HallmarcDotNet

Thu, 01 Sep 2011

It was a lot of fun to take Bryan to school. I hope he is having as much fun being in Utah as I had for just the couple of days while there. I love being so close to the mountains. Everything is so fresh and clear. It took me awhile to get oriented to the campus (I got lost several times) but then it all came back. While Bryan was in orientation, I wandered around and even found the two places that I lived in while I was there.  But I get ahead of myself. I should start at the beginning.

We decided to fly out instead of drive because we didn't have a lot of time (since school had already started for Melody and Thomas) and I couldn't bear the thought of another long, overnight drive. Southwest had a special on tickets so I was able to tack on a quick flight to Nevada on the way home. So it turned into a mini-vacation for me. Marc dropped Bryan and me off at the airport. All flights were on time and we arrived in Salt Lake City in time to pick up our rental car. That went smoothly also. 

BUT, we were a little rushed for time getting Bryan to the dorms. I hadn't figured on having trouble finding a store such as Target around. There was a lot of construction on the freeway, and I missed the first exit, and by the time there was another one, we'd gone out of our way. Then when we got to campus, there were no stores. Lots of places to eat, but not much shopping. You see, we had to get sheets so that Bryan could sleep in his new bed…We had to turn around and go back nearly to the freeway to find a Sears (later I found the Walmart). So we got sheets and towels, and then had trouble finding the dorms. I didn't have a campus map with me because I assumed there'd be signs all over telling new freshman  where to go. I guess BYU figures that if you are smart enough to get in, you are smart enough to print your own campus map.

Finally we arrived and checked Bryan into the dorms. He is in Heritage Halls and they've been around for a long time. Old, but well-designed with plenty of storage, and clean for now (!)

So, after a quick time getting him settled, I had to leave to find my housing. I'd learned just before we left, that Marc's aunt and uncle had moved to Pleasant Grove. They'd invited me to stay with them. That was nice because Bryan was busy with his orientation activities and I got to visit with them. But first I had to find their house. I'd printed a little Google map, but realized how much I'd become dependent on the GPS in my van. Without it, the mini Google map doesn't help much. I had to stop for directions several times as well as make several phone calls for directions… Never mind the struggles of driving a rental car where things are not located where you'd expect and the headlights don't turn on automatically. 

But I arrived and had a nice visit with Hyrum and Nancy Hall . Here's a picture I took of them. They live by the mouth of a canyon and there's a trail there that goes all the way to the top of Timpanogos. I thought that was pretty cool. Of course I didn't walk that far.

Besides visiting, I just walked around campus and reacquainted myself with it. I attended BYU for one year to get my teaching credential. I hope Bryan likes it as much as I did. He seems to be settling in fine after having a few technical problems. He has already added and dropped classes, changed his major, and phoned home for money, so I think he is moving right along. I hope he is making friends and liking his classes. I'm sure I will have to just guess about what he's doing from here on out, because he probably won't tell me much. Besides having the Halls nearby, He also has one cousin attending, and knows two other people on campus. I'm glad he's got a few people on whom he can rely, because I know I'll be missing him. He's got a pretty tough schedule. so will probably not be bored.There's lots of people for him to meet — 5600 new freshman with a total student body of 32,000. Wow.

I left on Saturday to fly to Reno to visit Dad and Sheila. Wayne had driven over from Fresno, so I got to have a nice visit with all three of them. They took me to Tahoe the next day and we got to ride across the lake on the Dixie Queen. I had never done that before. It was a beautiful day. 

The visit was short, but it was sure fun to visit with them. We even played a couple of games of pinochle. Wayne showed up pictures of his latest adventure on Mt. Whitney and Dad and Sheila had pictures from their two months at Malheur.

Marc, of course, had everything under control at home. I was picked up from the airport by my friend, Sheila, and arrived home to find the robotics meeting at our house in full swing. The kids were picking a name for the new team. They finally decided on Motherboard Mayhem after a lot of discussion and consensus building. I guess I haven't mentioned that Marc and I finally decided that we would coach this team for Thomas when it became apparent that there wasn't another nearby team with room for him. I think it's going to be an interesting challenge. I know I've written before about the team Bryan's been on. I totally believe in the FIRST organization, so am excited about coaching this team.

The other thing that I missed while I've been away, is that Melody has been playing several tennis matches for the school team. I was finally able to attend one. I even took a picture. It's easier than taking pictures of Bryan trying to jump over hurdles, but I still need to work on my action shots. Plus I have to take pictures non-conspicuously. I think she wants us to pretend we don't know her. Or at least to sit quietly and in a well-behaved manner. We're trying.

It looks like fun. Today she is trying out for the school play. I don't know if she actually has time to participate, but I am glad she is following in her brother's footsteps and getting involved in high school.  

And thus the school routine has begun.

posted at: 20:41 | permanent link to this entry

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Fri, 19 Aug 2011

End of summer misc

School has started again so that means that summer is really over. Bleh! Before I tell you about commitments and homework, let me post the few pictures that I've taken this month. 

Monica came to visit us with her friend, Mike. It was good to see her, since it's been awhile. We had a lot of fun laughing about old times. We didn't know where to go since we were still in the middle of our heat wave, and most places we could think of were outside, so we went to our old standby, the City Museum. It was however, more crowded than we've ever seen it. Kind of crazy and crowded. But we had fun. I know I say it all the time, but it was good to see family. We miss living where we get to see family all the time. Never take family for granted.

 

Another picture I took at the end of summer was the one where I went into Thomas' room in the morning and found him not in his bed. Where did he go? Well, he decided that he liked sleeping on the floor better. He said it was more comfortable. And he slept like this for several nights.

I notice he is back sleeping in his bed, but the assorted stuffies are still on the floor. Maybe the floor was more comfortable because there was no room left for him on the bed, but finally he decided that it was the stuffies that had to go… 

So here's another odd "first" for my kids. McDonalds is having two for one Bic Macs and so Melody and Thomas had their first try of these classic sandwiches. Maybe it is not a healthy thing to introduce to your kids, but I don't want them thinking they are deprived.And I can't even think of a reason that we are eating Big Macs in Thomas' bedroom.

 

Then the last weekend before school started, we took a scout hike to Onondaga Cave State Park. It was a good thing that the Deacons came with me because there were still only four boys. We've been on lots of hikes in the scorching heat or freezing cold, but the ironic thing was that the weather was beautiful for our trip underground.  Oh well. 

 

Then we had two more events to squeeze in before school started on Wednesday.  A quick trip to Ohio. Bryan has been wanting to go to Cedar Point Amusement Park because it has the fastest roller coasters around (or something like that). We were going to go with Monica so the kids could see their cousins, but that didn't work out, so we went just to ride the coasters. I only ride the tame ones because I get enough thrills out of regular life these days. All three kids rode the top thrill dragster which goes at about 120 mph. I didn't get a picture of Melody riding it, but Thomas and Bryan sat in front, so here they are anticipating their ride. I like the look on the face of the girl behind them. That's why I didn't ride.

Here's what they were looking at. 

We had fun hanging out at the park. The weather was cloudy in the morning, but nice later. There were quite a few people at the park and so the lines were kind of long on the best coasters. I liked the big Ferris wheel because we could see the beach and had a great view from the top.

 

 

We did an overnight drive home so that Melody could be home to go to her freshman orientation at the high school. Thank you Bryan for all the help driving.  And then Tuesday night was the double Court of Honor. First, Thomas got his year's worth of advancements. Three merit badges, Tenderfoot, Second, and First class ranks, and a mile swim award. As an assistant scoutmaster, Bryan got to help give out awards. 

 

After all the other awards were given, we took a break and then had a special Eagle Court of Honor.  Thomas got to participate in this one by representing the First Class scout on the Trail to Eagle.

 

 

Bryan did a lot of work as a scout. He did a great job on his project nearly a year and a half ago. A lot of paperwork issues kept him from getting this award until now, but he persevered. I hope he is proud of the accomplishment. We are proud of him.

It was a nice night. We had ice cream sundaes for dessert and came home so we could get up for the first day of school. Three days down, all seems to be going well. Bryan has been working, but will have his last day tomorrow. Then he can pack and I take him to school next week. I'll probably not write again until I get back from Utah. I'll have a lot to write about then.

posted at: 16:43 | permanent link to this entry

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Wed, 10 Aug 2011

backpacking pictures

Again, I haven't written and haven't taken pictures to post, but my friend, Sheila, gave me copies of pictures that she took when we went backpacking, so I wanted to post a few. This is Sheila. I know she's shown up in pictures here before. That's because we like to go hiking together and she is my "two-deep-leadership" on hikes I take with the scouts. The hike we took was along Pickle Creek in Hawn State Park.

 

I was glad that Melody agreed to come backpacking with us, because I feel we haven't had much chance to do fun things together this summer. Like I mentioned before, we went in spite of a heat wave, and were pretty hot, but were glad to know we could do it and have fun, even though there was humidity and bugs…

 

The scenery turned out to be very pretty.

 

We camped by water so were able to "swim" or at least sit in the water before going to bed.

 

 

 

 

Five hot miles in and five out. A few ticks, more spiders, lots of mushrooms and wildflowers. Some pretty overlooks (yes, even in Missouri) and a real sense of accomplishment. Thanks for the pictures and the memories, Sheila. Let's do it again sometime.

posted at: 05:59 | permanent link to this entry

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Sun, 24 Jul 2011

HOT

We've had very hot weather all week, but in spite of that, Melody and I went on our planned backpacking trip with my friend, Sheila. My pack was too loaded (just for overnight??!!) and so I opted for leaving the camera home. Here is a picture taken at home before we left. Hopefully, Sheila will share some that she took with me.

We had a good time. Yes, it was very hot and there were bugs, but the place we went to (Hawn State Park) was beautiful. I'd like to go back earlier in the summer some time when there would be more water in the streams, but it was nice. There was enough water to sit in to cool off after we'd arrived at our camp. That was important or we would have been too hot to sleep. Or at least relax, since it seems I never sleep when backpacking anyway…

 When we got back, I spent Wednesday catching up, doing laundry, and running errands. It was really busy, because I had to work on Thursday and Friday. But you know what, I woke up Thursday sick and couldn't go to work. It was really weird. I just don't get sick like that very often. I don't know what it was, but it wiped me out . I feel mostly better today. It wasn't something we ate backpacking because no one else got sick.

So, the rest of the week, the kids mostly watched movies. Except Thomas made this cool model of the Enterprise out of cardboard. He is still working on paper macheing it. 

 

  Last night we went to watch Bryan compete in a lifeguarding competition at one of the YMCAs. It was fun to watch as they showed off their skills. Here is Bryan rescuing a "victim"

 

It was fun to watch because it was something we'd never done before. And we didn't have to sit in the pool area where it was hot and humid, but watched from the other side of the glass. Bryan said it was fun to participate. 

 

All the events were done as a team of four. Each Y sent a team. In this event they had to swim a relay and pick up rings off the bottom of the pool on the way. This has been a good place to work for Bryan, but I can't believe how fast the summer has gone, and that we will soon be taking him off to BYU. Except that I can't get him to pack up…

I guess I didn't mention that Marc started his new job this week. He went out to eat with colleagues a lot, so I guess everyone was friendly.  It was nice to have him come home a few minutes earlier in the evening because the commute is shorter.

 

posted at: 08:57 | permanent link to this entry

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Sun, 17 Jul 2011

blog update

I realize that I haven't written for two weeks now, but the problem is that I can't think of much that has happened in the last two weeks! My camera is empty except for a couple pictures of fireworks on the fourth, a bird I was trying to identify, and three pictures of the sky that Melody took (no, Melody is not trying to steal the sky…and the bird was a wren)

If I don't take pictures, then I generally can't remember what I've done, so let's see if I can think of anything to write about.

First, Thomas was at scout camp all this week, and Bryan went with him as a leader for part of the week. Thomas came home yesterday and it sounds like he had a great time. He was a little sunburned and bruised. I was most impressed that he earned his first three merit badges as well as the mile swim award, that he liked the food all week, and that he came home with a smile on his face. 

Speaking of scouts, I mentioned at the end of June that Bryan had scheduled his board of review for his eagle. I don't know why I wrote that because he had passed his board that week, I just don't always proofread my work. Anyway, now he has his award in hand.  We are still supposed to schedule the court of honor, but don't know when that will be. He is still working at the Y and will leave for college in about five weeks. Eeek, what has happened to the summer!?

Marc accepted a new contract and so finished with Wells Fargo Advisors and will start working for Thomson Reuters on Monday. The commute is shorter and so he is looking forward to extra minutes every day. While it is still a contract position, he will get holiday time off, so that will be another plus. 

I won't be here for Marc's first day at his new job because I am going backpacking tomorrow with a friend. We also convinced Melody to come along. We are going to a spot a couple of hours away and the weather is predicted to be HOT, so we'll see how it goes. I haven't decided yet whether to take my camera because my pack is already heavier that I'd like… This is my consolation hike because I didn't get to go backpacking with Wayne this summer, and I'm trying to learn to like the outdoors in Missouri. 

The kids have said that this summer is boring, so we are trying to get out more. While I only work two days a week, it really does seem to impact my schedule. Monica and I just planned to meet for a day in Ohio at Cedar Point and it was literally the only day left of the summer where our schedules matched.  Melody and Thomas will start school the day after we get back.

Nope, really can't think of much we've done in the last two weeks. We even missed the premiere of the last Harry Potter movie. We will go and see it this week I'm fairly certain. Melody has been watching through all of the movies in anticipation and we finished number six last night. I think seven part 1 is coming from  Netflix on Monday so we will watch it when we get back from our trip and then go see the new one on Wednesday. Since I have to work on Thursday and Friday, we are on a strict schedule you see.

Guess I'll end this rambling letter. I'll try to  take some pictures this week so I can remember what we do with our time. I will put a sparkler picture here to end this, because I don't want there to be none, but they were not very good. 

 

 

 

 

posted at: 08:44 | permanent link to this entry

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Mon, 04 Jul 2011

Independence Day

After having a huge thunderstorm last night we wondered if all fourth of July celebrations would be canceled, but true to Missouri tradition, things changed abruptly and after a few hours of rain this morning, the weather was beautiful this afternoon. So we decided to go to the arch for the airshow. Actually, Marc dropped us off and went to work for a few hours while the kids and I went to the airshow. It was cooler than a couple days ago, but still pretty hot. We watched some breathtaking aerobatics, played in our favorite fountain, and then drove back home with Marc to enjoy BBQ and will watch neighborhood fireworks (later tonight). Here are a few pictures of our day:

 

 

  You can't see it these pictures, but we were sitting in the park on the waterfront, but some of the park is submerged by the Mississippi which is really high right now. 

When the show was over, we explored the arch grounds, and then headed past the old courthouse to the fountain that we like to cool off in. The court house is where the Dred Scott trial took place. Remember from US history in high school?

 

 

Happy 4th of July!

posted at: 21:24 | permanent link to this entry

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Marc’s birthday

Marc turned 43 this weekend. We always have a hard time knowing what to do for Marc because he's hard to shop fro and because his birthday is so soon after we celebrate Father's Day. So for his birthday this year I decided to surprise him with a relaxing date. I picked him up from work and had plans to go to a concert in the park, dinner at "The Hill" , and then a stay at a local inn. Well, the heat wave made the concert seem like an unappealing option, so we went to the art museum in Forest Park instead. Anyway, it was a fun evening and we came home Saturday. The kids had finished getting ready for the birthday by hanging the traditional birthday banner, wrapping presents and cleaning up a little so it was nice to come home. 

We had Marc's birthday dinner of lasagna, salad, and bread, with ice cream cake afterward. 

 

And a few presents.

 

 

 

 

posted at: 20:57 | permanent link to this entry

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Thu, 23 Jun 2011

Summer continues

Our summer seems to be going so fast. I can't believe that June is speeding by.

I am finally out of orientation at work, but still have so much to learn. About the only downside to my job is that I have to work every third weekend. When I work both Saturday and Sunday, then the weeks just kind of blend together. And since three weeks ago I worked a weekend as an orientee, and my regularly scheduled weekend was last week, I had to do them even closer than normal. Anyway, the job is going fine and I like all the things I'm learning. I especially like that I only work two days a week. They are really long days, but I like having so many days off, while still feeling like I get to improve myself professionally.

Marc always gets to improve himself professionally since he is at work so much. And we're grateful that he works so hard. 

Bryan also has been working about every day, but much shorter hours. His big news is that he was finally able to schedule his board of review for his Eagle in boy scouts. He finished his project about a year and a half ago, but has been challenged by paperwork issues. I don't know who is more relieved to have this done, Bryan or me.It has been a bit of a nightmare. He was also asked to work this summer as an assistant scoutmaster. He will be working for the next 6 weeks with Thomas' troop. He gets to go to camp for part of the week with them. I hope it is fun for both of them. 

Since Bryan and Marc were busy working, I went with Melody and Thomas (and a friend and her son) on a day trip about two hours away to a place I'd wanted to visit since we moved here. We went to Elephant Rocks State Park. The granite rocks are an oddity here in Missouri and were very fun to climb on. The rocks are called elephants, but Thomas thought this one looked like a hippo instead.

The wildflowers were blooming so it was very pretty.

 Then we went swimming at some nearby "shut-ins" which are basically what happens when the water flows over the granite and causes pools to form. They made me think of Dinkey Creek near Fresno where we used to go in the summers. 

Other than this little trip, there hasn't been that much going on. The kids play with friends or on the computer. Melody sewed herself an apron from a pattern that her grandmother gave her.The pattern belonged to her great-grandmother.

Thomas has been really involved with the Lego Mindstorms that Bryan gave him for his birthday. He has wanted more pieces and has been searching ebay for more. Today he found out that he got a set that he wanted. He used money that he got for his birthday and more that he had been saving. He will have fun with it when it comes. 

Melody and I have been getting up early in the mornings to go and play tennis together so that we can learn how to play better. It has been fun. We go at 6:30 so as to beat the heat. Then I go walking with my friend at 7:30. Today, however, was wonderful because it stayed nice and cool all day. Melody and I (with occasional help from Thomas) went and bought plants and worked in the garden all day! I hope everything grows. I could get into gardening if the weather would cooperate like that more often. Well, and if things actually grow and I don't feel that I'm just tossing dollar bills into the backyard to be carried away by the wind… We'll see.

We've had a groundhog that eats our plants, and then some mint that just took over everything. It's been neglected,  so we kind of had to pull it all out and start from scratch.. We also have the pond to clean up still. I have to work tomorrow and Monday so we probably won't be working in the garden for several days, but it was fun today.

 

posted at: 22:25 | permanent link to this entry

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Sun, 12 Jun 2011

Misc Pix

Marc took some pictures in the last few weeks that I wanted to include here. I forgot to take my camera to the high school awards ceremony and so Marc took cell phone pictures. Here is Bryan by the office at school where his picture will be hanging. 

And I also didn't take my camera when we went to the Weird Al concert last week. I thought they wouldn't allow cameras. It was a great concert and I could have taken great pictures. Oh well. Here is one that Marc took of the encore. 

And afterwards the storm troopers were available for pictures

 And one last picture that is out of sequence. Bryan got a beautiful quilt from his grandma Sheila-la for graduation.

 

Isn't it pretty?

posted at: 11:04 | permanent link to this entry

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End of school and Girls’ Camp

Another two weeks. We've been busy finishing the last days of school. We had so many snow days this year that Melody and Thomas had to go to school all the way until the 6th of June.Melody sang at the end of the year awards ceremony, and both kids got medals. They did a great job with another year. I'm proud of all three of my kids. 

Meanwhile, now that Bryan is out of school, he got to sleep in when he wanted. Then he's been working at the Y (as in YMCA, not BYU). He is still life-guarding and is shadowing so he can teach swim lessons. Marc and I have also been working. I like my new job and am glad I took it. The people are all very nice and supportive, although the floor is very, very busy. 

And the last day of school finally came. Here are Melody and Thomas waiting for the bus… It's the last day that they will do that together because next year Melody will be at the high school.

Melody went to Girls' Camp on the 7th. I had to work, so only went to camp for the last three days. It was hot and buggy, but fun as usual. 

Did I mention that it was hot? This was taken during a rest break while we were cleaning a section of trail for a service project.

Climbing…

A little chocolate cake and ice cream brought as a special treat… 

And we came home to air conditioning and real toilets! What could be better than that? Marc even took us out to dinner after we'd showered and rested. It's always good to come home. 

posted at: 10:40 | permanent link to this entry

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Sun, 29 May 2011

Bryan graduates from High School!

Hurray! Bryan is finally done with high school. In some ways it seems so short and in others, forever that he has been in high school. I don't think that I mentioned last week that we went to an awards ceremony last week for the seniors at Fort Zumwalt high. Bryan wasn't planning to go until the last minute, but was persuaded in the end because his principal told him that he was receiving a special award and it would look bad if he didn't show up. So he got a plaque and his picture up on the "academic wall of honor". There are only three student up on the wall so far (remember that this is only the second graduating class) so his picture will be hanging outside the office forever.

On to graduation.  It was held at 1 PM so we got to sleep in and have a leisurely brunch. Bryan had to leave before we did. His friend, Sam, picked him up because she was going early to work at graduation. So we took a couple of pictures before. 

 

  It was held at the Family Arena, a fairly large place. I think they said that there were 288 graduates, so it was a fairly small class.The band played and the graduates marched in. There were remarks, a moment of silence to remember the people of Joplin, MO who died last week in the big tornado, the national anthem, the choir sang the alma mater, there were a few more remarks, two student speakers, and on to the important part…

 

 

 

 

They marched out and it was all over except for the celebrating and picture taking.

 

 

  Congratulations, Bryan! We are proud of you!

 

posted at: 09:40 | permanent link to this entry

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In between

I wrote last week about Thomas' birthday party. But I was writing on his birthday. I didn't write about our family celebration later that afternoon.

After his friends left he wanted to go ice skating. So Melody and I went with him. It was fun. My feet didn't hurt like the last couple of times we went skating so maybe my ice skating days aren't over after all. His birthday dinner was an easy one. He wanted noodles and garlic bread. After dinner he opened presents. I think his favorite present was the Lego Mindstorms (practically unused) that Bryan passed onto him.

Two of the things that go along with turning twelve were that he got ordained a deacon on Sunday, and he got to go to the temple with Melody on Tuesday.

So it has been a busy week. On Tuesday night, my mom also flew in so that she could visit and be here for Bryan's graduation.

We've had fun visiting and on Friday the weather was nice and we went to the Missouri botanical garden while everyone else was at school, work, or graduation practice.  It is a really nice place although we were not able to see it all in the short time we were there. The flowers and trees were beautiful, but I especially liked the Chihuly glass sculptures there. 

 

 

Since we've had such stormy weather here lately, it was nice to be able to get outside and see something new. I'd like to go back to this beautiful place.

 

 

posted at: 09:00 | permanent link to this entry

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Sat, 21 May 2011

Another busy week

Two weeks ago I wrote on Mother's Day. Melody made me scones with cream. Don't they look fantastic?

I've been so busy starting a new job, and then working on our new floor, that Bryan's 18th birthday took me by surprise.  Melody, Thomas, and I decided that we wanted to try to fill his room with balloons the morning of his birthday. So the day before while he was at work, we blew up about 150 balloons and corralled them in my bathroom. We were so careful that there wasn't a trace of our deed unless one were to go outside and look up at the window.

About three in the morning I started moving them down the hallway, opening his door, and slipping them in his room. This was a bit difficult because I was trying to do it without turning lights on. Balloons also make more noise than you would think! About 3:30, Bryan woke up! I forgot how much he hates the sound of squeaking Styrofoam and this is the same sound the balloons were making. He grumpily told me that I'd need to cleanup the balloons, but I didn't listen and kept filling his room. Marc helped me and we finished around four. They were about waist deep. 

That evening, we all went out to Mexican food to celebrate. 

 

Then we came home and opened presents.

We were still so full from dinner, we decided to work a little before cake. We took the balloons out of Bryan's room and took them to the basement so that Bryan could use his room and so that Thomas could play with them for his birthday party. In fact, at this very minute he and his friends are still having fun burying each other in balloons.

Then we had cheesecake.

 

I didn't post last weekend because I went on a hike with the scouts on Saturday. Then I worked on Sunday. The hike was cold and wet. Melody went to Six Flags the same day and froze also. She came home wet and miserable. At least her  choir did well at their competition. This weekend she had earned another trip to Six Flags, but decided not to go.

This week was also crazy. In between working, I had to finish the floor so that we could have company for Thomas' birthday. We finished the floor on Thursday. We still have to do baseboards and seal the floor, but that may have to wait a couple of weeks.

Everyone helped move the stuff back to original places and put the house in some semblance of order for  Thomas to have friends come and spend the night on Friday. First they went bowling together.

And played in the arcade.

Then we went home and ate pizza, had cake and opened presents.

They had fun with the balloons.

Next week, my mom gets to come and Bryan graduates from high school! The party continues…

posted at: 11:56 | permanent link to this entry

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Sun, 08 May 2011

Robotics

The robotics tournament was so much fun. I convinced Thomas to skip school and come with me on Friday. We had fun exploring the booths and getting freebies from the various vendors. Thomas thought that driving a military robot was the coolest thing ever. He kept saying that it was way more fun than being in school. He also tried out the flight simulator. 

Just a note about the flight simulator. Don't ever get in an airplane with Thomas as the pilot unless you want to get airsick. 

Bryan's team had a lot of technical difficulties and was eliminated fairly early, but just being in the event was quite an accomplishment. Bryan had too many school responsibilities to skip and so only attended on Saturday. The weather for all three days was beautiful and we enjoyed the downtown venue and were able to wander around the pedestrian mall by the arch for our lunch. 

Since an international robotics tournament wasn't enough for one day, Bryan also went to prom that evening. Here he is before leaving. Doesn't he look nice?

We've continued to slowly work on our floor in between other activities. The eating area was finished a week ago(except for cleaning, sealing, and replacing baseboards… but since I started my new job last week we haven't had more time to work until yesterday. Yesterday we pulled up the kitchen sheet vinyl and placed cement board in the kitchen, so now the house is even more torn up than before. What a mess! I have two more days of orientation classes for my job and then start orientation on the floor. Hopefully I will have a little time this week to squeeze in some tiling. Except that it is Bryan's birthday and I need to organize my scouts and who knows what else? I have confidence that the house will eventually get back to normal…

 

It has been a busy two weeks. We probably should not have decided to do the floor in the middle of it all, but is there ever a time that is not busy? We just do the best we can. So I find myself up on the morning of Mother's Day feeling bad that I didn't send Mother's Day cards this week. I'm writing this as I wait for Melody to finish the scones she is making for my breakfast. Hugs to all mothers out there and especially to my mom, step-mom, and mother-in-law. Hope it's a good day! Maybe next year I'll be more organized and send a card…I Love you!

 

posted at: 09:42 | permanent link to this entry

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Wed, 27 Apr 2011

A busy week and a canceled trip

We are starting into the end of the school year activities. It always gets very busy around this time of year as the kids have concerts and various activities to wrap up the school year. Last week Thomas had an orchestra concert, Melody sang at the honor society induction ceremony, and Melody and Thomas had a piano recital. The weather was stormy for all three of these events. For two of them, the person in charge announced that the weather was being monitored and they would let us know if we needed to move into a safer room, etc. Anyway, all the events went smoothly and the kids did well.

I didn't get a picture of Melody singing, but here she is marching out. She and six others sang the national anthem and did a great job.

 

For the piano recital, Thomas played Lean on Me and Melody played Lucy and Linus (the Snoopy song).

Friday was the worst weather, however. When we left the piano recital a little after seven, it was really raining hard. On the way home, the lightning was downright scary. Since we hadn't had time for dinner, we decided to stop at Pizza Street to eat. When we went in, the girl at the counter let us know that there'd been a tornado spotted along highway 70. We called Bryan, who was at work at the Y. He told us that they had 80 mph winds there and that the tornado spotters were parked down the street from them. So we were happy when everyone made it safely home that night.

Unfortunately, when we got home we found out that the flight that Melody and I were scheduled to take early the next morning to go to Salt Lake for my nephew Michael's wedding had been cancelled. We were rescheduled on a later one,  and then another, but all ended up being canceled because the airport was completely closed because a tornado had hit the airport! It took about three days for them to get the airport up and running again. We were sad to be unable to attend this event. We hear it went well.

We'd been excited to attend the wedding  and see family, but we were also eager to get away from all the work that was waiting for us at home. Since we didn't go, we had to stay home and work on the ongoing floor project. 

 

We also had to cook Easter dinner. Melody made rolls.We ate ham.

The Easter bunny left baskets of chocolate and eggs for Bryan to hide. 

 

Chocolate was enjoyed by all. If only the Easter bunny had finished the floor on his way out…

posted at: 16:25 | permanent link to this entry

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Sun, 17 Apr 2011

Dear Edwina

This week we celebrated more of spring and also the performance of Dear Edwina, Jr., the middle school musical that Melody and Thomas have been involved in most of the school year. The performance was fun to watch and Melody and Thomas, as well as the whole cast, did an excellent job. Thomas was Bobby, as well as William (of William and Sonoma). I sewed the vests and bow ties for William and Sonoma. Here he is trying out the costume. 

Here he is as Bobby (with Edwina).

I had an especially hard time getting a picture of Melody. She always seemed to stand behind other people. She was Myra Spoonapple (Edwina's sister) as well as a napkin.  

The "napkin" part I learned was as back-up singer.

 

Here are some more random pix.

 

 

The weather, as usual, changed from winter-like to summer and back again. I've enjoyed seeing the tulips in the yard live their short life. 

And doesn't this picture look like we are ready for Easter next week?

Lastly, a mention that we are starting a project to put in new tile in our kitchen and eating area. So far we have just had fun with the destruction part. The kids especially liked tearing up the old stuff.

 

Hopefully, we'll soon have pictures of a finished product. 

 

posted at: 17:25 | permanent link to this entry

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Sun, 10 Apr 2011

Green’s cave hike

Yesterday was a busy day. Melody had a choir festival at the community college. Her choir earned top marks for their singing. 

Then she had a girl's camp certification meeting. After taking her to those things, We returned home so that Thomas and I could go on a hike with my scout group. Once again, there were only two boys, including Thomas. Here we are at the trailhead.

We had planned to go on a "bushwack" where there was no trail. The guidebook had us follow old roads and paths, but we kept losing the trail, so in the end had to go cross country using the compass.  The area had some old homestead sites.

It took us a lot longer than we'd originally thought, but in the end the hike was worth it because the cave was a really cool spot. Of course, we couldn't explore inside the cave because of "White-nose bat syndrome" which has all the caves closed to prevent spread of the disease to caves (and bats) across the nation. 

  Really, we aren't exploring inside the cave here, but just the entrance. The cool water was too good to resist a little wading. 

Once we'd found the cave, the way out was much easier. The guidebook mentioned several turnoffs that we missed. When we were on the way out and actually saw the turnoffs we thought that there was no way for anyone to have actually found the minuscule trail without ESP. So we felt better about our path-finding abilities.  The way back was also downhill. On the way out, we saw a cool snake in a tree. Good thing it wasn't a python, because I walked right under it without noticing it.

The other wildlife that we saw were tons of ticks. We thought we were going early enough in the year to avoid these, but they were plentiful. Luckily, everyone brushed them off and was fine. Here is our after picture. 

 

I neglected to mention our last scout "hike" in my blog.  Two weeks ago, Thomas, my friend Sheila, and I, went geocaching in a blizzard. I'd scheduled the activity, so we went anyway, but it started snowing just as we arrived at Forest Park. We froze as we tried to find the location of the geocach. Finally, we decided to look again on a warmer day. I didn't take any pictures because it was wet and cold, so I'd forgotten about it. I remembered yesterday as we realized the difference that only two weeks made. We went from a blizzard to a hike yesterday where we were SO hot and dehydrated. It was 89 degrees and humid.Lots of water, milkshakes at McDonalds, and cool showers at home made us good as new.

Meanwhile, at home, Bryan had his final performance of Fame. We hear that this musical was a success, breaking attendance records for theater at the school.  He is still sleeping after his wild cast party, so will have to find out more details later.

And Marc finished our taxes (hurray!), worked on accounting homework, and took a nap (and probably other things…

posted at: 10:13 | permanent link to this entry

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Fri, 08 Apr 2011

spring flowers and activities

 

So we got more snow, just when we thought spring had arrived! It covered all the pretty blossoms on the trees and my daffodils.  Melody brought some inside so we could enjoy them anyway. And a couple days later it all melted, and the flowers seem to have survived.Two weeks later we have leaves in the back yard and blossoms and tulips in the front.

 

 

During those two weeks, I had a birthday. I am still just a "spring chick" however, all evidence to the contrary. Everyone was nice to me on my birthday. A friend took me to lunch. The kids made tacos for dinner, and Marc made a scavenger hunt so I could find my birthday presents. He knows I like the hunt as well as the actual presents. I got my much awaited pizza knife among other things and now I can cut pizza like a pro. It was handy on birthday cake also.

  A few days later I made pizza so I could try it out. No more sore arms!

I took advantage of the nice weather to go on a hike with another friend and her son. It was a beautiful day, yet a little early for wildflowers. I hope to see more when we take the scouts on a hike tomorrow.

 

We had a scout activity this week and Thomas was the only one able to come. Two were sick, and now today Thomas is sick and home from school. I hope he will be better to go hiking tomorrow. 

So, on Tuesday, Thomas built a fire without matches and did some Dutch oven cooking all by himself. We had fun even though it was just the two of us. 

Meanwhile, Bryan has been working long hours on the high school spring musical, Fame! Once again, he was cast as an older person. He has often had gray hair in the plays he has been in, and this time was no exception. He is the music teacher in the suit. They did a great job with the production. It was fun to watch. He has two more performances. 

 

So, that's how things have gone the last two weeks. Next week, Thomas and Melody will have their play, and we will continue to enjoy the nice warm weather and the flowers around here.

posted at: 09:57 | permanent link to this entry

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Sun, 20 Mar 2011

Spring break 2011

This was kind of a roller coaster of a week, at least in terms of weather. We started out on Monday with unexpected snow. 

In spite of the snow, we spent the day running errands. Melody got her hair cut and Bryan finally got senior pictures taken. I had plans to get a lot of other things caught up over break, but with the kids home and lots of activities planned, my good intentions will have to wait. 

Tuesday,  we had to prepare for a "Modest Fashion Show" that Melody was in for the young women. We spent the day sewing together. Unfortunately, my pictures didn't come out from that event. I think the girls had fun and the food was good. I always love a dinner that I didn't have to cook.

   

By Wednesday, the snow was melted and the weather was warm enough for the planned girls' camp certification activity. We did outdoor cooking. The girls cooked ziplock omlettes, sausage, pancakes, and toast over the camp stove,a Dutch oven cobbler, and pizzas and s'mores over the fire, thus passing off all their cooking requirements. They also learned several other skills and built fires with and without matches.

Here is Melody starting a fire with flint and steel. Yes, she did use paper and wood.

And here she is waterproofing a match.

 

It was a fun activity, although a little muddy.

By Thursday, the weather had gotten warm enough to set a hundred year record for  hottest St. Pattrick's Day. I guess it got up to 85.  Melody and I went downtown with Bryan to watch as his robotics team competed in the St. Louis First robotics regional competition. This is the fifth and final year for Bryan to be on this team. He has learned so much from being involved in this. The three days of competition was also a bit of a roller coaster ride. Usually their team has a pretty solid robot and always performs well. On Thursday, they were having major issues. It looked pretty bad from my viewpoint.I was afraid for them, but they fixed the bugs and by Friday the robot was doing better. By Saturday morning their robot was doing really well. 

And on Saturday the whole family came to watch. We took a lunch break and the weather was nice enough to spend a little time outside. The traditional crocodile picture…

Back to the game. There were three components to the game this year. First, an autonomous period where the robots try to hang a yellow "uber" tube on a peg. Then, a longer period where the robot is driven remotely to hang more rings on pegs to create the First logo. 

The last period is where therobots deploy a "mini-bot" that races up a pole to score more points.

This is this first year that they have done really well at the autonomous part. It takes really good computer programming skills to do this part. Here is their robot placing an uber tube.

 

Notice the other two robots just sitting there. Many of the teams could not do this. It doesn't look like it, but it is a big deal. Later, rings hung like this scored points.

 

Getting set up…

 

And a picture of a mini-bot at the top of the pole. These are deployed by the bigger robots during the last fifteen seconds of a match.

Disappointingly, in spite of a robot that could do all three parts of the competition well, they were eliminated in the semi-finals by an alliance that was even better. But, the competition involves many aspects. The actual game is only one of them.The teams are judged on sportsmanship (they call it gracious professionalism), team spirit, imagery (an award Bryan's team, the Channel Cats, have won a couple of times), community outreach, mentoring, and many other things. The overall award is called the Chairman's Award and the CC have hoped to win it before, but this time they were thrilled to win. Here they are getting their medals.Bryan is in the center.

The three top teams, plus the Chairman's award team are invited to compete in the National competition, so the Chanel Cats will go to the Nationals at the end of April. The Nationals this year will be held in…wait for it…St. Louis, Missouri! Lucky for us, huh? Bryan will be busy until then, because he is in the school play in April and thought he wouldn't have robotics any more, but they will want to perfect their robot for the Nationals.

Anyway, the week wasn't a vacation, but fun anyway.

 

posted at: 10:38 | permanent link to this entry

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Sun, 13 Mar 2011

Downtown St. Louis

I went to downtown St. Louis twice this week.Bryan was asked to show up at the TV studio to represent his robotics team on a local show called Great Day St. Louis. The funny thing is that I thought this weekend was actually the robotics competition and thought they were just stopping by the station for a quick interview before going on to the competition. Instead we spent the whole morning at the studio waiting to go on air. The actual competition is next week. Here is the group waiting to go on. I always love watching the robotics, so will be looking forward to NEXT weekend.

And here is the clip from the show.

Wow, we have a TV star in the family!

And then yesterday we switched from orange to green as Melody and Thomas went downtown with me to check out the St. Patrick's Day parade. It was a beautiful day. We even got a little sunburned because we are not used to being out in the sun. It has been a long winter after all. (When I wrote that I forgot that we got sunburned in the Caribbean just over two months ago.) 

  There was a lot of green showing.

 

Don't forget to wear green this week and celebrate St. Patti's Day!

posted at: 11:38 | permanent link to this entry

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Sat, 26 Feb 2011

Not much

It has been hard to write because there hasn't been much going on. At least I can't think of much, but we always feel busy. I made a yummy chocolate torte for the family for Valentine's Day and got chocolate from Marc and it feels like I have been eating chocolate for the last two weeks. Then I wonder why I'm gaining weight…

We've had some nice warm weather and some slushy, icy, nasty weather. 

Bryan's robotics team shipped their robot and are now waiting for the competition. Meanwhile, he is busy with practice for the school musical. He was happy to get official notification that he'd been accepted to BYU, Provo but is now waiting to hear if they will offer him a scholarship.

Melody has been bringing home lots of homework and also staying after school for her school musical.We went to her Young Women's New Beginnings program where she and the other girls put on a nice program. Melody even had a small solo part in a song. She is much braver than I ever was. 'Course, she is also a much better singer…

Thomas is devoting extra time lately to his piano and cello to make up for some, er, prior lack of effort.We look forward to seeing him and Melody in their school musical. We went to the middle school "open house" where we saw some projects he'd been doing on Leonardo DaVinci. We also got to finally see his pinhole camera portfolio. He does nice work and has such a good imagination. Along with play practice, he stayed after school for intramural team handball. He had fun doing that. 

Marc has been busy at work and school. When the streets are particularly icy, we are glad that he can work from home.

I have been busy with the usual exciting things like laundry and cooking, working as a nurse two nights a week, and trying to micromanage everyone else's life.  I started scanning some of our old photos into the computer. I haven't got very far, but get very nostalgic when I do it. Where did all the time go?

See, I really haven't got much to blog about so guess that's why I haven't done it. March, April, and May will probably be more exciting. They will be busy months. Stay warm everyone.

posted at: 19:41 | permanent link to this entry

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Sun, 13 Feb 2011

February

Wow, I'm on track for posting once a month instead of once a week. I guess I'd better try to post more often!

What a year this has been for snow however. The kids had one full week of school and I started to think that things would be getting back to normal, and then the next week they had three snow days in a row! Bryan and Thomas mostly watched movies and/or played on the computer. Marc worked from home, but Melody and I sewed. She made a wall/hanging for her room. I coached her, but she did all of the actual sewing and designing by herself. I think she did a great job.

  This picture was taken the morning of the third day of our confinement. We're not really suffering under a ton of snow or bad weather, are we? I was glad Melody had time to finish her quilt, but also glad when the kids went back to school on Friday.

Friday was the awards ceremony at the middle school. One of the things that I think DuBray does very well is set a positive atmosphere where the kids are rewarded for doing well. There is a medal system where the kids can earn a gold, silver, or bronze medal for a combination of good grades, attendance, and participation in extra-curricular activities each semester.  Melody and Thomas both earned gold medals this semester. Besides being honored at the assembly and getting medals, they also got a pizza, chips, and soda lunch later in the day.

 So, since I'm in the bragging mood about my wonderful children, we also found out this week that Bryan is a National Merit Scholar finalist. We hope this will earn him some money for college next year. We are proud of him. This week he also stretched himself as he danced and sang for an audition for the school musical, Fame. He was happy to get a part. I'm sure he will have fun being involved of this production, although he is already pretty busy.

Yesterday, I took two scouts, Melody, and Marc hiking at Pickle Springs. It was a beautiful day. We were able to see some cool geology and some frozen waterfalls on the hike, although we walked through a fair bit of mud. 

 

 

posted at: 11:32 | permanent link to this entry

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Sun, 23 Jan 2011

January snow

I'm starting to wonder if my kids will ever go back to school. We've been back from vacation for two and a half weeks now and the kids have had three snow days, one holiday, and Melody and Thomas have had a records day off. Since Bryan is a senior, he won't have to make up the snow days, but the rest of us could be going to school through the summer! 

Before the records day, Thomas and I decided to sleep outside to pass off one of his "campouts" for scouts. We set up the tent in the backyard, used an air mattress and several foam pads, and two sleeping bags each. We were toasty warm although it was 27 degrees outside. We just beat the snow by a couple of days and haven't tried sleeping in the snow.

 

We did start an igloo though, but found that the snow was really too powdery to pack together. That is the problem with snow in Missouri. There is not enough to ski, but you can't do much else with it.

Except shovel it.

And enjoy the peace that a day at home brings. Except that we really are ready for the kids to go back to school now…

We especially enjoy watching the birds in the snow. They like coming to our feeder the most when everything else is covered in snow. Melody took a picture of a flicker the other day while I was gone. I didn't get to see it, but was happy to know one of my favorite birds was still around.

We've also had some pretty sunrises with the unsettled weather. The photos never really do them justice, but I try anyway.

posted at: 11:46 | permanent link to this entry

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Tue, 04 Jan 2011

Christmas and our cruise

We decided to go on a cruise to celebrate Christmas, our 19^th wedding anniversary, and New Year’s. But first we got to have a white Christmas at home. It snowed on the 24^th, just perfect.

 

We did the traditional dinner and opening pajamas all around. We watched movies. This year, I had to go to work about the time everyone else went to bed. Santa filled the stockings while I was at work and when I came home I found everyone had received lots of goodies.

 

We got to eat quiche together and then open presents. Many of the presents were to read or wear on the cruise.

 

Melody and Thomas got new luggage. Then everyone got packed up. There was some time to play, but we left about 9 at night to drive to New Orleans. I dozed in the car, while Marc drove. It snowed on us all the way to Jackson, Mississippi, which was unusually cold weather for that area. We’d expected warm weather in New Orleans, but it was really cold.

posted at: 16:43 | permanent link to this entry

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Mexico, Honduras, Belize

We still managed to look around a little and have a nice breakfast before getting on the Norwegian Spirit about 1:00.

 

Marc and I shared a room and the three kids had one across the hall. We found the rooms very comfortable and not as tiny as feared. The food on board was good. Thomas had his share of French Fries and hot dogs for the week as well as mounds of sausage and bacon for breakfast. Melody ate mac and cheese liberally but ate oatmeal every breakfast. Bryan got to try lots of new foods and Marc and I just generally ate too much overall. Sometimes we ate in the fancy restaurants and sometimes at the all-you-can-eat buffet. We all enjoyed a soft serve cone whenever we were in the area to get one. It was nice to choose and nice not to worry about cooking. 

 

There were lots of shows on board and plenty to do, although it was cold during our first day at sea. Good thing it warmed up later. We saw a couple of shows every night:  comedy, Broadway reviews, a magician, dancer/acrobatics…We especially liked that our rooms were close to the theater so it was just a flight of stairs down to get to there. And two flights of stairs up for a snack…

 

posted at: 16:36 | permanent link to this entry

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Mexico, Honduras, Belize 1

Our first day in port was Costa Maya, Mexico. We took a taxi to the tiny town of Mahahual and sat on the beach there.

The weather was still windy and so the water was a little rough for the kayaks the kids were going to try out. We went out on a boat to the reef to snorkel and had fun although the water was pretty choppy.

Later, the guide told us that the water was about as rough as he ever went out in, but it was good that he hadn’t told us that before. Everyone did well and had fun, although I forgot to take the underwater camera that Santa had put in my stocking. At least I remembered it for the next day in Roatan, Honduras. I completely forgot he anti-fog lotion that Santa gave us for the masks! It did us no good sitting at home.

posted at: 16:27 | permanent link to this entry

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Mexico, Honduras, Belize 2

The second day the weather finally warmed up and was perfect the rest of the trip. It was probably good that it was cool, because we have such problems with sunburn.

In Roatan, we took a taxi to Half Moon Bay on the West End and spent the day alternately in beach chairs drinking pineapple juice and snorkeling in the bay.

 

 

We saw lots of fish and coral and a huge lobster.My camera was new and I had trouble seeing the screen underwater, so used a point and hope method. I got lots of pictures of bodies without heads…

 

Later we packed up and went to a restaurant for lunch. Bryan had wanted to try iguana for lunch so we went to a place where he could have that. We had good local food.

Did I mention that every night when we went to our rooms, we found a different towel animal waiting for us? If you want to come visit us, we can show you the same hospitality because we learned to make them!

posted at: 16:17 | permanent link to this entry

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Mexico, Honduras, Belize 3

The third day, our port was Belize City, Belize. There were about six cruise ships there at the time and we anchored about five miles out and took a tender in.

We’d booked a tour to Mayan ruins this day. We took a long bus ride and then got on a boat to ride upriver on this expedition.

After a long boat ride where we saw some wildlife, we arrived at the Lamanai ruins. We explored the ruins, climbing to the top of several temples.

Then we repeated our trip back, stopping halfway for a good Honduran meal of chicken, rice, beans, chips and homemade salsa. Yum!

 

posted at: 16:00 | permanent link to this entry

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Mexico, Honduras, Belize 4

By the fourth port, Cozumel, Mexico, we were sunburned and tired. We’d planned more beach sitting and snorkeling, but all were tired and we never made it out of the downtown shopping area close to the boat dock.

We spent the morning in quest of the desired souvenirs, ate churros and ice cream in the plaza, and then spent an outrageous amount of money at a tourist trap of a restaurant for better Mexican food than we can buy in Missouri. Then we declared ourselves finished and went back to the boat.

This was the last day of 2010. We got to dress up and had options of a whole night of parties on board. Not really a surprise, but we all found it hard to stay up until midnight to bring in the new year. A prospero ano nuevo to you all. 

One more day at sea brought us back to New Orleans and our drive home.

It was a fun trip. We arrived home to find all safe here. A tornado on Friday had missed our neighborhood completely. The cat was fine. Unfortunately, no elf had come to clean up our Christmas mess or take down the tree, but I’m sure those things will eventually get done. Vacations are great but it is always nice to come home and sleep in your own bed!

posted at: 15:29 | permanent link to this entry

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Jan Dill Hall St. Peters, Missouri 

Page created: 09 November 2008
Page modified: 31 December 2009