Spring Break 2010, Day 3

Another lazy day on the beach. Today I brought my camera along to photograph some of the dead wildlife that had washed up on shore. We saw one ray and almost 100 jellyfish (sea jellies, I mean). I also saw one Portuguese man-o-war last night, but I didn't get a shot of that. We were amazed how many jellies had washed up this one particular day. It wasn't like that the rest of the week.




Campbell, John and Helene headed out to "wave jump" and body surf:

my dad:

my brother and Scooter:

Campbell, John, Scooter, Helene:

John and Campbell:

Courtney, my mom, and Bell (in the tent):

Helene as Medusa:

my dad and my son:

my husband and my daughter:

Helene and her uncle:

my sandy toes, Helene, and Chad:

Spring Break 2010, Day 2

Sunrise on the beach - view from our front porch:

The house we rented for the week was called Barefoot-n-Flip Flops. It was just built in October of last year. Most of the houses around were new construction because so much was destroyed in Hurricane Ike in 2008. The house was very nice and had plenty of room for us, my parents, and Chad, Courtney and Bell.

Our view to the beach. We were on the 4th row back, but not many of the houses between us and the beach have been rebuilt yet, so we had a clear view.

Sand castle complete with moat and irrigation system, constructed by Campbell, Helene, John, and Chad:

Chad and Courtney (and Bell is in the background safely inside her sun tent):

We accidentally dropped a Frito in the sand, and one gull alerted all of his friends. So, we let the kids throw a few chips to them.

C&H were great with Bell. Really sweet older cousins. They read to her, held her, talked to her, and tried to teach her things like walking and sign language by explaining the process step by step.

Spring Break 2010, Day 1 - Ferry Ride

We drove from Houston to Galveston on Monday afternoon and took the ferry across to Bolivar Peninsula. The timing was not planned, but taking the trip at sunset was a beautiful treat.

Spring Break 2010, Day 1

In the airport on our way to the beach. I love Helene's movie star glasses and hat.



We got to Houston in time to check into our hotel and get freshened up, then met some dear friends for dinner at Lupe Tortilla. Tex-Mex - yum!! While we were driving around, we saw so many restaurants and fast food joints that looked good to us. We thought about cancelling our plans to travel to the beach and just spending a week eating our way through Houston. La Madeleine, Whataburger, Taco Cabana, Black-Eyed Pea, Luby's, lots of good Tex-Mex . . .



The next morning we went to the Houston Zoo. I used to take the kids there often. We had not even been back to Houston for a visit since we moved away almost 7 years ago. It was fun to see the old stomping grounds.

Tunnel through an aquarium:

Eagle's Nest:
Prairie Dog Town:

After the zoo, we took the kids to see "How To Train Your Dragon". It was a really good movie!

Then we found a neighborhood playground close to Hobby airport, where we could spend some time before picking up Chad, Courtney, and Bell. The kids played, John read a journal, and I did forms. Great start to our vacation!!

Scrapbooking, the old-fashioned way

Our friend Pete brought over his scrapbook from 1986 (?), when he was in Odyssey of the Mind, for Campbell to see. This inspired Campbell to create his own scrapbook of his OM adventures.

I bought scrapbooks for my kids over a year ago, but they had never done anything with them. I am so excited that they are now inspired to work on them!

Helene began with her Halloween party at school:

Campbell started his with the OM Regional Tournament:

Hopefully they will keep it up and document their school awards, parties, etc., from here on out.

Odyssey of the Mind

Here is video of Campbell's Odyssey of the Mind regional competition. It is in two parts (because I am a poor videographer). :)

The competition was in Littleton on March 6. Cam's team got 4th place out of 14 teams competing in their problem and division. They will be advancing to the state competition in April. I am so proud of them. The kids do all of the planning on their own. They are not allowed to receive outside help.

Here was the assignment:

Problem 5: Food Court
Divisions I, II, III & IV
The problem is to create and present a humorous performance where a food item is accused of being unhealthy and must defend itself among its food peers. All characters are food items and will include "the accused," "the accuser," a jury that is not portrayed by team members, and additional team-created characters. The jury will reveal its decision to the audience.
Cost limit: $125 USD.

Tooth Fairy Visits Helene

Helene has had a slightly loose tooth for an entire year. She wiggled it from time to time, but it hung on for dear life. Finally, her permanent tooth popped up behind the baby one. The baby one got looser but still was not falling out. On March 8, John tied some floss around it and got it out after a few attempts. Helene was thrilled to have it out. She is already seven years old, and most of her friends lost their first tooth when they were 6.

Helene told us she wasn't sure if she believed in the tooth fairy or not. So she left a note under her pillow with the tooth. It read, "What do you look like?" The tooth fairy left her this note in response, along with a dollar.

Goodbye Kç

Back in August of 1995, John got me a kitten at the Houston SPCA for my 22nd birthday. We were engaged, and I had just moved to Houston to do my student teaching. I was moving into an apartment to live by myself (no roommates, no family) for the first and only time in my life. John brought me this precious little calico to keep me company. We named her Kç. (The "ç" is a letter in the Albanian, Kurdish, French, and several other alphabets, called a "cedilla". I had taken a linguistics class in college, and being the nerds that we are, we named our first pet after something from a textbook. Pronounce it in Spanish and you'll get our goofiness.)

This is a page from one of our photo albums, entitled "Memories of Our First Year Together".

Top Left: on the apartment balcony

Top Right: on the dashboard of the car (she used to enjoy car rides)

Bottom Left: on the aquarium in our first apartment together

Bottom Right: smelling John's breath (she loved to do that, especially right after a burp)

This is what she looked like at first - tiny thing!:

Here she is on top of our saltwater aquarium, a perfect expression of "cattitude" on her face.

And here is Kç (Christmas of 2006) at her top weight of 16 pounds. I think this picture sums up her personality perfectly.
Kç went into severe renal failure this week and we had to end her suffering today. She was old and hasn't been perfectly healthy or happy the past couple of years, so I know it's for the best, but we will miss her. She has been a part of our lives for our entire marriage.