hand delivered messages

So you may be wondering what the following two pictures have in common....

Saturday evening we were bringing things in from the car, when all of a sudden a police car pulled up in front of our house, and an officer slowly got out of the car carrying what I started to think could only be a warrant, or something to that effect. Quickly, my mind started going down the list of things that I could have done that would get me arrested. After crossing off the possibility that I could be headed to the slammer on an anonymous phone tip about rolling through that stop sign a week ago, I landed on the high likelihood that he was here to ask questions about our herb-loving neighbor.

Instead, he graciously handed me the packet, told me they were for a Mrs. Danielle Firth, and said good night. I asked him if it was ok if I gave the packet to Dani, or if they needed to be hand delivered (thinking it would be even cooler if they were handcuffed to his wrist and he needed to scan his eye to get them off or something like that. Maybe next time).

Turns out, Dani's city appointment onto the Recreation Board puts her in the privileged class of citizens who receive hand delivered packets from the local police chief. Maybe we'll get to be in next year's parade.

(the packet contained the agenda of next week's board meeting, as well as plans for several proposed parks- all topped off with the city's nuclear response codes.)

Here's Dani with her notification letter, informing her that the city of DeWitt has granted her VIP status.

I love my wife. She'll be fantastic for this city. She's got a passion for helping people better their lives, and this will be a great outlet for her.

Now onto my son- the happiest kid I know.

The other day I gave him a Balance Bar (protein candy bar) for him to play with, because he likes wrappers. He was being awfully quiet for about 40 minutes afterwards, and Dani went over to discover that he'd somehow opened the package and eaten a good third of the bar, which was covered in chocolate. Of course it got everywhere, and he didn't seem to care that he'd been busted, as this shot shows. He even smiled and laughed when he threw it up five minutes later. What a happy little explorer.

These last two shots are of him playing in... and in...

...his little exercise-saucer thingy.

Also on the news updates- we're happy to report that other than a few fluke nights, he sleeps for at least 7 hours through the night now

An activist for a healthy community

Today I was officially accepted onto the Dewitt City Parks and Recreation Board It’s not a huge time commitment but hopefully I can make a difference and set a habit of political activity. I was motivated to volunteer after discovering some neglected ski trails. There used to be signs clarifying the routes but they had been knocked down or faded. I thought that it would be worthwhile to volunteer to fix the signs. Well, after some thought I figured that if I was going to volunteer with parks and rec. it would be a better use of my time to help with policy and decision making. I believe if we want our communities to be healthy, active, and productive, that we must make recreation convenient and available to everyone. I will be the defender of youth sports programs, soccer fields, bike paths, running trails, etc. Dewitt has a pretty good start but there is need for improvement.


This week my group fitness instruction started again, Mon- Thurs. I started teaching a new session of my 50 and older class. It's really tricky creating a routine that is beneficial for everyone. In each class I have about 20 people including a librarian, 2 yoga lovers, a construction worker that looks like Kurt Russell, as well as an 80 year old who’s never exercised in her life, and a gal with a replaced heart valve- really a mixed bag of everything. I don’t want to drive them away because they can’t walk the next day but then I cringe at the thought of those in good shape going elsewhere because they didn’t get a good workout. It will take a little creativity and advance planning but I’m sure I can find a happy medium. I love seeing seniors exercising and can’t possibly say enough about the benefits of exercise for older adults.

This Christmas we have had a great time doing pretty much nothing. Just staying up late, reading, watching movies, and laughing at Liam. It's been a good time to regroup, organize and rededicate ourselves to our goals.


After wrapping/opening presents for Christmas we had ribbon around the house and he always seemed to find it and play with it like a kitten.

This break I got to shadow a master trainer Rita- a lean, mean, hard-bodied fitness machine. She writes a weekly fitness column for the Lansing newspaper, teaches at Lansing College and knows her stuff. It was great to get some ideas and see what the elite do, not to mention getting in a great workout.

'007 Books

2007 was filled with all kinds of stuff that kept us busy- working, having a baby, moving, traveling, school- but we both still love to read. Here are lists of some books that we read to fill in the gaps.

Dani-
Pride and Prejudice
Harry Potter 5 Harry Potter 6 Harry Potter 7
Resurrection: The struggle for a new Russia
Morality for Beautiful Girls (Ladies Detective Agency)
Persuasion
Push Not the River
Three Cups of Tea
Kiterunner
A Thousand Splendid Suns
John Adams
A Year of Wonders
Jonathon Livingston Seagull
Pregnancy books (x 523)
Twilight
Eclipse
New Moon
The Chosen
The Gifts My Father Gave Me
Fitness books- a constant stream

Brady-
Mayflower
Consciousness Explained
Voltaire's Bastards
The Idea of History
Godel, Escher, Bach
James Madison
The Stranger
1776
Breaking the Spell
A Brief History of Time
Team of Rivals
Meditations
Gorgias & Timeaus
The Dip
Leadership and Self-Deception
Notes from Underground
Concept of Nature
Red Rabbit
I am a Strange Loop
The Origin of Species
The God Delusion
Research articles that just kept coming (these are not quite all of them for just one class)

Liam-
Noisy Farm Animals
Hurry, Santa!
Wheels on the Bus
Things That Make Noise

The awards go to..... (that's a drum roll you hear)
Dani- Three Cups of Tea- Most Inspiring
Resurrection- Best Researched/Written
Pride and Prejudice- Best Tried and True Chick Novel

Brady- Meditations- Chilled Ideas
Consciousness Explained- Right Book at the Right Time
Mayflower- Gettin' at the Roots

Biggest surprise- Brady read a book with 'rabbit' in the title, and Dani did not.
Next to read- Dani: War and Peace (in progress)
Brady: Dorian Gray

The Insulator

This Christmas break Brady spent a day insulating our roof in hopes to abate our rising heating bill. The roof had almost no insulation at all, and in many places was completely bare. We rented a machine that spews insulation chunks which worked pretty well except it got a lot of dust in the air, and blasted Brady from head to toe.
Before Brady insulated the attic/roof we went up in the attic to see what needed to be done. There were a few junky pieces of insulation laying around, mixed with some trash, an old pair of panty hose, and some broken light bulbs.

Liam's First Christmas

Christmas was fantastic. Although we missed family, we had a great time creating traditions in our darling, new Michigan home. Everything was pretty low-key and relaxing. We've spent time reading, watching movies, going to the gym, playing with friends and l've thoroughly enjoyed having Brady home. One of my favorite things about this Christmas was going to the post office and finding I had 4 packages waiting for me. Brady liked opening our presents early because we got to choose when Santa came, and of course, not having to do work over the break.

Liam pretty much ransacked the living room christmas morning going around playing with, destroying and sucking wrapping paper, ornaments, boxes and candy from our stocking. Holidays are way more fun with a baby!

Liam's not yet convinced yet that he likes Santa Claus

Brady in Boston

We had a fantastic time with the Firths in Boston. We just got home and we miss family already. Boston is a neat city. I love the feeling and all the beautiful buiildings.

Lovin' it in Cape Cod

Liam was in heaven having so many aunts, uncles, and grandparents to play with with him. That baby is very loved and definately spoiled.

The first day we were there we roamed the streets of Boston with Janell and Troy and loved every minute of it. We dont get to see them nearly enough.

We stayed at a fancy shmancy Masonic temple turned hotel in Providence, Rhode Island. This is a picture from our hotel window.

The weather was cold, windy and snowy. It didn't stop us from having a good time but it did sentence us to a day in the Baltimore airport.

The Mayflower in Plymouth ( Or at least a very close replica of it. The real ship was salvaged for parts a few years after the pilgrims came to America)

Plymouth rock- talk about a dissapointment! I was imagining a gigantic, black rock jetting out of the ocean, a beacon for the pilgrams. False. It's pretty whimpy. In fact I'd like to think on a good day I could probably whisk it away in a wheel barrow. It's that small. Just your average joe blow rock.
Other Boston Highlights (besides being with family, of course)
-The Harvard Art Museum
-Boston's historic public library
-Fish & Chips