In Hong Kong

I have arrived! It was a grueling set of flights, but it's always cool when you clear customs and there's a guy/gal standing there with you name printed out. All I needed to do was make myself known and I was headed onto my last step.

The flights overs offered a good variety of movies; The day the earth stood still, Marley and Me, Grand Torino, and many less wonderful movies. The others were pretty good, but just not great.

Here's a generic shot I found on the web of Hong Kong. I am going to get some rest and we'll hit it in the morning.

Have a great day,

Pat

And I'm leaving, on a jet plane...

Tomorrow the travel begins. I will be flying to Hong Kong and will arrive there at about 11PM Friday night (local time) Probably 11ish Michigan time. I dread the flight, but will actually probably enjoy my time once there. It's a very interesting place and since I'm blogging now, I'll try to share my experiences as I am able.

Holly Update: She's doing pretty well. We took the big bandage off today and she was able to shower. It sounded like it went pretty well. For the medically minded, the incision looks pretty good. I gave the boys the talk this afternoon that they'd be the primary care givers while I was gone. Needless to say, I left several phone numbers so that she could call for help if needed.

This just in from a faithful reader and dear friend, Miss Wendy from Ohio. We recently discovered that we had a common acquaintance in Brownsdale, Minnesota. He recently purchased the rights to use the sewer rat that is big in the trenchless tunneling world. The reason it's notable is that the rodent is wearing some SPAM gear. Totally awesome how the world around knows a quality product. Hat's off to Maynard! Thanks Wendy, you are a peach!

Here's Spence playing his DS handheld game system. While he's not a teen yet, he's definitely got the posture.

This one of Ian was an attempt to capture some random light peeking through the blinds and giving his face a splash of light. Not the teen angst, it's ever present.


Have a great day and I'll be in touch soon!

Pat

Happy Birthday Vonda Lee Ames Young Jacobsen

Holly update to follow.

Mom was the glue that held us all together. We tried to move away, but she drew us home. She made sure we came home because she had no qualms about using guilt, sibling rivalry, what ever it took to get her kids home. She loved to visit with us, share our successes and beat us in cribbage, if it was a good day.

Dave, Mom and Reen

Mom

Nanny, Maureen, Mom and Grandma (if you look close, you'll see the similarities in the smiles)

Holly update: Surgery went well today. It was running late but the nice thing is to keep that in perspective, he's a perfectionist and he really works hard at making sure you understand everything that was done. The bottom line is that the surgery went well, the old plate was broken in two and so it really needed to be replaced so that the break could be stabilized again, which he did. It's a different part this time, a bit more robust now that he knows the patient is a pretty good Wii boxer. He also added in some material that would enhance bone growth. I cannot for the life of me, remember the twenty dollar word he used, but it's supposed to be very effective. Lucky for us, Dr. Doud was our anaesthesiologist, a friend from our old church, great guy and really sensitive to Holly's issues with anesthesia. Thank Doc! Hats off to the whole team at Butterworth, as usual, a painful trip filled with wonderful, caring people.

Here's the hardware removed and the pen used to mark the incision point.

Have a great day!
Pat

It's too windy to pick rocks!

It was a blustery day here today. Since I was the only one on the early am schedule I took the motorcycle. It was really breezy and cold, but really clear.



For those not in the know one of the spring chores that Minnesota farmers participated in when I was growing up was picking rocks from the fields. It seems a glacier moved through, created a bunch of lakes and dumped the stones in southern Minnesota and Northern Iowa.



Here are a few shots that Spencer had taken or took himself at 6th grade camp. This was quite the deal, the kids went to this campground, rode horses, played ball and generally had a great time. I wanted to go, but work wouldn't allow it.

Here's Spencer near the YMCA court. Jacob took this one for Spence.

Self photo of Spencer, very cool.

Spencer took this one of one of his teachers and few other teachers. Hi Mr. Barr!




Have a great day!
Pat