Looking at the frequency of entries over the past couple of years: 15 in 2009, 8 in 2010 and 3 thus far in 2011, it appears that I will either write 0 or -0.57 journals in 2012. Perhaps I can persuade Leah to log on and defy mathematics.
Anyways, May brought a very busy time at work as well as our move to a new apartment on May 7. I did make a mid-May trip out to California to visit Jeff and Katie as well as watch the Tour of California bike race. This was my second consecutive year spectating. This trip was even more fun than the last. I arrived on a Thursday night and we went mountain biking Friday, rode the Mt. Baldy hill climb stage on Saturday and hiked up Mt. Wilson on Sunday.



I am glad to report that Jeff and Katie are doing exceptionally well. They are in a nice house in Redlands, CA and they have orange trees in their backyard!



My return flight arrived at around 2am on Monday of the last week of school, which was a bit challenging logistically but well worth the extra planning.

In preparation for a visit from family near the middle of June, I built a bookcase to house all of our books that were scattered about the spare room.



Shortly after completion (perfect timing) John and Carla came to visit and we all had a great time. We went for a few hikes on the greenbelt with Max, ate our fair share of food, and John and I went on a tour at a place called Colling's Guitars. They manufacture custom guitars that range from $3,000 to $20,000! The precision and care that the craftsmen exhibit is very impressive.
Their visit ended with me dropping them off at the airport on my way to the first day of summer school. That continued for a couple of brutal weeks. Neither the hours nor the work were brutal, arriving home in the heat of the day was brutal. There are a few precious hours in the morning here when outdoor activities are even remotely enjoyable, and to give those up for work was a tough sell.
Summer school ended a week early for me as I volunteered to give up my students to teachers who wanted to stay for the full three weeks. Summer school is designed so that kids can leave whenever they finish. This results in diminishing class sizes and consolidation of sections.
The reason that I volunteered was the news of grandmother Prescott's deteriorating condition. I was able to make it back to Michigan with time to have a precious few last words, which I will forever cherish. She did pass away about one week later on July 2nd.
A great advantage to having extra time in Michigan was to be able to spend some time at the cottage with my Grandma Harrison.



On the way to the cottage I spent an afternoon at Sleeping Bear Dunes as a tourist and experienced some incredible scenery for the first time.



Sometime near the beginning of my trip, Marie left for a wedding in Wisconsin. She took the Badger across from Ludington to Manitowoc, WI.



The original purpose of the trip was to be in Michigan for the burial of my grandfather Harrison's ashes, and so during the second week of the trip we all drove to Lawrence for that occasion. I was able to see and talk with a few relatives whom I have seen only about twice during my entire life.
The 4th of July holiday fell in the middle of my trip to Michigan and fortunately Chris and Jackie were visiting Paul Lane in Holland. Chris rented a sailboat that we all went out on,



we watched the fireworks over Lake Michigan



and Mr. Lane hosted a wonderful dinner that included such distinguished guests as Gary Millikan and Bob Kahle. The couple of days spent with friends in Holland were a pleasure. Chris and I even had the chance to chop some wood and cut down a small dead tree, just like the old days. The following is my new favorite sequence of pictures:

After that trip I returned back to Leah. Two weeks was effectively an eternity and so we were both glad to be in the same place again. July 21 was Leah's birthday and we celebrated with cake and dinner out.



July 28 marked the date of our departure for our one year anniversary trip to Estes Park, CO. We flew into Denver and had dinner with Chris and Jackie. Chris fixed up some bacon wrapped chicken shishkabobs that were delicious and Jackie baked and assembled super cool cupcakes that were modeled after hamburgers.
The next day we drove up to Estes Park, where we would stay for the weekend, and promptly fell asleep for three hours in the middle of the afternoon. With the river right outside the window drowning out all unwanted noise and the cool, comfortable mountain air, it seemed like the only thing to do. Saturday we did the standard Rocky Mountain National Park tourist activity, the driving of Trail Ridge Road, along with about 50 million other people. Although busy, it was nevertheless magnificent. Sunday was the day of our one year anniversary, which we celebrated by hiking a trail to Ypsilon Lake, 9 miles round trip with nearly 1/2 a mile of elevation gain. The scenery along the trail was beautiful, the trail was incredibly well maintained and Ypsilon Lake, nestled in the Rockies at over 10,000ft in elevation, was a suitable reward. Monday we drove towards the southern end of the park and walked to Alberta Falls. The falls were tall, roaring and beautiful. The worst part of the trip arrived much too quickly, our departure on Tuesday morning. The weather had been beautiful the entire time that we were there. It thunderstormed one night, which we thought was great, now that we live in droughtville. The days were generally sunny with highs near 80 while the nights were clear and dry with lows near 50, a very welcome and needed respite from a Texas summer.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Lastly, we have been doing a fair amount of cooking since I've been off work for the summer and there are a few of you who I have promised to share recipes with. Links to the recipes are below:

Poached Grouper with Mango Salsa and Coconut-Cilantro Rice Pilaf

Eggs Benedict Rancheros

Mediterranean Grouper

We sincerely hope that you are all doing well in your preparations for the busy fall season.

As always, please stay in touch, we love to hear from everyone.

Love,

Leah and Jay

5 month hiatus

Here I will briefly cover our very busy past 5 months.
The winter saw us spend lots of time with our dog Max. He requires a large amount of exercise. Unfortunately the more exercise he gets the stronger he becomes, and the more exercise he needs. You can imagine how this cycle will continue.

This picture was taken near the edge of a cliff in the Barton Creek Wilderness Preserve. We don't trust Max 100% near these cliffs. He's pretty smart but still a bit wild.

Over Christmas Break my side of the family came down and stayed with us in Austin. They were here for about a week I think. I don't seem to have any photos documenting this trip, so if you happen to have any I would be happy to add them here.

New Year's found us in Phoenix where Leah's brother and sister-in-law Ian and Julie live with their two kids Carter and Iris. Leah's parents John and Carla were there also, seen below with their beloved granddaughter Iris. The bottom photo is of the whole family taking a walk in a nearby park.


Sometime in mid-winter we actually had a snow day. The temperatures last winter seemed to be abnormally cold. We were often wearing our winter clothes from MI on our morning and evening walks. There were a few mornings when the thermometer read 19 deg F. Below are a couple of photos from our snow day. It was amazing what 1 in of snow did to a city the size of Austin-shut down almost completely. Judging by the reaction that Max had to the snow, we are fairly sure that it was his first time seeing it.



One week later it was T-shirts and shorts time.


Leah and I decided to treat ourselves to a mini-vacation for Valentines Day. We booked a night at the Lake Travis Resort north of here a ways. It was nice to get out of town for a bit and it was very nice to be on the water, even if the water was a low reservoir in the middle of Texas.



During this time I had been busy building up a new mountain bike. My previous bike was very much past it's prime. I could happily add a ton of photos of the build-up in order from first to last but I'll limit it to 1 of the finished product. The new bike has increased my riding ability two-fold and makes the ridiculously rough trails here much more fun.



Near the end of February the North American Handmade Bicycle Show was in Austin. It was way cool. On display were hundreds of custom bikes and components. And I got to meet Dario Pegoretti, maker of, in my opinion, the most beautiful bikes in the world.


The next big thing on our agenda was Breckenridge for Spring Break, the result of a very generous wedding present from Paul and Chris Lane. We decided to drive there, about 15 hrs. The trip north was surprisingly easy. Neither of us had ever experienced anything like the desolation of far west Texas and northeast New Mexico. We stayed in Snyder, TX the first night, right in the middle of fields of wind turbines as far as the eye could see. It was a bit surreal looking driving through them at night. Each one had a blinking red light on top and the fields were synchronized.
Interesting fact, nearly 2/3 of our 950 mile trip to Denver was completed within TX.
In contrast to my high school ski trips with Chris and Tim, we only downhilled one day. The other days we XC skiied, snowshoed, hiked and relaxed. Eating was our most common activity. It was great to see everyone in Denver and spend a little time there. The trip back was a bit slower than the way up but it was worth it. We stopped at the Great Sand Dunes National Monument. I don't remember the specifics but I believe the tallest dune was around 750 ft.



Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Other than the above mentioned happenings, it's been mostly business as usual. Leah is still working towards her webmaster certificate. Currently she is in the middle of learning java. It quite literally blows my mind, but she claims to enjoy it, so more power to her. I recently studied for and passed the math 9-12 certification test, so now I am technically certified to teach high school math, even though I have no intention of doing so. I only took the test for a grant program that Marie and I were accepted into.
On the future, I have 5 weeks of school left. We're moving into a new apartment on May 7, a two bedroom in the same complex. It is just down the parking lot a little ways actually. We are considering going to the gulf for memorial day weekend. John and Carla are planning on coming down sometime around the first or second week of June, which we are looking forward to. I will be teaching summer school from June 13-30 and then heading back to MI from July 3-9.

That covers it.

Happy Easter!

Love Jay and Leah.

Honeymoon in Tulum

After a long wait through the fall the time for our honeymoon finally arrived. We spent the entire week of Thanksgiving in Tulum, Mexico. We flew from Houston to Cancun and then drove about an hour south to Tulum. Saturday was a long day of travel but we arrived at the hotel around 4 or 5 in the afternoon. The air was warm and salty, skies cloudy and the ocean roaring. Our room was on the second floor of two and faced the ocean with double doors opening onto a balcony. The accommodations were very simple, no electrical appliances in the room other than a few lights. This was exactly what we were looking for. After dropping off our things we walked down the road to a beachfront restaurant named Zamas, per the recommendation of John and Carla. The food was great and we loved the atmosphere. It was truly on the beach, the floor was sand. We enjoyed it so much that we found our way back there 5 times throughout the trip.

The first two days were spent doing almost nothing but lying on the beach, eating and reading. Perfect. On our third day we decided to check out the Tulum ruins. The city of Tulum, where we were staying, is located on the Yucatan peninsula, which was occupied by the Mayans for a few thousand years. The Mayans were skilled at constructing buildings out of the native limestone, and thus there are many ruins that exist to this day. The Tulum ruins are only a couple miles north of where we were staying and were great. The ruins are now a park and very well maintained. The grounds are beautiful, perched high on a cliff above the Caribbean.

Later in the day we took a drive south from Tulum towards Punta Allen. The road was one of the worst gravel roads that I have ever driven on. The map deceived us in terms of the distance to Punta Allen so we drove and we drove without ever getting anywhere. Finally we turned around and headed back. The road was entirely within a biosphere reserve whose visitor's center we stopped at on the way out. The man we met while there would lead us to one of the greatest tourism experiences of our lives. His name is Aldo and he owns a small business that runs tours through the reserve. We made plans to go on a 5hr tour with him the next day.

We arrived at 9am and readied our things. After a short walk through the forest we arrived at the dock where the tour boats are kept. The dock is placed on the inland side of a narrow peninsula between the ocean and a freshwater lagoon. Withing 2 min of casting off we had seen two crocodiles. Shortly thereafter we passed an island with a female osprey at her nest. From there we cruised through a narrow channel lined with mangroves that opened up to the sea. I've always been fascinated with the interactions that occur when rivers meet large bodies of water and this spot did not disappoint. From there we turned around and went north directly up the middle of the lagoon to a channel entrance. The system of channels is naturally occurring but was widened by the Mayans over a thousand years ago for trading purposes. The canals range in width from about 6 to 20 ft and the sides are vertical limestone. They are also incredibly long. We rode through the longest stretch for about 9 miles. It was amazing to think that these were all widened and maintained by hand with nothing but very hard wooden tools. We drove through one more lagoon and docked at an entrance to another set of ruins named Muyil. These were "off the beaten path" and so there were very few other tourists around. Aldo pointed out an impressive amount of the native flora and fauna and it's significance to the Mayan people. The information signs were all printed in Spanish, Mayan and English. To our surprise Aldo was nearly fluent in Mayan as he demonstrated the Mayan pronunciation of the descriptions. We then boarded the boat to make our way to our flotation. We were both somewhat unsure of what this would entail until we reached the place on the canal where the flotation was to take place, he handed us a couple life jackets and told us to jump in. The term flotation was quite literal, and the objects floating were us. The current was running at about 5 mph and we floated down the canal for about 25 min. It's very difficult to describe how enjoyable the experience was. After that Aldo served us a traditional Mayan lunch of Yucatan style tamales. They were delicious. And finally we headed back to the dock to end our awesome 7 1/2 hr tour.

The next day we started with our traditional delicious breakfast on the beach. My favorite was the chilaquiles and Leah wavered between the huevos rancheros and the huevos mexicanos. Matched with homemade tortillas and fresh squeezed orange juice our days started off great without fail. Our goal this day was to tour some more Mayan ruins. We set off for Coba, one of the more popular destinations, behind Chichen-Itza. The ruins themselves were spread out over a large area throughout the forest. There were three primary areas and we visited each one. As soon as you walk through the entrance you must pass through a literal tunnel of guides offering you their services. We opted to forego as the Tulum ruins had signs that were very informative and we expected the same from Coba. Unfortunately Coba had very few signs and so we were left primarily to our imaginations. That was not all bad though as there seems to be a lot of overlap of buildings and their respective purposes amongst the multiple ruins.

We had considered going to Chichen Itza that afternoon but deemed it unnecessary and headed back to town for some lunch. We reverted back to reading on the beach for the remainder of the afternoon.

Friday we felt a little urgency to get going on a couple of activities that we had wanted to do, namely a cenote tour and snorkeling. Cenote is a term used for an opening to the below ground portion of an extensive freshwater river system that traverses the Yucatan Peninsula.
Cenotes are more commonly known as sinkholes. After driving a couple of miles into the jungle and taking a short walk with our guide, we arrived at a fairly non-descript hole in the ground. This hole was different in that it had stairs leading to a large cavern filled with beautiful freshwater. The three of us jumped in and our guide motioned for us to follow him. The cavern appeared to be just a simple space, no exits or entrances, but suddenly our guide had ducked into what appeared to be the wall of the cave. Once upon his exit place we realized that there was just enough room to squeeze under the wall into a very low and narrow cave that brought us into another cavern. Throughout the entire tour the caves were filled with stalactites and stalagmites, remnants of the last ice age when the Yucatan was more dry. Another cool feature were tree roots that extended from the roof of the caverns all the way to the water's surface, 15 ft in some cases. After waking up some bats with his spotlight and showing us just how dark it is with no spotlight, he gave us some time to swim around and enjoy the place. Definitely a good experience, but not a place either of us would want to spend too much time.

In the afternoon we drove to Akumal and took care of the last thing that we had wanted to do while there. Akumal is a small coastal town on a sheltered bay where diving and snorkeling are very popular. The weather had been very windy while we were there so we figured that with the protection of the bay we would be able to go snorkeling. Sure enough, we joined a group and swam around for about an hour and a half. We saw 5 sea turtles, squid, a barracuda and numerous brightly colored fish.

By this time our trip was nearing a close so we headed to Zama's for dinner as it had become our favorite restaurant in the area. There was live music on the beach, a light breeze blowing and a strong feeling of not wanting to leave.

The morning did come and we did go for a swim at sunrise and we did eat one last ridiculously decadent breakfast before checking out and heading for home.


Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Click here to see an album of our wedding photos.

Click here to view an album of photos taken around the time of the wedding.

Wedding Photos

Below is a link to the online gallery of our wedding photos.

http://www.karynmayphotography.com/

Click on website.

Click on "proofing" in the lower right hand corner.

Click on "Jay and Leah's Wedding"

The password is "prescott" (case sensitive)

Enjoy.

Leah and Jay

Summer 2010

This entry will probably not be long enough to do the summer happenings justice. We left you off somewhere in June and it is now mid-September. It is truly amazing how time goes by. We hardly took any photos in late June and through July. Looking back we were quite busy with work and wedding planning. Leah of course had to work through the summer while I only worked for a few weeks in July. Leah's birthday was on July 21st. I enjoy baking cakes and so made her a "better than sex" cake. For some unknown reason no one will take ownership of that name.



This was one of the rare July 2010 photos. After Leah's birthday we entered the countdown for the event of the summer, our wedding on July 31st. If you are reading this journal there is a good chance that you were in attendance at the wedding and already know how great of a time was had. Just in case your memory has faded, the wedding was a party wholly worthy of the event that it marked. Leah and I had the time of our lives and will surely remember it forever. An online photo gallery of the event is due out Sep. 26th.

After the wedding Leah and I remained in Michigan for about 4 days. We spent our time doing all of the things that we love about Michigan. Going to the beach, eating fresh blueberries and big delicious breakfasts.



The weather was some of the best that I ever remember experiencing in Michigan. Sunny and in the 70's with a light breeze off the lake.




That kind of weather made it difficult to return to Texas where the sun was still scorching the land to a hard crusty brown.

The other tough part of returning was knowing that a new school year was right around the corner. I only had about a week of vacation after the wedding trip before staff development started up. Leah and I used that week to put together a Michigan puzzle that we had purchased while we were home. I bought a new router, built a table for it and then used the new tool to make a frame for our puzzle.



We also got a bunch of new glasses from our registry and so I built a neat rack for those.



One very important thing that I almost forgot to mention was that I bought a new component group for my road bike. I decided on the 2010 Ultegra. It is technically the same spec as I already had but seven years newer and improved by generations of technological improvement and trickle down from Dura-Ace.



I complain about lack of vacation but Leah had a legitimate reason to complain. Our flight back to Austin got in late at night and she had to return to work the next morning! One aspect of life right after wedding that we both noticed was that everything seemed light and inconsequential as if we were above all of the difficulties of everyday life. We enjoyed eachother's company, slept late and ate delicious meals almost everyday.

That went on for about a month which brings us to about a week ago. Labor Day weekend will always feel like the end of summer for us but down here it isn't really anything special. They celebrate it just like everyone else but up north it feels momentous as school starts, summer residences are closed up and the seasons change noticeably. Leah and I took a trip over to Houston for the weekend to visit the museums and see some different places. We stayed in an eclectic little bed and breakfast near Rice University.



The neighborhood we were in was very nice and only a couple miles south west of downtown, which as it turns out, was rather inconsequential. We spent nearly the whole of Saturday and Sunday within walking distance of where we stayed.



We visited the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Houston Museum of Fine Art and the Alley Theater. The science museum had a special exhibit on the archaeopteryx, the "missing link" between dinosaurs and birds, which helped to prove Darwin's Theory of Evolution.



That was very cool. They also had an extensive gem and mineral collection where we spotted some copper samples from the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan.



The art museum had a varied mix of works. The mid to late 20th century and early 21st century were our favorite collections. Visiting art museums with Leah is always an overwhelmingly educational experience. She knows SO much and I know SO little. I only took one picture there as the photography rules were hard to decipher. This is a sketch of a fisherman on Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks of New York State.




On Sunday afternoon we saw a show at the Alley Theater in downtown Houston and figured that we would walk to dinner afterwards. What a pleasant and very normal idea, right? Not so much. Houston has such extensive suburban sprawl that the downtown area is nearly void of restaurants and people. People drive as far as 75 miles to get to work everyday and simply do not come back to town for anything else. Later that evening we decided to go to Galveston to see the Gulf of Mexico. It was terrible. We learned where all the people in Houston live. The suburbs and strip malls stretch all the way to the sea. IHOP's and Applebees were packed past capacity. Galveston was dirty and loud . We literally saw a motorhome parked on the strip next to the beach with a generator running full bore behind it to power the plasma screen TV and stereo system they had set up ON the sidewalk. It was unreal. There was left over food and trash all over the beach. There were slot machines in the gas station being operated by dirty glaze eyed hillbillies smoking cigarettes. Worth seeing but not worth returning to.



In other news we recently adopted a dog from the humane society. His name is Max.



We had gone to look a week before Labor Day and had actually placed a hold on a dog named Tux. We placed the second hold on him about 45 minutes before the first hold was due to expire. Unfortunately when we called to inquire as to whether or not the first holders had shown up, we were told that they did, so Tux was gone. We got over that and figured we would go back after our trip to Houston and look again. Strangely enough the adoption center called while we were in the car on our way to Houston and told us that there had been some confusion and Tux was still available. So we drove up there on Monday after we got back into town and picked him up. The past week has been a whirlwind of getting to know each other and getting used to taking care of another living thing.



This photo was taken just before the 5 yr anniversary party for Community Impact News, where Leah works. That was Friday, September 10, which was just yesterday, so it looks like we're all caught up.

Keep in touch.

Love,

Leah and Jay

End of Spring activities

Yet another long block of time since the last entry.

We left off last time with an entry about all of our wedding information. The planning for that is still right on schedule. The final few RSVP's are coming in now as the deadline approaches. Seating is being worked out, as are the small details.

Early May was buzzing with activity around here. Leah was busy with work and starting classes. She is taking classes through ACC to earn her webmaster certificate. She will literally be a "MASTER of the WEB". Not really, but by the end she will have her very own, self-made, personal, promotional website. Right now she is a print graphic designer, which quite literally means that she produces graphics that will go into print. The missing link is producing graphics that she can then place on the internet. These classes should close the gap.

Early May also brought preparations for closing the school year out. That was busy and rather stressful but it passed just as those times always do. I did manage to build some speaker stands during that time. They ended up being more involved than I planned, but since I never really "plan" projects, that comes as no surprise. They have helped both the aesthetics and acoustics of our living room.



I also broke May up with a quick weekend trip out to LA to visit my newly married friends Jeff and Katie Dambrun. The goal was to watch the Tour of California bike race, which we did. We also had a beautiful 50 mile mountain bike ride and a super nice road ride into downtown LA to view the time trial stage.



The trip was filled with two great friends, great food and great times.

Shortly after the school year ended Marie and I drove to Michigan for a couple of weeks. It was a long and boring drive that neither of us has any desire to repeat. Our time back home was mostly enjoyable, except that between the two of us we spent a combined 6 days being stupidly sick. Half of the trip was spent at the cottage and the other half was spent in Holland. Leah took a long weekend and flew up to take care of some wedding details and appointments, as well as attend her shower.

Spring has come to a close and we are now heading into summer down here. I've been on vacation for a while. During my time off I have been trying to start my days with a nice bike ride and then some work on a recent project of mine. We have received a few gifts now for the wedding and some of them are just too big for our already packed kitchen. So I decided to build an extra cabinet that we could store things inside of. It took a while and was as usual more involved than I initially "planned". But the final product is functional and matches Leah's color requirements. Success.



Leah has been working and working and working. She finished up her first class towards her webmaster certificate. That involved a few late nights but she ended up scoring really well on the exam and producing a nice final project. She is going to take a break from classes until after the wedding to maintain sanity.

Future outlook is good. Summer school starts in about a week and a half. I am truly not looking forward to going to work. But, it's only four days a week, the days end at 2:30 and the money is good. Deposited directly into a special untouchable account for a new bike!!

Slightly further out but approaching very quickly is the big day. We are looking forward to it and the anticipation is growing every day. Thank you to everyone who has helped in any way or sent gifts already. We truly appreciate the involvement and generosity of everyone thus far.

We are looking forward to seeing you all in a few weeks.

Love Leah and Jay.

The Wedding Edition

Registry Information:

Pottery Barn

Click here to go to the Pottery Barn Registry Site

This should bring you to a screen that asks for the information of the registrant.

First Name: Leah

Last Name: Breslin

Month: July

Year: 2010

State: TX

The reason it is under Texas is that we registered our shipping address in Texas to simplify the moving of things.

Macy's

Click here to go to the Macy's Registry Site

First Name: Leah

Last Name: Breslin

Click "View Registry" near the right hand side of the screen.

Bed Bath & Beyond

Click here to go to the Bed Bath & Beyond registry site.

On the tab titled "Give a Great Gift" type:

First Name: Leah

Last Name: Breslin

Click on our names and you should be brought to our registry.

Additional Registry Information

All of the registries should be set-up to automatically ship to our address in Texas. If there is any confusion, please send to our return address.

We will also gladly accept gift cards to any of the following: Lowes, Pier 1, Home Depot and Target.

Honeymoon Information

Leah and I are planning on taking a honeymoon sometime during the winter months, most likely over Thanksgiving break.

If you would like, we are very willing to accept donations towards the funding of this as opposed to a traditional wedding present. Our goal is to have a once in a lifetime vacation that is worthy of the title "honeymoon". We are looking seriously at Costa Rica. Feel free to help us get there!

Click here to check out the resort that we are interested in.

____________________________________________________________________

The Big Day

Date: July 31, 2010

Time: 5:00 pm

Place: Felt Mansion

View Larger Map

If you have any further questions, please contact:

Carla Breslin: cjbreslin@gmail.com

Thank you all so much. We are very excited for our fast approaching wedding day. We can't wait to see all of you there!