Phillip Turns 21

Down by the River

We made our first trip as a family down to the Columbia River a couple days ago, just to walk a ways along the water on the Vancouver side.  It'll be fun to go back sometime when the weather is warmer. Some amazing houses on the bluff overlooking the Gorge! Mount Hood was beautiful right behind the kids but it didn't show up in the picture, unfortunately.

Something Old Becomes Something New

When we moved to Vancouver from Indiana, my mom gave us their old dining room table and chairs, which had been part of our family for as long as I can remember . . . at least back to 1964, I imagine.  I wish I had a "before" picture to include here but I don't have time to hunt for one.  Anyway, last week, Jordan repaired the burned spot and Jeannette painted the entire set a glossy black.  Here is the result!

Just a Few Shots from Last Weekend's Trip to Seattle

All Together Now for Mother's Day

Jordan and I picked up Phil in Chicago last night and brought him home from college, arriving in Fort Wayne around 4:30 AM. This meant that Jeannette didn't get to go to church with all her kids this morning but we tried to make up for it by taking her to Red Robin for lunch. It was the first time we've all been together since January. Melody exclaimed, "We're a family again!"

Phil gave her some silk pajamas . . . I have her some dark chocolate and the final season of 24 on DVD . . .

Jordan gave her a certificate for dinner and a movie . . .

Melody got her a new toe ring . . .

Christmas Season Snaps

I just have not had time to keep this blog up . . . I doubt too many people are even checking it any more! Nonetheless, here is a collection of photos, in somewhat random order, from the last few weeks.

With my new friend, Craig Crook. I was surprised at how few people at the party had ever heard of the town of Palmer, Alaska. Surprised? Devastated is a more accurate word for it.

Melody enjoyed holding Craig's new baby, William . . .

Jameson, warming his toes by the fire . . .

Our gift from my mom, sister and her husband . . .

Jeannette's new sweater . . .

Jameson got a couple of Nerf swords for Christmas. I was shocked at how much fun they were!

The gift Melody really wanted . . . swimming pool Barbie, with the pool and dogs, from cousin Alexia . . .

This shot is especially for Aunt Laura, to show off Melody's new outfit . . .

Skypin' With Phillip

It may not be easy to send your kid off to college for four months or a year, but things have changed a lot due to technology. Tonight, we connected with Phil via Skype and got to talk with him and his roommate for about 40 minutes. We got a tour of their spartan dorm room and caught up a little on how things are going for him at Corban.

Move-In Day

Phillip moved into his residence hall yesterday, with help from Aunt Laura and Grammie Joyce. He met his roommate, Jason, who went to high school in Jakarta, Indonesia. They had had no contact at all--hard to believe in this modern age--but seem to be off to a good start.
Grandma was hard at work trying to make a home away from home out of his sparse belongings. Phillip traveled with just two suitcases and a carry-on, though our Northwest family worked to supplement that with treasures from Target, Walmart and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Phillip lives in Van Gilder Hall . . . but not the same Van Gilder that I lived in when I was a student. My dorm, a converted tuberculosis hospital, was long ago turned into offices and classrooms. The dorm Phil is in is split into halves, with women on one side and men on the other. The full name is Prewitt-Van Gilder, or PVG for short.

Out with the Old

This past week was in with the new as Melody started Kindergarten and out with the old as Phillip took off for Oregon and his new adventure at Corban University. He flew out through Chicago and Seattle to Portland where Aunt Laura and Uncle Jamey picked him up. These are Jeannette's last shots of Son #2 before he disappeared from sight . . . until Christmas break.

We're excited for him to be at Corban, our alma mater. We received a magazine called "Corban Parent" and I finally got to read through it today. First, I was pretty impressed with the publication but also it surprised me to see how many of the featured staff were people I knew (and, in some cases, had recruited to Corban many years ago).

Sightseeing in Madison

We're in Janesville for a few days visiting Jeannette's dad and his wife. Today we left Jordan with Grandpa to work on the house and the rest of us went up to Madison to visit the capitol and zoo. After we made a quick visit to the Indiana capitol last month, we discovered that Jameson enjoys seeing these buildings, so we're probably going to try to hit more of them in the future. In the Wisconsin court of appeals . . .

In the conference room by the governor's office . . .

Jeannette and I were both very impressed by this capitol. Very ornate and fully of rich details. One very neat feature is the way that they designed the capitol to use natural light as much as possible, even putting glass blocks in the marble floors of some hallways to allow light from above to shine into lower levels.

We had lunch at Qdoba--rapidly becoming one of our standby places to eat--and went to the Henry Vilas Zoo. Admission is free and it's a very nice little zoo.

The weather was extremely pleasant today but still a bit warm for the polor bears, who hid inside their cave . . .

Me to Melody: Man, that bear's head is ginormous!

Melody's Response: Yeah, it's even bigger than yours, Dad.