Teeple Family

How I Spent my Summer Vacation

2010-08-31T09:59:00.000-07:00

He's a natural...

Greenhouse Roof

2010-08-22T16:52:00.000-07:00

There you have it folks, the first project across the finish line. I should have waited to take the photo as I hadn't yet fixed the little wrinkle in the middle (near the ladder), so you'll just need to take my word for it that its flawless! What I'm not so proud to admit is that I started working on this at 9am today and am just now finishing at 4:30pm... needless to say lots of distractions between start and finish which I suppose is a luxury I can afford given the time I have on my hands.

One of the distractions today was to take a peek inside our beehive. Glad to report that things seem to be going really well in there... lots of capped brood, larvae, eggs, and what appears to be a healthy population of workers, so still planning to harvest some honey in the next month or so. Earlier this week I noticed a few drone (male) bees walking around on the ground with deformed wings. Its hard to tell at first, but if you pick one up (don't worry, drones don't have stingers) you can see that their wings are sort of wrinkled up and stumpy, thus they can't fly and have to walk to get around. Earlier this year we learned that when you see bees walking on the ground with deformed wings it means that their wings were likely damaged while they were developing and that the culprit is a public enemy #1 to bees, the infamous varroa mite. Drone bees have a longer development period by about a week so the varroa mites tend to attach more to drones than to workers, that is unless you have a really nasty infestation of varroa then they are all over all the bees (which is what we had to deal with earlier this year). So maybe later this week might be good to treat them for varroa mite again just to stay in front of the problem.

Home Alone

2010-08-21T21:37:00.000-07:00

Ana, Tomas, Mila, and Emilia all left Wednesday, leaving me here to fend for myself for the next 3 weeks. I've been threatening to trim the beach grasses in front of our house for months (Ana has veto'd me every time), so now that she's gone... anyway, sorry Ana. Hey look at it this way, you should consider yourself lucky that this is about as bad as I act out!

So today I got all the basics out of the way, weeded all the gardens, mowed the lawn, etc., and tomorrow I'll start my first major project - roofing the greenhouse. Last winter during the same storm that blew over our fence, our greenhouse roof peeled back like a banana and almost landed over in our next door neighbor's yard. In fact I was up on the ladder trying to secure the greenhouse roof when I heard a loud crash and turned to see the fence go down. Anyway, so tonight I took the first of what will likely be multiple trips to Home Depot for materials, and got thinking about a bunch of other potential projects. At the end of the day, they are all just distractions to keep me from missing what is really important.

Dad's Weekend

2010-05-24T21:13:00.000-07:00

I had been trying to think of a way to show Ana how much I appreciate all she does around here, so a few months ago I offered to take the kids for an entire weekend by myself and she could go do whatever she wanted. Ana decided she wanted to go spend a weekend up in SF, so I made all the arrangements and it was set. We definitely missed having AP and Vovo here, but I have to say, I think I kept things 'operational' at a minimum and at times running pretty well. We took a trip to the toy store, hit the local playground, played in the backyard, and the highlight was a drive up to the redwood forrest. To be honest, it was a lot of work taking care of the kids and not letting the house fall apart... and to be sure it really gave me a new level of understanding for what it takes to run this place. Welcome home Ana, we missed you!

Amor

2010-04-12T21:28:00.000-07:00

Easter!!

2010-04-04T19:28:00.000-07:00

Very active few days at the Teeple farm... things got started with some egg coloring with Grandma Nancy, then the very next morning a visit from... the Easter Bunny. Tomas heard the knock and after taking a peek thru the window gave clear and direct instructions... "don't open the door Mama". For whatever reason the big fluffy freaked him out, but he rebounded and I think enjoyed the visit. Mila's focus is almost singular... mobility. Her walking skills improve daily and she now can cruise from one end of the house to the other in no time at all, added benefit for all of us is that she now can wear dresses (crawling in dresses doesn't work) and so look Mila's Easter dress, I just love it!! Obrigada Grandma for all the nice treats .

Busy weekend

2010-03-14T21:07:00.000-07:00

The hardware for my beekeeping project got here last week, so didn't waste anytime putting it together. A local beekeeper is going to sell me a "nuc" in a few weeks.. basically its a mated queen and a few frames of bees. Not sure what kind of honey flow we'll get but should be fun.

On Saturday Mila started walking. She's been taking the odd step here and there for months, but then yesterday for some reason she decided she was ready. We got some good video, will post soon. Sunday was mostly work in the back yard, we put in a new orange tree, we built a fence in the flower garden, replanted our blueberries...getting ready for warmer weather.. Tomas broke out the paints and Mila spent a lot of time in her swing just observing everything. They are great kids, we are very lucky.

Happy Birthday to Mila

2010-03-12T20:03:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe that 1 year ago we were home with a newborn. We are incredibly blessed with these two kids. Enjoy the photos.

Playing in the band...

2010-02-28T21:27:00.000-08:00

Still a few kinks to work out, but I think we might be on to something... maybe a Santa Cruz version of the Partridge Family.

Made with love!

2010-02-13T18:47:00.000-08:00

Lots of love here at the Teeple house.
Gradma sent a box full of Valentine goodies, then Tomas made special cupcakes for all of our neighbors. Everybody got a special cupcake with one litlle heart on top, except for his little friend Mia, she got 2 hearts...

The Night Before Christmas

2009-12-24T21:37:00.000-08:00

Lots of things to prepare before the big day... this is one of them.

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

2009-12-20T11:25:00.000-08:00

We are so happy to have aunt Joy, she makes our Christmas so special.
She is the one takes the time to make the cutest sweaters (the ones everybody asks where I bought them). Our tree is full of years and years worth of Joy's hand-crafted ornaments. Joy even makes reusable gift wrap out of holiday pattern fabric! It really feels like everything from Joy is made with love. So this entry is dedicated to Joy, thank you Tia Joy!!

Christmas

2009-12-14T21:27:00.000-08:00

Did you know... that there is a mailbox where you can write a letter to Santa and it gets DIRECTLY delivered to him? And did you know that you can give Santa a list of all the things you want for Christmas, and if you don't know how to write you can make a picture of what you want? Yep.

Antes que o natal chegue

2009-12-04T23:25:00.000-08:00

Aqui algumas fotos do dia das bruxas.
Tomás se divertiu muito batendo na casa dos vizinhos e ganhando chocolates, carimbo, dinossauro...
A verdade é que le ficou bem impressionado com as decorações nos supermercado, farmácia, nas lojas...em todos os lugares tinha alguma coisa assustadora; Eu tinha que abraçar as mumias, beijar os esquetos, e o coitado do Tomás sempre repetia, não, não é scary, é apenas halloween, is just for fun ( tentando se converncer que estava tudo bem)
Eu pra falar bem a verdade não entendo e não curto muito esse feriado...tem muitas coisas assustadoras mesmo.
O Tomás tinha duas fantasias pra escolher, entre o batman, e o spiderman, e acabou sem nehuma; ficou todo animado escolhendo, e só vestiu uma vez, no dia que compramos.
Ele não curte muito essa coisa de se vestir ou mascaras..
Já a Mila que não tinha muito como opinar, vestiu uma roupinha linda de unicórnio.
Me lembro do Tomás na mesma idade da Mi, vestido de dragãozinho....CUTE, CUTE,CUTE

Heeeeyyyyy!!!!

2009-10-22T22:27:00.000-07:00

This kid is so happy its amazing... I hope you all get to meet her soon.

October

2009-10-13T20:42:00.001-07:00

Its that time of year again... Tomás was somewhat aware of what was happening last year, but this year he knows exactly what is happening and has his gear all sorted. After much deliberation, we have chosen a Spiderman costume, complete with muscles and a mask. Papai is going as a clown, Mamãe is going as a kitty cat. Stay tuned for more pics.

Natação

2009-08-28T22:08:00.000-07:00

Meu amor, Mamãe is so proud of you.

Breakfast with the Jacobsons

2009-08-09T21:45:00.000-07:00

Few images from our brief visit with Craig, Kendra, Noah, and Caleb... Tomás is still talking about the skateboarding.

Frederick Park

2009-07-28T18:46:00.000-07:00

While Sharon was busy chasing Tomás and Kate, Al and Nate were clearly making plans for the future...

first time fishing...

2009-07-17T23:15:00.000-07:00

Story Time

2009-07-10T21:13:00.000-07:00

Hows this for a nice big bro... not only does he read her a book, when her binky pops out he helps her get it sorted, over, and over, and over!

Man, that was fun...

2009-07-04T16:33:00.000-07:00

Remember that time we went swimming in the Deschutes and got all covered in sand? Or that one time when we went running thru the sprinklers on the fourth... those were the days!

Oregon 09

2009-06-30T08:18:00.000-07:00

Summer in Oregon; family, sunshine, fresh fruit, and lots of fun! Tomás is enjoying himself as usual, especially the visit from Aunt Joy and hanging with his cousin Ben. Mila is just soaking it all in. July 4th bbq is coming up, looking fwd to seeing more family.

In case you haven't seen enough of Tomás & Mila...

2009-06-03T22:13:00.000-07:00

Are these kids cute or what?

piscina

2009-05-27T20:35:00.000-07:00

Babies, babies, & more babies

2009-05-20T16:04:00.000-07:00

Things are moving along nicely here at Teeple acres. Tomás is currently doing an experiment to see how many bumps, bruises, and scrapes he can get on his knees. Funny thing is he hardly seems phased, he bounces back and is ready for more. If I took one of his normal falls I think I'd fracture a femur. Tonight is swim lessons for the man, its alot of fun, so taking him is not a chore at all.

Mila's doctor yesterday told AP that she's the size of a 4mth old (actual age = 2.5mths), she has been cooing, and sort of makes these coordinated sounds... we are convinced she's trying to talk. The BEST part about Mila these days are the smiles. Doesn't take much and she'll dish up a nice big smile.... I challenge anyone not to smile back - its impossible!

Oregon calling!!!

2009-05-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

Mom & Lori dropped in for a visit a few weeks ago. The kids put on their best behavior and we all had a really nice time.

2009-04-26T10:12:00.000-07:00

Estou apaixonada por essa bonequinha linda, que agora; sorri.

2009-04-19T14:35:00.000-07:00

Well, things are slowly starting to settle down here... Mila is getting into a pattern and has rewarded Ana and I with our first smile(s).

Tomás has been a great big bro and speaking of milestones, he just passed up his papa in the Portugese language department.

Vovô e Vovó

2009-04-11T22:10:00.000-07:00

Muito obrigada por esses momentos tão especiais.
Nós te amamos demais!!!

More Mila

2009-03-22T22:02:00.000-07:00

More pics...

2009-03-08T22:39:00.000-07:00

Is she cute enough?

Mila Prado Teeple

2009-03-04T22:33:00.000-08:00

Introducing Mila Prado Teeple, born 8:25am on Tuesday, March 3rd. 7lbs, 14oz. Mother and baby are doing great, hoping to come home from the hospital on Friday afternoon.

The man is 2...

2009-01-29T22:26:00.000-08:00

Enjoy it while it lasts...

Eyes on the prize...

2009-01-27T15:35:00.000-08:00

The man turned 2 this month and as a result his Thomas the Tank Engine and Lightening McQueen collections all grew...

Getting ready...

2009-01-03T12:09:00.000-08:00

Tomás definitely knows something is about to happen, but he's not quite sure what. We can't tell for sure if his old baby gear is familiar or completely new to him, either way, he's been having fun 'helping' us get ready.

Christmas

2008-12-25T13:39:00.000-08:00

It isn't exactly Tomas' first Christmas, but definitely the first one where he has an idea that something special is happening. Even Samba got into the spirit this year.

After the AM festivities we went for a drive and there was this great break in the storm, see left side of the collage... this large trough in the clouds and offshore wind made for some really interesting conditions at our local beach (harbor). Unfortunately thats not me in the photo of the guy surfing!

nada

2008-12-19T14:59:00.000-08:00

Fall Season

2008-11-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

We tried our best to get the man to wear the monkey outfit but in the end he just wasn't having it (thanks Grandma for sending it though!), maybe we'll have better luck with getting baby # 2 to wear the monkey outift. Bob the Builder was a much easier sell, so its what we rolled with... and he really got into it.

What is it about kids wanting to do things without any help? The pumpkin in this photo weighed nearly as much as he did, but he insisted on carrying it himself, his shirt is a pretty fair description of how he wants things..

Oregon Coast

2008-09-26T13:29:00.000-07:00

The clams were a bitin'...

Oregon days...

2008-08-12T13:28:00.000-07:00

Lots to do up here... hanging out w/ mama in the 'rede', cruizing in auntie's VW, swimming in the Columbia River, or riding around w/ Papa on the 4-wheeler!

2008-07-05T21:51:00.000-07:00

Is there anyting better than a sunny day at the beach ?
Tomás is very happy his friend Nico came to visit.

Fruitful

2008-07-04T21:28:00.000-07:00

Apple, avacado, lemon, tomato, cherry, plum, basil... thats a backyard full! In the next few weeks we are putting in a peach tree... the climate here is incredible, you can just about grow anything.

Depending on when you visit, almost sure we will have something fresh for you!

2008-06-21T14:45:00.000-07:00

California cherries! Turns out the old cherry tree in the back yard managed to give us some fruit... Tomás loved them although he kept calling them 'Uva' which is grape in Portugese. Close enough we thought.

2008-06-21T14:36:00.000-07:00

Look at this big boy!

Denim

2008-06-17T21:39:00.000-07:00

Somehow Tomás has taken over the guest room, its sort of turning into a combo mama's office, artroom, and playroom. Will be interesting for Grandma's next visit.

Do they make wetsuits my size?

2008-06-10T16:30:00.000-07:00

Hey this is easy... lets put another pair of straps on this thing and hit it!

This is going to put some serious pressure on Pops to spring for a wetsuit...

Heading to the pool for some waterwork...

2008-06-09T14:18:00.000-07:00

More and more the little boy is showing up... if you want to see the baby, its not going to last much longer.

Beach bum!!

2008-02-18T21:45:00.000-08:00

Two beaches in one week... Santa Cruz, CA with Papai...

Then is off to Brazil to visit w/ familia, and priaya com Mamai!

One year ago today...

2008-01-08T21:15:00.000-08:00

Its hard to believe that one year has passed by already.

I feel incredibly lucky to have such a beautiful wife and wonderful son. Today is a good day.

Oregon

2007-12-31T22:51:00.000-08:00

Well, we made it over to Seaside... lots of snow along the way (much to Emilia and Ana's delight). Tomas really had a fun time exploring, anyone who has been to the Teeple house knows there are plenty of things to see.

Big THANK YOU to Grandma Kathleen for organizing a party for us... got to see lots of relatives and old friends. Really was a lot of fun!

On our way out of town we stopped by Cannon Beach and saw some Elk really close up... these ladies weren't very concerned about us pulling up and taking a few photos... well, its 11:07PM new years eve... hope you all had a great 2007, see you in 2008!

Santa in Santa Cruz...

2007-12-28T11:25:00.000-08:00

Christmas in Oregon

2007-12-28T10:02:00.001-08:00

Finally, my first Christmas!! Here's Grandma Nancy and I in front of the tree, so many interesting things that I'm not supposed to touch... speaking of decorations, my aunt Joy and uncle John got stuck in Portland because of the big snow storm, I was looking forward to showing them my new walking skills.

Speaking of snow... checkout the fun pictures from Mt. Hood, this is my Mom and Vovo having some fun.
Thats it for now, we are leaving soon to drive over to Seaside to visit the Teeple family... hope you all are having a great holiday!

Catching up w/ the Teeples...

2007-12-02T21:11:00.000-08:00

Days are rushing by... Halloween, Thanksgiving, and now Christmas . Of course we were among the first to get our tree up and decorated... thanks to Mom and Grandma it looks fantastic!

Working on the suntan here in sunny Santa Cruz!

Life in the 8-3-1

2007-11-14T19:08:00.000-08:00

Watch out... the new guy has a bit of a lead foot.

Pumpkin Patch

2007-10-29T15:33:00.000-07:00

Had a little bit of a tough time getting a smile out of Tomás at the pumpkin patch last night... he has two new teeth on the bottom row that decided to poke thru just yesterday...

Unfortunately for Tomás, I think pumpkins aren't the best teething toys.

I'm back!

2007-10-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry its been a while since I was able to write last time... I've been very, very busy. For starters, growing all these teeth was no small task...

Here are me and my cat, Samba... for some reason she doesn't like to play as much as I do...

Lately I've really been getting into recycling.

Summertime fun...

2007-07-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

Went for spin around the neighborhood... papa drove, mama ran wing.

I like my new swing.

Whoever put carrots on the menu thank you!!!

Chicklets

2007-07-12T16:33:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in one of the baby books I read there was a reason for the constant drool... teeth!! Tomás is in the 90th percentile in all his meaurements (just had our 6 mth doctor's appt this week) and is doing great.

Of course each day seems to bring a new 'first'... first time on an airplane... first time sitting in the grass... first time in the swimming pool...

Settling in (sort of)

2007-06-24T16:29:00.000-07:00

For only being here a few weeks, we are really getting the hang of the Santa Cruz lifestyle. The weather is just incredible (mid to high 70's every day) and lots of interesting activities... the obvious ones for me are windsurfing and surfing... here is a snapshot of Tomás putting his feet on a windsurf board for the first time. The way things are going in windsports I suspect he'll be more interested in kiteboarding by the time he's ready to hit the water.

The area where we live (Seabright) is right in the middle of Santa Cruz, so we can easily access both east and westside. There is a really nice little cafe with outdoor tables that has been a recent favorite of ours to walk down and get morning coffee on the weekends. This snapshot is from yesterday morning with nice bright morning sunlight.

Reflections on Father's Day...

2007-06-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

My first father's day. Not sure exactly why, but the day doesn't seem to have the same level of gravity as Mother's day. Maybe has to do with the number of nightime feedings that I'm responsible for... or maybe the number of messy diapers I change on a daily basis... who knows. Either way, I can take what I can get these days.

Tomás is doing great, growing and continuing to hit developmental milestones. Probably the biggest single change is in his overall awareness of people and what is happening around him. Certain things especially capture his interest, specific colors, kids, any type of moving water, etc., and its really fun to watch him check things out. One thing that is perhaps one of my favorite things about Tomás is how generous he is with smiles... almost any time of day if you give him a big smile, you will get a big tooth-less grin in return... this photo was from this morning, my first Father's day.

Finalmente

2007-05-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

Falando com papai...

observando minhas maos...

..minha primeira vez na praia ..no calor de Santa Cruz

..pé na areia pela primeira vez

olhinho dos Prado

tirando uma sonequinha no colo do titio ...cheio de graca.

...eeeeeebááá... novas fotos do Tomás.
Meu anjo lindo nao para de crescer..agora está fascinado com as maos.
Ele morde e chupa tanto os dedinhos que eu até achei que os dentinhos já estavam nascendo, segundo a pediatra ainda faltam uns dois meses pra isso.
Nossa,tanto tempo sem novidades né..
Entao, o tio Jú passou por aqui pra conhecer o baby Teeple, nós nos divertimos muito; agora, falta a madrinha e Joao Pedro pra conhecerem San Francisco.
A grande novidade é que estamos de mudanca para Santa Cruz, pra o John ficar mais perto do trabalho. Estamos muito animados com a mudanca, especialmente pq lá é muito SOL, quente, praia de verdade, verao, tem um clima mediterraneo que eu estou louca pra sentir na pele.
A outra novidade é que assim que mudarmos, vamos até o Br; Eu estou com MUITA saudades de todos e estou louca pra que a vó Dora segure o Tomás no colo..em breve, quem sabe para o aniversário da vovó Emilia.
Beijo pra voces.

Sigh...

2007-03-29T22:35:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa

2007-03-29T22:30:00.000-07:00

Well, the grand parents finally made it down! Tomás was on his best behavior and I think he really charmed the folks from Oregon.

Another big announcement...

2007-03-27T17:55:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official... after 11+ years working at Intel, this morning I accepted a job offer with a new company. The company is called Seagate and they are the world's leading manufacturer of computer hard disc drives. The Seagate HQ office is located in Santa Cruz (Scotts Valley to be precise) so we'll definitely be looking at a move down south from San Francisco. Crazy the amount of change... baby, career change, moving... luckily, Ana is totally supportive on all fronts so I think its going to be alot of fun.

More updates from SF

2007-03-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

Sort of a challenging week last week, Tomás had his first cold and it was a bit of a doosy. Stuffy nose, cough, the whole enchalada. Through it all Tomás was a real champ.

Other than the cold, it was pretty much business as usual... friends stopping in for visits...

... and lots of time spent relaxing and getting to know the newest addition to the family.

Playing in the band...

2007-02-18T21:46:00.000-08:00

I finally found someone who appreciates quality music...

... he doesn't even seem to mind that I keep playing the same 5 songs over and over.

Day in the sun...

2007-02-14T16:47:00.000-08:00

Doc says I need to get a little sun to clear up my skin...

2007-01-27T15:02:00.000-08:00

A picture can speak a thousand words... the only thing you can't see in these photos is how dang tired we are (but loving every minute of it).

Good times

2007-01-16T18:39:00.000-08:00

Here's a short video... pretty cheesy I'll admit, but for those of you who have been thru this, I suspect you'll relate.

Tomás Update

2007-01-10T14:45:00.000-08:00

Everything is moving along nicely... mom is healing and catching up on sleep, and baby is getting lots of good rest and nourishment.

We are planning to be home Friday AM, outside chance we could be home Thurs PM. Big thanks to all our friends and family who have given us such great love and support!! You are the best!!!

Tomás Prado Teeple

2007-01-07T18:37:00.000-08:00

It's been a long road, but we made it! Mom and the little guy are doing GREAT!! Here is a quick summary... Tomás Prado Teeple was born at 8:30am Monday morning; 8lbs, 11oz, 20" long.

Any day now!!!

2006-12-20T10:46:00.000-08:00

Looking good AP, less than 3 weeks now!!

Homestretch

2006-12-16T13:30:00.000-08:00

AP's baby shower was last weekend... Nathalie, Erin, and Heather really pulled out the stops and put on a great party.

Look at the little thankyou packages, each one with an assortment of homemade treats and signed off by 'baby Teeps'.

The boys all went down to the local ice skating rink where Fin put on a real ice skating clinic for me. For some reason I thought I remembered learning how to ice skate at some point in my life, sadly mistaken. For what its worth, I was much better figuring out how to work the new walkie talkie than he was.

Sunday morning turns...

2006-12-03T10:03:00.000-08:00

We had the full crew out this AM... Gass, Van, Brand, O'Brien, Joe, Clapper, and AP out with the camera! Tide was on it a little, and the current was doing its best to push us all down to VFW... excuses, excuses. Here are a few shots, thanks AP!! Follow below link for more...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pradoteeple/sets/72157594403647248/

Ready or not...

2006-11-22T07:56:00.000-08:00

We are really in the home stretch here... AP is looking like she is ready to deliver tomorrow and from the looks of our latest ultrasound, our little guy is doing very well.

I guess the magic number is 36 weeks, after that we are a go anytime... right now we are only 32 weeks which means the bun needs to stay in the oven just a little while longer.

My mother visited last week and really helped us in our preparations, both mentally and physically as evidenced by this fantastic new crib! Thanks mom!!

Countdown is on...

2006-10-31T14:08:00.000-08:00

Is this amazing or what... hard to believe we are still 2.5 months away from delivery. The little guy is now weighing around 2.5lbs and is 16" from head to toe, we are feeling very excited... and nervous.

Fall is happening in full force out here in the Sunset... great weather, offshore flow, and killer surf. Here's a shot from weekend before last. Click on the image to get the full size.

For Halloween this year I went as Kim Jong Ill (sp?)... unfortunately, my likeness to the North Korean leader wasn't close enough and so I had to explain to most people who I was supposed to be. AP was in stitches most of the night, I think mostly from just how goofy I looked. I thought I nailed it.

August in Indonesia part II

2006-09-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

What could possibly top a 8 day surf charter in Indonesia? How about another 7 days of complete rest and relaxation in Bali!! Here is a quick snapshot of me doing what I do best, relaxing!! I was so sore that the first massage was actually pretty painful, of course I was diligent and didn't give up after the first few.

Ana is becoming quite the adventurous travler, while she was in Bali alone she saw festivals, ceremonies, and each day had some sort of activity. This is a photo AP snapped while at a cremation ceremony for a village chief. By the time I got back from the boat not only did she have Sanur wired, she was ready for a change so we didn't waste any time getting to the next destination, Ubud.

It was such a perfect vacation that we agreed that we want to do it again next year... except this time next year we will be a party of three!

The real headline...

2006-09-13T10:13:00.000-07:00

Some interesting developments lately. Interesting in that they are the sort of things that really make you stop and think. Turning 40 last week was a trip. On one hand its easy to laugh it off and say, hey I'm young and blah blah, give me another beer, blah blah, let's surf, blah blah. On the other hand, 40 is half way thru life... and thats assuming I'm lucky enough to live to 80. I can't help but feel good about the life I've lived so far... got a decent education, made a contribution in a developing country, lived overseas, career, amazing wife... not bad for a guy from Astoria, Oregon.

Tomorrow baby Teeple will be 22 weeks old, or 5 1/2 months. At this point he (confirmed, it's a boy) is just starting to kick and if I am patient and hold my hand on Ana's belly long enough and if he gives a good strong kick, I can just barely feel it. Ana says she can feel him moving around all the time. His eyes are still sealed shut, but apparently he can now hear 100% of what is happening outside of the womb. He's half way ready to be born. Makes me stop and think.

August in Indonesia... part I

2006-09-11T17:53:00.000-07:00

The idea started out as a clever (yet predictable) way to get our wives to let us guys go on an Indonesian charter-boat surf trip. Clever because we only realized after organization work started that we had 5 guys all turning 40 in 2006, but predictable because if it wasn't the birthdays I'm sure we would have cooked up some other excuse.

Organizing for this thing began almost a year ago, it wasn't too much work since we used a booking agency to help, but still there was a fair bit of running around that needed to be done. In the end we pulled together a great crew, some more experienced surfers, some less, some having extensively travelled in Indo, others never having been to Asia.

The trip plan was pretty simple, everyone make their own way to Bali, then meet up at the Airport and all fly together to Kupang, West Timor. From Kupang we'd get picked up at the airport by the charter boat crew (in trucks) and driven to the port where we would board our boat, the Mahallo II. Surprisingly, we had no issues at all with the pre-boarding travels, everyone and their boards arrived in perfect condition.

Boarding the Mahallo II, I think we all had fairly high expectations. By the end of the trip I don't there was a single one of us that didn't have their expectations exceeded. For me individually, it was a combination of several factors, great surf, killer food, comfortable sleeping quarters, friendly staff, and the sense that we were really out there on the frontier.

A little bit more on the surf for those interested... we had 4-6 foot faces the first few days, nice and clean with long, long left handers. Not so hollow, but plenty walled up for working on snaps, turns, cutbacks, etc. By the 3rd day it bumped up considerably to 10-12 foot + faces and all the other breaks nearby (the first few days we were on the same left hander) started firing, so we started deploying away teams to other spots. One of the spots was a right that was hollow, fast, and very, very critical. Critical in that about half of the guys hit bottom pretty hard on their first wave or two and only a small group elected for a second sesh there. The bigger sets were producing truly world class barrels, probably the best waves I've ever seen first hand. For a regular footer, this trip was really a good experience... either you are being challenged by going left or if you are going right, you are being challenged by the speed and criticality of the section and consequence. By the end of the trip, I think we were all surfed out. In fact judging by the number of guys sitting on the deck drinking beers the last day (could have been out getting one last surf) I'd say everyone got their fill of waves. Add'l pics posted below... http://www.flickr.com/photos/pradoteeple/sets/72157594281510404/

Long drive home...

2006-07-08T20:02:00.000-07:00

Our first trip to Oregon this summer saw a few firsts. First time I've travelled to the Gorge when it was windy and didn't windsurf (at all)... and first time we drove home all the way to SF. On the windsurfing front, I sort of wasn't all that keen because I've got this pesky toe problem (broken) and I really want to get it healed before the boat trip in Indonesia, so that I didn't get to sail wasn't that big of a deal. The reason we drove back is because my Grandmother gave her car to Ana Paula. Also good news for me because it means that I can turn in my chaufeur's license (yes!). The first pic is a sunflower field we drove past on the drive to SF, I think AP really wished she had her good camera gear, unfortunately we just got this quick snapshot.

We stopped in Ashland, OR on the way home to break the trip up and were both charmed by this little town. The Shakespeare festival was in full swing and it was the day before the annual 4th of July parade. It was warm and everyone was smiling and in great spirits. Strongly recommend this stopover to anyone who has a little time to kill. This photo of me was taken in Lithia Park, which is right in the heart of downtown. The creek was ice cold and so it felt great on my foot... here I am soaking my left foot in the water to try to get the swelling in my toe to go down.

North Tower GG Bridge

2006-07-07T15:18:00.000-07:00

Got a call from our friend Bruce the other day... 'man, its cranking at the N. Tower... lets hit it!' As usual it didn't take much convincing, though I did have to do a bit of arm twisting to convince AP it was a good idea. Anyway, great sailing spot except that if the wind cuts off, its a difficult swim. This photo is taken w/ a 300mm zoom so there is alot more water between land and where the edge of the photo starts. That small spot in the upper left is me swimming in my gear. I'd say this was about as close to getting swept out the gate as I've ever been (right behind me is the outgoing current). Nice views though.

India Images

2006-05-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

I am continually amazed by the quality of the photos that AP takes. I was with her during this entire trip and looking thru the images, its as if she has captured the spirit of the place and people more than what I experienced first hand.

Here is AP at work... http://www.flickr.com/photos/byana/sets/72057594121752257/

Got wind?

2006-04-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

The windsurfing conditions up here in north bay have been a little dodgy in the early spring with most of the action happening along the coast down in Santa Cruz county... until this week. Check out the surge that hit Crissy Field this week... usually you can count the number of times per year it gets this windy on one hand. Sort of reminds me of sailing in the Gorge, except that the surface conditions when it gets windy here are very different from the Gorge. In the Gorge when it gets super windy, you get these big smooth swells that form in the section of the river with the most current, sometimes even breaking. Here when it gets super windy we get this chop that feels like it almost rattles your dental fillings loose. Thursday when this wind hit I was on my smallest sail and was still getting pushed around pretty good, gusts were in 40s. Friday was more manageable, felt much more in control and the wind seemed pretty consistent, so I spent most of my time sailing on the ocean swells up under the GG bridge. Fun. Saturday I took a long hard look at OB for windsurfing, but it just didn't look fun... lots of close-out type shore pound with very few surfable looking waves, so I decided to do Crissy again... another fun day of nice easy 5.0 sailing with clean ramps for lots of port-side jumping. Today me and AP are heading down to Santa Cruz to hang w/ the Clapp family and I'm also hoping to get at least 2 seshs at Dport (today and tomorrow). If Dport works out it will be a good haul for the weekend... 3 days strong wind bump & jump & 2 days of wave sailing!!

Namaste!

2006-04-14T06:23:00.000-07:00

Where do riots breakout when a movie actor passes away of old age? Where do camels and elephants still serve as part of the work force? Where do huge Brahma bulls wander around and hang out side by side w/ people going about their daily routines? Its the same place where the wealthiest of wealthy rub shoulders with people who suffer thru their daily existence, not really sure where their next meal comes from... and in the background to this is the everpresent essence of jasmine. Of course we are talking about India.

Mao knows best

2006-04-08T14:06:00.000-07:00

What a great trip... I hit all my biz objectives and AP had a great first trip to China. Wish we could have had a little more time to get off the beaten path as most of the things we did were activities I'd done multiple times already, that said, I think it was a pretty incredible experience for AP and I got a ton of fulfillment from watching her interact in a completely foreign environment.

As they say a photo is worth a thousand words, so I'm going to keep this short... here is the first set of photos, these are all from the Forbidden City in Beijing... photo credit to my favorite photographer, AP... http://www.flickr.com/photos/byana/sets/72057594094522808/

Tomorrow we leave for India...

Beijing, China

2006-03-20T18:03:00.000-08:00

Ana Paula in Beijing... whooda thunk? Pretty cool. In one day AP took over 230 photos, and that was just Forbidden City, Tianamen Square, and the antique shopping district. It was a long day for sure... 9am to 6pm on our feet the entire time. Today I'm in the office (found a 15 minute slot to post this) all day and AP is off on a day trip to the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall. We dumped all the photos to the PC last night, so she has plenty of space... she took some great photos yesterday, check back in a few days and we'll upload a bunch.

London Calling!!

2006-03-06T02:45:00.000-08:00

Windsor castle. Sometimes the planners of these work meetings pick areas that are easy on the eyes... and as luck would have it, my work meetings in London this week are taking place at a hotel which is situated squarely in front of the famous Windsor Castle. I'm not exactly sure about the historic relevance of this place, except that I know the Queen of England spends most of her summers here. I also know from my morning walk from the hotel to the Starbucks where I'm sitting now, that it is a very big castle. Not that I've gathered much comparative data on castles in general, but it just seems big. This castle just goes on and on. Almost seems more like a walled city than a castle. Took a stroll thru the little village that is situated adjacent to the castle and there are all the typical english shops like Marks and Spencer, Boots Pharmacy, etc., the only problem is that with the exchange rate where it is, prices seems crazy. The latte I'm sipping here set me (Intel) back 2.68 pound, which is almost $5.00!! My 20 minute taxi ride (shorter than the sunset to SFO) was an insane 48 pounds, which is almost $100!

Resource Optimization

2006-02-16T16:15:00.000-08:00

My buddy from Oregon left his wetsuit, booties, and gloves at the casa a few weeks ago... course the team took the opportunity to demo his suit a few times, which I think is fair... but I had a hard time finding a use for the gloves. Around here we really don't use gloves, well most of us don't... anyway, of course when I finally found a use for them I get the email asking me to drop the whole kit into the mail... bummer!!!

Winter Juice

2006-02-07T06:23:00.000-08:00

Superbowl was sort of boring, not sure exactly why, but just had a hard time getting into it. Bummed the Seahawks lost though. Maybe it was the beautiful sunny day we had here, felt like we were into the 70's, but I'm sure it was just upper 60's. Or maybe it was the BOOMING surf... today was the Mavs contest down at Half Moon Bay. I checked it out for a little while on web, those guys are truly on a different level... pushing each other into some really crazy spots. OB was serving it up, but it was really for a very elite crew. At this point, I wonder if I'll ever get past the 2xOH threshold out there, hard to imagine, but who knows. These mild temps are supposed to hang around thru the weekend.... and don't forget your better half on Valentines day!!

Brazil - SF - Vegas - Thailand

2006-01-18T19:20:00.000-08:00

After getting back from Brazil and taking a quick trip down to Vegas for a product launch, I went to Asia for a work meeting in Bangkok, Thailand.

If you haven't been to Bangkok, its a place you really should visit sometime. As far as Asian cities go, its very large and densely populated with some upside and downside. On the upside, there are some truly amazing temples with killer architecture, gigantic Buddhas, and lots of gold and shiny things. Aside from the temples, the next biggest attraction is the shopping. You can find really cool home furnishings, gadgets, mini Buddha statues, textiles, etc. Special mention must be made of the availability of cheap and excellent massage. The one free afternoon I had I got a foot massage (reflexology), followed by a facial, followed by a full on traditional Thai massage (I think the end price was something like $25 for 3 hrs of spa treatment). However, my favorite thing about Thailand has got to be the food... amazing quality, price, freshness...YUM.

Most of the food that is... I came across this cart selling assorted fried and salted treats. Upon closer inspection you'll find that each of these fried and salted critters were once among the living. I have to admit I wasn't up for trying any of these, but I did give the nice lady 20 Baht to take this photo.

The downside of BKK is that it has sort of a seedy underbelly. One thing you'll notice right away is that there is a disproportionately large number of caucasion men who are all in their 40s - 50s all hanging around. During the afternoon, its just them... siting around drinking beers. You might conclude that they are all waiting for their wives who are out shopping or getting a manicure or something. Then you might notice that there is a strange consistency to these men... most are slightly to very overweight, and lots seem to be these sort of 'working class' type guys. The look is unmistakeable... dress socks with white tennis shoes, vacation shirts, cheap bling-bling, etc. Late afternoon it becomes obvious what they are waiting for... the bars all start to fill in with local thai girls. I suppose everyone is entitled to their opinion of the sex trade in Thailand, some will argue that its their right to make a living how they choose, others will argue that the presence of so many willing consumers only makes a bad situation worse.

Anyway, besides the prostition, there is traffic, pollution, and its sort of just a crazy, anything-goes sort of place. Like I said, for a few days, it can be alot fo fun... temples, water market, shopping, eating... then use BKK as a jumping off point and get yourself over to the southern coastline.

NE Brazil... Part 2 - Jericoacoara

2006-01-18T07:06:00.000-08:00

Leaving Fernando, I think we all were excited about what the second leg of our trip had in store for us. None of us had been to Jeri and from what little we knew, it was going to be a real adventure. After flying from Fernando to Recife to Forteleza, we took a 5 hour ride in a 4x4 thru remote villages and at least an hour of driving on the beach (no road!). For me personally, this drive was very memorable and our driver (Daniel) was great.
We stopped at a roadside stall for Christmas eve dinner and had a fun time eating bbq meats, rice / beans, drinking beers, and chatting w/ whoever walked by. After we got past the last village and started driving on the beach, Daniel stopped so we could all get out and really get a good look at the night stars. I think its great when you can take time to allow yourself to get completely absorbed in the stars. There were a few times on this trip when we allowed ourselves the luxury to just gaze up and drift off into conversation. Something else thats extra cool for us northerners is that the stars seem completely different due to the southern perspective... its like you are seeing a whole new set of stars!

Pulling into Jeri we were all immediately struck by the charm of the place. The streets are all sand, very few cars, great little cafes & restaurants everywhere, and lots of people all enjoying themselves! Our posada was on the outskirts of the village about 15 mins walking or 7 minutes by horse cart, and it was really, really nice. In fact, I think we were all pleasantly surprised at how nice our accomodations were... on top of this, the owners, Marcio and Patricia were extremely gracious, engaging, and loads of fun to hang out with! Can't talk about Marcio and Patricia without mentioning their angel daughter Mika, having her around the posada was really a huge bonus.

Most days we would roll out of bed around 9am or so, take breakfast, hang around the posada (literally hang in our rede), then grab a lift via horse cart down to the beach. At the beach we'd usually setup basecamp at the windsurfing center during the main part of the afternoon, then each evening we'd wander down the beach for a snack, watch capoeira, maybe do a little shopping, or catch sunset from up on the dune. Ultimately though, each evening we found ourselves at the sky bar having caiparoskas and laughs w/ an assortment of characters.

AP made some nice new friends that she met at the windsurfing center, one of which was pals with one of her childhood best friends from Jacarei (Sao Paulo)!! In addition to the new friends, we had some existing friends that also made the trip... our good friend Elrid who lives in Florinopolis, John Shannon who lives in London, and Marcia and Chris who we knew from San Francisco. Rob also did a great job making new friends :o) .

One experience that really stands out when we took 4 motorcycles and a dune buggy out for a day trip. I'll tell you, riding a motorcycle in the soft sand is alot more challenging than you'd think... fortunately, we escaped without any serious wipeouts (though I thought I was going down at least once) and it left me trying to think of a way to get a dirt bike back in SF. The scenery was incredible and at one point we came to a river, where we loaded up the motorcycles and the dune buggy all onto a raft and portaged... with pole power!

Our last night in Jeri was NYE. True to Brazilian tradition, we dressed in all white and had a fun night eating and partying. Just before midnight we climbed to the top of the dune to watch the fireworks and make our toasts, then after we walked down to do the wave hops for good luck in 2006. Noteworthy is the fact that Rob pulled an all-nighter on NYE, in fact, I think he pulled a few all nighters that week... buy him a beer and I'm sure he will have some stories.

Here are my favorite photos out of AP's collection (there are lots)... http://www.flickr.com/photos/pradoteeple/sets/72057594051893336/

NE Brazil... Part 1 - Fernando de Noronha

2006-01-17T21:51:00.000-08:00

Week 1 for this year's Brazil holiday was Fernando de Noronha. Its a small island about 350 miles off the coast, slightly NE of Recife, which is in the extreme NE of Brazil. AP had been to Fernando several times for its world-class scuba and I had been hearing about these perfect hollow waves, so it seemed like a great destination to satisfy both our cravings. After talking up how great the surfing was going to be, our good friend Rob Born decided to join us.

I'm not exactly sure how the Brazil parks system work, but the way they managed Fernando was very effective. It doesn't feel like one of our national parks, but its obvious that they have put strict limitations on all residential and commercial development and thereby indirectly limited the number of people (no camping allowed). If you aren't registered at one of the guest houses, you are not permitted on the island (registration is right when you get off the plane). The net effect is really great, you feel like you are on an exclusive and crowd-free retreat!

The beaches were amazing... very much pristine and beautiful. Crystal clear water, abundant sea life (turtles, spinner dolfins, fish, etc.), and top rate underwater exploring. With AP as our guide, we signed up with a dive operator that took us on 4 exciting and somewhat challenging dives. I think the diving was really one of the highlights for both AP and I... especially so for AP. She has alot of passion for scuba and I think adding to her excitement was getting to see all her old pals from when she would visit with her friends a few years back. Towards the end of our trip, we were hanging out at one of the local night spots and started to realize that we knew half of the people there (its a small place) and on top of that, the guy fronting the band was the same guy who took us diving earlier in the day!

Few comments on the surf. Before leaving SF we did our homework... it was going to be epic, a guaranteed score... hollow waves, light crowds, warm water, and we were hitting it at the right time of year. AP was going to take footage w/ our new video camera, we called ahead and had custom boards shaped that were waiting for us at the airport (4 in total). Personally, I was psyching myself up to push my limits a bit... ride deep and really commit. As it turns out, the best way I can summarize is that it was the best surf trip I've ever been on where I didn't surf much at all. Basically the waves just didn't happen (knee to waist high). To be fair, we did get 1 day of ok surf... which mostly consisted of these local kids getting slotted all over the place, they were really, really, really good surfers. Were we a little bummed, sure, but there were so many other things happening, it really didn't matter.

So thats pretty much it... I don't know much about the history of the island, we didn't really take any tours... just lots of exploring in our dune buggy, hanging out on beaches, snorkeling, diving, eating, and a little partying.

More pics... 100% credit to AP!! http://www.flickr.com/photos/pradoteeple/sets/72057594050590953/

Home stretch...

2005-12-31T05:35:00.000-08:00

Sitting here by the pool of our posada its hard to imagine a place I'd rather be. We are on our last full day of Jericoacoara, and have a big day / night ahead of us. We'll probably head down to the windsurfing area in about 20 mins, hit the water / waves for a few hours, have lunch, then maybe wander around the village a bit for some souvenir shopping, happy hour, etc. Later on we have a big bbq / party here at our posada, then down to the beach for fireworks and the big fiesta. Unfortunately, we have an early departure tomorrow morning at 6:30am (ouch), which gives us two clear options... option 1 = party all night, option 2 = back home by 1:30am for 5 hrs of sleep. I think AP and I are on option 2, Mario-Betto-Rob (all the same person) will probably be on option 1. Tomorrow we travel by 4x4 along the beach and then thru small villages to Forteleza, then to Sao Paulo, then SF. AP and I will stay in SP for a day to visit w/ the Prado familia, and Rob is going to head straight back... so Rob will arrive on Jan 2 in SF and I'll be back on Jan 3. We have a ton to be thankful for this year and look forward to having a great 2006 w/all our great family and friends.

Update from afar... Fernando de Noronha (Brazil)

2005-12-21T15:01:00.000-08:00

First few days in Fernando have been very nice, not much happening on the wave front, but we had tons of other fun things to do, including a great scuba trip, hikes to remote beaches, snorkeling, little partying / dancing, eating out, etc.

Today the swell finally bumped up and we had shoulder / head high little barrels on offer down at the local. We both got a few, then I made a bit of a tactical error by dropping in on the one guy that you probably should steer clear of. I'll save the rest of this story for when we get a better connection, trust me though, you will be entertained.

Two more days of great surf ahead of us... keep checking back and we'll update again.

Countdown is on...

2005-12-14T20:04:00.000-08:00

Its that time of year... sun, killer food (churrasco), cold beer, beautiful beaches, hammocks (rede), and great waves... where else but BRAZIL! This year two destinations... Fernando de Noronha and Jericocoara.

Unfortunately right now all I can think about is my list... sunblock, first aid kit, cameras, power adaptors, PC cables, white clothes for new years eve, vitamins, duct tape, surf wax, extra leashes, hat, shorts, flip flops, sunglasses, iPOD & speaker, blah, blah, blah. One thing I won't be bringing is my down jacket.

Hopefully we are going to do some posting from the road, we'll see how it works out.

Short vid from Sunday

2005-12-13T18:39:00.000-08:00

Here's some footage from Sunday, most of the really big ones didn't hold up so the rides are on the medium sized waves mostly...December 11th, 2005.

Tough Love

2005-12-12T13:15:00.000-08:00

Big, clean, gentle off-shores... pretty much perfect I'd say. Saturday started out in the 1.5xOH then hit 2xOH by lunchtime and just got bigger from there. Somewhere around 11am I think I hit my big wave threshold. Hard to say for sure how I know when I've hit my size limit, but somewhere around 2xOH I start surfing 'defensively' instead of 'offensively'. Another indicator is that I start thinking about how the hell I'm going to get in. At the local you'd think its no problem, sand bottom, right? Well, strictly speaking, I guess that's right... but speaking from first hand experience, you can really get stuffed if you don't pick your exit time wisely. AP shot these pics on Sunday AM at the south end, so these are after the swell had completely filled in. There were around 15-20 guys out just going for it... some got glory, some got a heaping spoonful of tough love. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pradoteeple/sets/1567239/

From the streets of outer sunset to the cafes of Milan

2005-12-06T09:26:00.000-08:00

Pronto!! Last week made a departure from the mild Norcal winter weather to make a biz trip over to Europe. Normally when I make these trips I hit multiple cities and customers to get more of a cross section of what is happening in the European market... this time we were 100% focused on a single customer in Italy so we just went straight to Milan.

If you haven't been to Milan I'd definitely say it is worth the trip from a tourist perspective. Didn't get much time to kick around, but between the Duomo (pictured), the charm of the older sections of downtown, and the swankiness of the fashion district, its an interesting experience.

I think this is my 3rd or 4th trip to Milan on business and my favorite part of visiting is getting to interact w/ the Italians. What an interesting bunch. First of all, the best thing about Italians (IMHO) is their true appreciation for the good things in life... specifically, great food, fantastic wine, and perfect coffee. Its not just the wealthy upper class either, the appreciation of food and drink seems to span the economic classes. The other thing I always notice when go to Italy is that it seems like every Italian has a sense of personal style that can range from a barely noticeable fashion accessory to full on branded clothes from the latest designer, hair, shoes, etc. Very cool country and great people... ciao!

Retrospect...

2005-11-26T13:01:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe this pic is from exactly one week ago today... we were drinking beers at the beach w/ 75F temps, completely surfed-out.

Today the beach is mess, so lets talk a little more about last week...

There are several shots that AP took that are amazing, and really need an audience. So, we've done some editing on a few shots and pulled together the best of the best. You'll be able to tell that the camera likes the barrel shots... we are calling this our 'greatest hits' collection... some nice waves and a few guys were really killing it (Brian or Ben recognize yourselves or any of your buddies in these?).

Click on the below shot and tell me your opinion... is this guy claiming, or is he just trying to keep his balance? Eitherway, you don't see too many standup barrels like this around here... Enjoy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/byana/67333365/in/set-1453277/