Pod People

The latest addition to the RAV-4, for the Great Western Excursion 2010

Kalahari

Three days of fun in the Dells

Another Celebration

I got to celebrate my 50th yet again in PA, with our friends Marianne and Dennis. They had an amazingly beautiful,delicious cake and dinner for us. This Milestone Birthday business is great -- I may have to do it every year!

Parting Shot

This picture, which my mom had taken for a "Nana and me" frame that she has, is the place holder for our traditional "parting shot" (picture of G and my mom & dad right before we leave). My camera battery went dead that morning, so the photos were taken with my dad's camera, and we haven't gotten them yet.
(P.S. G found out this week that her braces are coming off a few months early -- August 25!)

7.11 Update: I'm adding this picture from Marianne because now everyone is posted!

Mother Robin

When G was little, my mom would sing her a song that went: Way up high in the cherry tree/If you look, you will see/Mother Robin and Babies Three/High up in the tree. During our visit to PA this time, it turned out that Mother Robin and Babies Three were in my mom & dad's nasturtium planter on the front porch, not in their cherry tree! My dad discovered the nest with four eggs when he went out to water one day. We stopped using the front door so that we wouldn't bother her and kept peeking out the window, waiting for hatchlings to appear. About two weeks later, she and her mate were feeding three little mouths (not sure what happened to the fourth). According to the bird book my mom has, robins fledge in about two weeks, so they should be leaving the nest within the next week. My dad has been watching to see if any of them have attempted to fly (so far, not that he's seen) and is giving us a daily update.

Obie Land

Class of 2018?


For the past 10 years, as we traversed Ohio, we passed the exit on the turnpike for Oberlin College. Since my friend Marian is a graduate of that fine institution, each time I've proclaimed that "some day, when we're going through here at the right time, we're going to stop." That day finally turned out to be June 12. Because of delays through Chicago due to the Blackhawks parade and the Cubs playing the Sox, we did not get as far as we'd hoped our first travel day. We stopped just a few miles down the road from Oberlin. The next morning, I managed to convince Dan & G that a small detour through "Obie Land" (as Marian calls it) was not going to set us back too far. It was a lovely campus and a nice little town, and most likely we will be visiting it again in the next few years. We've gotten our feet wet now and campus touring won't seem so daunting in the future (which of course pleases me no end!).

Movin' On Up

On June 11, G's intermediate school had a "promotion ceremony" for 8th graders. I attended mainly so that G could bug out as soon as it was over. I was surprised at the number of people who attended -- you'd have thought it was a graduation with the large family groups that were there! The "inspirational" speeches from the district superintendent and the principal were interesting (the former used that email about the guy who pulled the thorn out of the elephant's foot as her thesis; the latter likened the class to George Custer -- but in a good way ... ?). High school awaits in the fall for G!

Back Home

Volcano by G


The blog was dark for a month or so because we've been in Pennsylvania. We left right after G's "promotion ceremony" and intended to stay for a week. But while we were there, my dad fell (nothing broken, but a nasty hematoma), so G & I decided to stick around for a while. We got back on Monday and have been playing "catch up" this week.