Our First Week Back

Well being here for a week already, feels like we never left, but we have these weird memories of our time in Texas!

My Dad’s surprise party went really well. Dave and I, Kristi and Erik were sitting on the deck and Dad walked out to see a surprise outside! He just stared at us and said “What are you guys doing here?” Later he told us he thought he might have a heart attack! I’m glad that he didn’t. After the party was over, we went out for dinner to Tony Roma’s in Niagara Falls. The food was good but the service wasn’t! On Sunday we met again for brunch at Lina Linguini’s, and then went back to Dad and Les’ and hung out untill Erik and Kristi left for the airport at 2.30.

Today, Monday, I went for a walk to Port Dalhousie with Kim and her daughter Kate, ate lunch and walked back in the 30 degree (Celsius) heat. Tonight, Mom made us some authentic Italian food that she learned how to make in a cooking school in Italy. Black pasta (coloured with squid ink) shrimp and cauliflower, and wild boar (actually beef, b/c she couldn’t find boar!) It was soooo good. And of course lots of Italian Wine!

Tomorrow Dave and I are driving to AA because Dave forgot his birth certificate in storage, and he needs it to get a new passport! So we’ll leave in early morning and then drive the extra 2 hours to Abe and Eleanor’s in Ohio, stay there for dinner and the night and then head back home to St. Catharines for Simon’s 1st birthday party!

Friday some of our friends from Texas come to town for 5 days. I will post about that when we have done some special things! (I just don’t want to write anything that will ruin the surprises)

The road trips that we are planning for the summer might take us to Rhode Island for a wedding, and to Winnipeg to visit Kristi and Erik!

Well it has been a long day, and we have another long day tomorrow!
SO GOOD NiGHT AND GOOD LUcK!

Apologies for our cyber-absence…

…but we’ve been busy the last few weeks. Actually, there are two reasons we haven’t been blogging during the past few weeks. First, we have been busy with the move. Second, we’ve been trying to keep our recent news a secret from Barb’s dad. It was his 60th birthday party yesterday and our being in town for the party was a surprise for him. Obviously, we couldn’t be posting about the move when we were trying to keep the move a secret! So, here’s the latest on the move.

We packed our stuff into the truck and turned in our keys on May 19th. We stayed the night at some friends’ (Chris and Angela Wilke) and left their place at 5.00 am on the 20th. (We couldn’t sleep any longer so we just got up and left.) We made it to Nashville by 7.00 on the 20th and stayed with another friend (Steve Campbell). Steve is also starting at UM in Sept. Since we were moving some of his stuff in our truck and since he needed to find an apartment as well, he followed us to Ann Arbor in his van the next day. We made it there by 5.00 pm, checked ourselves into a Motel 6 and planned out the next day of apartment hunting. Our original plan was to look for a 3 bedroom to share (for reasons of cost-effectivity). In the morning, we checked out a couple of 3 br places, but neither of them felt right. We eventually discovered that there were some 1 and 2 brs that were reasonably priced and well located, so, in the end, Barb and I leased a (larger) 1 br and Steve got his own 1 br. We’re in the same complex, which will be nice. Our location is great–we’re just north of campus, about a 25-30 min. walk from the philosophy building, a 20-25 min walk to downtown, and a 15-20 min. from the historic market district (Kerrytown). Our area is kinda secluded and quiet. Anyway, we move in there Aug. 1 and will be there for at least 1 year. We’ll see after that.

After finding the apt, we moved our stuff out of the truck into storage. Most of the stuff survived the cross-country trek, but a few things didn’t make it. Fortunately, those things won’t be expensive to replace, so all-in-all, we did pretty well. Once we finished our business in A2*, Steve drove us to St. Catharines, where we’ll be based for the next two months. Steve spent the night and then headed back to Nashville Wed. morning. The drive from A2 to St. Catharines ended up being shorter than we anticipated. We originally thought it would be a 5-6 hour trip, but it’s more like 4-4 1/2 hrs, depending on how things are at the border.

For now, we’ve moved into the loft above my parents’ garage. Great digs for the summer. We have a few tentativ e road trip plans, mostly during July, but nothing set in stone. We’ll keep y’all posted. (I’ll leave a few recent news items for Barb to write about.)

ps. For our College Station friends, you can still call us on our CS number (979-696-1349). To make a long, technical story short, our phone service allows us to keep this number. For now, it is forwarded to my parents’ number, so some unfamiliar voices may pick up. But you can call us at that number without incurring long distance charges.

* As an aside, you’ll probably see us refer to Ann Arbor as A2 or AA in the future. Apparently, these are common shorthands.

Saying Goodbye

Saying Goodbye is always hard for me. Even after one week of summer of summer camp the tears are flowing. So after two years of “summer camp” aka, grad school, I think Kleenex stock will rise! I’m sure Dave won’t say it was summer camp! He worked incredibly hard over the last two years and I am VERY proud of him.

Anyway back to goodbyes. We have had a few farwell parties with several more to go. First on April 28th we had a joint party with Matt and Amy that Chris and Angela hosted. It was alot of fun, just hanging out with friends. Then, on May 5th we went to DFW for the weekend with Matt and Amy (staying at Matt’s parent’s house) and Chris and Angela as kind of a last hurrah! On the Friday night we ate at the Melting Pot, an awesome fondue restaurant. Then Saturday we (the girls) went shopping, and the guys played a game called “Carcassone“. Dave also learned how to do Brisket, Sausage, and Ribs on the smoker! Matt’s Dad makes great BBQ and he taught Dave all the tricks! We are going to buy a smoker before we leave Texas so we can bring BBQ north. Sunday was also relaxing. We slept in, had a late breakfast and an early lunch and we were on our way.

This past Wednesday Kristen, Sara and Elizabeth took me to U Paint It after dinner at Blue Baker! At the pottery place, I painted a mug with 5 girls on it, all holding hands, and I wrote “Friends” down the side! This was to symbolize all the friendships I have made here in Texas. Not that I have only five friends, I couldn’t fit everyone on just one mug! That was alot of fun and I think that is something I would want to do again and again! I will pick up the mug later this week, and depending on how it looks I may just post a pic!

We have also had alot of department parties. Because people are leaving at different times, we have to have a party to accomodate everyone. So we had one Tuesday, there was one Friday night, and then another one this Monday night!

Packing is going well. We pack a few things every day. It’s not as big a job if I do it a little bit at a time! This leaves plenty of time for sitting pool side.

New Car Needed… New Car Found!!

Well here is some great news! Dave’s parents are getting rid of their Jeep Cherokee–”Cheeks”–and handing it over to us!! How awesome is that? It needs some minor electrical repairs, but once they are taken care of it will for sure take us back and forth from Ann Arbor to St. Catharines! Thanks so much Mom and Dad!

Down the Home Stretch

My term (and degree) ended as of Monday. I handed in my last term paper and submitted all the grades for the classes I’m teaching. So, I’m officially done here at A&M. I don’t formally receive my diploma until next week sometime, but I think it’s safe to say I’m now a ‘Master of Arts’. I’m not sure how much that means, though; I don’t feel like a master of anything… maybe a Master of Confusion at times!

Barb and I will have a few days off to unwind and relax, play some badminton, swim, watch movies, and generally enjoy ourselves. Then the packing begins. Barb has started doing a little already, but soon we’ll have our whole apartment packed up and put on a truck to Ann Arbor. We’ll actually be one of the last of the graduating students to leave town. Most of my cohorts are leaving this weekend or early next week. So goodbyes are all around.

We’re also having to say goodbye to our many non-departmental friends. It’s really quite sad. This has been a significant two years for Barb and myself in many ways, and our friends have played a significant role in our lives over the last two years. It’s tough to know that, once we drive away, there’s many people that we won’t see again, or at least, won’t see very often. But I don’t want to get too deep into reflection here. Maybe another post for another time…