The kids and I had a great time at the Zoo yesterday.  But as we were standing in line at one point a mom in front of us said to her (probably) 12 year old son, “How old are you again?  You know– at the Zoo?”

“Eleven,” he replied.

“Okay, good.”

It just made me angry.  Then it made me sad as well.  What a disservice!:  to teach a young man that as long as we can probably get away with it, we can (and should) lie to save a couple bucks.  And IF he gets caught at some point in school (or elsewhere) committing a similar offense, will she be shocked and dismayed?  Will she defend him?  I don’t know what she’ll do.  But it was just disappointing to see, even though I know that kind of thing happens all the time.

So my sweet brother set me up with a newer version of WordPress that should allow me to post pictures more easily, and I am SO excited!

BUT!!!  I’m NOT very tech-savvy and have already failed twice to actually do what I should now be able to do.  (Really, I apparently should have been able to do it before too.  But: NOT tech-savvy!)  So after a “tech support call” (sorry, Steven, I know you dislike being called “tech support”), we’ll see what happens.

Cross your fingers….

Hmmm….. Okay.  So I can put in pictures.  Yay, me!    Now, how do I put the text AND the pictures where I want them?  I wanted that picture at the top to go under the first bit of text.

And why can’t I make the pictures in iPhoto bigger so I can see which one I want to use?

Here’s Ethan (hopefully) working on his experiment: Does salt water really make things float better?

He doesn’t quite have the scientific process down yet, but he had a great time working on his experiment.

Okay, so there’s some perfecting to be done, but at least I have established that I CAN post photos! Woo – hoo!

Good nite.

I went to bed last night so excited that they’re actually going to be pulling those Chilean miners out of the bowels of the Earth!  I woke up today to see that, as expected, the crews worked all through the night and will be working all day today extracting men, one at a time.  So exciting!  Such a relief.  I watched for a little while and loved seeing people hugging on each other and grins so big I thought their faces might break.

I do have to wonder about the guy who has a wife AND a mistress waiting for him.  How’s that gonna go?  But mostly I just am so glad that the rescue efforts seem to be going well, and that they did not have to wait until Christmas.  What a massive effort.  I can’t imagine being one of the miners.  I also can’t imagine being part of the rescue effort — no pressure!  wow.

Okay, well…. my own monumental effort (my house) awaits.

You have not truly experienced Mozart’s "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" until you hear a silly rendition from the back seat by a 2 y.o. & 6 y.o.   (BTW, they were not making these noises, they were just saying various goofy words to the tune.)

"Snort! Snort, snort! Snort snort-ee stomp stomp STOMP! Bock! E-bock! E-boop e-boop e-BOP!"   you get the drift.

Classic.  And if the movie Amadeus is anywhere NEAR accurate, it’s quite possible Mozart would approve.  

I’ve needed to do this one for quite a few days, but knew it would take a little more time.  So I’ve been putting it off.  But I really do not want this opportunity to pass me by.  What opportunity?  The one that allows me to say thank you to a bunch of people.

Thank you to my mom’s "brilliant" boss for not recognizing what an asset he had in my mom, and laying her off mere days before she was going to quit anyway.  This not only allowed her to file for unemployment while she looks around for something else, but also allowed her and my dad to surprise me a few weeks ago.  Which brings me to:

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for surprising me with a trip down here, even though "nuclear" summer wasn’t quite finished yet.  Tim, thank you for keeping the secret.  You have a terrible "poker face," and I know it didn’t hurt that the day they arrived I was sick as a dog all day.  So I didn’t notice the activity and phone calls from the "sick room."  But still…. you get credit for keeping the secret.   Thanks to my sister-in-law who, upon hearing my mother wish they could come down and bring me some good CO produce said, "Well!  Why can’t you?  Neither one of you is working."

Thank you to my parents for bringing 40 pounds — that’s right, 40 pounds — of Colorado peaches!  Mom blanched, sliced, and froze about half of them, turned some into a cobbler and a crisp, and the rest were just immediate fresh good eats — for two weeks!  Thank you for the 6 dozen ears of Colorado corn that we shucked on the patio, in the rain, recreating the ritual which played out every summer of my youth at Grandma Fern’s house.  Well, I rarely recall rain during corn-shucking time as a kid, but still…  All it lacked was the larger extended family sitting around all together, with a bunch of children bringing shucked ears to the adults for trimming, and Grandma discussing when the beans would need to be snapped for canning.  (Ah… good memories.  )  Every time I open the freezer and see my 8 large containers of peaches and 22 smaller containers of corn I smile.

Thank you to Grandma Fern who, at 85, is still "putting in a garden;" and who sent so many cukes from her "little" garden that Mom was able to turn them into 17 pints and 1 quart of sweet pickles!  Thanks also for the garden tomatoes, squash, bell peppers, green beans, and I don’t even remember now what else.  She knew my garden wasn’t the happiest of gardens this year, and so sent some produce — and lots of love — down with my parents.  Every time I open my "sort of canning cellar" and see all those pickles I smile.  

It’s gonna be a yummy winter.   

Mom, thank you for helping me clean the house for Ethan’s birthday party, and having good suggestions for the cake.  You knew I was stressing about the house, and in addition to helping with the cleaning said, "Don’t worry about the canning and the freezing.  It’s part of your Christmas — I’ll take care of it."   Thank you both for coming for his party.  I know the timing just kind of worked out, but he was thrilled to have you guys here for it!  Mom, thanks for also fixing Caleb’s fraying blankie, and the other mending you did.  He’s pretty pleased with the blankie results.

Thanks also to Custodia for showing Mom the "quilting haunts" around town one day.  She really seemed to enjoy it, and will likely want to do it again.  

And Dad?  What were you doing during all of the "women’s work?"  Helping Tim fix the toilet, cleaning part of the garage to make room for shelves, removing two old ceiling fans, installing two new ceiling fans, and putting shelves together and installing them in the garage.  You stayed with Caleb so Mom and I could pick up Ethan and run errands without having to cut Caleb’s naps short.  You fixed the stair handrail which had JUST broken, got that old newspaper article about Tim’s grandma laminated, got dry ice for Ethan’s volcano cake, moved patio furniture, and I don’t know what all.  No doubt.  You were busy too.

In short, thank you both for having a SERIOUS "working vacation."   Next time we’ll have to make it to Stockyard City and Tandy Leather Goods earlier in the trip.  Maybe we’ll even manage a museum, and more than just one park.