Galápagos!

Jenn and I visited the Galápagos islands and hiked some of the volcanoes in mainland Ecuador in early February, and the entire was fantastic! So as not to re-invent the wheel, we're posting about the planning and execution of the trip, along with a portion of my 5,000+ photos and videos over at our travel blog: gates50states.wordpress.com.

Here's a taste:

Hiking & National Park Photos

Kendra, my new associate, has been an absolute all star. In every phase, literally every single phase, she's been a great addition and I'm really thankful to have her on board. The peace of mind that I have leaving the clinic in her hands now is hard to describe, and I really enjoy having this luxury when it comes time to Wednesday morning hikes with Jenn. Between Wednesday mornings, and some evenings when the kids have been with the grandparents, we've been able to see some neat things.

Fireworks at Blossom, as seen over the Beaver Marsh

Backyard Renovation

A photo posted by Ryan Gates (@rggates) on Aug 6, 2016 at 11:53am PDT

The Gates home has been full of activity over the last month and a half. A change was made at the Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic. As of July 8, I became a solo practitioner with two part-time helpers (it pays to have two DVMs in my family!). It was only temporary until my new associate could start on August 29. It was a change that needed to be made, and we're all looking forward to what's in store. All of this has made for a more busy RG, as well as a few extra busy days for Jenn while she's worked some mornings for me. And the kids are ready for school to start. We're all ready for school to start. :)

This wasn't the final product, but sure was fun in the process!

All of the above happened just as we were ready to pull the trigger on redesigning our back yard. For those of you who had seen our "deck," you know it was a dump of a DIY project taken on by the previous home owners. It was neither well-made, nor well-designed, nor functional. And we'd had enough of it. Jenn and I like to entertain, we like to be outside, and the previous set-up wasn't cutting it. So we decided to make a once-in-a-lifetime change back there.

We hired Lucas Landscaping, finalized a design, and they're currently in the middle of implementing what we intend to make our prime guest-hosting area, complete with 2 patios and an outdoor kitchen. To say I'm looking forward to using the new Komado Joe is an understatement. Jenn has been an absolute all star in the planning and development of the backyard installation. She's quite possibly been the most helpful and certainly the most informative of any of Lucas' clients.

In the meantime, we've been having some fun doing other things. For instance, while Jenn was checking out granite options at Mont, the kids and I went for a short hike.

As an aside, the granite we settled on was found at Architectual Justice, and we're really excited to see it installed.

Henry's been rocking the swimming lessons lately. He's quite good at this, and it's neat to see him be both excited about something and good at it.

We took in a car show today.

And the Akron Zoo a while back.

Mid-June

School's over, the summer has begun, we're having all sorts of fun doing this and that... This is gonna be a Hit The High Points kind of post, 'cause I've got to get something up before our big western memory-making trip.

A while back I had the opportunity to go to central PA for a veterinary meeting in a beautiful setting.

The cicadas are here!

Of course there was Jenn's trip to Thailand and Cambodia, but these photos haven't yet been processed and Jenn's been bouncing from one thing to another and hasn't yet had an opportunity to compose a post... more to come on this later.

Lincoln's big year-long Project Ocean was on display as the school year came to a close. He was awesome, and the progression he showed from his early projects to the final ones was remarkable. Score one for OTS!

And some catch-ups...

S'more w/ a Camping Marshmallow...

And this wandered into our yard...

Spring Is Here!

Spring finally arrived here in Northeast Ohio, but after Jenn, Auntie Haley, Eli & Grandpa Dave ran the Towpath Half Marathon in 25-30 degree weather. At least it was dry.

We've been enjoying the hiking lately, and we're all getting better at recognizing and spotting birds. It's nice, too, 'cause the leaves aren't yet on the trees and we can see the wildlife from decently far away.

Next up in Lincoln's birthday party. Hint: Calvin & Hobbes. Wait for it...