Underpants On The Outside

Ethan in Kansas' mom shared a blog on Facebook recently that I really liked.  It's of a family that recently got back from China, having gone to most of the same places that Jenn and I went, and they've got 4 kids now under 5.  And we think our home is full!  Our Eternal Treasures
Between the zoo, Szalays, the Riverfront Cruise In, and a renewed interest in the playset, we've been a busy bunch here.
In interesting news on my writing front, you may or may not be aware that I've co-authored a series of essays about the veterinary profession with a friend and colleague, Eden Myers, DVM, of Kentucky.  After an unsuccessful attempt to get them published in JAVMA (they're quite politically incorrect as far as the American Veterinary Medical Association is concerned), we had a letter to the editor published that was an abridged version of #4.  There was some apparent interest from Veterinary Economics, but that appeared to be a dead end, and after being scooped by the New York Times, we decided to get our thoughts out there and we published on Eden's blog.  Not long after that, the Student Doctor Network found the pieces and published our first essay on their site.  And most recently, Veterinary Economics has gotten back in the mix, requesting that they allow us to abridge our #2 for use in their Hot Button segment, so that'll appear in next month's issue.  The publishing world definitely works on a different pace than what we're used to, but it's interesting to see how one thing definitely leads to another.

And finally, if you haven't see the "Nailed It!" board on Pintrest, you're missing a good laugh.  After you see that board, you'll more likely find the humor in this...

NAILED IT!

Easter 2013

We had a fun Easter Sunday this year, with good baskets, lots of eggs and candy, and good family time. This was Henry's first Easter experience, and he fit in well with the other two.The Easter fun has continued past Sunday with fun cookies from Aunt Mary Sue.We also had a fun hike on a sunny day at Kendall Lake this past weekend. Even though the sun has been out over the past couple of days here, it ain't warm in the least.
Jenn has been logging miles in the National Park lately, and utilizing her Garmin Forerunner 210. This watch is amazing. It links up to a satellite, and then captures every detail of her run that she would ever want to analyze. On her personal Garmin page, it maps out her run, gives her average times and speed... it's crazy. I'm trying to see if there's a way to share those maps on this blog.

I want take a moment and give a shout-out to our friends Josh & Megan who just received travel approval to go bring home their little girl from China! It was an unusual string of events that led us together and then we found out that we had more than one connection... anywhoo, they signed on with CCAI a while back, and they're about to enter a whole new phase of life! Congratulations to Josh & Megan!

In other news, Lincoln is becoming quite the reader. We work with him daily with my old Victory Drill book, and his prompting, and he's really getting it. He'll be reading comfortably by the time Kindergarden starts! And speaking of Kindergarden, Jenn and I evaluated our options and chose Summit Christian School for him. It's a great combination of good programming/curriculum, cost and location/convenience, and it's a solid Christian school. The principal is a client of mine, and she invited us to an open house a while back. We were impressed with meeting the Kindergarden teacher and seeing all of the extra programs that will be available to Lincoln. We also wanted to choose a school that would be very likely to have a group of engaged, caring families associated with his class, and we're convinced that Summit Christian School is going to be a good place for him.

This past week was the big computer upgrade at the clinic. It's quite exciting to get the latest toys hardware, but it's also a tense time hoping all of the networking goes well, and then getting all of our documents switched over correctly, and this time I had to get all of my social media calendar work and scheduling switched over. But it seems to have gone well, and it has certainly kept the staff entertained, and now we won't have to worry about big upgrades for about the next 7 years.

The clinic has taken more of my mental energy lately as I anticipate having to hire a new veterinarian sometime next year. I've known the time is coming, but it's not as far over the horizon now as it has been in the past. I'm not looking forward to sorting through a stack of resumes, mostly from new grads given the current economic climate for veterinarians. But who knows what will come up in the next year to 18 months?

Jenn's going to take Lincoln to swim lessons today. She hasn't seem him swim in a long while.

Lydia is her usual dramatic, sassy self. The latest addition to the sassiness in our house is Henry. He's figuring out that he can defiantly say, "No!" and attempt to assert himself. While it's frustrating, as he used to be so obedient, it's also a good sign that he's developing well and feeling quite comfortable in his environment.

Kendall Lake in the Evening

Jenn and I don't usually go to Kendall Lake in the evening, so we decided to make that our hike, seeing as I didn't have Edge tonight. We had a great walk. Lincoln did a lot of running, Lydia was more engaged in the walk than usual, the dogs completely wore themselves out, and we saw some cool wildlife.This is a Black and Yellow Argiope (Argiope aurantia). It looked disgusting, and almost made Jenn vomit, but we found out when we got home that she's completely harmless!The Mossy Log has become a point of reference on our hikes, particularly with Lincoln. We compare the plant and animal life we see around it to what we've seen previously. It's a cool way to mark the seasons and the passage of time. Here's today's photo of The Mossy Log.And this is what Lincoln will do not long after we get home from this hike.

Green Hike

Lydia decided to sleep in today. That this occurred on a day that Jenn and I did not have to go to work is nothing short of a gift from God.
Jenn and Lydia went hiking with Diane, a friend from Community Group, this morning, so I took Lincoln and Gretel and we went on a hike, too. It's definitely getting greener with the non-stop rain we've had for the last month-plus. This first set of photos is of the "Mossy Log." It's a very distinctive log that we pass on our favorite place to hike, and we noticed last year how things around this log really change as the seasons change. It's like a microcosm of the whole park. The first photo was taken on April 10, the second photo is from today.Lincoln hiked very well today. We went well over a mile, and he didn't complain at all about the length or the pace.Gretel finally got some good exercise, and she's been very low-key today since we got back.Funny story from this afternoon when I was working in the yard. I had just finished filling the bird feeders, and then I finished the weed whacking. When I was done and walkinga across the patio, I saw Lincoln dumping bird seed on the pavers. I said, "Lincoln, what are you doing?!!" Without missing a beat, he said, "I'm putting out bird dessert." Well, that was simple enough...

Finally, the kid's got some good mechanics...