Fruit Bushes, Trees and Pies.....

Writing this blog post is the last thing I’m going to do this busy weekend. We pretty much spent the afternoon and evening with Randy and Lorraine, they cooked us a special meal in celebration of our citizenship this weekend. Right after lunch we coerced Randy into buying three honeycrisp apple trees and three cherry trees; two bing and one rainier. On our way to the store we swung by our house and dug up a dozen or more raspberry bushes to plant in their garden.

Lynne put in all the fruit bushes; Randy, Connor and myself did the trees whilst Loraine and the girls made dinner and baked the fruit pies. The evening was topped off with a meal littered with red, white and blue food items, the girls did these flag drawings and of course we had some apple pie…we had a great day you guys, thanks again.

Lynne's Research Group

We had another busy day here at the house, we entertained Lynne’s research group and collaborators for the afternoon. Several of her current PhD students and post-doctoral research scientists came over for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Some of them brought their significant others and kids. It was a pretty low-key event, I think everybody relaxed and had some food and a few drinks. There were certainly lots of laughs and some gentle jibes. Never easy to do with the boss around but everybody seemed to enjoy it, we certainly did. I know Lynne was very happy to have such a great group over. 

US Citizens

Today was a pretty special day; Lynne and myself became United States Citizens this morning. Yep, how about that, that doesn’t happen every day. After several years as legal resident aliens in this country, seriously, that’s what we were called; we initially entered on a H1B Visa.  Lynne was even on a J1 Visa at one point but we eventually got Green Cards and after 5 years we finally got through the naturalization process.

This morning we travelled to US district court in South Bend and together with 46 other foreign nationals from over 20 countries we collectively raised our right hand took the Oath of Allegiance thus becoming very proud US Citizens. Now we each have three passports, in case we ever get lost. We couldn't get pictures of us actually taking the oath but shown below is a picture of us standing with the judge who presided over the process.

Congratulations.....Professor Taylor

A short note to let you all know that Lynne's professional achievements are starting to rack up. Late last week she heard officially that she will receive a promotion to full Professor in the School of Pharmacy at Purdue, effective August sometime. Well done love, nobody deserves this more than you do. We're all terribly proud of you.

Happy Birthday Marissa and Reina

Lynne has been travelling; she left yesterday morning for the garden state, New Jersey. She’ll be back tonight albeit around midnight. Yesterday we had a busy day of socializing, the kids and I hung out at Marissa’s 4th birthday party. The kids played hard in the garden whilst Steef, Ginette and myself sat around, watched them play and chatted. It was a tough day :) We finished the day off at our house with some lamb kebabs, chicken sausages, a few glasses of wine, a perfect Sunday afternoon really.

Shown below are a few photos from yesterday but importantly also shown is a picture of Reina who also celebrated her 8th birthday this weekend. Lynne, the girls and Connor actually spent the day Saturday with them and like us yesterday, stayed for a full day of entertainment. I could not go so there are no pictures, I took the picture of Reina below a few weeks ago.

Rock Star Anja....

A short update to let you all (or y’all) know we’re all still alive and well, sorry that there were no blog posts this week, not really sure where the week went exactly. Shown below are a few pictures taken of Anja earlier in the week. She was posing as a rock singer and insisted that I take a picture. I also include one of her in the dress that Granny sent over for her 7^th birthday party later this month. I think it’s a little long but boy does she love it. I’ll have a more detailed update tomorrow.

Easter at Randy and Lorraine's

We had a great Easter Sunday at Randy and Lorraine’s today. They had an excellent array of food and we got to catch up and chat with so many of the people we have met now on several occasions. The kids of course had an Easter egg hunt, their third in so many days. They have had enough chocolate, sweets and candy now for a long time.

I uploaded most of the photos I took today here, but a smaller selection is shown below. Many thanks again Randy and Lorraine, you’re such good friends and hosts, we had a wonderful day.

National Beer Day

After scrolling through Facebook, I discover that today is National Beer Day! I’m very worried that I only find this out after 10pm. What is happening to me?? People have been brewing beer ever since they began cultivating domesticated grains 8,000 years ago. Beer has been an important part of human culture ever since. Today, beer is the third most popular beverage in the world behind water and tea.

So why is National Beer Day celebrated on April 7th? On this day in 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt took the first step toward ending Prohibition and signed a law that allowed people to brew and sell beer. Whether you prefer pale ale, stout, or lager, enjoy a pint of your favorite beer today to celebrate National Beer Day!

 Shown below are a few of my own favorite home brewing photos.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter (Glad Påsk) everyone, I wish you all a great day with whomever you decide to spend it with. We’ve been having our normal busy weekend here, we had Cavin over for a few hours on Friday and today after the girls had an Easter egg hunt there, the Webb family hosted us all for a wonderful dinner. Everybody is now sound asleep and the adults are relaxing. Ahhhaaaa.....