Kaylene's vist

As most of you know, Kaylene's baby sister, Madilene, was in the hospital for about 12 days. She is home and doing very well and we are very happy about that! Here are some photos of the time Kaylene spent with us while her parents were at the hospital. We did lots of important things like search for rocks, twigs and pine cones and of course playing with stickers. We were tired when she went home, but felt honored to have had her with us and we certainly enjoyed having her with us.

Dartmouth Winter Carnival Hanover, New Hampshire

In early February Dave went to Dartmouth's annual winter carnival with our son in law, Zach and Zach's dad, Bill. Zach is a Dartmouth graduate and attends the carnival every few years. It is quite an event, many things going on and lots of things for children to do. They enjoyed the ice sculptures (cupcake), hockey, and of course visiting several restaurants. Dave was completely taken by the library. If we lived anywhere nearby, he'd be over there all the time. One of the sillier, things from our aged point of view, was the polar bear swim. College students don their bathing suits and jump into a VERY COLD pond of water. They have an EMT nearby and they put ropes around their waists to pull them back in case of a problem of some kind. Ah youth!

Dad's trip to Dartmouth

Madilene Marie

I haven't posted in a long time, but that is not to say a lot hasn't happened recently. The most important thing is the birth of our 3rd grandchild. Dave and his wife Jolene gave birth to this little girl on February 4th. She weighed 9 lbs 4 ozs. and is beautiful. Things got pretty hectic about two weeks into her little life when she contracted a virus called RSV. She has been in the hospital for about 10 days and is now beginning to recover. With a virus, there isn't much you can do but let it take its course. It's been a hard time, but we are grateful for the progress she has and is making. She will probably be home very soon.

As soon as things settle down a bit, I'll post on the other things we've been up to.

When Augie saw Tigger at "Pooh's House" he ran right up to him and gave him a high five and a hug. Such excitement.

A couple of days later we drove to Santa Barbara. We had lunch with friends and then took a walk around Paseo Neuvo shopping center. Later in the afternoon we met up with some more friends at the Butterfly Refuge. All those black looking hanging things in the photo are actually butterflies. Amazing. The kids loved running around and being together. The bottom photo is Augie and his friend Charlie.

Back to my trip to Pasadena. Augie got a haircut and was very good and sat very still. Afterward he got to ride on the bee. This appears to be quite a big deal.

We also went to visit Walt and the Mouse. Augie refers to this place as Pooh's house. Apparently, Pooh allows Mickey to live here as well. We rode lots of rides such as Dumbo and It's a Small World. This is the first time in a very long time that I have been aboard a Small World boat, as we got stuck in there many years ago. We were stuck between two countries and the dolls were merrily singing in the their own languages and it was sort of head banging. This year the ride was still in it's Christmas mode and most of the dolls were singing in English and it was pretty nice. Lots of color, etc.

Earlier this month I traveled to Pasadena to visit Martha and family. I was greeted by Pooh placed on my pillow and this neat little sign. The bottom photo is Zach and Augie, watching, I'm sure, Thomas the Train. More of this busy trip in times to come.