Home at Last

After 2 weeks in Nepal I am finally home and reunited with Kelly and Michael. The work was gratfying and I had some wonderful experiences with the Nepali people. The end of the trip was the most memorable. A helicopter trip with the Nepali Army to Mount Everest Base Camp ended badly...Myself and the pilots crashed into Kala Patthar - a mountain west of Mount Everest while attempting to land at base camp. Miraculously we all survived and hiked to safety with the aid of climbers from Wales like Richard Jenkins and their guide - Dawa Sherpa. We were later airlifted to Kathmandu. SO needless to say I have a renewed outlook on life and cut the trip short to come home. I have spent the last several days recuperating from the crash. Luckily no broken bones and I will return to work tomorrow. I have had several wonderful days with Kelly and Michael. I have spent a lot of Daddy time with Michael - reading stories, giving baths, taking wlaks, and reading him to sleep. It has been wonderful . Michael's favortite stories are "Doggoes, Snoozers, Pajama Time, So Sleepy Story, and Goodnight Moon." I have marveled at how much he is talking now. He says, "Good Morning Daddy" and Good morning to the cats, his stuffed animals and Kelly. I ahve a new appreciation for what a miracle he is and how beautful he is.
I have relished the last few days with Kelly - we have been able to spend time together and catch up on the past sevarl weeks. I wasn;t sure if I was going to live when we crashed. There is nothing like to near death experience to make one appreciate to wonderful gifts in one's life. I have never appreciated Kelly more than upon my return. I am taking each day as a gift from God because today is all I get... Michael has been saying, "Daddy's home!" Thank God, Daddy's home. I am too tired to publish photos - I have almost 1000 photos from the trip. Perhaps in the next couple months I will put them up.

Missing Michael

Kelly and Michael went to visit the grandparents for a few weeks. Before the flight Michael and I tested out the satilite phones we got from cousin Tim for the trip to Nepal. I took them to the airport yesterday morning and we hung out at the airport for a few hours before the flight. Michael was very excited to be in the airport and took the opportunity to climb on evey seat in the vicinity. I took him around to look at the planes. He was very interested in planes taking off and landing. Kelly said he had a mellow flight spent mostly reading and playing. He didn't nap the entire flight! When he got to Grandma Lyn's house he was almost asleep in the crib when he sat up, looked around and said "grandma's house" and got very excited. He didn't go back to sleep! Kelly says Michael has been having fun playing with toys from all the grand and great-grandparents. He has also discovered tooting in the bathtub and had a good laugh today when he made some bubbles - that's my boy! Attached is a great photo of Micahel testing out the satellite phone. Michael has also been very interested in the typewriter in the office. Behaviorally, Michael jhas been testing boundaries. He will be told not to do something then he looks at us and does it agin...leading to a few "time outs". He also has better comprehension and overall is less frustrated communicating with us as he learns to talk.