Back from Mongolia!

Hi Everyone!

It's Laura. I'm back from Mongolia and have already had a week of law classes. Time flies when you are having fun! : ) Classes are going well. I'm taking Agency and Partnership (think LLC's and LLP's), Intellectual Property, Federal Taxation on Individual Income, Immigration law, Legal Writing, and Professional Responsibility (Ethics). This is a very full load, 16 credits total, and I'm also working as an Associate Editor for the International Journal. The biggest thing that I'm filling my time with right now is finding a (PAID!) job for next summer! Hopefully I'll end up in Chicago.

Above and below are a few of my favorite pictures from Mongolia. If you are interested in seeing more, send me an email! thelauramiller@gmail.com

Pictures from Tulle

Well it is now probably an entire year late. But I do have many many pictures from France that I just haven't gotten around to posting. I'll start with one of my favorite towns in France which was Tulle. Tulle is a town that was built on the hillsides of France. There is more than likely a history as to why this town was built on the hillside; but I do not know it. The hillside location of the town made for some very interesting infrastructure. There is probably a good reason as to why this public restroom is so clean.

Love

Thomas

A classic shot from the Z's

I thought you all would enjoy this shot. Timmy has been enjoying some computer time every few days during school hours for the girls. He absolutely loves it and he is learning while he is doing it, so the best of both worlds... busy Timmy for a short while, he is learning, and loving it! I took this picture after I told him it was time to get off the computer. He was very sad to have to get off of the computer, but very willing to pose for this shot! I took several! It was very hard not to laugh as I was taking the picture.

Lots of love to you all!

Starting School

We started homeschooling on Thursday! WOW! We are all excited. Abby is starting Second grade. Chrissy is in Kindergarten and Tim is having fun entertaining us. So far, I have had many comments from Abby "Mom, I love school!" Chrissy loves it too, but she doesn't know much else, like her sister did.Our first day, we finnished about 1:00. Shortly after, the girls went to a friend's house to spend the rest of the day and night. They spent the afternoon exploring a river by our friend's house, playing and enjoying thier friends. We then joined up and had school later on Friday. Homeschooling is GREAT! The kids get socializing in a whole new way...We will have to be more scheduled next week, but this was a good start for us. :) Lunch times have been great for me! As I listen to my kids interact with one another and me, I am thrilled that I get to be a part of their lives during the day! They are all such blessings! God knew what He was doing when He called us to do this.The girls were excited to tell Daddy what they had been learning. Rick has even gotten into the process of encouraging good attitudes during class time. If they do well all week, they get to give Daddy one of thier chores! (which the girls usually pick the dog poop duty!) He is a great encourager and supporter!Tim also got to go on a date with mommy when the girls had their sleep over. He thought that was great! We went to Long John Silver's and danced in our seats to the juke box (Tim did most of the dancing). Daddy and Mommy and Tim then went shopping for his 3rd birthday party (sept. 10). We had fun finding lion things and watching him try to act like a lion at the store... growling most of the time. :) Rick and I cannot believe that our baby is going to be 3 in less than a month!

A Close Friends Accident

Dear family,


I'm sorry to say; but, unfortunately a very good friend of mine Jacob Garbini was in a very serious scooter accident. At this point it is strongly believed that the accident will not take a fatality toll on him; he did cut it very close though. Jake would be my closest friend in Charlotte and a very inspirational role model to me. He's attending UNC Charlotte and has recieved a degree and is almost done with his masters. After recieving his masters he was planning on going for his PhD as he was accepted to their program. Like me, he is, or will be, a civil engineer. His specialty is in Geotechinical Engineering. I'll keep you posted with his progress as he gets through this ordeal. He's just gotten through an operation so I'm going to visit him.

Love
Thomas

Quick Update on Grandpa

Hi All,

I just wanted to take a minute and update you on Grandpa.  If all goes as planned, Grandpa will move back into his apartment on Wednesday.  I have ordered a hospital bed so that he can get in and out of bed with less pain.  It should be delivered tomorrow at 4 pm.  He is more than ready to get back to his computer, his cable TV and his comfortable space.  He is also ready to get back to his friends in the dining room.  Keep your fingers crossed that all will go as planned.

The McEvoy's have moved into their new house today.  It is beautiful!!  Keep them in your prayers.  There are many boxes to unpack and everyone needs to kick into school gear by Wednesday.  Jim's first day was today.  

Love you all!!

Betsy

Picture of Laura in Mongolia

I thought you all might enjoy seeing this picture.  think she will have some great stories to tell when she gets home.  

115 (not 130) Mile Ride Complete

Yesterday I completed my Ride from Pumpkin Island in Canada to Syracuse. Unfortunately the ride was not 130 miles it was only 115. This is probably a good thing because I was pretty tired by the end of it. For the most part it was smooth sailing although at mile 90 my legs did feel like they were on fire, and I was the most fatiqued at that point. This was also the break where I ate and drank the most. I stopped at someone's house and asked them if I could have some water. She was a little concerned about me because of how tired I looked, but after maybe 30 minutes of resting and some stretching I felt better. We also had a brief conversation where I learned that she worked as a teacher in East Syracuse. I then hopped back onto the bike and rode the rest of the way back. In total the ride took 11 hours. Actual bike riding time added up to 8 hours. I average 14.37 mph on on the and alittle over ten for the whole day.

My general goal was to ride for two hour increments and then stop and eat some and rest breifly. In total there were five long segments but I didn't actually ride through them all. On the first hall I walked across the bridge between Canada and the states which probably took at least 15 minutes. I also had brief 10 to 15 minutes rests in the gaps. The first gap was roughly 2 hours and I burned (according to my heart rate monitor) 1271 calories, my average heart rate for that segment was 132 bpm. My next segment was another 2 hours, I burned 1479 calories and my average heart rate was 146. The third segment was another 2 hours, I burned 1533 calories, and my heart rate was 150. The fourth segment, which was the most grueling as it had the most hills was an hour and a half. I burned 1372 calories and my average heart rate was 157. The fifth and final segment was an hour and 46 minutes, I burned 1343 calories and my average heart rate was 146.

My attention span in weak at the moment I'll update this post with pictures and stuff later.

The Millers get crafty!

Those who know us know that's we're not really "craft/project" people, but we decided our bedroom needed some help. We spent today working on making our own upholstered headboard and this is our end result! We're really proud of it! At least we won't be hitting our heads on the wall while we cheer on the Colts! :-) We think with the extra materials we have we may even try to build a bench to match in the coming weeks.

Life is moving right along with 2 babies in the house. Caleb has gotten 2 more teeth recently and Sophia is trying to get into a napping routine. We stay busy with playdates with our friends when we can get to them. Andrew has been traveling a lot the past couple weeks which has been an adjustment for Caleb since he is so used to Daddy being home 3 days a week. Thank goodness this is only 4 times a year.

Caleb loves the park! We went with a bunch of friends and he wore himself out trying to keep up with the big kids who treat him like he's 3 yrs old!


Sophia is taking a real interest in toys that Caleb leaves close to her. Here she's sampling the helicopter and Caleb wasn't too happy with her for trying to eat it! She was awfully proud of herself for grabbing it and getting it into her mouth though! :-)

130 mile ride

Well today I'm going up to Pumpkin Island in Canada and I'll be riding back on Saturday morning. Hopefully I'll be leaving no later then 7:00AM. I bought the pump, I bought new tires, I bought levers (?), an inner tube, a map, and food for the journey. My food consists of 2 lbs of trail mix (minus .5 lbs because I was hungry and now am full), 3 soy protein shake mixes (It will probably only be two on Saturday), 8 whey protein shake mixes, and three bananas. In terms of liquid I will be bringing my 1.5 liter camelbak (ironically named because camel humps are filled with fat, not water). At the moment I have something called Cytomax in the camelbak. The mix is diluted to about 2/3rds or 3/4s of what they recommend and its pupose is to keep me hydrated. I will also have a protein shake mixed and diluted which will have about .7 liters of liquid in it. I figure 2 liters should be more then enough to get me from town to town.

I plan on brining a heart rate monitor with me. I've been riding to and from work while averaging around 145 and 150 bpm (beats per minute) for a 20 minute period. This means that a good mark for this trip would be around 130 to 135 bpm, I can always ease up a bit if I need to, but I'm not trying to delay the trip any. I'm sure my neather regions will be quite worn by the end of the trip and there is no reason to be biking for more then 10 hours. \

I'm carrying a passport (naturally), a credit card, a debit card, an expired license, a valid temporary license, and identification. I'm also bringing a cell phone should anyone feel compelled to call me when I'm riding (call my dad for the number). I probably wont answer right away; but I'll definetly return your call when I'm breaking. There is some concern about getting across the border. It will look somewhat sketchy because I still have stuff from Muncie in my car in addition to chairs which belong to a friend of mine and his book shelf (maybe I should take the hatchet out of my car). This means that my car will probably be "randomly searched" but I can understand why. The problem is the car is returning via a different driver so I will have to be sure and mention that to them while I'm crossing.

The last item I'm bringing is my cemera. I doubt there will be many interesting pictures as the roads are apparently very flat (even slightly down hill I'm told). If I see a sight I'll be sure and take a picture, and post it on the web for you all. Gotta get back to work this post is only slightly proof read.

Love
Thomas

Hello From Mongolia!

I have written a very detailed (probably too much so) email to my Dad. Hopefully he passes it on to you all. Please let him know if you didn't get it.

All is well here and with the team! We are building like crazy and eating pretty well too (too bad i don't eat meat, as most everything is an all meat dish). However, the guy who had horse didn't fare so well the next day. . .lets just say he will never ever eat horse again. hahaha. Horses do outnumber people though--4 to 1. You look out at the hills and there are packs of them. They are pretty small, almost pony size. There are lots of cows too but those aren't too interesting. : )

Just wanted to say hi and hope that Grandpa is doing much, much better! You are in my thoughts and prayers Grandpa!

Much love,
Laura

Stefan and Mary Back in the Upper 48

Stefan and Mary returned from the Virgin Islands this week. Will be staying here for a week or two while working to land new positions. Stef's got applications in with Montpelier, James Madision's home north of Charlottesville, and Geo. Washington's boyhood home near Fredricksburg.

We had a sewer back up here last Sunday. $400 to $600 to get it cleared up on a Sunday. So Jay and I learned a new trade. Rented a machine from Home Depot; took a couple of hours to get the clog cleared and the machine returned.. Stef, Jay, Henry and I worked yesterday hauling most everything out of the basement yesterday and getting it cleaned up. Looks nice.

Kristal's friend Janell is hear with her two youngest children. The project they were hoping to work on this summer was room painting. We're planning to give Jay the room over the garage, Henry Jason's room, and Henry's room will become an upstairs TV room.

All for now.

Jim W

Fun times for the Z kids

The kids and I had a great time the past couple of days. Oh Thursday we drove to Dayton OH and when to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery. The kids had a ball! It was my first time, but not their's. Rick took them almost a year ago. It was a lot of fun to not take a stroller for the first time! Tim did pretty well.

I really enjoyed just being able to play with the kids, or just watch them play and not worry about other projects and such.

This afternoon we took atvantage of the Indiana heat and humidity and "swam" in our pool and played with the slip and slide. They had a ball. We were joined by 3 other neighbor kids. What fun!

A cute story for you all.

Rick loves to tell the kids bedtime stories every once and while. He usually makes them up or embelishes some he knows. He also likes to reinforce virtues the kids need to work on.

Tonight he told a story of Benjamin bunny, who is a bad bunny and does not obey his Mommy and Daddy. His parents told him not to go into the forest. Benjamin's ball went into the forest, so Benjamin went into the forest. A wolf came and ate off his tail!

So of course, the moral is, obey mommy and daddy. But this is not the funny part. Tim was so affected by this story that he told Rick the story over and over, so Rick had him tell me (several times as well.) He is actually continuing to repeat " mommy and daddy need to go in the forest to get the ball" even as I write this, and it is 9:48 ! He is not scared, just very excited and set that Mommy and Daddy need to get the ball next time. We of course reminded him what is important; to obey Mommy and Daddy. It was quite hard to hold a straight face as he told me the story many times! He is now wanting to tell me again! I now know how he processes things! I better go and settle him to bed.

Children are such a blessing!