June 2007 Archives

We’ve been spending weekends up on Lake Superior and loving it. Ashley and Nicole have been able to join us and that has been an added bonus as we thought they’d be too busy with friends this summer. In the second picture, you’ll see Ashley standing next to a big white thing….that’s frozen snow/ice in the crevasse of the rocks. This picture was taken June 16th! The water temps that weekend were in the high 50’s. Ashley and Dan did dunk in for a quick cool down as the air temp was pretty warm. The other pictures are from this past weekend and it was really warm and water temps were in the low 60’s. I didn’t venture into the water, but the rest of the crazy people did. They keep telling me how refreshing it is and I’m still not believing them. We found a new area of one of the islands that we like to go to to investigate. There are little waterfalls (trickles of water in some places) and cool rock formations, islands and “sea caves”. All in all, amazing beauty. Every time we go there we see something new. It’s so peaceful there. We’re headin’ up there again over the week of the 4th. The girls are coming and bringing friends so it’s sure to be a fun time.

Ashley inside a sea cave

Ashley next to snow and ice

Best to wait and let about half of it load. Just watch the little gray status bar at the bottom of the frame.

The kids and I returned to one of our favorite camping spots after two years. We spent three lovely days relaxing and enjoying the great Minnesota outdoors. We were rained on the first night but not a drop entered our tent! We enjoyed perfect weather the rest of the trip. Except for three other families, we had the campground to ourselves . Every evening around 80 we were visited by a persistent raccoon who was not in the least afraid of us. The ticks were abundant, the swimmers itch active, but most importantly for Haytham and Hamzah the fish were biting. We returned to the cities Wed. for Asiyah's soccer game. What a surprise to run into PJ and his family at the game. Come to find out Asiyah's team was playing Maddie's team. Both Maddie and Asiyah showed off their athletic talents but alas Maddie's team beat us 0-3. It was wonderful to watch these strong young girls excel in sports.

Lake Carlos State Park

Haytham couldn't wait to get in the water

Here's Samuel in his weekly ritual with Joey. He LOVES to help Joey cut the grass. Last year when he was only 15 months old I used to have to sit outside while Joey would cut the grass so Samuel could watch. He was fascinated with the whole process. Joey would hold him like a football while Samuel held onto the handle bar of the lawnmower and they would make a few laps around the yard. This year he started off helping Joey push the mower by holding onto the lower bar. Joey thought he was getting too beat up when he would make turns because his head would bounce around inside the bars, so he decided to wrap the bars with thick insulation so it wouldn't hurt. I bought him that little bubble mower a few weeks ago and now Samuel prefers to push his mower along right behind Joey. It's the cutest thing because he stays so close and Joey often has to tell him, "Back it up" when he hits a dead end and has to move back. I'm going to try to record it next week and post it on YouTube. That's what Sue wants me to do but we'll see if I can accomplish that. I'll need it as evidence for when Samuel's 15 years old and says "I really hate cutting grass!"

Samuel and Joey cutting the grass

Samuel cutting the grass

New Orleans East - June 19, 2007

Stopped for about 20 minutes at Phil's Grill along the way before I got on the bridge to allow it to let up. I planned to get out and eat but the wind and rain never eased up. Street flooding was also becoming a problem so I didn't think it wise to stay around. Street flooding always concerns me because it is so easy to get trapped. Even if you can make it through the high water in your vehicle, the person or persons in front of you may not be able to and you’re stuck. Fortunately, that didn't happen although there were some anxious moments as I drove through 18-24 inches of water behind some kind of import sedan. There was some stop and go once I got on the bridge but the weather heading north was only bad as opposed to the horrendous weather I had just come through. It was a long drive home.

If you haven't watched The Sopranos this week but intend to, go away now and come back after you've seen it. Well, The Sopranos is over unless there is a movie in the works. I kinda doubt that. If there really were two other endings shot, I think I would have preferred one of them ... EITHER ONE. First off, they got some very unlikely help from Phil's crew and the FBI. I found that a little pleasing and displeasing at the same time. I liked that they got him but I don't think it would have been that easy. Throughout the show, Tony and Paulie showed up at the usual places where Phil's people would have been looking for them. Nothing happened but the tension was mounting. Finally, creator/producer/director/writer David Chase tantalized us with tension in a diner building up to a big ending in the final scenes and then pulled the rug out from under us. I feel cheated. There are some who are saying this was an appropriate way to end, that this is Tony Soprano's life and always has been. He has so many enemies that every opening door is a threat. Maybe so but we deserved a conclusion. We deserved answers, not questions. I'm disappointed.

Yesterday was the last day of school for Ashley and Nicole. They had a bonfire with a bunch of friends here. They stayed by the fire 'til midnight and had an awesome time celebrating the end of school. Tonight Ashley will graduate from Buffalo High School. She is ready to move on. As with all high school graduations, it will be bittersweet. She has had a fabulous last year of high school. Her class is a very unique one; one with some really cool/neat young people with a lot of promise. She often says she wouldn't be surprised if one of them is the president someday. I know she'll miss a lot of them (so will I) but with technology I'm sure they'll keep in touch better than generations before them. After the graduation ceremony they have an all night party at the high school where the kids play games, "gamble", and other various activities. The high light at the end of the night is a hypnotist comes to entertain the students, which (I guess) is always funny. So, it will be a whirlwind of a weekend. I just have to remember to savor this special time.

Ashley

We just picked up the newest addition to the Clayton family today in Alabama. She is a 10 week old Great Dane puppy and we have named her Flick (named after one of our favorite characters from a book we read called Jackdaws by Ken Follett) It was a two hour trip to the Alabama state line, which was half way for us and the breeders. We were hoping to get a female & had a choice between three black puppies with white on their chests and one fawn (tan). On the ride home she slept the entire way & did not make a sound. Before making it home, we stopped by Nonnie & Grandpa's place in Decatur & they loved her. We also had to swing by Wal-Mart to get some goodies...$65 worth!

When we got home we showed her off to the neighbors, David came over to check her out, and Kellie tried taking her for a walk on the leash...I had to go to a store meeting at Circuit City from 8-100 (it's my summer job & it has become more demanding than expected). Anyway, here are some pictures. Enjoy.

Flick

Flick

Kelly and Flick

I just got back from Ft. Walton Beach. Angela and Joey rented a two bedroom condo, with an alcove that had a tv and bunk beds. Their vacation started the Sunday before Memorial Day. Hunters joined them for a few days. Christina, Jacob and Jackson, plus me, Julia and Aaron, and Aaron's friend, Ischelle, went on Thursday.

Though it was red flag days both days we were there, it didn't prevent us from enjoying the beach, and the pools and lazy river of the resort. We loaded our coolers and packed snacks. Who knew I could be so content to laze around a pool all day long? I am a little less white now. Thank goodness Jacob persisted and finally got me to swim in the pool. He is a good playmate for a girl of any age. He and Julia also got along famously.

That Julia will make a good nanny one day. She loved entertaining Samuel (or vice versa), and loveloveloved feeding Luke. He is such a good baby.

We did the communal meals and packed plenty of snack foods, with something for everyone. Our last night there (last night), all but Aaron and Ischelle went to Baytown which is an enclosed touristy shopping and recreational place. Of course, as we were leaving, the flag for swimming in the surf was yellow. Ishcelle couldn't get out in the sun because of being photosensitive, so she and Aaron did some night swimming. She had a burning rash on her hands and arms and had to take benadryl two nights in a row.

It was a great time. Thanks, Joey and Angela, for enabling us to get some r&r in the sun.

Samuel and Luke

Angela and Joey

Angela and Christina

Samuel's cool shades

Aaron and Ischelle

The Gang

We just got back from Ft. Walton, FL. Joey and I were there for a week at the Destin West resort. We had his family with us for the beginning of the week and my sister and Janine and children came on Thursday. We had a wonderful time at the resort. There was a great pool on the beach side and this resort also had a lazy river and pool on the bay side. We bounced from pool to pool and beach every day. The weather was sunny most days but cool. Too cool for me to get in the water, which was fine because we had red flags every day that we were there. The water was pretty rough. Joey got chased out of the water by the lifeguard yesterday. The guy told him that he wasn't really worried about him, but when kids see adults swimming they think they can too and they didn't want any kids in the water. Samuel absolutely loves the sand. He didn't care if he had it all over him. He would roll around in it! Luke did well too. He mostly stayed under the tent and played on the blanket. It was a great trip and we're sorry it's over. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Luke & Samuel - June 2007

The Hunters

Christina with Jacob & Jackson

Janine with Julia and Aaron

The Whole Gang

Scott and I are set to go to Hawaii to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary tomorrow. (It is June 6th.) Scott was greeted this morning with a lawn full of hearts and the yard sign. We both thought it was so much fun.

20th Anniversary - Click here for larger image and here for even larger image

20th Anniversary - Click here for larger image and here for largest

I was channel-surfing the other day when I came across a program on one of the high-definition channels about the making of Star Wars. It was not about the first three that I saw back in the 70s and early 80s but the newer ones that I never bothered to see. I never saw the first one, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, in the theater when it came out. I didn't want to see the other two in the theater because I hadn't seen the first one. Seeing them in chronological order has been elusive for me ever since. Now, I'm glad it was. After seeing a visually-magnificent couple of scenes on that making of Star Wars program, I decided to go looking for them. On Friday, June 1, one of the high-definition channels was broadcasting all three of them. I set the DVR to record them all. For reasons I mentioned yesterday, we had a good old-fashioned Saturday afternoon triple feature yesterday. Actually, we started Episode One Friday night.

To say they were visually rewarding is understatement of the highest order. They are spectacular and high-definition is the way to see them. They were shot digitally and this is their native format. I wish I had room on my DVR to save them indefinitely but, unfortunately, I don't. OK, enough of that. The story, particularly Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, is told in a matter-of-fact manner, which is the main knock on all three films. Aside: Do we still call them films when they're entirely digital? I guess there really is a difference between a movie and a film now. I digress. The dialog is served up cold in all three of these and it's pretty bad, which is OK because the action is pretty much non-stop. George Lucas should have stuck to the story and let someone else write the screenplays. That said, let's have a show of hands. Who watches these movies for the dialog?

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith is, by far, the best of the three. It takes us from the first two movies in this new series to, as Roger Ebert puts it, "where we came in" in 1977. Some have expressed sympathy towards Anakin Skywalker and his reasons for turning to the Dark Side of the Force. Make no mistake about this: By the last third of this film, he is the monster, Darth Vader. Seeing these three movies in succession was fun and seeing some of these well-known characters in a different time was a real treat. I'm glad I finally did it. Patsy enjoyed them, too. Do it one day if you ever get the chance. I recommend a couple of big bowls of popcorn.