First I have to say that my wife is more wonderful than I could ever dream.
Back in April Apple came out with a new device called the iPad. If you are not familiar with it you can check out their webpage about it here. It is basically a large iPod touch or iPhone except much more useful because of the larger screen. Well being the tech geek I am, I of course was very excited about the iPad. I had to curb most of my enthusiasm since it is a pretty expensive device and we couldn’t really afford buying another luxury tech item. Well little did I know that my wonderful wife was planning on buying me one for Father’s Day/birthday this year.
I had been sick for a few days and was stuck in bed, so this finally gave Karen the time she needed to get to the Apple store to pick up her surprise gift. She arrived there to find they were all sold out. She didn’t have any idea how quickly the iPads were selling out and didn’t think to call the store first. She was quite frustrated that Apple’s website said nothing about the iPads being sold out. While in the store she signed up for some service that was suppose to email her when an iPad was available for purchase. Well the guy at the store called the house instead and left a couple of messages for her. Being sick I never heard the phone ring but later heard the messages and of course ruined her surprise.
Well it didn’t all turn out bad. Me, being the geek I am, follow the tech news quite closely and knew that the Best Buy stores also sold the iPad. Yay! So we looked on their website and found one store in our area that had the exact model she wanted to buy. We made the quick jaunt down to the store, with Karen speed driving all the way, and was able to pick up the iPad before our trip.
Needless to say, Karen is a very thoughtful and loving wife who treats her husband way too good.
Thank you for such a great gift babe!
Oh and I was able to type this post using the iPad and the onscreen keyboard. With a little getting use to, it works very well.
It is May 29th and we are on the road again. Destination, Mayfield, Ky to spend two months with Karen’s sister and new baby Lucy. We will of course be making a trip to TN to spend a few weeks with my family and who ever else may want to come around.
We are renting our house for all of June and part of July while we are gone. Karen put the ad up on Craigs List and it only took a few weeks for us to find the perfect couple who needed a temporary place to stay. It was a lot of work cleaning out the house and getting everything ready for them, but it will be well worth it since the extra money will help pay for our trip. It was also helpful to go through all the junk and get rid of what we didn’t need anymore.
We just left Karen’s parents house and before we were 20 minutes down the road we hit a hail storm slamming marble size hail onto our windshield. Of course it wasn’t that bad since we were able to pull over and sit for a few minutes while it passed. With any luck, that will be the worse of the weather we experience while driving.
Hopefully I will have time to write here some more as we go, though I don’t think there will be anything exciting to write about since the drive is pretty boring. At least I can say we will be able to since we now have a brand new iPad with an unlimited data connection! Woohoo! I will write about that later. 
Though the weather has remained obstinately winterish, we are in the midst of spring and have been running around like crazy! For the past five weeks, we have gone on a family hike every Sunday, most of the time with the grandparents. It’s been just nice enough most weeks, and for most of our hikes we have been able to use the stroller, which is great for all of us: less whining from the girls and being able to walk farther for the adults.
In addition to hiking, Isabella and I have been super busy with various Girl Scout activities. In addition to our usual biweekly meetings, we hosted our first bridging ceremony at Isabella’s school. This ceremony celebrates the girls moving from one level of Girl Scouts (Daisies) to the next (Brownies). Our troop learned a bridging song sung to the tune of “Frere Jacque” and they each received a certificate, a patch, and got to put on their new Brownie vests after they crossed our homemade bridge. It was a great ceremony, and we celebrated with homemade brownies, of course! We also went to a recruitment celebration where Isabella learned all about different types of animals such as service dogs, Great Danes, and even a horse. Last week, I took all three girls to another GS event–a mother/daughter event. They had different tables set up where the girls could make a potpourri gift for their moms while we made bracelets for them, they got to wear high heels, and then we took quizzes about each other. Now, we are in the midst of planning for our troop camp at the end of August, which, as with everything else with GS, requires a lot of paperwork and training. We’re also going to be doing early bird registration for our troop (another pile of paperwork), so needless to say, I have been very busy!
Besides the Girl Scout activities, Isabella has attended a couple of birthday parties, participated in a dance night at her school, and is getting ready for an end-of-the-year field trip to the zoo. Mythili has been busy practicing her songs and dances for her preschool graduation, took a field trip herself to the Plains Conservation Center, and just got picked by her teachers as Best Kinder Kid!
We celebrated my 32nd birthday with a prime rib dinner at my parents’ house followed by a hike. Bruce got me one of the best gifts ever–a homemade quilt, made by our good friend Heather. It’s a “sister’s choice” pattern in various shades of green to match our bedroom. The work that went into it is incredible, and I will always remember this as one of my most cherished gifts.
Meanwhile, I have been “training” for my half marathon, coming up this Sunday, via the bike. I’ve had a problem with tendonitis and have been unable to run, so I’ve been riding the bike like mad to keep up some form of cardio regime. I know it’s not the same, but at least I will be able to walk/jog the marathon on Sunday morning.
I have also started “teaching” another University of Phoenix course which will carry over into the summer a bit. And we’ve been super busy getting our house all prepped because we found renters–two doctors and their three-year-old-twins–to rent it for the summer while we’re in KY! Just goes to show–if you do good deeds, good things happen. Seems like that’s been happening a lot lately. I mean, I still have a job next year at my school despite the horrid economy, the massive budget cuts in our school district, and having so few students. Hmmm… it must be the weekly brownies and cakes I bake for everyone! (I know it’s not a direct correlation, but those good deeds bounce back, I swear!)
And yes, we are still spending the summer in KY. Baby Lucy is awaiting our arrival, and we’re almost all set to go. We leave the night of May 28, returning July 31. Exciting! If I don’t keep up with this blog, you can check out my other blog–my resolution for 2010 is to write every day: Step Write Up.
Tags: giving, karma, the secret
Here are my poems for the girls this May.
