We were planning on running this year's Chicago Marathon. It would have been our 9th together and 3rd in the last 11 months. Unfortunately, Jamie badly strained a hamstring in mid-July and then, just when he thought he was past that, strained a calf muscle in early August. So it doesn't look good for this year's race. We may defer our entry until next year. Sucks getting old. 

 

We are officially empty nesters. Annalyn got a job offer out in the Pacific Northwest and moved out there in May. We drove her and her things 2100 miles in 3 days, spent a day moving her in (3rd floor, no elevator, outside stairs) and buying essentials, furniture and food for her apartment. Her job has her doing a lot of baking and cake decorating (her passion). In what little free time she has, she loves spending it with her 3-year-old Lab, Nell and FaceTiming her parents on her long commute home after work. Her cousin Shannon and Shannon's fiancee, Daniel, live about 30 minutes away and they get together often. 

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We are writing a book! Many people have told us that we need to do this to share our story in print form. It's an ongoing project and hopefully will be finished before print media becomes obsolete. 

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Lulu, our Yellow Labrador Retriever, turns 17 on August 26th. She can still get up and down the stairs in our house without too much trouble. She does have some arthritis in her back legs and hips and is on medication for this. She loves to be in the backyard when Jamie is cutting the grass, just to make sure that he isn't attacked by the "evil" lawnmower. 

 

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