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Now that most family members are on facebook, there isn’t much use for this blog. I think I’ll be taking this down soon since it doesn’t get used.

From Joanne & Gary -

Attached is a picture of Grandma from Easter.  She’s pretty confused most of the time, and of course she can’t write, so I’m sending Easter and Happy Spring best wishes to all of you on her behalf.

(Not sure if all browsers work the same, but I can right-click on the pictures and choose “View Image” to see a full-size photo.)

Almost lost in the excitement of Nana & Pop-Pop’s 70th Birthday Surprise Party was Nanapalooza 2009, which took place during the week leading up to the party. All of the “Under 16″ grandkids were there, and by all accounts, everyone had a great time. Check out the pics in the photo gallery.

Wow. We pulled it off! Great job, Kristi, being the major organizer and master communicator; and thanks to everyone who pitched in to make the party a total success. The “Nanapalooza Grandkids” deserve special recognition for keeping Nana and Pop-pop away from the house all morning so we could get set up for the surprise! Big thanks to Uncle Matt for providing beer; and everyone at the lake for helping with tables, chairs, guest passes, etc.! Despite the less-than-perfect weather, we managed to keep everyone dry, drinking, eating, and having a great time!

Those of you who do have pictures, please post a few photos — or email them to me and I’ll post them.

UPDATE: Thanks, Rob, for sending your photos! I added a couple above, and put them all into the photo gallery.

Kaitlyn’s boyfriend, Guy, is a junior; so it was off the prom for our little baby!

In keeping with true Tykal tradition, Bella had knee surgery this week to correct a “Stage 3 Patella Luxation”. Basically, that mean her kneecap slides out to the side of her leg, causing discomfort, erosion of the cartilage, and arthritis. The surgery basically consists of deepening the “trochlear groove” in the femur so the patella is more likely to stay in place. She’ll be laid up for 6-12 weeks. Here’s a picture so you can make a sad face and say “awww, the poor thing” just like Connie does about 20 times day.

I just picked up a new toy — an Acer Aspire One 8.9″ netbook. Got a refurbished model with 1GB RAM and a 120GB hard drive for under $200! It came with Windows XP Home, but I installed Ubuntu Linux and can boot into either. It’s a cool little laptop — even with my fat fingers I can manage to type on it without too much trouble. It has a built-in webcam, so I’ve been playing around with Skype to do video calling. Do any of the other Tykals have a Skype account?

Just thought I’d let you know that Dad & I are going to visit Grandma in Denver. We leave on our anniversary, 6/17, and will return on Father’s Day, 6/21. Grandma is getting very confused and we want to see her while she still knows us. Haven’t figured out the logistics of getting to & from O’Hare yet, we’ll let you know our plans. Hope to see you all soon.
Love,
Mom

We had a SPECTACULAR day on the 24th for our vow renewals! The weather was perfect and we enjoyed the day by the pool and beach at Casa Ybel on Sanibel Island. We had the event professionally photographed, so there will many more (and much better, I hope) pictures coming later. Here’s a few that we snapped…

Got some new LR/DR furniture for the condo! (They sent the wrong color chair, but it will be swapped out later. It’s supposed to be a “paprika” color to accent the red in the throw pillows.) Click on the thumbnails below for a full-size view.