Yes, despite rumors to the contrary, I am still alive.

I usually try to update at least once a month, a goal that seems so reasonable most of the time. Well, dear readers, as you can see it has been much longer than that now. Several people have been bugging me about it, and since my own mother is too polite to be one of them, I figured I really am behind. The end of the school year is always a crazy time for me, but now that the spring semester is over, I find myself with a moment for an update.

Recent news items:
Cameron decided to stay in Utah this summer and work there instead of coming home. We will see him in July when we make our summer trip.

Summer trip - We are headed out to Utah, Idaho, Nevada, California, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and ... okay, I'm exaggerating. It seems like we are attempting to hit every western state, but we are actually only sleeping over in three. Jamie's family is having a reunion in Utah at Fish Lake, so we will fly to Utah, steal Cameron away (or at least his car) and head down there. Fun fact about Fish Lake: near Fish Lake is a huge "clonal colony of a single male quaking aspen tree". It is estimated to be the heaviest known living organism in the world, weighing in at about 6,615 tons. Personally, I am skeptical and estimate it to be only 6,613.5 tons, but I am not a botanist. And I don't have scales that large to check my work. I may have also miscarried a number or skipped a decimal or two. Who knows? For those dying to read more, you can check it out on Wikipedia under "Pando (tree)". Yes, it has a name. It insisted. Maybe we'll steal a "start" and compete with an Ohio clone.

After meeting up with Jamie's clan at Fish Lake, we'll be heading up to Idaho to hang out with Jamie's parents. While we are there, Jamie has insisted that all of her children are going to find out what it is like to climb a mountain at least once in their lives, so we will be hiking Table Rock Mountain in the Tetons. The hike starts at 7,000 feet and goes up to over 11,000. We are all exercising to get in shape for it. Well, Michelle and Cam are lagging behind, but we hope they will soon be exercising too. You can see pics of the hike linked from my Facebook page if you are interested.

After that, we will rent a car and drive out to California to spend some time with my family. I don't know for sure what our activities are going to be, but tennis is likely, and maybe water skiing, although with the drought we may end up skipping rocks across a mud puddle. If we can find one. I'm leaving the planning in my sisters' capable hands. We had a great time last time we were out. Finally, we will fly back to Ohio from California and probably find that our yard is a jungle, the pool is generating new life forms, and the cats are only mummified remains, but hey, that is the price you pay for visiting family. We really are looking forward to it. Well, except for the yard part. Actually, Jamie and Michelle were a little bit bummed to learn that the family reunion was the same week as girls camp, but we are soldiering on anyway.

In other news, Michelle finally rode some serious roller coasters. After years of going to Cedar Point (the best roller coaster park in the world - and no, I'm not kidding about that), Michelle finally got up the courage to ride some serious rides. She went with her class from school, under the clever guise of conducting physics experiments. Why didn't I think of that when I was in 8th grade? She had a lot of fun. She was actually the brave one in the group who tried to talk her friends into the scary rides. Times change. Pictures forthcoming as available. Michelle also went to Washington DC on a school trip, and got to see many interesting things. I'll let her blog about that if she is so inclined.

Well, I have more to write (obviously, since I haven't written in forever), but this will have to do for now. Happy Memorial Day everyone. We appreciate the sacrifice of those who have given their time and their lives for us.