Oh, right, we have a blog!

If you forgot that we had a blog, don't feel bad...so did we (literally). We remembered recently that having our blog was a great way after moving to Cleveland to keep everyone up to date with Will stories and pictures, and here we are again halfway across the country. We'll be better now about posting.

We're all moved in here in sunny Myrtle Beach. It's definitely a change from Austin, Texas - the scenery, the accents, the stores, you name it - but so far we're having a lot of fun. There is so much to talk about that I'll have to give you all the summary and not the essay. Otherwise, I'd be typing for hours, and Will simply won't allow that!

First of all, I finally graduated! I figured that I shouldn't turn 31 and still be paying tuition, so I manned up and finished my dissertation, albeit in such a way as to take many years off of my life. What a stressful process - but in the end, I'm Dr. Fowler and that feels pretty cool. Our friends threw us a great graduation/going away party and then my folks threw me a special graduation party and it meant a lot to share those special times with so many of you. Christy even flew down with our cute little niece Casey to join us, and that meant so much to me. It feels so good to be done. I have started my postdoc here and am really enjoying the challenge so far.

Then we moved. Thanks to enormous help from my parents for making the drive with me, and to Whit's mother and aunt for flying over with Will and our annoying dogs, we all made it in one piece. The grandparents and Aunt Liney worked so hard to help make our new house a fun place for Will to come to, and it really worked. Will still calls it "new house" and is loving his new train table (thank you Grandmommy and Granddaddy), riding to the park in his red wagon (thank you Grammie and Grandpa), and playing with his bug collector and other fun toys (thanks Christy and Liney and everyone else!).

Will also already loves the beach and we've had some great times playing in the sand, finding shells, and sitting in the waves. We also have visisted one of the nearby state parks and had fun looking for crabs in the marsh (we saw two blue crabs, which Will calls "bwoo twab"), listening to the snapping shrimp (who ever heard of such a thing?) and enjoying the expansive, relatively tourist-free beaches there. Whitney and Will have already found their way into a music class and a mother's group and I hope they can make some good friends soon.

Last week our little man turned 2 years old. It's really unbelievable to think about how much he has already grown up, and how much change he's experienced too. We're glad that these moves have happened when he was too young to care a whole lot, and hope to really find some roots as soon as we can, wherever that may be. We know we're here for at least two years, so for now, this is our home and we're going to make the best of it. The beach is great, the seafood is unique, and we're ready for visitors anytime.

Sifting through all of our pictures and organizing them by theme seems like too daunting of a task for this Sunday evening, so here are a bunch of them, in no particular order.