Tuesday, December 18, 2007

 

Rocio and Her Family

Remember my friend Rocio? She is now married, and has a two year old son. They live in Cusco, Peru and Rocio is working in the tour industry. Rocio took care of Catie when Catie was a baby, and I think that the reason Catie speaks and understands Spanish so well is because Rocio only talked to her in Spanish when she was a baby. I think Spanish is permanently in Catie's hard drive.





Monday, December 17, 2007

 

Cold Front

It's 39 degrees in Winter Park this morning. That's pretty cold. Catie was so cold that she is risking the Dean's wrath and wore black leggings under her uniform skort. Tights OK; leggings not OK. She also wore her purple "mink" jacket, so it's not like she'll blend in when she arrives at school. Their school has a strict uniform code, and last month she was written up for wearing a jean skirt on Spirit Day that was more than 4" above her knees, with contraband leggings. AND her socks were the wrong type. It's hard for a fashion queen to wear a uniform.

A cold front moved in yesterday, and I woke up to the sound of wind and hail, and then a huge explosion that sounded like a cannon boom. A huge branch from one of the trees next to our house had crashed onto our fence, bringing down some power lines, and I guess the boom was the sound of the transformer blowing up. That was a dramatic way to wake up. The power crews arrived within the hour, and had the power back on 3 hours later. Not bad for a Sunday morning!

We had to rush down to Gap as soon as it opened at noon to buy Kevin a pair of slacks to wear to lunch at the Citrus Club. He realized on Saturday night that he didn't own a pair of non-jeans long pants that fit him. He wears shorts to school every day. He's now a 14 husky, and wears a size 10 shoe. Cate bought a red with black pockadots (is that the correct spelling - looks weird, but then again I'm hardly awake) shirt, and put together a rather smart looking outfit with red tights and a black skirt. I'll write more about the lunch when I get the photos downloaded.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

 

These Photos Go with Angelo's Post

These photos go with Angelo's blog at www.jetapplicant.blogspot.com.






Tuesday, December 11, 2007

 

Jim Daniel


My friend Jim Daniel passed away on Saturday night, December 8th, after a lengthy battle with colon cancer. His partner Ray and his parents were with him. Jim had moved to San Francisco a few years ago to take his dream job as Director of International Programs at the San Francisco Art Institute. I was so proud of his many accomplishments, including his graduation with his M.A. from UCF. I'm going to miss him.

Ray created these designs http://www.cafepress.com/raykampf to help raise awareness about colon cancer. He is also going to establish a scholarship in Jim's name to help students to study abroad.

Sunday, December 09, 2007

 

We're at the Beach

We drove over to beach yesterday morning. Nora and Gene met us over here in the afternoon, and for dinner we drove up A1-A to Daytona Beach and had dinner at one of the restaurants near the lighthouse on Ponce Inlet. I slept on the pull out couch with Kev, and left the balcony door open so that I could listen to the surf.

Yesterday when we all took a walk on the beach we found two starfish. One of them was still alive, so I threw it back into the surf, hoping that would help. The other one we found was already dead, so we left it alone. We also saw several jellyfish washed ashore. It's a bit cool to swim in the ocean at this time of year (at least if you live in Florida and are wimpy, like we are), so we didn't go into the water. The kids did swim a bit in the pool, though. That was pretty cold too, because the heater isn't turned on until January when most of the snowbirds come down.

We are planning to leave around 2 to make it home in time for Catie to attend her friend Abby's birthday party, which is being held at a kid's art studio in Baldwin Park. We'll also need to allow enough time to stop somewhere and buy a Webkinz, the preferred present for 8 year olds.

We weren't going to be able to stay for the 3:30 launch of the space shuttle, but now the launch has been scrubbed until January 2.

We left Jumper at home, because it's difficult having her here because we have to walk her several times a day. We take Jo with us because he's better trained and can be trusted to go on walks with us without a leash and not take off. Also, Gene and Nora had Minnie with them and 3 dogs in this small condo would be a bit much. Dogs aren't allowed on the beach in Volusia County, so we can't even let them go out and have a swim, which Jumper would really love.

Friday, December 07, 2007

 

Shuttle Launch Postponed Until Saturday

The shuttle launch was cancelled on Thursday, and so we did our normal Thursday routine instead. The kids have math tutoring at KUMON, and then Kev has his fencing class. We went home and had a quick dinner, and then headed to downtown Winter Park for the annual Carols in the Park. The Bach Choir sings holiday songs, and lots of the Tiffany windows from the Morse Museum are on display. Normally the weather is pretty cool for this event, but last night it was in the 70's, so it was great weather for milling around.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

 

Find the Man in the Coffee Beans

This is bizarre - after you find the guy in the coffee beans he's so obvious. Once you find him you think: "Why didn't I see him immediately?"







Doctors have concluded that if you find the man in the coffee beans in 3 seconds, the right half of your brain is better developed than most people. If you find the man between 3 seconds and 1 minute, the right half of the brain is developed normally. If you find the man between 1 minute and 3 minutes, then the right half of your brain is functioning slowly and you need to eat more protein. If you have not found the man after 3 minutes, the advice is to look for more of this type of exercise to make that part of the brain stronger!!!

And, yes, the man is really there!!!

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

 

Shuttle Launch!

One of the great things about living in Central Florida is getting to see a shuttle launch. There's a launch tomorrow from Kennedy Space Center at 4:30 pm and so we are planning to pick up the kids right at 3:15 and drive over to New Smyrna Beach where we should have a great view of the shuttle from the condo balcony.

Monday, December 03, 2007

 

Handcuffs and Catie's Birthday Dinner






We went out to dinner at Ruth's Chris on Friday night because it was Catie's birthday and she got to pick where she wanted to go. We had to make a stop at the Winter Park fire station first, though, because the handcuffs which Kevin bought the day before in St. Augustine had somehow broken and he couldn't get them off. I vaguely remember him doing this before when he was about 2. He was a little embarrassed to explain to the fire fighter that he needed some help getting the handcuffs off. He got them off in a matter of minutes, and we were on our way.





 

Wax Lips




Kevin went on a field trip to St. Augustine with his class on Thursday, and they spent the morning touring the historical sites such as Castillo de San Marcos and the oldest school building in the U.S. In the afternoon they had some free time to do some shopping, and Kev got me something he knew I would love - wax lips!

Kevin has a great memory. A few months ago he asked me about what kind of candy I used to eat when I was a little girl, and I told him about going to the penny candy store near our house (I think it was called Jim's) and buying wax lips. I couldn't remember if we actually ATE the wax. I certainly hope we didn't. Anyway, Kev thought of me when he saw the wax lips for sale and he bought me some.

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