SeaWorld and Memorial Day Weekend in the Desert

On Friday, we raced off to SeaWorld so I could watch cute animals. I was pissed that I couldn't ride Shamu!

An amazing dolphin leap...

Why don't they let audience members do this?

Evan's family tree..... (because if he was an animal, he would be a ferret.) I would be a koala.

Riding in the desert in Borrego Springs.

Unloading the trailer full of dirtbikes.

A late dinner after our disastrous ride through deep sand where Nikki almost died! (OK, so I exaggerate....)

Icing my hematomas/bruises after many spectacular falls.

Brunch on the patio at Borrego Springs Resort.

Golfing in the midday sun!

Cooling off in the pool!

Evan's Athletic Hall of Fame Induction

On Wednesday, we flew down to San Diego for Evan's induction into the brand-new West Hills High School Athletic Hall of Fame. He was one of the first five inductees (and the youngest of the five!). It was a very nice dinner/ceremony and Evan's coaches, peers, and teachers had nothing but wonderful things to say about his athletic accomplishments and personal qualities. He's not writing this post so I can brag about him! Before the ceremony, we (Darcy, Evan, and I) had lunch at The Wave House where we got to watch all the surfers on the fake waves. We also rode an old skool wooden rollercoaster at Belmont Park and toured the USS Midway aircraft carrier (which was actually fascinating!)

Evan and Darcy watching the big fake wave. See the sponger!

Cheesin' it after lunch.

Darcy says, "Wooden rollercoasters make you feel as if your ribs are broken."

Listening to the audio tour remarks right before we got attacked by an old man who served on the USS Midway when he was much younger. He was very cute and very excited about sharing his story.

Climbing up into the "island" superstructure.

All gussied up for the ceremony....

Evan's coach talking about his accomplishments....

Look at the picture of Evan in the background! He looks like he's 8!

Evan thanking his coaches and family....

Evan and his high school x-country coaches.

Bay to Breakers!

So, today was the big run! My (Evan's) mom, dad, and sister came up from San Diego to run the Bay the Breakers race with me and Nikki in San Francisco. For those who haven't heard of it, the race goes 12 k from the bay side of the San Francisco peninsula to ocean beach, partially through Golden Gate Park. The race has an elite section, but many participants dress up in all kinds of crazy costumes (or sometimes nothing at all). My mom broke her foot playing soccer, so we had to devise a scheme to get her through the race without running. The solution was to build a big cart, which we decided to decorate as a pirate ship. We spent approximately 3 hours making the ship and about equal time putting together costumes. The result: a huge success!! We got many compliments and people took lots of pictures/videos of our pirate crew. Our friends David Vidal and Nahid Yakuby ran with us and dressed up as Borat and Pamela Anderson, which was also great success and even got some TV time (though we don't know what channel). There were so many great costumes today - everything from bowling pins, to stormtroopers, salmon (which ran the race backwards, or upstream), and even some birders (see the picture below). There were a few other pirates and we even got in a huge water balloon battle about halfway through the race. It definitely helped that the weather was really nice. Overall, a really great time! Enjoy some pictures below:




Building the ship...








A nice walk along the embarcadero before our pre-race meal.

My sister Darcy putting on the final touches before the race (yes, the treasure chest is actually a cooler filled with special rehydration beverages and water balloons)

Arrrghhhh! The pirate crew all ready to go!










A "rehydration" break.




Made it to the ocean! Just a few hundred feet to the finish!









Woooo! Made it to the end! The ship engineers (mostly my Dad) were highly skeptical of her seaworthiness before we left.



Personally, my favorite costumes of the day. These guys were constantly mobbed with fans. Vidal (aka Borat) was invited to breakdance, play taiko drums, and constantly called out by DJs all through the race - all in character, of course.

Oh birders, they really are everywhere...

Yarrrgggghhh! Wow, it might be a while before I say that again!

Boston, running, and a beach day

Well, it looks like Nikki and I will be moving to Boston at the end of the summer. We're both really excited, though a bit worried that we're going to freeze! Nikki is going to start a two year masters in law and diplomacy at the Fletcher school and I'm going to try and get an environmental policy job. Nikki was fortunate enough to get the Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellowship (wow!), which means that we'll be in Boston for two years, then DC for one year, then some far-flung corner of the world. Now we just have to start getting ready for the big move and getting rid of some of our junk!

When we haven't been working and getting ready for the move, Nikki and I have both been doing some running. We're getting ready to do the Bay to Breakers run (12k) in San Francisco next weekend with my family and Nikki is whipping herself into shape. Last weekend, I decided to run the Big Sur Marathon as a little warm up with my buddy Andreas Baer. We did the run a week after the official race, but did the same route (it's important to realize that neither Andreas nor I are in shape to run anything!) Here's a few pictures:

Post-race with me and Andreas- note the colorful clothing that prevented us from being hit by cars on route 1.

Nikki relaxing after a particularly grueling workout session....

....and joined by a sympathetic neighbor, Keedy Cat.

All that running and working would wear anybody out, so we made time for some good meals and relaxation:

After the Big Sur run at "Nepenthe" for lunch looking over the Big Sur cliffs

Taking a break from watching the PAC-10 Track and Field Championships at Stanford to get some healthy "fry bread" at Stanford Powwow.

During Pac-10's, I got to present the top 3 800m finishers with their awards, which was pretty fun.

Since we're moving to the east coast, Nikki and I are trying to get as much beach time as possible before we leave. Last week we had a couple of really warm days, so we went to Half Moon Bay to enjoy the weather. Nikki relaxed on the beach and took these pictures of me and Dave Emme trying to skimboard:

Me having a relatively successful run.

Dave, a natural on the skimboard.

One of my more spectacular falls.

Hope everyone is doing well!

-Evan

Weekend Fun

Hi everyone,

Nikki and I have been pretty busy recently, but that doesn't mean that we haven't tried to have some fun on the weekends. Between a few good trips to Tahoe and the beach and even a picnic or two (I know, it's embarrassingly domestic), we've been having a good time. Enjoy the pics:

In the liftline at Kirkwood with heavy slush coming from the sky.

Nikki all ready to go at Kirkwood.

Evan going off a jump in the park (I'm still feeling the effects of a disastrous subsequent jump!)

Nikki approaching a rail at Kirkwood.

Evan with lake Tahoe in the background.

Lunchtime at Squaw Valley.

Nikki on Girl's Day.

Evan on St. Patricks Day (note the beer color).

Nikki at Milk Pail Market, our Euro-style produce market.

Evan ready to get in the water in Pacifica. The deal was that Nikki would hang out at the beach while Evan surfed.....

...and Evan would hang out in stores while Nikki shopped. Here's Nikki in Union Square hardly containing her shopping excitement.

Picnic at the lake in Foothills Park. Thanks for the picnic set Chuck and Jacqui!

Nikki, fully content overlooking the lake.

Stanford International Development Conference

Last Saturday, Evan was invited to speak on Stanford Campus about Familiar Fuels, the company that he has been working to start for the past year. He spoke at the Stanford International Development Conference, which was this year focused on energy and sustainable development. With his friend and advisor, Paul Frankel, he was part of a panel discussing the challenges and priorities for increasing energy access in the developing world. Other panelists included: Dr. Alicia Robb (Exec Director of the Foundation for Sustainable Development), Yonghun Jung (VP of the Asia Pacific Energy Research Center), Patricia Flanagan (USAID), and Paul Frankel (Founder and Managing Director of Ecosa Capital) - Jane Woodward, from Stanford School of Earth Sciences, moderated the discussion. The presentation that Evan and Paul made was well-received and during the Q/A period, many of the questions were directed toward Evan. Afterward, Evan was approached by many audience members, including potential funders and folks interested in having him speak to other groups. All in all, a great day!