Hood Family

Anthony's sister and her Family (husband Dave, son Justin - 5, and daughter Hannah 2). We went to Houston to see them in May of this year and they came her this weekend for a quick trip to see the Grandmas. Enjoy the slideshow - we'll see how much i know about technology!

Inspired to write again.

So... I'm obviously not very good at this whole blogging thing - on average I have one every two months. My friend Adelle (whose blog is on my favorites to the right - and who has a much more interesting life and the cutest little girl - as well as a very old picture of us) does an excellent job of blogging and has inspired me to pick it up again. On the up side - not much changes in our house too quickly - we're very habitual creatures and keep a pretty tight schedule. Lets see... recently Anthony & I took a trip to Houston to see his Sister, brother-in-law, and two sweet kids. I've put some of the pictures on here. It was Loads of fun - little Hannah is just over one year, and Justin is a super smart 5 year old. We had a blast with them even though we only got to stay for a weekend (thank goodness for direct flights on Southwest - and funny flight attendants). Justin actually lost his first tooth while we were there. He and Anthony and Dave had a great time playing video games too - I could just picture Anthony as a kid doing the same thing. Justin also got really good at riding without training wheels while we were there too.

Other adventures - I had a meeting in the Windy City - it was my first of three trips to chicago this year and it was indeed windy. This first trip was for a meeting of APSA- American Physician Scientists Association - I think the link is to the right as well. It was a lot of fun to meet with other nerds from around the country! Chicago was wonderful - especially because it was cool and dry! Lake Michigan was this beautiful color teal green/blue - the picture really doesn't do it justice. Oh the shopping on the "Michigan Mile" is awesome too - they have a Garmin store, and Nike, and Apple, and Tiffany's :) among other things. Next time i go, i'm also going for business- another APSA meeting, but just exec for a day, so not too exciting- but the people really are great. Here are some of the pics from this trip:

The last trip of the year to Chicago will be fore the Chicago Marathon- terrified and excited about 26.2!! It should be really well organized thie year after the fiasco that happened last year. there should at least be plenty of water and gatorade. I have a friend at Michigan State that might get to come down and hang out with me a little during this trip.
At the end of this month Anthony & I are headed to the beach for a 2.5 day weekend - we are really excited about having the time off and love the beach almost as much as the mountains of Virginia! It will be a short but relaxing trip. .....Lets see - other updates .... we've added another member to our little family - We got another Golden Retriever named Porter (her whole name is Erin Porter - becuase we got her on St. Patrick's day and Erin is the poetic name for Ireland, and Porter b/c Anthony liked the name - she goes by Porter. She's really sweet and Gabby loves having a friend to play with during the day. We are officially at our pet limit- no more living things in this house unless they are human - otherwise we'll have to charge admission to the Gannon Zoo!! That's all for now - i'll try to do better with this - just in case anyone is interested :o)