welcome olivia!

Back home! Was in Michigan for a couple days last week to be around for the Birth of my new niece, Olivia Margaret Ridpath (5 lb, 9 oz). I got to see her about 15 minutes after she was born...very pink and wrinkled and slightly cross-looking (can't blame her, really, having been put through the indignity and discomfort of being Born). I got to hold her for a while the day after, and she was in much better spirits. Debbie and Case were both happy and relieved and tired (and Case didn't faint in the delivery room!!). I'll post a photo of my new niece when I pick them up my pics later this week.

I got to spend a fair amount of time with my 2-year-old niece Brittany during this time, and she seemed to latch onto me pretty well. :-) I don't get to see Brittany nearly as often as Sara/Annie, so it was nice to be able to get in this extra time. She still calls me "Dobbie" and insisted on sitting beside me, going where I was going, was very concerned whenever I left the room. At first there was some minor confusion when she asked me about the baby in my tummy. I told her it was her OTHER Aunt Debbie who had the baby, and she seemed to grasp that all right.

After I came back Friday, I picked up my bike, then had an hour or two to unpack and pack for the cottage. Jeff and I heard foreboding forecasts (severe weather warnings, tornadoes, etc.) but decided to go up anyway. Glad we did! Fairly good weather the entire time we were up, and we had a wonderfully relaxing time. Not many cottagers on the lake...they were probably scared off by the weather forecasts. We went biking and had a picnic at Joe Lake dam, saw a pheasant and other wildlife along the way. Later on we went canoeing. Had a romantic candlelit dinner (Jeff made his famous scallop-and-pepper salad).

Came home yesterday evening, took off right away to see The Truman Show. Both of us quite enjoyed this movie, though I do wish I hadn't found out so much about it ahead of time through trailers.

Came back to a zillion email messages, will probably spend most of the today trying to catch up. Hope you all had a good weekend!