Little president

Sheela brow beat Sunil in to dressing up for picture day yesterday. She did not approve of his t-shirt and shorts so she upgraded him to an oxford shirt and tie. I didn't actually get to see him all dressed up but now I can't wait for the pictures to come back. He liked dressing up so much that he did it again. He thinks he looks like the president. I just think he's cute.

Follow Up

Sheela did not get elected to the Pride Council but then neither did the girl that she thought would be a shoe in.  Zach did get elected and he did not get to run unopposed.  Sheela decided not to turn in her application for the puppet team so now she will have to go outside and play with everyone else during recess.  Oddly enough she does not like recess.

50+ Balloons

We managed to wake the family up early enough on Sunday to get out to the balloon festival in time for the launch. I've never really gone there for the launch (when they didn't have to cancel due to high winds) so I was surprised to learn that they take off from a dozen different locations. That was my logical assumption until we went to the glow one year and they were all clustered together on the one site the map designated as the launch field. We watched first from a nearby school/park and then a future subdivision development in the middle of the launch fields. The kids counted at least 50 balloons but the photo ops weren't great, everything was pretty much gray in the early morning light.

Tiger Cub and Akela

Sunil and Sid had their first cub scout meeting last night. Aren't they cute?

Dallas

This skyline picture was taken from the train monrail (South of downtown and looking at the western edge of the city) and is included just beacuse not everyone is familiar with it. "The Ball" is Reunion Tower.

Birdfeeders, umbrellas and crocodiles

Last weekend we took a family trip back to the Zoo. We used to be there a lot but we haven't been in months. It was a good day to go. The rain moved in early enough to scare the crowds away but was gentle enough to not be a problem. A number of new small exhibit have opened one of which is a Children's Aviary. For a small donation the kids are able to feed the birds.




The crocodile exhibit was there last time I took the kids but was new to Sid. The crocs were all up to their eyeballs in their pond so we took this picture instead.

Flashback

Sunil is required to bring a baby picture to school for a project next week. Here is the picture that he selected...

I'm partial to this one for many reasons. First we customized his "Special Delivery" shirt with his name, birth date, weight, city, etc. Second he is toothless much like tonight. He lost that second tooth (twice) today. The first time it came out and he was finally able to obtain a coveted plastic holding tooth from the school nurse. Of course the plastic tooth is most effective when you leave it closed. He opened it and lost the tooth for a second time. Instead of a tooth he left cookies for the toothfairy. Third reason, of course, is just how adorable he is.

CT

I’m in Connecticut tonight and the weather is beautiful.  I was told that the leaves were already changing but everything is still looking mighty green to me.  We arrived about 5:00 PM so we pretty much settled for our rental car, checking in to the Hotel (fresh hot cookies by way of welcome) and then out to dinner.  Aunt Izzy (my co-worker) had a salad but I went for the full seafood stuffed shrimp and it was worth every calorie.  I skipped desert but had an extra glass of wine to make up for it.  I think I’ll turn in early but get up early enough to work out before breakfast.  The hotel includes a complimentary breakfast bar but we will probably toss that aside in our scramble to get out to Dunkin Donuts (my favorite kind of donut).  We are driving up to Springfield, MA for the day but will be back here again in the evening.  We leave really early on Wed.

Mr Shoba Shoba

Our original plan for our 16th anniversary was to relive our college
days, with cheap chinese food and a dollar movie. The dollar movies
have gone up to two dollars (but are still the best deal in town). We
figured that we would just cruise around the nieghborhood by the
theater until we found a a place for cheap chinese. It is right next
door to a pretty popular asian market complex. The first place we
found was asian bbq with whole chikens and octopi prominetly displayed
in the windows. I convinced Sid to look a littel farther.

We ended up at Mr. Shoba Shoba for shoba. Apparently this is the
asian version of fondu. We each had our own boiling pot, mine was
just water but Sid's was some spicy red liquid. Then they brought us
each a platter of vegetables, and seafood bits. You throw in what you
want and boil it in to soup. Then they bring a platter of raw shaved
meat to boil. Mine was beef and Sid's was lamb. I didn't care for
their choice of bean sprouts and there was a lump of seafood that was
too rubbery for me to chew but over all it was quite tasty.

Busy, busy, busy

It’s nearly 10PM and I’m still working.  It is budgeting week and I haven’t even started to look at next year’s needs.  I was out of the office for training one day and at a vendor one day.  Then instead of focusing on the budget we launched our live tissue product (yay!) and all of the systems were untried.  But all of the documents ended up where they needed to be when they needed to have them.  I have reason to believe that the product will arrive tomorrow on schedule and be received and stored appropriately. The transportation and handling of the frozen product was definitely a tried and true process.  The surgeries aren’t until next week but this is a huge accomplishment.  I’m traveling up to CT Next week to visit our sister company and make sure there incorporation of our systems went as smoothly as they did from our side.  In October I’m going to Boston.  In November I’m going to NJ.  I think I will stay pretty busy.

Hoax

The reported kidnap escapee admitted that it was a hoax to avoid getting in trouble with her parents for coming home late. I can't decided if I was angrier before or after. Oh well.

Options

I love the beginning of the school year, there are always so many different activities that the kids can try. This year Sheela is running for Pride Council (student council). There are two reps from each class (4th, 5th and 6th grades). It is supposed to be one boy and one girl from each class. There is only one boy running in her class and four girls, they are considering making Zach run against the girls. They don't want him to get it by default. Of course, no one has a problem with him actually doing the job. He's been one of my favorite students since 1st grade. He won the science fair and does experiments at home in his spare time. Elections are next week.

Sunil would like to join the cub scouts. I'll be going to the information session on that tomorrow night. Since the boys don't get to join until 1st grade I hope that Sunil will be in the "main" school troop. Sheela transferred in the girls second year and was placed with an after thought crew. The girls were still fun and the experience good but the location was difficult and she didn't get to bond with other kids from school. She did get to know some home school kids. Keep your fingers crossed for a den that meets at the school, right after school so we don't have to worry about the commute.

Payday

Payday is not my favorite candy bar.  If I'm paying for candy I can almost always be relied upon to purchase chocolate in some form or other.  However there is something really yummy about the salty peanuts with the sugar so it's fair to say that I won't turn one away if it is offered to me.  That is just one of the many things that I appreciate about National Payroll Week; our "payroll Princess" passes out Payday candy bars with our paychecks in honor of this annual celebration.  Okay it may be the only thing that I actually appreciate about National Payroll Week but it's a start.  See, bribery really does work!

 

Languages

There are 54 different primary languages spoken by the families of the children at the kid's school this year.  This is up a few from last year.  I'm pretty impressed with the variety and with the children and families that speak multiple languages.  The focus around here is of course on the working with children from Spanish speaking homes.  That still leaves 53 other languages scrambling.

 

Attempted Kidnapping

Tuesday after school a man tried to abduct a nine-year old girl from the playground next to an elementary school near our house.  The girl got away and gave a fairly clear description of the man and his truck to the police.  The guy had been reportedly cruising around the area blowing kisses to the little girls the day before (the first day of school).  There is no punishment severe enough….

 

The tooth is out

That took a whole lot longer than I expected. You can hardly even tell that there is a hole since the replacement is already so large. The credit goes to Sheela for finally wrenching it out of there. Sunil wouldn't let the rest of us even touch it.

Family History

Dad's cousin(?) Jonnie has finished assembling her book on her family history.  According to her crib sheet it lists 2600 individuals going both up and down the family tree.  The final product should be here in October.