Orchestra

Sheela ended up borrowing her cousin's viola instead of mine.  Nita played for a semester in 3rd grade and hasn't used it since.  It is an inch or two shorter and so fits her much better.  I kept mine at home for now to see how it goes.

One of the drawbacks to having the instrument instead of renting is that the required music is included with a rental but not provided by the school.  As we joined so late we didn't get the info until Wed and we had to find it before Friday.  It turns out the store is close by but they ran out of the Viola version before we got there so we had to run all the way up to Frisco before that location closed.

Not too different

An industrious Saturday

I woke up early with no one to play with and no pleasure reading at hand.  So instead of lounging all morning I weeded the front flower beds and trimmed the hedges.  I'm a pretty infrequent gardner so this qualifies as news. 

Then I went for a haircut (a picture may follow).  By the time I got back Sid had convinced the kids that we owe him car detailing (we really do).  So we dejunked it and are getting ready for washing, waxing, vacuuming, and Rain-X-ing. 

Then we need to hit the library, the snow cone shop and the grocery store.  It's a fondue night here at the house so that will take the rest of the evening.  We are supposed to camp in the yard tonight.

Tomorrow the kids are going to the zoo with Sid while I go to work in the morning and to see "Mama-mia" at the Music Hall in the afternoon.

A new concept in reading

Sunil doesn't like to read stories but he likes to read.  This totally foreign concept took me forever to identify and I still don't REALLY understand it.  He wants to read books of facts about volcanos, snakes, the Civil War, etc but has no interest in reading about what happened when the volcano blew up the town, or a boy and his pet snake, or the little boy carrying messages to the front line during the battle.  Is it really reading if there is no plot?!?!

2009-2010 School Year

We are underway and off to a good start.  Both kids love their teachers and are still excited about doing their homework.  I know it won't last so I have to enjoy it while I can.

Sheela managed to switch in to the orchestra.  That was the plan all along but took a little bit of doing to get it done.  Tomorrow she'll go for the first time. 

Shavings and Chips - Practice

Sunil is working on his Cub Scout requirements today.  He is carving a racecar out of a bar of soap.

Kaleidoscope

Six Sunils sharing secrets.

That's a lot of vacation

I'm wiped out and we still have to slay the dragon, twice.  It's almost 7PM on the second day and we're done with the water.  The girls are in the arcade and the boys are cleaning up. 

This place isn't so much a nickle and dime operation as it is a $5 and $10 operation but I'm glad we came.  The waterpark is great and inclusive but the Magiquest wands are $15 min plus $10 to make it work.  Then you can dress them with jewels, ornaments, belts, etc.  I hate feeling cheap but I'm not buying bling for a wand.  Or dress yourself in cloaks, armour or fairy garb - which I'm also too cheap for and the kids were too cool for.  You can pay extra for the arcade, the spa treatments.  There is a whole kid spa with a sweet shop theme for the kids - imagine chocolate fizz facials and cheesecake scented scrubs. 

Great Wolf

We are enjoying our mini-vacation at our local Great Wolf Lodge.  There are both indoor and outdoor waterparks.  For a little bit of extra cash you can enjoy a ton of extra activities.  So far however we haven't left the water (and we are on hour six).

Charmed Life

I've always known that I live a charmed life - bad things don't really happen to me, for which I'm eternally grateful, but even the minor inconveniences rarely plague me for long.  All of that just say that Sid and the kids found my camera in the "zoo" backpack yesterday.  Yay!  I got all my vacation pics back and can take the camera with me tomorrow to wish the Sharmas a safe journey and the on to the "Lodge" for a back to school celebration. 

"Value People", "Own It" and "Have Courage"

These, along with "Be One", "Create Dialog" and "Just Imagine" are our company's six cultural beliefs.  I think I exhibited all three of these today by teaching a full day class today on our company's "Journey to Accountability".  I rated "Value People" both for taking the time to invest in myself and for sharing this knowledge with others.  I rated "Own It" for ensuring that my level and breadth of knowledge were sufficient to the task and for ensuring the whole team of trainers gave it our best effort.  I rated "Have Courage" for getting up in front of 30 people to teach a subject I'm still learning.  I still hate talking to groups but I did it.

This was a fabulous experience (that I get to repeat two more time this week) and a few more times later this month and again with the Sales force at the National meetings.

I am so wiped now that I couldn't even eat dinner and I only taught a third of the day.  I can only imagine what it takes to do the full day.

Weekend Work

I’m up here at the office again on a Saturday.  This time I’m helping out the quality department with incoming inspections.  They have a huge backlog and too few hands so a few hours here and there make a big difference.  I’ve posted here almost every time I’ve had to work on a weekend so it seems like it is often but really it’s not.  What I find striking today though is that nearly our entire manufacturing staff and half of the warehouse staff are here again.  The mfg folks work a four day week with Fridays off but they’ve been in every Friday and every Saturday since early June and they are still cheerful.  This is a great group of people.

Sponge War practice

The Cub Scouts are practicing their funnelator aiming skills in preparation for a pirate battle planned for the Family camp out later this Fall.  Mostly it's an excuse to play up at the sprayground on a hot day while showing off pack spirit.  The "sponges" are cloth covered sponge balls soaked in cold water.