2011 ~ Mark's Mandala

Sunday, November 27, 2011

a baby named soleil

5:49 PM Mark Fowler 6 comments

It has been a whiz-banger of a weekend. Liz and I received a call last week on Wednesday night while at the Claimjumper Restaurant. Tina was with us. The call went something like this. "Hi Mark, this is Jennifer. My water just broke and I'm on my way to the hospital. Have fun getting to Kentucky!"

The call was in regards to Liz and I going through the adoption process for several months now, and the call to get to Kentucky started the last stage of the adoption adventure. The birth mom, Jennifer Nicole Gray, who chose us as adoptive parents for her little girl lives in Kentucky. And we wanted to be there as soon as possible. So that night we bought tickets to get in the air, along with Tina, and get ourselves to Kentucky.

We spent the majority of Thanksgiving in two airplanes, two airports, and a rental Nissan Cube. But at least we were able to grab several Thanksgiving meals, including a burger run to White Castle later that night.

Our awesome Thanksgiving dinner in the Minneapolis airport.

At this point, I’m not going to really follow any chronological order for storytelling. My mind isn’t quite functioning in a linear fashion right now. So I’m going to post some pictures to tell the story.

We arrived at the St. Elizabeth Hospital in Edgewood, KY too lat to see the baby delivered. We tried, but the travel on a holiday just didn't allow for us to make it on time. But we did make it on the day of delivery, in the evening. We went in to the hospital and found Jennifer's room. We knocked, went in, and at this point my memory goes a little blurry. I'm told we all said hi to each other and smiled. I was a little nervous and in shock, I think.

My first holding of the baby, Soleil.

Liz holding Soleil shortly after we arrived. Liz was the first one of us to hold her.

After a few hours of being at the hospital with Jennifer, we went to White Castle. We didn't start out with that intent, but everything was closed, so that's where we ended. Liz stayed in the hospital with Jennifer that night, and Tina and I went to our hotel to rest. The next day our heads were more clear and were able to digest the situation more easily. Among one of the main days events was shopping for a car seat and baby stroller. I found one and here it is!

The nice little hot rod stroller that I bought.

It was on this day that we were able to take Soleil with us. It was a long day in the hospital, and we were all honestly ready to go, most of all Jennifer. This was the first night we spent alone with Soleil. She slept hard, but turbulently.

Liz and Soleil checking each other out.

My hand and Soleil checking each other out.

The week is still going and Soleil is so exciting, but one of the highlights is meeting Jennifer Nicole Gray. She is the birth mom and is now a friend. She has made this whole process so much easier and bearable. I'm not sure how she's doing it. But we love her and hope she's part of the family for a long time.

Liz and Jennifer.

The family.

Me and my favorite Mother-in-law, Tina.

As I write this out, I realize that the week is hardly over. A lot of paperwork needs to be processed, things out of our control. We hope it gets completed quickly so that we can return home to California and begin our lives where we call home. But All we can do is wait. In the meantime, we get to spend time getting to know Soleil Avery Fowler, and Jennifer Nicole Gray. I'm not 100% certain how the week will end, but I know it will end as it should.

As I finish this post, Soleil has fallen asleep right on the bed.

shotgun trip to yosemite

8:40 PM Mark Fowler 3 comments

Last weekend, Bruce Larson and I took a shotgun, 36-hour trip to Yosemite National Park and climbed Half Dome. The trip had been planned for several months, but had to be altered a little due to work constraints. Sucks to have to work and be responsible. Even with the tight work schedules, we were able to pull off a super successful trip, and summited one of the more known and traveled peaks in the nation.

Driving the Yosemite Park tunnel

Bruce, the driver

The trip started off with Bruce picking me up around 8am last Sunday morning. We made some choice pit-stops along the way, and I even re-started my old travel mug tradition. We reached the park entrance around 3-4pm and made our way through the park. Exploration was the name of the game....chilled exploration. Once oriented, we strolled up to Lower Yosemite Falls, posed for some pics, and then headed to get settled in to our camp location.

Lower Yosemite Falls

Bruce and I posing...

Our camp was pretty cool. We may have gotten ripped off for an expensive campsite, but the Housekeeping Camp kept us cozy. It's really just a community of half-tent/half-rooms that are exposed to the outdoors, complete with fire pits, picnic tables, and bear bins. After our quick Yosemite Falls hike, we checked in, headed off to get some good grub (where I found some very addicting Boysenberry pie), and then headed back to camp to retire. You see, we had to get up around 4:45am to make sure we gave ourselves enough time to summit Monday.

It's tough to see, but we're both there in our camp room

Stretching out on my bed in camp

So Monday, we woke up early and headed off to the trail head to meet up with Don and Matthew Larson, Bruce's uncle. We got hiking just after 6am with our headlamps beaming bright. I don't have much to say about the trail that the pics can't show better. But it suffices to say that we made it to the bottom of Sub Dome around 11am. We had to sit around for a while because there was a ranger sitting there taking coffin measurements for all willing climbers (serious) and wanted to see permits. We had some trouble getting ours to display on the phones we had, and finally the ranger let us start the last ascent to the summit.

Bruce, Don, Matt, and me taking the picture

All the trees had moss growing on nearly all sides

At this point, Bruce and I ditched Don and Matt, as we were determined we were going to make it to the top. The weather was looking a tad shady, and we had to get going. We made it to the top of Sub Dome around 12pm, took a couple pics, and then grabbed our leather gloves and started the ascent up the famous Half Dome cable section. The cables run for about 400 ft or so, and gives a straight shot to the summit at about 50 degrees. Crazy steep, and gave a good preview for what we'd be feeling on the way back down the cables.

Beginning the ascent of Sub Dome

Me and Bruce at the top of Sub Dome

Bruce on the cables

The famous over hang

The cables put in to perspective

Long story short, we finished the cable section easily in about 30 minutes, played around on top, posed for some pics, and just enjoyed the sheer beauty all around us. As we were sitting at the top, the weather gradually shifted towards the negative spectrum, and the skies began to cry on us. The rocks became very slick, at which point we made a quick run for the cables to get down off the Half Dome face. The descent was interesting on the cables with the rain coming down. A traffic jam formed, with terrified people inching their way down the cable section. Good footing was critical, and took some courage to make it down. But we made it.

A view from Nevada or Vernal Falls, I'm not sure which

The rest was just a blur. We practically ran down the trail to get home, took some scenic routes around Nevada and Vernal Falls, and bailed for the car. We made it home to bed around midnight Monday, just in time for bed and sleepy time. It was a very fun trip, and the perfect remedy for weekend warriors.

hasta luego and some kayaking

8:14 PM Mark Fowler 1 comment

I'm finally getting around to updating my blog. We started out last weekend with a pretty good adventure. You can read about that somewhere else on my blog. I wanted to continue the recount of the weekend adventure here.

We first ended up hooking up with my sister and family. We played it low key and met at a park in Laguna. I only know it as Dinosaur or Prehistoric Park because it has dinosaur fossils and bones to play on.

Laura, Mike and Liz

Bailey and Liz, two peas in a pod

It was awesome catching up with them, they're always fun. And I was able to practice my Spanish on Mike. And we might have even planned the world's first Fowler Reunion for next year. I'll let you know next year.

The next morning, Liz and I woke up and decided that we were going to go kayaking. So we cruised down to the local kayak rental joint, picked up a two person rig, and started paddling down the boat lanes in Newport/Balboa Beach. It was a blast, and Liz pretty much paddled the whole way for me.

Liz revving up in her kayak

Me and my most beautiful wife

Again, me and my most beautiful wife

The homes down there really put me in a want-y mood. Hopefully, next weekend we get to test out the two new ocean fishing rods that I was given. I've always wanted to fish from the beach/reef and now we get to! Stay tuned.

the beginning of a labor day weekend

9:46 AM Mark Fowler No comments

Since I've returned home from my backpacking trip last weekend, I've not wanted to do anything with anyone except that my wife, Liz, was there with me. So when the weekend started for Labor Day (long weekend!) I made sure she was there with me. We woke up Saturday morning and decided to go for a bike ride down the Santa Ana River Trail that leads directly to the PCH and Huntington/Newport Beaches. With Liz on her beach cruiser and myself on my Kona, we took off for a nice 1.5 hour leisurely bike ride through landscapes where we'd not been before.

Liz and her wonderfully girly bike

Liz beating me on the way home

Cute as a button

Oh no! Caution.

This cool bridge that we passed over

We took a small break at the far end of the trail on the beach for some photos, and noticed a large section of the beach on the Newport side of the river outlet where hordes of dogs were playing. I'm going to have to check this out later because we get tired of taking Simba and Bella so far up the beach to Dog Beach.

Practicing to be a wind mill

Staring intently at the other dogs, wishing ours were here

Once returning home, we did a few odds and ends, and ended up later that night going to the Irvine Spectrum for some shopping and vegan meals. You see, Liz is vegan right now. It's not a permanent thing, so I shouldn't say she's vegan. But she's practicing vegan-ism now to gain some vegan super powers for about a month. We just kind of strolled around, holding hands, and pretended it was Disneyland (we haven't renewed our annual passes yet).

Later that night, we hung out with our good friend Bruce and went hot tubbing, watched Firefly, and played the Trouble board game. It sounds pretty mundane when I write about it here, but it was a day I'll remember. As long as I get to be with Liz lately, that's all I care about. After all, she is the Most Beautiful Girl in the World!

Liz and our good friend, Bruce

some spiritual and physical inspiration

7:51 PM Mark Fowler No comments

So lately I've needed some more inspiration in spirituality and fitness. It's kind of weird that they get mentioned in the same post. But at this point, what motivates me for one, motivates me for the other.

So quicker than I could reason out why, I picked up a heavy pen and marked down my two favorite scriptures on my gym shoes today. Picture below.

It may be tough to actually see what the writing says on the front most silver stripes, so allow me to tell you. The left one says 1 Corinthians 9:24-26 and the right one says Alma 48:17.

S'ok if you're no scripture mastery guru, because I'm quoting them below. Just understand that they motivate me to progress spiritually and physically, at the time.

1 Corinthians 9:24-26

²⁴ Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
²⁵ And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
²⁶ I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air.

Alma 48:17

¹⁷ Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men.

loving liz

7:52 PM Mark Fowler No comments

I think for my first post I want to focus on my wife. I've been learning Spanish this week. Last week was pretty monumental due to my quitting WoW for the first real time. Quitting has happened before, but never actually cancelling my account. So I'm learning Spanish in my free time.

This post is dedicated to her, and what I'm going to do is post pictures that I have of her, and declare a few words in Spanish. The words are what stand out about her in the picture. It's good practice for me, and I want her to know how much I think about her.