Cheeseburger in Paradise

Laura and I were taking a break from working around the house on Saturday and playing with Fletcher. We were watching a DVD of pictures taken on a patient/friend's sailboat while sailing in the Gulf. The pictures were set to music, and when "Cheeseburger in Paradise" came on, Fletch just lit up! Check out the video below. Hopefully it's not a giant file -

Summertime In Nashville

Lots of things have happened since we last posted... hmm, where to start?

Soon after our last posting congratulating the Kennedys we traveled to Memphis, TN for our Green Card interview. After all of the mental buildup, then entire process took about 20 minutes. My favorite part was "Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of a terrorist organization?" I was pleased to be able to answer honestly with "NO", but was more than a little perplexed about whether the Feds really think that anybody is going to say, "Okay, you got me. I've spent ten years developing my cover, vacations in the desert training for the big day, and geez, if anybody had just asked me this sooner, I'd be in Gitmo for sure!!". Weird. That said, there were lots of good questions, and despite the fact that Laura said that we had met in May of 2009, they gave us the all clear, so now I can stay here!!

A few weeks later, Laura and Fletcher flew up to Pittsburgh to spend the week in Connellsville with Grandma and Granddad Ivey. Sounds like they had a good time. I spent the week running subjects and working, and hopped in the car with Henry a few days later and drove up. We had an uneventful trip and enjoyed a day or so at the river house before hopping in the car and driving to Mississauga to visit Nana and Didi Dundas. Great Grandma Dundas (We call her Gigi) was very excited to meet the Fletchman.

Travel plans being flexible, we made a last second decision to head to Goderich Ontario to visit Pete, Sara and Avery Kendall at their cottage on the shore of lake Huron.

The weather wasn't ideal, but we enjoyed hanging out, and even tried to take Pete's new sailboard out for a spin. The wind wasn't quite strong enough to really rip it, but at least we know that the thing still works. It amazes me to think that I'd had that sailboard for almost 20 years! I'm sure that it's more than a little bit archaic as far as windsurfing technology goes!!

Mom and Dad Dundas threw a big Canada Day party on July 1st, and we were lucky enough to have most of the family (Sue and John Budd, Steve and Sarah Thudd, Chris and Tara, Mike, and of course, Gigi) come over, as well as Pete, Sara and Avery, Owen, Dom, Parker, Chase, Gerry and Lucille, and Rebecca and Andy Shibby. It was a great afternoon/evening. It was the first time in my memory that there were 4 generations of Dundas'es' in the same place at the same time.

We then headed back down to PA for Independence day and enjoyed the traditional 4th of July picnic that the Iveys throw each year. A large crowd of family and friends gathered for a fun day of games, food and fun. And beer. Lots of beer. It would be Un-American to not have so much beer. I defended my 3-legged race title from last year with yet another Sandusky - Matt and I crushed Pat and Britney. Maybe we should play the Turkeybowl as three-legged teams this year....

Sunday the 5th, John and Nina organized a family float trip down the river to Phil's Nite Club and beyond. Fletcher stayed with John during the first half, then came down to visit us at the bar for pizza, wings and beer. Drew took him back to the house, while Laura and Emilie continued down to Adelaide. Fletcher, Frank, Linda, Judy, Jenny and I played music all afternoon - working on a few favorite tunes - "Folsom Prison Blues" and a contemporary worship song that Linda was learning for church. She's really rocking out the Bass these days - Frank and I were teaching her to walk between chords for that Geddy Lee sound. Okay, mostly it was Frank.

We headed back to Nashville and had an uneventful drive - Fletcher was awesome in the car as usual, and with a minimum of stops to feed him and run Henry, we made it back home in time to start work.

I think I'll finish this post off and come back a bit later with more... somebody wants a little attention :)