Happy Birthday Mummy and Lynne

Lynne turned a major milestone this morning. Her life begins today if the old birthday line is to be believed!

Happy birthday Love from all your loved ones.

 

 

Pat Visiting Again...

Pat, Lynne’s mother, arrived safe and sound on Saturday evening. We have to thank Randy for collecting her at the airport. He had to make a trip to Chicago anyhow and was willing to modify his plans.

It’s been a pretty quiet week thus far. The girls have been positively giddy each evening with excitement since arrived. It’s great for us also since there is a willing reader on hand at all times.

Lynne is off to Connecticut tomorrow, I think she visits the University of Connecticut. She’ll be back on Friday evening.

Hope you're all having a good week.

 

 

 

First Movie Experience....

I know it doesn't sound like a big deal but today Anja thought that her first ever trip to the Movies (or cinema) was a big deal. There is not a great variety of films on show right now but Monsters vs Aliens was a hit. I took Anja and Anna this afternoon and they both loved it. I also thought it was a pretty cool movie.

Anja was very excited. Normally she loves watching films at home on DVD so this was a special treat, one that no doubt will have to endure. She's already asking when the next trip will be....bless...

Happy Birthday Davey....

Davey, my brother who is currently touring South America, will turn over another year this week (May 7th). Happy birthday, enjoy the day!!

 

Half Marathon Results are in.....

Just arrived back from Indianapolis from doing my annual slog around the streets of that city. Ran well this year but not as well as last, then again I did not do nearly as much training this year. Funny how that works :))

Still managed a respectful, 1:48:26, which equates to an average pace of 8:17 minute miles. I was happy with my result, you get what you put into it. I could not have run any faster than I did so for that I was happy!!

The weather was perfect, a clear day with the temperatures in the 60s with no wind!!
(picture below was from last years race)

 

Good Luck!!

From this side of the pond, we all wish Clive, one of my brothers currently living in Ireland, all the very best with his final exams this week. They start on Wednesday. This has been a long road for Clive, one with a few bumps along the way, he started and stopped his education several times since the age of sixteen but a few years ago gained some new momentum, starting a part-time degree program whilst holding down his full-time job.

He has worked hard and most of the praise are his and his alone, although Tracey, the love of his life, deserves credit for the love and support she has shown along the way.

Nearly there Clive - take a final shot. Good luck.

 

Happy Birthday Dear Anja!

We celebrated Anja's 4th birthday yesterday. Her actual birthday is this coming Tuesday, 28th April. We had lots of friends over, the largest gathering I think we have ever had and I think a good day was had by all. The kids had fun anyhow, cake, ice-cream, the usual party favourites. The weather was perfect, almost too hot.

I have posted lots of pictures of the day to our web album space but a few select shots are shown below in addition to a small slide show. Enjoy!

Once again, we must say a huge thank you to all who came and gave so many presents. There were so many - Thank you!

 

 

 

 

An Update

We have been keeping a low profile of late, sorry!!

We have been warming up to Spring over the last few weeks. Today was picture perfect, if not a little windy. No major news to report but these weeks have not been without incident. Lynne has been away for a few days, she spent 5 days in a hotel conference room in New Jersey (nice). We were over at the Mauer's house for Reina's birthday which is always fun. We had an Easter egg hunt. We had our first ever Chuckie Cheese experience (something else).

This weekend we will be having a get together for Anja's birthday. The weather is promised good, friends coming over, fire up the grill, cool down some beer, blow out some candles, enjoy some ice-cream...sing happy birthday. What could be more enjoyable?

I'm in full training mode for my half marathon, scheduled for 02 May. Managed an 11 mile training run last Saturday with Bill and Brad. It went well so I'm confident. If you are interested you can check my training log.

Hope you are all doing well.

 

 

Kristina the Artist

A few of Kristina's recent photos of the girls!!

 

 

Kristina

We can never say enough about Kristina, she is wonderful with the girls. They were out playing the other day in our back garden, swarming around her, never wandering far from her side. I pulled the camera out and they knew instantly how to pose!!

 

Easter Egg Hunt

On Easter Sunday morning we had a big breakfast with Lorraine, Randy and her family. We had a great morning, the weather was perfect and the girls were thrilled with the Easter Egg hunt.

 

 

 

Visit with Mary and Jimmy

My trip report to Ireland could not be complete without mentioning that Eilish and myself called in on Mary and Jimmy McConn, our Uncle and Aunt. Jimmy has been diagnosed with Lung cancer, has been treated several times with chemotherapy and radiation and has fought it vigoursly over the last few months. He looked great when we met with him and Mary. It was nice to see them both, particularly since they virtually always came to Roscommon to see me when I was returning home for a few days.

I came away from our visit with enormous admiration for their love for each other. During our discussions whilst there, despite been ill, Jimmy was adament that they were to take a holiday this year and that despite his illness "he and Mary were as happy today as they had ever been through their marriage". This sentiment was equally matched by observing how well Mary was caring for Jimmy. Many have done so but I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to care for a loved one through a serious illness, it requires a special bond, forged over time, that holds one together through both the good and bad times.

We are thinking of you all.

 

Mothers day and a trip to Portarlington

To continue my story from last weekend in Ireland. It was also good timing for the trip since it was Mothers Day. Eilish had kindly organized us boys with a nice bunch of flowers from Mum and that evening, together with our aunt Nuala, we had a nice meal in roscommon town followed by an even longer evening.

The next day I spent with my brother Clive and Tracey. I had never been to their house in Portarlington so it was nice to stay for the night. They get married this August, consequently we discussed the summer wedding at length and even managed to visit their reception locale, The Heritage Hotel and Resort, a beautiful location.

I then had to get back to work....

 

Trip to Ireland

I was working in the UK last week, Leeds to be specific, and since I had to be there early in the week, I traveled on Friday night to stay the weekend with my Family in Ireland. It was a short but intensive family catch up.

I travelled to Roscommon where I grew up and managed to see Mum, Dad, my sister Eilish, many aunts and uncles, a few cousins and many more. It was great to see everybody.

One highlight of the weekend was being able to go to a local pub with Eilish my sister to watch the Ireland Rugby Team play the last match of this years Six Nations. A very special year since Ireland had a chance to win the Grand Slam (when a team wins all five of their matches). It is quite a feat and Ireland had not accomplished this in 61 years. This was an extremely special treat for me since I normally have to follow these matches on the BBC website by getting text updates every 5 mins. This match I got to watch live in a pub in Ireland with wall to wall fans screaming at every touch of the ball. It was a very tight game which came down to the final kick of the game, Wales had a chance to win but missed the kick....champions!! You can read a write-up on this historic game here.

More on my trip to Ireland later....

 

Pictures from Skiing

This is a short follow-up from our recent skiing trip to Bittersweet, Michigan. Brad sent over a few photos and I snagged one from Kaisa's blog (Thanks to you both).

 

 

 

 

Relaxed Weekend in the Sun

No, we didn't travel to any far off sun destination, West Lafayette, had very nice weather for a change this weekend. First signs of spring. It spurred us to clean up the garden a little, sprinkle some grass seed, put our first vegetable seeds in and went for a stroll through a local forest trail for a couple of hours, Celery Bog.

Anja was much better today. Let me clarify. She had a visit to urgent care on Friday with a fever of 104F. After an extremely poor doctors visit, he barely examined her, he put her on a course of antibiotics. It was all very mixed, since the swab for strep throat was negative but she had swollen tonsils with white spots and she is feeling much better after two days on drugs. Hopefully she is now on the mend, many of us have had a few broken nights sleep.

Not much happening this week other than I will visit Ireland and spend next weekend with my Mum and Dad. I'm working in the UK next week so I'm going early to spend the weekend in Ireland. Cool!!

A few pictures of the girls playing this week and some reading this weekend!

Enjoy the week!!

 

 

 

I'm Potty Training

We are a long way off yet but Isabel has been doing her business on the potty four or five times a day this last week or more. She still will not let us know but if one asks her if she needs to go every few hours, she very cutely ambles into the bathroom and proceeds to do what she needs to do. I'm sure you all need to know this but we like to document these milestones for future reference!!

 

11 Years

Today Lynne and I celebrate 11 years of married life! Time certainly passes by quickly, seems like only yesterday we got married in Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe. Our wedding picture can be viewed here.

The picture below was something Anja found in a drawer the other day. It's funny how pictures get "filed" away and seem quite funny when they re-surface. This picture was taken in Sweden in 2000, we were painting the outside of our house, it took us all summer, and one day, Anna, our next door neighbour, popped over with a camera to document the activities. We're glad she did.

Tonight we get to steal away for a while. Randy and Lorraine are going to watch the girls for the night (Many Thanks!) and we are spending the night in Indianapolis. Going to have some dinner and a night at the symphony, they will be playing one of our favourite pieces, Rachmaninoff's piano concerto No. 2.

Have a nice weekend everybody!

 

Our Baby's Growing Up

Anja popped on this new jacket that Lynne bought for the summer and there before stood us a little lady. We obviously still consider Anja to be baby, well a very small girl at least. This picture jumped us into a realization that she is growing up very quickly!!