Dressing up

The school had a gathering which brought family to town. Not often you can get us all dressed up and smiling for the camera. It was a nice night out.

We managed to glean one of our few pictures with all the family together.

Grandad was looking pretty hip by the end of the night. Simeon wanted some of whatever he was having.

Springtime family

At the Counihans, we enjoyed bubbles, evening whiffle ball with the fat bat and heaping bowls of strawberry shortcake.

At the Hancocks we ran through the sprinklers, wrestled the uncles and saw the new kittens.

At home we found the joys of swinging...

Got a first haircut...

Went on some walks...

Found some hidden treasures...

In various places.

Crawdads and Rainy Greens

Elias was the only one up for crunching on crawdads this year with dad at the annual UOP alumni crawfish boil. Ben also had a last minute chance to play some golf when he had to fill in for a friend in the school's golf tournament.

Simeon turns 1 (March)

Our exuberant little fellow somehow reached his first birthday. Simeon personifies the term 'jolly giant'. He is by far the most robust installment of the Counihan children. His stature belies his true mass. While large, he is also densley packed. He has been a mystery from the beginning. He good-naturedly causes constant havoc and destruction. There is no guile or malintent, simply directionless energy and an appetite for the new. Once we find his direction there will be no end to the good he might get himself into.

Traditionally the first birthbay has been significant for the miraculous survival of the first year of life. Simeon nearly ate himself into the grave upon turning one. He took full advantage of the ample cake supply.
We have great hopes for a bright future. One of his very few quiet moments (possibly due to the restraining belts). We are delighted by his simple enjoyment of life as it stands. He is thoroughly wonderful and exhausting.

Cousin/Uncle Wrestlefest!

Some things need no explanations. Some things are just down-home goodness. Timeless classics.

Kirby Cove discovery

Sometimes a couple free hours can turn into great memories and adventures. Elias, Haven and I got out of Mom's hair while Simeon napped one day and ended up finding Kirby Cove, just north of the Golden Gate.

No trip is complete without Dad doing something wreckless. My philosophy is, 'You only get one life to make a fool of yourself, make the most of it'!

Over the Hump! Over the Hill?

Well we're halfway there. Halfway to where, you might ask? I really don't know. Halfway to being real grown ups, to not being students any longer, to finding a home town to put some roots down in. Halfway to the grave, halfway to having the kids out of the house.

Officially, dental school is halfway over. One year and a half left. My class put on a pretty great little party to commemorate our milestone. The venue was Bimbo's 365, great name wouldn't you say? Great little place, awesome food, talent show with some big surprises. Topped it off with some steamy dancing and some 007 action at the gaming tables. Laddy and I stuck to the bright lights and pounding rhythms of the dance floor...don't worry we kept it reasonably clean.

Our good friend Emerson Lake made an appearance as our school student body president. This is a picture of him before he lost all my chips at the gambling tables. We're still friends.

Nate Hinckley and I decided to cruise the bar and put out 'The Vibe'. I've seen it work so many times, guess it needs a little work yet. I think I need to work on the whole image a little bit. While some of our classmates were being dropped off by a limosine, we parked our minivan around the corner. I worked up a pretty good perspiration on the old dance floor and was told by a classmate that I needed to get out to the gym more often. It was fun watching all my associates knock back truth serum all night, it made for some rather candid moments of gushing sincerity. In the end, good times were had by all.