Good morning everyone.
Debbie - Your trip is fast approaching. I hope it is Magical.

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Elin - How does Bob like being "back to work"?
Beth - Good luck with the motivation. If you figure out how to get some, let me know.
Jennifer - fresh paint makes a house feel new again. I had my entire first floor repainted a few months ago, different color and all. I got a new entertainment center, and am awaiting my new couch and loveseat. Then I need to make new window treatments and get new wall decorations.
Deb - Hawaii is coming up fast. I'm hoping to do Aulani and/or DL in the next year or so.
Life here is switching gears. Soccer and school are over, but summer dance classes for Alyssa will continue. She auditioned for her studio's competion teams and got selected for 3 of them, 2 of which she will join....tap and jazz. She passed on lyrical, just because there is no way to fit 3 competion teams plus her 5 regular dance classes into our schedule. She will be the youngest member on the teams, by about 2 years. They compete in the spring from DC to Richmond, plus attend workshops and conventions.
Nicholas has been enjoying boy scouts and is working on some merit badges. He goes away next month for his first week-long summer camp. He really is growing up and maturing. He shaved his mustache fuzz off yesterday for the first time!! It was giving him a complex, so better to let him do it and feel comfortable than to keep telling him he's too young. He also finished up his first year of middle school on the A/B honor roll. His language arts B+ that he couldn't seem to overcome held him up from the all As. I'm very pleased with his transition. I hope it continues.
We are leaving on Wednesday for a quick trip to NY (thanks, Anne Marie, for all of your insight!). We are taking the train (and thanks, Elin, for the lift!) from right here in Fburg to Penn Station, and staying in Midtown for 3 nights. I plan to hit all the sights, see Newsies on Broadway, and take the Radio City Music Hall tour. There is no way we are going to have enough time do everything I have planned. The past few days have been spent on the Ellis Island website trying to find my 4 great-grandparents' info, as I want to look them up there when we go. So far I've tracked down 2! It's hard, because translation and record keeping were poor back then, and with ethic names, the spellings often changed.
Other than that, that about sums up what's been going on here. Still plugging away at work. I'll have my hard 25 years in March so I'll be meeting with the retirement people in September or so and start to figure out what I'm going to do.