Greetings from Long Branch, NJ!

Jack and Josie and I took the train from Penn Station today to Long Branch, NJ for our second, and final (for this month) library conference. Tomorrow I'm doing another Business Reference workshop and then on Tuesday at 11:00 I'm giving a brief presentation on the Financial Crisis (they roped me into doing that one...still trying to figure out what to say!). At 1:30 on Tuesday, Jack is presenting on Genealogy Reference.






The conference is being held in a hotel right on the beach...here are some shots from our balcony. Josie is loving the ocean breezes. We are, too! These are just a few quick pix taken with a cell phone. We'll post more pictures from the "real" camera when we get back.

Greetings from Sandy, Utah!

After spending the day in Salt Lake City yesterday, Jack and Josie and I are now down the road in Sandy, UT. I'll be speaking at the Utah Library Association conference tomorrow morning. I took this picture of the mountains on my way over to the Expo center earlier today.

We forgot to bring the camera converter, so we're just posting some pix taken with our cell phones for now...here are a few capturing our day so far.




Daddy and daughter hanging out at the local Barnes & Noble.












The local high school students are known as the "Beetdiggers." Apparently in the early days of the school, students would be dismissed each fall to help the farmers harvest sugar beets.










Josie likes to rifle through whatever bag she can get her hands on. Here she shows some glee at having discovered my wallet and glasses case. It is keeping her amused (for now).

The great Chicago Fire

Jack will miss going to see Chicago's Major League Soccer team, the Fire. He went to a game last weekend and picked up a little Fire onesie and booties and the bib pictured here.










Let's go, Fire! Let's go, Fire! Fi-YER! Fi-YER! Fi-yer, fi-yer, fi-yer!

The Swing-y City

One thing I'll miss about Chicago is its plethora of playgrounds.  On our walk today, Josie and I stopped at *four* playgrounds for a swing break at each.  Our initial scoping out of Ann Arbor did not reveal nearly as dense a playground:toddler ratio.

The only reason we didn't stop at six was because she was napping in the stroller when we rolled by Wicker Park and we didn't quite make it over to our home-base playground at Humboldt Park.  

Here she is in the playground by the Bucktown library.

Here she is making a face at the park sort of near where Jack and I used to live.

Here she is, happy to be back in the swing saddle, at the Superior Park playground, on Superior Street over by the grocery store we frequent.

And here are two happy shots taken at the new playground in Smith Park down the street from us.

She would have been happy to swing all day! 

Ready for swinging

Josie says, "Here's my hat, I'm ready to go swinging!" (Of course, I ended up forgetting the hat).

I really do like to swing, but I don't mind sitting and looking cute for pictures before we leave, Mom.

Wolverine love

It's official!  Josie is headed to Wolverine country.  I'll be starting a job with the University of Michigan's business school library in a month or two.  They've already named the school in my honor!  The Ross School of Business has a brand-new eco-friendly building which presents a very modern facade juxtaposed with the more gothic-themed Law buildings down the street.

Lobster and caterpillar love

Josie hearts her Lobster.

And the Very Hungry Caterpillar book!

On the Catwalk

Whenever I dress Josie, the question arises: is it that I don't know how to dress a 1-year old, or that I have very bold and innovative ideas for children's fashion? Earlier today, I had her dressed in some kind of polka-dot smock and green bellbottoms- a look I call "crazy 1970s art teacher." I didn't get a picture of that. Then, due to an unfortunate incident, I had to come up with an entirely new outfit for the afternoon. I decided to go with the "Dexy's Midnight Runners" look, as shown here.

The Difference a Year Makes

Some dinnertime shots

Sometimes the only way I can get Josie to eat whole peas is to hide them in pureed carrots...here you can see evidence of the latter.











I finally got a shot that showcases her tooth...if you click on this pic to enlarge it, it's a little blurry but you can see her single snaggletooth and the little bud of the one that's coming in next to it finally.

Bathtime hairstyles

Josie has just enough hair now for sculpting with the aid of shampoo. Here she sports a mohawk.












You can see one of her "lil' devil" horns in this shot.

The Lil'est Spartan

Josie got caught up in the final four this weekend, and is now a rabid Michigan State fan, as shown in this video.

Reading with Daddy

Josie and her Daddy get some early morning reading in.












Yay, reading!

Standing and more standing

Standing.













More standing.













Pretty good, huh?