The Turner Family

Hello from South Padre Island, We've been here for almost three weeks. We have a two bedroom apartment in a two story, ten apartment, building about a block from the ocean. It's not as nice as our find last year, but clean and neat and just fine for us. There's a small pool, which attracts the sun seekers around noon and a happy hour gathering every afternoon. Kay has been continuing the exercises that the rehab people in GL taught her, and we have been riding bikes almost every day. She's up to a half hour ride now and is really happy to be back on a bike. She has always enjoyed riding here and was really looking forward to it. This makes the whole trip worthwhile. Some days it's challenging due to the wind, but she perseveres. We have checked out most of our usual haunts, as well as some new ones. Thanks to Harry alerting us to the Texas Monthly article about barbeque joints, we've added two new places that had some fine offerings. We have yet to make it to th

The bandages came off yesterday, and Tiffani, Sophia and I were all pleased with the outcome: the web was deepened significantly, and the graft and healing is coming along well.

A camera and microphone are installed on all modern Macintoshes, along with an application called PhotoBooth , which allows users to take photos of themselves, along with movies. Thursday after Sophia's surgery, Seamus was upstairs playing Mario Kart on the Wii , and from the back room, curiously, I could hear Sophie discussing the previous day's procedure and figured it was via PhotoBooth. Without anyone's urging she videoblogged the enclosed entry, and I tracked down the video file in her account to upload for everyone's information.

Sophia had a summer appointment with her hand surgeon scheduled due to some pain in her left middle fingers. The recommendation was to separate the fingers a bit more, so we concluded that we would do it over a holiday so as to minimize any impact on her schooling. Wednesday was the day for the surgery, so we failed to avoid the school calendar. This is the waiting area for pediatric surgery. The Mott Children's Hospital provides folks to both entertain and inform those awaiting surgery, which was a really terrific service, and there was all types of craft resources available: Sophia colored two cloth dolls and a frog, all of which she was allowed to keep. Thankfully, Sophie thought to color a bold, green Spartan S on the back of one doll's jersey, too. The weather was snowy overnight and in the morning, which pushed us for an earlier departure to ensure we made our 9 A.M. arrival time. Surgery was scheduled for 10:30, and at 10 we were told there would be a half hour delay. A

We started 2009 the same way we started 2008 - at a New Year's Eve Pow Wow in Manistee. Fortunately it was indoors at the high school gym. Here are two very short videos - First one is Glen dancing. The second video is Johnny Petoskey, a friend-of-the-family who is a "grass dancer". Grass dancer's outfits are supposed to simulate the tall grasses that grow on the prarie and their dancing moves are supposed to look like they're stomping down the grass. Enjoy. I'm finally learning how to use the features on my digital camera and I'm discovering already that it doesn't have a big enough memory. Aunt Cyn