Trip to Kansas City August 2011 First Day

I am traveling to Kansas City for my niece's wedding on Saturday.  After some travel delays due to a strong storm system between Rochester and Dulles in Washington, I made it to Kansas City and then drove up to Clyde to visit Sr. Paula.  I had a lovely afternoon visit with her and got to see the damage from the horrific storm that struck the area a week ago.  They had 1 1/2 inch hail along with 100 mph plus winds. While most of the damage had been cleaned up, you could still the evidence of the violent weather.  Fortunately no one was injured.  They are busy filling out insurance claims and completing the clean up.  Their friends and neighbors have been gracious in coming to their aid.  A group of Benedictine nuns from Atcheson KS have traveled each day this week to assist.  You can see some photos of the damage on my Picasa site by clicking here.

This photo shows the extent of the hail and wind damage to local crops.  This is a corn field right next to the monastery property that would be tall, green, and full of ripe ears.  A week after the storm, it looks like a combine has been through in October.  Nothing to do but plow this under and take the loss on the entire crop.

Fortunately, as you can see, Sr. Paula is just fine with her deeply spiritual sense of humor fully in tact.  We had a wonderful visit including a walk around the monastery grounds.  She is feeling well and is loving her Kindle, a gift from some friends.  One of the nuns told me that Paula is their technical wizard at Our Lady of Rickenbach, their independent living facility.  Apparently this means she knows how to load, play, and unload their DVD player!

Take a look at the photos of my visit.

Trip to Charlotte Third Day

The day began with an 8:00 am soccer game for Marin.  Her team won.  You can see from the picture that they were really playing hard.  On the way home, we stopped at Panera's and took on a load of bagels including their cinnamon crisp and some honey walnut cream cheese.  After downing three of these, I took a nap while the rest of the family did chores.  It appears that no one eats for free around here!  Well, almost everyone.  I think Eibhlin may be an exception.



We are off to the movies:  boys going to Cowboys and Aliens and the girls taking in Smurfs.  The movies were very enjoyable; everyone enjoyed their choice.  Once we got home, there was more work to do. Liam and Aidan husked corn in the back yard.  You will note that Aidan is using a "husking glove."  This is his own invention and its purpose remains a mystery.  Liam cut the grass which is quite an operation, especially in this hot and humid climate.

Click here to view the photo album.

Trip to Charlotte Second Day

Liam about to receive a pass.

Saturday was a full day of watching Time-Warner technicians work on restoring consistent internet access to Liam's house and watching Liam and Marin play sports.  I got to see the last hour or so of Liam's football practice.  His first scrimmage is this coming Wednesday so I will miss that as well as any games.  This is his first year and he doing very well.  Once he adjusts to the fact that football is a contact sport, I think he will enjoy it even more.  I did get to see him practice on offense as full back and tight end.

Marin blocks their leading scorer!

Marin played in a soccer tournament.  While she played very well, her team lost both games against U10 opponents.  Her team is U9 and she is only 8.  Playing up doubled!  While she played a few minutes at midfield and stryker, she played middle defender for most of both games.  She has another game at 8:00 Sunday morning.  If they win, then a final game at 12:15.

 

Click here to view the photo album.

Trip to Charlotte First Day

Well, it is August and I haven't posted since my trip to Huntington Beach in May.  That doesn't mean that I haven't been traveling but rather that I have been traveling so much that it became a bit overwhelming.  Now, however, I am in Charlotte with Liam, Marcie and the kids.  Marin is till at a friends house so I haven't seen her yet but the other three are around and engaged in their typical activities.  I will post more later.

Marin returned and then everybody left again for a variety of evening activities.  Aidan got back first and we went to get some Red Box videos.  Then Marcie and the girls returned and I got this nice shot of Liam, Aidan, and Eibhlin watching The Adjustment Bureau.

Saturday will be a day for watching football practice and a soccer tournament.  Lots of pictures forthcoming.  For now, click here to see the beginning of the album for this trip.

Trip to Huntington Beach Fourth Day

My fourth day was Monday and everybody got back to their normal routines:  school and work.  Everyone except Robert who developed a nasty little cold over the weekend and stayed home.  True he was not sick enough that he was unable to practice his guitar but sick nonetheless.

After the kids got off to school, I went to campus with Galen for his office hour before class (no one came by) and then his lecture in the mechanics course.

His lecture was interesting and engaging because he used his bicycle as example.  I actually understood why my front wheel brakes always seem stronger than those on the rear wheel:  static friction on the front wheel is greater and poses the greater risk of going end up especially going down hill.  After class we stopped by The Sports Authority so I could pick up a long sleeved rash-guard t-shirt for sun protection on our bike ride.


Once back home, I had a couple pieces of fruit and we set off on the recumbent bikes.  Click here for a link to our ride.  It was a beautiful day with a nice tail wind on the way out and a head wind on the way back.  Everything went well till we were making the transition from the beach trail to the street on the way back home.  I failed to negotiate the pole auto barriers and crashed into one.  Fortunately neither I nor the bike were injured, just a bit sore:  me not the bike as far as I know.

We had pizza for dinner and then out to one of my favorite places, Cherry on Top, for self serve frozen yogurt with a huge variety of toppings.  All for 39 cents an ounce.  Nice.  Tonight I was the first to go to bed!

Go to the updated Picasa album.

Trip to Huntington Beach Third Day

As those of you on Facebook know, Sunday began with Galen baking cream puffs!  They were delicious.  Unfortunately we ran out of whipped cream so I volunteered to leg it up to Trader Joe's to get a fresh supply.  When the cashier thought I needed it for early morning coffee, I proudly explained that my son was baking cream puffs for the family.

I polished off several of these as I was finishing up Christopher Moore's Bloodsucking Fiends the initial volume in his vampire trilogy.  At Sean's urging, I have discovered his work and have been enjoying it immensely.  In discussing all this with Galen, I had said that I need to get to Barnes & Noble to get the second volume, You Suck: A Love Story.  He suggested that I use his Kobo reader to borrow it from the Monroe County Library System back home.  I could then send the reader back to him.  I check the MCLS resources and the book is available for e-borrowing.  I have downloaded to my laptop and will transfer to the Kobo today and start reading.  This will be a good test for me of an e-reader.  I probably wouldn't go with Kobo but the Color Nook looks promising.  I just checked and think it will support my Rhapsody membership.  I know that Meg just got a Color Nook and look forward to learning of her experience with it.  With the android 2.2 upgrade, it is looking like a really good buy.

After breakfast, Galen got his second recumbent bike set up for me and I gave it a try.  Once I got it going, it wasn't bad but clearly I would need more experience before I would bike with him to work along the Pacific Coast Highway.  So on Monday afternoon we are going to some biking on some side streets and trails where the worst that I can do is run into something rather than run the risk of something running into me.  I believe him when he tells me that it takes about 500 hours before you get really comfortable on one of these in traffic.


After a quick lunch, Galen and I took the three youngest to a program run by the anthropology department at Cal State-Fullerton at the Fullerton Arboretum which is on the campus.  They got to experience presentations about the life of native peoples in this area, the Chumash:  arts, crafts, games, and canoe building.  They also were able to participate in a "dig" which they seemed to really enjoy.  Graduate anthropology students were assisting as well undergraduates from the general education anthropology course.  Toward the end, Galen noticed that the undergraduates were all reading different MLB caps.  I noticed a young woman with a Royals cap.  turned out that her family was from the Kansas City area and she was a Royals fan.  We had a nice conversation.  After witnessing the canoe launch, we drove home.  Robert, by the way, had spent the day at Knott's Berry Farm with a friend.

After a brief recovery at home, we went out to dinner at Don Ramon's, a Mexican restaurant nearby.  That's where we learned about the death of Osama bin Laden actually via a phone call from Robert who told us it was on CNN.  This seemed strange to his parents until we realized that he had not returned home but to his friends house where he was informed by his parents.  Robert is not that 14-year-old who comes home and immediately checks CNN for his news update.

We returned home to watch more coverage on CNN.  This night I was the last one to go to bed.  Quite a day!

Go to the updated Picasa album.

Trip to Huntington Beach Second Day

Galen was up early and baking.  He made brioche.  He uses Julia's recipe.  According to Galen, when it is a French bread, he does exactly what Julia says with no innovation on his part.  His only change is that he bakes it as rolls rather than a loaf since that works better with a "grazing" family.  They were yummy especially with the lemon curd.  I also had a chance to get some nice photos of Marshmallow, the family pet.  He is obviously the guardian of the family remote control.

Galen, Laura, and I took Maggie and Thomas to Shipley Nature Center in Huntington Beach where the annual community event was underway.  I went last year as well.  We visited the booth for the Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve.  Laura is active in the leadership of the Bolsa Chica Stewards, a group of volunteers that work in the reclaiming of the area for native plants.  Galen and I hiked around some of the trails with Thomas and Maggie.

When we returned home, I took Robert and Henry to the movies.  They chose "Paul" which, as Robert said, was a lot better than he thought it might be.  For some reason they didn't want to see "Fast Five," the latest "Fast and Furious" release.  That was disappointing to me since I rely on adolescent grandsons to justify my attendance at...well, more adolescent movies.

Then it was back home for some sliders.  After dinner we all watched "Fantastic Mr. Fox" which was quite good with great voice talents:  Bill Murray, Meryl Streep, and George Clooney.  As usual I hit the sack earlier than everyone else and am now up at 5:00 a.m. writing this before even Galen gets up.  Sunday promises to be big day as well.

View the updated Picasa album.