September 27, 2009 Draft Blog Posting

It is almost the end of September, and I have not updated the blog since July. A slacker, perhaps. I had intended to post a new entry after returning from the cottage in late August. We had a nice time visiting with family in Michigan. Located in The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore, the Jillson cottage is a nice retreat. While there, I played a few rounds of horrible golf and visited the Cherry Republic with Susan and the kids. Erick's good friend, Derrick Magnun came along and was a good sport. He even survived unscathed the nearly famous Peanut Butter war at Dearing's grocery.

On the way home, we were able to spend a few days with my folks in Cleveland before I needed to return to Connecticut with the boys; Susan and Hannah went to stay at her Mother's house before driving to Indiana pick to up our newest family member, Sadie. A sweet little black lab, who was born on July 1st, Sadie endeared herself to the family quickly. Here is a photo of the little girl on the 7 hour car ride from the breeder. She found the nape of Susan and Hannah's neck the ideal place to cuddle: never seen a dog do that before. Since her return to Connecticut, Sadie has gained about 5 pounds per week. Her paws keep getting bigger.

Hannah has started high school! She is earning good marks in the ninth grade at Simsbury High. This morning Hannah and her team had their first ballroom inter district of the year. The UCONN Ballroom competition is next weekend, as is homecoming. Hannah will be dancing the weekend away! The UCONN team asked Hannah to join them but she had already committed to the high school team. She will try to practice with the UCONN team on Sundays.

Erick is enrolled at Tunxis Community College. He and his longtime girlfriend, Evangeline have classes two nights a week. Erick also got his driver's license earlier this month. He took his written test in June but had to wait until September to take the driving part. He passed on the first try. As we were walking out to the car with the new license in hand, Erick tells me that we need to go back in an stand in line again. Why?, I ask. The DMV had marked “female” rather than male on his license. Just about no one wants to go back and stand in line again at the DMV, but our other options weren't very attractive.

Gavin is not enrolled in Tunxis yet as he simply waited too long to get the ball rolling on his transfer from Northwestern prior to registration deadline. I'm fairly certain that he plans to start up there in the spring. He is working lots of hours at Andy's Grocery Store.

Susan is still loving her job and it is going very well. Once a week her co-teacher Denise, “Nise”, comes over for lesson planning. They put out a monthly newsletter about what they are covering in the classroom so the parents are kept up to date through the school year.

Leaves are starting to change color and fall. The temperature is also falling. I am hoping to have plenty of cool New England small town photos for the next posting.