Jabran & Tina's blog

5,557

2010-08-05T23:31:00.000-07:00

Five thousand, five hundred and fifty-seven miles driven in about 5 1/2 days. It took us 2 1/2 days to get to Sand Lake. We could have done better, but that darn deer got in our way and held us up for 9 hours. So here's the details:

Saturday around 7:30pm: Van loaded up and us in our places, and off we go.

Sunday the 11th, our first and full day of driving. Girls demonstrate how to pass the time. We stopped in Bismarck for our first real break. Proof that I helped drive too. We saw lots of exits like this, "No Service". Basically you get off there and you are in the middle of nowhere. Another example of the middle of nowhere.
Only our first full day out and we had made it to the halfway mark! I should also mention we drove all those 5,557 miles without a paper map in the van. We relied solely on the GPS.

Monday early morning, sun just about to come up, driving through the upper peninsula of Michigan: We hit a deer. Destroyed radiator amongst other things. We had to wait 3 hours for a tow truck to take us to the closest "big" city which was Marquette, MI.

Monday afternoon: It took us 9 hours to get the insurance process started on the van, the Honda dealership/body shop on board with how we wanted the van fixed, rent the very last vehicle available in that town (2000 Chrysler Town n Country with over 109K miles on it already), and start heading to the Canadian border. The girls were a little worried during the ordeal so we tried to keep things upbeat.

Monday evening: With our new timeline going we realized if we drove straight to the island we would arrive in the middle of the night. So we had a few hours to burn and decided to do that at Sault Ste. Marie, the last city before we cross the border into Ontario Canada. We watched boats go through the Soo Locks. Played at a nearby playground and let Kelbi run for awhile. And watched the boats go through the canal. On the other side of the canal is Canada! We ate some pizza and did our final grocery shopping and then headed to the border. There was a 15 minute wait to get to the border patrol. I finally got to use my Passport for the first time, luckily before it expires next year. The girls had their birth certificates and Kelbi had her rabies vaccination certificate. The first thing we did when we got into Canada was.... look for a bathroom, Isabel had to go. Then we settled in for our last night of driving.

Tuesday 8:30am local time: We arrive at the boat ramp, unload our belongings onto the boat dock and wait for our friends to pick us up and take us to the island.

Once there, we were ready to start the fun. Khalila went right out in the row boat with Graham. The raft was a big hit, jumping on, jumping off and swimming around. Swimming was a main event almost every day. Other fun activities included: boating/skiing, fishing, hanging out at the beach, sailing, kayaking(aka exercising Kelbi), canoeing, playing games, eating, tie dying, sleeping, cooking, playing on the raft, and best of all lounging with friends.

Kelbi had a blast on the island. She had lots of people throwing the ball for her, she ran free the whole time we were there, swam, and even chased a mink/weasel across the causeway.

Wednesday evening was our last sunset on the island. We made it back to the van around 9:30 and started our journey back home. We still had to pick up our van that was in Marquette, MI and had plans to meet my family in Wausau, WI the next day.

Thursday morning we arrived in Marquette, MI around 11:30am, switched vehicles, stopped at the claims office, freshened up Kelbi and then we were off to Wausau. We got to the Super 8 where my mom and dad and sister and her kids were waiting for us. We swam, hung out in the room, had a nice breakfast, and the safe provided some entertainment.

While we were in Wausau we took in some local attractions. We played a little musical vehicles and headed to a downhill skiing area, which in July is about as exciting as a big grassy hill can be. But we did find a nice place to get a group shot. We then headed to Rib Falls. Turns out there, you can play at a playground, and walk to Rib River, but see the falls, no. We saw some rapids, took a quick kids' photo, (Here's Dad up in the park still) and then we headed back out of the grassy marshland. Turns out the best view of the falls is from the road. At this point, we bid farewell to everyone and they began their trip back to Indy and we started headed west again.

But before we really hit the road, Jabran saw that we were close to the 45°N, 90°W mark. The exact center of the northern hemisphere. We just couldn't pass that up without a visit. And we couldn't drive through Colby, WI without stopping at a cheese shop.

To the excitement of everyone, it was time to really hit the road moving again. The girls were happy to have their DVD players back. We had to leave those behind when we switched to the rental van. At a rest stop somewhere in North Dakota, I snapped this shot of the sunset. While driving in North Dakota, we decided to make use of our tent and sleeping bags and camp at a KOA in Bismarck. We got there at 12:45am and left by 7:00am Saturday morning. We took sleeping kids out of their car seats and into their sleeping bags. And then put them back in their car seats still sleeping. They probably have not recollection of staying in the tent.

Saturday, our last day of traveling. We stop at a rest area that had a nice viewing area of the badlands. We are pretty sure we saw a wild bison while driving on the interstate. But I didn't have my camera ready so I didn't get the photo. The views that day were amazing. We stopped in Missoula, MT for dinner at the Iron Horse Brew Pub. And we took sometime to wander around Missoula's train depot. We hit the trail again with Edmonds as our goal that night. We made it back home at 2:22am Sunday morning. Luckily no deer were injured on our return trip. We had a blast and now we know we can go and survive a very long car ride.

Isabel's last day of Kindergarten

2010-06-04T21:24:00.000-07:00

Yes the headline is right, I meant Isabel. She goes to Kindergarten with me every Friday morning to help out in the classroom. I took some pictures here or there throughout the year. One of her favorite parts was to help set out the snack while the kids were at their PE class. Unless of course I let her go to the gym too. She was there the day the class investigated live snails. But really she just blended in with the group and did (for the most part) what they were doing. Here she is reading a book at the beginning of class. And she always sat on her floor spot next to Khalila during the teacher's instruction time. And when the project or craft was going on she would do her own smaller version at her table. The only thing I forgot to get a picture of that she really liked at school was doing the Pledge of Allegiance. She can almost say and sign the whole thing. Khalila still has two weeks of school left, but the next two Fridays are going to be busy ones, so I will be finding somewhere else for Isabel to go those last two Fridays. This experience has definitely gotten her ready for preschool next year. Seems Khalila's kindergarten class was Isabel's pre-preschool.

Khalila's 9 Months Old!!

2004-09-29T09:44:00.002-07:00

August 19th - Sept 29th

Okay, I know it's been awhile since we've updated our blog and it's been even longer since I, Tina, have blogged. Hopefully I can do as good of a job as Jabran has. We had a PEPS gathering on Aug 21st. We hadn't met for a while so it was fun to see how much the kids have changed. Aiden was the only one crawling but many others were close behind.

Weiner dog, I mean Brier, stayed with us until the 25th of August. We enjoyed having a dog around again. We were offered to keep Weiner Dog, as his owner is leaving for the Peace Corp. But we decided now wasn't the time for us to get another dog so we declined.

Khalila's up to 5 teeth now. She has been eating all kinds of foods, including fingerfoods. We found she has a sensitivity to oats so we don't give her Cheerios. Instead we've been giving her Veggie Booty.

My parents came out for a visit for a couple of weeks. While they were here, Khalila and I went to our last swim class. Khalila really likes to swim. She was floating, splashing, and even going under the water by the time we were done with that class.

We went to the State Fair to see all the animals. Those chickens sure did get Khalila's attention with all their clucking.

While Grammy and Grandpa were here we did lots of hiking. We went to Wallace Falls, which proved to be quite the uphill trail. But we all made it to the Falls and got some great views of it, as well as a chipmunk.

The last weekend that my parents were here we went to Forks, WA which is on the Olympic Peninsula. We stayed in a small cabin right on the banks of the Sol Duc River, Edwards Cabin. Jabran and Dad fished with a guide and caught 3 fish. We also visited the Hoh Rain Forest and saw some very big trees. The rainforest is a very interesting place. We really enjoyed our visit.

On September 17th we celebrated Josh's 30th Birthday. We played Cranium of course, seems that's what we always do when we get together with our friends. The girl's team won of course, we almost always do.

Then the next day we drove down to Portland, OR. A church there, St. George, was being consecrated and Metropolitan Philip and Bishop Joseph were both there as well as Father James, our current priest, and Father Nabil, our priest in Indy.

On Sept 21st we had a "Going Away Party" for Jennifer, the fore mentioned friend leaving for the Peace Corp. She's going to be in Paraguay for the next 2 years helping the locals with their farming techniques.

Then on Sept 25th Khalila turned 9 months old. We had another PEPS gathering, this time at Tim and Corrine's. Everyone but Khalila and David are crawling now. It's so fun to see them all on the floor playing together. It wasn't long ago they didn't even realize each other existed.

Okay I think that catches everyone up. We just had pictures of Khalila taken on Monday at Sears. I know, we have lots of pictures of Khalila, but it's nice to get some professional ones taken as well.

We had the 9 month check-up yesterday. Khalila weighs 7.57 kg (16 lbs 11 ounces) and is 26 3/4" long, weight chart. She's slipping down to the 25th percentile in size now. I knew that was happening as she can still fit into some of her 3-6 months size clothes and her 6-9 month stuff is pretty big on her. But the doctor said she was healthy and that's all we really care about.

Weekend

2004-04-17T23:15:00.002-07:00

April 12th - April 17th Pics

On Tax day we went over to Chris & Tiff's for dinner. We had dinner with them and Jack and Shiela. On Friday night we went to our Child Birth class reunion. 5 families came to the reunion. I took pictures of all the kids laying on the floor. Out of the 5, Khalila was the only girl. She's getting used to that... At the reunion Khalila rolled over from her stomach to her back for the first time. Tonight we went over to Josh & Naomi's for a game night. Geoff and Jennifer joined us there for dinner and a "friendly" game of Cranium. I finally got the pics from the Tulip Festival edited and sized correct for printing. I had them printed at Costco and mounted them in a nice frame that will be hung in Khalila's room. I mowed the yard today and did some other fun yard work.

Khalila Day 15

2004-01-09T23:09:00.002-08:00

I returned some items to the Birth and Baby store. The owner, PJ, went above and beyond to accept some items for return under our specific circumstances. I also bought Khalila a very cute onsie.
Khalila had a bath this evening and was wrapped up in the pigglet towel that was given to her by Alma and Sheryl. Khalila also received two packages in the mail. One was from her great Aunt Gay and the other from Jack & Judy Minsley. Aunt Gay gave her a handmade quilt. Jack & Judy Minsley gave Khalila a Taggie. Taggies are very well liked among the newborn population. Newborns tend to suck the tags on all their toys so here is a toy of nothing but tags. Khalila's friend, Malia, has a homemade taggie. We also took a picture of Khalila with the blanket that our friend Naomi made for her.

2004-01-01T23:48:00.002-08:00

Our dear friend Daniel Wright came over and cleaned our carpets for us as a gift. He did an excellent job. I didn't think there was any hope for these carpets. They look great! He owns his own business, A Rose 4 U Cleaning, check them out if you are interested in having some work done. He does great work. His daughter, Renee, came over to help Tina with Khalila. Renee held Khalila while Tina folded some laundry. I'm good about getting it into the washer and dryer but it's the folding where I come unfolded. After Daniel left his wife Mary came to pickup Renee with other friend Eva and Catherine. Catherine was very excited to hold Khalila also. Our friends David & Gerri brought over dinner for tonight and tomorrow night. Tonight we had a wonderful stuff squash, tomorrow is one of Gerri's famous crock pot stews. John (the Barrett) my co-worker also came over tonight. He visited with Khalila a little bit. John is going to weld me up a new wall-mount for my Audrey computer in the kitchen. I originally made a mount out of aluminum and JB Weld. The JB Weld kept breaking but it was only temporary (2 years) to see if we liked it and if the design would work. Well we do like it and use it in the kitchen and we learned a few things from the original design. John re-designed it a bit and it going to weld it out of steel. It should work like a dream. Thanks John. My Mom is coming in to town tomorrow so the St. Paul Meals on Wheels will stop flowing. Thank God for them.

Picnic

2003-08-24T21:44:00.002-07:00

After Church today we had a church picnic. I'm still on the injured reserve list from last months game when I dislocated my shoulder. You can check out pictures from today's activities St. Paul Picnic. The shoulder is coming along, I'm still wearing the neoprene brace. We picked up a crib and swing for the little one today. The spare bedroom, future nursery, is starting to fill up.

Lazy Saturday

2003-08-23T20:37:00.002-07:00

We didn't do too much today. We went to our Edward Jones financial advisors office for an ice cream social. Thanks Karen. Then we went to Costco with a CD containing 42 digital pictures from our recent Alaska trip. Costco prints 4X6 digital prints for $.19 each. Beats that heck out of Bartell's for $.49. It's the same exact process. You can take the pics on any media: Compact Flash, Smart Media, SD, CD, Zip and even yes, Floppy. It was only like 65 today in Seattle. Cookin' up some chilli and cornbread for dinner. C-ya, bye

Ultrasound of our Daughter

2003-08-27T14:05:00.002-07:00

Yesterday we had our second Ultrasound. It's just amazing what technology can do these days. We were able to confirm once again that the baby appears to be of the female variety. She was moving all around making it difficult for the technician to get the shots she needed, already causing trouble. She's very cute. I took digital pictures of the ultrasound images so check them out here on our site, Ultrasound. Most importantly, she looks healthy and happy. We could see her heart beating (147 bpm). Here's her statistics as of Aug. 26, 2003: 12.4 inches long, 1lb 1oz.

Cirque Du Soleil - Alegria

2003-08-29T10:37:00.002-07:00

Yesterday Jabran and I went to the Cirque du Soleil show that is in town for the next month. I received free tickets from work because we did a special contest and page on our website, www.nwsource.com. It was an amazing show. There were performers doing acrobats on horizontal poles, swinging weights around like a baton, a trapeze act, all kinds of cool things. Before the show we met Randy and Jen at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It made for a very long day. We didn't get home until after 11:00. I also learned that the baby can definitely hear. She was moving all around during the show. I assume the loud music and clapping kept her awake. So we both are pretty tired today from all the excitement yesterday. Thank goodness it's a 3 day weekend coming up. Happy Labor Day!

Baby Stuff

2003-09-02T22:33:00.002-07:00

We got a crib last weekend from a family at Church. This weekend we went out looking for nursery stuff. We're going with a puppy theme, imagine that... We couldn't find anything with puppies on it. We went everywhere, at least it felt like it. So... We decided to buy some fabric and make what we want. Now all we need to do is learn how to sew. We had to order the fabric, it should be here next week. The bigger news is that on Monday morning I felt her kick. It was the first time that I felt her. Pretty cool! Tina's parents' left Indy this morning, Tuesday. They should be here Friday or Saturday. I took a new picture of Tina tonight.

Mom and Dad

2003-09-09T16:11:00.002-07:00

Mom and Dad arrived on Friday the 5th!! We have already had a very productive weekend. Dad and Jabran have been working on the deck and it's almost done, at least with the decking part. There's still the side rails that need to go up. And Mom and I took down the wallpaper in the soon-to-be nursery. It was amazingly easy to come down. Just preforated the paper and sprayed water on it and it scraped off real easy. Now we have to decide on the color of paint. The fabric that Jabran wrote about in our last entry is unfortunately not available. The place I was going to order it from does not have enough yards and I can't find anyone that has the same. So I need to start looking again for a fabric. I had a surprise baby shower on Sunday! Mom and Dad brought out gifts from our family. We got a lot of great stuff, clothes, blankets, diapers, a cradle, a carseat. Once we get the nursery put together with furniture and our stuff out of it we can start filling it up with all the baby's stuff.

East Coast

2003-09-16T13:25:00.002-07:00

I arrived on the East Coast Sunday night. I am attending a VCI Client Conference at the Water's Edge Resort in Westbrook, CT. VCI is the traffic system that KOMO TV uses. I am attending a course on the database that the VCI system uses. Last night I dropped in on the Drew's in Naugatuck, CT. Phil was a bit surprised last night when I called him from a CT phone number. After the "Farewell Dinner" tonight I am heading up to Boston to see Burke and Caron. If all goes well with Isabel I will be heading home from Providence, RI on Firday morning.

In Boston

2003-09-17T06:59:00.002-07:00

I made it to Boston last night. It was a bit longer of a drive than I had thought, 2.5 hrs. I am staying with Burke & Caron. I finally got to meet Cedar. That's about all I have for now.

Sailing

2003-09-18T13:44:00.002-07:00

Yesterday Burke and I went out to help finish the roof on a shelter at their co-op farm. We tried to get it done before Isabel but didn't finish it last night. The crew went back out today but we went sailing. We sailed a 19' from the MIT sailing club. The sailing club is free for all MIT students. We sailed for about 2.5 hours on the Charles river. The winds were 15 - 20 knots, thanks Isabel! It was great sailing. Check out the pictures. Hopefully I can get home tomorrow. My flight is supposed to be from Prov to D.C. I hope the flight to D.C. gets cancelled early enough that I can get a flight from Boston to Chicago. Check back to see what happens.

Home

2003-09-19T17:40:00.002-07:00

I made it home today. It was a long, 5.5 hour, from Dulles to Seattle. No delays. I took the Bonsai bus from Boston to Providence this morning. Then flew Prov to Dulles and Dulles to Seattle. I visited with Chris and Abra last night. They live in Somerville, MA. I have pics of them with their classy '86 Chrysler LeBarron. I also got a picture of the three of us.

Dinner with Megargees

2003-09-22T18:34:00.002-07:00

Last night we had dinner with Chris, Tiff and Malia. They got to meet Tina's parents'. Malia was very good, it gave us an oppurtunity to try out our baby equipment. We discovered that we didn't have batteries for the swing and the playmat (taco) was a hit with her. Hopefully our little girl will like it just as much? Here are some pics from last night.

Last Weekend

2003-10-03T21:55:00.002-07:00

Last weekend we went to Snoqualmie with Tina's Mom & Dad. We took the Snoqualmie Train ride. Here are some pictures from that trip. We then ate at Big Edd's, had our picture taken with him and went to the falls. On Sunday Stan and I went fishing in the Puget Sound with John (co-worker at KOMO) for salmon. We caught 2 silvers. We ate one fillet that night dinner, very good. Thanks John... Here are some fishing pics.

It's been a while

2003-11-28T23:00:00.002-08:00

Well, it's been a while since I've updated the website. There are new pics of Tina in the Tina Pregnant link on the menu.

We were in Indiana in October for a visit. We had lots of fun visiting everyone. You can check out some pics from that trip here.

Later in October we attended Malia's baptism and reception. Click here to see some pics from that.

Our friends Chris, Tiffany and Meg had a baby shower for us at Chris & Tiffany's. Here are some pics from that.

Now the latest.... We had Thanksgiving dinner at our house. It was great. We had Andrew & Jen, Craig & Shauna, and Ben. We had a great meal. The best we could tell the party ended around 12:30 PM on Friday when the first guest left... Anyway, here are some pics from yesterday's party.

Power Outage!

2003-12-06T22:43:00.002-08:00

On Dec 4th a major windstorm blew through western Washington and caused widespread power outages. Most of the people effected were in eastern King and Snohomish. That wouldn't be us. However, when we got home from work we found the power was out and it had been for several hours. We lit some candles and toughed it out. We went out for dinner and when we came still no power. Luckily I had brought some firewood in the garage the week before Thanksgiving to dry out so we could have a fire on Thanksgiving. By about 9 PM it had gotten down to about 57 degrees. Tina was fine but I was freezing. I got a fire going and was actually able to warm it up 1 degree and not lose any ground. We drug the spare matress in the livingroom and toughed it out there with the fire. Power came back on around 12:30 AM Friday morning. Here's a newspaper story.

On Friday Tina was starting to feel bad again so she wen to the Dr. and found out she had walking pneumonia.

Last Class

2003-12-16T22:52:00.002-08:00

Tonight we finished our last birth class. We are now officially ready. Unofficially we are not quite ready. Last weekend I started building a changing table. It is almost finished. You can see some pics from the first days work Here.

We have added a new picture under Tina's Pregnancy.

Changing Table Finished

2003-12-21T20:48:00.002-08:00

I finished the changing table today. It may have been my fastest project yet. It took me two weeks. Good thing too, given the current state of the affairs. I have taken some pictures of it and the nursery. Here are the pics of the nursery. Here are the pics of the table midway and complete. I built the changing table out of 3/4" Birch plywood from Home Depot. Thanks to John (the Barret) for loaning me his Dewalt Biscuit Joiner. It was the first project I built using a biscuit joiner and it worked out great. I used birch veneer with hot glue on the plywood edge. I mounted the door using Blum concealed hinges, I used the Rockler jig for boring the 35mm hole for the hinge. I used 12" Accuride slides for the diaper genie drawer. The doors are 3/4" pine with 1/4" birch plywood inset.

Christmas Baby coming!

2003-12-25T04:10:00.002-08:00

Tina's water broke last night at about 10:30 PM. It's a little after 4 AM Christmas day now and we're heading to the hospital real soon.

Khalila's Birthday

2003-12-25T17:08:00.002-08:00

Praise be to God!
Khalila Rose
Born: 12/25/03 at 4:32 PM (PST)
Khalila weighed 3.44 kg (7lbs 9.4 oz). She was 50.8cm (20") long.
We will be staying at Swedish Hospital until at least Friday afternoon. We may stay until Saturday afternoon. We can be reached at Swedish until then. After that we will be at home. We welcome any visitors, please call ahead. Thank you for your generous prayers and good wishes.
Check out the menu for Khalila under the Pictures menu.
With Love,
Jabran, Tina & Khalila

Khalila Home

2003-12-27T19:13:00.002-08:00

We came home from the hospital today, Saturday the 27th, around 1:00 PM. Our dear friend Chris, a new parent himself, came to the hospital to photograph the big event. Look at the Khalila menu under the Pictures menu. When we arrived home Meg, who was staying with Elmer, had put a great lunch together. We spent a little time introducing Khalila to her new home and to Elmer. Elmer almost licked her toes but he decided against it at the last minute. After our lunch it was time for Khalila's lunch. Both Mom and baby took a nap for a good 2 hours. Chris, Tiffany and Malia came over bearing a wonderful chicken dinner and goodies for Tina.