The Santa Train

Today the Otterlee and Jenkins fams rode the Santa Train in North Bend. It wasn’t the longest of journeys — the brochure said three miles but it felt like three hundred yards. Nevertheless it was a fun way for us to spend a Friday afternoon. A few pics:

The train arriving at the station.

Mom and Finn standing in the queue.

A view from inside.

Brother and sister.

Sidekick Grant makes an appearance.

About as close as we can get to them posing.

Uh ... if only we could have a caption contest.

This part didn't go so well ...

Jayne, Otter and Grant Otterlee.

Our fam -- and if we're not careful, our Christmas family photo for 2009.

Thanksgiving 2009

Today the Lippmanns and then the Otterlees joined us to celebrate Thanksgiving 2009. No drama, no episodes, just great food and friends. A few pics:

Ronnie did a great job on the table.

Sophia may be Finn's biggest fan.

The family Lippmann.

There's a device I could have lived without.

Finn with his momma.

Reese and me.

Jayne, Grant and Mark Otterlee.

Reese with Grant and Auntie Jayne.

The host and hostess.

Reese, pondering the meaning of life in Ollie's daybed.

Very, very full.

Still wondering if Otter has teeth.

Finn Takes His First Steps

We can’t quite call it “walking,” but little Finn took his first steps last night. I don’t see him running any 100-yard dashes anytime soon, but he’ll get there soon enough. A few photos:

Woah, this is kinda cool ...

Houston, we have movement ...

Gettin' ready to bite it.

The Skoochies Reunion

Oh to be 15 again.

Actually I’m glad I’m not, but for one night it was pretty fun.

I attended the first-ever Skoochies reunion party last night at the ol’ Skoochies (our pics I everyone’s). The party was organized by a gal named Holly, who put the whole thing together through Facebook. At last count the Facebook Skoochies fan club was 2900 old new wavers strong. Lots of them were on hand.

The club’s West Seattle branch started with a pre-func at Jay Tando’s hotel room, about four blocks east of the crime scene and just a block south of Denny Park, where Ian Ross chipped my front tooth in 1985. Jay, Brad Miller, Brian Fischer, Leon Moody, Joel Aro, Thom DiMitriou and select significant others were among those on hand. We had wine coolers, Olde English, and a play list straight from KROQ circa 1982 — seriously 80’s stuff.

At Jay's pre-func before the main event.

Out on the balcony.

Part of the Kennedy crowd.

We made it over to the big Skooch by 10 pm and proceeded to dance the night away. We ran into Julie Ferkingstad, Brian Mahn and Brian Folino. Jay, Julie and I closed the place down around 2 am — three hours past my usual bedtime.

Joel, me, Julie and Brian.

The crime scene on Sunday morning.

Good fun was had by all. I haven’t danced that much in the last ten years combined. Nor have I stayed out that late since, well, since Mtv played music.

Overall verdict: it was great fun, but I’m sure glad I’m not in that scene anymore. Once a decade is probably fine.

I’m sure Reese, Finn and Ronnie agree.

POSTSCRIPT: Jay and I made it over to West Seattle to see our old buddy Gary Smith on Monday. Regrettably he did not make it to Skoochies night — didn’t feel well, he said. Seemed fine on Monday:

Jay, Gary and me.

Finn’s First Birthday Party

Last night we officially celebrated Finn’s first birthday. We had lots of family friends over to the house. Night went off without incident. Eli Moeller snapped some great pics with Ronnie’s camera. Among them:

Norman doing my job better than me.

Betty, Finn, Ann, Logan and Eric.

Ronnie and Veronica Moeller.

The Richardson fam.

These balloons would soon be in the sky ...

and Reese and the other kids got quite the chuckle.

A rare site -- me lifting a finger in the kitchen.

The Jenkins and Otterlee fams.

Modest appearing, this cake was quite tasty.

Gettin' ready to blow out the candle.

Finn checking out his cake.

Kimberly, Sophia and Alan Lippmann.

Tamir, Finn and Reese enjoying the cake.

A rarity at house parties -- everyone out of the kitchen.

Finn’s First Haircut

Finn got his first haircut today. We took him and Reese to that place in Wallingford Center. It wasn’t a minute too soon — Finn was starting to look like a hippie:

Before: Matthew McConaughey

After: Chief Justice John Roberts

More pics available here.

Finn Celebrates the Big Numero Uno

Today was Finn’s first birthday. We celebrated as a family, birthday party to follow this weekend. A few pics from tonight’s four-person, two-dog, one-cat soiree:

Now whose present is this ...?

The birthday boy in his birthday hat.

Reese: Now this one looks an awful lot like a Reese toy. Finn: Uh ...

Mama mia, I'm in for a long slog ...

Don't have this chocoloate cupcake thing worked out just yet.

My First Ever Fantasy Football Draft

Yesterday I attended my first ever fantasy football draft. I’m playing in the Cascade Auto Glass Fantasy Football League, run by my good buddy Brad Nelson. Paul Sharkey, Norman Cheuk and Tim O’Brien are also members.

About 16 of us spent a gorgeous Saturday afternoon in the basement of Fox Sports Grill drafting players for ‘09. I inherited Larry Fitzgerald as a keeper on my team. Among the other big names I nabbed: Ben Roethlisberger (whom I stupidly nabbed over Darren McFadden), Terrell Owens and Larry Johnson. Deion Branch — not sure what I was thinking there.

I think I made a big mistake picking him ...

instead of him.

Anyway, I was up at 4 am this morning lamenting my Roethlisberger-over-McFadden decision.

I think I’m going to be addicted.

These Guys Are Still Good

Yesterday Steven, Norman and I headed east to the Boeing Classic. It was the first tournament I’d been to live in roughly seven years and the first senior event I’d been to in probably twenty.

Steven and I at the range. That's Bernhard Langer in the background.

These guys are still very, very, very good. To say they stripe it is a serious understatement. Even guys who aren’t known for their length — guys like John Cook or Nick Price, for example — bomb it by me a good forty yards.

Me and Steven by the 14th tee. That's Dan Forsman in the background, next to Mark O'Meara.

We spent a good deal of time following Messrs. Price and Cook, who were paired with John Jacobs. We also followed Mark O’Meara around. I spoke briefly with Hal Sutton — “hey Hal, how far is to carry over to that bunker?,” and he responded with an analysis of the hole.)

Mark O'Meara strutting down the 14th fairway -- tough life.

Maybe the coolest point was when we were leaving. We get in the car and who’s getting out of the car in front of us but John Cook himself. So I rolled down the window and asked him how it is that Tour players get all their free clothes. It turns out the companies (in his case, Nike) send big boxes of clothes to them at home about 3-4 times a year. From there, they actually have to pack their own bags.

Norman behind the 18th green. A few minutes after this, Loren Roberts got up and down to take a one-shot win over Mark O'Meara.

Sounds tough, I know.

John Cook is officially my favorite Champions Tour player.

Ronnie and I Meet Another Captain from The Deadliest Catch

Two summers ago, Ronnie and I met Sig Hansen of The Deadliest Catch walking down the aisle at the Ballard Safeway. A chance happening. Sig was a talkative fellow.

Today we met our second Deadliest Catch captain. Phil Harris and his boys were at the UVillage QFC signing autographs and promoting Phil’s new coffee.

We chatted with Phil for a few minutes and he was really a very nice fella.

Us with Phil and his boys.

I'm sure I'm dishing out some pearl of wisdom...