The growing season is here

First off...three cheers for the end of the school semester. Hip-hip-hooray! It is strange to say, but as of this morning I officially completed my last graduate course, EVER. If I did my math correctly I have been in college (undergrad + grad) for nine years and just now, today, I finished all of my coursework. Whoo hoo! Thanks to my advisor for taking me and our new postdoc out for seafood to celebrate his arrival and my accomplishments this semester.

Now I can spend the next 2-3 years finishing up my collecting , analyzing, and writing up my data. So much to look forward to; seriously, I'm quite excited about it.

As the spring semester ends summer is upon us, which means I have to pack my bags yet again and move back to my field site for a summer of fieldwork. This summer is slated to be particularly fruitful now that I have my research ideas organized, my field experiments designed and a few publications to work on...wow, academia has truly taken over my life! The downside of the summer is that Ito and I will be away from Ry and Clyde for 3 whole months. I'll be the first to admit, distance makes the heart grow fonder, but it can be difficult going from a home with three boys that love me to having just one snuggle bunny. I guess Ito will feel like a king this summer.

I'll pack the car tomorrow and hit the road on Thursday. Once I get resettled I'll give a more thorough update + pictures of sights and sounds from our trip.