rats, housing, minnesota, seamonkeys, hawai'i, more rats, and a new nephew!

okay. time for the whirlwind update! cass hasn't run away again, but she has been running...after rats! that's right folks, we have rats. in our house. in the kitchen. in the toilet. everywhere. we were evicted from our house under suspicious conditions, but whatever. they can have the rats! i'm less than excited about having to find a new place in this overpriced dog unfriendly town. i'm having a dilemma of which is worse...craigslist posts or rats. hmm. i'll get back to you on that one.

pete and i managed to get a trip in to the river in early august. we had a great few days up there enjoying the warm weather and icy cold river. then i turned 30 while we ushered for the shakespeare santa cruz production of romeo and juliet. a few days later pete used his newly appointed reverend status to marry our dear friends morgan and tish.

reverend pete w/ tish and morgan

the next stop was minnesota. pete accompanied me for a few days to my home state. the last time he was there was in january 2007...it was 100 degrees warmer this trip! we got to spend some quality time with my parents, my niece madeline, and my grandpa. pete kicked all our butts at fishing and finally got to try the infamous tator tot hotdish (which i despise!).

pete with one of his SIX northerns

we put pete on a plane back to california so he could prep for his upcoming scientific diving class and i got in a van with four of my fellow seamonkeys and drove to wisconsin. twelve of us then commenced to run 206 miles from lacrosse, wi, to minneapolis, mn. clyde (the monkey below) has been our trusty mascot since we started punishing ourselves with these relays in 2003. we had a good time, slept little, and were sore by the time we finished. stairs were not so much fun on sunday morning!

clyde, our trusty monkey

after a surprise 60th birthday party for my parents, i was on a plane heading for honolulu. i attended a conference on stable isotopes in ecology and presented some of the work i've been doing for the last four years. the talk went well, i met some great people, and honolulu wasn't bad either. after the conference ended, i flew to kaua'i for a few days of hiking and diving. i got to stay with my friends chris and lee who showed me around and took me diving. it was great! i have to admit that i wasn't thinking about rats, housing, or my dissertation. it was wonderful...

waimea canyon, kaua'i

green sea turtle, hanauma bay, o'ahu

and finally, today at 7:58am, i got a new nephew. baby luke and mom (sarah) are doing well. madeline and kieran have been anxiously awaiting his arrival so i'm sure they're excited too. i'm sad i missed meeting him by a week.

stephanie, madeline (9), and kieran (2)

there's the whirlwind. i hope september holds better things than august...