Love's Labor's Day

This has been our first full week back since our megatrip of August.  The weather has been perfect by Seattle standards: highs of 80 and sunny almost every day.  But honestly, that's about all that has been unordinary this past week.  Things are settling back into normalcy with Amit being at school and doing research much of the time and Marinda teaching harp lessons.  But there are some highlights....

On Labor Day Amit and Marinda decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go on a hike at Lund's Gulch half an hour north of Seattle.  The hike was difficult at times but well worth it.  It was essentially a mile long descent that came to a tunnel that emptied out to a beach.  "The beach smelled awful!" Amit said.  "There was all this seaweed and other...life."  Marinda was less phased.  "I loved it!  It was sooooo pretty."  The only bad part of the hike was having to go back up.  The climb was over 400 feet.  Put into context, the Duomo in Florence, Italy (which the pair climbed on their honeymoon) was only 300 feet tall.  If they continue to improve this much (being able to climb an extra 100 feet every year) they'll be able to climb Mount Everest at 29,000 ft in just under 290 years!  Or if you assume it increases by a factor of 4/3 every year they'll be able to do it in a much more reasonable 16 years.  Either way, Everest - watch out!  The Misras are gunnin' for ya!

A caterpillar we saw on our hike!

The living stuff Amit hates so much

The lowlight of the week was Durandalion getting sick.  One morning he just stopped eating and went off into a corner to hide.  And when Marinda shook his food bag, instead of running towards it like normal he just sat there.  As any concerned parent would do, they took him to the vet ASAP.  Between the incident and going to the vet he started eating normally, but it turns out he had an urinary tract infection.  So he has medicine now and he'll be fine.  But he certainly doesn't like taking his medicine.  "It's so awful!" Durandal is interpreted as saying.  "My mean mommy picks me up and puts me on my back, then forces this icky liquid into my mouth.  I hate it so much!  But then she gives me food right afterwards, and then its maybe not so bad I guess."  Thankfully for Amit, Marinda is doing all the medicine giving so that Amit can retain his position as favorite parent.  An undercover camera hidden in the living room caught Amit going up to Durandal after Marinda gave him the medicine saying "Your mommy's so mean to you isn't she?  You know I'll never make you take any awful medicine.  I'll just give you treats so you love me.  Love me more than her."  Not that it's a competition.  Durandal is doing much better now and should be fine in a few weeks.  If anyone would like to send a get well soon card to Durandal you know his address.  Also, Durandal apparently also likes gift cards for ice cream when he's sick.  So don't be shy!

Durandal hanging out in his favorite spot

This weekend has been very busy, mostly with Stake Conference for the church in Seattle.  It took up most of yesterday and the morning for today.  After conference the dynamic duo went to a brunch party at Amit's advisor's house.  The food and company were great, as was the weather.  The highlight most likely being the introduction of Turkish Eggs - a new must on every menu!

And that's pretty much it.  Who knows what awesome adventures this week has in store!  Perhaps another hike?  Or maybe a game night with friends?  Perchance a trip to the moon?  Okay maybe one of these in unrealistic.  Everyone knows we don't have any friends.

If you're looking for something patriotic to do for the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I would recommend the following.  It's a special edition of Music and the Spoken Word with Tom Brokaw, talking about 9/11 and interviewing real people affected by it.