We're Back!

So after taking a very long hiatus from blogging I've decided to get back to it, but with a slightly different approach...I'll not try to fill you all in on every detail, just the highlights.

So obviously a lot has happened since May. Spring here in Boston was beautiful but we had to say goodbye to many wonderful friends. Out of 10 kids in Casey's preschool class there are only 2 left. Casey and Kate. This year, our hall is down from around 15 kids to 5. So, it's not quite the same around here but we still have a really awesome core group of friends with and without children that we spend most of our time with and so far we've really enjoyed being back in Boston.

Spring Flowers in Bloom on Campus

Tulips at Boston Common

Campus Flowers

Boston Common

SFP playground

Casey's Preschool Class Spring '08

Casey and Kate

Late in May, Casey and I took a trip down to Georgia to visit the family and as always we had a great time and ate ourselves into comas most days at GG's. That trip marked a very welcome end to my morning sickness, good riddance! Casey's other favorite acitivity besides eating, was helping GG in her flower garden.

When Jesse finished up with school we headed out for a short stay in Minnesota and then on to Newport Beach, CA. Our apartment was very nice and spacious, and the complex did have beautiful views of the bluffs but the people who lived there were not exactly ideal neighbors. We witnessed an all out brawl one saturday afternoon at the pool while we were attending a 4 year old's birthday party where a security guard got beaten up, knocked into the pool and kicked in the face...and the apartment next door was occupied by an old woman in her 70's who screamed and swore like a sailor at her vicadin addicted daughter all day every day, the cops came twice and dragged the daughter out at one point... it's pretty safe to say that we don't have any real desire to move back to Park Newport Apartments.

Casey taking a ride with his pal Mia Haskins in Minnesota

Newport Beach Apartment

Newport Beach itself was really something. The weather was warm and sunny just about every day and we never saw a drop of rain. The hottest it ever got was about 88 degrees and the coldest was in the low seventies. We lived less than a mile from Jesse's office so Casey and I would walk over every day to get the car. We spent a lot of time going to various parks, the beach, the pool or the mall across the street. "Fashion Island" is this beautiful open air mall with a huge carousel, a koi pond and lots of cool fountains, some of which kids could play in. There was also a great toy store and pet shop as well. Casey and I both loved it. One of the parks we went to a couple times had a little train that went all the way around the park, a little zoo and pony rides! Casey's favorite place was the aquarium in Long Beach so we went there twice. We visited Zoomar's petting zoo in San Juan Capistrano and a little kids theme park called Adventure City that we really liked. We also took a couple family trips to Lego Land and the San Diego Zoo and visited some of Jesse's friends in Venice beach a couple of times.

Long Beach Aquarium

Rachel and Nicole pregnant and sexy!






Luke, Annie, Jake and Casey at Rachel's beach




Casey on his first pony ride




Carousel at Fashion Island



Pop Jet Fountain Fashion Island



Koi Pond Fashion Island



Lego Land





Casey and Mason Andrews at Huntington Beach





San Diego Zoo


Adventure City



Todd Alexander. Greg James, Jesse and Casey Balboa Peninsula

I should probably also mention that Jesse and his friend from school/ fellow intern at PIMCO, Joe Narens, did something pretty extraordinary one weekend in July. The two of them climbed Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states at 14, 495 feet. The hike is roughly 22 miles and they did it in about 13 hours. http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/sep/stories/whitney.html I was very skeptical about the idea at first since Jesse hasn't done anything like that since we left Jackson, but of course he managed the feat, no problem. He never ceases to amaze me.

As far as Jesse's job, he worked from about 4:30 in the morning to around 7:30 in the evening most days and usually put in around 6 hours or so on Sundays...the life of an intern. Needless to say it was pretty miserable for him, but the good news is that all his hard work paid off. He just accepted an offer from PIMCO to go full time starting in August '09. He will still have to be in every morning by 5am, but expects to only have to work until around 4:30 every day. He's very excited about the job opportunity, even though the hours were long he found the work interesting and rewarding.

At the end of the 12 weeks we spent in Newport Beach we took a quick trip back through Minnesota for our friends Lisa and Jason's wedding in Taylor's Falls. The wedding was perfect and beautiful and we were also able to spend some time catching up with family and friends before heading back to Boston.

Annie, Lana, Lisa, Nicole and Karina at wedding


Lisa and Jason

Things here have been busy as always with welcome back barbecues, getting together with friends and just getting re-settled. Casey is enrolled in pre-school 3 mornings a week along with 3 of his best girlfriends and he loves it! He is also doing Tumblekids again one morning a week and he's becoming quite the little gymnast. I've been doing a lot with Crimson Kids, as I am one of the co-chairs this year. I'm in charge of the upcoming Halloween party which I'm excited for but it's a bit nerve wracking trying to put the whole thing together. Last year's party was so great I feel like I have a lot to live up to. Fortunately, I should have a lot of help from the other Crimson Kids girls, they are all so great.

Halloween will be so much fun, a bunch of us are planning to go trick-or-treating together with our kids in Beacon Hill, the very upscale area of Boston. Casey insists that he wants to be a scuba diver, like at the aquarium, so I am working on getting that together...of all things!

Jesse has been enjoying being back in school and he seems to like all of his classes. On top of his class work he is keeping very busy as the president of the investment club setting up events and scheduling speakers and what not. He had planned on playing intramural flag football but pulled his quadricept at the second practice, but not to worry, he's almost fully recovered. The fact that he already has a job lined up is an immense relief for him and will allow him to enjoy quite a bit of time off this year while many students will be attending recruiting events and going to interviews. I couldn't be happier about it myself with our little baby Isla coming in just a few more weeks!

On the baby front, Isla is growing and growing and very active. She is constantly kicking and jumping and spinning about. Last week we went in for a late ultrasound to check on her kidneys because Casey had hydronephrosis and everything looks fine. We were actually able to see a 3-D image of her perfect little face which was amazing. At this point (33 weeks) she is supposed to weigh a little over 4 lbs even though I could swear she weighs 10! If all goes as planned we are scheduled to have a c-section on November 13 at 1:30. Casey is very excited about "his" baby and loves to talk about how he is going to bathe her and feed her and hold her gently...he says that she is going to sleep in his old "cribby" in his room and can play with all of his toys... I just hope he still feels this way when she shows up.

We have so many wonderful things to look forward to over the next few months, baby Isla's arrival in mid November, Peggy and Greg coming to visit on the 20th and staying for Casey's birthday and Thanksgiving and then Christmas in Georgia with my family followed by New Years and Jesse's birthday in Minnesota. It's going to be really fun and crazy. Please keep checking back for more updates. We miss you and love you all!