First day and a half in the VI

So, Stacey and I are currently visiting my sister in the Virgin Islands. She lives on St. Thomas. Here are some pictures of the last couple days. Here we are on Virgin Gorda, part of the British Virigin Islands (yes, we went to another country, finally, as a couple) Here we are by a big rock. Here I am jumping off of a big rock. It was pretty fun. This is in Britain. THis was a jump even the Queen would approve of. Here we are in a cave, kissing. A cave hiss if you will. Here is Stacey, under the water (or, under the sea, if you are into Disney music), bubbling away. Here is Stacey walking down to the Baths, a national park (in Britain). Here we are, eating. It is not at some fancy reseraunt, but, at my sisters porch. If we had eaten a bit earlier, you could see the amazing view she has off her porch. Here is a view for Virigin Gorda. Here we are, by the sign, proving we really do go over to another island. Here are Stacey and Kristin on the boat that took us over to the other island. And finally, here are two videos. One is taken from off the boat, as we did our international traveling. The other is under the sea. Both are kind of silly.

Idaho and Utah

So here are a few more pictures from our Utah trip, posted in no particular order. Here is a picture of Rachel feeding Rebecca. It was cute. Here is Jacob and Grandpa Hoopes. You can see where Jacob gets his silliness from (besides his dad). Here I am on the plane. The two people behind me ended up asking to be reseated midflight, as they didnt like sitting by Jacob.If only I could have asked to be reseated, and left Jacob behind. Here he is, little horserider Jacob, riding a little horse at Thanksiginv Point "Farm Country". Here is Jacob swinging with his cousins, Ryan and Rachel. Here I am riding the bike with Kevin, my brother. He kind of had a swaying problem. Here is Tracey, my mother in law, showing off how she can sit on a fourwheeler. Here is the second cabin we stayed at . It was very pleasant, and very peaceful. It has fairly large, and pretty new, but not too flashy. Here is Rebecca with her Great Grandma Adams. Here is Rebecca with her Great Grandpa Adams. They both seem startled to have been photographed. That is all. In the end, we spent about 20 hours driving in the car, stayed the night at four different places, saw all of Stacey and I's family back three generations (starting with our children) excepting 2 people. We did pretty well. It was a good time.

Idaho

So, we went to Idaho and Utah, and while I have been slow doing anything, hopefully this is the fist post about our trip. Before I left, a girl from China I go to school with asked me, "So, is there anything to do in Idaho." Hopefully, this post will suggest that there is at least one thing to do. So, while in Idaho, it is important to remember the following, which we found on a post in the cabin we stayed in our first night: Here is the cabin. It was one of two cabins we stayed in on our trip, and was very pleasant. All my family less Kristin and Mark and and the related persons were there. It was a good time.There are a lot of trees in some parts of Idaho. And rivers. And canyons. And lots of stuff of that sort. There are also rivers that fall over cliffs in Idaho. SOme are very pleasant.Jacob especially likes to look at them. SO, that is the first update on what there is to do in Idaho.

Squirrels

So, the squirrels like to eat out of our bird feeders. They are pretty creative. Here is one doing his dirty work. Well, it happened one day, that one of the squirrels got real greedy, and decided to just dive right in for the mother lode. And, he got stuck. The best part to me is his little paw sticking down, trying to grasp at some seeds. Here he is, a little closer up. And here he is some more, just wedged in there. I was at work when this happened, but Stacey saw the greedy little fellow, and tried to get him out. She couldn't. She called the animal control people, and they came and freed the little guy. When I went out there that evening, I found a piece of tail on the ground--I think they tried to just pull him out by the tail to start with. I am pretty sure I have seen a squirrel with a bit of tail missing eating out of our birdfeeders. So, now, we must design a bird feeder that is squirrelproof. I talked to my brother about it, and as an astute engineer, he said "Well, you need something that a bird can fly to, but a squirrel can't climb to or drop on to. So, it cant be on a post, and it cant hang. I guess we need to construct some sort of magnetic field where it can just hover."

4 months old!

Here are some recent pictures of our littlest one, as well as her recent stats for anyone keeping up on how well (and quickly) she's growing!

Weight: 17 lb 13 oz (99th percentile)

Head circumference: 44 cm (94th percentile)

Height: 25.5 in (84th percentile) ("She's about the size of a nine month old except for her height - she's a midget there." - Dr. Hilarious.)

She continues to be a wonderful little baby, loved by her big brother very much and she's just beautiful too. It is such a joy to be her mother.