Brian's Final Degree

Last January, we had a couple of milestones in our family.  At the time, I wasn't really blogging other than monthly updates for Elijah, so they went unnoticed on the blog.  For their "anniversaries" I've decided to post on them a year later, just to preserve the family moments for ourselves...  so many of these kind of things come and go so quickly, but I have finally learned to really soak up the occasions and enjoy them.

First, on January 7th, 2013, Brian presented and defended his dissertation.  At about 10am, Brian's parents, my mother, and myself joined his lab-mates and other miscellaneous students and faculty in Pearson Hall room 304 (and via tel-conference to the Lewes campus) to hear Brian present his work on green sulfur phototrophic bacteria.  His adviser introduced Brian commenting on how he is an unassuming and quiet worker, advising him to speak softly and carry a big stick data set.  Brian ended up going a little faster than he planned and finished quickly, but then ended up expanding upon some of his presentation during the q's and a's segment (we have the presentation on DVD if anyone wants a viewing party sometime).  Eventually, he concluded and we all left the room while he defended his work and findings to his committee.

Not knowing how long to wait for news of whether he passed, we all went down the street to the new book store and stocked up on UD gear (but kept the reciepts until we heard the news) and then I ran home to fetch the boys and bring them in.  By about 12:15 he was done, with news that his committee had passed him, and he was finally done (though really, he needed a few more weeks to do revisions and finalize the dissertation before publishing it)!  We took some photos at this time, very excited and relieved that everything had worked out. 

With the woman who helped him perfect many science fair projects and helped him study for Math Counts competitions.

And with the one who financially supported his family so he could study/research/learn.

We then celebrated lunch at a newer favorite on Main Street, Catherine Rooneys.

I had to make a quick exit to head up to my school to conduct a math league competition that was unfortunately scheduled for the same day, but Brian and his parents enjoyed taking Theo to the park near his work and spending some time together.

In the evening, we headed to Brian's advisor's house, for the traditional Ph.D. party that they host in honor of successful defenses.  I made both my double-blueberry and crumb-topped-apple pies (even though they were out of season-as this was a special occassion), and we enjoyed toasting the new doctor (and introducing Theo to the idea of a "fancy glass").

It was definitely a day that I'd been waiting upon for a long time, and I was lucky to watch my husband fulfill his educational goal, even if it took a tad longer than we'd of liked.  When I met him in December of 2000, he already knew he wanted a Ph.D., he just had no clear idea what he wanted it in.  What a surprise to us both that he ended up finishing it 13 years later in marine studies. 

Baby On Campus

Today we took Theodore in to be a lab rat.  The infant research lab at UD has ongoing projects where they are researching language development in children.  I've heard plenty about these kind of studies in my undergrad studies, where they'll track children's attention as they show or hear different things, so I figured we could spend a half hour participating.  Theodore of course loved it, because he got to play with toys, meet new people, and be the center of attention.  When he was done he got this cute certificate and awesome t-shirt!  Brian commented that this is the first of many free t-shirts he will get for doing things for a college.  I was interested in all the presentation posters they had around the lab, and could have stayed and read all day if Theo wasn't with me. 

Then dada met us for lunch at Chipotle.  They need to make baby burritos, because Theodore really enjoyed his bites of Brian's.

After we left, we stopped at the UD Creamery to pick up some pints to go!  We've been talking of trying it for months, and it was finally a convenient time to stop when they were open.

The whole trip made me really crave my undergrad days on campus.  The heat wave we are going through probably helped create the Arizona nostalgia.

Blueberry Adventures (and Other Produce Pursuits)

So this summer, two of our main sources of entertainment have been going to farmer's markets and orchards. Two things I never really did in my own childhood. Since I lived on a farm there was no reason. We could get fresh eggs from an aunt or pick strawberries from my grandmother's patch. We didn't need a market or an orchard to help us connect to our own food supply. But out here in Delaware, we need to.

We've been up to Wilmington for a small farmers market in Little Italy (Saturdays, 9-1, 8th & Bancroft Parkway), headed over to U of D's own market on campus at Mentors' Circle (11-2 on Thursdays), and found the best selection at Newark's own farmer's market that operates every Sunday (10-2, 280 East Main Street) where we can easily head to after church. Among other things, we've gotten a lot of green beans, some rhubarb (made my first strawberry-rhubarb pie-it was fantastic), fresh herbs, and of course baked goods for Brian.

Theodore at the UD Farmer's Market.

Milburn Orchard has also been a favorite destination of ours this summer, and for the first time in well over a decade, my blueberry feign of a husband got to go blueberry picking. It was the orchard's first year for blueberries, and they had three different varieties to choose from. The first variety is probably the reason I mistakenly thought I didn't like blueberries. They just don't hit my taste buds right. But in the following rows, I finally realized that blueberries might not be so bad after all. For years I have baked blueberry pies without tasting them, skipped the blueberry sauce on waffles, and picked blueberries out of fruit salads. I just thought they were not the berry for me. However, by that night around 9:30 pm I had a piece of blueberry pie that made me seriously doubt my behavior. IT was delicious! I can understand now why Brian is always begging me to make this pie for him.

Since we the perfect fresh blueberries to use, I went all out and even made the pie crust from scratch, and watched the blueberries go from this:

We had a fun time at the orchard, though we are still riding this East coast heat wave to the fullest. Theodore and I ended up back in the car in the air conditioning while Brian was still picking. He would have probably stayed out there until his basket was full if I let him.

I've also kind of fell in love with my mother-in-law's garden this summer. I love to see things growing, and her garden has so much variety. She brought us out a bunch of peppers and eggplant and kohlrabi among other things. It's even better than a farmer's market.

Coast Day 2008!

On Oct. 5, we embarked on our first (annual) Coast Day adventure. Coast Day is sponsored by the University of Delaware, but is located in the southern part of the state at the Lewes (pronounced Lewis) campus. Since my husband is a ph.d. student in marine biosciences, we went down to check out just what the day was all about. We had originally thought we may move to Lewes, before he was sure of what professor he would be working with. It is a very charming coastal town, with lots of (tax-free) shopping.

Coast Day was a much larger event than I had expected. We followed most of the other visitors and went toward the boats first. There were many boats at dock, and were open for free tours. Brian and I toured the boat pictured below, which is a recreation of a colonial boat that now takes tourists on boating adventures.

Next, we visited the touch tanks, where you could touch many of the marine species found in this area, such as horseshoe crabs, rays, sharks, and other fish.
After this, we passed many other exhibits on the way to watch a local chef demonstrate how to make a Thai Shrimp Curry Dish. It was very interesting to watch a live cooking demo, and of course Brian was most interested in tasting the food. A posting of our own variation of this dish will be coming soon.
We then avoided the boat show (too tempting for Brian) and hit up the food court. We participated in the "Chowder Challenge," voting for our favorite of two clam chowders. The tasty recipe winner can be found on the above website (does anyone know where to buy Clam Stock?). We then also shared a tasty Crab Cake (to fully integrate into coastal society).

After this, we wondered through the exhibit areas. Brian recognized a lot of the research displays, and some of the people working the displays. After soaking in just about all of the Coast Day festivities we could, we cheered on a crab in the crab race tent, and found our way back to our car, toured southern Delaware a little bit more, and headed back up to Newark (stopping at our favorite fresh food stand on the way up).