Ariell and Jordann Visit Indiana

Jessica's nieces (Ariell and Jordann) are here to visit us this June and we have had a really good time showing them around Indiana. First, Jessica took them to see the IU campus and downtown Bloomington (pictures forthcoming). This was followed by visits to Nashville and Brown County (pictures forthcoming). Then they spent some time visiting the Amish in Southwestern Indiana.



The highlight of our trip with them was our visit to Lincoln State Park and Holiday World. We had never been to Holiday World before and their visit seemed like the perfect excuse for our family to go. We began the trip with an overnight stay in Lincoln State Park.



After we set up camp we went for a hike around Lake Lincoln. We saw all sorts of wildlife including an otter, a lizard, two snakes, tons of dragon flies and butterflies, a rabbit, and a turtle. Kourtney found a perfect seat to rest on along the trail as seen in the picture below.



By the time we were finished with our hike, we were all ready for a swim. Kourtney and Alyson were very apprehensive of swimming in the lake at first but became comfortable with it with a little persuasion.



We took a paddle boat around the lake after our swim. We looked for wildlife, but the closest thing we saw to it was something slithering through the lily pads. After spotting two snakes along the trail, one of which was a baby water moccasin, we were convinced that it was probably another snake.



One highlight of our camping trip was eating smore's that we wrapped in tin foil instead of cooking them the traditional way (Ariell's idea). Everyone agreed that they were the best we'd ever tasted!



Another chance to see wildlife occurred while we were playing cards after dinner. Kourtney accidently dumped some crackers on the ground earlier in the day, and it attracted the attention of a raccoon family. First a larger raccoon dared to come within 10 feet of our picnic table and then it brought back two others.



After packing up camp on Thursday morning, we went to Holiday World for the first time. It was an incredible experience that we would all like to repeat again. Alyson and Kourtney really loved the kiddie rides and the water slides. Kris, Jessica, Ariell and Jordann thought the roller coasters (one of which is the #3 wooden roller coaster in the world "The Voyager") were amazing. We also had a great time at Splashin' Safari going down the water slides including the longest enclosed water slide in the world (no pictures were taken because we knew no one wanted to see Kris with his shirt off). :)

This was also an exciting day because it was Ariell's 17th birthday. What a way to celebrate!

Getting Started

Hi there everyone!! We finally decided to take a little time to fill you all in about what's been happening in our family. There are many things that we could begin with, but we figured the thing you would most like to hear about is Kris' interesting accounting research (just kidding). We will lead with a "filler" on the kids.

Alyson graduated this year. OK, so it is only graduation from her first year of preschool, but it's still really neat because she got a certificate of completion and a party in her class' honor.

Alyson also just turned four years old on April 30th, began playing her first year of softball, and will be going to camp at the YMCA this summer. She loves to write to her grandparents, play hide and seek with daddy, and boss her younger sister around...

Kourtney is about to turn three years old in September, and lets just say, she is our most independent thinking child! It's too bad that we can't share the sound of her voice with you because it is very sweet and unique. You would think that someone from the Bronx taught her how to talk because most words come out with a deep New York accent. For example, we say "water", and she says "wota."




Kourtney got a real kick out of Easter this year. Although she can't wait for the Easter Bunny to come back next year, she was terrified when meeting him in person. Both times she attempted to hug him, she only got about six feet within distance and broke out crying. However, candy was a big incentive for her to really enjoy this special holiday. The picture above is a picture we took of her posing in her Easter dress she got from her Nana and Papa Bear. The picture on the bottom is of Kourtney and Jessica at the YMCA Easter hunt after she failed miserably in her attempt to overcome her fear of getting too close to the Easter Bunny.




The highlight of Kris' winter semester at Indiana University was getting the Assistant Instructor Teaching Award, an honor only given out to one Ph.D. student from the Kelly School of Business each year. He is finally done with all of his course work and now can devote most of his attention to completing his dissertation about understanding the usability of firm-specific, time-series cost of equity capital estimates...accounting stuff. Kris is hoping to finish up this year and get out in a total of four years instead of the typical five to six years it usually takes.




Kris also recently ran in the "Dances with Dirt" team race in Brown County State Park where the average distance for each runner was about 12 miles. However, Kris ended up running about 14 after getting lost once and picking up an extra mile on a last minute course change. Speaking of the course, it consisted of little to no trails, a lot of hills and the occasional 168 stair climb, not to forget trudging through creeks and thorny raspberry bushes! If you want an idea of how insane this race was go to www.danceswithdirt.com/indiana/.




Jessica has been busy...busy...busy...with softball...softball...softball...so Kris says (and she regrettably agrees). Oh, yeah. Don't forget about being busy with home and family responsibilities. She's helping coach Alyson's 6 and under softball team, head coaching a 12 and under softball team, and playing on a ladies slow pitch softball team as well. She still finds time to prepare for the Indiana Univeristy Half Marathon again and help out with the Young Women on Tuesdays and Sundays.





Jessica is also really enjoying the warm weather, and being outside with Alyson and Kourtney. We've made many trips to the park, feeding the geese and walking our three corgis. Speaking of the corgis, her business if finally beginning to take off. We have a website (bloomingcorgis.googlepages.com) with visitors from around the world viewing it. We had 247 visitors in one day. Gracie is expecting a litter of puppies any time now, and Alyson and Kourtney are especially excited since they can't have the baby brother or sister they have been asking for!