Birthday celebrations on Mount Monadnock

Mid-September is full of birthday celebrations! 

Bo came to party with us!  Thanks for the fun decorations, fabulous lasagna and... uhhh... whole wheat cake, Seth :o)

The old man was next

Charlemagne's turn! 

Our low-key birthdays allowed us plenty of energy to climb Monadnock, in New Hampshire.  This mountain is apparently the second most climbed peak in the world, behind Mt Fuji in Japan.  I am not sure how that was determined but thankfully there weren't exactly streams of people lined up to climb it.

We are ready to burn off that cake!

It wasn't really 'hiking,' more like scrambling up a smooth, steep rock face.  I must admit I was afraid to come back down...

The top of Mount Monadnock!

A fun climb but not looking forward to sliding several miles back down the mountain

Colorado

Last weekend I zipped off again, this time to Colorado.  While my main motivation for this trip was to attend my good friend Danielle's wedding, I also managed some quality time with my extended family.  This was my first time visiting CO without Mom, but she, along with Aunt Be, helped organize meetings with some of my relatives.  It turned out to be a great mini Ngo reunion :o)

Aunt Be was my wedding date!

Danielle and Kyle!

A nice setting for a wedding

Danielle and Matt were friends since 8th grade band!  Matt played piano for the ceremony.

Colorado is so beautiful!

Matt and I had a good time with the photo booth

There was a full moon the night of the wedding

The next morning the moon was still up during my jog around the lake

On Sunday Aunt Be organized my aunts and uncles to meet us at Temple.  It was actually a Buddhist holiday to celebrate parents.  I wish I could have had the big vegetarian lunch that was offered but I had to head over to a BBQ hosted by the newly weds.

Danielle and Kyle's yard in Golden, CO

Danielle and Matt with Charlie, the cute rescue dog :o)

I spent my last evening in Denver with Aunt Gai's family.  First though we swung by to visit Uncle Tan at work (he is a Nordstrom tailor).

Uncle Tan has his photo on the wall.  He is the real deal!

Dinner with Uncle Tan, Lynn, and Aunt Gai's family.  Remember Tammy and Julie from the Vietnam trip?  They have gotten so big!