Teacher of the Year

Molly was recognized this year by her department, school, and district for her talent as a teacher. After being honored as the Math Department and Hazelwood West High School Teacher of the Year, she was selected as one of four finalsts for the Hazelwood School District Teacher of the Year. For some reason, they picked someone else for that award, but we stayed after the banquet so Molly could give her speech to me. It was wonderful.

Molly with her department chair, Elaine

Australia

A year and a half in the making, the impetus for our trip to Australia was Molly's brother David's wedding. Australia had long been on my list of places to visit, but I never thought I'd actually get there.

Three plane rides later, one of them very, very long, we got there. We touched down in Melbourne, picked up our car, and started driving along the very scenic Great Ocean Road. We stopped numerous times to take in the views, including a visit to the 12 Apostles, a collection of striking rock formations just off the cliff-faced southern coast of Australia.

Above: Molly and me at the 12 Apostles and "The Grotto."

Left: As it turned out, the only place that was open on Christmas Day was this gas station.

We then took a ferry to Kangaroo Island, a remote area with few people and abundant Australian wildlife. In one day, we saw a wild kangaroo (pictured above), koala bear, wallaby, echidna (like a porcupine), and seals.

Also on Kangaroo Island were these "Remarkable Rocks," oddly-shaped granite rock formations that were very fun to play on.






















We also got to see some sea lions up close on Kangaroo Island.


From Kangaroo Island, we drove north to Saddleworth, a tiny rural town where Melanie (David's bride) is from. Here, we took a bus tour through Barossa Valley and visited several of the region's wineries . Back at Mel's parents' house, we had a traditional Australian "barbie" and played a couple of rounds of golf on the miniature par 3 course that Mel's dad created in the back yard.
We then went to Martindale Hall, a mansion built in 1879. The remote house currently functions as a museum during the day and a bed and breakfast at night. Guests of the bed and breakfast are encouraged to explore, sit in the furniture, and play on the enormous billiards table (the first one ever built with automatic ball return, constructed from bamboo poles). I also found an interesting medical text from 1888.
The wedding was held on the front lawn of the mansion at dusk, and it was beautiful. After the ceremony, the wedding guests mingled outside for a while, and then went inside for food and dancing. It was pretty amazing to be drink, eat, and dance on the floor of this century-old mansion.
After David's wedding, Molly's brother Michael and I were talking to the Jesuit priest who performed the marriage. When we mentioned that we would be in Sydney for New Year's Eve, he told us about a Jesuit school in Sydney named St. Aloysius, which was located on a small piece of land overlooking Sydney Harbour. He said the view of the New Year's Eve fireworks from there would be unbeatable, and that we should look up the number to the Jesuit community when we got there, mention his name, and ask if we could join them for New Year's Eve. When we got to Sydney at about noon on New Year's Eve, I did just that, and the priest I talked to said he would leave seven tickets for us. This was incredible news, since we had heard that one must be downtown by 3:00 p.m., and some people camp out all night, to get good spots.

So that evening, we took the train downtown, crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and got off just on the other side. We weaved our way through the crowds and managed to find St. Aloysius, which it became apparent was having a charity event that night. We never found out how much everyone paid for their tickets, because ours were free. I'd say there were about 200 people on the large fourth floor roof of the school, which, as advertised, had an amazing view of the bridge and the harbour. We were just in time for the 9:00 fireworks show, and stuck around for the midnight show, which was awesome. It also happened to be the 75th anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge this year, so the celebration was even more extravagant than usual. Fireworks were going off across the whole sky, the bridge, barges, and downtown buildings. It was quite a memorable display.

The next five days were spent in Sydney. Highlights included climbing to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (Molly excused herself from this activity--there was some lame rule about being more than 24 weeks pregnant), visiting the beautiful Bondi Beach (unfortunately we missed Paris Hilton, who was there the same day), touring the Sydney Opera House, visiting the Royal Botanic Gardens, taking a day trip to the very scenic Blue Mountains, going on a seafood buffet lunch cruise on the harbour, exploring "The Rocks," which is a historic area on the waterfront with lots of shops and pubs, and taking on some Aussies (and beating all but two of them) in a poker tournament at a pub near our apartment. If you click on the picture below of the Sydney Harbour Bridge on the left with some buildings to the right, you will get an enlarged picture and be able to see 1) the building which we stood on top of to watch the fireworks (a red building with a big white cross on it) and 2) people standing on top of the bridge, which is where I later stood with Molly's brother and dad.

Overall, the trip was was an unforgettable experience. We would return in a heartbeat.

Christmas Party '06

December 16, 2006 marked the 6th annual Christmas party hosted by Molly and Colleen. This year it was held at the Edmiston's house, and unseasonably warm weather allowed for some partying outside on the deck, next to the fire.

Matt, Dave, Jim, and G pretend to laugh at one of Paul's jokes.













Three pregnant Reids. Apparently black is the new black in maternity fashion.

World Series Win Witnessed

It was 10:00 am on October 27th when I got a call from Jim asking if I wanted to go to Game 5 of the World Series. Just the fact that I had my phone with me and on that day was unusual, but I made sure to take Jim's call. I immediately jumped at the chance, and of course I got to see the Cards clinch the World Series for the first time since I was 6. It was amazing. We reveled in the win and post-game ceremonies for a while, and then set out for Paddy O's and Al Hrabosky's to celebrate, along with half of St. Louis. Molly earned major points by fighting crowds and street closings to pick us up at about 3:00 am. As my contented head hit the pillow that night, I mumbled something about finally being able to "put 1985 and 1987 behind me." Molly asked, "What about 2004?" I said, "Oh yeah, that too."

About a week later I was at Kinko's--copying, shrinking, laminating the SI Cardinal's collector's edition, my World Series ticket, the front page of the paper, etc. I was standing in line when, in another line, a little girl looked over her dad's shoulder and waved. I waved back, and then I noticed who was holding her--Aaron Miles. I told him congratulations, and mentioned that I had the chance to see him and his teammates clinch the series. I gestured to all the stuff I was carrying, and told him I was going to frame it and hang it up at home. He had not yet seen the SI and was curious. I showed it to him, and then asked him to sign it. It took forever (about five minutes) for one of the clerks to find us a pen, so I ended up having an (only sightly) awkward five-minute conversation with Aaron Miles. He was incredibly down to earth, and he explained how overwhelming the whole experience was, including the parade on Sunday, when 500,000 people came downtown to congratulate the team. Who would have thought I'd see him at Kinko's? He was packing up stuff to send to his home in CA. Seriously, someone really wanted me to enjoy this Championship.

Colleen, Mike, Molly and Jim at the Cardinals Parade

Little Kelly on the Way

Our last free night: Molly's due date is March 28, four days before our second anniversary. We have recieved countless hints that specific dates around that time would be "a wonderful date to have a baby." We will do our best to accommodate all of them (but secretly we are hoping for March 17th).

When we first broke the news to a group of our friends, one of them asked if we were going to learn the gender. Molly responded in typical fashion with "Yes . . . [extended pause] . . . around March 28, when the baby is born." Unfortunately, the person who asked was the only person who did not hear the second part of Molly's response. This is because at the same time, she declared, "Oh good, I can't stand it when people don't find out--all those greens and yellows, yellows and greens, it drives me nuts!" Everyone present appreciated the humor in this little exchange. Molly gives a more direct answer to that question now, usually.

Though we don't know the gender, we have decided on a theme for the baby room: St. Louis Cardinals (see the pictures below). The walls are yellow and Cardinal Red, there is a Cardinal border, and the carpet is blue. We half-jokingly considered the idea after seeing an example display one day while shopping, but it was cinched once the Cards won the World Series.

This was Molly's first ultrasound, at around 9 weeks, showing our little peanut (head is to the right).

The second ultrasound, at about 16 weeks (look at those guns!):

The baby room:

Molly's Belly

These were taken on October 21, when Molly was 18 weeks.

November 18 (22 weeks)

December 18 (26 weeks)

January 30 (31 weeks)

February 24 (35 weeks). Note the shirt about to break.

March 24th, (39 weeks, and one day before going to the hospital!)