Dear Kids,
      I was talking to Monica on the phone Sunday, and she reminded me that we have to nail down our plans for the Ackerson family reunion this summer. We decided on August 1, didn’t we? (It’s a Saturday). John and Heather are in charge, right? The Allen family reunion is the Saturday before that, if any of you can come. Same park, same time. But of course our own 2nd annual Ackerson reunion is the most important thing. Please let us know if any of you have a serious problem with August 1.
      Paul is still getting ready for his long drive to Nova Scotia, besides finishing his school year. Go, Paul. He was looking into career plans, and he says that he either needs a masters degree or 30 more hours of classwork to get his PE (professional engineer, I think), which everybody needs now. So he’s looking at finally finishing school in 2011. Speaking of finally finishing, the Ben Allens will be in Provo next week because Charles is finishing his masters degree, also in Civil Engineering. The Jane and Joe’s will be here, too. I talked to Joe on the phone this morning, to find out if Jamie was getting a masters degree, too. Nope. Just working. But Brendan got a BA from Framingham Community College. Joe also informed me that the “Cholly” Allens will be in Boston this weekend for the Marathon. I think he said Adrien is running it. What a gang of cousins you kids have!
      We’ve had serious winter weather the last few days. Yesterday I drove to Orem to visit Grandpa and Grandma, and there were 8 inches of new snow on the ground. They had even plowed the streets! I’m sure the mountains got a couple more feet of new snow, but the ski resorts are closed, so who cares? I’m hoping for it to warm up this afternoon so I can go for a long bike ride. It’s really addictive. You just want to hop on a bike and go. Anywhere.
      I just threw out Oreo because I’m trying to eat a bowl of cereal here, next to the computer. He’s crazy about milk, and will do anything for it. Last time I was eating cereal here, he reached up a paw and pulled the bowl over. I caught it in midair, but the milk splashed onto the carpet, and Oreo got busy licking it up. Bad Kitty! Why do we put up with him? There’s a little mouse smashed flat on the floor of the shop closet–I think Dad stepped on it a few times after it was already dead. It probably didn’t get there by itself! One of these days I’ve got to go scrape it up.
      Life is great. I love you all. Mom