Prologue

A little background for those who aren't up to speed on our recent happenings:

We are alive and well and have now been living in Bowling Green for 17 years.  Craig continues to enjoy his job and he is active both in his department and university-wide.  He has worked for the last several years with a colleague on research in biochemistry, teaching mostly graduate courses and on committees at BGSU to try to increase engagement of the students on campus.  I have been working part-time from home, doing text analysis for a research company, which is challenging and helpful with college expenses for the boys. I look at customer responses to surveys from banks, car dealers, and other retail places to categorize what customers are saying about their recent sales or service experience. If you've ever filled out a survey on the bottom of your receipt, I may be seeing what you wrote!  The kids, as always, are growing like weeds.

More immediately, and the reason for this blog, is that we are going on sabbatical for the 2013-14 school year to Vienna, Austria.  Eight years ago we took our first sabbatical, spending the year in Salzburg, Austria, where BGSU has an exchange program.  With four young children, including an 8-month old, we embarked with more than a bit of trepidation but no lack of enthusiasm.  It took 6 months to prepare for this journey.

We had a wonderful time, despite some difficult moments.  The older two boys became fluent and we all enjoyed the traveling and made some good friends.  And now we have a chance to go again.  With Alex settled in CA, and Dominic about to begin his freshman year at Carnegie Mellon University, we will be experiencing this as a family of 4.  The boys will come at Christmas.  We have fewer anxieties but just as much enthusiasm.  We are looking forward very much to the year ahead.

In June, Alex moved to Mountain View, CA where he is now working for Addepar.  This is a start-up tech company that writes software for wealth management companies.  He loves the people and is happily learning the work.  He is thoroughly enjoying the area, weather, activities and events.  He found an apartment very close to work which allows him to get a bonus each month for employees that live within a mile of the office.  He is not suffering much;  the company provides food all day and caters in meals; there is a nap room, ping pong area, fitness area, and a place to drop off your laundry.  All of these are part of the perks.  I guess they figure if you can do all those things while  at work, there is no reason to go home.  He's had much to do, but in general he works a 8 -9 hour day.  He bought our Prius and he is quite glad to have a car.  He is learning life lessons about moving, insurance, taxes, buying furniture, traveling, etc and is handling it all beautifully.

Dominic is quite encouraged by Alex's fate since he is starting on the same path. He graduated as valedictorian from St. John's Jesuit High School in May. He was the career leader in wins on the chess team and enjoyed a very challenging schedule. He begins at Carnegie Mellon in August and is very ready to go. He has been working at a local software company (Agile Oasis Technology) this summer as well as doing some contract programming. He will study computer science and math but hasn't finalized his schedule yet. Since he worked the last summer in the same lab as Alex, he is pretty familiar with the place and will be quite comfortable. Craig's parents will remain in BG and will provide a home base for him. Both boys will come visit at Christmas time.

Matthew will begin his high school career in German, most likely at a local, public, German-speaking school. All four of us have been studying German this summer with varied rates of success.  Matthew doesn't enjoy this much but we hope he will appreciate it later. He will likely have to study several languages in school which will be quite a challenge for him.  He just got his braces off, finished his paper route (which he's had for several years and has amassed quite a fortune), is getting his last allergy shots and growing inches each day.  He loves to read, play computer and board games, and swim.  He grew 4 1/2 inches during the last school year and won't be shorter than me for much longer!

Carissa is going to be in 5th grade and is into all things social.  She continues to throw endless parties and play dates, chooses her clothes carefully, and doesn't keep her room neat. She is still inseparable from her best friend, Kaylee and they spend all their time together. She is learning the German, seemingly without effort. Neither of the two younger kids seem to have any trepidation about going, probably because they know we'll be coming back in only a year.

We all spend a lot of time with Craig's parents, working in the yard, reading, cooking (Craig is vegan, and I am gluten-free, and the kids are trying to figure out what to eat), and now with packing, sorting and shopping for what we need.  Our home is looking odd these days!