Earthquake!

Amy and I jumped out of bed this morning at 4:36 when the magnitude 5.2 earthquake hit 130 miles east of St. Louis. It was a surreal feeling with a good 20 seconds of shaking - like nothing I've ever felt before. Sounds like there's no damage in this area other than a few pictures knocked off of walls.

On the Road

I'm on the road for a few days this week at a government finance conference. As you might have guessed, it's a crazy, non-stop party (not). The conference is at the Lake of the Ozarks - somewhere I've never been before. I took a drive after our afternoon sessions and checked out the far eastern shores of the lake. It is a lot different from other "lake towns" I've been to before. I guess I would describe it as a Wisconsin Dells feel - lots of shops, restauraunts, and go-kart/miniature golf places.

That's it from here - back to St. Louis tomorrow night.

Attack Sailfish

Here's a video from Costa Rica of an angry sailfish taking a run at the boat. We've got lots of great fishing pictures and video, but I think it might take me about a year to work my way through all of it!

Happy Birthday Matt!

Costa Rica

Here are a few pictures from our vacation in Costa Rica. We had a great time, but are glad to be back home again. (double-click on the pictures for a larger view)

Goodbye to Inca

1999

With Amy (while pregnant with Emily)

Naptime with Emily in 2002

Last goodbye - 4/5/08

Amy and I got back to our house from Costa Rica at about 11:15PM tonight and were sad to see that Inca's health had deteriorated significantly since we left. Ninny Kathy noticed the change while we were gone, and after observing Inca for some time, we made the decision that she couldn't wait until the morning. Needless to say the late hour and the overall situation was hard on Emily and Amy, but they managed to smile for one last picture with their girl.

I got Inca for Amy when she was a second year law student at Dayton in 1996. She made many drives with Amy between Dayton and Schererville, moved to 3 different places in Springfield, and made the move with us to St. Louis. She was great with the kids - never nipping at them, and just running away to one of her many hiding places when they got to be too much for her.

Our biggest complaint with her was her demands for attention at night right as we were trying to go to sleep. She will be missed.

Hola from Costa Rica!

Good afternoon from Los Suenos, Costa Rica. We're having a great time on vacation. We did some fishing where we tallied 30 sailfish (all of us combined), one 250 pound blue marlin (Jeff), one 50 pound dorado (Paul) and one 1 pound tuna (Shawn). Yesterday we went on a zip line canopy tour which was quite the experience, and today a few of us went ocean kayaking. One more day of fun in the sun, and then our trip home begins early Saturday morning.

Needless to say we're missing our kids, and are looking forward to seeing them Saturday night (Emily) and Sunday morning (Adam).

Hopefully Ninny Kathy and Papa Tom are surviving okay (which we're sure they are).

Pictures will be coming soon!