WAITING....

Quick update on Nathan:
We waited until Monday before taking him to the ER for x-rays. The doctor confirmed what we feared, that he broken his pinkie finger. That afternoon he saw an orthopedic doctor, who made a cast that covered most of his right hand! This cast has impacted his daily life. Besides giving up piano lessons and soccer, he has taught himself to write with his left hand. Fortunately, being in Kindergarten means that neat handwriting is not required :)

This weekend, a new Lego store, the first in Cleveland, opened on the eastern side of Cleveland. Liesel and I thought that this would be the perfect treat for Nathan, to reward him for being so brave throughout his entire broken finger ordeal. So we left the house on Saturday morning with enough time to get us there before opening time. Apparently, thousands of other North East Ohioans had the same idea, and when we walked inside the mall, we were ushered to the back of one of 3 separate lines! The way it was set up, once you reach the front of line #3, you are ushered to the back of line #2. Then when you reach the front of line #2, you can then join the back of the final line, which eventually let you into the Lego store! Long story short: Nath and I stood in line for about 2.5 hours to get the privilege of entering the store. Josh, understandably, didn't have the patience to stand in queues - so Liesel and him went to another store in the area that we have been wanting to go to. Once they returned, they saw that Nath and I were still stuck in a line, so Liesel graciously entertained Josh (no small feat in itself) while they waited for us.

150 minutes later, we were finally invited into the store. It was a fantastic store with an amazing selection of Lego sets. Our favorite part of the store was the Lego Digital Box. This piece of technology is a display with a camera pointing outwards. As you walk up to the screen, you can see yourself in the display. Now if you are carrying a Lego box and you hold it in front of the camera, that's when the magic happens! The Digital Box automatically renders a 3D image of whatever set was inside the box. But then it also animated the mini figures and had everything playing out a mini-storyline, in 3D, in front of our eyes! Very impressive!

That evening, after a morning focused around Nathan, it was time for Liesel and myself to go on a date! We headed out to a new favorite Italian restaurant. Ironically, even though we were there before 6pm, it was crazy busy, and we were told we would need to wait 30 - 40 minutes!! From my morning's experience, I learned patience, and we were prepared to wait yet again! Fortunately for us, we waited less than 10 minutes and we were soon enjoying some great Italian food!

On Sunday, we all experienced something that last happened on October 10, 2010. That event was temperatures above 80 degrees (27C)! It was an unusually warm day for us, considering that just 10 days ago we had a snow storm that left 1.5 inches of snow on the ground! So we took advantage of the day and spent a good deal of time outdoors! Now if only this weather could stick around a bit longer......