when pigs fly (and other news).

...it's been busy, and we have new news and other updates, and I decided not to split it into multiple posts - so bear with me!

first up - marc's pc laptop died a horrible death in the early hours of yesterday. and he's well on his way to being a mac user. (that's the title credit. I even had an email from him already tonight - I told him there was extra credit if he could send me a photo of himself, but I think he decided simply doing email was enough.)
then, not so much pigs flying as pigs all jumping up and down doing their happy dance (like me!) - sara is now a licensed driver. much thanks to marc for cramming lessons on parallel parking and finding the one reservation for a behind-the-wheel test in the state of georgia this week (yes, marc and sara drove to calhoun to take the test - like I said "much thanks to marc".)
and finally (gee - this is almost like reverse order), we had fun with karen and jillian figuring out the beach for this year. since there are only four of us, we get an extra half-foot, but I think we all thought packing lighter was really the right way to go. I am planning to bring my laptop (but not planning to spend too much time on-line). and surely not taking four copies of the latest harry potter book might even create another cubic foot! we all know this year will be much different - karen and I (that's the same), but just two of the girls (both driving!), a new place, and persistent thoughts that this could be the last year for them. karen and I already have a pact we're going to do this forever (and in some strange way, I think we're looking forward to what it might be like to share a small apartment for the week...when we're grandmothers).
we talked about the food (sara signed up for two meals and jillian is planning a yummy dessert for dinner thing), books (everyone has grand plans to read lots), bike rides and the zoo gallery. good times.