Battleship New Jersey

David spent the last weekend with his troop visiting Philadelphia and spent Saturday night aboard the battleship USS New Jersey on the Delaware River.  The Eatherly family was kind enough to pass along their photos of the weekend...you can see the young men of Troop 688 exploring the cradle of our democracy and the might that kept her free.

Help for Haiti

We've added a widget to our site that allows you to support relief efforts in Haiti with the Red Cross, but we're also supporting the United Methodist Committee on Relief.  UMCOR is usually one of the first ones in after a disaster, and they have a ton of experience in these situations, relieving pain and bringing hope in such desperate circumstances.  Click here to go to their site and make a difference to the people of Haiti.

Makin' Plans

Mary was exhausted tonight and was asleep before 9; Sarah didn't last much longer, and of course David was right out.

So I used the time tonight to research possibilities for our European trip this summer.  We know we land in Frankfurt on June 26, and that we go wheels-up from Paris on July 6.  Beyond that...nothing's set.

Part of the reason I wanted to go was because 2010 is 700 years since the first recorded mention of the Kleppinger family.  We go back to 1310 in Dortmund, at least 1447 in Soest, and in 1648 the bulk of the family moved to Pfungstadt.  And, in that order, I think we'll get to visit those places and see where we come from.

David wants to see the city of Ulm, where Albert Einstein was born.  I found out tonight his birthplace was destroyed in firebombings of World War II, so all that's left is a plaque...but we'll go!  Sarah wants to see castles, so I'm thinking we can swing down to Neuschwanstein and the famous Mad King Ludwig castle.

And then it's off to Paris, where we want at least a couple of days to show the kids around places that were meaningful to us on our two previous trips.  And to fit it all in...well, we'll be on the go a lot.

The kids generally travel well, but this will be an aggressive plan.  I'm sure the depth of its aggressiveness will be pointed out to me once everyone wakes up tomorrow.  But for the first time, we at least have a strawman to kick around--ideas about where to go, in what order, and how we'd get around. It's more than we had yesterday, and it's our first step in Makin' Plans for Europe.

It's Quiet Out There...Too Quiet?

The new year is about a week old, and it's unusually quiet.

My mom's two-week visit ended last weekend, so the busyness of our time together (Newseum, Colonial Williamsburg, Archives, seeing Christmas lights, etc.) has passed.  Homework hasn't really started back up yet for the kids, nor has Scouts, and there's no winter sports this year.  Work has been unusually quiet: I even had time to run an errand before lunch today.  I've been able to sit and read at night--I finished Dave Cullen's brutal but excellent Columbine in only three days--and might even be able to share a Netflix evening with Mary tonight.

And yet, and yet, and yet...

I know there's more to come.  Brownies starts again Thursday, including cookie sales over the next couple of weeks.  David has work to do to finish one merit badge, and is on the verge of starting First Aid--a killer when I was in Scouts and doubtless challenging still.  Plus he has his Battleship campout later this month; I have three projects at work that will consume the middle part of Janaury; and the end of the second quarter at school means there will be more homework and tests still to come.  So it's not as if I know I can get away with the quiet for long.  After all, we never can....