An Update

It's been awhile since we've last posted a blog entry and we thought it was time to do a little catching up. Here's a little of what we've been up to since the last blog entry.....

Tahoe or Bust.......
After stopping off in Stockton for Suzy's baby shower (since that time, Dre and Suzy have welcomed in their new little boy - Langdon), we headed up to Lake Tahoe for a family vacation with all of my family. We were celebrating my grandparents' 80th birthdays (their 80th birthdays were actually last year but because of Riley's early arrival we had to postpone that trip). We rented a large cabin in South Lake Tahoe and hung out for 3 nights. We had a great time and Riley was once again the center of attention. We found this great cabin online called Echo Creek Mountain Ranch and it was the perfect size for our family. Here are some pictures from our trip to Tahoe.

It's official....

We're moving to Houston, Texas. Yes even after Hurricane Ike! After spending the better half of this year interviewing far and wide, Ben has decided that Baylor Medical School is the place for him. We'll be packing up and heading out to Texas at the end of this year and Ben will start his academic position at the beginning of January. I still can't believe that this point in our lives is finally happening.......I thought Ben was never going to finish school! It's definately bittersweet. We're both really happy about the opportunity at Baylor but it will be a new experience for both of us moving out of California and leaving all of our family and friends. We've started the process of getting things ready here for the big move. I'm going to take a couple of months off when we first move to Texas and get us all settled before looking for a new job.

Thank you...

to Cindy for coming down for a week to help us with Riley and getting things ready to get our house on the market. Ben finally had eye surgery to correct his strabismus and we were lucky enough that his surgery coincided with Cindy's visit. The day of Ben's surgery was horrible and if Cindy wasn't here I'm not sure what we would have done. I woke up the day of Ben's surgery incrediably ill and had a fever and all the symptoms of the flu. Ben's surgery ended up running late and I had to wait over 4 hours until he was discharged. I don't even want to imagine what it would have been like sitting in the waiting room and the recovery room with Riley for 4 hours. Ben was a trooper and even though he was still seeing double he wanted to take advantage of having Cindy here so they painted the garage, painted all of the closet doors, and did touch up painting in all of the rooms. They got a lot of work done that week.

Labor Day....

Jamie came for a visit over Labor Day weekend and we had a great picnic at Griffith Park. Riley had a blast eating the turkey out of my sandwhich and playing with the cooler. Quentin and DiDi were also in town that weekend and they came over for a visit and brought along their little dog, Mushu. Riley was very intrigued by Mushu. We of course went to shabu shabu and ate like pigs! We had a great time and loved seeing everyone.

Riley at the park

Vist with Quentin, DiDi, and Mushu

LA County Fair....

We had to be out of our house today because people were coming by to look at the house so we decided to head over to the LA County Fair. Riley had a great time eating, watching people, looking at the animals, and riding the tram back to our car. Ben and I couldn't believe how expensive everything was and couldn't imagine what it would cost to take a family of four to the fair (especially when the kids want to play all of the games and go on all of the rides). Here's a breakdown of what we spent.......

Parking ($10) + Tickets ($34) + Coke ($5) + Beer ($9) + Sausage ($9) + Coke ($5) + Chips ($8) + Ice Cream Bar ($4) + Water ($3.50) = 4 hours of fun ($87.50)