Butterfly Conservatory

Last weekend we went to the Wings of Paradise Butterfly Conservatory in Cambridge. It has a large "greenhouse" type room, where the butterflies roam free. The girls absolutely loved it. I'm sure we'll be going back again soon.



Close-up of the butterfly





Abby looking up the butterflies

Achilles update

4 weeks have come and gone... I had my cast removed this morning, and met with the orthopedic surgeon. He was pleased and said it looks like everything is healing very nicely. He actually said something more like: "Rats - another person who healed on their own". Pretty nice guy - very personable. My calf/ankle don't look too bad. It wasn't gross or stinky when the cast was removed. I guess its a good thing this happened now and not in the middle of summer where it would get all sweaty.

I am now in an "AirCast" (attached is a pic - note: not my legs.:-) ) 3 weeks in this before seeing the Doctor again. I should be able to walk in this contraption, and only need to wear it for walking. I am trying to put some weight on it, but it feels pretty weird. I feel pins and needles in my heel (I guess from not using it in a while), and I can feel some tenderness in my achilles. I guess it will take some time to get used to walking again.

I can start to do a few little exercises, but won't start physio until after seeing him again in 3 weeks. He doesn't want me to overdo it. He says he rarely ever sees a true "partial" rupture; usually it goes completely. I guess that is good, and it should heal back to how it was before. Although I may go into retirement from soccer for good... We'll see. It was good exercise.

Flight tracking in Google Earth

I love all these flight tracking sites that are available... Now, you can have their map plotted on top of Google Earth. Coool.... Aeroseek has a Google Earth button labeled “NEW! Track this flight in 3D via Google Earth!”

It downloads a Google Earth file and shows the flight as a location in Google Earth, updating every 1 minute. Of course, you need Google Earth installed first!

Dancing and Snow pictures

He are some new pics and video.

Abby in the snow

Looks like a snow mugshot

Sarah the ballerina

Cheeky smile

I think the tuck went a bit too far ...

One of Abby's many looks...


And finally, here is Sarah's "Spiderman Dance" routine from her dance class. Enjoy (and churn that butter!)!

Life Collage

For Valentine's Day, I scanned a bunch of photos, and made a giant "Life Collage" for Leah. The collage is 10 pictures x 10 pictures (100 pics for those bad at math) made to 20"x30" (poster size),to be able to see each picture enough. Kinda cool - after messing around with it myself for a few hours, I used Ofto (now Kodak), which allows you to upload each picture individually, and then it makes the collage for you. This picture is what it sorta looks like, but it is only 6x6 (and without all the correct cropping done yet).

"Life Collage" for Leah


Its kinda fun to see that many pictures of us at once. The pictures I chose were of Leah from when we first started dating until now. So there are some pictures where we look SO young. :-) Leah really liked it. We now how to figure out what type of framing to do... Something with a real (glass) frame? Is 20"x30" too big for that? Should we just get it mounted on wood? Hmmmmm....?

Hat-trick

I like how Sheila called it a hat trick... So yes, we are having another girl. I've decided to give in now and paint the entire house pink. We are all very happy and excited to bring another cutie-pie into the world. Like my mom said: at least we know how to make cute ones. :-)

One more week in my current cast... joy joy joy. I can't complain too much - it really hasn't hurt at all. If anything, it is just annoying. My crutches are huge, so they are always falling over, or getting tripped over. I've slipped only once (on some ice), and speared myself with them a few times. I can't wait to burn them when this is all over.

Everyone catch the hint?