Old friends in town!

My dear friend from high school, Trahnel, and her family came over Sunday and spent the night. We all had a great time reconnecting, as they live in Kentucky, and we haven't seen each other since Stace and I went out to visit them in the summer of 2005. At that time, they had a 14-month-old boy - Noah is now 3 1/2, and he has a 19-month-old sister, Calla. It was great to be able to meet each other's daughters. We've come a long way since our days as high school biology lab partners.

The little girls meet and bang toys - Mike holding Cora, Trahnel holding Calla

Noah, the super ninja pirate

The men with their little ladies on our "hike"

We took a walk through Whitney Canyon, a very close hiking spot, and then went to my parents' house so they could meet Noah and Calla and catch up with Trahnel and Mike. It was also handy to be over there, as my parents get the Fox Soccer Channel and Yeovil Town football game was televised Sunday evening. Yeovil lost to Torquay, but I think Stace still enjoyed watching them play.

Stace had a followup appointment on Monday for his blood pressure, and the good news it came down pretty dramatically. The doctor told him to up his dosage of the medication to 1 1/2 pills per day, to see if it comes down even more before his January check. At that point he'll have his blood drawn to see how his cholesterol is doing. He has ridden his bike to work nearly every day for the past two weeks, and is really interested in nutrition labels now. He's already lost several pounds, even though the doctor never mentioned his weight as being too high. It's been strange to hear how many other men his age we know who have told us they also are taking either blood pressure or cholesterol medication. And a newspaper article the other day focused on that very topic, the drastic increase in young men on those very meds. It's a good thing, most of the doctors were saying, because it shows that more men are interested in good health at a younger age.