I took this series of pictures from across the field at P.E. class. Timothy was the last person to be tagged in “Sharks and Minnows” because he is FAST. And yes, there were many more children there than just Daniel and Timothy!
Daniel is out of breath; Timothy is giggling. As a result, each collapsed in order to regain composure.
We’ve been entertaining guests. Since we are not very good at conversation or selling ourselves as interesting (I’m convinced it’s all in the selling… ), we compensate by eating interesting food when company comes. Richard smoked some ribs and chicken. We feasted on various things and ate a few pounds of Utah candy. It was nice to have Richard’s parents at our place.
We celebrated our 16th anniversary by having our portrait taken. It’s one of our best. I fell asleep as I was putting Mark to bed and didn’t find my anniversary gift on my bedside table until the day after, confirming that I am just as awesome a wife as this picture portrays.
Timothy did this stop motion animation film one day for history class because he didn’t want to color another map. I thought it was a good compromise. We rigged up the ship with two magnets, one stuck to the ship and one hidden behind the map. Timothy inched the ship along its course and we took a lot of photos. We never got to make a movie of Ferdinand Magellan, but Timothy knows the route and the story and that’s all that matters. Richard put the photos to music for us.
Paige and Richard attended a speech by the Candy Bomber, Gail Halvorsen. I think very highly of this man who still keeps speaking engagements around the world. He’s humble and kind. I was doing dishes in the church in November and he walked right in and started drying the silverware. He’s also quite funny. Yesterday he and his wife walked into the church building out of the wind. When I commented about the wind, he said, “Yeah, it sure messed up my hair!”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXrOG02NMB0
We’ve had some crummy days. Somehow we managed to come down with 3 varieties of illness. I have been tired. On Monday I took 3 naps to try to catch up on some sleep. We stayed focused, though. We had a reason to get well: we had Pima County Fair Tickets! We had to postpone our trip a few days, but we made it.
We enjoyed the exotic animals such as the monkeys, sharks, sea lions, and opera singing tropical birds. We watched the 4-H kids show off their pigs. We had to see the pigs. Timothy just finished reading Charlotte’s Web.
Daniel went on the scary rides with Richard. Paige went on the fun rides. Timothy was Mark’s guardian on rides. I pushed the stroller and bought cotton candy and popcorn.
Look this way, Mark! I need to get a picture of this.
That’s great, Mark. Oh, wait. I missed the elephant’s head. (I guess I’m still sleep deprived.)
We’re so glad this boy is smiling again.
I think he’s saying, “Aaargh!” like a pirate.
The miniature museum was an interesting cultural and historical field trip. The museum was full of houses from different eras and countries and one of our favorites was this eighteenth century French mansion.
These paintings are very small replicas, hand painted by the artist.
It made me wish I had a doll house again.
The displays and the tour were interesting. Here is a below-the-floor display with fifties era miniatures.
Here we are celebrating a friend’s birthday at McDonalds. It was a good time with friends.
I have offered to teach the Young Women at our church for years. I have offered to teach them basically anything, but I have never been called. Finally in January when the sign-up sheet went around church, I listed every fantabulous thing that I can do and then added a few things I don’t do well. I gave each option a fancy name. I am that desperate to be with the youth.
They asked me to teach something I am not so good at. But it was still very fun.
This weekend we spent one night in the ER and one night on the phone with Amazon Kindle support.
I have decided that Amazon should be in charge of our health care system.
After holding for 30 seconds, someone worked with me and my broken Kindle over the phone for over two hours. It was after midnight when the solution was found. All the time, the employee kept apologizing for the inconvenience I was experiencing with my electronic device. The Amazon employee called back this evening to make sure everything was still working. Can you believe it? The employee’s name was Carl and he cured my Kindle. Most Kindle owners can understand the bond between a person and their e-book. I feel so relieved and pampered.
Contrast that with the ER personnel we dealt with. Our wait time was short, according to ER standards: only 2 hours. They were abrupt and ultimately not helpful. No one made a follow-up call to see if our kid was feeling any better. Although we spent 3 hours in the emergency room, we had 15 minutes with the payment guy and 5 minutes with a doctor. I realize a cure or a diagnosis is not always possible, but I think the doctor could learn some lessons in customer service from Carl.
Carl would have said, “I’m so sorry you’re experiencing difficulties. Thank you for choosing this hospital. We’ll do all we can to make you as comfortable as possible.”
And, “Would it be okay if I called back tomorrow evening to see how you are feeling?”
Or, “I’m so sorry you waited two hours for me to come.”
Carl, YOU should consider practicing medicine!
P.S.: The kid is okay!