Good Timing

I was just catching up on a blog that I read that keeps me up to date on the goings-on in the theater world (among other things) and it was posted that the 2 shows I picked to see on Broadway are closing and going on national tour.

Xanadu was supposed to close in mid-October, but it was pulled in to the end of this week. Too bad, but I am so glad I saw those...

New York Trip

The trip to New York was fabulous. If the trip had been purely for fun it would have been even better, though the conference I attended was informative and good for networking. The conference hotel was in the Times Square area, which is the best place to be if you are visiting NY--you can walk to anything you need and catch a subway to anywhere else. Rod came with me since the hotel was free (to us anyhow; my company paid for the stay because of the conference). We flew over together on Saturday afternoon and split up to do our own thing Saturday night. Rod went out to the Brooklyn Bridge area because he wanted to take a photo of the bridge from a particular view and at a particular time of day (night). In typical (awesome) Rod fashion, he crawled through a fence and had to get past a Bollywood movie set to get to the angle he wanted. He said he may end up as an unedited extra in the film. When he arrived at the spot of interest apparently someone else thought it was interesting too because a RECLINER was there. If this was me (and it wouldn't be because you wouldn't have caught me wandering into a sparsely habited section of Brooklyn, crawling through a fence, or assuming the Bollywood people wouldn't mind me stepping through their photo shoot), I would not have sat in the chair because I would assume that someone had left it there for a reason to get rid of it, such as the scene of a murder. Anyhow, he's got a great shot of the bridge and a great shot of him in the recliner with the bridge as the background. I will post one as soon as I can get it from him.

On Sunday, we took the subway over to my cousin Kristin's apartment to see her, Chris, and their new baby, Jenny. Jenny is about 4 months old and is very cute. She hung out with both Rod and I and eventually fell asleep on her Dad's chest. Kristin took some photos--they might end up on her blog. Sunday afternoon I had to spend at a conference meeting until 5:00. While I was there, Rod took a taxi out to see his house and school from the time period that he lived in Long Island. We went to see Legally Blonde on Broadway on Sunday evening. It was awesome and I rank it up there with my top 3 favorite Broadway musicals (other 2 are Rent and Cats). The part of Elle Woods was played by an understudy who had great charisma; the whole ensemble was engaging and I would see it again in an instant.

I spent all day Monday at the conference, but in the evening I synced up with a high school friend for chocolate cake and reminiscing. Tuesday evening I went to see Xanadu on Broadway with two work colleagues. I may post some more photos if I can get my colleagues to send a couple that they took. The show is based on a really cheesy Olivia Newton John movie (of the same title) from the early 80s. The actors specifically channeled some of the nuances of the movie characters, particularly the way ONJ pronounced her character's name, "Kira," in a breathy voice. It was a funny show and I was surprised how much of the music I already knew. I guess more than one song from the movie was a pop hit. At some point during the trip Rod went out to Central Park to see David Blaine in the middle of his latest stunt--hanging upside down for 48 hours.

Headed to New York

Rod and I are headed up to New York City this Saturday. I will be attending a conference from Sunday through Wednesday, and Rod is tagging along because the hotel room is already paid for, so why not?!

Plans include (in pseudo chronological order):
* Shopping on Saturday! (I want to visit Uniqlo, among other stores.)
* Visit my cousin Kristin and her new baby, Jenny
* See Legally Blonde on Broadway with Rod
* Visit an old high school friend on Monday
* See Xanadu on Broadway with a couple of work colleagues

It's going to be a blast. I will take photos and post soon...

Yendor and Kram

We made it to Schlitterbahn on Sunday and it was the perfect day to go. The weather was not too hot and the lines were short, if there were any at all. I managed to get sunburned on my back, even though I put sunscreen on twice. It must be the fact that my back rarely sees the light of day combined with being rubbed along the Schlitterbahn slides. I'll recover. To top off the fabulous Sunday, the kids had their first soccer games of the season on Saturday and Evelyn went to a party "with a magician that made a BUNNY appear out of a PICTURE OF A BUNNY!" Evelyn summed it up best when she said as she drifted off to sleep Sunday night, "I'm going to have a lot to write about in my journal on Monday!"

I'm going to spend some time making a new exercise playlist tonight. I bought the song Push It by Salt-N-Pepa, which I love for the beat and for some reason it's been in my head. It was at the height of its popularity in '88, which was 8th grade for me. For those readers that had the joy of being part of Central Middle School in Galveston, you will surely recall the lyrics: "Now, now, now wait a minute ya'll...this dance ain't for everybody...only the sexy people. So all you fly brothers, get on out there and dance." I still use the word Fly to describe something fabulous.

Tonight I amused Kenneth and Evelyn by telling them what their names would be backwards. We ran through every extended family member and some friends too. They were on the floor laughing with some of them. The best of the bunch: Yendor, Kram, Htebazile, Belac, & Mutat.

Schlitterbahn Attempt #2

We're going to try to hit Schlitterbahn again this weekend before the park closes for the season. Crossing fingers...

Hopefully we will also be able to stop in and see our friends April and Cesar in San Antonio. They just had a new baby boy and we are all excited to meet him.

The picture is of the kids on the first day of school (a bit delayed in posting it). Both kids like their teachers a lot, (and I do too), so that is a good thing.

San Antonio

The week before school we had plans that included a trip to Schlitterbahn but we picked the one day it rained all August. Half the park was closed and we decided that half the park wasn't worth the full ticket cost, so we headed to San Antonio instead. For anyone who's spent any amount of time as a tourist in SA, you are aware of the strip of activities near the Riverwalk: we filled a day at the Riverwalk Mall, the Alamo, Ripley's Believe It or Not museum, Guinness Book of World Records museum, and two attractions that were more amusement park-like. We will try to make up the Schlitterbahn trip next weekend before it closes for the season. In the wax museum, we met Oprah, George Bush, and several bad replications of other famous people. That particular museum needs a major facelift--they drop in a couple of currently famous people like Sarah Jessica Parker and Britney Spears, but they're right next to the huge "Driving Miss Daisy" display, which I'm pretty sure was there when I visited this area in high school with my friends. The visit also included a stay in a B&B in New Braunfels which was conveniently located near Gruene, TX. Gruene hosts a Market Day every 1st and 3rd weekend during certain months of the year. We found a couple of Austin-based craftspeople there, one of which is a jewelry-maker who does beautiful work. I will probably re-visit her in Austin.

Pictures from Kerrville Visit

Linda sent pictures from Kenneth and Evelyn's visit to Kerrville when Lisa and Haley were visiting. So cute! The one with Evelyn and Haley sleeping on the couch cracks me up.

Ultra-Violent Light

Kenneth and Evelyn participated in a week-long camp called Camp Invention a couple of weeks ago. Each day had a different theme...to sum it up it involved a lot of problem-solving and team work and the kids had a good experience. We'll probably sign up again next summer. School starts again on Tuesday and they're on the edge of their seats waiting to meet their teacher. We stopped by the school to read the teacher list so they know the names of the teachers but both teachers are new to the school so they don't know what to expect. Evelyn said that she hoped her teacher wasn't grouchy and crabby (always a good thing to avoid).

At one point this week, I tuned into a conversation Kenneth and Evelyn were having because it was about damaging light rays. Don't know how they got there. Evelyn said that the sunlight was the most damaging light but Kenneth was trying to convince her that "ultra-violent" light was the worst. I made sure they knew that the correct term was "ultraviolet" and that it is in sunlight. I had the same problem as a kid with the word "curve" and "curb"--I thought a curb was called a curve because it is curved--I recall being mocked by a couple of classmates for saying the wrong thing during a 2nd grade field trip to the Houston zoo. Random memories.

Jumping My Appetite

On the way home from Rudy's BBQ on Friday night, we were driving with the windows down. A loud motorcyclist drove up next to us and revved his motor (on purpose) in a loud, rough manner, causing us all to jump. Evelyn summed it up the best: "That jumped my appetite!" I think she was creating her own take on 'lost my stomach,' but who knows for sure. It made us laugh though.

Getting Through August

This weekend, we plan to take the kids to Schlitterbahn -- probably over Sunday and Monday. They've been looking forward to it all summer. We've been doing our best to take it easy this summer, and particularly this month. The heat is ridiculous. We made it out to Kerrville last weekend to see Merle and Linda. Linda's daughter Lisa and her new baby, Haley, were visiting from California as well. Evelyn is excited that she has another girl cousin and was so happy to meet her. Haley is very cute and has 3-inch long hair (she's only 2 months old) that stands straight up, despite attempts at mitigation. I'll do my best to take some good photos this weekend...

12 years!

Rod and I celebrated our 12th anniversary yesterday. It is very hard to believe so much time has passed. We dropped the kids off with Nana and Pops and booked it to Mandola's, which is one of our favorite Italian restaurants:

http://www.mandolasmarket.com/

This place has homemade everything--from the pasta to the gelato. On the plus side, it is casual dress. If you live in the Austin area, you have to drop in.

I was feeling motivated (or perhaps a combination of nostalgia and insomnia) and took a picture of a couple of our wedding photos. At the time of the wedding, I recall thinking to myself that my hair would look quite outdated in a few years because of the enormous bangs. Periodically I'd check out our album and think 'not yet--it's not bad yet.' I think it's officially reached the 'Looks-Like-The-Mid-90's' style now. The dance/pose song "Macarena" was at the height of its popularity and, of course, the DJ felt the need to play it. We all felt obligated to participate, so I can't blame the DJ entirely.

I can only imagine what the next 12 years will bring.

Mom's Jeans

Another picture of the kids from when we went to Fredricksburg....It made me laugh when I looked at it again because Kenneth is starting to get to the age of being embarrassed when I ask him to pose for a photo (especially if it involves flowers). :)

The kids are in a camp this week called Camp Invention, hosted through the school district. They love it so far and had a stream of stories to tell me about their first day. Nana is helping out for drop off and pick up this Monday and Tuesday. When I got home today, they were teaching Nana how to play the Wii!

Apparently there was a discussion between Mom and the kids about passing on genes from parents. Evelyn summed up the conversation and said "Don't worry, Nana. I'm sure Mom will pass on her jeans to me."

Lake Conroe

We took a trip down to Conroe this weekend to hang out at the weekend lake house of one of Rod's colleagues. It was a pretty large get-together--lots of kids for Kenneth and Evelyn to play with. They got to go out on a boat and ride jet skis (with Rod driving the jet ski, of course).

Back to work next week after a nice, long vacation...

Happy Birthday Kenneth

Kenneth had his 10th birthday a few days ago. We took the kids and a couple of Kenneth's friends to see Wall-E and to Chick Fila afterwards. It was a very cute movie, even for adults. I can't believe my sweetie is in the double-digits now!

Last weekend we drove down to Kerrville to see Merle and Linda. They have finally moved in to the house they've been working on, with only a few things left to do to be a fully functional house. It is so serene out there. We will be sure to visit often. On our way back, we stopped in Fredricksburg for a few hours to walk around. Rod and I would love to go back on our own sometime because the kids tend to get tired more quickly than we do.

Rod decided to join a local Rotary Club and had his induction ceremony at a lunch on Thursday. We all went with him--he's definitely on the younger side compared to the rest of the club. I think they need new folks to make sure the club continues. Apparently this particular Rotary has been around for 50 some years. After the lunch, the kids and I stopped at a park that has roaming peacocks. Kenneth took several pictures while they 'barked' at him.

Would You Rather

Rod took some beautiful pictures of the kids at a park that has a very old tree bent horizontally over a small creek. Evelyn wanted to have one of her baby dolls in the photo too. My Sweet Peas.

A couple of funny comments from the kids today:

Evelyn: "Would you rather fall on a dead bird or have everyone make fun of your middle name if your middle name was Punk?"

Evelyn: "Would you rather wear a tutu or be naked in front of everybody?"

Kenneth: (In response to my recommendation that if a lady is present, he offer her the item of interest first--in this case, we were dealing with 2 Sonic Sprites being handed into the backseat.)

"I tried to give it to the lady, but the lady was pinching my arm."

I will be heading out to Taiwan on Saturday evening for a brief trip, so new posts will be delayed till next weekend.

GT Projects

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!!
Another set of photos I forgot to post in a timely manner...Kenneth and Evelyn both participate in the GT program at school. In the Spring, the kids choose a topic on which they work independently, only at school. As parents, we pretty much just provide the materials and show up to project night. Evelyn chose the topic of volcanoes. She researched the types of animals that live near volcanoes, and incorporated that into her model and Power Point presentation. Kenneth chose Thomas Edison because he was interested in how he invented the phonograph. He found a website that showed him how to make his own phonograph using a pencil, a record, a piece of paper rolled into a cone, some tape, and a needle--it really worked; that is, the phonograph generated variants of noise, but to make the record sound, the user would have to apply a consistent spin speed.

It's Time for the Instrument Party

I have been negligent in posting photos lately. On the weekend prior to Memorial Day, we took a day trip down to New Braunfels to see Natural Bridge Caverns and the adjacent Safari. I had been to Natural Bridge Caverns when I was about 7 or 8 and (being a cave, after all) it hasn't changed much. I remembered a lot of the high points of the tours. Kenneth and Evelyn liked the "fried eggs" (cave rock formation that looks like fried eggs) and the gift shop. :) For some reason I don't have any pictures of the safari--it is one of those places where you drive your car slowly through the safari park and throw pre-purchased food pellets towards animals like zebras, deer, and my personal favorite (sarcasm intended), the emus. Emus are crazy-aggressive when it comes to the food pellets and they have no issues with putting their dinosaur-like head into your car to grab at the bag of food.

The end-of-school-year awards assembly was on June 2nd. In addition to the regular academic awards, Evelyn received the "Most Responsible" award and Kenneth received the "Most Athletic" award for their respective classes. Kenneth's soccer team had their end-of-season party and since Ken is a kick-butt defensive player, his coach gave him the award "Thou Shalt Not Score!" (against Kenneth's defense).

Evelyn and Kenneth participated in an art camp this week through the Austin Museum of Art. All of the teachers were college-degreed working artists and the AMOA site was on beautiful grounds, some of which were buildings from 1913. The grounds were meant to replicate a place in Italy, which I guess was the home country of the original owner. At any rate, they thoroughly enjoyed themselves this week. Evelyn's class was called "Sea World" ("Paint, draw, and sculpt with inspiration from our watery friends of the deep. Use vivid colors, wild shapes, and amazing textures to recreate the world under the sea. Develop skills in basic art elements, such as line, shape, texture, and color. "). Kenneth took a class called Beyond Basic Drawing ("Take your drawing to the next level! Venture into real and imaginary worlds with the stroke of a marker, a piece of charcoal, and pastels while learning more advanced design and drawing skills. Expand your use of different artistic styles as you draw self-portraits, nature, and still life environments. "). Nana helped out a lot by dropping them off & picking them up every day, except for today when I got them. This picture says it all for Friday: a sweet (and increasingly rare) moment with two exhausted kids sleeping in the car.

Elizabeth, Josh, and the kids visited this Thursday-Friday and as I was getting ready for work this morning, I heard Caleb tell Elizabeth "It's time for the instrument party, Mommy! Where's your instrument?!?" I'm going to have to save these simple statements from the kids because they're so applicable to other situations. Next time I'm at work and some yahoo is causing churn, I'm going to bust out Caleb's phrase.

Out of school...

The kids are out of school and the summer has kicked in...promise to post pictures soon. I'm heading to Houston this Fri-Sat to meet up with former colleagues and some friends. My Mom plans to take the kids down to College Station on Thursday and Friday. She's watching Elizabeth's kids so that Elizabeth and Josh can get away for their anniversary. We'll all circle back together on Sunday to celebrate Father's Day.

4th Grade Field Trip

Kenneth's 4th grade class went to a Rock Quarry last week for a field trip and it was captured by the local newspaper:
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/education/index.html

Kenneth was 'featured' in a couple of spots on the video.

Raise Your Hand If You Want to Quit the Conversation

Kenneth's Honor Choir celebrated the end of the school year with a performance of all the songs they've worked on throughout the year. Nana drove over to see the performance too. Kenneth looked like he wanted to break out and start dancing at any moment. He would add in little gestures like making a telephone sign with his hand at his ear when the word "communicate" was in the song. Granted, the purpose of the choir is uniformity, but I see more stage-acting or debate in his future.

Evelyn was telling us a story about a conversation between several girls in her class that was heading in a direction she didn't like. She ended her participation in the conversation by saying "Raise your hand if you want to quit the conversation." I think I'll adopt her phrase and use it at work when I have to deal with some "special" personalities.