Nous aimons Paris!

Em and I were incredibly fortunate and able to head to Paris this month, to celebrate my 40th birthday, and pre-celebrate 10 years of marital bliss.

It was phenomenal.  6 days of enjoying art, history, museums, and the cafe culture.  Huge thanks to Jack and Anne for coming down and staying with Zoe, while she went to school, as we jet off across the Atlantic.

Highlights included Versaille, Notre Dame, Montmarte, and cheap, yet enjoyable table bordeaux. We stayed in the 7th arrondissment, just about 1/2 a mile from the Eiffel Tower, and around the corner from the Champs De Mars and Ecole Militaire, where Napoleon is entombed.  3 blocks from our hotel we stumbled across a fantastic market street, Rue Cler, with fish mongers, patisseries, fromageries, boucheries and chocolatiers, and many small cafes. Quite a gem.  We used Rick Steves iphone app, which had a ton of walking tours of major museums and attractions, as well as helpful discussions with Paris tour guides about different elements of the city.  It saved us a lot of money on audio guides for museums, and really helped orient us to the city.  I recommend it.

Check out the photos on snapfish - I've got some captions with a bit of additional info.

So glad to have time with my wife in such an amazing locale - We enjoyed every minute, and can't wait to start planning our excursion for her 40th!

Here are my mostly unedited notes from our trip - proceed only if you dare!

Big milestones for Z and the family

Hi folks - Some big steps taken over the past couple months!  Zola was baptized; turned 5 with a great party at Bookoo Bounce, and a fun visit and Barbie cake from Grandma Viles; Z finished pre-k; she had her inaugural ballet recital; and the fam took a road trip to a couple really nice beaches (Hilton Head & Orange Beach - Thanks to Dr. John and Barb Carter, and Joe and Rebecca Guin).

Enjoy the photos!  http://www1.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4456785012/a=94776355_94776355/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

A Great Trip to the Beach, Kentucky and a Solo Trip to Celebrate Middle-Age

It's been a busy few months, and we've been lucky to spend some quality time with family and friends. Back in July, to celebrate Independence Day, Z, Em and I headed out of town and caught up with Joe and Rebecca Guinn in Foley, with a couple of nice beach excursions to Gulf Shores. Thankfully, the beach looks great, no BP oil to be found there. In the water there were swarms of small jelly fish though, so had to keep your wits about you in the surf, at the risk of stings and welts. Z avoided them all, and had a great time cooling off in the Gulf, an activity we all really missed last year.

Then, in the middle of July, we made the loooong trip up to Kentucky, and spent about a week

with Anne and Jack Montgomery (known to Z as Omi and Gramps). It was a whirlwind visit, marked by Zoe's first camp out, held at General Burnside Island State Park. Jack had the campsite completely decked out, with a hammock, plenty of chairs, the grill, and a TEN PERSON COLEMAN TENT. It was ginormous.

Except for the rude awakening by marauding racoons (who got into the food bin, then the garbage at about 3am), it was a nice intro to camping for Z. We then headed out onto Lake Cumberland in a pontoon, for a fantastic, restful afternoon on the water, under Captain Jack's piloting.

The trip continued with an afternoon with Uncle Nick, some swimming at the City of Somerset's family center (Z jumped off the diving board on her own, no floaties), a couple of movies (Pooh for Z and Anne, Harry Potter for Em and I), and a really nice little music festival (thanks for that tip Anne, I NEVER would have guessed Somerset was hiding the gem that is the Master Musicians Festival. Z and Anne hung out for a couple acts (including up and coming David Mayfield Parade), then as darkness set, left Em and I to enjoy Chris Knight and Treme's own Steve Earle (of "Copperhead Road" fame).

It was a fantastic couple of weeks, and check out the album on Snapfish for the images.

The end of July found me in the Northwest, to take part in the ceremonial, middle-age commencement ceremony known as my 20th high school reunion. Great to catch up with folks, see how folks have aged, and see a little bit of the wisdom we've accumulated. I organized a tour of the 'new' Mount Rainier HS, which was rebuilt in 2007 due to an $80 million bond from the local voters. Beautiful facility.

I added a couple more stops to the trip, and caught up with pals Cedric Cole and Dan Obermiller over a bleak Mariner's game. I think the Mount Rainier Rams could give them a run for their money (though another beautiful facility). Got to see Jason Rauch and his tribe for a minute on their way to some family time on the Washington Coast. The highlight was a gorgeous hike to Buckhorn Mountain on the Olympic Peninsula with Dan and my Uncle Dave. Wow. Had amazing weather. A couple days after the 12 mile hike, I'm still sore. But it was absolutely worth it. More photos from the Seattle trip here.

We're all planning on a trip to the Northwest soon, as due to Em's work, and my dear Grandmother's passing, I've been to Seattle three times in the past few months without my wife and daughter, so I've pretty much worn out my welcome unless I bring the cute and amazing Z and equally amazing Em.

Just in: Zola Grace Viles just read her first book!!! It's called 'Cat' and there's not a lot of plot or character development, but Z's ability to read "cat can tap pots" was pretty impressive to me!

So that's the update!

A Great Trip to the Great Northwest

We FINALLY had a chance to take a vacation, and while we missed the summer, we hit some great weather with our six days in Seattle.

Really happy to spend time with my Mom, Dad, brother Byron, and Grandma Anna May. It was a little sad, as one of the occurances while we were in town was to move G'ma to a nursing home to help her fight off an infection in her leg, but I was glad Zoe had some time with her Pa Ma Ma.

We had a great trip to the Seattle Science Center, and then the next day, our intrepid crew headed out to the Mt. Rainier National Park, and took a beautiful hike at the Naches Peak loop. While hiking with a 2 year old, a 3 year old, a 4 year old and a 5 year old may keep you from putting up impressive mileage, you will examine just about every foot of the trail. Highlights included Forest Obermiller kicking his shoe off the trail TWICE while being carried by Dan, Danny Viles shouting at us to "HURRY UP - WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG?!?" apparently at his father's urging, and a beautiful meadow and lake view at our turnaround point (a fair distance from the 1/2 way point I believe).

Emily and I even had a chance to get out for a dinner on our own (thanks Mom!) at the lovely Anthony's at the Des Moines marina. We took a nice walk at the Des Moines Creek nature trail, and even had a chance to watch Zoe's cousin Laurel take one of Mom's dogs through agility training.

Check out the photos. It'll be almost as good as being there.

Love ya,

Aaron

Summer in the South

Hi folks -

Sorry for the long hiatus between posts, but things have been a bit crazy here, and Emily and I have both been working terribly intensely the past few months. Here's what I've been dealing with, and Em's had a number of trials to prep for and lots of other work to do fighting crime.

We did sneak away for a nice break in Kentucky, with a day on Lake Cumberland with Anne and Jack (Z's first boat trip), and Em and I enjoyed an overnight trip to Louisville, with Z watched after by her Omi and Gramps back in Somerset, while we caught up with Em's old friends Amy and Joe Wheeler.

We wrapped up the trip with a stop at Nancy Greenfield's to see Nancy and Em's grandma. Check out the photos on snapfish.

Hope everyone else is enjoying their summer and getting some well-deserved time off.

Take care,

Aaron

Z's THREE!

So amazing. She had such a good time, helping pick out the theme, creating the guest list, giving the thumbs up/thumbs down for entertainment (we went with the balloon animal making, face painting, magician, Cookie).

We were overjoyed that both Grandmothers and Gramps (Jack) could join us for the trip, as well as the amazingly polite and helpful Laurel Ottenfeld Viles (sorry her dad and grampa couldn't come though).

13 little ones overrunning the house was such a great couple of hours. Then they went home, with our friend Casey Roberts the only casualty (actually, her son Ellis threw a toy at her, she'll pull through).

Great trips to the Zoo, the swamp, the playground, and a few great meals out added some additional highlights to the visits. Check out the new photos at snapfish.

Aaron on NBC discussing the Gulf oil spill

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy