I haven't fallen off the earth, just been to Kansas

Joseph, Jake and I went to Grinnell to ring in the New Year with his parents. We each enjoyed our own bottle of Martinelli's Sparkling Cider, which is a Dougherty tradition that will live on in our own household. The day that we were going to be leaving for Grinnell, we got a phone call from Joseph's mom saying that they were all going to go to Kansas the next day to meet Elizabeth and Jason and their family (Elizabeth is Joseph's sister), and she wanted to know if we wanted to go too. We hadn't seen them for a while and we thought it would be a good opportunity to get together, so last minute, off we went to Wichita, KS (the halfway point between Grinnell and Texas where Elizabeth's family lives). We met at a hotel there in Wichita and had a great weekend together! It was spent swimming, playing ping-pong, air hockey, going to the movie theater, and celebrating Jason's birthday. We really had a good time together, and got to love all over their little girls.

Jake swam in the indoor pool with Joseph and me. He was very cautious at first, but eventually warmed up to the water and had the time of his life. We had a floaty thingy for him to sit in, but he preferred to have either Joseph or me just hold him.

Jake really loved being with his Nana and Papa, and also seeing all of his Zepp cousins. They had all kinds of toys that they had brought with them, such as My Little Ponies and Cabbage Patch Kids that they said he could play with, but he wouldn't touch them. He's a man, you see, and that's sissy stuff.

The whole gang. By the way, I decided that I really like Wichita. The weather was very mild while we were there (about 45-50 degrees!) and it just seemed like a really nice place. We can put it on our list of places that we wouldn't mind setting up shop in a few years.