Fossil Rim

We've signed up for the "Moonlight" Bike ride at Fossil Rim Wildlife Park in a few weeks.  We get to ride around the outside of the wildlife enclosures around twilight.  Now we are looking for a place to camp down that way so we don't have to drive back afterwards.  Hopefully this will make up for us skipping out on the night time ride through the Everglades. 

India again

The Sharmas have arrived safely back in Pune. They took a different route this year flying through Quebec, Iceland, Moscow, Karachi and landing in Mumbai. Apparently this is 2000 miles shorter but did not involve any plane changes (or opportunities to stretch your legs or use a real bathroom). They will stay there for five months.

Color Guard

Sunil's Den served as the color guard at last night's pack meeting. The attached video clip is for the Grandparents.

The fallout continues

Last week's storm messed up some of my equipment at work.  We thought it was under control on Wednesday but Thursday the trouble escalated.  Friday I got called back in to work.  Over the weekend I had to keep running up to check it out.  We finally got to a point where we can manage the repair only to have a second unit go down last night.  I patched it together this morning but it won't last forever.  The first unit will be out of service for at least a week.  So I get to go back in to work every day over the holiday to add more dry ice to my temorary storage containers.  When the first repair is completed we will need to take the other unit off lime for at least two weeks.  I'm using up 500 pounds of dry ice every day.

Quick trip

Sushama brought Seema and Nita by the house for a few hours Friday night so they could visit with Grandma and Grandpa.  Nita spent some of the visit fencing with Sunil.

 

Olympic fever

Like many others our whole family was sucked in to watching countless hours of Olympic action.  Here Sunil and Sid are kicking back to watch some of the swimming events.

 

Coconut

The Sharmas came home with a coconut the other day.  Sunil loves cracking them open more than he likes to eat them.  Here he spends some time with Grandpa picking off the shell.

 

Welcome back

School started up again this morning.  Here the kids are ready to go wearing their new grade level t-shirts and carrying their new backpacks.

 

Chores

It's the time of year again to choose chores.  Sheela chose counter wiping, kitchen sweeping and mail retrieval.  Sunil fought for emptying the dishwasher and keeping the fridge stocked with soft drinks.  Both kids still have to do laundry and straighten their own rooms.  The beauty of chore selection week is that the kids are all excited about their choices and they not only do them cheerfully they compete to see who can do them the most often.  It won't last.

Waterpark

Thursday cleared up enough for me to take the kids to the water park for the day.  It turned out to a perfect day.... it was warm, not crowded and kids were awesome.  They each brought a friend one of which brought half-price tickets.  We had to tear ourselves away before we ready but everyone took it well. 

Thursday was also "Meet the Teacher" night.  Sheela's teacher is male... A first for her if you don't count her art teacher.  He also teaches her advanced math class.  He's a big Cowboy fan so she is over the Packers.  A lot of her friends are in her class again.

Sunil's teacher is brand new, fresh from school.  I think we are going to like her, she has a lot of energy and a great attitude.  Sunil has a bunch of friends in his class too.

Wow what a storm

I'm enjoying my restful bonus week with the children by sleeping late and playing hard.  Not really but it sounds goods good.  We have managed to have some fun.  A trip to the indoor pool, a trip to the ice rink, dinners together with a fair amount of chocolate fondue.  This morning, our intended trip to the water park, it is raining like hell.  My alarm went off at 4:45 like it always does.  Sid and I still go to the gym every morning early but I've been coming back home and going back to sleep.  Today he couldn't get me out of the house.  I don't see the point in getting that wet when I have all day to sneak back out there.  It is after 6:00AM now and it hasn't even started to weaken.  I did not get to go back to sleep.  The alarm company called to say there is a problem with the cryogenic freezers at the office.  Technically the alarm condition has been resolved but I usually run right in to verify... it is nearly half a million dollars worth of very sensitive product.  But this is one one of the few times when I know there are other people in the office that I can just call to check.  Apparently the power is out though because the phone system doesn't pick up and the email server is off line.  I've left a few cell phone messages but we aren't supposed to carry our cell phones at work so that hasn't worked too well.  I did manage to get one guy to answer but he's still in transit.  The flooding has closed a few roads this morning.

one down - four to go

The first of Sunil's current crop of loose teeth let go yesterday.  He has three more on the top and two on the bottom waiting to go too.  The bottom ones have already been replaced – much like a shark.  I hope the top three drop before their replacements come in enough to fill thegap.

 

Happiness

Sometimes happiness is as simple as having all of your bills paid.  It doesn't last long so you have to appreciate it fast.

Bonus Week

I've just about convinced myself to take all of next week off from work.  It started with me just taking one day to take the kids to Hurricane Harbor (a local waterpark) but is quickly picking up steam.  It will be the last week of the kids' summer vacation and I haven't really gotten to play with them too much.  Kids' Club will be closed.  I don't want them to sit home in front of the TV all day and it isn't fair to make the in-laws keep them away from the TV for a whole week.  But what will I do with them for a whole week…..

 

Yikes

Temperatures have been as high as 108 oF (42 oC) here and it is supposed to continue for a few more days.  I don't even want to think about how high the heat index is going to be.  Every now and then I'm glad that I have this "desk" job.

 

Trip highlight

I don't have any pictures to share from the actual highlight of my trip. The last night we ate dinner downtown and then walked to the river to watch China's entry in the International Fireworks competition. We arrived a little bit late and ended up with slightly obstructed views but the presentation was really good. The USA and Canada had presented earlier in the week. The award ceremony was held after I left.

Cattle Crossing

Along my walk I crossed by a small herd of "organic" cattle. The sign was pretty standard, we see these around here often but this one had been modified to more closely depict the local color.

Shots of Vancouver

This was taken while attempting to cross the Fraiser river. I was ahead of rush hour but still got caught behind an accident.

These was taken along the marsh at the edge of the Straights of Georgia it was a beautiful little walk on what turned out to be a very pleasant afternoon. You can see the marsh, the shipping lanes and the mountains. We don't have any of these in Dallas.