New Member of the family

No, certainly not more children ;-).....

Since Scott is, well, "fixed" (and he recommends the procedure to all of his male friends who are done with having kids), it couldn't be more children. Plus having more children at our age would frankly kill us.

No, I succumbed to the numerous request from Erica and Brian and we adopted a new kitten. Her name is Hannah and she is a short haired tabby who looks much like Rascal, our other cat.



Speaking of Rascal, she doesn't quite like Hannah and we have to keep them separated from each other, but we see some signs of promise - they have been in the same room together and Rascal has managed NOT to hiss at Hannah. We are just taking it slow with the assimilation.

Apart from a couple of whiny evenings, Hannah has adjusted to living with us - she now curls up with us while we are watching TV and no longer jumps on top of the countertops. Erica and Brian really enjoy having a kitten who doesn't snub them (Rascal is just OLD and sleeps all day long).

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15th Anniversary!

Today is our 15th wedding anniversary!

Married on a beautiful fall day in Massachusetts.

Scott wrote up some Anniversary memories in the card he gave me:

1st Anniversary - Cruel denial of a golf outing - on the 11th! (Parkersburg, WV)
My response - it was our "Anniversary Weekend", and of course I didn't want him to be playing golf on Friday night!

5th Anniversary - Erica was only 3 months old - Evansville, IN (and he draws a cute picture of a little baby)

10th Anniversary - French Lick (and he draws a picture of us playing golf)

15th Anniversary - Chicago - Wicked (and he draws a very good picture of the Wicked Witch of the West)

20th - ??

25th - ??

Well, we haven't "done" the 15th Anniversary Wicked trip yet - that is this coming weekend and we are really looking forward to it.

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Quick summary of Scotland

The good:
Pretty nice weather (Wednesday was sunny and 70 degrees)
Absolutely gorgeous landscape and scenery
A beautiful bride and groom
A wonderful new branch of the Chang family
Kilts everywhere!

The bad:
Airline delays and more airline delays
Getting to see every terminal in the Newark Airport (never a good thing)
US Dollar exchange rate to the British pound and prices in Scotland

The ugly:
Narrow winding roads in Scotland
Our drive from Glasgow to Oban - Brian got sick in the car

But overall, it was a great experience and we really like Andrew and wish he and Michele a wonderful life together.

Now for some pictures:

On route to Dunstaffnage Castle, a hike along the Western coast of Scotland





We stayed at the Ganavan Sands Holiday park, in the cabins seen off in the distance to the right:


My sister and her family


On our hike, we encountered some sheep:


On the Isle of Kerrera:


The bride and groom - on the ferry ride to Mull


Another family picture at Glengorm Castle grounds, on the Isle of Mull:


Glengorm Castle, where the Reception was held. It is also a B&B and we were one of the lucky ones who stayed overnight.



Led by cousin Theo, all of the men and boys participate in traditional Scottish dancing. Brian stands out in this sea of kilts.


Another Castle, as seen on our ferry ride from Mull to Oban:

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Passports are en route! [FINALLY]

We applied for the kids' passports exactly 4 months ago, in preparation for what Scott refers to as "the wedding of the century" in Scotland. It is my youngest sister who is getting married, and as she lives in Denmark while her finance lives in London and grew up in Scotland (hence the venue for the wedding).

You would think that applying more than 20 weeks in advance of our departure date would give the US Passport Agency plenty of time to process our kids' passports. Heck, I accounted for a couple of weeks over the advertised "10-12" weeks and estimated that we would receive them in July. Note - if you go to the National Passport Website, it is still posted that "with routine passport service you should receive your passport within 10-12 weeks". Yeah. Right.

Originally, we hoped to receive the passports before we headed out east and into Canada. No such luck - going into Canada we were asked why we didn't have the kids' birth certificates and we had to explain about the passports, etc, etc. We could have been denied entry into Canada, but I guess they figured these two kids didn't pose too much risk and we were there to boost their economy.

I expected to arrive back home from that trip to have the passports waiting for us there. But no passports. Day after day, still no passports. And I started to get worried at the end of August. Starting to get nervous and making contingency plans. The people at the Nation Passport Information service won't even talk to you unless your departure date is within weeks. Personally, I don't like to leave anything unplanned two weeks out from a major trip, especially a little detail like a passport!

So I call the Passport Information service and all they can tell me is that the passports are "still in process" (like I can get than information off the website - thanks). They expedite the passports and let me know that "we'll do our best to get the passports to you before your trip, but there is no guarantee". Thanks again. That makes me feel confident. Especially since it's only been 16 weeks since we applied, and they can't give me any progressive details.

I finally called our US Congressman's office and they were able to track down the passports (they were in Portsmouth, NH) and they were shipped out today. Most importantly, they gave me a sense of confidence that we would be OK for the trip and I could stop stressing about it.

Now I have to get my bridesmaid dress hemmed and shoes for Erica. And think about packing. Oh, and register the kids for school. And wait for the heatwave to end so we can go outside again.

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A little Simpsons humor

One of the ladies at the Scrapbooking board that I frequent posted this cool link that transforms your picture into the world of the Simpsons. Yes, a marketing ploy, but I thought it was rather amusing and helped to lighten my evening.

I uploaded my avatar image and here is my transformation:



Try it! The link is www.simpsonizeme.com

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Brian is a Black Belt!

After 2 years, Brian achieved the rank of Recommended Black Belt in May. Since then, he has been preparing for official Black Belt testing, which finally arrived last Thursday. During the Testing, Brian had to perform his current and past form, develop and perform his own form to music and break two boards, all in front of all the Black Belts, numerous Moms and Dads and the owners of the TaeKwonDo school.

The most nerve wracking part of the Testing is the board breaking. If you fail to break your boards within three attempts, you don’t receive your belt. You must break two boards utilizing an elbow strike and then a flying side kick. In the last week of classes, Brian practiced breaking his boards, but he wasn’t successful all the time, even with numerous attempts, so I was quite nervous for him. During the early stages of Testing, I couldn’t bear to watch, and I chose not to take any pictures.

The first girl in the Testing program broke her boards on the first try. Brian’s turn was next.....he jumped the gun a bit and started to break the board without first asking permission (part of the formality of the board breaking process). So he asked for and was granted permission to break his boards. Positioning himself by the board, Brian wound up his elbow and swung down at the board - and it broke! The crowd roared to encourage him on to the flying sidekick. Brian ran and planted his foot in the center of the board, and it broke as well! I was so excited for Brian - I could see the joy in his face and step as he shook the board holders’ hands and ran to me for a great big bear hug.

The remainder of the Testing program consisted of less exciting events - Form performances and technique review. My nerves had calmed down so I took some pictures of Brian and others going through their Form:



Here is Brian getting his new belt tied on (thanks to Ethan's mom for helping us out):


And Ethan congratulating Brian:


Here is our Black Belt!

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Vacation Part 2 - NY and Niagara Falls

After Cedar Point, we drove to Syracuse for Phase two of our summer roadtrip. En route, we passed through our old stomping ground, Cleveland. Scott and I met in Cleveland while working for GE Lighting, our first jobs fresh out of college. We have lots of fond memories of Cleveland – fun Fridays in the Flats, good food in Little Italy, hot wings at Pacers, culture in University Circle and crazy Browns football in the Dog Pound (well – Scott has memories of the Dawg Pound – I got to sit in “real” seats). We only passed through, and after 17 years, most of it is now pretty fuzzy. And a lot has changed – the new football, basketball and baseball stadiums in Downtown and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, just to name a few. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is Dead Man’s curve on I90 in Cleveland. Oh yeah – and the bad roads.

While in Syracuse, we relaxed at Nai Nai’s house. Last year, Nai Nai planted several raspberry bushes in her backyard garden and this year the plants bore plentiful sweet berries.


We enjoyed several bowls each morning. We also enjoyed the 4th of July Fireworks along Oneida Lake.

On Friday, we headed back to Illinois and took a side trip to Niagara Falls. This was Scott’s idea, heavily influenced by the Travel Channel’s feature on the Falls highlighting several of the sights and attractions. We arrived around noon and enjoyed lunch at the Wild Mushroom Sports Bar and Grill. Then we got our first up close and personal Falls experience while on the Maid of the Mist.



Several hours later, the afternoon sun hit the mist of Horseshoe Falls, creating a beautiful arcing rainbow, and I then understood why the bridge that traverses between the US and Canada is named Rainbow Bridge.


We finally descended on our “Journey Behind the Falls”, taking us down 150 feet to tunnels that run behind the Horseshoe Falls to two viewing portals of the crashing water. The observation platform is as close as you can get to the Falls without putting yourself in danger. The kids enjoyed this attraction more than the Maid of the Mist, as they got wetter and could hang out on the observation platform, and attempt to “use The Force” to hold back the water from the Falls.

Here is a picture in front of one of the viewing portals behind the Falls:


Picture of the Falls from the Viewing platform:



We had dinner along Clifton Hill, the main tourist area and enjoyed the beautiful evening. We didn't ride this Ferris wheel - it is similar to the wheel at Navy Pier and the one in Nanchang:

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