it's true

It's official.

Dave and I loathe the East Coast.

It's very sad actually. Many friends are here. All of our family members are here. That part is very nice. It's been thoroughly wonderful to see Dave's family a bunch, and reconnect with my uncle Adam and cousin Becca and her significant other, and her parents. And, there is a chance that my cousins Ethan and Rebecca and their sweet family will return here after a stint in England.

And--we've hosted my dad's sister Mary and I've gotten to see his brother Bob, and meet another cousin named Becky who lives here--so all of that is completely wonderful.

Dave has a cousin here who we keep intending to get together with, and his aunt and uncle have a townhome here--so we would love to see them all when they're in town.

But---make no mistake. And I am very sorry to say this, and at the risk of offending my many family members who are here: It totally SUCKS here. I could go on and on. If you read my earlier blogs, you will get to read just a couple of the many, many reasons why I think so. Seriously. So much so I'm not really sure why anyone lives here.

The weird thing is most everyone in the various families has visited or lived on the West Coast. I just don't get it!! Again, I am sorry, and please forgive me.

No one followed me during my campaign several years back to get people to move to Seattle. I guess the overcast sky and rain trumps all the good stuff it has to offer. And, I don't have much influence! I don't know.

Dave says to think of this time as just a really long, really bad vacation.

Anyhow. How to balance our enthusiasm for our family--with feeling inspired and happy about living everyday life? We may just have to be like Aunt Carol and Uncle Jim and do our best with beach vacations and holiday visits.

All I know is Dave's favorite songs are "Home, Home on the Range" and "Don't Fence Me In."

THAT SAID---we are going to devote ourselves to finding things to LOVE about living here. We did choose to be here on purpose, for Dave's school primarily, and for Isaac to connect with the family secondarily. So--we are going to RALLY and give it the old college try. And--speaking of RALLY--there is always RALEIGH--which would have excellent career prospects for Dave and we could hang with some of our favorite people in the entire world: Eric and Susan Stevens.

In Isaac news, he is able to roll over, roll onto his side and he can almost sit up by himself! He's eating 5 kinds of cereal, and he has had 2 nights where he slept the entire night (6-8 hours) by himself and a couple of times where he woke up, cried a bit and got himself back to sleep! Perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel? Mommy is going to teach him baby sign language because she is sooo excited to hear what he has to say!

In other news, we are sending our love and condolences to Dave's mom and aunts and uncles who are grieving the loss of Dave's grandmother, Esther Dawson--"Bubby." Bubby was very sweet and made delicious cookies and we so enjoyed visiting with her during the family reunion, many holidays and the Corolla beach vacation. Our thoughts are with you all, and we wish we could be with you now.

And, Aunt Mary is coming, Aunt Mary is coming!! For the inauguration. Could it be that she will meet the Pope? Stay tuned!! (You know, Salt Lake sure is pretty...)

K. Bye! Love you, miss you. Email us at schleiferkin@gmail.com.