Spring!
We hit 78 degrees yesterday but are back to the mid 40s today. A little weird but I'll take it. I ran in shorts and a T-shirt and was still dripping sweat.
I love love love this first spring in a new home. We have bulbs coming up everywhere! It is a happy surprise every time I go outside.
Cadie is growing just as fast as our bulbs. She had a growth spurt and at her 15 month Dr.'s appointment was 33" - she had grown 2.25" in 3 months.
My brother is in Iraq again - here is a little clip we sent him.

Detroit

Cadie and I took a quick trip up to Detroit to visit some friends. It was great to see Amy and Angie and their families. Cadie loved hanging with all of the kids - she would follow them everywhere. We need to work how to share toys though...
Ang is 38 weeks pregnant and was still up for an all day adventure at the Science Museum. Amy was an amazing hostess - I'm still dreaming about the peach french toast. I just have to say that I had the greatest group of girl friends in high school. I love that we can still get together and hang and be totally comfortable.

Tornadoes are better than Hurricanes
We had tornado warnings last week and lots of wind and rain. Unlike hurricane Ike we had no storm damage and our power stayed on. We did have a front lawn full of "spikey bombs" (so-named by our 10-year old neighbor) from our Sweet Gum tree. Cadie helped me rake the bombs up. They were not nearly as fun as leaves to jump in though.

Plenty of spikey bombs still left on the tree.

We met up with friends at the Columbus Science Museum and stayed in the water area for a while. I think she is a hydrologist in the making. I love that they provide rain coats but next time I'm bringing water shoes and an extra pair of socks.

Snow/Ice Day
We had a snow day last week for about 9 inches of snow and a lot of ice. Eric said he was more excited as an instructor than he was as a student to have a day off. We went on a skiing adventure around the neighborhood. I've become soft and cold-averse and so I was happy when most of it melted yesterday. Here are some pictures...

Obama Inauguration Part 2: Movie of the crowd
I figured out how to shorten one of our clips to share. Here is the end of the presidential oath and the cheering crowd. Eric goes a little spin-crazy with the camera but you can still get a feel for the number of people.

Inauguration 2009
I've been waiting to post these pictures in hope that Eric will add the commentary. He was out in the cold waiting in line earlier in the morning and met some awesome people. But as it has almost been a week I'll post the photos and hope that he can add comments later.
We were incredibly fortunate to attend the inauguration in DC. Our friends the McArthurs were given tickets and they shared with us.

The short story is that we (mostly Eric and Ted) waited in line for security for our section for over 4 hours and when it was evident that we were not going to get into our ticketed section in time we left the line in search of a place where we could watch on a jumbotron. Another section farther back on the mall was also having difficulties getting people through security fast enough and shortly after the ceremony started they took down the security for this section and let anyone in. We found a great spot where we could see and hear. I didn't realize until I saw pictures from the sky how many people we shared this moment with. 1.8 million packed along the 2 miles between the capital and Lincoln memorial is just crazy.
I really can't describe the emotions of the day. I think this is something that will take time to realize. I'm very humbled to be a part of it though. When I figure out how to use iMovie I'll post a video clip of all the people around us. It is very moving to see so many different people gathered together with so much joy and hope for the future. We even had nuns on one side of us!
After the inauguration we walked behind the capital to get to the metro. We happened to walk by just as the Bushes were leaving. We watched Executive One take off with the Bidens and Obamas waving goodbye.

Cadie and Kai stayed warm at the McArthur's home with a babysitter.

What a great day for this nation and the world. We pray that our new president will be guided as he leads this country.

Kitchen Help
Now if I can just teach her to do dishes!

Stud and his wife
Today is our 10 year wedding anniversary! Holy cow!
I don't have any digital wedding photos to share... but here are some new and old photos to celebrate.
This is crazy Eric preparing for his bike commute in Columbus on the coldest day of 2008:

And here is giddy Eric trying to keep his eyes open at the hospital just over a year ago:

What a stud!
Here is one of us in Hawaii a couple of years ago:

And the oldest digital photo I could find of the two of us - kayaking in Maine 2003: