Terrell Family Blog

This morning we awoke to grey skies over Livorno. I won’t bother with a picture from the balcony, because it’s pretty depressing; dingy concrete docks filled with ships of all sizes (including three or four other cruise ships) bordering a vast field of rusting shipping containers that, in the distance, dissolve into a dirty industrial zone. Livorno is, however, a short drive from Pisa, so after a quick haggle with the predatory taxi drivers at the foot of the gangway (the guidebook says to haggle with them immediately, but it’s useless; they have more than enough fares to fill their cars, so haggling will just get you left behind) we jumped into a taxi that was big enough for all of us. It’s about a 30 minute drive to Pisa, which itself looks more like New Jersey than old europe until you get into the oldest section of town, the old portion of the town walled for protection against marauders and the plague, which is where the tower and cathedral are.

And then you turn a corner, and there is the famous tower.

What surprised me most was the detail work, the intricate stone carvings all over the structure. I was amazed enough when looking at the tower and thinking that it was 400 years old, only to be shocked when I read that it was 700 years old.

It was unexpectedly chilly today, so you can see the girls are cold in these photos.

Quickly the cold turned to fussiness. We toured the cathedral but the younger girls and Marshall had some fussy fits, so we’re really only now able to gape at the beauty of this cathedral.

Of course, before we left we took a few obligatory “I am a tourist in Pisa” photos:

Valentine’s day (also known around our house as “Mommy’s birthday”) was the day for our 3D ultrasound. The 3D procedure is considered a non-medical “for entertainment purposes only” kind of procedure — the ultrasound tech wouldn’t answer questions about how the baby was measuring — and so you can bring along anyone you want. Paden played hooky from school and came with us. Here’s what she saw:

Click for a high-quality Quicktime movie of all 3D ultrasound pics (800k)
Click for low-res movie in Window Media format

When Paden saw him, she squealed with delight and asked, “Oh! Can he see me?”

Despite my initial misgivings, we’ve decided to name him Robert Marshall Terrell V, and to avoid confusion with the other Roberts (e.g. his father, his grandfather, his uncle, his cousin) we’ll call him Marshall.

Get ready for the Terrell Family Reunion 2007 in Whistler, British Columbia. We are holding reservations at the Residence Inn by Marriott, just above Whistler Village. It’s a great spot on the side of the mountain about 10 minutes walk to town. The bridge tournament will be Saturday, August 4, at 1:00 PM at the Marriott in the Cheakamus Room. The draw party on Saturday night will be a barbeque on the patio at the Marriott.
The golf tournament will be on Sunday, August 5th at Whistler Golf Club (an Arnold Palmer course) right next to the village, with tee off times beginning at 12:00 noon. The Awards banquet will follow on Sunday night around 6pm at the Clubhouse at Whistler Golf Club.

Thanks to Jan’s diligence, I’ve created an online calendar of all family birthdays. You can access it here. There’s also a link to the calendar on this site’s sidebar on the right. You can also subscribe to the calendar using Outlook or iCal, so the birthdays appear on your own computer. If you see any mistakes, please let me know.

In case you haven’t already heard, we’re pregnant! Yes, again. Think of it this way — we’re having the kids so that cousins PJ and Tommy don’t have to.

Our due date is the first week of May. We won’t know about the gender for a few more weeks. I suspect another girl.

Update: Wrong!

Recently, Aura has been interrupting her bedtime routine to come pay me visits. I hear this little pitter-patter of small feet coming down the hall, and then she jumps up in my lap. Too cute. This time I had my webcam on.

Finally got the Terrell family website up and running. If you’re a terrell and want an email address at “theterrells.net” just lemme know.