nineteen days! AH!

Hi all,

So I haven't written a substantial post in a little while, and I know you're all just dying to hear about all the exciting happenings of my life.

I found out a couple weeks ago that my family's trip to Russia had to be postponed until after I leave for Yale. So that means that I won't meet my newly adopted brother until Parent's Weekend. It's still a little odd to think of Kyrill as part of my family, but I've become a lot more comfortable with the idea. It will be an adventure, that's for sure.

So since I had requested this week off for the Russia trip, I scrambled to arrange some different trips. I went to Chicago last weekend to see my brother Matt and my friend Connor. We spent most of the time just catching up and walking around the city - hanging out by the water, passing an afternoon in the Art Institute of Chicago. I passed Millennium Park on my wanderings and, though crowded, it looked awfully lonely without Redhot. I also played my first game of Whirlyball with Matt and his friends - it's this semi-ridiculous game kind of like basketball, but played with scoops and in bumper cars. Very odd. True to form, I spent most of the time crashing into people and avoiding the ball, but I managed to get some pretty gorgeous bruises anyway… mostly from the seatbelt.

Now I'm back in Hamburg and enjoying my week off. My family is busy shearing sheep for the county fair, which is coming up, and though I generally stay away from the sheep, they've had me out collecting wool a lot lately. I went on a creekside hike with a few of my friends today. It was quite scenic and peaceful, and we were having a grand old time until we came upon some random man who yelled at us for being on private property. Oops.

I'm heading to Kansas City to visit my dad tomorrow, which will be relaxing. Then it's not too long before Mike arrives in Hamburg and we head out to Maine. I'M SO EXCITED.

Hope you're all doing well in your respective locations!

love you all,
Brady