Book Fair

K enjoying some lemonade at the book fair

K and I are having a laid back Labor Day weekend. We went to a book fair in Decatur yesterday. We got up early so we could see the Madeline parade. Lot of little girls dressed up like Madeline-so cute. Then there was a reading of a new Madeline book that was written by John Benelmas Marciano, the grandson of Ludwig Benelmas, the author of the Madeline books. The new book is Madeline and The Cats of Rome.
We had Anna over to swim yesterday afternoon and this afternoon Trevor and Laughlin are coming over to swim. And this evening our good friends Jane and Jim are coming over for dinner.

Mr. Boo!

Meet our cat! His name is Bert (after my father), but his name morphed into Bertie Boo and then Mr. Boo. He mostly goes by Mr. Boo these days. I had him for 4 years before I adopted K but he quickly became her cat. By day, he is a wild hunter-tearing around the neighborhood chasing chipmunks. When we hears the school bus he waits at the top of the driveway for K. By night, he is the most snuggly guy in the world. He is tolerant of most anything K does to him. He always sleeps right next to her-all stretched out. I hope there isn't anyone from PETA who reads this blog.

He doesn't mind exploring his feminine side!

I love his spotty tummy!

~Santa paws~
Notice the bite out of his ear

K thinks this shot of his tooth is so funny
How much longer do I have to have to wear this?
He really does look cute in this shirt from Poem-my favorite childrens store in Paris

California Trip!

Finally some photos from our California trip. It was so hard to choose-we had so much fun and there were so many great photos! K really misses Kaitlin and Kelly. And I really miss Terri! Can't wait to see them all in November.

Stacey and the guy who carried all of our stuff to the boat.

Keith and Gary

K and I jumping in the waves

Keith and the seals

Our fun night on the Duffy

Kelly does Beverly Hills

Terri and the girls

Reflections on the First Day of School

Today was K's first day of second grade. I will never get the mother of the year award-poor thing is still on west coast time. But she got up like a champ and had a great day at school. Last year on the night befefore the first day of school I went in to check on her about an hour after I tucked her in and she had gotten up, gotten dressed and made her bed. She was sound asleep on top of the covers with her shoes on and her bow in her hair. Do you think she was a little anxious? I think back two years ago to her first day of kindergarten in amazement-she had only been home for 3 months. She had learned a lot of English but there were still so many words that she did not understand. When she came home that first day, she got off the bus and put her hands on her hips and said "Driver seat belt, kids no seat belts." She made a gingerbread man at school that day and pulled it out of her backpack and said "Runs real fast, smells good." My little bug has come such a long way.

Our Last Night in Newport Beach

For our last night in Newport Beach I rented a Duffy and we cruised around Newport Harbor. Some old friends joined us-Carolyn who brought lots of drinks, Stacey (aka Martha Stewart west), Gary and Keith. Stacey brought all kinds of yummy, fancy looking food. Kelly drove the boat and did a great job! There were a lot of seals in the harbor-K got such a kick out of them. I just love it when she thinks something is so funny that she belly laughs. The weather was perfect and it was such a wonderful way to end our vacation. Unfortunately, I did not get many good pictures because of the light. I have tons of pictures from our trip to go through.

How would you like to have one of these guys living on the back of your boat?

Aliens for breakfast!

How many people would load their two young children into the car on Saturday morning to pick someone up at the airport to have a quick breakfast? We had a layover in Salt Lake City on our way from Aspen to CA and sweet Eileen (mother of Noah and Sonya-both from Karaganda the town K is from) picked us up at the airport and took us to breakfast. When she picked us up she asked if I wanted to go to a trendy, healthy place or Dennys. I wanted healthy but then the common sense part of my brain took over and we headed for Dennys. The kids had alien pancakes. A big pancake with some bacon for antennae. Yum. Total chaos. This was our first time to meet Sonya-what a cutie. K always refers to Noah as "that cute little boy." You can see why!

Fountain Fun!

We continue to be blessed with wonderful weather here in Aspen. Yesterday we took the gondola to the top of Aspen mountain for lunch and went to a concert in Snowmass yesterday evening. One of K's favorite things to do while we are here is play in a fountain that is in the center of town. She was filmed by the local tv station while she was playing yesterday.