We're back!

Sorry, didn't mean to keep everyone in suspense as to whether or not we are still alive-- we've been digging ourselves out of our Christmas mess and just finishing re-organizing the basement yesterday. As you can see, our food storage room doubles as our workout room. And the temperature is a balmy 32 degrees, which isn't bad if your heart rate is up around 200. Okay, it's not quite that bad, but it's a good deterrent for limiting how much TV the boys watch. Don't worry, we have a space heater and plenty of blankets down there for them.
Our friends, the Steeds, came to visit us 2 days after we got back from Colorado. They're our friends who had just moved to Louisiana a few weeks before the hurricane. Miraculously, their house was undamaged-- it was on a street that sat just higher than many surrounding neighborhoods which had severe flood damage. However, they've had to move to Indiana, not knowing if his transfer to the law school there would be temporary or if he could get accepted there instead of Tulane. He has finished his first semester and will find out soon if they can remain in Indiana. He's been fortunate that it's worked out like it has so far-- other Tulane students are required to return this semester and live on a cruise ship, paying $500 per month (for one student-- not an entire family) for meals on the ship. Not to mention cramming two semesters into one to try to make up for lost time. Needless to say, they've been blessed. Thanks for contributing to the effort, Fred and Nori.
We're having unusually "warm" weather these days-- in the mid-30's, just hovering over freezing, the snow has actually melted and we've had rain. We'd prefer snow so that we could actually go skiing-- we have at least 4 resorts within 10 minutes of our house. Small, of course, but it will be great for teaching the kids to ski.
Derek and I are both training for the marathon on May 27-- 19 weeks from yesterday. I haven't hit my training too hard yet-- I started getting a sore knee, which I'm hoping is due to the fact that I need new shoes. They should arrive in the mail tomorrow, and then I won't have anymore excuses. Fred, are you looking at doing the 10K, 1/2 marathon, or marathon? I found dozens of training schedules through Google, but decided to tailor one to my schedule. Generally, I learned to increase weekly distance by a maximum of 10%, and to allow for adequate rest periods: 2-3 days off/ week at first, or at least doing a cardiovascular activity other than running on your "rest" days. Also, build for three weeks and then make the fourth week easier, so your body can recover. Let us know if you need anymore help finding schedules.
Adam--can we send a small box of toys for you to take to Guatemala? We cleaned out our toys yesterday and found a few small things-- matchbox cars and happy meal toys, mostly-- that the kids down there might like. Let us know if there's anything else that you could use to take down there.