Tyler's Weblog
Sunday, May 30, 2004
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
I'm down in California now staying with our friends Matt and Lindsay Munk. Yesterday I took two tests of my part three Optometry board exams- that means I only have one more test to take (on Sunday) which is very exciting. Unfortunately I'm far away from David and Nicole for this week. I have a feeling David is going to be full on walking when I get back to Washington. Nicole is on standby with the video camera to try and catch the moments on video. The most I have seen him do is 4 or five consecutive steps without holding onto something.
We're still busy getting ready for graduation, and all of the changes that will take place including: officer training for me, some free time to take a vacation, and packing and shipping all of our things to Italy. We have a lot to take care of still- renewing passports, filling out forms, making calls, etc. We'll be inbetween residences for a long time, but we're still really excited about the opportunity to live overseas for a little while.
We're still busy getting ready for graduation, and all of the changes that will take place including: officer training for me, some free time to take a vacation, and packing and shipping all of our things to Italy. We have a lot to take care of still- renewing passports, filling out forms, making calls, etc. We'll be inbetween residences for a long time, but we're still really excited about the opportunity to live overseas for a little while.
Sunday, April 04, 2004
We just arrived home from a trip to Oregon. We left Saturday morning and took our time as we drove down to Oregon City. We stopped and climbed the Astor tower in Astoria, Oregon (where the movie "Goonies" was filmed.) We also visited Seaside and took a walk out to the beach.
We spent the evening at the Exton family reunion where we were able to see all of my Aunts and Uncles as well as my grandfather, and other relatives that I haven't seen in a long time. There was a ton of great food including Ham, Crab, Salmon, Burgers, Salads, Pies, and other eats. David had fun chasing the dogs around (he really likes dogs!) and seeing his second cousins.
We stayed in the Embassy Suites in Portland near the airport. After having our complimentary breakfast we were off to visit some more sites. This time we drove down the Columbia river stopping at some overlooks of the Gorge, and also stopping at Multnomah falls, the Bonneville Dam, and Camas, Washington. We then headed for home and made it in by 7:00 pm.
Since I haven't put any new material on the web site for a while, Nicole told me to put the pictures up and she would feed David and put him to bed.
We're still in the process of getting everything ready to go to Sicily for the Navy. We'll be spending a lot of time in the next few weeks getting everything in order to go overseas (including passports, health exams, paperwork, and more paperwork.) We're getting more and more excited as the time draws nearer. We are hoping to take some trips and visit many relatives before we leave in August.
We spent the evening at the Exton family reunion where we were able to see all of my Aunts and Uncles as well as my grandfather, and other relatives that I haven't seen in a long time. There was a ton of great food including Ham, Crab, Salmon, Burgers, Salads, Pies, and other eats. David had fun chasing the dogs around (he really likes dogs!) and seeing his second cousins.
We stayed in the Embassy Suites in Portland near the airport. After having our complimentary breakfast we were off to visit some more sites. This time we drove down the Columbia river stopping at some overlooks of the Gorge, and also stopping at Multnomah falls, the Bonneville Dam, and Camas, Washington. We then headed for home and made it in by 7:00 pm.
Since I haven't put any new material on the web site for a while, Nicole told me to put the pictures up and she would feed David and put him to bed.
We're still in the process of getting everything ready to go to Sicily for the Navy. We'll be spending a lot of time in the next few weeks getting everything in order to go overseas (including passports, health exams, paperwork, and more paperwork.) We're getting more and more excited as the time draws nearer. We are hoping to take some trips and visit many relatives before we leave in August.
Saturday, March 27, 2004
Here's a picture of David I snapped while he was sleeping on a bed in Grandma's house
Here's one of David in the plane on the way from SLC back to Seattle. It sure is different traveling with him now that he is more mobile- its a lot more work.
These pictures were taken with the Sony Clie.
Well, I haven't been posting much to the web site lately- We've been pretty busy with a lot of things for the past 2 months. It seems like every weekend we've got something taking us out of town. I don't think I've been to church in Poulsbo for about 3 or 4 weeks.
Nicole's mom was kind enough to come out to visit us in Washington. It was really great to see her, and David had a really good time with his Mima. Nicole, Lourdes and Debbie spent some time in Spokane right before Riann moved to Idaho falls. Lourdes finally got to meet my nephews Miles, Carter, and Ethan.
I went on a trip to Fort Worth, Texas to visit the facilities of Alcon international (a subsidiary of Nestle Corp.)- they make a lot of eyedrop drugs and Contact lens solutions. It was a special trip for fourth year optometry students from various schools around the country to get to know Alcon. They flew us out, put us up in a great hotel, and sponsored seminars and events over the whole weekend. I was able to see some of my fellow students from Berkeley and meet other students from all over the country. At the end of the weekend, they took the whole group to "Billy Bob's Honky Tonk" supposedly the Largest Honky Tonk in the world- complete with indoor rodeo facilities and large concert hall for guest performers. It was a lot of fun. This was my first trip to Texas (other than having been born in San Antonio) and I was surprised to see that people really do wear those huge belt buckles and cowboy hats.
The next weekend we spent in Salt Lake City, UT. My grandfather John Paul Miles passed away, and we went to be with the family and attend the funeral services. Grandpa's health had deteriorated quite a bit in the last 4 or 5 years since his heart attack, but his passing still seemed to come suddenly. Although we were sad to lose grandpa here on earth, it was wonderful to see all of the Miles side of the family together again. We enjoyed seeing everyone so much. The funeral services were very touching, and grandpa was laid to rest among some of the most beautiful spring days I think Utah has ever seen (Californians would even be jealous.) I harbor a great respect for my grandpa miles. My son David's middle name is Paul just like his great-grandfathers, grandfathers, and fathers. I just wish David could have had the chance to meet him in person.
Now we're back in Washington, and I'm back to work at the VA hospital again. This is the first weekend in a long time that we have just spent at home. So I'm starting up work on some of my projects again, namely: putting the miles family slides and home videos to DVD, learning how to use my new Sony palm to update this blog site, and ftp photos to the site. I'm going to install SUSE linux on my desktop (just for the fun of it- I haven't played with any of the latest distributions of Linux.)
Nicole's mom was kind enough to come out to visit us in Washington. It was really great to see her, and David had a really good time with his Mima. Nicole, Lourdes and Debbie spent some time in Spokane right before Riann moved to Idaho falls. Lourdes finally got to meet my nephews Miles, Carter, and Ethan.
I went on a trip to Fort Worth, Texas to visit the facilities of Alcon international (a subsidiary of Nestle Corp.)- they make a lot of eyedrop drugs and Contact lens solutions. It was a special trip for fourth year optometry students from various schools around the country to get to know Alcon. They flew us out, put us up in a great hotel, and sponsored seminars and events over the whole weekend. I was able to see some of my fellow students from Berkeley and meet other students from all over the country. At the end of the weekend, they took the whole group to "Billy Bob's Honky Tonk" supposedly the Largest Honky Tonk in the world- complete with indoor rodeo facilities and large concert hall for guest performers. It was a lot of fun. This was my first trip to Texas (other than having been born in San Antonio) and I was surprised to see that people really do wear those huge belt buckles and cowboy hats.
The next weekend we spent in Salt Lake City, UT. My grandfather John Paul Miles passed away, and we went to be with the family and attend the funeral services. Grandpa's health had deteriorated quite a bit in the last 4 or 5 years since his heart attack, but his passing still seemed to come suddenly. Although we were sad to lose grandpa here on earth, it was wonderful to see all of the Miles side of the family together again. We enjoyed seeing everyone so much. The funeral services were very touching, and grandpa was laid to rest among some of the most beautiful spring days I think Utah has ever seen (Californians would even be jealous.) I harbor a great respect for my grandpa miles. My son David's middle name is Paul just like his great-grandfathers, grandfathers, and fathers. I just wish David could have had the chance to meet him in person.
Now we're back in Washington, and I'm back to work at the VA hospital again. This is the first weekend in a long time that we have just spent at home. So I'm starting up work on some of my projects again, namely: putting the miles family slides and home videos to DVD, learning how to use my new Sony palm to update this blog site, and ftp photos to the site. I'm going to install SUSE linux on my desktop (just for the fun of it- I haven't played with any of the latest distributions of Linux.)
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Sunday, January 25, 2004
In the past month, we packed up and moved to Washington, then spent a few weeks in Florida with the Alonso and Villamar side of the family. We then came home and I started my new job at the American Lake Veterans Administration hospital. Everything seemed to work out pretty well.
We weren't too excited about packing up all of our things- in fact after more than three years in our apartment we had accumulated a lot of junk. We are so thankful to our friends for helping us get everything packed and in the truck. We then made the long drive from the bay area to Washington. Our friends Matt and Lindsay Munk came with us to help drive (and keep us company) on the way up. We stopped in Eugene, Oregon for the night and then continued the drive to Washington the next morning. Then we unloaded most of our things into a storage unit in Silverdale, Washington, and then the our essentials to my parents house near Poulsbo, Washington.
A few days later we were packed up and on a plane to Orlando to visit with Nicole's family. We had a great time there and in St. Augustine at the beach. David was able not only to see his grandparents and Aunt and Uncle, but also both his Villamar and Alonso great-grandparents, and the Villamars from Boca. We were even treated to some of Nina's cuban cooking (and empanadas twice!) It felt great to relax and spend time with family after all of the moving. The wierdest thing was going back to Washington- and not California.
After getting back to Washington we had some excitement in the form of snow. It was below freezing for about a week, and we got about six inches of snow. I missed my second day of work at the hospital because I couldn't make it in on the slippery roads. I really like working at the VA hospital so far. They even provide free housing right on American Lake (near fort lewis, and walking distance to the hospital.) I sometimes spend the night at that housing. I also get free meals at a hospital cafeteria (and anyone who knows me knows I have a hard time resisting free food.)
We also had a chance to take David over to Seattle for a day, and up to the top of the space needle. See the
latest pictures for more
We weren't too excited about packing up all of our things- in fact after more than three years in our apartment we had accumulated a lot of junk. We are so thankful to our friends for helping us get everything packed and in the truck. We then made the long drive from the bay area to Washington. Our friends Matt and Lindsay Munk came with us to help drive (and keep us company) on the way up. We stopped in Eugene, Oregon for the night and then continued the drive to Washington the next morning. Then we unloaded most of our things into a storage unit in Silverdale, Washington, and then the our essentials to my parents house near Poulsbo, Washington.
A few days later we were packed up and on a plane to Orlando to visit with Nicole's family. We had a great time there and in St. Augustine at the beach. David was able not only to see his grandparents and Aunt and Uncle, but also both his Villamar and Alonso great-grandparents, and the Villamars from Boca. We were even treated to some of Nina's cuban cooking (and empanadas twice!) It felt great to relax and spend time with family after all of the moving. The wierdest thing was going back to Washington- and not California.
After getting back to Washington we had some excitement in the form of snow. It was below freezing for about a week, and we got about six inches of snow. I missed my second day of work at the hospital because I couldn't make it in on the slippery roads. I really like working at the VA hospital so far. They even provide free housing right on American Lake (near fort lewis, and walking distance to the hospital.) I sometimes spend the night at that housing. I also get free meals at a hospital cafeteria (and anyone who knows me knows I have a hard time resisting free food.)
We also had a chance to take David over to Seattle for a day, and up to the top of the space needle. See the
latest pictures for more
Sunday, December 14, 2003
Finished with boards
The National board exam wasn't as bad as I thought it could be. I think overall I passed, although I don't know if I passed every section of the test. It takes about 2 months to get our scores, so I'll be in suspense for a while still.
Now we can start to focus on the move. We have a busy week ahead of us- I still have clinic Monday and Tuesday, we have to sell the SAAB (or get rid of it by some other means :), pack everything up, say goodbye to our friends here in California, and load up the truck Friday morning. We are going to drive to Oregon hopefully by Friday night, and then make the rest of the trip to Washington on Saturday morning. Then we will quickly put things in storage and get situated so we can join the family in Florida for Christmas. Even though it may sound busy we're very excited. I hope David likes to travel.
This is my favorite picture of David eating. I really thing "little buddy" is getting the hang of it.
The National board exam wasn't as bad as I thought it could be. I think overall I passed, although I don't know if I passed every section of the test. It takes about 2 months to get our scores, so I'll be in suspense for a while still.
Now we can start to focus on the move. We have a busy week ahead of us- I still have clinic Monday and Tuesday, we have to sell the SAAB (or get rid of it by some other means :), pack everything up, say goodbye to our friends here in California, and load up the truck Friday morning. We are going to drive to Oregon hopefully by Friday night, and then make the rest of the trip to Washington on Saturday morning. Then we will quickly put things in storage and get situated so we can join the family in Florida for Christmas. Even though it may sound busy we're very excited. I hope David likes to travel.
This is my favorite picture of David eating. I really thing "little buddy" is getting the hang of it.
Optometry, family, Sicily, Brazil, LDS church
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