Puzzlehand

I made a puzzle just for you
At school on my very first day
It's made with love and my handprint
In a very special way.

Now you can sit down on the floor
With your favorite Kindergarten kid
We'll put it together while I tell you about
All the fun things we did!

Anderson Elementary School
August 7, 2006

Tae-kwon-do

Sunil's tae-kwon-do class started tonight. He's still in the three-week-cheapie-low-introduction-fee stage. After that it gets down right pricey. But I like the program and he seems to like it too. So we'll see how it goes.

M-I-L Update

I pleased to be able to tell that Sid's Mom's recovery is cranking on along.  She can stand up for a few minutes at a time (without holding on).  This allowed her to make pancakes for us (her pancakes are really good!)  She'a also been walking around outside and in the house (with her walker) --  this is more liberating than the wheelchair.  She has started to practice low steps.  Her goal is to be able to get around easily before she leaves for India in November.

A big day at the office

Orthofix Buys Blackstone Medical

This will put our annual revenue between $520 and $600 million a year. Our Spine business is expected to post revenues of $260 million, which would make us the sixth largest spine company in the world. We still aren't in the top 10 Orthopedic Companies, but we are working on it.

Now is they could just tell us who they've choosen to be our new president....

Kindergarten - Day 1

Here Sunil and Sahil are waiting in the cafetorium for their first day of school. You can tell that they are in the same class by the color of their spirit-wear. They made rather a point of not talking to each other during the 20 minuets that they sat side-by-side. The Kindergarteners, as a group, were noticably more subdued than the older kids. The chaos was made worse by us over-emotional parents. Not only do we all feel compelled to take those all important first day pictures but the set up a whole "cry breakfast" in the multipurpose room. The multipurpose room is the room where the kindergarteners are supposed to gather before the classroom doors are opened in the morning. This morning they all had to get redirected so that they wouldn't mess up the tableclothes and flower arrangements.

Mini-pies

Sheela and Lisa decided to make us a special treat for dessert tonight. They made us each a mini chocolate pie. They cut out circles of crust for each of the ramikins. After they cooked and cooled they poured chocolate pudding on top. Then we added whipped cream and orange sprinkles. Yummy!

Bike Riding - Lesson One

Sunil's training wheels have finally come off of his bike. He's only about halfway on board with learning to ride (and that half is because Travis just learned to ride without his). We've resorted to the age old tactic of bribery. When he learns to ride alone he gets a new shiny bell to attach to the handlebars. It would help if it weren't already 90 degrees when we wake up in the morning. Sid is trying to run along side him and they are both sweating into puddles.

Meet the Teacher Night 2006

Tonight's the night. Sheela, Lisa and Anelise have Ms. Morton (soon to be Mrs. Ponce) for their third grade teacher. Sunil begins with Mrs. Barr. Both are rumored to be the nicest teacher in their respective grades. I'm hoping Sunil will know at least one person in his class already, but his circle isn't too large yet. We get to go to meet the teachers (and read the names on the class lists) tonight before zipping Sheela back off to another soccer practice.

Town and Country

Roughly halfway through our 1800 mile roadtrip the new van gave out. We had to jump start the van to get out of Mom's driveway. Sure we could have left something turned on for the two days we left it in their garage or maybe Mom just tampered with it to keep us from taking the kids back away.... hmmmm. In either case, the van, once running, didn't give us anymore trouble at least not that day. Two days later we got to jump it again. We also got to jump it at a gas station in Arkansas, and thought we'd have to a few other times when the battery was weak but it pulled through at the last minute.

We stopped at Auto Zone on the way home for a free diagnostic check. According to their certified technician the battery, the alternator and the starter are fine. Monday morning the van starts up with no problem and I take it to the dealer. They called later to tell me that a wire was loose but its all fixed up now.

Tuesday night the car doesn't start again. Wednesday morning was another close call, but I did get it going and get it over to the dealer (again). It doesn't start when they try it (at least now they believe me) and they've decided that it's the battery. The car has 35,909 miles on it. The battery has a three year or 36,000 mile warranty on it. I don't actually think the problem is the battery, but I'll take the new battery anyway. I'm sure I'll be up there again in a few days. Luckily its walking distance from my office. I say luckily because there was a 45 minute wait for the courtesy shuttle today. I was at my desk in less than 10 minutes.

The Aquarium and our Junior Rangers

On our final day we went to Gatlinburg to visit the Aquarium. It was a very rainy Saturday and the place was packed. It was as good as I remember. We even went through the shark tunnel twice. Then we all went our separate ways. Sushama and Brian (Seema and Nitha) left for home. Shashi and Sam went back to the lodge with Grandma and Grandpa. Ravi, Renee, Katie and Samantha stayed another night too. We headed into the Great Smokey Mountain National Park to get the kids their Junior Ranger badges.
They now have earned them from three National Parks: The Great Smoky Mountains, Hot Springs and Big Bend.

River Rat - Year Two

We took the cousins to do some tubing with the River Rats again. The ambient temperature wasn't as stiffling this year and the water was almost cold. But the river was flowing well and the kids had a great time. I did not take my camera to the river but Ravi may send me his picture of us all after the first run down the river. I'll post it when I can.

The Track

We actually spent two afternoons at a place in Pigeon Forge called the Track. The first day we were there with cousin David et al. They are "regulars" there. Not really, but they do own a discount pass that let's them buy ride tickets for half price. The second day we went with all of the Sharma/Brimmer cousins. We drove the go-karts on a couple of different tracks (with kids along for the ride), played putt-putt golf drove the bumper boats and the bumper cars. Sunil was big enough to drive the kiddie go-karts (5 mph max speed). The first time he was the only child on the track (probably a good way to learn). But by the time we left he had the opportunity to drive against a couple of other boys and passed them all up in a cloud of slow moving dust.

Sheela, Seema and Nitha were all big enough to drive the rookie go-karts (10 mph max speed). All around a big hit with the drivers. In this shot Seema is preventing Nitha from passing her and receiving an illegal bump in return.
Here Sheela is attempting to sneak past Nitha. She didn't make it on this corner but managed before the end of the lap to get on by.

Charrit Creek Lodge Trip

While in Tennessee to retrieve our oldest kidling, we managed to make an overnight hike down to the Cherrit Creek lodge. The lodge is in the Obed River area on the TN/KT border. The hike down was less than 2 miles over what the map describes as Steep Stairs. Sunil was a little bit tentative at the first staircase but loosened up considerably by the end. We went down the Twin Arches trail across two limestone arches that are nearly 100 feet high. From underneath they were very impressive, from the top you can't tell that they are arches, they just seem like a narrow ridge. The view was well worth the effort.

Here Sid and Sheela are enjoying the view from the top of the South arch.
As was the opportunity to wade in the river at the end of our flatlander efforts.
In honor of Tracey's Year of the Snake.....If you look closely you can see the head of the watersnake coming out from under the rock in the river. He was in with us while we were wading but we didn't find him until we were getting out.
There were two cabins and a main lodge house in the valley. This was our cabin. It had bunk beds for 12, but we were the only guests in the valley that night. We had a camp fire, watched the stars, caught fireflies and just enjoyed being out of the city.

This is my little hiking buddy all set for the climb back out. He was an excellent sport about the whole trip and carried his own pack, water and food with minimal complaint. He even shared his hiking stick with me.

Vacation Countdown....

10 - Arrange for home renovations in our absence- Check
9 - Pack the obvious stuff -Check
8 - Pay all bills - Check
7 - take the cat to the vet - Check
6 - Buy car snacks (or not) -
5 - Tour Amy's Million Dollar Homes - not part of my normal vacation routine but this is the only day I can get down to Dallas

4 - Get directions (or not) - it's not like we haven't been there before
3 - Pack last minute stuff (from the list we've been making all day) - also known as fill up all remaining space in the car with anything that is not nailed down

2 - Load it in to the car (don't forget Sunil) - the real key to a good trip
1 - In the words of Bart Simpson, "So long, Stinktown!"

Hawaiian Falls

Sunil and I took a day to play yesterday and it was nearly perfect.  We went to a local waterpark called Hawaiian Falls.  Sunil is just over 40" tall and he would have needed an extra 1-2" to be able to ride the moderately thrilling rides, but he wasn't really interested in those anyway.  He was a little concerned that I might make him ride on the Hawaiian Half-pipe (a shear drop on an inner tube that eventually shoots you back up the other side of the canyon) -- no thanks.  We spent our gorgeous 105 degree day speed walking between Keiki Kove (the kids area), Splashwater Harbor (a swimming pool with waterfalls) and the Kona Kooler (a lazy river with inner tubes).  It was wonderful and we both came home in desperate need of naps (which we actually got).

I aquired a minor suburn on the backs of both of my arms and one bonus streak down the front of my left arm..... apparently, I didn't do a very good job applying the spray sun screen. At least Sunil didn't burn.

Handy people to know....

that's us. On Saturday Sid, Sunil and I went to Farhana's house to paint Jazmine's bedroom. The wallpaper had already been stripped but the walls needed some repair. That took Sid (and Robert) most of the morning. Then they put up a coat of bright blue primer. In the afternoon Jaz, Sunil and I put up the bright green primer (on the lower third of the walls) while Farhana painted the chair rails battleship grey. They were supposed to be silver but it didn't come out quite right. Sid has suggested that they use polyurethane and silver glitter to spruce them up. On Sunday Jaz and Farhana finished up with bright blue paint and bright green paint. I can't wait to see it all done. They've been in the house almost six years and this is the first decorating chore that they've tackled. I expect that all of the other cabbage rose wallpaper will disappear in relatively short order.

Sunday Sid and Sunil went to the zoo, but at 105 degrees they didn't stay as long as usual. When they got back Sid and I went to Alma's house to help them put up their built-in microwave. Its been sitting on their counter top since February. They mis-read something in the instructions about the mounting bracket and their attempts at installation didn't work out to well. I'm sure that was completely unrelated to using whipped cream to mark the screw holes. While Mark and Sid tackled that, Alma and I changed out the bathroom light switch. The one that we installed has turns on with a motion sensor and then turns off automatically. Their girls are apparently notorious for leaving the bathroom light on all night.

Sid also got another handrail up in his folks shower. Now his mom can get herself in and out of the shower without assistance. I know that she feels much better about not being so dependent.

Oohnorak...a Bionicle

When Sunil traded in his scooter for his new skates he also picked up a lego set to build the Bionicle Oohnorak. We haven't read any of the Bionicle stories yet, but Oohnorak appears to be a mechanical "bug" with (only four) articulating legs, a pair of pincers and the ability to launch flying disks off of his back. This is the second set that Sunil has, but select pieces of the first one disappeared before we managed to get it built. This one did pretty well but the set was missing one of his "thighs". Sunil managed to find the appropriate replacement piece from the old set.

A life outside

Saturday Mommy finally got a chance to break out of the house for a little while. She practiced getting into (and out of) the Taurus. I feel a lot better knowing that it really isn't hard for her to do. While she was out they went for a spin around the block in her wheelchair.

Since then she has actually been out to the store a few times. We tried to get her in to the new van, but it is still a little bit too high. She doesn't have the upper body strength to pull herself up into the chair from the floor and she can't stand up well enough on either foot to push herself up and in. The Expedition is going to be even less likely, but we still have a few weeks to work on that before we leave for Tennessee.

The only bad news is that someone ran a red light yesterday and smashed up the Taurus. It's still drivable (if you don't count the missing headlight) but the passenger door doesn't open. Luckily Mommy wasn't in the car at the time and daddy wasn't hurt. She can still get in the backseat and the repairs are set to occur while we are out of town.

Telling Time

I know that I should be helping Sunil learn to tell time instead of working against him, but I was so tired yesterday. He did exchange the scooter for a pair of skates. Then we went swimming and that wore us all out. Sunil can actually swim now. So he went back and forth between us endlessly (in really shallow water). I fell asleep twice after we got home and before dinner. By 8:00 PM I was ready to bribe him to go to bed. Instead I told him it was 9:30 and he'd already been up too late. He went right to bed with no complaints. I was in bed by 8:30 more or less. I had to get up a few more times to switch around the laundry but I feel like a whole new woman today.

Merry-go-round

While up at the mall for ice skating adventure with Grammylyn Sunil took a ride on the carousel.

Let the vacation begin...

Sheela and Grammylyn have left for Tennessee. I'm sure that they will have a wonderful time while we sit here at home.

To fill our lonely days we are intending to overwhelm poor Sunil with way more attention than he is used to as a second child. His new scooter is not working out. The ride board is warped (I thought that his balance just wasn't that good) and it isn't ride-able. So we will return that today. He may choose another scooter if the next delivery has come in, but if they don't have another one he has his eye on a pair of in-line skates with training wheels. Too cute!

We may even get to the roller rink to break them in, and then we plan to go swimming at the natatorium. His swim classes start again tomorrow night and will take up most of his evenings while Sheela is gone.

Playtime

Well Grammylyn has been here since late Wednesday night. She and the kids are having a ball. It makes it hard to enjoy working when I know that they are off having fun. My vacation is coming and it is almost Friday afternoon. I guess I'll survive. Sheela is still going to Kids Club. Sunil is getting to have someone-on-one time with Grammylyn. Yesterday they went ice skating, twice. Today they may even go again. Sheela will go to friend's house for awhile this afternoon and then Grammylyn is going to take them to a play.

You call that a storm?

We finally had a little bit of rain here. Massive thunderstorms flew through last night they actually had to cancel the Grande Finale of the Kaboom-town Fireworks show. The storms that came our way were a little bit more tame. We had nearly 10-minutes of great, big, beautiful rain drops but when it was all said and done, the grass underneath the Frisbee wasn't even moist and the ground wasn't muddy. We still need 20 inches of rain to get out of the drought, storms like this just aren't going to do it.

Our traditional fireworks show is put on by the city of Plano. When we lived there we just walked across the street to the park to watch the show and then walked back home. Last year we drove back over, so we had to deal with traffic on the return trip, but the viewing was clear, easy and free. This year when we got to the park, it was empty (except for one group of four teenagers). I was afraid that the show had been cancelled due to weather. So we drove South to the launch site to make sure. Normally the high school is all roped off to restrict access (unless you walk-in and pay to enter the grounds). This year there were no gates, banners or signs (there was one sign -- we'll get back to it in a minute). We waited in line for a few minutes and joined the throng to enter the grounds, once we got in to the parking lot we realized that it was less than 1/3 full but everyone was set up to watch the show. I thought I'd seen a sign on our way in, it was the size of a "FOR SALE" sign in someone's front yard. I wasn't sure but it looked like it said "Oak Point Park", which is about five miles away. We went back to see the sign and sure enough "Fireworks moved to Oak Point Park", so we left everyone else sitting there and tried to get across town. Because of weather they started the show 20 minutes early, we didn't make it all the way over. We stopped to watch from the Wal-mart parking lot. Sitting under the parking lot flood lights cost the night a lot of charm and magic. At least it didn't rain on us, and we had chairs.

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July! We have nothing special going on today -- its all general clean up and home maintenance. Boring but necessary. I wanted to take the kids to the pool but of course, as a National Holiday the pool is closed so that everyone can spend time with their families (doing nothing, because all of the fun things are closed).

OT and PT

Having Mommy home is better than having her gone. The nurse came by on Saturday to check on things. She will start in-home occupational therapy and physical therapy on alternating days. They may come today, or today may be a holiday. Someone will come for sure on Wednesday.

She is only getting up to go to the bathroom and to take meals. The rest of the time she is staying in bed. I expected her to want to be up in the wheelchair at least.

We installed remote controls for her ceiling fans (since she can't reach the pull chains). Unfortunately, we managed to lose one of the remote controls before we even installed the receiver. I'm sure we will find it just as soon as we quit looking.

Adequate Protection

Here the kids are showing off their new toys. Sheela bought herself in-line skates and Sunil bought himself a scooter. They actually already had all of the pads and such but its been awhile since they've been fully decked out.

Lemon Battery

Here Sheela is showing off the lemons that she used as a battery to light up this LED. We had to move the whole contraption into the laundry room (the only dark room in the house) to really be able to see that it was working.

Parched Earth

This is what the ground looks like where the city has stopped watering the parks. Some of these cracks in the ground are over a foot deep already and some are three inches across. There is a lot of concern over how safe it is for the kids to run and play in these parks. This is right across the street from us, but our kids don't play on the grass. They either go all the way to the playground or stay in our own yard.

Finished

Round One of the swim lessons is finished. Sheela passed her Bronze level class and could take the Silver level if she wasn't already booked for a three week vacation. Sunil did very well with all of his Block Two requirements but still needed support to swim the required 15 feet lengths. So he will repeat Block Two after a week break. I'm actually pretty pleased with the way that this worked out. When I registered for the swim classes that was how I set it up. So Sunil is already registered for the next round.

Recalls, etc

I took my new van in today to get a few minor items resolved. Mostly stuff that any self-respecting dealer would have fixed before they sold the van. One of the power outlets in the front (there are two) doesn't work. One of the lift gate lights doesn't work and the lens is missing. Apparently there are a couple of recalls on the car as well that they failed to address. It will all be taken care of today... or so they say.

The dealership that I took it to (not the one that we bought it from) is about half a mile from my office. I pulled in at 7:30 and there was no one in line. I asked for a ride to the office (it's close enough to walk but I'm not dressed to be cutting through fields) and was delivered at my door less than ten minutes later. I could get used to having the world revolve around me.

Homecoming

Today is the day that Mommy is to be released from the hospital. It has been 20 days since she has been home. The support rails are up in the shower. The bed has been lowered a few inches. The furniture in the living room and family room have been rearranged to allow for easier access. I meant to throw away a few of the area rugs on my way out the door this morning but I forgot. Daddy knows that they can go and will probably take care of it himself before I get there. The three rugs that she would walk over most often have had the non-slip backs shredded over the last few months and are a danger to everyone. We will just wait a few months before we replace them.

Project Management

At work we typically use a computer program called Microsoft Project to manage our project schedules. We are all fairly comfortable with the basics but we use only a fraction of its capabilities. Our IT department took it upon themselves to not just upgrade us all to the latest revision(that was at our request, when some people upgrade but not others everything gets complicated) but to take it one step farther and get us to use their whole project management suite. In general, I enjoy these big initiatives and I think it makes more sense than barely using the tools that we are given. However, this time I resent having the IT department fix this problem for me. I've been working for two years on a suite of tools, that would have addressed this small piece of design process as well as our complaint files, our corrective and preventive action system, our discrepant material tracing and a host of other items. I can't lobby to add it in to next year's budget until August. By buying this software now, it weakens my case for why I need the other package. The project management portion is the piece that was to contribute the hard dollar savings that would make it possible to realize the soft money compliance savings.

It will take me a few days to get over being ticked and get on board. I will eventually be on board. I like the software, it just changes things I wasn't ready to change and doesn't provide the scope of what I really needed. Of course there was a very real chance that I wasn't going to get approval to spend the $500K on what we really need. This will be better than nothing.

Work day blahs

With no major crises at work the energy level here has taken a dramatic drop. That is supposed to be a good thing and yet it doesn't seem like it. There are still things to do but none of them seem to hold my attention for very long. At least I still get paid.

Extra pictures

The last post stopped letting me add pictures... it could be a comment on picture quality but I choose to look at it as a size restriction. Here are the kids at the beach and sitting like automatons in the car.

Jaden's Birthday Weekend

Saturday night we swung by the hospital to visit Mommy. Her hard cast was put on on Friday and she is doing very well. She has graduated to a blue star on her door. That is the code for being able to do most things without assistance (though supervision is still required.) She is even getting around on her walker a little bit. She doesn't seem to enjoy it quite as much as Sunil does... of course she has to do the work herself and he still gets a free ride.

After the hospital we went on to Sheela's soccer game. It was not one of their better showings but we enjoyed seeing Sheela back in the goal (much more than she enjoyed being there I'd guess). Neither of the regular goalies showed up and neither did most of the normal front line. With Sheela in the goal and only Kelzie taking shots it was rough.

On our way out of town we actually let the kids set up the portable DVD player. It's pretty rare but it was going to be at least a ninety-minute drive all at one stretch. I wanted the kids to be good and drowsy when we got to the campsite. I didn't realize it was going to be a quarter mile hike in to the site and I needed the kids to be alert and shlepping junk like the rest of us.


Then we went on up to Lake Ray Roberts. There are a couple of State Parks up that way. We camped at Isle du Bois. The weather was a little bit too warm for actual comfort (until around 3 am) but it was bearable after midnight or so. The location was beautiful, we were right along the shore in the trees in a very secluded "primitive" spot. The original plan had us staying in the RV area with the pop-up camper and A/C, but those spots were already booked. So we didn't even take the camper.
We went over to the playground/swimming area early the next morning to stake out some prime spots for Jaden's party. We had the entire playground to ourselves for a few hours before it got to be too hot. I expected more kids and thought that we should be close to the playground. I don't think any of the kids that came were playground age (except for Sheela and Sunil and they were over it by the time the party started). We spent most of the party swimming in the lake of building sandcastle's with Brenda and Jaden.

Swim Class

Both kids have been enjoying the annual swim class ritual. Sunil uses it as an excuse to pick up chicks (for a change this one isn't a 10 year-old named Taylor).
Sheela actually works on refining her strokes. I use it as an excuse to sit outside and catch up on some Sudoku puzzles.

Just when I thought it was over...

Sheela has been free of all lice indications for two weeks. I wasn't quite celebrating but I knew we'd gotten through it. I forgot about the rest of the kids in the world. The signs are up at Kids' Club. Many children had to be sent home yesterday for lice. At first I was pleased as neither Sunil nor Sheela were sent home. Then I found out that even though we were told that they'd all been checked they hadn't actually been checked. Fearing the worst I took them home and began picking at them again. Both kids really are clear at the moment but I'm going to keep on oiling Sheela's hair until she leave town in July. I want to make sure her head is clean when she goes to Mom's and I'm not taking any chances. Sunil's hair is so short it isn't really a problem.

Sunil's Life Plan

Sunil has begun to plan for his future. He intends to work at a car wash in order to pay for the walkie-talkie cell phone that he wants. That will happen when he is 15. Two years later he expects to buy himself a car. Longer term he intends to own a car wash in Rhode Island where expects to live with his new family (a wife and her two kids). When he wants a hug from me he'll jump in his car and drive to Texas. He may even come by every morning before work.

Treatment number two

I had my second laser treatment yesterday. Apparently, since I showed no adverse reactions the first time they stepped it up a notch. That means it was just a touch more painful this time (honestly, it still wasn't bad) which I wasn't expecting. My real concern is that I didn't have a bad reaction this time either so next time they will take it up one more notch which means that it will hurt just a little bit more.

There's always something....

The upstairs A/C went out yesterday, luckily we are only going to be in the mid-90s today and the wind is still blowing. With a good wind the upstairs can still be pleasant even in the heat, if we lose the wind we will all be sleeping in the living room.

The kids' shower continues to leak into the kitchen. It started about a month ago but we haven't had time to address it. It only happens during about once a week and so far the leak is tiny. This was the site of the most impressive damage to the house when we bought it though. We don't want it to get like that again.

We still haven't found an A/C company that will change out the compressor for the mini-split that we were so proud of last year. It was a six month ordeal just to get the compressor. Eventually we will spend some time trying to do it ourselves. I'm secretly hoping that the guy that comes to fix the upstairs unit can be bribed to tackle this job too.

Update

We actually got to see Mommy's doctor (one of them anyway) for a few minutes on Sunday. Both legs are broken, the "Sprain" is actually a small bone chip but its too small to fix. She will have a walker boot on it in another few days. Her staples will come out of the surgical site within another week. At that time they can put a hard cast on the left leg and she will be able to try using the walker. They don't expect her to be weight-bearing for at least 3 months and it will be 6-9 months before she can walk unassisted. I put a bone-stim on her Sunday. She will wear it for three hours a day (over either the soft cast or the hard cast) until she heals.

Life is back to normal...

I didn't actually leave early but we did stop for a drink on the way home (on the boss of course). Then I picked the kids up from school for the first time in three weeks. I dropped them off with Farhana, picked up Sid and drove to Grande Prairie to watch the horse races (on the IS department of course). We lost a little bit of money, ate a lot of free food and had areally enjoyable evening.

We got up early, bought a birthday present for Jessica, picked up the kids dropped of the car (oil change), and drove up to Prosper for a bounce house party. Its a million miles North of Farhana's and the party started at 10AM. Yikes! I did get to see Deion Sander's house (a 32,000 sq. foot monstrosity). After the party Suni and Sid went for haircuts, Sheela and I bought Father's Day presents and then I got to take a nap!

We went by the hospital to visit Mommy and found Sushama, et al, there too. So we collected up Seema and Nita and went to Sheela's soccer game (indoor thank goodness). Super Blue won 5-3 and Sheela had one of the goals. Then we went to dinner, came home and put the kids to bed.

Tomorrow the schedule is empty except for lunch with Mommy at the hospital. We are going to pick up Chinese food and take it with us. I may even finagle another nap... the first one was so nice.

Certification!!

We have successfully completed our ISO audit with no major deficiencies and very few minor discrepancies (all of which we've already fixed). This was a success all the way around. I hope to celebrate by leaving early instead of working late. With any luck I can take the kids over to the hospital to visit Mommy before I need to have them at Farhana's house (sleep over tonight).

The only reason that I haven't left already is I'm waiting to get a "compassionate care unit" of our bone-growth stimulator for Mommy's leg. I'd like to have her start treating tonight if possible.

Actually, it was just pointed out to me that there are two reasons that I haven't left yet. I have to go in to the cleanroom and take microbial samples before the weekend and the sample strips haven't been delivered yet.

Leaving early is starting to look really unlikely......

Hospital Captive

Just yesterday we were discussing the tendency for doctors to take advantage of their patients proximity when they are in the hospital to demand all sorts of extra tests and procedures. They can't really get away or effectively counter with, "I'll call and set something up later..." Sure enough Mommy has to have another procedure today. Apparently there is some concern over something that showed up on her EKG from Sunday so they are going to do a dye test on her this morning. Until that is resolved we wont be able to plan for her release. We were working on getting her transferred to a rehab floor for a week or so. She needs to develop some upper body strength before she can use either a wheelchair or a walker.

Shria

Shria (Shree - ah) is cousin Prithi's daughter. She's 20 months old now and just adorable.

Divas' Weekend Pictures

This is Alexander Bed and Breakfast Acres (ABBA). We had the whole top floor.
This is Goofus checking out the divas.
Beckie, Brenda, Maria and I hiked in Juniper Point Park West next to Lake Texoma on the Texas-Oklahoma border.

Surgery

I left the family unattended for a little bit over 24 hours. During that time Mommy stepped down wrong off of a curb and broke both her tibia and fibula. She should just be coming out of surgery right now. We have a babysitter coming over in an hour to watch the kids while we go back to the hospital to visit. Sid and his Dad were there most of the night and they were there with the kids all day today. Right now they are all home taking a break. I haven't been out there yet.

Girls' weekend out...

Brenda, Beckie, Maria and I hiked part of the Crosstimers Trail on Saturday morning. We only did a few miles along the shore, but it was nice to be out for awhile even in the hundred degree plus heat. We picnicked by the lake on homemade chicken salad and fresh fruit. Then we drove down to the Alexander Bed & Breakfast Acres (ABBA). We took the whole top floor. The attic is 700+ square feet and very charming. The whole place is charming. We hung out in the pool, took naps in the room and had massages before a late dinner by yet another lake. Cindy drove up and joined us during the afternoon. We watched a few chick flicks and slept late. After breakfast during which we were totally entertained by Bobbie Ray (the owner's sister) telling us about the attacks that she has suffered at the figurative hands of the llama and the burro. Then we went hiking with the llama and the burro. Apparently their antipathy for Bobbie Ray is isolated and personal. They love everyone else.

Brenda (and Jeremy) bought a little bit over 10 acres up that way last year so we stopped by to check it out then went to lunch and came home.

We had a wonderful time. I'll post pictures later.

Jacee

Periodically we receive emails now from children available for adoption. Okay, the letter comes from their dfps representative. This is relatively new, the approach in the past has always been that this time of broadcast email was a violation of the child's privacy. But now its okay as long as the child is under six years old, figuring I'm sure, that they aren't yet computer literate and don't know that their privacy is being violated. In any case I sent off a request for more information on a little girl named Jacee today. It may or may not pan out to be anything, but its fun to imagine. It would be easier to imagine if I knew how old she was, her birthday was posted twice. She is either about to turn three or four. She has blonde hair and dark brown eyes. She lives in the metroplex but not exactly close by.

The Adventure Bible

Sheela had a great time yesterday with Lisa at vacation Bible School. They even gave her own Bible with her name inside and everything. It's a little bit jazzier than the bibles that I have. It has a picture of kids rock climbing on the cover. And humorous excerpts reprinted at the bottom of the pages, along with ideas of things you can try to do in real life (like asking forgiveness step-by-step: write a letter, call on the phone and then go in person).

My Blog is gone...or was....

For two days now I've been unable to view this blog... it came up as a blank screen. It looks like it got better... no idea why.

VBS and Adventure Landing

Sunil is going to Kids Club all by himself today for the first time.  Being the easy-going kid that he is, this is not a problem for him.  He hasn't really learned the names of any of the other boys yet (except for the ones that play with Sheela) but he'll work it out in time.  They are going on a field trip today to a place called Adventure Landing.  It has miniature golf and arcade games.  He's never played miniature golf.  I think he will like it.

 

Sheela is going to Vacation Bible School today with her friend Lisa.  I love Lisa as a friend for Sheela.  She's a really good kid and a lot of fun.  They were in class together, played soccer together for a year and were in the same Brownie troop.  It also helps that I really like her mom.  Cindy is from Canada, very close to New York, and hasn't been down here in "the Republic of Texas" all that long.  She still points out the things that they do here that are just stupid.  Apparently at VBS you are allowed to bring a guest so Lisa asked Sheela to come along.  Sheela tried to ask me what to expect and I didn't have much to say on the subject.  I remember going to VBS when we lived in Tennessee, I don't actually remember anything useful about it.  I told her that they would talk some about Christianity, play some games, eat a snack and then go back to Lisa's house to play for the afternoon.

A few overdue pictures....

Let's see... we have the kids on the Bonzai Falls waterslide in the backyard during Sunil's birthday party. We borrowed it from friends and were lucky we got to use it before the water restrictions kicked in.

Here the kids are watching fireworks after the Roughriders game. Next year we might get rooms in the hotel here and make a bigger production out of it. It only seems fair, Sheela has gotten to go downtown every year for her birthday.

Sunil on his new Spiderman bike (and wearing his home dyed shirt).
and his birthday cake complete with Mustang. I declined to include the picture of him licking the tires.

Futbolito

Sheela and five of her friends played in a soccer tournament this weekend down in Southwest Dallas. It was a long way to go and we got off to a rough start. The schedule doesn't get made until all of the teams have checked in the morning. We left home at 7:30 AM and got the schedule at 9:00AM and our first game wasn't until 11:00AM. That's a long time to sit in the hundred degree heat after waking up early. Luckily we had not one but two shade canopies and Christi staked out a nice big tree for our "camp".

The format was new to us but I liked it and the girls seemed to too. It was 4 v 4 with no goalies and short, very quick halves. We lost two and won one. Sheela scored one of the goals (I think that this was her first goal for Super Blue). Kelzy and Sarah scored too. There were only three all girl teams in the whole tournament and we were the only one in the U8 division. The whole tournament was run in Spanish, some of the referees didn't speak English. All in all it was a very good experience. Just for the record... Cambio means substitution. We are going to learn our soccer terms one at a time. But we are going to learn them.

Gifted and Talented - Check

Sheela's results are back. She did very well on her second round of testing and has been accepted into the Gifted and Talented program. Way to go little girl!

I don't know how they set the curriculum but it appears that she will get to some in-depth studies on Asia over the next two years.

Roughriders 5 - Cardinals 1

Last night Orthofix took us to the baseball game, Triple A ball up in Frisco. We go every year for Sunil's birthday, but this is the first year that we've seen the Riders win. It was a great game and perfect weather. I love the fireworks show after the game too. Its a great experience all the way around. It did make miss Blake. Last year we went right before he went back home. It was his first time to see fireworks.

Sunil's take on the fireworks is that "they" take large lightbulbs, small lightbulbs and food coloring, mash it all up, then pack it into a a barbecue grill until it explodes.

Stage Three - Water Conservation Plan

Mandatory Water Restrictions are now in effect for the North Texas Municipal Water District. The lakes are lower than they've been in 50 years and there is no relief in sight. As of June 1, we are allowed to water our lawns one time a week (on the day that trash is collected) but it has to be between 10PM and 6AM. The fine for wasting water is $2000. Yikes!

Air - Under appreciated

I think it is safe to say that we all know that I am not a morning person. I rarely actually wake up when I roll out of bed but tend to blunder along in a semi-conscious state for as long as possible. Its not just that my brain is sluggish, my whole body reacts as if I'm in a pool of syrup. But I've been a good sport and a willing participant in our early morning bike rides for almost three whole weeks now. I don't grumble, whine or resort to tricks to avoid the rides. I get on my bike in relatively good cheer and then huff, puff and gasp my way through the next 30-45 minutes. To tell you the truth it has been mortifying to realize how hard it is for me to keep my legs moving and I do have to pedal constantly or I drift rapidly to a complete stop. My bike is on the old side and rather heavy compared to some of the snazzy newer models, but it isn't really filled with cement but I've let myself get so out of shape that it feels like its pulling an extra 50 pounds (and I haven't gained that much).

I felt a little bit better when Mom commented on how hard she had to work on her ride with Sheela over the weekend. I know Mom is in pretty good shape. Between the tennis and the hiking she is doing great. So maybe I'm not the complete slug that I feel like.

This morning I wasn't quite as tired as the others, my brain was a little bit more rested and my oxygen level just a touch higher. With this new found AM lucidity I had an epiphany. I should check the air in my tires. You guessed it... the back tire was completely flat and I've been too tired to even notice. It took us a little bit longer to get on the road this morning but we were able to ride farther faster on those wonderful circular tires. I'm not nearly as worn out and I'm actually looking forward to riding tomorrow.

PreK Graduation

Well they didn't go as far as having an actual ceremony to commemorate the end of preschool but they did take pictures. Sunil is now a Kindergartener. Way to go Sunili!

Life's Little Lessons Learned

Well I watched Sheela's face as she learned an important lesson about putting away her belongings yesterday. Yup, she left her "razor" scooter laying in the driveway behind Sid's car. We ran it over a few times and dragged it along under the car before getting it out. Unfortunately it is not a total loss, the foam on the handle is torn and the foot plate canted but it can still be ridden... though it is much harder to balance now. The look on her face as she made the connection between the hideous scrapping noise and her favorite toy was priceless. I think she learned the lesson.

Happy Birthday Sunil!

My baby is five years old today and still such a sweetie. He is at Kids Club tody, hopefully making new friends and going swimming.

Birthday party

Sunil celebrated his birthday today with 13 of his closest friends... more or less. One friend from school, three from soccer, two from the neighborhood and then assorted siblings. We borrowed the Bonzai Waterfall Waterslide to entertain the kids. It tore huge holes in the ground but was a ton of fun. After we ran the kids out the adults took our turns too. I would use it again. We also tie-died t-shirts for each of the kids. They wont get to rinse them out to see how they did until tonight. I hope they come out and that the color doesn't all wash away immediately. Tomorrow for his actual 5th birthday we are going to go to Chuck E. Cheese (just the family) and then do the rest of the gifts.

Grammylyn and GrandpaJohn are here

They arrived Friday about the time I got home from work. We've been staying up way too late but I love the visiting so its worth it. John is taking some major antihistamines to deal with his cat allergy but I think its going pretty well.

Town and Country

Sid found a new car for me on Saturday. I still want the many seats that come with the minivan so I was looking at the Freestars and the Odesseys. Sid did convince me to give the Town and Country a try. It is very nice and not to sound too much like a girl about it but its the prettiest color of blue! The mileage was a little bit higher than I wanted but the price made up for the difference. It doesn't have the built in DVD player that I'm finally convinced that I want but Sid promised to have one installed for me. In the end I chose not to have it installed but I bought a portable model that we can use in either car and store in the house. I wont let the kids use it in town anyway and the Texas heat burns the monitors out pretty fast. So we have a pair of monitors that we can use anywhere. I've been too busy to take a picture but I'll get to it eventually.

Quality Auditor Training

Today I begin my two day Quality Auditor training class.  I have to leave a little bit early and work a little bit later but I think it will be worth it.  I'm going with 14 of my favorite co-workers.  It should be a good experience.

Bye-bye second grade

Today is Sheela's last day as a second grader!  Its been a great year and she has grown up a lot.  I can hardly imagine ever having another teacher that was as good a fit for her as Ms. DeWaters was. 

Birds, birds, birds

Sid and I have begun our second week of morning rides (I'm so proud of us).  Most of the ride happens before the first light of dawn.  The last time I spent much time outside before dawn, I was attempting to walk Sheela to sleep as an infant.  Five minutes with her outside always put her out.  But I rarely got to enjoy those walks, I was typically tired and cranky and focused on not dropping the sleeping little bundle of joy. 

 

Before that it was all the way back to middle school when I would do Brian's paper route.  What I remember most about those charming early mornings were the bull bats circling over head and then diving at me with blood thirsty abandon.  Even after learning what they were and how little they cared about my presence I had to pep myself up to run from one apartment door to the next because the silence before the attack was so unnerving.

 

Since that time I've rarely been out near a metro area, at dusk or dawn, when I haven't heard the bull bats circling though I've never had them diving close enough for me to hear the wind whistling through the "holes" in their wings like I did back then.  This morning I was listening to them and keeping track of where they were at all times like I always do when two of the largest birds I've ever seen glided past in front of me.  They came silently out of nowhere and disappeared through the trees by the pond almost before I could register them.  It was a pair of great blue herons.  That was a great way to start the day.  I hope I get to see more of them and less of the bull bats.

Sunil is shaping up to be a car guy....

Cars are his favorite pastime at home, he loves to start our cars for us in the morning and now he has become addicted to bumper cars. He almost skipped the pizza and cake at Gavin's party in order to keep driving.

Picture of a boxer

Here are Sheela's cuts after her weekend adventure.

The boxer

Poor Sheela, not only does she have to deal with the lice thing, but she chose to help her Dad break down some boards and brush and load it on the trailer for a trip to the dump. The board she broke kicked back and hit her in the face. She has a bruise between her eyebrows, and two cuts on the bridge of her nose. She looks tough, but apparently it hurts to move her eyebrows.

Its that wonderful time of year.... the lice are back

and of course where do they go first... Straight to Sheela of the long tresses. Luckily, this year we've already whacked off about five inches of length. It has actually been nearly three nears since we did this last time. As I recall the last round was ending just as Sheela was ready for her Indian dance recital and she needed ALL the length she could muster so that when she tied her hair to her girdle she could still move her head.

My treatment mode is pretty well established. The first night is an extremely nasty lice shampoo with a thorough combing. Then wash every fabric covered item in the house with hot water. The next couple of weeks will involve oiling her hair with olive oil and leaving it on for at least two hours and frequently overnight as often as possible. Overnight means I get to wrap her head in saran wrap to protect the sheets and pillows. Washing the oil out is rather an ordeal, but it does leave the hair very soft and manageable. There is also hair brush boiling, frequent vacumming and sheet washing every other day.

Bailey's Berry Patch

As we near Memorial Day weekend it's time to take a look at the opening day festivities at Bailey's Berry Patch (a little slice of Heaven in Texas). Last year, Mom and John took Blake and Sunil on opening day and they stuffed themselves full of blackberries and still brought back plenty for us to share. It was too early for them to be able to get blueberries... but not by much.

I was hoping to go this year and take Sheela along with us, but it looks like they aren't going to be able to open this year at all. They were hit by a MASSIVE hail storm at the end of March and it decimated this year's crops. Every flower and most of the leaves were stripped right off of the plants.

Five straight days

Sid and I completed a week of early morning rides. The weekends don't count, they are for sleeping late and cuddling with the kids. We usually end up just lapping Celebration Park a few times. From our house we can't really get anywhere too interesting, but I guess that its nice just to be up and out.

Waffles......

yet another one of the many "prepared" foods that my children prefer to eat still frozen. Waffles, pancakes, taquitos... I had to draw the line at mini-cornsdogs. Yuck!

The gist....

of today's parent teacher conference was great kid, very smart, though once he starts sucking his thumb he goes straight to lazy.  It's true, once his thumb gets plugged in all other functions stop (except for the hair twirling).  He works fast, he works neatly, he is very thorough right up until the thumb and then he just sits for 45 minutes to an hour and a half doing nothing but sucking and twirling.  If recess didn't roll around he'd probably never snap out of it.  Everyone else gets to go out to play but he has to stay inside until his work is done.  It usually takes less than five minutes for him to finish up.

 

He cut way back on the thumb sucking for awhile.  It increases when he's tired and we've let him stay up way to late too many times lately.  That isn't helping.

 

He has mastered his letter sounds, short and long vowels and most combinations, he mastered the hundred board and all of the relational works (heavy to light, smooth to rough, big to small, dark to light, etc), the continents, the oceans, the states, map concepts, the hundred board, addition and subtraction, grouping, all sorts of great stuff.

Aerobic exercise - a new concept for me

I used my new "youth" bike helmet this morning for the first time. Sid and I went out for a pre-dawn ride. We were out for less than half an hour but it felt good. I did have to work ridiculously hard for such a gentle ride. I hope that we can keep it up, exercising at night has not worked well for us at all.

When we got back Sid woke Sheela up and they went running while I took my shower.

ACS Update - Not yet final

The Relay-for-Life website is not crediting the teams with all of their donations, which is a little frustrating but even more annoying is that the donations that are there are inconsistent. Some checks were there for awhile and then fell off, cash that was donated at the event never showed up, or showed up and then fell back off. I have six donations showing on the marquee at my website, but as of today my report page shows that I have only two donations. I don't know which two its counting, I have credit for $305 which is everyone except the checks. Our team total is still showing as $675, but there should be over $800.

Its all about me....

I got to chose our restaurant Friday night for my birthday dinner. Mario Chiquita is where Sid and I usually go alone, but we haven't been in at least six months and it sounded really good. They have excellent sangria but as it was a family night I passed on the pitcher.

Sunil gave me a new bike helmet. My old one is nearly 15-years old and was plain black and rather drab. The new one, selected personally by my favorite four-year old, is a pretty blue with a green frog with a bright pink tongue. At the end of the tongue it says "ZAP". It is of course a youth size helmet and still too big for my little bitty head. I was disappointed to note that the strap system has not been improved in the last 15 years. The reason no one wears their helmet properly, is that its too damn hard to adjust.

Sheela gave me the novel Angels and Demons. Sid gave me a new flat screen monitor for the computer. The Sharma gave me a dozen red roses and beautiful chocker with matching earrings. I'll try to take a picture of it later. Its rows of tiny diamond chips and rubies.

I received breakfast in bed this morning along with a bouquet of construction paper flowers. Each flower is attached to a chore. Theoretically I can command cheerful assistance with any chore I select at any time.

I have quite a flower collection going right now. In addition to the paper bouquet and the roses I received bouquets from both of the soccer teams.

Swim Tests Today

I took both kids in for evaluation this morning, even though I was pretty sure they would both be repeating the same levels from last year. Sure enough, it's a repeat year. Sunil is signed up for two sessions of lessons, June 19 - 29 and July 10-24. Sheela only gets in one session before heading off to TN for golf camp and hiking.

Birthday 38

Sunil tells me that I can wait until tomorrow to turn 38. I don't think it matters all that much. I'm looking forward to a low stress but technically challenging day at work, dinner out with the family and then some time out with Sid. It is beautiful here today, so I may even leave work early to go walk around the pond for awhile.

Surgery Day

Today I went to Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children to watch a couple of surgeries. The two primary cases were both lower limb corrections, one tibial and one femoral. The first case, was the result of an infection the child had when he was still an infant (he's 10 now). One side of his growth plate was destroyed so his lower leg only grows on one side. The ring system that we are evaluating uses a stack of three rings that are pinned in place around the leg. The rings are rigidly attached to each other, mostly. The ring above and below the point where the bone is cut will be swiveled slowly over the next month allowing a wedge of new bone to fill in which straightens and lengthens the leg.

The second case was caused by a congenital condition where one leg grows half as fast as the other. This patient was 12 years old and had been through a number of these surgeries before. He needed straightening in two different planes and pure grown at both incisions. The two incisions will have to be done at least six weeks apart, even though the frame was pre-built to do the whole procedure. When he needs the second incision it will be a very short procedure to cut the bone.

The most amazing thing that we saw though was a young girl with a severe (180 degree) spine curvature. That is not a typo. In her before picture she looked like she was leaning against a pillow, but that was really her butt propping up her back. They modified the ring system and straightened her out pretty well. They were removing the frame today. She has 14 pin holes in her back and hips and hasn't been able to lay down for four months.

The ring system is like one that we already have, just scaled down for pediatric patients. But the software that they are bundling with the system is amazing. It allows them pre-build the frame which saves hours in the OR and makes for a much more precise correction.

We are developing a long term relation ship with this hospital and I think that it may be one of the best things that we've ever done. The hospital is one of the best teaching facilities in the world, it's all free but you have to be recommended for treatment. I hope to spend a lot of time out there over the next couple of years.

Summer soccer

We have only one remaining soccer game this Spring. Super Blue plays on Sunday then we are on a practice only schedule until June 10th. They will be playing indoors down in Addison for the Summer, which means we will be sitting in airconditioned luxury for the Summer.

Book Two

Sheela finished the first Harry Potter this morning (around 5 am) and has started in on the Chamber of Secrets. She's having a great time and pretty proud of herself.

She fell asleep last night at 6 PM, and woke up early. It made for a nice evening for me, Sid and Sunil. Sunil doesn't get enough time as the center of attention.

Relay-for-Life 2006

Our team, Lynn's Lances, raised nearly $600 in just three days. We came pretty late to the party. Pictured here are Cecile, Beckie, Pete, Laura and Lee. Victor came later, and Andrea was chasing down some free Jamba Juice.

After the survivor's dinner and the opening remarks, the survivors started the walk with a lap of their own. The survivors are all wearing purple.
Next came the caregiver's lap. Here Cecile is supposed to be supporting Andrea but its more like they are holding each other up.
Sheela, Sunil and Sid spent most of the evening with us. They contributed another $20 or so for face painting and bounce house use.

Our team thought we would break down and leave at midnight but we can honestly say that we stayed for the entire event. That was made possible, of course, because the event was shut down rather rapidly at 11PM. The expected storm cell turned out to be more violent than expected and the sponsor's weren't taking any chances. We were given one hour's notice to remove all traces of the event. I was home in bed (asleep)by 11:30PM.

Even better the amount of rain required that the soccer games be cancelled so I managed to sleep late too.

9 and Dine

Yesterday was the 17th semi-annual MIS Golf Classic. It was my third time at the event and my first time using my own clubs. (Thanks Mom!) Once again a good time was had by all, but not necessarily good golf. I am proud to say that some of my drives, chips and puts were all used by my team. Still we tied for last, so I wasn't that much of a help. We actually only had two bad holes, but they were really bad, and we only played nine to start with.

Lynn's Lances

I've signed up to join a group of Lynn's friends at the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life this Friday night. We've been given conflicting information about the event, but the fundraising piece and the start time are both pretty clear. The end time isn't nailed down as well. We are either walking from 7PM Friday night until midnight, or until 7 AM Saturday, or possibly midnight on Saturday night. I'm okay with either of the first two options. Soccer games start at 8AM on Saturday. I'll have to break away before then.

In the meantime feel free to make a contribution to the cause. Apparently I can't get the link to work so please take it upon yourself to go to www.acsevents.org/faf/home and search for my name under the donations page. Thank you!

House Sparrows

Our flock of house sparrows continues to grow, thrive and generally take over.  We have the obligatory nest inside each of the bathroom vents and one in the bluebird box.  But new this year is the one that keeps trying to nest inside the barbeque grill.  We cleared it out twice then resorted to leaving the lid open... maybe for the rest of the Spring. 

Welcome home, Grandma and Grandpa!

They've been off visiting Ravi and family for the last three weeks. The kids are thrilled. I've been informed (by Sunil) that I'm no longer needed to drive him around. Grandpa will take care of all of that again.

What size was that?

The time has come to survey the kids bathing suits and summer clothes. They will swim at least twice a week all summer. Sunil finally did outgrow both of MY favorite suits. He's had them for nearly three years. That leaves him only the bright orange one. It is HIS favorite because it looks like Dad's. It fits better than ever... it is a size 12 Months. The child is about to turn five. That's just wrong.

Date Night

It has been a busy few days.  Friday we passed our transfer audit at work.  I got to step up and assist with the process.  I wasn't intending to be "in the room" but our Regualtory Manager had a family emergency and is still out of town.  The audit was quick and painless and we were very well prepared.

 

Late Friday afternoon Sid and I agreed to accept a placement of two girls, one eight and one seven.  Luckily for us that fell apart at the last minute.  We really don't need to have two more children to deal with.

 

Sheela took the screening exam for the talented and gifted program at school.  All she can say about the test was that it was easy and involved drawing pictures and applying captions.  One of her pictures depicted what life would be like if you had an egg for a head.  Test result will be mailed the week of June 5th.

 

While she was being tested, the Panthers were losing a soccer game.  The team started off three players short, and a fourth got sick on the field and had to be benched.  The girls played okay, not great, but not bad.  They just ran out of steam.

 

Sunil's team played later and was another of the high scoring variety more on the opponent's side than on ours.  But they played well and had fun.  They were only short one player.

 

Both kids spent the night with friend on Saturday.  Sid took me to Fogo de Chao for dinner, it's another Brazilian chop house.  Yummy!  We followed it up with a few hours at Pete's Dueling Piano Bar and dessert at IHOP.

 

We collected the kids at Sheela's soccer game today.  Super Blue finally won a game (against an older team).  Woohoo!  They played pretty well but a number of the girls were all at the same slumber party and a little bit tired.

 

On our way home we swung by the Natatorium for swimming.  The plan was to wear the kids out so that they'd take a nap.  That didn't work so well, but as I fell asleep as soon as we got home it was okay by me.  My understanding is that they went to play with a neighbor.