Labor Day Weekend .....Report

We have had one very busy Labor day Weekend. 
At the outset we didn't really have many plans but we certainly filled our time as the weekend progressed. Started at home with some gardening, weeding, and harvesting on Saturday morning along with the usual weekend chores.  It was a cool pristine morning and all five of us were out there in our work clothes getting stuck into weeds with rakes, spades and forks. The kids absolutely loved it, it's amazing how excited you can get kids about something if you really make them part of the activity.  To hear Isabel and Anja tell how hard they worked later you'd swear we had them in a forced labor camp.

Steef and Ginette then came over to play, eat, drink and have fun on Saturday afternoon/evening. They brought this great Greek Yogurt dessert, a huge bowl, most of which was consumed before they left (sorry I got no picture). Connor took a particular liking to it as you'll see from the photo below.

On Sunday, after a relaxing morning of reading, we visited with Randy and Lorraine to catch up on how there're doing and dinner. We ended up staying for a bonfire which the kids were thrilled with. Not sure exactly if they love roasted marshmellows or the bonfire more. There was a beautiful sunset in the background right as the bonfire was ready for roasting action.

Today then, Labor Day, Lisa and Brad hosted us for their typical great spread of food and good company.  Weather was great, we got caught up on other old friends, picked some fresh veggies from Lisa's garden, kids played in the creek and generally relaxed and enjoyed the day. 

We'll all sleep well tonight. Hope you all had a great holiday weekend and a good week. A sampling of the weekend's photos are shown below.

Labor Day Weekend

The 1^st September is here and although it’s over 94F (36C) outside, there are a few signs that summer is coming to an end. The mornings are starting to get a little darker and a little more brisk, Anja and Isabel are back to school and of course, Labor Day, the traditional US celebration to end Summer is this coming weekend. Last big grilling day of the year.

Anja has been a little ill this last week, nothing really bad, if you don’t count vomiting as a major illness. She has missed three days of school already. Isabel is perfectly healthy and injury free, which is always welcome. Connor is his normal destructive self.

Lynne is also well, albeit busy at work. This semester she is also back to school since she is taking two classes. It’s a Purdue initiative to allow faculty time off from administration duties to allow study in a second discipline. I think she's enjoying it.

My marathon training is at a peak at the moment, running about 45 miles a week. I’m still injury free and on-track for Chicago, keep your fingers crossed. Its about 5 week away.

Shown below are a few photos of the kids from this last month but also two that my Mum sent over from a recent wedding they attended. She is shown pictured with my uncle Michael (her brother) and aunt Cepta and in the other with Paul and Gertie, our neighbors in Ireland.

Hope you all have a great Labor Day.

Back to School and Another Dress-Up Parade

I trust you’re all having a relaxing weekend? There’s not a great deal to discuss form this last week, other than Anja returned to School and into first grade on Tuesday morning.  Isabel goes back to her school, the Lafayette Montessori School, this coming Tuesday.

Last night Laura and Emma stayed for dinner, it’s been a while since they were over and it was nice to catch up on how things are going. The girl’s put on a fashion show for us after dinner. They love doing this; they get dressed up in various outfits and do a little parade expecting me to photograph them (which I’m always very willing to do).

I’m off to Boston again this afternoon, leaving tonight so that I can avoid a 3.30am start in the morning to get there for a 9am meeting. It’s a very short trip; I’ll be back Monday night.

Isabel's 4th Birthday Party

We had another great day here in WL having fun with many of our friends, this time to celebrate Isabel’s 4^th birthday, which was actually this last Thursday. The weather could not have been more perfect, lots of people came, all had fun and generally it was a great day. Isabel's ankle has also healed sufficiently so that helped. It’s such a lot of fun to see so many kids race around after each other, high on all sorts of sugary content, and generally enjoying the gathering.

Thanks to all of you who came, a special thanks to those of you who helped out and contributed. Brooke made the cake as usual, a true labor of love; she does such a good job at it.

There are a couple of pictures below and as always, if you feel an urgent need to scroll and/or download a 100 odd more photos, click here. Thank you once again everybody for making today a special for Isabel.

Congratulations Padma

We just returned from a great day and evening over at Randy and Lorraine’s house where we celebrated Padma’s graduation. She graduated this morning from Purdue University with a Masters in Science (MSc) in Organizational Leadership. Congratulations again Padma, a job well done. We also wish you all the very best over the coming months as you prepare for a little girl in your family (Padma is due in late October).


It was great to see Cody and Lisa again and their growing children who cannot really be classified as kids anymore, they are getting so mature. We also had a chance to see Jane (Lorraine’s Mom) in addition to Dinorah and her mother. We all had a great day. If you wish to see a fuller photo set click here (you can also download photos from here too).

Isabel's Latest Accident

For those of you who have kept an eye on these pages over the years, you will have noticed that our little Isabel is a little accident-prone. She is constantly bumping into stuff, tripping over things, getting scratched etc.  Well, on Tuesday she twisted her ankle, which swelled up quite badly. After another trip to urgent care (I was there 10 days ago after Connor scratched my eye, but that’s another story) we found out that thankfully she had not broken anything. Nothing more required than rest, ice and compression.

For those of you who have forgotten, this was the little girl who broke her leg before she was even one year old (see cute picture below). To bolster my point, in that picture, she had a black eye, which was acquired from a totally separate incident. We love her so much!!

Weekly Update, Boston and much more

It’s been a few days, so here goes. Last week I was in Boston for a few days. It was a great trip (I gave a talk at a conference) but mostly since I got to actually tour the city for the first time. I went running through the streets quite early on two mornings that I was there. I really like that city. Shown below is a view from my hotel across the city with a view of the Charles River and the city of Cambridge in the background (that’s where Harvard and MIT are). I also ran through Boston Common and took a picture of the famous Boston ducklings. If you don’t know the story, click here. It’s OK, I had never heard of them until we had kids, we’ve obviously now read the book lots of times, the kids love the duckling’s names.

On Friday evening, Lynne and I went to Indianapolis for a house party a colleague of mine was hosting. Another colleague of ours, Tammy pictured below, was sadly leaving our group and Bill and his wife Claudia were gracious to host a great evening with lots of drinks and great food (thanks to all who made that happen for us).

We had the Webb’s over for dinner then on Saturday night since they have now returned from their summer trip to Australia. Anton has grown incredibly big, almost as big as Connor although not yet with his dexterity or motion, soon though. Great to see you guys again.

Finally, Lynne had the great idea on Sunday to go to our local charity shop to pick out some fancy dresses with the girls for dress-up since their current lots of princess garments are getting a little tight. Lynne then altered them to fit the girls who loved them. They were more than willing to pose for pictures and do a little fashion show. It was hilarious.