15 days 'til Texas

It has only been a few days since our last blog update, but it feels as if it has been WEEKS! We are now only 15 days until my thesis defense and the start of our move to Texas. Tomorrow marks the last full work week for Dan. Both of which seem to be coming way too soon.

Friday, Tom and Diane visited us in Duluth for dinner and to pick up our couch we have been borrowing from them for the past 2 years. With the abudant space now available in the living room, we are finally feeling the urge to start packing. But don't worry, we will still put it off for a few more days ;) Dan was elated to immediately visit Target to purchase his Wii Sports Resort game; a birthday present from his parents. He read the entire game manual at the laundromat today. I've never seen a person so entralled over minute details on how to disassemble and reassemble a Wii motion plus remote. I can only imagine what he must have been like at Christmas time when he was 8 years old. It was wonderful to see you again, Connors family!

Alicia, Mom and Getey also visited us this weekend -- for a feast of pulled pork sammies and.. overcooked beans. The maiden voyage of our new, beautiful stoneware bean pot veered a little from planned. Of course, 10 hours in the stove at 250 degrees would probably kill just about anything.. We had a fantastic evening of cards, pie, more cards, dice.. and more pie for breakfast in the morning. Getey never should have told me her theory on pie for breakfast -- it's really just fruit and a pastry, and therefore a perfectly good breakfast option! Goodbye waiste line, hello more pie!

It was such a treat to be able to see both sets of family in one busy busy weekend.

We are trying to plan out our last few days in Minnesota - making sure we get to spend time and say goodbye to as many people as possible. If you would like to hear my formal presentation on the scientific work I have been doing during the past two years while I turn bright red and sweat profusely -- please come to my Master's thesis seminar on August 10th (just ask me for the details). I'd love to see you there! Until then, its back to the books for me!

-Kristin

Pattison

Well, it's Thursday, but it feels like we just got back from our trip to Pattison State Park, just South of Superior Wisconsin. We had a lovely time at the campground. With borrowed hiking packs (Thanks to Kristin's Mom!) we were able to load up all that cool camping stuff that we got from the wedding last year. It really put things in perspective. Kristin and I have been married for a full year now, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Before we packed out to our site, we spent some time at the lake at Pattison. Just beyond the lake are the Big Manitou Falls, which were gorgeous. We had lunch along the Black River, and enjoyed some fresh food. Lastly, we decided that the best way to celebrate our anniversary was to write each other a letter. Since we're supposed to give each other a "paper" gift anyway, we decided it would be a good idea to get down all they way's we'd loved each other throughout the year. The future plan is to make this a tradition and keep it all together in a scrapbook.

Anywho, back to the story: We packed up lunch, got ourselves back to the car, grabbed our hiking packs and hit the trail. Our camping site was 1.5 miles down the trail, which ended up being a very quick hike. Now, I'm not saying that I didn't appreciate setting down my pack when we got there, but we could have done a bit more.

Overall, the site was OK, we found some garbage from the last tenants and there wasn't much a place to hang a bear pack, but we were happy to be off and on our own. I had great enjoyment setting up our tent, using our pot and pan, making a fire and doing all that fun camping stuff. We planed some great meals for ourselves, and we even had strawberries and angel food cake for our official "1 year".

Lastly, we celebrated my Birthday, We packed my sister, Laura's gift with us so that I could open in on by BD. She got me a really cool MN Wild T-Shirt, which will probably be my last for quite a while... I also want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for the presents this year. I'm blessed to have good family and friends.

The night was very cold.

I was exceptionally happy that we had good sleeping bags and pads because the cold came early and left late. Kristin's idea was to ford the river so that we could take a different trail on the way back the next morning (the water was only knee deep). I was pretty tentative on the idea, but she was able to convince me. I'm glad she did, because there were some really beautiful views on the opposite side of the river.

Anywho, we had a really great time, and we were glad to have at least one night camping before we head to the Great South Land. Speaking of, we're going to have to start packing one of these days soon here. August approaches quickly!

---Daniel

Still Recuperating

Dan and I have had one very busy week!

One of our biggest life stressors of late has been trying to juggle planning our life in Texas and preparing for our big move, while I make sure I can graduate on time. Easier said then done! This week has been a very busy one for me, academically. I have been working like a fiend on my Master's thesis. It was such a relief to turn in my final draft to my thesis committee for review this Thursday! My committee now has 3 weeks to read and critique my manuscript before they decide if it is good enough to allow me to defend. If it passes, or passes with revisions, only a thesis presentation and oral exam stand between me and my degree. I have a lot of work still ahead of me, but I am feeling more and more confident that I will be done in time.

After completing my manuscript, we decided that we deserved a weekend away from Duluth to recharge and visit family. Mom and Getey thought it was a good idea, too! We caught a Twins game with some friends on Saturday night, and spent the day floating down the St. Croix with Mom and Getey on Sunday. Sadly, Dan tarnished his near perfect driving record going 64 in a 55 on our scenic drive home. We eeked away with a warning, but I think we will be speed limit sticklers from now on. No fun!

Time for some kielbasa and kraut! (Why is it that men adore very smelly food?)

-Kristin

Yes! Blog Created.

Hello All!

Kristin and I have created a blog with the intent of chronicling our doings as we move to and live in Waco, Texas. I'm sure that we will, in time, come to up date the blog every week or two, but for now I think we're going to work on getting out of Duluth.

We have already booked a truck for our move. We actually just are renting a trailer from ABF U-Pack: they drop off the trailer, and we have three days to load it up. We're hoping to have the trailer ship out by Friday, August 7th. We have up to 6 business days to pick it up at our new location, and we'll probably try to spend a few days in Minnesota before we make our descent into the Lone-Star state.

And yes, I'm still unemployed, so finding a Job is going to be my task in the coming weeks. If anyone knows any good leads in Texas...

Yeah, I've got some work to do, but Kristin will be drawing a paycheck right away, and we have some savings built up, so we won't be starving any time soon.

Our current "Couple Project" is finding a nice campground to stay at during our 1 year anniversary. I'm excited to use our cool gear! We're looking to backpack into a camping spot instead of driving in. The 'hope' is that it is much more rewarding to set up camp when you had to walk 1-5 miles to get there.

Dinner tonight was Kabobs. I don't know who got us the nice, metal, kabobs, but they worked amazing (we tried the wood ones too...). Anywho, K is still a workin' on the Master's Thesis, and I'm going to see if she needs any more help with her comma usage...

DJC