Happy Easter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its Easter again and Easter means spring and spring means haircuts! Which you will see shortly also modeling my new messenger bag that I sewed up last night. It is also a griggsaks original. Bits's sister has been in town since Thursday and we have been having a blast going to the beach, the market, and just hanging out.

Hey Mom Do you Believe?

Hello Cyber world and Friends,
Since my last post much as happened and so little information has gone out. How bout a quick update to say? You Betcha!
The last week of January we spent in Orlando Florida @ Walt Disney World with the whole griggs clan. It was fun, fast, and crazy to try and recap in a few words and we were able to celebrate bits's birthday with Tj in Florida.

Then @ the end of March Bits surprised me with a quick trip up to Canada to get in some skiing at Manning Park which is about 2 hours east of Vancouver and is an extension of the North Cascade Mountains. It was a awesome day and a great Birthday.

Thats Bits rippen it up on her new Telemark Skis. Video's to come soon!

Which brings us up to present day. I am currently working as the assistant coordinator for Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center which means they gave me an entire site to program not just for the teens. It has been a lot of work but I am really enjoying it.

Yesterday I decide to make a Messenger Bag for the lovely Bits. It turned out really nice and it is an original griggsaks design with some designer input from knitty bits. Here are some photo's and hopefully some action photos with soon arrive:

Front Flap embroidery work

The finished embroidery.

The finished product with user.

The inside of the bag I know its hard to see I guess you'll have to come out and visit us for a good look. See Ya Soon!

Crystal Backcountry

Joe Skiing down Union Valley!

Crystal Backcountry 1-15-06

Spent the day backcountry skiing at Crystal. I was a little worried that the conditions were not going to be optimal because I was out the day before near snoqualime for the boilerplate crustathon. However, all my worries were put away as soon as the day started. We left from the church at the base of the resort around 9am and were headed for Crown Point. It was a clear crisp day and the snow was already looking and feeling better for skinning and skiing! The first hundred feet off of Crown Point was fairly wind blown and hard but soon the slopes down into Union Valley gave way to boot deep powder and the crusty layer all but disappeared. After two runs we skinned back up to the ridge and skied down through Bullion Basin for more favorable conditions to get back to the bar!

Mt. Catherine - South Side 1-14-06

For a trip report follow link!

http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=6028.0

Queen Anne Sunset

Sunset a few blocks from our apartment.

Geocaching!

Yesterday on the first day of the year me and bits decide to take a rainy day excursion and find some treasure! We found a cache on geocaching.com, logged the coordinates into our GPS unit and went for a walk. It was wet outside and bits could not quite stay on her feet as she took the slide and we all know what that means (soggy butt)! The last picture is of Bits the Brave sticking her hand deep into the hollow of the tree for the bonus treasure! All and all it was an urban adventure and good exercise for us and Sam the dog and a great way to kick off the new year.

Steven's Pass Ski

One of the perks of my job is that occasionally I get to go out and do some fun stuff with the teens I work with. The Last two Thursdays we went to Steven's pass! Thanks Joe for the goggles!

Gokyo_RI.avi

Hey, this is my first video blog so I hope it works! This is Ang Dawa, Bits and myself atop Gokyo Ri in the everest region of Nepal! The day was awesome clear skies and great views of Cho Oyu, Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu all 8000 meter peaks and the Ngozumba Glacier which is one of the largest in the range. Enjoy!

Typical sights in India poor kids and overstuffed transport! The other pictures are of the street in Majnu-ka-tilla the tibetan colony and the view at night from the wongden house! more info to come my time is up and it is time to hit the streets of Pushkar for some camel fair fun!

Back in time to Paris

Our time in Paris was short and sweet and so will be this posting we went to the major sites and ate a lot of tasty sandwiches!

Hello from Pushkar India,

It is 2pm here and very hot and this is winter I cant imagine the summer time. Bits is taking a nap and I am obviously on the computer. Here are some pictures from our two night three day camel safari. The first one on the left is Manreet our hindu speaking camel man wearing bits's sunglasses. He would get very excited and talk in hindu to us but we would not understand and when we tried to talk in hindu to him we could not pronuce anything well enough for him to understand but at least we tried. The second one is of a home in the desert were we stopped for a lassi and Indian tea both were made with fresh cow milk from the back of the house. The huts are constructed using cow dung, sand, and a bit of water. You cant see them but they would also make designs in the walls with their fingers. The last picture is of Manreet getting some milk from a village man because we ran out and Indian tea is just not the same with out it. It is made by boiling black tea, sugar, and milk and then strained into glasses.

Amsterdam

Hey sorry no pictures at this time the computer I am on does not have a usb port weird I know. Here is a little run down of what we have been up to so far:

We arrived in Amsterdam on the morning of Oct. 20th and proceeded directly to central station by train to downtown Amsterdam. We decided to rent pedal bikes and even saved some cash by going with pedal brakes instead of hand brakes. It was refreshing to say the least after the almost 10 hour flight most of which I spent wide awake due mostly to my friend behind me with is knee or foot or something kept kicking my seat. I know what your thinking it was not a child it was a grown adult and I am still trying to figure that one out. Amsterdam is the perfect city to cruise around on bikes and it turned out to be a great choice. We went to the Van Gogh museum, Anne franks house, the red light district, and ended our night in a coffee shop!

Finally a computer with usb! The last picture is also our first yarn shop that we found not much yarn but tons of buttons!

Leaving on a Jet Plane(a big one)!

Its has finally arrived Thursday Oct. 19th and we are about a half hour away from leaving for the airport. Bits is frantically throwing her knitting supplies around the house trying to find the perfect set Or sets to the non-knitting aficionado. Thanks to Joe for offering to give us a ride to the airport. That saves us a lot of time not on the bus. Next stop Amsterdam!

Hello world this is the first post and the first photo taken with our(birddog & Bits L to R) new camera. We bought a canon S3 IS for the upcoming trip to Paris, India, & Nepal. So far it has been a lot of fun to play around with and hopefully it will bring back some great pictures. We leave in two days and I am pretty confident that we are all prepared but you can never plan out everything that is going to happen. Unfortunately, I have come down with a nasty sore throat and sinus infection. What impeccable timing but with enough drugs I think I shall persevere! Myself and bits will be bloging throughout the trip so check back often for updates. You can find bits blog in the links toolbar on the right.