Something new....

I've created something new that I'm hoping will become a great place for academic partners to network and share their stories.  Check it out here:

theacademicwife.weebly.com

A New Toy

Clay got a spectacular graduation present today in the mail. We're already benefitting from it's awesomeness as you can see here.

It's Official!

This past weekend we traveled back to Ann Arbor to watch the Brain walk across the stage after being hooded and officially receiving his freshly minted PhD. It was a memorable ceremony filled with politically liberal speeches, borderline inappropriate whooping from the members of the audience and a sentimental sigh from myself as I watched my husband take the steps he's been working so diligently towards for many years. It was unbelievably satisfying. And someday when the bank accounts are a little more padded, I will happily hand the University of Michigan my pound of flesh ($$$) for their beautiful custom fit blue robes with specialized hood & tassel so the Brain can look like the sophisticated academic he is.

We also took the opportunity to visit the Henry Ford museum and Greenfield village one more time before our membership expires.

There were paper airplanes, which made the Chief happy...

and other airplanes...

and glassblowers, which made Beaker happy...

but, best of all there was time with family...

I can't thank Clay's Mom and Step-dad for making the trip to Ann Arbor to be a part of this unforgettable moment in our life. We had the most wonderful weekend visiting with them. My folks also made the trip down and I am ever thankful for their love and support. For those friends and family that could not join us, please know that you occupied our minds and hearts as we celebrated. It has been a great journey, one that continues, and we could not travel it so well without any of you.

Easter Fun

Easter was pretty low key for us this year, since we couldn't make the drive to visit family. We just hung around Kingston enjoying the weather and having fun as a family. Here we are dying our eggs for Mr. Bunny to hide.

Our finished products came our quite lovely.

Though we had two casualties while we were decorating...the first just a clumsy mishap, the second a curious cat.

Both were enjoyed by the kids.

Sunday morning the kids woke up extremely early (6:30 a.m.!) to see what goodies the Easter Bunny had left them. They were both excited to get a new stuffed friend, but it was easy to see how exhausted they were.

Hopefully this year begins a new Easter tradition...naptime.

I hope everyone enjoyed the Holiday. Cheers!

Wolfe Island

We took advantage of the beautiful weather this weekend and rode the ferry over to Wolfe Island to explore the little town that we can see from our windows.

There's not much to it, considering how large the island is. We wandered around a bit and took some pictures of a few pretty churches, but it's obviously still winter here. Half of the shops are still closed for the season, waiting for warmer weather and tourists before they throw open their doors again.

Humorously, there are hockey decorations everywhere since Wolfe Island is in the running to be named Hockeyville.

All in all, it was a fun way to spend a few hours of our time on a beautiful Sunday. I'm excited to go back during the summer when we can bike and explore more extensively.

It must have been a good time...even I got in a picture for once.

Here's the view of Kingston from the ferry. Our building is one of those tall things, uglying up the shoreline.

Bring on Springtime

I have been waiting for something to write about, but not much has been happening these days. The routine schedule of family life plays out day after day around here with not much variance. Most of the time it is a great comfort, knowing what to expect from life, but it doesn't lend much excitement to writing a blog.

Spring break has finally come for the kids and amazingly it actually feels like spring here in Kingston. The sun in shining and it's a balmy 2.5 C today (for everyone else that's 36 F). Now, I'm certain that some of you are rolling your eyes at the thought of 36 F being spring like weather, but you have to remember everything is relative. We've been suffering an extremely cold winter here the past couple of months, so 36 F feels like heaven comparatively. The lake has mostly thawed, the thick plates of ice giving way to the rolling rhythm of blue waves. Trees are budding, flowers are pushing up from the wet soil and the birds are singing. Yes, spring is definitely in the air and it makes me happy.

We had a wonderful visit with my folks this past weekend, who made the long trip out to see their Grandkids. It was so nice to have company though we didn't do hardly anything. Amazingly, we got to watch U of M play Ohio State in the Big Ten tournament. It felt a lot like being back in Ann Arbor.

The kids and I have been enjoying their time off of school by doing absolutely nothing. We sleep in (if you consider 8:00 a.m. sleeping in) and laze around the rest of the day - playing with legos, coloring pictures, and doing other such stress-free activities. Today, I think we'll take a walk/scooter ride and enjoy some time at the park. The Brain is still working hard this week, so maybe we'll pop in and see if we can entice him out of his hole and into the sunshine.

For those of you who share my strange affinity for Ireland despite not being Irish....Happy St. Patrick's Day. I, for one, will be going out in search of that illusive pot of gold while the sun is shining.

Cheers!

New additions

We've added some new additions to the Cressler family. Meet Morris and Bo Peep:

There has been a lot of discussion over the past few years about adding pets to the family. Beaker would have loved to have a dog, but the Chief doesn't do dogs. He loves cats though. We went out to the pet store today to check these two lovely felines out and of course the kids fell in love. So our little clan has grown a bit and everyone is excited.