This Land is Your Land, This Land is Our Land...Mostly Ours Since Eliot Marked Most of it Last Week

Our spring break trip in a nutshell: Fly to Little Rock and spend the day, then drive to Paragould and Pocahontas to get our NEW CAR! Turn right around and drive to Fayetteville the same day. Leave town and drive to Portland via Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California. Stop along the way to see the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial, Petrified Forest, Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. Roughly 2,600 miles in roughly four days.

Part One:
We decided to stop at the Oklahoma City Memorial because we thought it was a shame that we had lived so close and never gone. If you haven’t gone and you have the opportunity to do so, do so. We agreed that it was one of the better memorials we have seen. I guess that could have something to do with the fact that we both remember that day really well. The Lincoln Memorial is fantastic, but I don’t have a firsthand memory of the guy.














































The smaller chairs are representative of the children. Sad. We have a lot more pictures, but they seem stuck sideways for now. We will devote a proper post to the memorial soon. Tomorrow, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

Dispatches from A bakery At the End of the World, Not Really, Actually From a Bakery by the Mall We Like

We are internet-less again. I would complain more but my friend Louisa just sent me a message from East Timor saying she is really enjoying her new job despite the fact that there is a 10 pm curfew ever since the President of that country was shot, and contracting malaria is still a real possibility. So...yeah...I guess I won't complain that I can't find free internet in my house right now.

It wouldn't have mattered much anyway. I am very busy. I am sure Sergio is too, but how would I know since I don't have time to ask him? I wanted to post on Thursday because that was our 4th anniversary. Last year on our anniversary I told you that our marriage was like a toddler. I guess this year we are in Pre-K. That is about as far as I can take that comparison this time as my brain is a little fried from the test I spent over half of my Saturday taking. Four Years. Everyday I feel a little more like an adult. I would feel all the way like an adult if we hadn't missed daylight savings time and been late for everything last monday. It's those small things that prove we still can't function without calls from out moms.

Sergio deserves recognition for totally making our anniversary nice this year. On wednesday he made me a really nice dinner and had a fire and stuff, and then on Thursday he sent me a fancy box full of fancy salamis (from Salumi in Seattle) and cheeses and chocolate. The eating of the contents of that basket was a gift for both of us, which was good, since I didn't do a thing for our anniversary except remember that it was that day. Cold, I know.

What else? How about a picture? Let me see what I've got.

Just under four years ago.

Important Goals We Only Spent Ten Minutes Thinking About

Some other blog I read, I can't remember which right now, listed 100 things she wants to do before she goes. Or rather, what would you be surprised that you had not done if you died at a nice old age. She seemed to think it was worthwhile to do, and so do I. We only did fifty today in no particular order.

25 of Mine:
1. Adopt old dogs and let them run around on my farm
2. Have a farm
3. Travel to Europe with Sergio
4. Visit every continent
5. Have a kid or two
6. Knit something wearable
7. Snowboard
8. Run a marathon
9. Keep my house clean two weeks in a row
10. Own a home
11. Live in a place for more than a year with Sergio
12. Have a job for more than a year
13. Have a fulfilling job
14. Sleep in a Yurt
15. Visit every state
16. Have financial stability
17. Eat a bug (knowingly)
18. Learn how to play chess
19. Finish a New York Times crossword puzzle
20. Donate money to my local NPR affiliate instead of change the station during money drive time
21. Learn how to design a website
22. Design a website
23. Read Moby Dick...I guess
24. Ride an air boat in the swamp
25. Attend a Renaissance festival

Now 25 of Sergio's:
1. Get a real job
2. Own a home
3. Run for political office
4. Win a race for political office
5. Run an adventure race
6. Go backpacking for a week or more
7. Really learn Spanish
8. Grow a huge beard
9. Visit Europe with Dawn
10. Have a farm
11. Fulfill my evolutionary obligation
12. Go to la tomatina
13. Learn to spell
14. Go to an Oktoberfest in a small village in Germany
15. Learn to cook well
16. Become a wood wright
17. See the end of reality tv
18. See the return of Futurama
19. Live abroad for at least a year
20. Eat a thousand year old egg
21. Have a beer in a Belgian monastery
22. Have dinner at the White House
23. Learn to play golf
24. Help my parents and in-laws retire
25. Jumanji

Anybody want to share some of theirs?

Pay Heed to the Change in Our Sub-Title

The curriculum committee made it official today.

Happy Birthday, Daniel...Yesterday!

I remembered to call but forgot to post. I can only be so organized! I have ONE recent picture of my brother and/or sister-in-law and it is copyrighted, so we are going way back for this one.





You have 364 days left in your twenties. Better enjoy each and every one.