Yearly Archives: 2004

Expenses to Follow

I really should upload some pictures, but I’m not at home at the moment and if I don’t update now, I fear it shall be some time before I get around to this. I know it has been a while since there has been an update, but there has been much going on. Heidi and I were up in Toronto one week back relaxing at the cottage and generally enjoying some sunshine before the hectic pace of this weekend. It was wonderful to visit and to see little Jenna Barbara. Have you heard? She’s not really a baby, she’s the perfect never-cry child.

So there is other big news as well. On Friday of last week, Heidi and I moved into the new house that the Lord provided for us. We were very thankful for help from Mom Roach, Andrew, Sam, Nathan and Jen. While I can’t say that I miss our old apartment, it was a little sad seeing it so empty. OK. So that sad feeling only lasted seconds as we were finally able to move into our own home and do jumping jacks and cartwheels in every room. Woo hoo! The neighbors seem exceptionally friendly, and at least four different families have already come by (in two days) to welcome us to the neighborhood and ask if we need everything.

Now come the days of expenses and bills as we start to fill the house with things which we’ve been putting off for two years. Things like the fridge and lawn mowers really need to be towards the top of the list. Pictures to come … Smile!

Spanish Vacations

Pictures of Spain should now be in. They’re not as incredible as the ones we took in the Azores, but it was still a fantastic trip. We spent four days over on the Mediterranean, visiting between Denia, Alacante and Valencia. These were mostly sun-soaked days of reading books on the beaches, but we did some touring of old Spanish ruins as well. You can see some of the incredible fortresses that overlooked almost every ocean town and city for defence. Some of the architecture we saw was as old as the second century.

We then spent three days in Madrid (I had to work one day) touring around the plazas, castles, cathedrals and monuments. Heidi would tell you that we walked way too much, but we ended up getting subway passes and doing it the quick way as well.

The weather was a truly incredible 90 degrees every day which is right up Heidi’s alley, but is a little beyond my preferences. In terms of places where we visited, Spain was truly incredible but both Heidi and I would go back to Brazil in a minute. If nothing else, it was wonderful to just have some time to ourselves to enjoy the summer and sunshine with a SMILE!

Mountain Grandeur

I’ve uploaded some pictures from this years hike up Mt Katahdin. The disappointing thing is that you really can’t get a sense of the scope and grandeur of where we actually were. It’s obviously quite a hike with snow well below where we were, but the pictures don’t nearly do justice to actually making the climb. If you’ve never done this one, I highly recommend it. We usually climb Cathedral and cross over the Knife’s Edge, but this year we went up Hunt’s Back. Although the hike was much longer, the scenery was probably a little better with incredible horizon shots.

The house! Heidi and I have put in an offer on a small (but cozy) home in Southern New Hampshire and its been accepted. While it probably won’t be a house that we will stay in for the long term, its wonderful just to have a place that we can call home. I guess I shouldn’t be counting chickens yet because we still have financing and almost two months to close, but the big hurdles (terms agreement, inspections) have already been passed. When I have some time, I’ll post some pictures.

Guess what? We’re off to Spain tomorrow for seven days. We’re staying on the east coast in a small town called Denia. We really don’t have any idea of plans or anything like that, but it will be good to just sit back and relax a little. I don’t know how often we’ll be doing that after the baby comes.

The baby? Oh yeah … Smile!