Saturday, May 23, 2009

Ohio Tripping

We're enjoying a break--at last!--from the hustle and bustle. I have to confess that I've viewed this summer with some trepidation: a May-June trip, two conferences, two sets of packing (boxes to Taiwan, for orientation and then the plane), a three-week orientation, and many small projects. The flip side of all of this is that it really will be a change of pace and we're getting a wonderful chance to reconnect with people.

We've just spent 72 hours with my parents and are on the way to Em's family. Then wedding. Then Em's family again. It is really great to check my e-mail and see only one or two e-mails a day which I need to do anything about. I am so glad that the grading is over, and presumably I won't have so much grading to do for another year or two. I also am just really enjoying the change of pace.

The trip with my family was mostly Sam-watching. He's at a fun stage right now. His teething has resulted in two more little tips. These are numbers #9 and 10, not bad for the little boy who has just turned 14 months. He learned some new techniques under his grandparents' tutelage, in particular stomping and marching. Their house is pretty baby proof, but there are no gates, and Sam over the period of a few days leraned to go over, under, or between any barrier we could construct. Truly he is a free range baby. He understands, and sometimes obeys, "no" now. He is a real ham, smiling, dancing, laughing, singing, and moving his neck around. He enjoyed some piano "duets" where he crooned along with my dad. Fun times... Among the joys of academic and parish work are periods of togetherness like this. Two or three weeks of vacation just doesn't seem like enough.

1 comment:

Heidi Haverkamp said...

Oh, that sounds like wonderful family time. Enjoy those two weeks.