Woah! Has it been almost a year already?

Hey Everyone!

I'm sorry I have been so delinquent in my posts.  Much has happened since I last posted.

First, the big stuff.

My lovely bride has completed her four years in the military and is now officially out...but still needs to check in occasionally for the next several years in case the world explodes.  She got a job in Kansas City, Missouri, so naturally we moved there.  She is also expecting our second child, a baby girl, who is due at the end of this month!  She has the luxury of telecommuting for these final weeks, so that has gone a long way in terms of comfort for her.

Our little dude has turned into a very curious, sweet, and full of song toddler.  We have him in a local Catholic daycare which has worked out well for him.  He has several best friends there, but he never seems to forget his cousins although the nearest ones are hundreds of miles away.  We are fortunate to have a pool where we rent.  While he doesn't swim, he does enjoy playing in the water...especially at the beach.

I finished my second bachelor's in Chemistry at Missouri S&T Summa Cum Laude with a handful of other classmates.  It was a short stint at that University, but all very impressionable students.  I absolutely love the staff in the Chemistry department and how the University primes their students for employment after college.  I highly recommend S&T to anyone who is in engineering or science.  I would say STEM, but I honestly can't speak for the mathematics students :)

I followed the fam to Kansas City still looking for work.  It was good for the transition with the little one.  About 4 months after graduation, interviews started really picking up.  It's still not clear to me if that is because the bulk of college graduations occur at that time or I started advertising myself better.  In May, I was fortunate to get hired on a temp-to-hire status at DeLaval in Kansas City.  I got hired as a permanent employee the last week of July, just last week!

I enjoy my new job thus far.  It's an unusual group of people in that it's almost 80% women.  Almost 80% of the employees are married with children, half of whom have children under 3.  It's a laid back atmosphere, in contrast to other labs I've work with, and is a highly varied workload.  I like the management and leadership and the midwest blurred with central states work ethic.  This all makes for a very collaborative, inclusive, easygoing, friendly, encouraging, positive, and learning environment. Everyone is very understanding of incorporating family with work and that goes a long way.  I truly couldn't ask for a better place to work.

In other news, I've tried experimenting with two tomato plants in 5 gallon buckets and have had mixed results.  I used more expensive potting mix given the restricted volume I had to work with.  It paid off up until now.  The cherry tomatoes have yielded very consistently and have been great for the little boy to learn that some food can be picked and eaten right off of plants.  The larger tomatoes were slow to bear, roughly a third rotted on the vine, but we did get about 9 or so very sizeable and tasty ones.  We have another wave of large tomatoes growing, but something happened last week and both plants have started yellowing.  They were not overwatered, so I've tried adding extra tomato-specific fertilizer.  The cherry tomatoes seem to be hanging on, but I don't know if the large tomatoes can turn the tide.  The only conclusion I can come up with is that the roots ran out of space and nutrients.  I initially scoffed at the idea of tea composting, but I think it might be worth a try if I'm forced to grow in a restricted pot size again.  They just grew so HUGE so fast...4 feet in 3 months!

After nearly a year, I've finally started running again.  The humidity in Kansas City is punishing compared to Minnesota, Germany, and even nearby Rolla.  I heard on the radio that the current theory is that the humidity in Kansas City is beyond places like Miami, Florida and most other places in the entire United States because of the high amount of corn fields.  Corn supposedly releases more soil moisture into the air, creating unusually high amounts of humidity.  Whatever the cause, going from 8 miles at a 7.5min/mi pace comfortably to 4 miles at a 8.5min/mi pace and covered in sweat and feeling exhausted every time will take some getting used to.  Maybe this is why the Kansas City soccer team is one of the best in the country.

Last side note, I'm back on the hunt for my Scottish ancestors.  I recently caught a break in finding another family tree who was researching the same people.  They claimed information that I still can't seem to verify using their own references.  I'll have to contact them again, but this could be the smoking gun I've been seeking for almost 10 years now.  God bless the internet, or at least some of it.

Below are some pictures of some of our adventures in Kansas City so far...

Here is the little guy exploring the Kansas City fountains at The Plaza in the rain.  He likes playing in the rain and the water.  Looks like we have a water baby on our hands.

Here, the concept of the kite was exciting, but he staunchly believes that you fly a kite with its tail, not the string.  This led to interesting results.

This was from earlier today.  The big kid in the yellow mask is our boy.  He's actually one of the younger kids!

This was at our outing at Fritz's Railroad Restaurant.  You order your meal by phone in your booth, and everyone's meals are brought by model trains along the ceiling.  He almost didn't eat at all, he was so excited to see the trains and hear the little "toot-toot" preluding each train's arrival. 

Here are ultrasound images of our up-and-coming baby.  They tell us it's a girl.  We certainly hope so at this point, considering we now have a lot of baby girl things and we also have a name picked out.

He loves being outside.  This particular day, a lot of small flowers were blooming throughout the common yard area.  He tried to pick as many as he could.

This particular day, he was feeling very stylish.

My bride and I like this picture a lot.  He's recently taken to wearing a backpack most places he goes.  This day, he looked like a true school student.  Funny how he still has years to go before he actually will be going to school.