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In celebration of this, the 30th anniversary year of Star Wars, the U.S Postal Service is issuing 15 Star Wars-themed postage stamps. The stamps will be available for purchase on May 25th and will sport the new 41 cent rate.

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A new tourist attraction along the Grand Canyon is set to open to the public a week from today and promises breathtaking views and perhaps a bit of vertigo. Another modern marvel, the Skywalk, is a horseshoe-shaped deck with a glass floor and walls that hangs some 70 feet beyond the canyon’s edge. To avoid the need for unsightly cables or supports above or below the deck, the builders employed a cantilevered beam system.

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Nick’s 2nd season of T-ball kicked off yesterday with an afternoon practice. While he was reluctant (a little upset even) to put down his Legos and head out to a wet/muddy field, he did a great job and had fun. This year he plays for the Pirates and will face teams with other MLB names, including the Reds, Astros, Cubs and Orioles. There doesn’t appear to be anyone else from last year’s team so he was a bit shy at first but warmed up when it was time for batting practice, still his favorite. He’d be happy just being a DH.

Also, Ella’s hospital pics have now been posted here:

http://www.growingfamily.com/webnursery/babypage_view.asp?URLID=9R0R8Z4R6K

In response to requests for more photos of baby Ella (or Ella Bella Bean as I’ve been calling her), I have posted more pics taken during her first week. As always you can view these in the mediaalbums. I hope to get a video clip or 2 up soon…if I can just remember to charge the camera battery!

After taking a week off for Ella’s birth, I’m back at work today and let me tell you the emails really pile up! Actually, I’m only halfway back as I’m working 8am to noon for the next 2 weeks to continue to assist at home. Though it’s only been about 2-1/2 years since we had a newborn in the house it takes some getting used to again. Thankfully Ella is doing very well at eating and is a pretty good sleeper. Sometimes Jennifer has to wake her up to eat!

In other news, I received an email from my dad who is in Africa as I write this. Apparently, he had some problems with his connecting flights and the trip took 65 hours! Yikes! That’s almost 3 whole days! He mentioned that the temps there are “hot hot hot”. To be more specific, he is in Tunisia and will be there for the next few months sightseeing and teaching English to the locals.

Well, the cat is finally out of the bag with the revealing of baby Ella’s name and none too soon as it was getting increasingly difficult to talk about her without slipping up. It was an interesting coincidence that a new version of the software I use to write this blog was released very recently and is also called “Ella”. I thought about dropping a hint by making some reference to really liking the name but thought better of it.

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By the grace of God, we are pleased to announce that we have been blessed with a beautiful and healthy baby girl!! Little Ella Katherine was born on February 27th at 5:17pm and was 8 lbs-10 ozs. and 20 inches long. Both her and mom are doing very well and I will post with more info and of course many pics very soon.