Move to Minnesota

Greetings from Minneapolis!  We moved to the Mid-West at the end of July, and are now living with Edelweiss’ Mom in her apartment.   It is great being here, where we’re also close to Ben & Esther (sister #3) and their one year old Eli, as well as Edelweiss’ 99 year old Grandmother and many other relatives.  The apartment building includes an indoor pool, exercise room, library and fireside lounge (which we have all used regularly) as well as a pool table, tennis court and BBQ area (which we haven’t used so much).  Cable TV is included and amazingly, there are regular football matches and highlights shown, so to Craig’s delight and for the first time since Big League Soccer days, he is able to watch the English Premier League regularly.  (No, of course they aren’t broadcasting the Rugby World Cup...)

There are a number of parks nearby, and fields with a children’s playground a few minutes walk away.  Quite a lot of wildlife lives in the neighbourhood, including many birds, wild turkeys, a deer, a fox, a snake, and a turtle that lives in the pond behind the complex.  We’re also near an ice rink where they have ice hockey and figure skating, and we’ve walked down to watch hockey practice a couple of times which has been fun.  We attend a church just around the corner – the service time is during Ethan’s morning nap, so he is back to sleeping regularly through the sermon.  It is great to be within walking distance, although we’ll have to see what that’s like in the winter when it’s 20 degrees below zero.  A community college is just over the road, so we have access to an academic library – wonderful!  The library even has a children’s section and a cooking section, which seems unusual for a college but no complaints from us!

This summer included some wonderful trips.  We spent a week in Washington DC for Edelweiss’ 10 year reunion from Georgetown University and had a great time seeing her alma mater and catching up with friends.

A month later we were back in DC for a weekend to pick up Ben (Craig’s Dad) and do some sightseeing around the nation’s capital.  We enjoyed the irony of leaving the US to spend the 4^th of July (US Independence Day, which Craig likes to refer to as the day in which Edelweiss’ nation celebrates the rejection of his) in Canada with good friends from Ngaruawahia days, but wrapped up Independence Day with hot dogs and s’mores roasted in Mark and Elaine’s backyard.  Ben spent most of the month of July with us in Syracuse and then came along for the move to Minneapolis so was able to see both places where we’ve lived so far.  It was lovely to have our second kiwi visitor and Ethan enjoyed having another regular adult playmate!

Also in July, Ethan celebrated his second birthday.

Over the first few months of the year, Craig worked with a small business in Uganda to develop a marketing strategy.  The project was facilitated by a UK charity called Grow Volunteer Consulting, and he hopes to take on other projects as he is able.  The move to the twin cities is positive with respect to career opportunities, as the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area is much larger than Syracuse (3 million people vs. 130,000.)  Many of the major consultancies are represented, and the twin cities hosts the headquarters of many multinational companies of interest.

Edelweiss continues with her academic writing, and has begun another project with her professor and co-author in New Zealand.  They are now writing a chapter for a book on the experiences of self-initiated expatriates based on her thesis research on female expatriates in the United Arab Emirates.

Ethan has adjusted very well to the move and his new surroundings.  He has his own room, continues to love books, and enjoys regular use of the pool where his confidence in water is growing in leaps and bounds (literally!).  The day he turned two, it seemed like a switch flipped on – his energy levels shot up and he started talking more and more.  His vocabulary increases every day and he’s making great progress at counting and learning the letters of the alphabet.

We hope this update finds you in good health and that you’ve been having a meaningful and satisfying year, regardless of the circumstances!  There are new photos on our website for you to enjoy.

Greetings and blessings,

Craig & Edelweiss +Ethan