Summer 2007

Well...I have no idea where August went. It just sort of passed us by completely. I believe we've been trying to catch our breaths from July, where the Spence trio travelled every weekend and gave Clara a tour of the great Lakes - not proper noun, Great Lakes, just some lakes that happen to be quite nice. She also became intimately aware of other forms of water that month.

To begin:

We braved our first big road trip with Clara and drove 11 hours up to Big Birch Lake, MN to visit my Aunt Rosie and Uncle Van's summer place. Clara had her first pontoon ride and met her first roadside attraction - the Orange Moose in Black River Falls, WI.

Then it was off to Culver, IN to spend July 4th with our friends Shannon, Fuji, Allison, Simon, Roop, Matt....etc. Clara spent many a lazy afternoon lakeside while fierce card and board games waged nearby and others sunned and tanned, while her mother did not (it's just not in God's plan.) Clara practiced her rolls, raspberries and mastery of the strained food. She's almost crawling, but that would mean taking her thumb out of her mouth, and that's just not an option.

Lastly, we flew to Orlando for Clara's baptism and gathering of the families Grant and Spence.

It's been a crazy summer and our best yet. Now, we're preparing for the Fall. Patrick started his Ph.D. classes again this evening and the Art Students moved in this past weekend. I continue to plug away at planning the Carl Sandburg Literary Awards and realize that working from home is sooo much harder than I ever thought it would be. There's too much delicious Clara to distract, but I take advantage of nap times and late night remote access to my work's computer. We're making it work.

We apologize for the long lapse in updates, but you can see.....we've been busy. Hope you've had a great summer. Lots and lots of pictures follow.