I was born in Great Falls, Montana. My mom was a housewife at the time, and my dad worked in sales (he sold pressure washing equipment across the western United States).
1967
My parents have admitted that I was a surprise baby. However, as you can see above, they were quite happy and proud regardless.
1968
From left to right is my Dad (Gene Bauer), my mom (Pauli Bauer... now Pauli Shields) and me. This must have been taken in 1968. We were still living in Great Falls, Montana at that time.
1972
My class picture from kindergarten (1972-1973 school year). Mrs. Ford's class was the beginning of my academic career. My mom wrote down the names of the kid's she knew. I am "Mike B." in the middle of the far left column. Yes, the picture is crooked, but the original print was crooked.
1973
My sister Shelly and me on 3 January 1973 in the backyard of our house in Ontario, California. We are sporting the fine knitted items that were made and sent to us by our great grandmother, Fannie Rounds (known to us at the time as "Grandma with the white hair"). However, I did not get much mileage out of the cap or scarf, growing up in southern California.
My class picture from First Grade (1973-1974 school year). Mrs. Bouta's class was a pleasant experience for me, though I don't think the same was true for Mrs. Bouta. It was during this year that my interest in dinosaurs took off and I spent a lot of my recess time running around after the other kids, roaring like a dinosaur/monster. She made a specific note of this on at least two of my report cards for the year.
1974
My class picture from Second Grade (1974-1975 school year). Mrs. Morris's class was my first low point in school. I did not particularly care for Mrs. Morris, but her teacher's aide was also her mother in law, and I really did not like her. She was about a thousand years old and absolutely reeked of cigarette smoke... but the worst part was that she either did not like me or was clearly annoyed with my behavior... it eventually became a vicious circle.
1976
My class picture from Fourth Grade (1976-1977 school year). Mr. McAllister's class was probably my favorite year of elementary school. It was also the year that my penmanship went from being unreadable to ultra-neat.
1977
This is my fifth grade class picture. I think it is the only photo of me in my cub scout uniform (I was in the cub scouts from Bobcat into Webelos, but I did not finish that level and receive my "Arrow of Light"). I quit the scouts shortly after my parents divorced, because my mom just did not have the money to support updating my uniform (I was growing out of them almost as fast as she could get them) nor could she afford my scout activities.
1983
This is my junior year class picture. Yes, that is a Union Jack pin on my collar. I was quite the Anglo-phile during my high school days. I still love the United Kingdom, but living over there for a couple of years took the mania out of my affection for the place. Though on balance I think it worked out well. Other kids did drugs, started smoking, got tattoos, multiple piercings or wore crazy hair styles and/or makeup. I wore a Union Jack pin... what a rebel!
1985
I graduated from Mira Mesa Senior High School in 1985. At that point, I really had no idea what I wanted to do or become.
1986
In 1986 the San Diego Police Department put together a kind of yearbook and so everyone in the department had their picture taken. This is my portrait. At that time I was the captain of the San Diego Police Explorers.
1987
There are not many pictures of me from Basic Training. This is obviously one of the few. What suprises many people (especially those who did not know me before my military career) was that I entered the Air Force at 130 pounds (5 pounds below the minimum weight at the time) and during basic training (about when this picture was taken) my weight had fallen to 116 pounds. My waistband was 30". That was 6" and 80 pounds ago.
1989
Even before I went into the Air Force, the family would often go on camping trips in the desert. We usually camped in the Chocolate Mountains just on the California side of the border from Yuma, Arizona. There are (or were) a number of ghost towns and abandoned mines around there, and we would often venture down into them. This particular mine was a very old (and unstable) mine that was christened the "Boog'n Hole" by a family friend (John Morrison) due to a strange, almost burrowlike structure at the bottom that was too small for us to fit into but apparently it was also incredibly deep (rocks thrown down the hole made little noise for several seconds) and thus incredibly creepy. It seemed that the "Boog'n" would come out of its hole at any moment (and obviously anything with a name like "Boog'n" should be avoided at all costs). In this photo, my friend Mark had come with us on the trip (his first desert camping trip... I will have to tell the cactus story in a blog entry sometime) and so we took him to see the "Boog'n Hole".
1991
While I lived in the United Kingdom, I made an effort to occasionally travel around the country to do some sightseeing. The United Kingdom is a fantastic place for this kind of thing and London is probably one of the greatest sightseeing cities in the world. Since I lived just 40 minutes west of London (by train), it was a favorite destination for my little jaunts. On this particular trip I went to the Greenwich region of the city, that includes the Royal Observatory amid a large and lush park. It was the British that developed our system of latitude and longitude that is still in use today, and logically enough they ran the Prime Meridian (longitude 0 degrees) right through the English capital... through the Royal Observatory to be exact.
1995
I dearly love amusement and theme parks, but Disneyland has a super special place in my heart. Shortly before I left California to live in the Jackson Hole region, I took a final trip to the park with my sister and some of my friends. It was the opening season of the Splash Mountain attraction and the final drop on the ride was a doozy. The on-ride photo came out so good we just had to buy the picture.
1996
In June 1996 the Schafer side of my family had the first of many family reunions in Las Vegas. Most of that side of the family showed up at the event, and in some cases it was the first time that some of us had seen each other in a decade or more.
In July 1996, I took a vacation to the Jackson Hole area to visit my parents (they had retired to the region a couple of years before). I fell in love with the area and found a local PC technician job. When I returned to work in San Diego, I gave my two week notice and prepared to move out to Jackson. I rented a U-Haul truck with a trailer on which I towed my little car. My friends Eric and Sean drove with me (they followed in their SUV and ran block for me). It was quite an adventure, and once we got to my folk's place in Idaho, we unpacked my stuff and explored the area, including a trip to Yellowstone National Park.
My sister Shelly came up to my parent's house in Driggs, Idaho for the Christmas/New Year's holiday in December/January 1996. One of the things we did while she was there was to go to a nearby farmer's field that was deep with snow. This particular field ran up and down a long and fairly steep hill and thus, was a fantastic sledding run. The farmer was a generous soul and left the gate to the field open so that local folks could use the field for exactly that purpose (though in most any other part of the country, worries about liability would probably prevent most folks from doing the same). We got really lucky as a family on snowmobiles showed up after we were pretty tired of trudging up the hill and they gave us free tows to the top. We got to ride up and down the hill!
1997
Most national forests offer permits to cut your own Christmas tree (there are a number of rules that regulate where and what you can cut). In 1997 my parents took myself and some of my friends on a Christmas tree run into the forest to do exactly that. I found a pretty little tree that was perfect for my apartment.
1999
In May 1999, I went to a professional software testing symposium in San Jose, California. Since we were between projects at the time, most of my team went and while we were all down there, we took some time here and there to explore the greater Bay Area.
Eric is on the right and I am standing on the left. We are standing on the edge of the plateau of West Seattle with downtown Seattle visible in the background. This was taken in the summer of 1999.
The Schafer side of the family had a family reunion in Las Vegas in August of 1999. This particular gathering was important as it was the first time that the American side of the family physically met up with the German side of the family.
2000
In early May of 2000, my mom decided that she was going to visit me in my newly adopted region. She brought my aunt Gloria, cousin Shawna and sister Michelle (Shelly) with her. I took them on the grand tour, including an excursion to Port Angeles (where my mom and aunt had lived for a while as children) and finally a trip to Victoria, British Columbia.
Eric is on the right and I am standing on the left. We are standing on the edge of the plateau of West Seattle with downtown Seattle visible in the background. This was taken in the summer of 2000.
2001
As I began writing to women in Russia, I realized that I needed to send a picture as well, and that a professional photo would probably work better than a snapshot. So I drove up to Lynnwood for some studio shots.
2002
As I was getting ready to go on my first trip to Russia, my sister Shelly decided to come visit for a few days. One of her friends from San Diego had recently moved to the Puget Sound area, so I hung out with them for a bit.
After corresponding for almost an entire year, I decided to go to Russia to finally meet Zoya face to face. I went with an engagement ring in my pocket and a plan to propose at the end of two weeks if things seemed to go well. I wound up proposing after just eighteen hours. I was in Russia 11 July - 24 July 2002.
One of the first places Zoya took me was to the Peterhof, the summer palace of the Tsar and his family. It is located on the Gulf of Finland, about 25 km outside of Saint Petersburg. Zoya's friend Larisa, and her boyfriend Pavel drove us out there and showed us around. Unfortunately it was close to 5:30 PM before we got out there, so the inside of the palace was already closed. However, we had plenty of time to explore the beautiful estate and wonderful fountains. These pictures were taken on 13 July 2002.
On the night of 19 July 2002, Zoya and I rode a sleeper train out of Saint Petersburg to Moscow, where we stayed with her friend Lena and did a bit of exploring. We stayed until the night of 21 July 2002, when we took the sleeper train back to Saint Petersburg.
At the end of my visit, I finally got to meet some of Zoya's relatives. We took the Metro to her brother's apartment, where I met Vladimir (her brother) and his family: Ludmila (his wife), Anna (his oldest child), and Aleksandr (his youngest child).
2003
Each year (on Catholic Easter) we have a little tradition where some friends get together for Sunday brunch at Salty's on Alki, in West Seattle.
Almost every man is nervous before his first (and hopefully only) wedding. I was no exception, but my anxiety was sharpened by the fact that I was flying alone to the other side of the planet to get married in a country where I new very few of the daily customs (much less the customs for special events... like weddings) and could barely speak the language. Luckily this was only the church wedding. The 'official' wedding had to take place in the United States or else Zoya's visa would be void.
We were married in Saint Vladimir's Church in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is a Russian Orthodox Church and we had a traditional Russian Orthodox ceremony. Almost all her friends and family were there. Her friend Natasha speaks English pretty well, so she stood by me during the ceremony and quietly translated what the priest was saying, or telling me what to do next.
In Russia, it is traditional for the newly married couple to be driven around town immediately after the wedding ceremony. They would be driven to various famous landmarks within the city where they would have to perform small traditions associated with each site, drink a toast and then press on to the next site while the remainder of the friends and family hightailed it to the reception to make final arrangements for the arrival of the couple.
When Zoya and I finally arrived back in Seattle, we were surprised to find my Mom (who lives near Las Vegas) and my sister (who lived in San Diego at the time) waiting for us at the airport. They met Zoya and then we all came home together. It was a very pleasant surprise.
Going on road trips has not been a traditional Russian activity, but it is a cherished American one. I wanted to show Zoya some of the wonders in the area, so we took a couple of road trips to Mount Rainier National Park (3 August and again on 9 August). I figured that we could go for a little hike and a book I had mentioned that the hike to Green Lake on the northwest slope of Mount Rainer is a stunning little 1.5 mile hike. It was only at the park itself, when they gave us a topographical map did I realize that the 1.5 mile hike also went up over 1,000 feet. So Zoya started out less than impressed (as the first picture shows) that I dragged her out of a warm cozy bed to go hiking up a mountain path first thing in the morning. Of course, once we got to the top the view was absolutely stunning.
Since the pass we bought lasted seven days, we decided to come back to the park the next weekend. This time however, the plan was to see as much of the park as possible from the relative comfort of our car. We came around the north side of the park on State Route 410 and then came down the east side of the park on State Route 123 until we came through the Steven's Canyon Gate and then followed the road to Paradise and ultimately to the Nisqually entrance. Zoya was captivated by the beauty of it all, and the first time we saw Mount Rainier close up she almost started crying. She did not speak English at the time, but her exact words (in Russian) were "crazy beautiful".
When the holiday season rolled around that year, I hoped that the division I work in would have a really big and elegant Christmas Party. It was definitely big, but not very elegant. It was held in the recently finished Qwest Stadium (where the Seattle Seahawks play football).
2005
For our summer vacation of 2005, we decided to venture down to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. However, since it is located fairly close to Nevada and Las Vegas, we decided that we would drop by there to say hello to the family as we passed through.
While in Arizona, we had booked a full package through the Grand Canyon Railway. We stayed overnight and then caught their antique steam driven train to the canyon rim. We took a bus tour along much of the rim and then after exploring a little on our own and then eating lunch at the resort on the rim, we rode the train back to our hotel (and were held up at gunpoint by some masked bandits on the way). It was a great adventure.
New Year's Eve 2005 was the first year that we began a new tradition where we would go out to eat at a nice restaurant and then return home to enjoy the holiday at home. During and even after the Soviet era in Russia, the traditions associated with Christmas had been moved to New Years, so for our family it is really a second Christmas.
2007
Each year (on Catholic Easter) we have a little tradition where some friends get together for Sunday brunch at Salty's on Alki, in West Seattle.
July 4th fell on a Wednesday this year and that turned out to our advantage as we headed down to Mount Rainier National Park for our usual auto tour. The difference was that the park was practically deserted. Traffic was so light that many people just stopped their car in the middle of the road to take a picture... and they did not block anybody behind them because there was nobody behind them. There were no lines, no crowds or anything else that would normally degrade a park visit. It was a fabulous visit.
On 8 September we took another day trip, but this one was to Seattle to explore a bit. Our first stop was the Japanese Gardens in the Washington Park Arboretum. Then we headed to the Olympic Sculpture Park and then after a stroll down the waterfront, we ate lunch/dinner at the Pike Place Market and ended the trip with strolling through the upper level of the market.
For 2007, my birthday fell on a Monday and we really don't like going out on 'school' nights. So we made reservations at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Seattle for a Saturday night. We had a fantastic server by the name of Bill and he took this picture of us.
This was my first Christmas party with this particular department. It is a large department with many teams so they needed a fairly large venue, but they wanted to find a place that had "pizzazz" as well. They decided on having the party at the top of the Space Needle, and I must admit that it was a smashing success. Zoya and I had a great time (and made over $50,000 at the phony casino by playing blackjack).
2009
After one week of life on the outside, Sophia was breathing completely without any assistance and growing bigger and stronger. The hospital encourage us to practice "Kangaroo Care" in which a parent holds a baby to their chest for direct skin to skin contact. The longer they can be held like this, the better it is for the baby's overall development and growth.
By the end of the first week in September, Alexandra and Sophia were no longer inside enclosed incubators and they were regulating their temperature through the use of clothes just like the rest of us.
5 October was an important day for the girls as it was the day of their first walk. We simply checked the mail and made a lap through our condo complex, but it was an important milestone and we picked a fabulous autumn day in which to do it.
Mid-November brought an interesting new development for the Bauer family. Shortly after our pediatrician switched us to a different formula, the effect on the girls was dramatic. They had switched from many smaller "poos" (about one after each meal) during the day to just one or two major poos each day. In addition, the new formula really stinks... and that is before the girls drink it. As you can imagine, their digestive systems really don't help things after that. So it was during the clean up of the first of these hardcore industrial-grade superfund types of poo that I was almost overwhelmed and had to resort to wrapping a cloth diaper around my face to cope with the smell. Of course, Zoya (being the fully supportive modern spouse), did what she could to help... which is to say that she grabbed the camera and took pictures.
One week before "conventional" Christmas (we observe Christmas on 25 December and 7 January), we decided to break our own rules about the girls' quarantine during the flu season, and we brought them in for professional photographs. The pictures turned out well and the girls did not get sick, so the gamble paid off. However, it was a challenging day, because it was very hot in the studio and while we were trying to shoot, Sophia was very unhappy. I had to keep walking her around (which usually makes her happy) or to let her suck on my finger until the photographer counted to three and then I had to pull my finger out so that the photographer could get the picture before Sophia started crying again. Strangely enough, after we were done with the photo shoot and were sitting around waiting to look at the pictures, Sophia was not only calm... but smiling.
2010
We had always looked forward to the time where we could take the girls to interesting places that they would enjoy. By the Labor Day weekend, we figured that the girls were ready and though the weather was not fabulous for humans, we figured that it would be a good day to see the animals at the Woodland Park Zoo. It turns out that the girls were much more interested in the people and general surroundings than the animals themselves. However, to be fair, there was almost no place that we could park the stroller where the girls could see anything without a bazillion other people standing in the way and after a while w just got tired of holding them up all the time.
We originally wanted to get family portraits done each year around the time of the girls' birthday, but that got derailed somewhat as Zoya was in the hospital with pancreatitis the first time around. So we decided to just delay the pictures a bit. We took advantage of the extra free time that came with the Labor Day weekend and went in for some family portraits.
For the girls' second Christmas, we wanted to get more studio portraits. However, this time around, they were much less cooperative. However, we were able to get a few decent pictures out of the entire shoot.
2011
My mom and sister came to visit us for the girls' second birthday. We try to get formal portraits each year around that time, so we included the entire family in this year's session.
At the end of December, we made a fourth attempt to get the holiday photos, and apparently the fourth time was the charm. However, when they created our disc with the photos, they included the photos that there were taken (and we rejected) back in November. With some creative editing on my part, I was able to salvage some of them. I have included all of them here (the originals and the edited and cropped versions).
Apparently, the trick to good holiday portraits is to have them taken after the holidays. On our fourth attempt to get holiday photos for the year, we finally succeeded (mostly) in getting the girls to cooperate.