Spring is here! (And it had better stick around...)

The weather has just been great for the past week or so. I had to buy sunglasses for David! Sunglasses! We have been outside as often as possible, for as long as possible, and it has been wonderful.

Today, thanks to a very productive couple of weeks and a foreboding weather report for the weekend, Michael decided to take a day off and to work a longer day on Saturday instead. It was just perfect. We had a lazy morning together, then wandered downtown to get a new bike helmet for David. (We thought we might get him a bike too--a balance bike--but he was totally opposed to the idea. Bummer.)

We spent the morning downtown, mostly outside and, for a while at least, eating ice cream. Just a great way to start the day.

The plan was to go for a bike ride after David's nap. Unfortunately, and I think probably because I told David the plan, there was no nap. Just a non-nap followed by a bike-ride.

The good news is, David still loves his bike seat! Maybe even more than last year. He's finally old enough to really get into the things we see as we go along, like a passing train or a waterfall, and he gets really excited when we do things with all three of us. (He loves is, and says things like: "Mama bike! Daddy bike! David bike!" over and over again. It's very cute.)

So we rode our typical short ride, about 7 miles to a nearby beer garden that sits on the river. Michael and I each had a beer, David had an apfel-schorle (apple juice with bubbly water), and we all got a great dose of fresh-air and sun. David perfected jumping off of this little wall, and was just exceedingly proud of himself.

When we got home, we were all pretty zonked. The bike ride itself wasn't tough, but I don't think our bodies are used to being in the sun--direct sun!--for so many hours in one day! We ended up ordering pizza, and a great deal of silliness ensued. Which brings us to the video.

Somehow, we started playing hide and seek with the pizza box. David started to laugh about as hard as I've ever seen him laugh, so naturally I had to run and grab the camera. I had to hide the camera, though, so as not to stop the hilarious laughter, so as videos go it's not very good...but the audio is well worth sharing!

What a Month!

If there's anyone out there still checking this blog...my apologies. I'm not sure it even counts as a blog anymore, given how rarely I manage to update it!

In any case, we've had quite a month!

A few weeks ago, Michael was accepted a position at the University of South Florida, in Tampa. This is fantastic news. It's a great position in a great department, and it happens to be located near the beach...and the sun shines there!

As in, the sun regularly makes an appearance, and when it does there is no reason to drop everything and rush outside to try to see it, because you can be certain it will be there for a while. This is, as I said, fantastic news.

About a week after Michael got the job, I sent off my dissertation to my advisor. The final chapter is new, so it's possible there will be some revisions, but I'm really hoping it's finished. It is, at the very least, very nearly finished. So it looks like I will manage to get this phd one of these days, which will be awesome.

Here's a funny story: A few months ago, back in November or December, I decided to submit a paper to a graduate student conference that sounded interesting. I never submit papers to conferences, since they tend to happen in the US and I'm here, but I liked the topic and I went ahead and sent in a paper. When we got back in January, I heard that it had been accepted. Then I saw where it was taking place: USF. When I sent it in, I had no idea that Michael had applied there. When I accepted, and said I'd attend the conference, I knew only that Michael was in the running for the job, but that he might very well not get it. I accepted thinking "This will either be the best weekend ever, or the most depressing conference of all time."

So David and I went to Tampa! The conference was great, I even met a like-minded philosopher who works at U. of Miami, and I got to see the area! (And I got to hear people talk about how great Michael is, and how glad they are that he's coming, and that was nice:) It all felt pretty providential to me.

So that's that. Most of you (are there any of you?) probably knew all this already, but it seemed weird not to acknowledge Michael's awesome new job on the blog, so there you have it.

Now for the photos!

Here are some from yesterday. Emmanuel, David's buddy, is now 2! This happened altogether too quickly, but the party was a lot of fun.

Here's David playing with our present for Emmanuel, who was kind enough not to knock David over and take it back.

The boys played together really well. They crack each other up!

David was playing with these little animal magnets, so I put them in his pocket for him. He was inordinately proud to have them there.

And, after taking them out, tried to put them back in...

Here's my favorite shot from the day:

That's all for now!