Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! We had our 20 week ultrasound today and here's what we got to bring home. Most of the pictures just look like a baby hangin' out, one of them is a head on shot and it shows the skull bones so it looks like a skeleton with eye's, kind of wierd but still neat. They said everything is great and for Jen to keep up the good work. The heartbeat was 120 bpm which if you believe the old wives tale points towards a boy but we don't want to know so they didn't check. They wouldn't let me video tape for legal reasons so this is all for now. That's about all the excitement on our end so we hope to see you all for Christmas. If we don't, have a great one.

Christmas is coming, Jen is getting fat!

OK, not fat really, just a baby bump but that's not what the song said. It's really cute, I cant help but smile every time I see it. We got our tree for this year on Wednesday and it's a good one. Nice smell and seems very fresh. It was about 9 or 10 feet before we cut it down to fit the star on top. We get it every year at Basset's on Rt. 1 near the new TGI Fridays. They always have good prices and we've had good luck with their trees. This one was only 45 bucks and I didn't think that was bad for a 10 foot tree. Anyways here's some pictures of us decorating and the final product if you'd like to see it.

Quick Update; 12-1-2007

Since there was no room for me in the bed this morning I decided to update the blog. There will be a lot more soon so this is just a small update. Everything is going well with the pregnancy now. Jennifer was sick a lot but is starting to feel better more often and starting to get bigger too. Here's a few pictures of some stuff since the last post, mostly pregnancy related pictures and some of the "boys" too. We will have our next ultrasound in a few weeks when she is 20 weeks and I'll try to get some video of that and put it up if I can figure out how. Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for more.

In case you haven't heard...

...and I don't know how that would be possible after my mother found out, but Jennifer is 12 weeks pregnant. Her due date is May 3rd, for now. So far everything is good and we're very happy and excited to be able to share this news with everyone finally.

1st Anniversary October 7, 2007

One year already, time really flies. For our first anniversary, and maybe last vacation for a long time, we went back to Niagara Falls. There's a lot more to do there than we could fit in to three days so we have things to go back for, especially if the American dollar gets stronger again. This time it was a casino, a spa for Jen, wineries for me, butterflies, restaurants and the falls of course. We had a great time visiting with Chris, Katie and Tyler on the way for a few days also, Tyler's really growing up fast and they have a nice new home so there was a lot to see and do there also. For some pictures of the trip click here or on the picture above.

Perfect Fall Hike

Well there were no takers on joining me so I went off by myself up the Falling Water's trail, along the Franconia Ridge trail and down the Old Bridal Path. It's a perfect 9 mile loop, not too long and very scenic from start to finish. This was my 7th time doing this hike (it's my favorite) and the the best in the White Mountains in my opinion. The color's weren't what I had hoped for, they were actually better last week, but still there's not many better ways to spend a liesurely 7 hours on a perfect Autumn day. Pics are here if you're interested.

Bond + West Bond = 48/48

Well, it's finally done. Ryan and I completed our 4000 footers list in just a hair over a decade with our climb of Mt. Bond and West Bond. 11 years actually from August of 1996 until this past weekend. There are 48 peaks in New Hampshire over 4000 feet high for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, and we have finally stood atop all of them. This last hike was our longest and possibly best one yet. Ryan, Greg and I hiked the 21.6 miles over two days, camped out under the stars, climbed 4 4000 footers (2 new ones) and enjoyed a beautiful fall weekend. It was kind of bittersweet to finish and have no big mountains left to climb, kind of a what now feeling, although we'll happily help Greg and anyone else work on their lists or just go for a hike and have lots of smaller hikes we'd like to do too as well as Mt. Katahdin in Maine and Mt. Marcy in New York.

A lot of people don't understand how I can enjoy this as much as I do. I really can't explain it other than I love being outside and enjoying nature, even on my solo hikes. I love the views and the solitude and the sense of achievement I get being high up on a mountain without the rest of the world around me. In the end I achieved a big personal goal but also it helped me keep in touch with some friends I might not have seen as often without that common goal and that's probably what I enjoyed most about this pursuit, the time spent with my friends and family and sharing these experiences with people who mean a lot to me. So without getting too sappy thanks to everyone who was part of it over the years, it means a lot to me. The pictures from the last hike are here and there's a compilation comming soon of all the hikes so check back soon.

Mt Carrigain; September 18, 2007

I went on another solo hike Sunday, as nobody I asked wanted to go with me. I haven't been in a while so I decided to go and see if the leaves were changing yet and get some exercise. Not much color yet, but I had a great day of hiking, just me ,my ipod and camera. I hardly saw anyone (4 people in 13.5 miles) all day as I took some less traveled trails through Carrigain Notch and up the rarely used Desolation trail on the west side of Mount Carrigain. It was interesting to see the differences between now and when I climbed it with Ryan in April. I ran into a moose on the trail too, but she took off pretty quickly. Well, here's the pics if you want to see them.

While I have your attention I will probably be going to hike the Franconia Ridge the last weekend of September, weather permitting, if anyone is interested in joining me. It should be peak foliage and it's a very scenic hike of moderate difficulty. There's some pictures from May here if you want to see what it looks like. Let me know if you might want to go, drf77@aol.com and I'll keep you updated.

The conquest of Mount Washington continues! First it was Grammy Betty on the auto road and now my mom finally ran out of excuses and lived up to her promise to try and hike up. Apparently she didn't know if she could make it but I wanted her to try so we were joined by Aunt Cindy and Matthew for the trip up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail, a 4.2 mile hike with a huge 4250 feet of vertical climbing over some rough terrain. I was proud of her just for trying but we made it up successfully and some of us even had fun, or at least I did. The weather wasn't ideal but it was dramatic and just what the mountain is known for. Click the pic or here to see more. If you'd like to see the current conditions or web cams click here.

Mount Moriah 8-17-07

I wound up having Friday off because I was supposed to be in a golf tournament with my father but he really hurt his shoulder Tuesday practicing. I couldn't find anyone to play golf with on short notice so I went for a solo hike, my first one in a while. I hiked up Mt. Moriah just outside of Gorham to see how close Ryan and I had been last time a few winters ago when we got turned around by darkness. Turns out we missed the top by onle about 100 feet of trail. Anyways I went back to get there "officially" and here's the pics if you're interested.

August Vacation 2007

Well, our August Vacation has come and gone, too fast as usual. We spent the week up at camp and had a great week. Thank you again to everyone who was there for everything.

To start our week on Friday night a bunch of us went out on a booze cruise courtesy of Brett & Carey. It was fun and refreshing to be out on the cool water in the heat, click here or on the picture for a few pics from that

Saturday afternoon Ryan and I went to the American Independence Museum in Exeter. The house itself had lots of interesting artifacts and a good guide for the tour. The tavern had no artifacts of interest and an 80 year old tour guide who didn't shave her armpits. Here, or there, are a few pictures from the museum.After that Ryan ad I went north for some hiking and camping. We went all the way to Dixville Notch for a Saturday sunset hike up Table Rock, the most exposed ledge/cliff in the White Mountains. It is 600 feet straight down from up there. After that we camped at our spot and the next morning we hiked the Wildcat Ridge Trail. It was also a very rough exposed trail with lots of ledges. Click here or below for the hiking and camping pics.
Then it was off to camp for Jen and I where we joined most of the Kukesh side of the family for a week of sun and fun. We ate, drank, swam, golfed, went on a few trips and relaxed for a week. It was a lot of fun. Pictures from the week are here.One of the trips we took was up the Mt. Washington Auto Road with Grammy Betty. I have been after her for years to go up here and with a good bill of health on her last doctors trip we were on our way. Grammy, my Mom, Jen, Uncle Dan and I drove to the top of New England on a beautiful day. Everyone was very proud of her for going up there. Those pictures are here.

So that was the week. We missed all of you who didn't make it up this year but we hope everyone who did had as much fun as we did.

Paul and Charlene's 25th

Saturday Paul and Charlene had their 25th anniversary/vow renewal ceremony. They had a big party after that with their friends and family. They have accomplished a lot in that time including raising a wonderful family. Hopefully there will be many many years of happiness for them to come. Click here or on the picture for more.

Camping July 21&22

Ryan, Kristy, Matt, Mike and I went up north for a night of camping to Ryan and my secret spot. It's way out in the woods, miles from anywhere and therefore almost always open even on busy weekends. You can be as loud as you want as late as you want and not bother anyone, it's pretty nice. Anyways, we bought seven ponds of steak tips and a few cases of beer and headed up for a night. We hung out, played beer die, grilled and had a fire. Everyone had a good time I think. We'll be going again in a few weeks and anyone is invited, so let me know if you want to go with us, the more the merrier, but you can't tell anyone where it is, it's our secret spot and we want to keep it that way. Click on the picture or here for more, be forewarned, some of them are pretty gross, care of who else...Mike.

Mount Hale; July 15, 2007

On Sunday Ryan, Mike and I set out to hike the Wildcats. The whole way up it was nice and sunny and as soon as we were within a few miles of the trail it started to rain very heavily. We checked the forecast at the Mt. Washington visitors center and they said rain for the next 2-4 hours. The ledges on the trail we hoped to do are dangerous when wet so we packed up and went up through Crawford Notch to Mount Hale. We figured the trail was safer and shorter and if we were going to hike in the rain it should be for as short a time as possible and 5 miles/hours seemed reasonable to us. Our luck changed however and the skies to the north-west where we went cleared and we got in 5 hours of nice hiking on 4054 foot Mount Hale. It is #37 on the 4000 footers list and it was Ryan's 43rd mountain, Mike's 2nd and I had already done it so I stayed put at 46, but it was the 20th I have done at least twice. It wasn't the most exciting trail I have ever been on but it was a nice day for a hike and it got Ryan a little closer to me, he only need 3 more to catch up and then we can head out to do the Bonds and finish the list. After that there's a lot we want to do on different trails again and lots of smaller peaks too that we are looking forward to. Thanks for stopping by and you can click here or on the picture to see more.

July 4th hike up Mt. Jefferson

Happy Birthday America! To celebrate this day I decided to go hiking in the Presidential Range, where the highest peaks for 1000 miles are named for our greatest presidents. Specifically Jen and I went on a hike up 5716 foot Mt. Jefferson, the third highest mountain in the range. The last time I hiked this trail was in a whiteout snowstorm and Ryan and I had to crawl to the top and saw nothing at all. To try and avoid this again we got up early (5 o'clock) to beat the rain they kept saying would arrive by noon. Nobody wanted to join us this time so the two of us started up the Caps Ridge Trail, which is one of the most rugged I have ever been on, and hiked up in a good breeze, but no rain. Then the sun came out as we got near the mile high point and it turned into a beautiful afternoon so we extended our hike to go along the Great Gulf and Monticello lawn on the way down. Between spending an entire day with Jen and the great hike it was a wonderful day. Click here or on the picture to see more and thanks for checking in.

By the way, there were some people we though of inviting after we had left but unfortunately did not do it in time. If this looks like fun to you and you want to join us sometime let us know and we'll call you whenever we go again.

Happy Birthday to Jen!

Jen turned the big 27 on the 23rd of June. We were supposed to go on a whale watch but the seas were too rough. Since she really likes animals and wanted to see some so we drove up to Gray Maine, home to the Maine Wildlife Preserve. They have mostly animals that were injured and fixed up, so to speak, kind of like a big rehab center fo animals. After that we went to Freeport and then out to dinner with friends at Margaritas. The nightcap was a little bar in Hampton to meet some more friends for drinks and a few games of pool. She had a great night so thank you to everyone who was there and/or wished her a happy birthday. Click here or on the picture if you want to see more.

June 10, 2007; Galehead & The Twins

Sunday June 10 Ryan, Stephen and I climbed Galehead and The Twins. We met up in Twin Mountain because they were coming from Vermont but that worked out well because we could leave one car at one end of a 13+ mile loop and one at the other a few miles down the road, so there was no back tracking which I liked. The day started off nice in Exeter, got cloudy around the lakes and rained in the morning in the mountains. It started clearing up as the day went along and we ended up with a great day of hiking. Three new 4000 footers for Ryan and Stephen, bringing their totals to 42 and 15 respectively, and one new one for me so I have 46 and 20 of them at least twice. If you'd like to see more click here or on the picture.

Tumbledown Mountain; May 28, 2007

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone. I hope you all had a great one. Jennifer and I went hiking on Monday way way up in Maine. We took the scenic route there and it took 6 hours, although the direct route home was only 4 1/2, it was a long day trip but would be great for a weekend trip if you camped somewhere near Rangely Lake. We climbed up Tumbledown Mountain, on a very steep rugged trail and Jennifer did great on it. One part has a cave you climb up through on iron rungs and she got through it easily. The sun ducked behind some clouds when we summited East Tumbledown but was out the rest of the day. The views were great of the surrounding area. The mountains aren't real tall, just over 3000 feet, but they are rocky and there's a really cool pond to see too tucked in a saddle between the peaks. We had great weather up there but the Black Flies were out too, so the wind up higher helped keep them away. It was a great trip, click here or on the picture if you'd like to see more.

5-19-2007; Mt. Tecumseh

Ryan and I went on a quick hike up Mt. Tecumseh Saturday. It is the shortest of the 4000 footers, at 4003 feet, and the trail is only 5 miles total but is has a good amount of climbing (2200) feet so it's still a workout. It was an enjoyable hike on a rainy day except for the rash I got from the waterproofing on my windbreaker. I have never been so itchy in all my life. It felt like a thousand mosquito bites all over and even rinsing off in a cold stream didn't help. My eyebrows looked swollen like a cave man and my fingers were too swollen to get my wedding ring off. It was a miserable half hour to the nearest store to get Benedryl and half an hour more until it kicked in. Thank God for Pharmaceuticals. Click here or on the picture for more.

Picasa works! Now for some pics.

So, this is going to be easier than I thought. Now I can put up dozens of pictures on each post rather than a select few. Assuming something doesn't go wrong again in cyber space there should be lots to see here soon. If you wanted to see more from any of the previous posts there's a lot more for most of them. I'm also going to scan some wedding pictures and stuff, even though it's old, there was a lot I didn't put up because it took too much time to load more than 15-20 pictures. I'll start with all the stuff that got erased because it's going to take a while to scan the wedding pics. So, without further delay, here's the hiking trips to start with, Click on the photo if you want to see more from that trip.

5-13-2007; Mts. Lincoln & Lafayette

5-5&6-2007; Owls Head
4-22-2007; Mt. Carrigain
4-14-2007; Mt. Garfield
4-11-2007; Short Hikes to Waterfalls
3-25-2007; Mts. Starr-King & Waumbek
3-11-2007; Mt. Isolation
2-18-2007; The Hancocks
1-30&31-2007; Mt. Willey
11-25-2007; North & South Kinsman
11-5-2006; Carter Dome

Well I think I have this Picasa thing figured out so here goes. I'll start with the 30th birthday pics and work on it from there. Click the link below to get them

http://picasaweb.google.com/drf19772/DerekSSurprise30th

and here's the link to Brett's pictures from the party also

http://picasaweb.google.com/brett.walker.30/DerekS30th02

Missing Pictures

This is why I hate computers. They are the tool of the devil in case you didn't already know that. All my pictures have disappeared for no reason! Don't know if they'll show up or not so I may try the Picasa way if I can figure that out. Sorry there's nothing here to see right now, check back soon. I hate computers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Surprise 30th Birthday Luau!

Thanks to all of you who showed up, sent regards, cards etc. I had lots of fun and hope you did too.














Hard to believe we're 30 years old already! Jennifer and my Mom put on a great surprise party. It had everything!

Lots of food...

Decorations...

Drinks...

a really cool cake...









Dancing girls...




















and for those who stayed long enough to catch it, a hilarious late night comedy show!



















Lot's of family and friends too including the sisters



















Grammy and her new wheels


















The Baron's showed up


















Here's the Grammys hangin' out








Paul and Charlene























Uncle Paul and Denny



















Party in the yard complete with tiki torches







Jen and my parents who put on the show



















My dad and Uncle Gary all decked out in Hawiian gear












Even Bundle got into it










Here's us with our sippie cups Brett got us



















That's 90 combined years of experience in that picture




















Me and Uncle Dan with his cigar he got the day I was born.



















Charlene and her baby boy. Danny was there too but there are no pictures of him


























I gave the piece of cake with my baby picture on it to my mom




















Our lovely ladies having fun













And I would say my dad had fun too

Last but not least, me and my wonderful wife, who even though I said no party, went all out for me.