Changing It Up

Being it's a new year, I thought I'd change the look of our blog. I'm not fully satisfied, but with some more tweaking (and wasting time), I should get it to look acceptable pretty soon. I'm open to ideas.

I went back to my January 2006 blog and it mentioned how Joel and I were getting ready to take off for a trip to Denver at the end of that month. This past week, for some reason, it worked out that Joel and I put the finishing touches on three trips that we'll be taking in 2007. Nothing very fancy or international, but enough to keep us looking forward to the time away and the traveling experiences!

In February we'll be taking a 2-night/3-day trip to Shipshewana, IN. We'll be going with Joel's brother and wife...NO KIDS! If you don't already know, Shipshewana is an Amish community where there truly is nothing to do but relax, go out to eat and meander thru old-time stores.

In June, Joel has an ALA conference in Washington D.C. Initially, we planned to extend this trip beyond his 5-day conference, add another 4 days, drive the trip...all with Emma in tow. The other night while talking, we had a simultaneous epiphany. At 17-months of age, Emma will not quite understand her dad and mom's excitement over the magnitude and multitude of exhibits, monuments, buildings, museums, history, etc. In addition, this is not the time to let Emma (and her minimal patience) experience and find out a family secret...that her dad is an avid and nerdly plaque reader. With all that being said, we decided to book 2 airline tickets, keep the trip to 5 nights/5 days and let the two sets of Grandparents take care of our peanut (we are so grateful!).

In July, my entire immediate family (17 of us) will traverse the Midwest to Pella, IA (a most delightful, Dutch enclave). It will be there, that our annual, Summer family trip will begin. This trip is always a good time. Details TBD.