Lego daze

While Holly was gone, Trevor entertained himself with his Legos.



Now that he's older, his Lego interest comes in spurts.



It's either nothing, we never see them, he forgets he owns them. (Although with 2000 little pieces stuck in his carpet, it's hard for me to forget.)



Or the box is a semi-permanent fixture in our living room, and the building stops only to eat and sleep.



I'm always amazed at what he comes up with!

Things I can't do

Adding to my list of Things I Can't Do:

I can't make coffee without the pot overflowing.



It should be easy, right? You measure the water, pour it in, and push the button. But I always try to cut corners. If there's any coffee left in the pot, I still make a full pot, thinking, "I'll get the extra cup out before it fills all the way up."

You'd think I'd have learned by now.

You'd think I could actually make Minute Rice.

You'd think I could make blue box macaroni and cheese without it boiling over on the stove.

You'd think...

Another quick trip

The kitties knew something was up.

Ever hopeful

Since the girls' plane was coming in later in the evening, we'd already made plans to spend the night in North Carolina. Rob, Trevor and I left early and stopped for some quick shopping along the way.

Okay, *I* stopped for some quick shopping along the way

We hit quite a bit more traffic this time. I don't know the last time I actually drove in "rush hour." I certainly don't miss that one bit either!


We hung out in the hotel for a while. I took Trevor swimming, and then we grabbed a bite to eat.


The airport was just a few minutes away, and I watched the girls' plane land.


We'd planned to see the Dead Sea Scroll exhibit and the Museum of Natural Science today. But we decided to skip it: it'd be a rush, between the girls being on Colorado time, and getting home to pick up Lucky from the kennel before closing. Even though I knew they'd appreciate it down the road, the kids were only mildly interested in seeing it. It was expensive, $100 for us to get in! So we let the girls sleep in, ate a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, and let the kids swim before heading home.



It was a nice day to not have to rush. We ate breakfast for dinner, and are unwinding before getting back in the swing tomorrow.

This has been a wonderful summer to make quick trips. Living in Stickville, we're used to longer drives to get anywhere--and we're also closer to a lot more places to visit than we were in Colorado. It's a perfect combination!

:)

I've found my twin...

and it's not my parallel-life friend Laura.

Check out the website for a bigger pic.


This is eerie. I also have a similar jacket, and I even wondered if someone shot this of me when I didn't know it. But I'm being paranoid. :)

Um, Mom? Do you have any family secrets that you'd care to share? Just checking!

Recipe - Rocky Mountain Salad

Taken from a popular Colorado cookbook, I first made this salad five years ago. It's fast, easy to make changes, and really good!


ROCKY MOUNTAIN SALAD

1/3 c. chopped onion (too much, use 1/2)
3 T. cider vinegar
2 t. spicy brown mustard
1/2 t. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
3/4 c. olive oil (I use vegetable oil)
2 small heads romaine, prepared, torn bite size
14 oz. can artichoke hearts, drained, quartered
1 large avocado, peeled, seeded, cubed
1/2 lb. bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled
4 oz. fresh grated Parmesan cheese

In food processor or blender, combine onion and vinegar. Process to puree onion and add mustard, sugar, salt and pepper, blending until smooth. Gradually add olive oil, blending constantly, and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine lettuce, artichoke hearts, avocado, bacon, cheese. Add enough dressing to coat. Serve immediately.

**Add a package of grilled, chopped chicken strips, and serve with a loaf of French bread to make a fast and cool dinner meal.

They speak a foreign language here

My unfortunate telephone conversation at work last night:

Caller: I need the number for _______________.

Kristine: I'm sorry, you need what?

Caller: The number for the like ________ library.

Kristine: I'm sorry, I can't understand you.

Caller: I need the number for the like ________ library.

(This repeated a few times, and I'm beginning to think it's a crank call.)

Kristine: Can you spell it for me?

Caller: The like . . .

Kristine: The like . . . ?

Caller: Yes, the like.

Kristine: OH, the LAKE!!!!!!!!!

The caller wanted the phone number for our library branch at the lake. That's okay, she probably couldn't understand me either.

Book Review - Saving Alice by David Lewis

Oo-kay. Now I know where the weird stuff came from that Beverly Lewis book I just read. This book is a solo effort by Beverly's husband. I can't imagine why Bethany House even picked this book up, unless it was as a favor to Beverly.

Plot rundown: Loser is addicted to market trading. Terrible things happen in his life. He has a chance to change an earlier life event via a dream. He wakes up with a new life, same wife. He wakes up again with another new life, same wife. He is able to fix most things that went wrong the first time and they all live happily ever after.

Stupid. I have no idea why this would be considered Christian fiction, because it's not. I dislike dream stories like this, it reminds me of Dallas and Pamela waking up from her dream. This book was definitely not a great effort.

Weekly menu

scalloped potatoes, salad
?? (Mom work)
??
pancakes, bacon, Strawberry Soup
shish kabobs, rice (or couscous)
sub sandwiches, chips, fruit
chicken jerusalem derivative
Renita's Funnel Cakes!!!

Lunch (with or for):
smoothies
grilled PB&J
Linda's Marinated Mozzarella
parmesan pesto things

On the back burner:
cutlets Romano
chicken ala king, rice, strawberries
chicken souvlaki, couscous
bbq hot dogs, pasta or potato salad
teriyaki meatballs, ???
pork loin
tacos
chile rellanos
Chicken Fingers with Lemon Sauce

Book Review - Sanctuary by Beverly & David Lewis

I enjoy some of Beverly Lewis's Amish stories, preferring her newer books to her older ones. This book is a combined effort of her and her husband. It was definitely different than her usual writing, as there is quite a bit of mystery and suspense thrown into the plot.

Melissa James has a secret past. As a newlywed living a wonderful life in New England, her past catches up with her, and she escapes--to Lancaster County, of course (where she takes up with a Mennonite woman instead of the usual Amish family, lol). Melissa's history is explained in flashbacks, as she continues to be stalked by a man from her past.

I ended up peeking at the end of the book and thought the ending was incredibly stupid. For whatever reason, I continued reading the story, and for as much as I expected to dislike the book, there were enough twists and turns that the ending no longer seemed as bad as I thought.

While I continue to like Beverly's current Amish series (serieses?), this book was good enough for me to pick up a David Lewis book. Sanctuary was fine for mild reading; not absolutely recommended but entertaining enough.

How old IS your brain?

Here's a fun quiz.

I don't know what language it's written in, but you can follow these directions:

1. Touch Start.
2. Wait for 3, 2, 1.
3. Memorize the number's position on the screen, then click each circle from the smallest number to the largest number.
4. It will repeat ten times. At the end of game, computer will tell you how old your brain is.

It helps to be smarter than the computer. The first time I played, I thought it said largest to smallest, and I ranked 120 years old. When I actually followed the directions, I scored 23 years old. :)

Dumb de Dumb Dumb

Here's a dumb interesting article from The Sacramento Bee: California 8th-Graders Face Algebra Mandate.

Oh, so many thoughts immediately race through my little mind:

• Three years is not enough time to prepare students. Or teachers, for that matter.
  
• Putting every kid through in no way promises mastery. What then?
  
• "[S]etting every school up for failure"? What about the CHILDREN?
• The critical thinking required for algebra is developmental; it's like mandating every child to read by age 5, or every child to walk by age 1.
• Are they planning to fund this by forcing every CA hser back into the ps system? (she said very sarcastically)
  

Oh, the list goes on...

Holly takes off

This has been a busy month for Holly. She's off for a week to visit an old neighbor/friend in Colorado. These girls have known each other for as long as they can remember.

2001

To get a nonstop flight, we drove three hours to the airport yesterday. I'd been nervous about this, but between Pennsylvania and DC, I've been driving enough that I knew I'd be fine.

Waiting at the gate

This was Holly's first time flying alone; it went just fine. As I was allowed to walk her to the gate, and our friends could pick her up at her arrival gate, she literally was only alone on the airplane.

Hey, what's with that wing tip?

How cute is that?!

By the time I waited for her plane to take off and made my way back home, she'd landed 1600 miles away.

2002

We'll be a little lonely around here, but the girls will have a wonderful time!

DC funny

Teachers, public school teachers. They're everywhere. Especially in our hotel last weekend, gathering for the NEA's Annual Meeting.


They were easy to identify, because they were wearing these shirts.

I mumbled to Robert that it would be funny to shout "homeschool!" And then he did. Well, he didn't shout, but he said it loudly. Several times.

It was kind of like yelling FIRE in a movie theater.

LOL.

Book Review - Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon

I read and mildly enjoyed the first few Mitford books. I continued reading and enjoyed them less. By the time I'd read 51 of them, I stopped reading. (Well, it seemed like 51; it was an inordinately high number, I know that.)

I haven't read about Mitford in a few years and have no desire to start again. But this book (the first of a new series The Father Tim Novels), in which Father Tim travels back to his hometown for the first time in 40 years, caught my attention. Leaving wife Cynthia behind, Tim returns to Holly Springs in response to an anonymous note, "Come home."

The book switches seamlessly between Tim's present trip and past memories, of old friends and new, of wishes and reality. I'll only say that the book holds more than one surprise.

The only weird thing is that Jan Karon has created a fictional character whose past is recreated more fully than any real life person could remember. It makes me wonder what kind of life the author actually has. (!)

This was a great read, definitely better than any of the Mitford books. But if you absolutely loved the Mitford series, you may not like this one as much. I'm so glad I took a chance on this!

Weekly menu

breakfast
bbq pork sandwiches, ???
giant burritos
pizza
sub sandwiches
salmon? (Holly gone)
teriyaki meatballs, ???

Lunch (with or for):
smoothies
grilled PB&J
Linda's Marinated Mozzarella
parmesan pesto things

On the back burner:
cutlets Romano
chicken ala king, rice, strawberries
chicken souvlaki, couscous
bbq hot dogs, pasta or potato salad
chicken jerusalem derivative
pork loin
Chicken Fingers with Lemon Sauce
sub sandwiches, chips (yes, again)
shish kabobs

Washington, DC

Our hotel was directly above the Metro station. Everything else was very well marked; this was the only place I had trouble getting around. I wasn't expecting that; I'd looked at maps online and knew where we wanted to go, which stops we needed, but I was lost with the poor subway markings. Robert found two women who'd played tourist all week, and we followed them to the Smithsonian stop on the Mall.


It was amazing to BE someplace that we've heard so much about yet only have seen on tv or in photographs. We wandered toward the Washington Memorial.

Look at those little people waiting to get in!

We wandered over to glimpse the White House. Just before it came into view, security blocked off the street and sidewalks. Naturally, they weren't talking, and we turned back to meet up with our friends. As we were walking away, a few military helicopters flew in; obviously, the reason that the White House access had been shut down.

The helicopters flew in behind the Memorial--pretty cool!

We met up with our friends in front of the original Smithsonian Institution Building,
which now houses offices and the Information Center.

The girls talk via the internet all the time; they haven't done this face to face in two years!

We walked down to the impressive U.S. Capitol Building. I was surprised by the many foreign tourists, only because, uncultured slob that I am, if I were visiting another country, I would not be touring their government centers.

The boys picked up like they'd never stopped talking

I took over 160 pictures and even managed to get in one of them!

Plotting out the next tourist spot? No, discussing the latest creations in the Lego catalog!

It seemed like we'd walked forever before we stopped to rest

Our original goal was the Air and Space Museum. It was TOO COOL!!!!!!! We saw so many amazing exhibits: Chuck Yeager's Bell X-1, in which he broke the "sound barrier"; Amelia Earhart's Vega, which she flew solo across the Atlantic; the Mercury capsule flown by John Glenn; the Apollo 11 command module that took Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to and from the moon; Skylab Orbital Workshop; and the Hubble Telescope (full size test vehicle used at Lockheed in Sunnyvale 1972-1985) are just a few that stood out.

Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic in this?? I don't think I'd fly down the street....

Voyager - engineering test model

Space suit worn by Apollo astronaut

We had to smile at the Survival Kit gathered by John Glenn for a 1962 manned space flight. Including bio-sensors, rescue signal mirror, notepad, scissors, and a survival knife, it seemed like something Trevor would pull together to explore the backyard.

Console faces the three crew couches in the Apollo Command Module (from a simulator)

Apollo-Soyuz Test Project - joint effort of U.S. and Soviet Union

(look who's sitting down there!)

Trevor puts his video skills to the test on a flight simulation program

Space? Planes? Who cares about that when your friend is HERE!

The boys have been together again for just a few hours,
and already they are standing alike!

Great friends. Great day. What a blessing that they made time for us during their short visit to the U.S. We can't wait to have you back here permanently!

We hopped on the Metro, picking up our car and headed home. After two long days, it was nice to be back home, in our own beds. We are within a half day's drive to many fun places, and we'll definitely be planning a longer visit to DC in the future!

A Capital Fourth (of July)

While living in Colorado Springs, we were blessed with wonderful neighbors for four years. Their kids were the same age as Holly and Trevor, and the kids became so close that we put a gate in our shared backyard fence, making it convenient for everyone to go back and forth between our houses. It was HARD when they took their next Air Force assignment--in Europe--two years ago.

We've kept in touch, and as they planned their first family trip back to the States since moving, we were thrilled at the chance to meet them in DC this weekend!

Washington is a 4.5 hour drive for us, so we headed up a day early. It was the first time the kids and I have been there. Robert, though, lived in Silver Spring, Maryland for seven years when he was young, and he looked forward to visiting his old neighborhood.

We walked around the school where he attended K-2nd grade.

We found the old street (thanks to the GPS, haha), and Rob was able to talk for a while with people who now own the house.

One neighbor still lives on the street, and incredibly, she was home. She keeps in touch with Robert's mom, and she was so sweet to invite us in and reminisce.


We made our way to our hotel. I spent several hours last week finding the "perfect" room (whatever that was). I am way too much of a perfectionist, but all of my hard work (and early check in, haha) paid off. We ended up on the 16th floor of a hotel in Crystal City, blocks away from Reagan National Airport, with views of the Potomac River.


In search of food, we wandered around the underground network of shops.


As I took a few pictures of the "Walk" sign, I realized what a hick I have become.

Haven't seen one of these in a loooong time.

It was hard finding anything open on July 4th, so we were quite pleased to see a brand new Noodles & Company.

We haven't seen one of these in a long time either.

After dinner, Trevor had plenty of time to hit the indoor/outdoor pool.


It had been drizzling off and on, and we wondered if the National Mall's fireworks show would be postponed a day. We'd considered battling the Metro and the Mall crowds. Well, *I* considered it, but Robert said absolutely, positively NO WAY!!! Instead, we had a fabulous view right from our window.

AWESOME!!!!!!

It was a VERY cool way to spend the Fourth of July. We surely wouldn't have planned this weekend in the Capital on our own; it just worked out that this was the time our friends could come in. Follow up post on that later!

Happy Independence Day!

We've been really busy, but we managed to push 4th of July up to the 2nd of July. Does that mean that I might actually be ahead two days, instead of several days behind? I can only hope.

So we celebrated 4th of July yesterday. We bbqed shish kabobs. The trick with shish kabobs is to put the same kind of food on each skewer. This means you won't end up with raw onions on a skewer with overcooked, dried out meat. Robert doesn't like bbqing these (I guess things fall off?), but the meal was such a hit with everyone, that we'll be having it again soon.



Several weeks ago, Trevor found this Wave Your Flag Cheesecake in a magazine. We made it together; it was fun and it tasted great!

I halved the recipe for just the four of us

We went for a walk, and Trevor found a baby grasshopper.


We set off our fireworks (legal here!!), and laughed when it seemed that we attracted more fireflies than we usually see.


Sparklers! Woo-hoo!!


We were going to watch a fireworks show tonight, but everyone was tired and decided to stay home. We have plans to watch more fireworks tomorrow night. :)

Happy 2nd, 3rd, or 4th of July!!

MyNiceSpace.com

Weekly menu

(Better late than never, I always say.)

cheeseburgers, I don't remember
brats with grilled vegetables, corn on the cob
shish kabobs, couscous, watermelon, Wave Your Flag Cheesecake
YOYO (Mom works)
out
out
pork loin, ????

Lunch (with or for):
smoothies
grilled PB&J
Linda's Marinated Mozzarella
parmesan pesto things

On the back burner:
cutlets Romano
chicken ala king, rice, strawberries
chicken souvlaki, couscous
bbq hot dogs, pasta or potato salad
chicken jerusalem derivative
pork loin
Chicken Fingers with Lemon Sauce
sub sandwiches, chips
teriyaki meatballs

Book Review - Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black by Gregory Howard Williams

Billy and his brother Mike grew up in northern Virginia believing they were white. When their father's bar business went broke, and the family lost their tony townhouse in an exclusive Alexandria neighborhood, and their mother disappeared with a new man and two younger children. Alcoholic and desperate, with nowhere to turn, Billy's father Buster takes them back his roots. In the ghetto of Muncie, Indiana, the boys find out that their father is half black.

While race is an integral part of the storyline, this story is really about the boys' survival. Abandoned by their abused mother and her racist family, left on their own by their alcoholic father and his racist and alcoholic family, the boys are taken in by an unrelated neighborhood woman who raises them, despite living on just $25 a week. The author describes the contrasts of living in a black and white world, and of the prejudices he faced from strangers, from teachers, from family.

Despite all odds, and through finding small encouragements along the way, Billy grew up to follow his dream and become a lawyer. Today, he's the president of City College in New York.

This was a great autobiography, far better than its title suggests. This is an older book, first published in 1995, and I found it at my library. If you enjoy reading factual stories of other people, you will enjoy this book.