2003
|
|
|
 |
|
New Years 2003
We had a great time, as usual, spending New Year's with Mary's family at Edith's house. Here are the pictures.
Edith's 80th Birthday
Mary's family came from far and wide to meet in Visalia where we celebrated Edith's 80th birthday. We rented 2 Bed and Breakfasts and had a really great time. You can see the pictures here. James sent a few of the great pictures he took and they are available here.
|
|
New Zealand
Mary traveled to New Zealand in February to attend the wedding of Janet and Craig. She had a great time visiting everyone and next time Joe is going too. Here are the some of the pictures she took during her visit.
Dallas at the Beach
We took Dallas to the beach for the first time on a somewhat blustery February day. It was actually somewhat difficult to find a beach in Pescadero where they allow dogs, but we found this one and Dallas had a great time running around in the sand. Take a look.
|
|
Japan
Joe attended a conference in Tokyo in March. He had a free day before it began and one after it ended. He spent about half that time in Akihabara - also known as Electric Town. It is an area of Tokyo that specializes in selling electronics of every kind - from light bulbs to cell phones to vacuum cleaners to computers and digital cameras. Despite the fact that it is an absolute assault on the senses, it is not to be missed by an self-respecting gadget hound. Some of the pictures from the trip are available here. As always, these are lower quality versions that make them faster to download. If you want to see a full resolution version of any of these (or other pictures on the site) just let me know.
|
|
Easter Brunch
We had another very nice Easter Brunch this year at Nicolino's Garden Cafe in Sunnyvale. Domenic, Uncle Steve, and I all took pictures. You can get to mine here.
|
|
|
|
Here are a few pictures from a small gathering at our house for Joe's birthday.
Seattle Visit
Joe had a conference to attend in Seattle so Mary took the opportunity to go up and visit Johnny and Linda for a while. We all got together for a couple of evenings and Mary spent a couple of nights at Johnny and Linda's house. Here are some shots of the family out seeing the sights.
|
|
Family Visit
We had another very nice visit this summer from Mark, Janice, Ally, and Dan. The big outing this year was to see part of the "Bank of the West Tennis Tournament." Ally got the autographs of several big-name tennis stars on a giant tennis ball that she found at a sports shop (I think). It was the second biggest tennis ball I've ever seen. Despite all the outings, just about all of the pictures seem to be centered around eating. Hmm, I wonder if that means something.
|
|
Bangok Trip
At the beginning of August (actually the very end of July) we went to Bangkok so Joe could speak at a couple of events. We stayed at a really wonderful hotel call The Sukhothai. It was as a lot of fun even though Joe was working most of the time. Mary was able to get out to a national park for a couple of days and we both saw at least some of the sights in the city. You can find most of our pictures here. Mary also visited a place called the Snake Farm. They keep poisonous snakes there in order to produce anti venom. We've separated out those pictures in deference to those who'd rather not be faced with big snakes while innocently looking through travel photos..
Inge's Visit
We were very lucky to have Inge come and visit us for about a week in August. It was really great seeing her and catching up. We just took a couple of pictures and once again, they seem to center around the dinner table (this time outside). Have a look.
|
|
Trip to South Korea
At the beginning of September I (Joe) took a brief trip to South Korea to speak at a conference and speak to a couple of customers. I only had about a half a day for sight seeing, but I did manage to take a few pictures. Most of them are at the Korean War Memorial. Sadly, the museum was closed on Monday when I visited. The grounds are pretty amazing though and made it worthwhile. I was intrigued by the amount of emergency equipment in the hotel room - particularly the "panic button" in the bathroom. There are also a couple of pictures of me giving my talk. It was a really nice venue.
|
|
Buckaroo's First Days
Here are the first pictures of the latest addition to our family - Buckaroo the Welsh Corgi. Some of these pictures were actually taken in September when Mary and I went to meet Buckaroo at the breeder's house. At that time he didn't have a name and we just refered to him as "red boy". I'm sure these are the first of many pictures to come. As I typed this and uploaded the pictures I had to pull Buckaroo out from under my desk many times. In just the short total elapsed time he was down there he managed to chew through a cable connected to my computer. He can't get to the power cables, but he got to a communications cable. those little puppy teeth are sharp!
Joe had another quick trip this month - this time to Taiwan. The people organizing the conference he spoke at arranged an afternoon tour with a couple of other people from work. Most of these pictures are from that tour.
|
|
|
|
New Zealand Vacation
Mary took a second trip to New Zealand this year but this time Joe went along as well. We spent the first half of our time there in an area called the Bay of Islands. It's toward the north end of the north Island. It was a great vacation and a beautiful setting. Here are the pictures. The second part of our trip was a combination of a Christmas celebration and a wedding. Mary was the matron of honor in the wedding of her good friend Catherine. You can find pictures of our Christmas activities, the Wedding, and other events here.