Falling into fall

Pumpkins, mums, and mittens - must be October.  Life is well in Georgetown - the first quarter of school is over!

Michael's school recently held their Fall Festival, during which time Michael dominated the dunking booth.  Several of his soaking wet teachers threatened to change his grade if he kept dunking them.  Yet even when they made him step back to twice the normal distance from the line of throwing, he couldn't be stopped.

Elizabeth's school held their first chorus concert - they took on a daring genre for their performance … jazz!  I was impressed with their ability to swing and be-bop!

 Zoe and Niki agreed to pose for a photo session this afternoon after we (read: Steven) planted mums and Michael drew on our pumpkins.

As for me: I got to see LBJ this past Thursday on my Fall Break.  She's as supportive and empathic as ever.  Much to emulate!  AND she brought me Obama cookies from Buskens - how can one not be forever indebted?

As for Steven: After more than 20 years of my insisting we didn't need either a coffee table or a recliner, Steven convinced me we did and finally they have arrived.  We love everything about this room now!  If you can't find Steven, check the recliner.  As you can see, others hang out with him there, too.

We are counting down the days until Obama wins his second term.  Meanwhile, we are doing our part to help get a local Democrat elected.  We're being extra friendly to all neighbors, to encourage them to vote for our favorite candidate.  Hope you are, too!

Back in the swing of things

Now that summer has officially ended (I know you think there are a few more days before the fall solstice, but all seasons in our family are based on school sessions, so summer actually ended in early August), Michael's soccer has begun and Elizabeth's social calendar is eternally full.

The good news about Michael's soccer is that he is by far the best player on his team.  He has scored in every game this season (except one), and he has made every single one of his team's goals (except three).  He averages 59 of 60 minutes of playing time each game, and he plays both offense and defense positions, even goalie sometimes.  The not so good news is that his team has only won one game (don't ask how many they've played).  I'm trying to figure out whether it's best to be the notable superstar on a losing team or to be the worst player on a winning team.  Steven insists athletes just want to win, regardless of their level of contribution to the team.  Clearly I am trying to convince Michael otherwise.

The good news about Elizabeth's life is that the advent of school brought back daily contact with all of her hundreds of friends.  Which brings lots of texts and phone calls and ball games and plans.  We are contemplating taking out a home equity loan to cover the costs of all the gifts for all of the birthday parties she attends (kidding, just kidding).  I swear, that girl has so many freaking friends.  But I can see why.  She is lovely and funny and generous and smart. She also knows how to do cool things with her phone camera lighting that makes her photo look like that image on the left instead of a regular photo.

As for me and Steven, we are more than happy hanging out with the puppies and the children (not necessarily in that order, of course).  Rosemary's birthday was at the end of last month, so she and Angie's family came over to celebrate.  All is well. 

Cave Run Marina 2012

As we have done the past several years, we had our last hurrah before the new school year begins by renting a double-decker pontoon at Cave Run Lake.  Elizabeth invited 3 friends and Michael had 2 friends, not sure how that inequity happened.  It was a beautiful day with very few people on the water. 

The photos speak for themselves in terms of what the children did all day.  Mom joined us as well and once she e-mails a photo that includes her taken with her camera, it will be added to this post.  Anyone want to make a bet in terms of how long technologically-savvy Carola might take to e-mail it?

E&M's school begins Tuesday.  Sighs all around.

Holiday World 2012

The yearly trek to Holiday World in Indiana continues.  The almost 100 degree weather must have kept multitudes of visitors away from our favorite amusement and water park last week, because it was so not crowded when we were there.  Yay!  E and M's favorite ride from past years had disappeared, but they quickly found another favorite: The Raven roller coaster.  Although it took Michael some initial coaxing, he quickly became a big fan and with the short lines, E&M could finish the ride and get right back on it.

On our way to the hotel after we left the park, we loaded up on junk food (cringe).  The kids swam in the pool, and the evening ended with us gorging ourselves on chips and donuts and other foods best left forgotten while watching 'Say Yes to the Dress.'  Zoe and Niki had a splendid time with Aunt Angie and her family during the 2 days we were gone, and as we do each year, we wonder which relative's family will go with us next year, to double the fun.  Yes, folks, that was as not-so-sublte hint.  :)

Cave Run

You Californians may have the fancy Pacific Ocean and you Germans may have the Rhine, but we Kentuckians have Cave Run!  Stephen, Michael, and I went to Cave Run this weekend for the afternoon.  I don't think I have been to the "beach" part since 2003.  See precious picture from my last visit!

I have many memories of the lake, including Dad taking us on Sunday afternoons and playing the shark game with us (I've wondered from where my shark phobia stemmed) and skipping RSHS classes during both my both junior and senior years (let's be honest - my sophomore year also).

Stephen and Michael made a moat thing - it looked much cooler before all the water evaporated by the end of our visit.  They played frisbee as well as the throw-the-half-full-water-bottle-at-one-another-and-catch-it game.  They swam and splashed.  No, I do not know the in-love couple in the background.  I read and stayed on purse patrol.  When I was a young child, I thought the trek up the hill at the end of the day was arduous work, painfully tiring, because it was soooo far, but honestly, it's not far at all.  Everything's relative, I guess.

We're still missing EJM, but we look forward to hearing of all her (and Grandma's) adventures in a week.

Michael (and Elizabeth's) birthday, part 02

Elizabeth had the best time ever in California and is ready to move there, with or without us.  We were so happy to have her back we celebrated her return with another birthday party for the kids.  They each invited a friend to play laser tag in Lexington, eat at Applebee's, and spend the night.  I'll bet the mortgage you can guess which friend Michael chose (and which color shirt the friend wore); E chose Lindsay, a former soccer team friend that she's kept in touch with for years.  Because E&M told me they are done, done, done posing for pictures, I had to surreptitiously take these, although the flash during the cake photo gave me away.

Last night we went to the Scott County Fair for the first time ever - next month's mortgage regarding whom M took; E met up with Lindsay and many of her middle school friends.  You can see I was once again the stealth photographer.  The kids rode the rides while Steven and I watched many fair goers lose their money at the carnival game booths.

Dads

For Father's Day, Steven paid tribute to his dad by making a striking fashion statement by pairing black shoes with white socks and shorts.  I have seen that look on Terry the past 20 years, but don't worry, I made Steven change shoes before we left the house.  We went to Morehead to have lunch with Terry and his wife Linda.  Yep, Morehead is moving up in the world - they now have a Cracker Barrel, rocking chairs and all.  After the meal, Michael and I went to Mom's (but first stopped at Morehead's new frozen yogurt store - do not tell anyone about that stop) while Elizabeth and Steven went with Angie to see Terry and Linda's new home.  They have a dog, so Michael and I couldn't go.  We hung out with Mom for a while, took the fauna and flora tour of course.  She gave us a real treat bag for the ride home, full of newspaper articles and magazine clippings of information she just knew we would love to have.  Try not to be jealous, I'm sure she's saving some gems for each of you, too. 


During the summer we are so sad when Steven goes to work, so we decided to take a tour.  Can you tell where we are?  If you squint, can you read the letters in the background?  Do you know which tour it was?  Most of you have taken the same tour.  Lots of  noticeable waving and smiling from Steven while we were on the tour, so much so that the tour guide even announced to our group, "My, that's a friendly fellow," not realizing he was more than just a happy employee.  We actually saw multiple people we knew while on the tour, and at the end, the tour guide said to E&M, "You are like celebrities!"  The tour was excellent, as always, even though half the information made no sense to me, and I am still frightened by those robots.

Today is June 24th, Dad's birthday.  We decided to celebrate his life and love for most things sweet by going to Bruster's ice cream shop tonight.  Zoe and Niki have heard plenty of stories about the man, so they wanted to celebrate his life, too.  I love it that I still run across Dad's script in many of my lecture folders throughout the academic year as he would sometimes find psychological information or attend lectures he thought would interest me and would send me extensive notes later.  I cherish all of those handwritten notes.  Sometimes it seems like he's been gone for such a short amount of time, while at other times, I am astounded at how many life events have happened for which he hasn't been here.  He is missed so very much.