Steven! Italy!

Steven has uploaded photos to Steven and Karley's Picasa web albums! He's got photos of his super quick and unexpected layover in D.C. and of where he and Karley will be living (Karley will be joining him in Italy when she graduates next year).

Here's a DC pic and link to the DC album:

And here's the front of their house in Italy. And a link to more photos of it.

As you can see there is tons of extra room to accommodate visitors! Karley says they are in need of extra beds and bedroom furniture to furnish all of the extra rooms. So if you have a mattress you want to get rid of or get bored one day and find listings for free bedroom furnishings on Craigslist, get it. We'll see if we can find a way to get the bedroom furnishings down to Karley before they need to pack up their household goods for shipment to Italy.

We miss you Steven!

Flight Museum

Copy of the Hotrod (Lunar Rover) we left on the moon. It's around the size of a VW bug. The wheels look like squirrel cages made from hardware cloth wrapped around to form the tires.

This is a Concorde, not a copy. We got to tour the inside of this. It flew for over 30 years before going out of service.

Air Force One here, was the first jet Presidential airplane. Eisenhower was the first president to use this one and Nixon was the last president to use before it was replaced with a much newer jet.

Here we see a SR-71, otherwise known as the Blackbird. The skin is all titanium so it would not melt due to the high speed air friction. I flies faster than 3 times the speed of sound. I never knew it could launch a Drone from the top. This is the first time I ever saw the combination.

Pike Street & Space Needle

As promised, we visited the infamous gum wall this morning. Here's Grandpa contributing. Aunt Nancy was disgusted by the whole thing.

We happened upon this gorgeous Disney flowers. I call them that because I don't know what they are truly called (anyone know?) and they look like the kind of flowers that only exist in Disney movies.

Here they are under the Pike Place Market sign...you can't see it because I'm not fantastic at photo composition. To see both them and the sign, you wouldn't really be able to see them. They'd be itty bitty at the bottom of the photo.

After Pike Place Market they went to Seattle Center and actually went up in the Space Needle and Grandpa got some amazing shots of Seattle and Puget Sound.

Tomorrow they're heading to Renton...we'll see what they find there.

Ballard Locks

Grandpa Bob and Aunt Nancy are visiting Ranee in Seattle this week. Today they visited Ballard Locks. Above is a railroad drawbridge that is up to allow boats to pass.

Aunt Nancy is walking by the Salmon Fish Ladder that allows the fish to aclimate from the salt water of Puget Sound to the fresh water of Lake Washington.

The above tree was thought to be extinct with the dinosaurs. Scholars found an existing tree in China in 1941 and shipped the seeds to a university in the States. The University provided the seeds for this tree. The tree looks like a bunch of trunks growing together but it is actually one tree. Similar to trees Grandpa has seen in the bayous of Louisiana.

At the entrance to the botanical gardens we thought these were thistles but they are actually very beautiful flowers.

For dinner tonight we went to a Lebanese restaurant in Bellevue called Mediterranean Kitchen and had delicious food. Ranee had Shishtawook, which is chicken with a garlic sauce served over some lemon rice with a side of yummy hummus. Dad and Aunt Nancy had some prawn dish that contained tiger prawns (so big it took you 3 bites to get to the tail), artichokes, carrots and HUGE okra which Aunt Nancy diligently fished out of her dish and gave to Grandpa, cause he likes gross food like that. Aunt Nancy says it was a wonderful flavor explosion of taste. The portions were so huge we all came home with leftovers for 2 days. Hooray!

Tomorrow we're off to Pike Place Market in the morning...watch this space for fotos of Grandpa and Aunt Nancy adding to the Gum Wall!

hair dye, ACT testing and a Ray of Sunshine!

Last night Tausha and I "henna"ed her hair, and yep....it's Orange...

Today, I dyed mine....and it's almost black....it was supposed to be dark mahogany brown...I guess that's the same thing as almost black.

Tausha took the ACT today and she got to test in her very own room because she had an accommodation for Diabetes (being able to eat/drink during testing). After picking up Tausha, I asked her how it all went. She said that Math and English was a breeze, but she's pretty sure she completely failed the Science portion (she said she guessed on every Science question).

While Tausha was taking the ACT, Ron and I took a 3 mile walk, Ron with his Ipod, me with my G1. I have Imeem (like Pandora) on my phone and so, I put in Michael Buble and listened to some Jazz for a while. It turned out all the Jazz was a bit too slow for a fast paced 3 mile walk. So I switched to Bananarama. Yeah, that's what I needed. Soon thereafter came a song I officially haven't heard since the 80's. I think I may even have the cassette tape that this song is from. It's "Ray of Sunshine" by Wham

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5w0Oh33rD0

Move it move it, baby
Can't you see I'm ready to dance?
And I can't stop this rhythm in my heart.
Move it move it baby,
Can't you see I'm ready to dance?
Without this beat my life would fall apart.

Shuffle on your feet till the floor is hot,
Gonna make a lot of money,
Gonna break your heart.
Watch out boy, (watch out boy)
Shuffle on your feet till the floor is hot,
Gonna make a lot of money,
Gonna break your heart.

But I'm the only one with a key.
And that's me.

Sometimes,
You wake up in the morning with the bass line,
A Ray of Sunshine,
Sometimes,
You know today you're gonna have a good time,
And you're ready to go.

What a way to end an nice walk. I was ready to dance! I know, I know....I'm cheesy, but I am an 80's girl, you know. :-)

Word of the Day...

While in DC Debbie discovered the Sneaky series of books that she subsequently ordered for the boys. They've done several activities listed in it and this morning they decided to make break-a-way glass with sugar and water.

While prepping for this they had the following conversation with their Mom.

Instructions: Remove from burner before sugar turns brown.

Collin: What's brown sugar?

Debbie: It's sugar with molasses in it.

Hunter: What's molasses?

Collin: It's a thick gooey substance that tastes kind of bitter.

Hunter: Oh....so it's viscous. I like viscous things, they're my favorite.

Collin and Hunter currently in grade school and already prepping for a 2400 SAT.

Toddy's all growed up

2 weeks ago Todd graduated from Parma High School in a nice and quick ceremony at the Parma High track.  It was super hot outside and those of us sitting on the cement bleachers were very grateful the ceremony was so quick because our bums were burning from the heat of the cement.  

A week before his actual graduation we had a combo goodbye Steven/congratulations Todd party at Debbie's where Todd was presented with a mountain of gifts to open.  He received lots of his favorite food...cereal...and concealed in a cereal box was a laptop.  

After graduation we all met up at the Elementary School for a taco salad lunch and celebration.  Debbie and Todd had put together a nice display of Todd's first 18 years.  

It's been a fun first stage of your life, Todd.  You were an adorable little boy that's grown into a fine young man.  The next stage of your life will be fraught with bills and decisions and fun.  Love ya!