Celloing

Yesterday, for the first time in over six months I was able to play the cello. It still hurt, and I wasn't able to play at the level I am used to, but it is just so exciting to actually be able to play again. That's all I wanted to say for now...

Sailing and Whaling

By far the coolest activity we did was go sailing on Saturday. I think we gave the poor crew a lot of trouble. They seemed to be a relatively new crew, and not many of them had much experience, and here we come with twice as many kids as adults, most of which were under the age of 8. But we had no accidents. We were trying to spot the hump-backed whale, so Mom spent a lot of the trip perched out on the bow with two cameras strapped around her neck. I wasn't brave enough to climb up to the crow's nest (My excuse being that climbing a rope ladder with nothing but water underneath you is relatively hard with only one working hand), but I did spend the last bit of the trip out on the bow. It was fantastic. Katie even got over her fear of water enough to enjoy herself. I am so glad Jenny was able to give us this amazing opportunity.

Canoeing

On Friday we took adventage of the sunshine and went canoeing. It was great amounts of fun, though we had problems both getting the canoe and coming back home. Dave had to come rescue our dead car. Katie absolutely refused to go out in the boat, I've never met a kid who so little likes the water. But we certainly had fun. Jenny and Mom took Emily out first, while Dad taught Chase how to shoot with the gun he got for his birthday. He was such a good shot. Then Dad and I took Chase and Emily over again. Chase about gave me a heart attack with his tendency to surf down the mountain. I thought for sure he was going to fall and kill himself. But apparently my nephew is a braver soul than I am.

Magic Quest

So many things happened over my week in Washington to visit Jenny that I am going to have to post in several pieces. My first full day there we went to possibly the coolest hotel in existence and played Magic Quest. You buy a wand (or in our case reactivate it) and then most everything in the hotel will do or say something when you wave your wand at it. It was fantastic. They have a series of quests and adventures you can go on. This involves searching through the hotel and following clues to find various things; you are then rewarded with a rune that gives you some special ability that will presumably be needed on the later adventures. But the best part of it was watching how excited the kids were. I've added some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

New Apartment

I have prepared a little virtual tour of my apartment for you. I hope you enjoy it... especially considering how hard it is for me to type right now.

This is the front bathroom, better known as Lisa's.




This is our kitchen. Definitely an improvement over my last one.



And I love having a bar.

The "library". It is actually one side of our extremely large living room. And Lisa has a slight obsession with magnetic poetry.

Our living room area.

Our dining room. Isn't it a glorious table? Solid oak!

Here is my extra large closet. All those boxes and still plenty of room.

This is my bedroom. A little messy still, and still some rearranging to do, but it is getting there.

The Yahara River runs right by our apartment complex. Do you see the light house at the end?

This is my bathroom. Atleast I managed to make it something other than green.

I love the park by our house. It has a beautiful pond and lots of fun bridges.

Rest and relaxation with Ink as I recover from my surgery. See the gigantic wrap on my arm?

I think we tired poor Jason out a little too much while he was helping us move... He fell asleep in between carrying loads of boxes.

Surgery

So after falling on the ice four months ago and injuring my hand, the doctor has finally come to the conclusion that the only way I will be able to gain back full mobility (so that someday I can play my cello again) is to have surgery. So on April 24th I will be having my hand cut open. And unfortunately for me they won't be putting me to sleep, so I have to have surgery when I am awake.

I'm not too thrilled.

Happy April Fools!

After much consideration, Nicos and I have decided to break our engagement. Largely this is due to my being unwilling to make available certain premarital... favors if you will. But we still are very much in love and saddened that our wedding can never take place. (Actually I think Nicos is quite relieved that He doesn't have to deal with my mom's reaction to if we really were engaged.)