July 24, 2000

Two weekends ago we had Darlene, Sonya, Julianne, and Jacob here for a visit. Katie and I went along with them to the Oregon Zoo. Jacob loved the baby elephant. My favorites, as always, were the naked mole rats. They're so ugly, and yet strangely, I can't look away.

That night Sherrice arrived and she and I stayed up til 4 a.m. talking. It was great to catch up and solve all the world's problems, which we hadn't done in a long time! The next day Daryl and Sally joined us and, in typical Manullang fashion, we ate a big meal. Bailey, Scout, and Guss (our neighbor beagle) ran around the backyard for a miniature beaglefest. Betcha can't guess who barked the most and the loudest. Hint: it was Scout.

BTW, thanks to everyone for all the help... my kitchen's never been so spotless, especially after a big get-together like that! Come back anytime!

Yesterday Uncle Dennis, Dee, Elissa, and Brianna took a break from their Seattle vacation and drove down to spend the day with us. Although I had some other commitments and couldn't be there the whole time, we did have an awful lot of fun together. Pictures of Katie and the girls will be published on the site when I get them developed.

We traded in the Cabrio for a Ford Explorer last week. For anyone who cares about such things, we'll publish pictures of it too. Anyway, there's a lot more room in the Explorer for traveling, and that was what we'd wanted. Of course, this big vehicle means there's little chance we'll ever get both cars in the garage, no matter how clean we get it. The other problem is that now we're fighting over who has to drive the "old" Jetta.

Katie cut her two bottom front teeth on July 13! These were a long time coming and tested Mom and Dad's patience quite a bit before they arrived! We're hoping she stops here--who needs more than two teeth anyway?

Our neighbor Jenna is the babysitter of the year in our book! She and her mom Cheri take Katie off my hands when I teach daytime classes, and deserve many thanks for keeping her entertained. THANKS!

June and July were our busy months, and now we're starting to relax, although there's still a lot going on. Sean and Stephen will be with my mom for a few weeks, and we'll be trying to get them to Portland for some of that time in August. We're headed to Medford at the end of August for my cousin Lia's wedding and are looking forward to seeing Donna, Sharon, and Uncle Paul and Claire too. Kathy's coming to Portland for a couple weeks in September. Plans for our Las Vegas vacation are coming right along.

Happy Birthday to Vic (July 29) and Kathy (July 31)! They'll be the same age, but only one of them will tell you what it is. The other one will lie like she's never lied before.

That's my story.