New to blogging...

Greetings from Cleveland!

Lynelle and I have decided to try our hand at blogging. We both worry that it will be an immense time sink and that every little bit of free time that we really don't have will be consumed in the effort. Still, seems like it could be fun...

For those we haven't seen in a long time, we are currently living in Cleveland where I am finishing my plastic surgery training at the Cleveland Clinic, and Lynelle is running things at home and doing a fabulous job herding our 4 very active kids. Though my job is tough, she works a lot harder than I ever have!

Cleveland has been great...no really...I mean it. We have loved it. The only downer, from Riley's perspective, is that we have to endure Cleveland Browns fans when we remain staunch Indianapolsi Colts fanatics. We even painted a Colts field in our backyard this past year and then sent a photo of it to Coach Dungy.

When he sent us an autographed picture of his with the Vince Lombardy trophy, the boys were ecstatic at first. Then Riley thought for a minute and said, "Oh, man! We should have sent the picture to Peyton Manning instead!"

The boys are sports enthusiasts and both the older ones played baseball this last Spring. Matthew (at age 16 months) is still not old enough to join a league, but throws anything he can get his hands on...including dinner.

While Lily and Matthew excel in competitive cake eating, which I am told they may adopt as a Summer Olympic sport for the 2012 games in London.

Northern Ohio is beautiful and lush, and there are lots of outdoors things to do. We have especially loved hiking and swimming in Lake Erie. The kids have also especially enjoyed our recent creek walking adventures in the Chagrin River valley.

While here in the Midwest, we decided to take a trip to Niagara Falls. What a great time! Lynelle and I thought the Falls were spectacular. The kids were far more impressed with the indoor waterpark at our hotel and the snacks for the car trip.

It was the first vacation we have really taken since . . . well . . . ever. Not that we haven't traveled. It's just that we travel to interview of residency or to visit family most often. We really haven't ever just taken to the road with no agenda and no schedule. I think the break from being at home was good for Lynelle.

While in Niagara, we loved riding the boat down at the base of the falls - the Maid of the Mist. The kids also liked taking the walk through the tunnel that lets you come right up behind the Horseshoe falls and hear the roar of the water - which by tour guide accounts is enough to fill 1,000,000 bathtubs per minute.

We also took a little day trip down to Palmyra, New York to see the Joseph Smith farm and the Hill Cumorah. God bless the poor sister missionary tour guide who tried to keep our children engaged and interested! While she was trying to make the experience a spiritually memorable one, our children (who had spent a lot of time couped up in a minivan to get there) were more interested in collecting interesting rocks from the gravel path leading to the Sacred Grove. At one point, Lily had all of her pockets loaded with gravel and her pants were riding low. I think a highpoint for the kids was log rolling down the Hill Cumorah. Overall, pebbles in pants notwithstanding, it was a fun afternoon.

We anticipate we will be doing more traveling in the coming weeks. I am gearing up for more interviews for a final year of fellowship training in pediatric plastic surgery. Next stop, Pittsburgh and then a handful of other cities around the country. Lynelle is hoping I will one day stop being a resident (when you have been a resident for 8 years, what's one more???) and find gainful employment.

We will try to post updates and new pictures a couple times a month, so stay tuned!