Moving to Newport, RI

I know I never update this site. But how is this for news? I got my PhD from MIT and received a job from NUWC in Newport, RI. I had to deny my Canadian citizenship to get it, but lets face it I am really an American so no big deal. This means we had to find a new place to live. We looked at a lot of places online and then a lot of homes for sale, then for rent. It was a difficult decision and I am still not sure what the best thing to do was. Thanks to the housing and banking scandals we couldn't get a home without a down payment even though we are first time home buyers, but as you can see from the videos below it turned out pretty well. We got into a beautiful home near a sandy beach with three bedrooms and room for a guest, and a pool. So come visit us soon. Honestly, we live in an amzing area and we feel really lucky to have landed into such a nice place. We looked at about 3 dozen other homes online and 4 others in person and all were not nearly as nice as this one, so I am glad we stuck it out to the end. I am also relieved that our search is over! Now I just have to submit my thesis edits, finish writing a paper and graduate all in the next two weeks!

UPSTAIRS



DOWNSTAIRS



BACKYARD

Sleepy

Once in a while when the kids wake me up in the night I can't resist taking their picture. This one reminds me of sponge bob! Sorry Gus, you are forever immortalized with a booger in your nose!

Hanging out with friends

This weekend was a lot of fun and relaxation. We went to an AMC campground in the Blue Hills about 30 minutes south of Boston. We have been going there for three years now at this time of year, and as usual it was a relaxing, fun time filled with renewing some friendships with people we see typically this one time per year. This year we tried to catch a fish like two years ago, but once again were stumped. I did manage to feed the fish worms and pita bread from my hands, but my knee was bothering me too much to stand still long enough to get them into my hands. This year we found a very small turtle that no one could identify. I think, after looking on the internet, it was a musk turtle, but Zoë doesn't agree. She remains skeptical and thinks it looks more like a bog turtle. I thought the turtle was stinky and had similar features to the musk type, but she is a lot better at identifying animals than I am typically. Gus and Sam pretended that their lights were light sabers of course, but that game lasted all day except for a short break to play duck, duck, goose. Gus kept rolling down a hill with his chair, which was actually pretty entertaining. He also was the only kid to dare to get into the lake. He talked me into getting in so I got all ready, we both went down and tried to catch a fish. Eventually the day got warm enough in the sun to cool off in the water, so I got in, but no one else was dressed for it so I swam alone. The campfire finally got going well enough for some songs and smore's the second night, and the kids fell asleep before 8:30! I wonder if we should start doing a lights out type thing at home to get them in bed earlier. Every year we say we are going to go back in a month or two, but we never do. I hope this year we do go back when the leaves are falling. It is a beautiful place and so close, we really should take advantage.

Finally an outlet for this crazy kid

With light-saber in hand Sam went to his first day of preschool. We are absolutely thrilled to have him in school. He really needed something to do to keep his mind off of video games and computer programing. Today he learned about the letter A, read some books, played, and I don't really know what else. But he seemed to be very proud that he went to school like Gus and Zoë. He was really sad when he didn't get to leave at the exact same time as them in the morning. His friend said "Sam this is going to be so fun." as they walked up the steps to school. It was very cute. I took some pictures and added them to the album with the other kids first day, enjoy.

Back to school (i.e. bk2skl or <-2^ )

Pictures here.

School started this week! My personal emotions are as mixed as our families. This was the first summer in a long time that we didn't go on a family vacation or move away for the summer. So having school start seems wrong since we never left. On the other hand we all feel much more mature because we feel like we have finally settled into our home and community, etc... so much that we don't have to leave to enjoy ourselves or whatever.... I don't know if that makes sense to any of you, but that comes straight from my feelings on this cloudy, hot, rainy day in the beginning of September. The transition went well for the kids and Julie seemed genuinely happy to not have them in the house for a few hours. You wouldn't believe how much de-junking she did in just these first two days of school! Soccer season also started today, we fixed up the bikes and we will be selling a few things on craigslist this week. Oh and last weekend I got to hike the Presidentail Range in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It was one of the best hikes I have ever been on. Read more about it here.

Another day at the Hospital

I think have been posting more than usual and I don't know if that is a good sign or a bad one. Whatever the sign is Julie is currently getting her sphincter of oddi procedure done again and lets hope that this time the pain stays away for good.  I am working on my thesis, and trying not to let the uncomfortable seat bother me. She sure takes pain like a champ.  Walking around with her recently dissected foot, and now her innards are being worked on again!  All that and she made dinner last night and keeps the kids up to date with all of their reading, writing, math, and play time!  What an amazing woman, she even took the kids to a spray park yesterday and arranged for them to have some pool time with some amazing friends today!  Way to go Julie you rock!  BTW, your cheerful attitude really lifts me up, thanks.

Rotten fruit

This weekend started off awesome. I like this photo of a rotten watermelon. We have been trying to eat more fruits and vegetables this summer. I don't know if any of us feel a difference in health, but at least the food tastes good. I have noticed I drink less water! It thought it would be expensive, but in my analysis it is only marginally different. The increased use of fruits and vegetables offsets things like breads, meats, and high calorie treats. Which often cost considerably more than good fruits and vegetables. We really like berries so we have even started to buy them whether or not they are on sale and consider them a staple. We have lost a few pounds, but more than likely that is from the decrease in calories not the increase in healthiness... enough rambling. I just can't wait for google to come up with a way to add smells to the host of other web applications so you can smell this rotten watermelon.



















I also added the photo album from Zac and Jana's visit and Gus' birthday. We went on a picnic on Saturday, but I overexposed most of the images, although this one of Zoë turned out ok. And on Sunday we took some photos of Julie and I to fill out the last frame in our latest series of photos of our family. Here is the final product. I couldn't decide between these two, Julie has an opinion, but perhaps someone else has one too? If you post a comment we will send you a gift! Seriously, you may choose to give it to good will, but there is a gift involved none the less!

Finally, my favorite photo of this week comes from Jake, who seems to have taken this photo in a sort of unintentional way.