Winter Fun

Happy winter everyone! We've been spending quite a bit of time indoors the past couple of weeks with the nasty weather that's come through the midwest. I figured this would be a good opportunity to update my blog with some Isabel pics. She's become an extremely active todler since the last time I posted. We've been having a ball, discovering new things every day. Isabel's quite a chatterbox now. She likes to sing 'Twinkle, twinkle, little star' and parts of the alphabet song while she's playing. Hope everyone's having a great winter!

We've got a walker on our hands!

Isabel gave Karen a surprise birthday gift yesterday when she took her first few steps unassisted. We were playing in the living room Saturday evening with me on the floor and Karen in a chair. Isabel had been crawling back and forth between us for a while when she just seemed to figure out that she didn't need to crawl to get where she wanted to go. The first time we saw her walking it was only for two or three steps but after a few minutes of practice she was taking 5 and 6 precarious steps on her own. This was truly an amazing experience and we were both so glad to be there for her first steps! Isabel was super excited when she saw how excited we were. Every time she took a few steps she would start laughing like crazy and clapping as fast as she could.



The pictures I've included are from a couple of our recent trips. In one Isabel and I are checking out some chickens at my company picnic. The other is of Karen and Isabel at the Binder Park Zoo earlier in July.

Time for summer!

It's been a while since my last post so I thought I'd give an update of everything that's been going on in my world. It's been a busy couple of months between work, friends, and family events. We've been to weddings, birthday parties, conferences, hospitals, and more.

The two biggest events of the past couple of months have to be Isabel's first birthday and the birth of my new nephew, Samual. For Isabel's birthday we had most of the family out to Tawas for a cupcake themed celebration. We were very grateful for all those who could attend, and understanding of those who couldn't. It was a great day for us to celebrate and reflect on Isabel's first year. Wow! That went fast! It seems like only yesterday we were visiting the NICU several times a day to be with our new daughter. Now she's running around like crazy, investigating everything she lays her eyes on. We've truly been blessed to have such a healthy, happy child.

Samual is the newest addition to our family, brought into the world after 37 hours of labor less than a week ago. We got to meet and hold him the day after he was born up in GR. He seemed like a very well mannered little guy while we were there. Isabel looked like she had a bit of a jealous side show through while mom was holding the new baby. Congratulations to Samual's parents for making such a wonderful little boy!

Those are the main happenings of the past couple months. Also of note was the catching of my first bass of the season over memorial day weekend (which I believe was much larger than 'Nessy'). It's been a fun and busy (and hot) summer and will hopefully stay that way (except for the hot part). Next week I'm off to Boston for a four day trip, then to Flint to meet my cousin's new baby, then up to Tawas to celebrate the 4th of July.

Hope everyone's having a great summer!

Congratulations, Dr.

To the newest doctor in the family: Congratulations! You've had quite a journey getting to where you're at. I'm very impressed with your accomplishment and the dedication it took to get here. Best wishes in joining/starting a practice; if you're looking for patients, then sign me up! I could probably use a good pair of reading glasses.

Florida Fun

Oh, you've got to love Florida. Beautiful beaches, beautiful weather, and a beautiful time. We had a great time on vacation. The weather was perfect on all but one of the days we were there with the sun shining and a nice cool breeze coming off of the Gulf. The one day when it was rainy happened to be the day we were scheduled to go fishing on the intercoastal waterway, so we had to cancel the trip. Hopefully we'll be able to get out and catch some big fish next time.

Midway through vacation I had a packed schedule to get back to k'zoo for some meetings. Actually, I think this was the fullest schedule I've ever had in a 36 hour period. It went something like this:

4:00am Wake up
4:30am Leave for airport
6:20am Fly out of Florida
11:30am Arrive in Kzoo, go change into suit, drive downtown
12:30pm Meetings start
5:30pm Meetings end
5:40pm Awards ceremony starts
11:00pm Awards ceremony ends, sleep
8:30am Drive back downtown
9:00am start my presentation
11:00am finish my presentation, drive home, change back into vacation clothes
12:00pm fly out of Kzoo
3:30pm arrive in Florida
4:10pm walk on the beach!

It was a productive trip home. I won a pretty prestigous award for work and my presentation went very well.

Next up: a two day trip to Cleveland at the end of May followed by a three day trip to Boston in June.

Vacation time!

It's finally here! After months of anticipation, it's finally time for a break. This Saturday we head down to Perdido Key, Fl for a week of relaxation on the beach. By 10:30 Saturday morning we'll be in Panama City getting in the car for the drive to Perdido Key. It looks like the drive will take about three hours if we don't stop at all. We'll most likely take our time since the rest of our vacation crew won't be arriving until the afternoon and the drive looks like it will be pretty amazing. Karen's parents and her brother with his family are all meeting us at the condo.

We don't have a ton of activities planned during the week. I'm looking forward to a fishing trip that Andy set up. We meet with Captain Jack at 06:00 for a five hour fishing adventure. We'll be fishing in-shore, but it looks like there are still some huge fish waiting to be caught.

I'll also be taking a quick trip away from work in the middle of vacation. My company is holding its annual RnD Summit the week that I'm on vacation. A few days into vacation I'll be flying back to Kalamazoo for about 24 hours. I'm scheduled to give an hour long presentation on my project. I'm also nominated for a 'Synergy' award so there's a big formal banquet and awards ceremony that I'll be attending. About an hour after my presentation I'll hop back on a plane and finish up my vacation. Hopefully this little interuption doesn't interfere too much with my relaxation!

I hope everyone's having a great spring!

Spring happenings

My favorite part of spring is getting outside to breath in the warm, fresh air and to walk through the neighborhood and see what's changed during the winter. The plants and the lawns are starting to turn green, the birds are returning, and the squirrels are back in full force. It's a great time of year!

This spring I decided to take up running. I'd like to get out and participate in some 5k's this year so I thought I'd start training. In the past couple weeks I've made it out for five runs, each a little longer than the last. My most recent run got me over two miles for the first time in several years. I was pushing the baby in her jogging stroller the whole time and felt great afterwards. I've never enjoyed running before, but it's been kinda fun this year. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it up through the summer.

I'm in a bit of a break from training at the moment. Last night I came down with some sort of cold or sinus infection and have been pretty miserable every since. I don't think there will be much jogging in my future until this sinus thing clears up.