Moving forward, looking back

Here is my official apology for what I suppose has been an unforgivably long time since I have written anything for this blog. Who knows, maybe everyone has given up and I am now more or less writing an online and public diary. Oh well. If you (the proverbial you) are still holding out hope and still checking the blog, well then your luck and day has come. This is a start of a new dawn for the Tale of the Thulson Gypsies. With our international trip and next stages of life now fully in the present, I will give my best sum up of the gap in time and then freely allow myself to engage you in our present. The rest of the contract became a lesson in patience, gratification where we could get it, excitement (understatement) for the end and possibly, less and less tolerance for being there. But as it stands, we are still grateful for the opportunity, the money we saved, the wonderful friends we made in the process and the chance to interact with so MANY COOL ANIMALS!! I’m serious. In our 6 months on the Valor, we held a or posed with a parrot, dolphin, crocodile, spider monkey, stingray, turtle (large and small), plenty of fish, sea urchins, eel and even caught glimpses of a barracuda (cue chugging guitar riff…) Down the stretch, I was a fill in Musical Director for 5 days and, in very fitting fashion, Kris claimed employee of the month again. Still these things did not give us the proper gusto to want to be there any longer then we had to and, truth be told, July 11th was a GREAT day. And with the sunny but worn out ports of Grand Cayman, Isla Roatan, Belize and Cozumel behind us we were able to focus on our summer, our travels and our time with family and friends. The next weeks were a perfect opportunity to reconnect with our families, the first being spent in MN with hers, which included spot on meals, good card games, movies and the relaxation that summer-not-on-a-ship brings. Kris’s parents as always were the perfect measure of hospitality and care. The next week, we got a chance to fly to San Diego with my whole immediate family and spend a week in a beach house as part of my Dad’s grant and sabbatical. Spending a week falling asleep and waking up to the crashing waves was awesome as was the chance to swim, bathe, beach-play and visit several local attractions with my entire family. I think everyone was grateful. Then after a week and a half of nose-to-the-grind-stone last minute planning and enjoying Denver, we made our way to the mountains for Kris’s good college friend, Ruth’s wedding. It was a great weekend, a chance for Kris to get to see so many of her good friends, a chance for her to once again prove her mettle at getting the job done (she was Ruth’s personal attendant) a chance for me to start probably my 30th dream for a career ambition (wedding and overall business photography. Seriously I had a blast with my new camera!), and a chance to realize Mark Yamaguchi’s a pretty stinkin funny guy. So many, many props to Ruth and Kyle for, I don’t know, getting married in a really cool way and really beautiful locale. Congratulations to you both!! And so here we are, a mere nights sleep away from the start of our next big adventure, where the Thulson Gypsies hit international waters and prove that, though they may be bumbling tourists, the worth of it all absolutely justifies any embarrassments or social miscues along the way.