep the nausea at bay! It was a really awesome way to see the island though, and the pilot did a good job narrating as we went. He even said he could do acrobatics if we wanted him to...which I quickly raised by eyebrows as high as they would go as if to say "Really? Acrobatics with me on board? Do you like cleaning up throw up from your nice little plane little pilot man?" And it was quickly agreed that maybe not this time!

The Grand Canyon of the Pacific

2009-05-10T19:03:00.004-05:00

There's an area of Kauai known as "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific" (dubbed so by Mark Twain)...and it really does look like a smaller, greener Grand Canyon. It's incredible the diversity of Kauai - the beaches, the farm lands, the mountains, this Grand Canyon, the fields - amazingly diverse for an island - and all of it is gorgeous!

Hiking

2009-05-10T18:30:00.003-05:00

The most challenging thing Tim and I did on the vacation was an 8 mile round trip hike. It was a crazy, adventurous, gorgeous trail...and it was totally worth it. We hiked from one beach, up and across the side of the Napali coast, and down back to the ocean to another beach...that part was 2 miles. We then had to cross a river that let out at this second beach, and then turn and follow this river up the Hanakapi`ai Valley to Hanakapi`ai Falls. We crossed over that same river about 4-5 more times and inbetween were either scampering up hill over rocks and boulders, or sloshing and sliding through mucky, muddy trails. If you dully note in the picture of Tim, you can't see his feet for the muck! In the far off picture that we actually took when we went on our airplane tour of the island...it helps if you can blow it up...but at the bottom you can see waves crashing on the second beach where we met up with the river, and if you follow the valley up to the back, a little towards the right, you can see the waterfall...just another short 2 miles! And then...of course...you have to turn around and go all the way back! We were exhausted, and muddy, and sweat, and gross at the end...but a happy and accomplished exhausted, muddy, sweaty and gross!

Danny Sleeping

2009-05-10T18:11:00.001-05:00

So...don't know if anyone else will think this is as funny as I did...and still do...but this video still cracks me up. Part of it is you have to understand, that through all the years of all the driving the Weidner family has done, Danny NEVER sleeps. I mean never...even when we would be driving 10 hours a day, for 3 days up to Montana, any time you looked in the back seat...there would be little Danny, wide awake. So the bobbing head is funny anyway, but the fact that it's Danny is even funnier!

Off the port bow...Whales!

2009-05-10T18:00:00.001-05:00

One of the coolest thing about the boat trip is the opportunity to get to see whales. In March the whales have recently given birth to their little baby whales, and they are getting ready to migrate back north. According to the boat captain and crew...we got to see one of the best shows put on by the whales in weeks. We had a couple good sightings, then we had a momma and her baby just going crazy being whales! It was almost like the momma whale was teaching the baby how to be a whale! She was doing back flips, and waving her pec fin and waving her tail. It was incredible! In the picture with the tale, it's the momma's tail and then the back of the baby.

The Boat

2009-05-10T17:55:00.002-05:00

So....the boat ride. I was super excited...real live whales...Sneaky Tiki mai tai's...beautiful Napali coast...but alas. In all of my infinite barfiness it turned out to be a rather miserable trip. I was actually praying to God to let the sun set early, because it was a sunset cruise and the boat was staying out until sunset...I don't think he bought it, but I was really trying to convince him that no one would notice if the sun set...say...15 minutes early! Anything to get off that boat as soon as possible. I did actually barf off the back of the boat...not a bad way to spew if you have to!

Please note...I did have a fun time before the barfiness completely took over! Hence the smiling face in all these pictures! I would also like to note that I was not the only weenie, and Danny needed a "mental health day" after getting off the boat!

Volcanoes National Park

2009-05-10T17:42:00.007-05:00

So how cool is lava?! Would have been the ultimate neat-o if we could have seen some thick, red hot lava flowing, but sadly the lava flow has moved to where the public can't get at it, plus when we were there, the vog (nasty volcanoe gas) levels were high, and the area that you can get closest to the lava flow was closed off. It was still really neat to see the old lava flow, though. Sure gives you a respect for nature! Tim and I went on a 4 mild hike across a volcanoe caldera, and then we all went hiking into an old lava flow tube.

Black Sands Beach

2009-05-10T17:41:00.001-05:00

When we went over to the big isand we went to the Black Sands Beach. Lava has a lot of iron in it, thus creating black sand beaches...totally crazy looking in person! The other cool thing about this beach are the turtles that frequent it...Tim and my Dad actually donned their scuba gear and went swimming with the turtles! A little wacko in my mind...but they came out unscathed and got some really cool shots from it!

Snorkel Dorks!

2009-05-10T17:27:00.003-05:00

Who doesn't go to Hawaii and go snorkling?! Danny and I had never been - and I slowly got braver and even went out where I couldn't touch! But so helped me I yelled and flailed at those stupid fish if they got close to me! Danny also did a GREAT job...just like a fish in water!

Hawaii...March 2009

2009-05-10T17:11:00.005-05:00

Woo-hoo!! Vacation time!! The great Weidner-Swofford Hawaii March 2009 was a roaring success! We went to the island of Kauai and had many grand adventures...b ice cream eating, boating (with barfing), high flying (with almost barfing), more ice cream eating, hiking, snorkeling, shopping, more ice cream eating. We also hopped over to the big island for 2 days, 1 night but the goddess Pele was not too happy with us and the flowing lava was not where we could see it, but all of the old lava was still really cool! The islands are incredibly gorgeous, as you might imagine! Here are some waterfalls-but the pictures don't even give them justice!

The Great...Marvelous...Celine Dion

2009-04-20T12:04:00.009-05:00

One of my many fabulous Christmas presents were tickets for Tim and I to see Celine Dion in Houston in mid-January. I love-love-love Celine (not as much as I love Christmas, but close!). Not only were we going to see her in concert - live - in person - real live Celine - but we had THIRD row floor tickets! HOLY-MOLY! When she came on stage I had to hide my face from Tim, because I was so embarrased at how much I was gushing - I was just so overwhelmed and started sobbing like a school girl instead of a 27 year old professional! It was an awesome concert - just incredible - and we were so close! So incredibly close - it was awesome!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

2009-04-20T10:17:00.005-05:00

Finally ... the big day ... December 27th! What? Yeah - that silly thing called residency and silly hospitals not closing on holidays - both Tim and I worked Christmas day - Tim catching babies and me in the hospital wards. So Swofford Christmas 2008 had to wait until Saturday the 27th. But again, we were blessed that Tim's family could join us - we had the merging of Weidner traditions and Swofford traditions - and it was a very merry Christmas!

Decorating cookies on Christmas Eve

Christmas presents Christmas morning!

Christmas Decorating!

2009-04-20T10:16:00.006-05:00

YEAH CHRISTMAS!! For those who don't know me that well, I LOVE CHRISTMAS - I mean who doesn't really - but I LOVE CHRISTMAS! I especially love decorating for it (oh...and the presents!) It has always been a Weidner tradition to get a real, live Christmas tree. And to minimize the pounds of pine needles that don't need to come into your house - you, very naturally, have to do "the tree dance" before taking the tree inside. Tim, having grown up with an artificial tree, is not quite as familiar with the "tree dance". But, as you can see from my video, knowledge does not necessarily equal skill! Hey - what can I say - my dad always did the "tree dance"! And yes ... I am hugging the Christmas tree ... I love getting the Christmas tree ... and I love Christmas!

THANKSGIVING!!

2009-04-20T00:51:00.001-05:00

I had to work Thanksgiving morning - but what better excuse to get out of cooking than that? Plus we were lucky enough that Steve, Brenda and Marky-Mark could all come down and join us. It was a pretty delish' meal! Lots to be thankful for! (please don't ask... I don't remember why I was gobbling...I'm sure I can somehow blame Tim!) We also got to use our beautiful china for the first time - it was awful pretty!

Campsite

2009-04-20T00:45:00.000-05:00

At the campsite. The boys had way too much fun getting and then keeping the fire going! But boys will be boys! We did have a minor encounter with a beaver ... and I'm not talking about cute Narnia beaver ... I mean Tana and Sadie sized beaver that was sneaking around in the dark, trying to steal our fire wood, and basically scaring the bee-jeebers out of 5 grown adults (& 2 dogs!).

Boating

2009-04-19T23:22:00.008-05:00

We also rented a boat for a couple hours one afternoon. It was the first time the dogs had ever been on a boat - and they loved it! I was terrified Tana was going to go leeping overboard never to be seen again - but she just let the wind whip through her fur and it was a very lovely outing!

Frisbee Golf

2009-04-19T23:12:00.000-05:00

Who doesn't love a little frisbee golf? And boy it was a death match...mostly between Brenda and I for last place...but we had fun!

Around the Cabin

2009-04-19T23:06:00.008-05:00

Cooking Breakfast.

Playing Games.

Just Hanging.

Trail Hiking

2009-04-19T22:04:00.002-05:00

Naturally...we went on a couple different hikes.

Beaver's Bend Camping

2009-04-19T22:03:00.002-05:00

In the end of October Tim and I were actually able to take a couple days off in a row – so we packed the pooches, swung through Dallas and scooped up some other Swoffords, and headed to the great state of Oklahoma for a couple days of outdoor fun!!
We went to Beaver’s Bend State Park and stayed in a cabin for a couple nights, and then tent camped one night. Lots 'o fun!

...and three months later...

2009-04-19T22:03:00.001-05:00

Righty...yes, we are still alive! I think I posted too many videos and too many large pictures - and then I couldn't get all this silly stuff to work work - and I got mad - and was pouting - but I'm coming up on an easy rotation, so I'm giving it a go again!

DISCLAIMER!!! Apparently, not all the bright young chickies out there realized that my blogging is wwwaaaayyyy off timeline … aka I’m posting stuff now that happened months (and months) ago. I can’t help it…it’s the anal retentiveness that I can’t control…I have to post things in the order they happened, so I can’t post new/up-to-date stuff until I post the old stuff. I mean I could, it would just cause me deep, physical, visceral pain. Tim totally makes fun of me for it – but jokes really on him cause he’s stuck with me for the next…oh…60 years!! I’ll try and put dates on things to give a better idea of when things are cutting edge – or just catch up!

Next Random Update - Painting Doors

2009-01-17T09:54:00.004-06:00

Another random house project we have partially tackled is changing out our wonderfully 1980's doors in our house (all right...all right...Tim thinks they look fine - but trust me - they're 80's brown all the way!). We had initially looked at buying ones from Home Depot that have a more modern look, but you still have to paint them/finish them off. But the trouble was you either had to buy them with the entire door frame...tear out the old door AND its door frame and install the new door with its frame (WHAT?? no thank you - our door frames seem firmly attached to our walls and I would like to leave them that way)...or we had to buy just the door, but without any holes drilled for the hinge plate - so then we'd have to buy a router with the appropriate bit to make the correct cut out and holes for the hinge - and then hope we have it exact to the millimeter so it lines up with the holes already drilled in our existing door frame!

Soooo...we decided to do what we thought would be the "easiest" route --> take our existing doors --> Tim sands them down --> Nikki paints them --> we rehang them and VIOLA! beautiful "new" doors.

Well, it turns out the sanding part takes a LOT longer than one would have initially anticipated - and gee - so does the painting! I ended up doing 4...count the 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 coats... on each side of each door. (AFTER I figured out that you need an oil based primer on the wood first if you ever want your water based top coat to not be tacky!) We did finally get 2 regular sized doors that go to each of our closets done and 4 skinnier doors that go to a closet in our office. The skinny closet doors looks really good, and the bigger ones look better than they did before. But the project has been put on hold now as blustery winter came along and made it cold in our garage...and when you go into work so early and leave so late that you rarely see your house in the daylight (partly because of daylight savings and partly because residency is designed to sap the life (and vitamin D) out of you) it's hard to be able to see to paint the doors.

So - this adventure in home ownership continues.

Random Update #3 - Fixing the Fence...the Old Fence

2009-01-04T20:08:00.007-06:00

Between our sides yards and back yard - we share fences with 5 neighbors. And it's a bit hodge-podge, with some areas of fence being nice and new, and others being old and dilapidated. The fence between us and our neighbors to our right - Paul and Barbara - was one of the dilapidated ones, so we had a little neighborly do-it-yourself weekend...tore down the old slates...and put up new ones. Here are the before pics...

Random Update #3 - Fixing the Fence - the New Fence

2009-01-04T18:59:00.007-06:00

And here's the new one! When watching the video, please disregard the fact that it sounds like I am stripping the screw, repeatedly...I'm sure it's all artifact from the camera!

Random Update #2 - I've never Hated Grass so Much ... Final

2009-01-02T13:43:00.016-06:00

It's pretty terrible after you've lugged 3 entire pallets of grass - which mind you, each weigh about 1 ton - literally - from the front, all the way around to the back of your house...only to discover that you could really use 1 more pallet! This time, though, we got to put our trusty new SUV with it's fancy hitch and fancy big engine to use for the first time haulin'! The trailer we borrowed from our neighbor. I think I was most proud of our cheap little wheelbarrow - sure it pulls to the left now instead of going straight - but it did so good!

Random Update #2 - I've never Hated Grass so Much in my Life...Con't

2009-01-02T12:42:00.015-06:00

There was a flat rate for delivery...so since we were getting 3 pallets we decided to spring for the delivery...which when they bring a flat bed - it helps make it look nice and dramatic! Tim put down one pallet all by himself, and then we did the other 2 together.

Random Update #2 - I've never Hated Grass so Much in my Life

2008-12-24T17:18:00.007-06:00

The saga...of....the grass...!

We love our big back yard...lots of room for the dogs to run...and for the most part we enjoy doing yard work, gardening, etc. But sadly, a large portion of our yard was sticker burs - not very attractive, and highly susceptible to sticking to the tail and butt fur of the dogs and then being brought inside for tender human feet to step on.

So we decide 'fun yard project' would be to buy sod and cover it up!

These first pictures are the prep work of killing the sticker bur (and making our yard look uglier) in the process of trying to make it nicer! Even Tana is partial to the good grass!

Random Update #1 - Rocket Man

2008-12-24T16:53:00.018-06:00

One of the things we like to go out and do every now and then is....you guessed it...launch a rocket! It really is quite crazy actually....the rocket's on the launch pad...lick your finger...wind coming in from the north north west, let's say - 7 miles per hour...everyone back up...count down - 3...2...1....psheeewwwwwwwww....the rocket shoots up into the sky...you pause...crud....where

did it go??...oh...there it is....RRRRRUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNN (this is the dogs' favorite part!)..and if you're lucky, and you time it just right...you CATCH it....Awesome! Or it falls into a tree behind a fence and it's lost forever and you cry...whichever!

Who's That BROWN Haired Lady?!

2008-11-10T20:30:00.005-06:00

3 weeks ago I chopped the hair...and 4 days ago I decided to turn to the dark side - and I'm kind of diggin' it! Tim says he loves having a red head, a blonde AND a brunette in his house!

Picnic Fun!

2008-11-04T20:26:00.003-06:00

This is one of my favorite new pictures. We grabbed a bucket full of Kentucky Fried Chicken and had a picnic at one of our local parks-I love just the simple times!

Poor Puppy Dog!

2008-11-04T19:36:00.007-06:00

So...a while back, when we went camping actually, Tana was running around the house like a crazy dog while we were packing, but oddly enough her right eye was looking all squinty. So I make her sit down and it looks like something might have stung her out in the yard, right above her eye, and it's all swollen - the inside of both of her ears are all red too, and she's flopping her ears back and forth like crazy. I get all excited, like maybe I'll get to stab her with epinephrine if she goes into anaphylactic shock, but she is still running around breathing just fine. Two hours later, after we get to the camp sight, her eye is looking much better. But then, once it's dark and we're sitting around the campfire, I go to pet her head and her ears are ginormous! I mean puffy, squishy, swollen - crazy feeling! But...again...she's still breathing normal...and we're out in the wild, so there's not a whole lot to do.

Turns out her ears just got swollen as part of her allergic response to being stung-but my darling husband gets it in his head that we can help this poor dog by tightly wrapping her ears...easier said than done with a dog! As you can see by the pictures...he wound up just wrapping her entire head - it didn't last very long, but was quite hilarious while it did!

Needless to say - her ears went back to normal on their own, and now she's just plain, old, simple Tana.

(if you think we torture our dogs, just wait until we have children!)

Halloween Decorations

2008-10-21T18:07:00.011-05:00

Yeah for the holiday season! Halloween decorations were promptly put out at the beginning of October - and Sadie was a very helpful little pup - she was in charge of Halloween costumes! Unfortunately I don't think we'll even be here for Halloween. We took 3 vacation days over the 29th-31st and we are going to go camping in Oklahoma - woo hoo! (PS - if you look closely at the daytime picture of the outside decorations - you will notice a creepy Tim face peeking out behind the curtains of the door - he thought it would make the picture scarier since it's Halloween!)

Nikki's Office Space

2008-10-21T17:38:00.006-05:00

Tim helped me take these photos a while back, but this is my little cubby at my clinic. We have 3 clinics that our 18 residents split out between - 6 at each clinic - 2 first years, 2 second years, and 2 third years. There's a clinic here in Temple, one in Belton (a town right next to Temple) and one in Killeen. I am at the clinic in Temple and Tim is out at the Belton clinic. At my clinic we have a room with 6 little cubby/office space areas one for each resident. I went a little picture crazy decorating mine, but it makes me happy!

Here We Go...

2008-10-15T19:15:00.005-05:00

So, my best friend Aaron has a blog like this, and I love reading it and looking at her pictures...granted she has pictures of her adorable kids, and all I'll have are goofy picture of my dogs, but I still think it will be fun!

For the month of October I am catching babies on Labor and Delivery. I'm actually doing it out at Fort Hood, the biggest Army Base in the world, which is in the town of Killeen, about 35 minutes from where we are in Temple. And it doesn't help my inane wishy-washing for wanting a baby - cause everyone is so happy when their baby is born!- and then not wanting a baby - cause man some of these women have crazy stretch marks and those babies never stop crying!

Tim is over at the VA doing minor surgery clinic - aka taking off lumps and bumps, which are good skills to master to be able to do on our own when we finally get real jobs! He's really enjoying it ... partly because the hours are good and he gets government holidays off (who knew that Columbus Day was really a holiday?!) and partly because he really enjoys - and is really good at - procedures and hands on stuff.

The pics are from our latest camping trip about 3 weeks ago - it's the first time we've gone since we've gotten our SUV and it was soooo nice not having to cram into one of our cars. (ps I did warn you about the goofy dog pictures!)

That's all for now - hope everyone enjoys!!