Well, the vacation has drawn to a close, and in true Erin & Malinda style we have procrastinated on just about everything: homework, packing, and yes, updating my website. Sorry for the delay. I'm sure you were all waiting anxiously to hear more of our exciting adventures.

Vacation post for 4-18-03
Friday started out bright and early (we were both up by 6am). We spent the day at a local middle school observing for our Psychology of the Exceptional Child class. Malinda has noticed that early mornings are a common theme (along with spiders) in this vacation. I had fun coloring pictures in the morning with children who have been labeled mentally retarded. Malinda got to play the memory game with some children with learning disabilities. In the afternoon she joined me for Easter egg coloring. Although we didn't get too much practical observation (what do you expect for the Friday before their vacation?), it was still fun to meet the kids.
After school, my friend Danielle and I took Malinda candlepin bowling. For those of you not from New England, it involves 10 pins the width of the thinnest part of a big pin. The bowling balls are about the size of a grapefruit and don't have holes in them. Malinda did very well, and even beat my score the second game! It was a lot of fun and I'm sure there will be some interesting pictures from that event. We ended the night with dinner and a movie at my house. We watched Minority Report and Malinda slept through about half of it (too complex and too late for her to stay awake on a long day).

Vacation post for 4-19-03
Saturday was spent mostly in the car, but it was still very fun. My parents took us up to Maine for the day, and we had a great time. After Dad got himself un-lost, we visited the Nubble Lighthouse and York Beach. We had lunch at a great seafood restaurant and then walked around historical downtown Portsmouth, NH. After a nice nap on the way back, we decided it might be a good idea to crack down and start some work. It made for a long, tiring evening, but at least we were productive. Malinda would also like to point out that at this time she talked to Emily on IM for a while. It was the highlight of her evening.

Vacation post for 4-20-03
Easter Sunday was another bright and early morning. I was up at 5:45 and the whole family was out the door by 6:30 for the sunrise service with our Bible study gang. It was great to see everyone again and we had a fun time of fellowship. Malinda dazzled me with her amazing power of learning names. In just about an hour she had about a dozen new names down pat. After we had some time to get ready and then it was off to church. The service was very nice and it was good to see all my Riverside friends one last time before heading out. This afternoon was very lazy. We did some work, watched Rush Hour, cleaned up the space on our computers, had a wonderful Easter dinner and enjoyed some carrot cake in honor of my upcoming 21st birthday. All in all, it's been a great vacation and we both have many memories (and pictures) to take with us.

But for now it's time to finish packing and make the long trek back to good old Grove City. However, that means seeing all our wonderful Grover friends, like my dear roomie Skippy!!!