Emily & Renn and Sir O (OFF)

"Hey, I think we are staying! This is the real thing!" July 17, (around noon)

"OK honey, it's time to push!!!"

(6:30 pm)

"Hey, can we use that mop top to clean up the room?" (6:53 pm)

"We are a happy family!"

(~7:00 pm)

"Grandma's turn!"

"Hello world! My name is Oliver Frederick (initials OFF - hey, all the light switches in the hospital have my initials on them - imagine that!!) I weigh 7 lbs 9oz and I am 20.5 inches long. My eyes are blue and I have VERY long black hair.

From Sea to Shining Sea

After 25 years of "surviving" each other and our children, Lori and I celebrated by taking an Alaskan Cruise. This was organized through the "Cruise Lady" who puts together LDS cruise groups. It was nice to have a group with common interests to hang around with and to have something to do while we were "at sea" besides hitting the gambling deck! We left from Seattle (where it was raining) and we had good weather the entire time (it rained for a brief period twice - but it was while we were at sea).

Some of our favorite places that we visited were:

Mendenhall Glacier - Just outside of Juneau. This glacier defies the global warming theory in that its rate of receeding has decreased over the last 150 years significantly.

Glacier Bay - We were able to see some large pieces break off while we were there. This wall of ice is about twice the height of the cruise ship.

The Butchart Gardens on Victoria Island. Even though we only had 2 hours to enjoy this paradise, and we were about three weeks early for the spring season, we enjoyed it even better than The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London. We unfortunately arrived there near sunset, so we were rushed.

Our vacation quickly drew to an end an I had to say goodbye to the Pacific coast and make a cross country flight to the Atlantic Coast. As we arrived back in Seattle it was, you guessed it, raining! Lori and I parted ways in the airport.

18 hours later I found myself off the northeast tip of Long Island at a Foreign Animal Disease course. This course means that I can be one of the initial responders to any foreign animal disease outbreak. This was a two week course.

We started each day and ended with a 10 minute ferry ride to and from the island. I showered enough in 2 weeks to last me for the rest of the year (biosecurity). It was a very instructive 2 weeks, but I was glad to get back home. [Side note: Isaac just got home last night - it has been 5 weeks since we have seen each other.]