Inigo Montoya: "You just woke up, let me explain. . .

No, there is too much, let me sum up."

Yeah, that's how its gonna be. We made it back to Portland with some wonderful highlights from the cross-country oddessy, most important, we saw a BEAR. A real, live, think it was a grizzly but it was SO COOL bear. And, we saw some really dumb guy actually get out of his car, with his two kids, as the bear was walking towards them. Unfortunately, we saw a lot of potential "When Man Gets Involved with Nature" type activities in the national parks, but fortunately, a lot of really cool wildlife too. (Did I mention we saw a BEAR - that is a life list moment for sure!!)

And, the parents have arrived!!! They are starting house hunting officially next week! Its been so great already having them here close by, and its so cool not to have to worry that we won't get all this visiting time squeezed into a week. The only bad thing is work right now which is absolutely, freaking the worst ever. Like 3 days in a row at the office til 1 am, and there's still no end in sight (or hope on the things due this week) kinda week. But hey, at least my parents are here!!

And, final big new thing is that a very cool and fun knit shop (The Naked Sheep Knit Shop) opened up right over on Killingsworth - just a few blocks away. Josh is not too excited, but I think its great, and they have a Thursday night open knit and its been really fun to meet some new Portlanders and fellow knitters.

Even with all the craz work, Josh and I got a chance to go down to Salem to have dinner with a coworker of mine and his wife - it was a ton of fun. Its really nice to actually get to know your co-workers, and we went to this really great restaurant, Morton's Bistro, where you get to pick your wine from the owner's stash with a flash light. It was super yummy, and we had a great time with Kurt and Talina (and heard all about Talina's super cool dream shop she hopes to open when they make the move up to PDX in a few years - I'd tell you, but its a trade secret.) One things for sure, Josh and I will definitely be visiting it!!

So now, its time to attack the castle, even though its guarded by 60 men . . .

We've Made It To South Dakota

About 1400 miles and halfway across the country. So far, we've been thru many tunnels (Alleghany mountains in PA), seen lots of Amish folk (PA, WI, and MN), taken a DUCK ride and seen deer, a fox and a bald eagle (WI), 2 quick detours to catch Michigan and Iowa (which smells and is THE most boring state I've been too, sorry Buckeyes!), crossed the Mississippi, and visited the Corn Palace. The doggies have been great - they just snooze in the back. Right now, Teddy has usurped Melo's snuggle position with Josh. Josh's Aunt Lu, who we visited yesterday, just *loved* Teddy and thought he was the cutest thing, so I've been telling Melo she is still the cutest princess puppy in the world so she doesn't worry too much! We're off to the Badlands, the Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore, Needles Highway and hopefully a cave and/or one of those "Mystery Spots" Josh is always talking about today! I think when we actually look out the hotel room window this morning where the sun is already scorching, we're going to be glad that we decided to drive on to Murdo, SD last night - this state is hot, dry and flat - much better for night driving!!

Made It - The First Leg of the Cross-Country Oddessy

We made it to Delaware!!! The flight wasn't too bad - Melo made it thru the flights just fine, and Josh and I managed to catch a few ZZZZs on the way after watching Timeline (pretty good, but the book was better). We slept a few hours to make up on the 3-hour time difference and then went to work packing the POD. Josh, amazing packer that he is, fit it all in with mom, Danielle, me, Mike, Alex and Sean all pitching in to move all the boxes. So once we locate the PODS paperwork, we can cancel the 3rd POD and enjoy the rest of trip. We rested up and hung out in Kevin and Danielle's pool for a bit which was wonderful. Its so nice to be back on the East coast for a bit. Oh2Oh2Oh2 is running today so we're hopeful for a win-check back for an update later to see if she placed in the money.

Happy Birthday Tracy!

Happy B-Day to my friend back in good old RI!! RI has now truly arrived . . . there's a Starbuck's opening in Wakefield. This is good news in that Josh will now be able to get his carmel frappacino light fix when we go back to visit, along with the best chinese food ever (Chen's), and of course, Dels!

More Bubble Wrap

This one has different sound effects.