Late Summer Updates

I really need to get around to writing more on here. Though I'm not sure anyone actually reads it...but it would be nice to have a journal to reflect back on when I'm old(er) and gray(er).

Well here we are in the late stages of summer. We just had a scheduled fire drill here at work, and my ears are still numb and slightly ringing from the obscenely loud alarms. Since my last writing, quite a lot has happened, but at best I'll just be able to summarize a few key points here.

First and foremost, we're expecting our first child in late October, a boy, so obviously we've been ramping up on the purchase of baby related items and going to classes on safety and doctor's appointments and all that jazz. It's been an uneventful pregnancy so far, in the sense that everything has looked good and normal and there's been no causes of concern anywhere. We just moved in May to a new house, just a couple miles north of our condo, so that we could have more room for our growing family. So far, the cats approve of the new place. We'll see how they feel about a kid...

Our condo is still owned by us, and is currently being rented out through a property management company. The economy is steadily improving, particularly on the home values end, but we're still too far under water on the condo to consider selling. We actually got a good deal on our house, just shy of 2000 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths, built in 2006, and in a great neighborhood close to good schools and shopping. And it was $269k at time of purchase, so we probably already have equity in the place which is good news.

We just got back from a trip to San Francisco over the weekend, where we got to visit and explore Golden Gate Park (Whitney's never been to the Japanese Tea Garden. Check!). It was fun staying in the city; our hotel was right near China Town and Union Square, so an ideal central location from which to spread out and see a little bit of the city. Prior to that we had taken a 4 day cruise from Long Beach to Catalina and Ensenada. We had actually wanted to take a 10 day cruise from San Francisco to Alaska again, especially as the rates were incredibly low this summer. But the dates we could do were just over the 24-week pregnancy deadline by which they won't let you sail. So we had to opt for an earlier, shorter trip booked on short notice. But it was nice to get away. We're still considering doing the Alaska one next summer as more of a family integrated trip - though not sure I want to bring an 8-month old along on that. We'll see how fussy he ends up being in general ;)

Anyways, it's a slow week here as we just concluded the Cal Cap workshops at Sac State, so it's time to get the lockers reset and some other things cleaned up and ready for the fall. Not sure if there will be any more last minute short getaways before the summer ends...actually Whitney's school starts next week so probably not. I'm still playing with the Freelancer's Alumni, and I'm going with them to the DCA championships in Annapolis over Labor Day weekend. So that should be an interesting experience. Time to start memorizing music I guess...