July 4, 2013 Family Gathering, Memory Creation!

Last fall my brother John and I were sitting in his living room in Medford, Oregon, and we began to talk about family gatherings.  This is not an unusual subject for us as many of our memories originate in these events.  We had not met since the summer of 2011, and decided it was time!  With that, we were able to find a home in So. Ore., not far from my dad's house, and were able to book it for the 4th of July weekend leading up to the marriage of my step-sister Galina.  Perfect timing and it turned out to be a perfect event.

Earlier this spring I read an article in the New York Times.  The thrust of it was that just knowing the stories of our families is enough to make a huge difference in our ability to cope with all that life throws at us.  One of the suggestions is to adopt a core mission just like successful businesses.  I feel like our core is found in inclusiveness, being the acceptance of all of our family and love for each of them, as well as a desire to take what we have been blessed with and use it to share with others.  I feel very lucky to have arrived here on earth with a wife, parents, siblings, cousins, children and in essence a whole bunch of family, both birth and other that really feel the power of this core objective.  See the NYTimes article here .  It is well worth the read. 

This event started with Paula and I, Nic and Hailey and their kids, Chris and Kenni and the girls, and Tucker and Alicia and their two arriving at the Hidden Pine Retreat on Wednesday evening and getting ready for the crowd.  The pool was delightful, and Paula and I even snuck out for a midnight swim.



By noon on Thursday the 4th, the house began to fill up, and by about 5 pm, there were 72 of us there!  I have pasted my spreadsheet into this blog.  It shows families by generation.  All there were family descendants of Armand and Francis Vial, my dads parents. 

  Armand                                              2
         Leslie

                  Rich                                       2
                  Paula

                           Cuong                             6
                           Linh
                                    Kayla
                                    Sara
                                    Regan
                  Su Lu

                           Chuong                            5
                           Liyan
                                    Eva
                                    Victor
                                    Felix

                           Nic                               6
                           Hailey
                                    Kennedy
                                    Sierra
                                    Ava
                                    Bree

                           Alicia                            4
                           Tucker
                                    Weston
                                    Tulia

                           Kevin                             1

                           Christian                         4
                           Kenni
                                    Zuri
                                    Dot

                           Nate                              2
                           Caitlin

                  Dave                                       2
                  Eva

                  John                                       3
                  Anna
                           Aubrey

                  Jeff                                       5
                  Lynn
                           Clark
                           Phil
                           Scott

                  Mike                                       4
                  Christine
                           Sam
                           AJ

                  Mario                                      4
                  Angie
                           Josh
                           Amelia


Aunt Mau                                                     2
David

         Carol                                               3
         Gary
                  Natalie

         Janis                                               6
         Jon
                  Braden
                  Caden
                  Mattie
                  Lucy

                  Savannah                                   3
                           Michaelangelo
                           Eden

         Aaron                                               4
         Michelle
                  Mazy
                  Gavin

Aunt Arleen                                                  2
Dick

         Tracy                                               2
         Gary

                                             Total          72


 We got them all rounded up (not easy), and got a couple of quick pictures. Click on the pic to enlarge.



 The pool, the hot tub, every chair and bit of lawn was full of family!



 

 

 

 



 Anna and Eva organized some games, and gamely tried to get the attention of the herd of cats to play.  Actually turned out to be a lot of fun especially for the kids.



 And even for a few adults!



Paula's brother Tim, who died in a tragic motorcycle accident a number of years ago, had a ski boat, which ended up with his brother Ty, who for the last couple of years has had it up with our boys.  Nic took a lot of the cousins out water skiing.  On Friday, Ty also had an activity set up for us to float the Rogue River.  Ty is one of those that has really embraced the concept of family and is very willing to share all that he has with anyone.

A rock skipping contest.



 The river was fun and beautiful.  Really a great memory building activity.



 

 

 The little ones were happy and tired!



 

 Some fast water some slow.  I was the only one that got knocked out in a Class III. 

 

 

 

 

 Lots of birds.  A couple of the most unusual included the Western Tanager, and the Green Heron.

 

 

 Near the end of the float we stopped to play at the cliffs that line the river.  Brave souls included Uncle Ty, Nic and even Sierra. Perhaps the bravest was Cuong, who is just learning to swim. 

 

 



 

Lots of family fun, movies, games and just chillin'.  But the plum on the weekend was being able to attend Galina and Brian's wedding over in Shady Cove.  Again, this type of family gathering takes work, but is well worth the getting together.

Dad Vial got to help walk Galina down the aisle.  Even the dog was led down the aisle by Sammy and Josh.



 

 Great Grandpa wasn't really digging the suit, but we got some good mileage out of it.



 

Not that he comported himself with any particular class, nor was he a stellar example for the grandsons!

 

 The couple was really fun to see.



 Grandma's, cousins, toddler's, wow!





 



 



 

 

 As Paula and I saw Jeff and his family off this morning at dawn, I couldn't help but think about all the effort that it takes for family to gather, but how important it is.  So Pack Up the Babies and Grab the Old Ladies,  it's Brother Love Show!  FAMILY, the solution we don't want to forget.

Pacific Ocean Birds, Adventures off and on in Oregon and Alaska

On June 6, I set out on an adventure that I had long looked forward to.  I ultimately hooked up with a group for bird photography up on the tundra of the Seward Pennisula out of Nome, Alaska, but before that I spent a few days on my own in Anchorage and Seward.  On the first weekend after my return, I went out with David Phillips, a lawyer with the firm and a couple of his buddies who were fishing for Halibut off the Oregon Coast out of Garibaldi.  Here are some shots from these two experiences.

Down on the south end of the Kenai Peninsula is the Seward boat harbor.  Seward is the place where the Iditarod  dog race originally started, and even today has many dog teams and dog team trainers.  It is a beautiful harbor surrounded by snow covered peaks, and out of which many of the most interesting birds in the world can be seen.  My first stop was the aquarium in town where there is a special bird display with live birds from the area.  Knowing that photographing these birds out on the open water would be difficult, I spent several hours capturing them up close. 

The Rhinoceros Auklet

 

 The Harlequin Duck

 A cute pair of Long-Tailed Ducks

 The King Eider, (which I unfortunately didn't see outside the aquarium).

And the female.

Great scenery just outside the aquarium.

 The Red-Legged Kittiwake, (which I also didn't see in the wild).

 And the Common Murre

A pair of mating Horned Puffins.

And the Tufted Puffin

 Just up the road, a pair of Red-Necked Grebe's shared a glacial lake with a nesting pair of Trumpeter Swans.

 Greater Scaup

 If someone can tell me what the Native peoples were fishing for here I would really appreciate it.  They were out with nets and throwing the fish back to their families on the bank. 

Out on a 40 foot boat operated by the Kenai Charter folks, a woman captain showed us some amazing scenery, birds and other wildlife.

Parakeet Auklet

And a raft of Rhinoceros Auklets

Thousands of Murres

 A young mountain goat

 Black Legged Kittiwakes by the thousands.

And even a Thick-Billed Murre

 A very cute family of River Otters

And several comical Sea Otters

Puffins flying all over.

 A family of Sea Lions

 And some very playful whales.

 Way back in a cave was a rare Red-Billed Cormorant

 And nearby was a Barrow's Goldeneye

A real thrill was a pair of Kittlitz Murelet.  This critically endangered species lives primarily around calving glaciers.  This pair was seen near Aialik Glacier. 

Even the Song Sparrow's look different up here. 

But the Wilson's Warbler's are just as cute as anywhere.

Just outside of  Anchorage is a wildlife area that had a great looking Bull Moose.

 Not far out of town was a slough where we saw Mew Gull (above), Artic Tern

 And our now well known friend the Red-Necked Grebe.

All of the above shots of the Terns, Gull and Grebe were taken after 11 pm.  It was the best light of the day until about 2 am as the "sunset" just lasted and lasted.  When we got up to Nome, it really got tricky to figure out when to sleep.

 So more on the Nome part of the trip later, but first a few photo's from the Pelagic adventure out of Garibaldi.

Dave and the Crew



 And a big Halibut!



 Black Footed Albatross



 

 

 Sooty Shearwater



 

 

Pink Footed Shearwater

 

 

 And even a few Buller's Shearwater



 

 Some Common Murre's



 

 A beautiful day off the Oregon coast and some great birds. 

I am a lucky guy to have done birds off both the coast of Alaska and Oregon inside a week.