Easter greetings with pics 4/14/2004

2004 was our interesting year. I had regularly sent an email update to family and friends from Canada to Miami. Here is our Easter greeting.

April 14, 2004

Happy Easter, a little late.

Erin picked you a beautiful bouquet of flowers. And we wonder why she has allergy problems. Anyone care to sniff her dandelion bouquet?

We were in a hurry to get to church Sunday, so the kids Easter picture setting for 04 was inside the van parked in the garage. Erin really pulled out a great smile.

We took off Easter Sunday afternoon to spend a couple of days in Chicago. It has been a rough 2004 so far and we thought a little time away would be good. We lucked out with our room. We got the 41st floor on the NE corner of the Marriott, which gave us a great view of the Hancock Tower to the North and Lake Michigan to the east.

We taxied it around town and took advantage of our year membership at the Shedd Aquarium. We were there last September and watched the dolphin/baluga whale show from the amphitheater. This time we watched it from below, and it was actually better. The Shedd people are environmentalist for sure, that's good. But they talk so much more than they force the dolphins to do stuff. Therefore, up top you have about 30 min. of some guy talking about polution and just 3 min. of the dolphins walking on their tails and jumping. Down below we can watch the dolphins swim around, and you see that they (the dolphins, who some believe are as smart as humans) are handed a sardine everytime they so much as blink. The kid's dog cousin Boomer would walk on his tail in a pool for that many treats. I think they are smart, don't get me wrong, but I can't give them too much credit. Enough editorializing.

See the beautiful Chicago skyline? I imagine I am the first person to ever snap this picture.

Josh wanted a little time behind the camera. So I thought I would strike a pose. Erin happened by just before this photo and knocked her nearly full bottle of Sierra Mist into Josh's Nike store bag containing his brand new baseball. I can be seen reacting to the spill as quickly as a pathetic heart attack victim can.

Speaking of my status, I made a goal of running the Cross the Line 5K at our church on Sunday the 4th of April. I actually got 2nd place in the 35-39 age category. But before you go and get all congratulatory on me, I was not able to catch and beat the following people who finished directly in front of me: 12 year old boy wearing basketball shoes, a swim suit and a backwards baseball hat; a 65+ year old guy wearing very short shorts and an orange bike hat; and an 18 year old girl in the last stages of anorexia. A humbling experience.

It wasn't all fun in Chicago. We had to put in about 12 hours of shopping. The one hightlight of the shopping was Bass Pro Shops. The kids enjoyed posing by the dead stuffed bears. Both kids got new snorkels and masks and Josh had saved enough money to buy another fishing pole. He got in some good practice with it at the hotel pool. He also got some great practice with the snorkel in preparation for our summer FL trip. Erin also tried snorkeling Monday evening. I was adjusting her mask when she told me she didn't feel well. She then immediately proceeded to puke all over the pool deck. She was up until 2AM throwing up. Poor thing.

But regardless, the following day we still made it to Pam's mecca, IKEA. The photo of Josh in front of IKEA won't mean much to many of you, but to some it will be quite impressive. That is our white van Josh is standing in front of. That is a front row parking space. It is easier to win the lottery than to get a parking place like that at IKEA. Proud moment for me.

Take care. Tomorrow I go in for my lipid profile to see if my intensive exercise and diet regimen have done more than just cause me to lose weight. I am shooting for some really low numbers compared to 2/17, the last time they counted them. I will let you know only if they are good.