Every day's a party day

Mom & Hannah came to visit this week and we they've been a lot of fun. Fortunately for them (and unfortunately for me) I got sick and we had to do a lot of relaxing. Truth be told, I think that's the kind of vacation Mom dreams of. We still managed to get some shopping done. In fact I found a great changing table/dresser at the thrift store. It is much better for Helen's clothes and we now have a place to changer her when all of her stuff gets moved off of my dresser.

Hannah had her 16th birthday on Thursday and we decided to celebrate for three days in a row. It all started with Mom having the foresight to suggest making the Snickers Trifle early so that we could enjoy it all week. Good thing we had three days of random gifts ready for such an extended event. For her birthday dinner Hannah wanted to eat Mexican food so we ventured into the Latino neighborhood of Omaha and ate at the Taqueria Tijuana. It was pretty authentic, I don't think anyone there spoke English, and the food was really good. Then for a good time Ryan took us home by way of neighborhood's main drag. We were the only vehicle cruising without a spoiler or two. Mom and Hannah through we were in another country when they saw a sharp-looking caballero crossing the street wearing a white suit with matching cowboy hat & boots.

Mom and Hannah's tour 2008 has moved onto Iowa for now. Be sure to check out the video Hannah made of her trifle-making experience (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4CyGMS2IxU).

The Hackett Hostel

This week the Hancocks visited us on their way home from their 10 day American-Heritage Camping Extravaganza. Per Emily's request, the bathwater was ready for the boys upon arrival. I don't think we've ever seen them so wiped-out, with the exception of Zach who did muster enough energy to run around the house with Ryan's plastic cricket bat.

Housekeeping got the towels and linens replaced just in time for a visit the next day from Ryan's mom and brother Nate. They took lots of turns holding Helen and rocking her to sleep. Nate's favorite game was trying to make her smile, and he got pretty good at it. Between Helen's mealtimes we squeezed in some bowling, a trip to the Bass Pro Shop/Museum, and the Mormon Pioneer Center at Winter Quarters.

The 4th of July in Nebraska is as close as we've been to a war zone in our lives. Fireworks are legal here, and any number of giant inflatable gorillas and dinosaurs are willing to sell them to you. We went to a BBQ with our intern friends in a rougher part of town where families throw fireworks at each other for a good time (I have since found out that my Dad did the same thing on the streets of D.C. when he was a kid). Maybe next year Brice can teach us how to make our own explosives. We hear he had some experience with smoke bombs as a kid and more recently with natural gas tank valves (we're referring all questions to the Chilean Police).

Colombian Bags For Sale

Have we got an opportunity for you. For a limited time only (until I sell them all). My friend in Colombia made these bags and I am sending her all the proceeds. Don't worry, this is not some marketing pyramid scheme - I don't make any money. She needed to borrow some money when we visited them last spring and I had her make these indigenous style bags. The only way that you could find anything like them is to go deep into the Colombian jungle, which is not necessarily safe. I believe that our government has frowned on travel to Colombia for a number of years, something about holding Americans hostages...

Here is an explanation of the messenger bags:
- Shoulder strap
- Fold-over flap with “mola” (unique indigenous design)
- Two inner 6in x 6in pockets
- New, never been used

A “mola” is a piece of fabric created from layers of brilliantly colored cloth hand-sewn together in a unique pattern that captures the vision of the world, parts of oral literature, songs, poems and customs of the indigenous Kuna people in Uraba, Colombia. The bright and colorful geometric figures paint mythological scenes, the creation of the world and flora and fauna of the region where the Kuna people live. The art of the molas, practiced by women of this indigenous Colombian community, reflect not only a great natural and artistic flavor, but also represent the richness of their culture.

Click on the picture above to see the bags I have left. The messanger bags are 35$ and the duck bag is 25$. Contact me for additional information.

The Container Garden Special

This week we take you live to our back porch. In this picture you can see our yellow zucchini in the far left container, green peppers and celosia (cockscomb) in the middle, and cilantro and crockneck squash in the right container. They all love the nightly thunderstorms and daily highs above 80° that we have been having. We love this weather too because that means that we don't have to water them. Click on the garden to see other plants that we're experimenting with. We regret to inform you that our swiss chard is in the PICU (Plant Intensive Care Unit), thus not pictured. We haven't had to hook them up to CO2 or a fertilizer IV yet, but they are in critical condition. We are hoping for the best.

Helen is developing by leaps and bounds. This week she helped Ryan bring the laundry up, maybe next week she will help me fold it.

Look-alike

Helen is one week old as of yesterday, and we've decided to turn to our audience of friends and family for help determining who she looks like. To help, I put this little graphic you see below with some baby pictures of myself, Helen, and Michelle. They're not the best pictures for comparison, but we'd still like you to take look and then vote on the poll to the right. Feel free to add additional suggestions in your comments. Thanks.

Since Helen has taken center stage for us since her arrival, we are a little behind in getting some other fun pictures up for you to see. Last week Michelle graduated from her cake decorating class and I was commissioned a Captain. This week the Finch family came to help us with the new baby and we got to take lots of field trips during the day to give Michelle some peace and quiet. Click on any of these pictures below and you'll see our trips to the Mormon Trail Center, the Union Pacific engines, the Strategic Air & Space Museum and the Aksarben Aquarium.

New Arrival

Hooray! After a lot of hard work on Michelle's part, the newest little Hackett arrived Saturday afternoon. And wouldn't you know it, even though 99% of everyone guessing (including ourselves) had guessed they baby would be a boy, we were instead blessed with a girl! What a surprise!

Her name is Helen Hackett, and we are so happy to have her in our family. She was born weighing 7lbs 12oz, measuring 21in long, and with lots of dark brown hair as you can see in the pictures. Michelle is recovering well and gets one more night in the hospital. Helen is healthy and active. We have to swaddle her really tight because she'd really prefer to be kicking and swinging her arms around - all no surprise to Michelle who has been feeling those kicks since the 4th month of pregnancy and has all along been saying that this little baby is destined to be a salsa dancer.

What are you having?

This week we bring you some great ways our friends and acquaintances have used to tell if we are going to have a boy or girl. We are including these below in case anyone else out there wants to use these ancient and highly reliable methods as opposed to a boring ol' ultrasound to find out what they are having.

From the book, What to Expect When Your Wife Is Expanding (courtesy of Mark Wiggins)...

-Carrying high and long means a boy; low and wide means a girl.

-Easy pregnancies are boys; difficult ones, girls.

-Food cravings mean boys; chocolate cravings mean girls.

-Italian old wives believe that if you go for the heel of a loaf of bread, it's a boy.

-A clear complexion means a girl; a poor complexion means a boy. But girls will cause more headaches during adolescence, so it all evens out.

-Pump some stereophonic Motown into the womb. Girls "dance" to music; boys go to sleep. This holds true up to and including junior high.

-Smooth hands mean a girl; rough hands mean a boy; dry, scaly hands mean you should be doing the dishes for your wife more often.

-When the mother gains weight, you're having a baby, but when Dad gains weight? He's having too many helpings.

-A dream about trying to pick out a prettier postage stamp means it's a girl; a dream in which you really don't want to stop and ask directions means it's a boy.

From our travels...

-If the baby moves around a lot it's a boy (a Guatemalan mother).

-If the baby stops moving when a male child touches your belly, it's a boy (a Colombian mother).

-If you can't tell that you're pregnant from the back, it's a boy (a Mexican mother).

-If the baby is down low, it's a boy (our Asian post lady).

******

Please add any more other ideas you might have in the comments below.

Cakes & Camping

Michelle decorated her first cake at her Wilton class this week. Here you'll see a picture of it next to one of the cake she made two years ago when she
first got her decorating tips. See if you can guess which cake is which. She has wanted to take a cake decorating class since she was an
undergraduate student, but had to wait until she completed her last degree before she could take a "fun" class (not that Advanced Lipid Metabolism wasn't fun . . .).

On Wenesday camped overnight at the Louisville State Recreation Area on the Platte River, a quick 30 min drive away on Nebraska country roads. One thing nice about going on a weekday is that it's just you and and a few perma-campers in their land yaughts. There was a nice hiking trail along the river and we were watched over by a pair of formidable Canada Geese. There were a few small fishing ponds scattered around the park, and Michelle, The Turtle Hunter guided us to some fine specimens. See some of the award winning footage below. Little did we know that the train tracks 50 yards away from our campsite would be in use every half hour around the clock - those train engineers make sure that everyone knows where they are regardless of the time. Now we know that this is a day visit only park.

Bellevue or Bust

In order to understand the excitement of this week, I think that everyone should know that Ryan loves to drive and decided a long time ago that if medical school didn't work out he would learn to drive 18-wheelers across the country and "Keep America Moving." This week he got as close to driving a big-rig as he has ever been. In fact, he even got to rub elbows with fellow truckers at the CAT weight stations where he weighed the truck before and after we filled it with our furniture. I have to admit though that both Ryan and our moving truck were much smaller than the real trucks and truckers. Keep reading below for highlights from my exclusive interview with Ryan about his 2 day trucking experience.

Michelle: "Thank you for joining us Ryan, we know your schedule is very busy. How did you feel driving the truck across the US?"

Ryan: "It was like living a dream: sitting high above the other cars, going zero to 40 in 2 minutes off a red light, and singing On the Road Again as I ignored cars merging onto the highway. It was beautiful."

Michelle: "Were there any challenges that you did not anticipate that you had to overcome?"

Ryan: "Yes, the wind moves a big truck around a lot more than a car. I had to learn to keep a good grip on the steering wheel and not to over-correct when a strong gust of wind tried to push me out of my lane. I'm a fast learner though, and by the time we were in Iowa I was down to running only 1 car off the road an hour."

Michelle: "Do you feel that you fit into the trucking world?"

Ryan: "I'm not sure, but I got a lot of headlight flashes from other truckers to let me know I was clear to switch lanes after passing them. I think that's their way of slowly inviting me into their circle."

Michelle: "Are you ready to do it again?"

Ryan: "No, but I will be when our next move comes up in 3 years. I need to take my skills up a notch, and I figure if I start spending Saturdays at the auto parts store and subscribe to Truckers Monthly I should be ready."

Michelle: "Thank you Ryan for your time and good luck with your future plans."

We also got to visit Emily and her family half way to Omaha/Bellevue. It sure was nice to have a day to rest after packing and before unloading. Here are some fun pictures that you can click to see more.

Final Friday in Ohio

On Friday we a great time when the "Pittsburgh Express" made a stop in Columbus, bringing with it Celeste, Phil, Grandma, Royce, and two huge boxes of Orem's donuts. We had a lot of fun in just a few hours - lunch, box packing, shelf unassembling, travel picture viewing, frisbee golf for the guys, and a walk under a sunny sky for the ladies. Phil just barely beat Royce in our frisbee game, and I had a score too high to put into writing. Click on the photos to link to more action shots and family scenes. Mom, Nate and Regan had some

flight trouble and couldn't make it as they'd planned. We missed them, and we hope that we can get together again once the baby arrives.

Friday also marked the end of my medical school days at Ohio State. I took my Emergency Medicine exam in the morning, and that means we now have two unofficial doctors in the house. Michelle claims to be the "senior" partner since she finished a week ago, but I say our official graduation is on June 8th and that makes us equal partners (but if she wants to push the issue, I am 3 months older and clearly that makes me the senior). Regardless, we're both relieved to be through with school and looking forward to the changes just around the corner. Tomorrow we will pack up the moving truck with the help of many friends here, and Tuesday we drive to Omaha by way of the Hancock's home in Peoria.

One doctor down, one to go

This week I finished the changes on my dissertation and turned it in after a successful defense last Friday. I think that Ryan is pretty jealous that I got to be a doctor first, but I started at OSU a year before he did so I think that it is only fair. Besides, he only has one more week working in the emergency room and then he is done too.

How many 5 year olds could you take in a fight?

A shout goes out to Andrea W. for introducing us to this fine calculator. I think that it is good to know how many Sunbeams you could handle if they rushed at you.
Michelle's Results:
10
Ryan: Nice, Michelle. Keep working on your ninja skills and don't be afraid to use the swinging child move to up your count. I won't tell you how many 5 year olds I could take on. There might be a five year old reading this and such info could really give him the advantage. I will tell you my chances a zombie apocalypse.
57%
I'd better keep working on my ninja skills too.