Posted by fabricpile
Tue, 14 Aug 2007 14:38:00 GMT
Well, actually this is Kira’s second first day of school. She attended Kindergarten at a private school in Detroit, but that’s it.
It is Mark’s first first day of school—ever!
After 10 years of home schooling these monkeys, they are officially public high school students. Kira is a sophomore and Mark a freshman. We’re excited about the opportunities that the schools here have to offer. It’s going to be a bit of an adjustment for them to be on a strict schedule, and they’re taking some tough classes, but we’re confident that we’ll all do fine with our new routine.
Posted in family, kiwibug, mark | 6 comments
Posted by fabricpile
Sat, 04 Aug 2007 23:34:00 GMT
Last weekend, The West Lafayette Public Library held its first annual Family Fun Day event. The MadCap Puppets of Cincinnati gave a fun, interactive performance.
We rode for the first time on the Boilermaker Special which took us all over the Purdue Campus. There is no reason to rent a limo in West Lafayette. The Boilermaker Special is definitely the way to go!
Today was Otterbein Library’s “Fun Day”—part of the Otterbein Town Festival. Last year’s was a disappointment to me, so my library board and I decided to make sure there were plenty of fun kids’ activities this year.
We rented a moonwalk castle which was enormously popular.
The Army Reserve brought their climbing wall and spent the entire day supervising as the kids in town climbed, got back in line, and climbed some more.
Henry did his best, but the wall was designed for adults, so his young legs found it pretty difficult. He was proud of how far he did make it, though!
Emma got better and stronger each time she climbed. At one point, one of the soldiers climbed along beside her to give her some tips. I didn’t see them do that with any other kid. I think they saw how serious and determined she was, and they really wanted her to succeed.
She never quite made it to the top to ring the bell, but she got close!
We also sponsored the Columbian Park Zoo’s outreach program, which brought all sorts of creatures into the library. We also had water balloon games, a ring toss, and pick-a-duck.
I had residents who had never set foot in the library shocked at the materials which are available to them. We got a few new library cards and hopefully some new library users.
Emma came home and immediately crashed. We couldn’t even wake her to eat dinner. That’s certainly the mark of a great day spent at the library.
Posted in library, fabricpile, family | 5 comments
Posted by fabricpile
Wed, 18 Jul 2007 02:14:00 GMT
This evening, I participated in a marathon read-aloud of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at Barnes & Noble. All of the chapters are long in that book! The kids said I did a great job. I love reading those books aloud.
Kira, Mark, Emma and Henry have agreed that I should continue our tradition and read the last book aloud to them. I am going to allow Kira and Mark to read it on their own. I can no longer protect them from the spoilers that will no doubt be all around us once again. I know they’ll keep quiet about it and let the rest of us take our time and savor the experience.
On the way home from the book store, my phone rang. A well-known Detroit number came up on caller ID. When I said, “Hello?” I couldn’t quite make out the jumble of noise. Then I realized that I was listening to Sting singing Every Little Thing She Does is Magic.
The Police concert at The Palace! Of course the call quality was terrible, but the thought was awesome. Thanks, Bala! You made my night even more magic!
Posted in fabricpile, family | 1 comment
Posted by fabricpile
Sat, 30 Jun 2007 02:11:00 GMT
Another great Goodwill find for Mark:
I’m not sure why this cracks me up so much. The mountains in the background, maybe?
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Posted by fabricpile
Wed, 27 Jun 2007 01:07:00 GMT
The week Joe and I met at IU, everyone was buzzing about The Police’s Synchronicity album, which was released while we were there.
I was suddenly very aware of Sting and my interest in his music (yes, his music—but I did have his READ poster on my dorm room wall) has persisted. Even so, I didn’t buy any of his CD’s until after college. And I didn’t own Synchronicity until this past week. (24 years after its release?! Gaack!) Joe presented it to me from the used CD store that he and the kids have begun to troll on a regular basis.
Joe and I have recently been sharing some of the music we enjoyed as teen-agers with our own kids. Ask Henry what his favorite Rolling Stones song is and he will ask you to clarify, ” . . . early or late Stones?”
I paid more attention to music after the summer of 1983 thanks to other friends whose musical ears were a bit more sophisticated than mine had been. Even so, my best high school friend thinks it’s hysterical that we would make the kids listen to all this stuff. (This from a woman whose husband can’t help but sing Bruce Springsteen’s Glory Days to us whenever we get together.) It’s not like we’re forcing them to listen to Wang Chung or Johnny Hates Jazz. Thank goodness our tastes are a lot less dated.
Our iPods are all bursting at the seams
, and it’s been fun to see what the kids like and dislike. Mark has found an affinity for Yes (it can happen to everyone eventually—heh). Kira surprised us (and herself, I think) by really getting into Rush.
And Henry reports that his favorite Rolling Stones song (early or late) is Beast of Burden.
It’s pretty cool that all those old rockers have a new generation of fans.
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Posted by fabricpile
Wed, 20 Jun 2007 02:21:00 GMT
Sorry for the blog-quietude! We were on a wonderful vacation to the Grand Canyon, Arizona desert and Las Vegas. It’s been a long time since we went on such an adventure and it was great.
The main reason for our trip was an invitation we received over a year ago. Joe’s childhood friend, JoeB, and his new bride planned a Native American ceremony at Havasu Falls in the Grand Canyon. It is a beautiful place—like Eden in the desert.
And the wedding itself was the most beautiful ever. Officiated by Havasupai elder, Diana, and accompanied by Taos musician, Robert Mirabal, the waterfall provided an incredible backdrop.
The village of Supai was gorgeous, nestled into the red rocks of the Canyon.
We spent a few days exploring the desert, particularly delighted by the town of
Jerome, Arizona, which we happened upon purely by accident. Emma found herself the perfect Stetson in a great little second-hand shop in Jerome.
Poor Joe spent a lot of his time skipping back and forth from us to San Diego where he has been doing some consulting work. We dumped him at the airport in Phoenix, spent a couple of days with our friends at The Pointe, South Mountain (where we took no pictures, sorry!) and then headed north to Las Vegas.
I can’t believe we drove right past Snoopy Rock as we drove through Wikieup. We’ll just have to go back someday!
We all got our geek fix by staying at the Hilton in Las Vegas—home of the Star Trek Experience.
And, no, we don’t gamble. Vegas is fun, but you wouldn’t know it by watching the glassy-eyed people in the casinos. They sure don’t seem like they’re having a good time! We love Penn Gillette’s observation that people who are bad at math fly into Vegas, leave their money and then fly home. Luckily for the Las Vegas economy, ” . . . bad math is a renewable resource.”
There is plenty of great people-watching, though. And great thrift shopping—who knew?!
We have more pictures here.
Posted in family | 1 comment
Posted by fabricpile
Tue, 13 Mar 2007 01:49:00 GMT
Kira and Mark entertained Emma and Henry this afternoon by editing some ‘normal’ sign photos.
Posted in family | 1 comment
Posted by fabricpile
Tue, 13 Feb 2007 04:52:00 GMT
We’re all anxiously awaiting the promised blizzard conditions headed our way. We’ve stocked up on food & water, and hauled enough firewood into the garage to keep us warm if we lose power like we did last time. The kids even have new sleds ready to use on the neighbor’s hill. We are hoping that all our preparations don’t jinx the promised 12-16 inches of white stuff.
Then again, I neglected to take the snow blower in for a tune-up. That ought to guarantee at least six foot snow drifts.
And Terre Haute should have some great ski conditions!
Update from the National Weather Service:
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
1042 AM EST TUE FEB 13 2007
...WARREN COUNTY HAS CLOSED ALL ROADS TO TRAVEL. STRANDED MOTORISTS AND ABANDONED VEHICLES ARE IMPEDING EMERGENCY
VEHICLES AND SNOW PLOWS.
Looks like we’re officially snowed in. At least we still have power and an internet connection.
Posted in family | 5 comments
Posted by fabricpile
Sat, 06 Jan 2007 02:49:00 GMT
Nothing brightens up a dull, rainy day like bright, sunny yellow.
Lemons were on sale last week, and Mark and I have been dreaming for some time of making Alton Brown’s lemon curd recipe. (“If you only know how to make one dessert food . . . .”)
I got a great zester for Christmas. I can finally zest a lemon with ease. The process smelled wonderful and got us all excited for the finished product.
The lemon curd didn’t turn out perfectly, but I’m pretty sure I know what I did wrong and I’ll fix it next time. Everybody agreed it was shiny. And it was shiny, too.
The lemon curd-ish sauce tasted wonderful paired with the berry scones I made using one of my other culinary Christmas gifts—a cast iron scone pan.
Posted in mark, fabricpile, family | 3 comments
Posted by fabricpile
Mon, 25 Dec 2006 22:01:00 GMT
We hope you’re all having a great day!
Posted in family | 3 comments
