Robberies, Free Toothbrushes, and John Adams

It has been an eventful week out here. On Thursday, Melinda was driving at work and stopped at a stop light next to the Bank of America. All of a sudden 4-5 police cars screeched to a stop next to the bank and plain clothes officers hopped out with their guns drawn. At first Mel thought it was because she was getting another speeding ticket (a rare occurrence, but that was the only thing she could think of). But, apparently, the bank had just barely been robbed and there was what they thought might be a bomb. Mel emailed her boss (who is a news anchor for channel 4) and told her about the stake out. She ended up having Mel as a "live caller" on the 6:00 news. Derrick got home from school and turned on the T.V. to--nope, not watch the news--but to watch March Madness---but the news was on. He had only turned it on for a second when he heard the anchor say, "We have Melinda Call on the phone, who was a witness at the scene of the robbery." Pretty random! He thought it was super funny.

Derrick also had a Dental Conference/Expo at his school this week. He volunteered to come early and help set up the tables, etc. One of the Crest representatives had a super fancy ex caliber toothbrush that she didn't have room for on her table and so she gave it to Derrick. Derrick came home and it was seriously like the scene from Christmas Story when the guy wins the leg lamp. It's a major award. :) He was super stoked. We've been using ex caliber all week.

Yesterday, Mel's friend was in town for a conference so she went with her to Quincy (named after John Quincy Adams) and saw the home where John Adams and John Quincy Adams lived as well as other cool historic sites in the area. It was really neat to go to the cemetary where many revolutionary war veterans were buried. It makes the revolution come alive when you see the names of people who died and realize that it isn't just a story that you've heard, but these were real people with real lives. It has been fun living in Boston for that reason--to see these sites up close and to catch the spirit of the beginnings of the country. There is such a neat feeling in many of these places.

We love and miss you all!

Find Fruity Philanthropist

The other night Derrick woke up to me mumbling "find" in my sleep. So he asked my what I needed to find. I said "find . . . fruity." Then I paused and said "find . . . fruity ..fff...fff..fff. . . philanthropist!" I guess I had to go for the "ph" to get the full alliteration happening. :)

So, things are going well out here. This has been the week or two of house guests and it has been a lot of fun. Last weekend, our friend Katie flew in and spent the weekend with us. It was beautiful on Saturday so we drove up to Gloucester and walked along the coast and drove to some lookouts. This week, Victoria has been in town as well. She did a series of concerts with the Avery string quartet and was out in our digs and decided to crash at our pad for a while. It's been great hanging with some of our good friends as of late.

Derrick has had a little bit of a siesta from tests at school and its been nice to have him around mentally as well as physically. I've been up to the same old crazy work schedule, but I'm enjoying both my jobs a great deal. It's also starting to feel like spring here in Massachusetts! Derrick and I took a walk today down by the Charles River and onto the footbridge. The area was packed with people trying to take advantage of a little warm air while it lasts. Our trees are starting to show signs of leaves too. Yay for spring!