Merry Christmas from the Carlson Family!
 

Northwest Airlines, no fun.

We recently flew on Northwest Airlines, it was inadvertent in that it they were the partner airline for part of our trip from Portland, OR to Jacksonville, FL. I had thought our trip was Delta all the way, but it was Northwest on the return trip.

1. The flight attendents on our Jacksonville to Minneapolis/St. Paul flight were very... "frumpy" for lack of a better word. Mid-flight Traci and I both shared the same thought. They just didn't seem interested in being where they were. Bear in mind that we are traveling with a baby which typically elicits some question about the age of the baby, or if they can offer anything for us. In this case... nothing.
2. Northwest is into this not providing food or snack foods. No peanuts, no snack mix, just soda or water. If you want a snack of any kind, it's $2, or $5 for the Mega Snack Pack. No hot food available. This is lame!
3. The gate agent in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Our flight was a little late on our arrival due to a back-up at the airport. We had 1 hour to transfer now less. It's been our experience that when you gate check a stroller or car seat that the gate agent will often want to fill out the claim form in advance to speed up the boarding process. So, when we got to our new gate Traci broke off to go change Kylie pre-flight, and I went to get our stroller ready for a gate-check... Well I stood at the counter in front of Cindy, the gate agent, for about 10-12 minutes (long enough for Traci to change Kylie, leave her with me, go back to the restroom and nearly return) all without even an acknowledgement from this woman. This woman seemed to avert even eye-contact. Bear in mind that my last meal was 2PM EST, and it was now 9PM CST. I'm hungry and grumpy. I had planned on grabbing something to eat, but due to our flight being late, we didn't have time. And in those 10 minutes of trying to save time for the gate agent, I could've stopped for something on our trek from gate to gate. Back to Cindy. I literally stood in front of this woman for 10 minutes while she shuffled papers around, called other people to the counter, and shuffled more papers around. There were a few people that were starting to queue behind me now. At no time did she acknowledge my presence, say that she'd be with me in a few minutes, ask what I needed, or offer up anything. Traci comes back from the bathroom and just then does another gate agent offer to help me. Still, Cindy fails to say anything to me. This I find highly irritating and fuels my dislike for Northwest Airlines.

The Who Returns! 10/10/2006

My friend Mike and I made a trip to see The Who at the Rose Garden this past Tuesday night. We went cheap on the tickets and bought 300 level tickets. I figure it's good to take advantage of any opportunity to see a legendary band such as The Who.

Once we arrived we learned that they were closing down the 300 level and were upgrading us cheapos to the 200 "club level". What a pleasant surprise.

7:30PM The opening band was a group called Rose Hill Drive (www.rosehilldrive.com), they're apparently from Boulder, Co (also home to the likes of Big Head Todd and the Monsters). I knew I had seen them before in concert. I think they opened for Van Halen last year. In either case, they're a good hard rock band with extra long jams. The mixing was awful though. You could barely understand the singer.

8:30PM The Who takes the stage (www.thewhotour.com). Peter Townsend, Roger Daltrey, and the backing band. This was my first time seeing The Who, and they do still put on a great show. For being 61 and 62 these guys still have their Rock Chops. The highlight for me that night was their performance of "Won't Get Fooled Again." There is a little musical interlude in the middle of that song that comes back into the groove with Roger Daltrey belting out the words "Yeah!!!" He still has it. The band went on to play most of their classic hits along with several songs off their upcoming album "The Wire" due out in stores on 10/31. I believe they played until at least 10:30PM. Another interesing comment about the concert. They were promoting the sale of "official bootlegs" from www.themusic.com . Isn't that an oxymoron? Supposedly the money is supposed to go to charity. I may be pressed to grab a copy of the concert (or Christmas Gift idea anyone?)

All in all it was a good show.

Here are couple photos from my 10 year reunion. I brought my camera, but I didn't take that many pictures. Maybe these other guys have other photos to share?

Here's my $0.02 on the reunion.
1. Too expensive for what it was. (no dessert, and we had to pay for drinks)
2. Did we really need a DJ and dance floor?
3. Did the music have to be that loud considering that no one was dancing? What happened to converation music?
4. Why Friday night? People have jobs and have to travel.
5. 6:30 PM to 11:30 PM seems like a long time, but it's not. Definitely not enough time to catch up.
6. It's amazing how many people don't fly too far away from the nest.
7. I'd divide people into two camps. "Still the same" and "Who was that?" That's pretty much where people fall IMHO.

(Above) Michael Routh, Adrian Prokop, and Stephanie Naegle (formerly Taft).

(Above) Graham Martin, me, And Brian Martin. These guys were my best friends from 6th grade through most of Junior High. We drifted apart a bit in high school... just traveling in different circles. (they are fraternal twins by the way). It was definitely good to catch up with these guys. I will always look back at our youth with fond memories. Their mom, used to refer to me as their adopted 4th child because we were always together. I seem to have a lot of adopted parents.
(Above) Eryn Barker (formerly Kaiser), Timm Prokop, Samantha Prokop, and Adrian. You have to have a few candid photos.

(Above) Here's my other adopted family. The Prokops to my left and Prokops to my right. (Adrian and Timm are also fraternal twins). Their mom, also refers to me as an adopted son too. We had great times together from the 8th grade on (and staying out of trouble). 

Here's the group of us fishing out at Salmon Lake, about 50-60 minutes outside Nome, AK. I may be wrong, but this was Adam's first time setting and collecting a drift net. He also tried his hand at using an Ulu (an Eskimo Knife especially useful for cutting fish) and fileting the catch.
From Left to Right: Lloyd Perrigo, me, Traci & Kylie, Adam London, and Jamie Saghafi. 

Here's that classic photo of Einstein sticking his tongue out. All the photos of our daughter Kylie with her tongue out remind me of this photo.

Alaska 2006:

Traci and I are currently in the Anchorage Airport awaiting our next flight to Nome, AK at 6AM (It's 4AM Alaska time as I write this). The Anchorage Airport does have free wi-fi, which I think is an improvement over last year. That and the Starbuck's is now 24 hours (sweet)!

Kylie did great on the first leg of our flight (11PM - 2AM PST). There were many other crying babies on board... but at least for the sake of those around us, it wasn't Kylie.

Q: Why are we going to Alaska with a 6 week old baby?
A: Why not? The long answer is that we've been making an annual pilgrimage to Alaska for the last several years. Traci has been on staff with a substance abuse camp outside of Unalakleet for a couple years now called "Camp Gilead". This year, we were both to be on staff, but this past Monday we learned that the camp had been cancelled this year for a variety of reasons. It would've been nice to know that a little bit more in advance of our trip. But, we have our trip booked.

Traveling with a baby is hard work! There's a lot of stuff you need to bring with you in support of your baby, especially for an extended trip (we'll be in Alaska for 2 weeks). Having the right kind of gear will help. We're still learning. We did learn that Dr. Brown's bottles don't work without the patended "tube", they'll leak out the top.

Hopefully, our next flight will be good. It is usually on an antiquated 737-combi (half cargo, half passenger). This flight runs to Kotzebue (North of the Arctic cirle), before hitting Nome. So we'll have two take-offs and landings to contend with for Kylie. Now that I think about it. It'll be impressive that Kylie will have crossed the Arctic circle at 6 weeks old.

We'll be in Nome for a few days before coming down to Anchorage to meet up with my high-school/college roommate Ty. He lives here and works for a Civil Engineering firm. Traci and will be scoping out property this trip, and also spend some time taking in the sights of Anchorage and surounding areas (Kenai Fjords, Denali, Eagle River, Wasilla, etc.).

Other baby carrier products. We've just invested in the Moby wrap. I've heard it called different names. It is essentially a long piece of spandex/cotton material that can be tied around your body in a variety of way to support the baby. We figured this was less bulky than the Baby Bjorn, and that it would be good for travel.

http://www.mobywrap.com/

Here are two baby carrier products that were given to us. The Sling and the Baby Bjorn. The Sling is nice, though Kylie hasn't quite grown into it yet. The Bjorn was nice for hiking, though her head would bounce off my chest with each step... it'll be better as she grows older. Both are handy for doing stuff around the house and freeing your hands.
 

 

Just minutes after entering the world. Not only did she come with hair... she came with lungs. 

These are our week 40 photos of Traci's belly. These were taken the morning of the 14th prior to our OB appt... which ultimately led to the birth of Kylie. 

Welcome Kylie Ann Carlson...
Born: 6/15/2006 @ 1:45AM
Weight: 6 lbs. 12 oz.
Height: 19.5 inches

Only 13 hours from time of admitting to delivery. She's healthy. Both mom and baby are recovering and doing well. 

Some finished home projects being put to use. The bookshelf is white pine stained in a walnut-ish stain. The chest is alder, stained in a dark american cherry finish... it's darker than we wanted, but looks good none-the-less.
 

Oh yes, here's a picture of baby the cat helping me type this blog.  

These are some of the harwood floor options we were looking at. From left to right we have Kempas, Cumaru, and Jatoba. We're probably going to go with either Kempas or Jatoba. Both are considerably harder than traditional oak, where Jatoba is like a 2300 on the Janka hardness scale. 

What's new...

As some of you may already know, Traci is now 34 weeks and 1 day into her Pregnancy. Which means that we need to be on our toes.

In terms of baby stuff, we did end up buying the Peg Perego Pliko P3 and Primo Viaggio Car seat (2005 models from www.specialtybaby.com) They had some of the better online deals, and I had friends that have used them reliably. Cost vs. features (ease of use, weight) this seemed to be a good choice. It got good marks in the Baby Bargains book. If money were no object, and Traci could handle spending nearly $1000 on a stroller we would've bought the Bugaboo Chameleon (Frog or Gecko would've been okay too). Their strollers are in another category, but as an Engineer I can appreciate their design. Stokke's Xplory stroller is nice from a perspective of putting your baby closer to your eye level, but it doesn't pack down as well as the Bugaboo.

We are registered at Babies R' Us, but have been greatly blessed by our friends and family that we have, and have been able to afford much of the necessities... too bad you can't buy stock in sleep.

My cousin Jenn is getting Married this upcoming memorial day weekend, and unfortunately Traci and I won't be able to make it out. We'd have loved to been there. We will have to make it to see my family in New Jersey and Florida in the near future.

We have a busy summer planned, and are preparing to kick off a few home projects. The most significant of which is a new hardwood floor... about 550 sq. feet worth. Hopefully it turns out great.

Traci is now 26 weeks into her pregnancy. We have many photos available on our website...
http://www.chrisandtraci.com

In case you didn't know, it's a girl, and her name is Kylie Ann Carlson.

Now, we're starting to get into high-gear to get ready for Kylie's arrival. Unless you've had kids, you probably don't realize how many options there are for this thriving baby industry.

Recently, I've looked at strollers. here's a short list of my favorites. (Graco has too many opotions).

• Bertini
  Shuttle M5 $309
  Heavier 31lbs
  4-weel steering
  
• Bugaboo
  Frog (old model)
  Chameleon
  Gecko
  Lightweight
  Flexible
  Good on a variety of terrains
  Can face either direction
  
• Stokke
  Xplory
  Brings baby closer to parent.
  Can face either direction
  
• Peg Perego
  Pliko P3
  Venezia

Easy to foldReasonable weight

Sudoku... the game that is sweeping the nation.

I finally tried Sudoku... it is indeed addictive. Here's one of the better free online games:
http://java.com/en/games/desktop/sudoku.jsp?cid=104640


Don't the let the colors fool you though, it's harder than it looks.

Here's a handful of the ultrasounds photos.
 

Traci's 19 week Ultrasound