From Frisco, CO to Grand Rapids, MI

Okay, so it's been a while...I mean a long while. I didn't realize how long it had been until I looked at the last post we updated and it says how Ian is crawling pretty fast. Well, in a few short months, that fast crawl is now a fast, drunken-sailor, toddler walk and his vocabulary consists of more words than I have fingers and toes. Not too shabby for a 15-month old.

Here's the update on life. We got everything packed up in CO at the end of March and headed eastward. It was Daniel (my cousin), my Dad and I in the Penske and the Subaru. We managed to go straight through and drop Daniel off at O'Hare airport on the way through Chicago to fly back home. A night full of not too much adventure except bloodshot eyes in trucks stops across the country. We even stopped at the largest one in the U.S. It was so huge, I couldn't find them when they came in from the diesel pump side and I came in from the gasoline pump side. It was so GINORMOUS, I had to call to find them. What would we do without cell phones, right? :) A lack of too much exciement is a good thing though when you have all your worldly possessions traveling behind you at 65 mph as you head across the country.

Anyway, life in Grand Rapids, MI is treating us well. We're renting duplex in East Grand Rapids until our place sells in CO and then we'll look more seriously for a place to buy out here. My job as Education Director at John Ball Zoo has me back in the public sector of informal science/conservation education. It is a lot of fun so far with plenty of challenges and new things everyday. I like it. So far, we've been able to see both sides of the family since we've been here. A 3-day weekend allows us to get to KY when we want and the MI east-siders aren't too far away for visiting with Mandy's side of the family. We've had many people already visit us here in GR. We are expecting more (hint, hint ;). We have enjoyed a few visits to the beach, the wonderful spring season and the start of summer. The air got a little thick there for a few days but the humidity backed down again recently. It was friendly reminder of what humidity feels like again.

So, here are some pics of many things including but, of course, not limited to Ian's first birthday, a trip to Lake Michigan and a trip to the GR Children's museum when Cari and the girls came over to visit. We'll try to take more pics and post more often.