The Most Wonderful Time.... Of the Year!!!!!!

Yes, you guessed it! Parents everywhere are jumping for joy! Back to school!!!!! Not that the kids are at all happy about it, but it will sure be nice to be back on some sort of schedule. Just the usual grumblings the first week... Boring classes, mean teachers, yada yada yada. "Why can't you homeschool us?" "Because you don't listen to me when I ask you to put away your clothes, what makes you think you'll listen to me when I try to teach you algebra?"

Tennis starts TOMORROW!!! Yeah for the tennis MOMS!!!!! The weather has finally cooled off a little here. By cooled off I mean mid 90's and 95% humidity. It sure feels good though! I heard a rumor, although I haven't checked it out yet, that a few cold fronts are making their way towards us and may bring 70degree weather for the weekend. I'll believe it when I see it.

We are coming up on the 1 year anniversary of Ike. I think we all watch the weather with a wary eye this time of year. It's been soooo quiet out there. Almost too quiet... The anniversary of Ike also means the anniversary of Bear. He has been with us for a year now. I think I realized we were keeping him when he snuggled down with us in the closet under the stairs during the storm. For the longest time we always wondered if he would just up and decide to leave one day. I think we are now pretty confident that he's decided to stay. He does have it good here. Even Daisy gets bed priviledges only rarely. He has his choice. He is also the perfect bed partner for the child (or mom) that can't get to sleep. Works better than a glass of warm milk! (ugh, never really understood that one) How about better than a tylenol p.m.

One more day before we can put the first week to bed. Regan begins swimming next Tuesday four days a week. Maddy starts volleyball after labor day. And Christmas is next week! (or might as well be as fast as this year is going to go)

Colorado Trip

Just got back from our trip to Estes Park, Colorado and the Rocky Mountain National Park. Beautiful place! We hiked the trails, drove up the mountain, (I hated that part), and just enjoyed the cooler weather! The girls were happy as long as there were rocks and water to play around. We found our "favorite" waterfall and went back several times. The weather was perfect. 60's during the day and 40's at night. It usually started out clear and sunny, and by midafternoon clouded up and rained a little. The weather changes quickly in the mountains!

We toured the historic and "haunted" Stanley Hotel, which is the hotel Stephen King based The Shining on. It was pretty creepy. In the picture our tour guide is singing trying to get the "ghost children" to come out and play. She said they liked it when kids sang to them. I offered Maddy and Regan $20 a piece to do it, but they wouldn't. They say that the white "orbs" you get in the pictures are the ghosts. Personally I think they are just reflections of the lights or other peoples flashes, but Regan and I did smell roses when we were upstairs and supposedly that is the head housekeeper that haunts the place. She always wore rose oil.

We took a day and went rafting down a river. We were at the very end of the rafting season so there wasn't a lot of "white water" but it was perfect for the kids and still very fun. Our 24 year old river guide has been doing this for 6 years. What a life. We all even went swimming in the freezing cold water.

Our trip was now complete. It seems we spent the whole week looking for the elusive but plentiful wildlife. Never even saw any driving up the single lane dirt road to the top of the mountain. Finally, on our last night, while we were driving through town, there they were. A whole herd of elk. They just wander into town and eat for awhile before they head back up to the mountains. They really don't care about people at all. We saw another herd right in the middle of downtown this morning as we were leaving. No bears, mountain lions or moose though.

Pics from Camera A

The World Traveller Returns

The world traveller has returned safely home. Their flight was delayed 8 hours leaving London, so they didn't land in Houston until 7pm. Maddy came home with tons of pictures and even more "stuff." There will be lots of stories to hear. I just now finished loading pictures and haven't even really looked through them. I just picked a few quick ones to upload here. She is wiped out after having been up for 24 hours, but a little too keyed up to sleep. Fortunately we don't have anything pressing to do tomorrow. Then Saturday morning we head to Denver. Hopefully she'll recover before school starts!

Buckingham Palace

Today Maddy got to tour Buckingham Palace! Sorry, no pictures allowed! She was quite enthralled though! 240 bedrooms! 76 Bathrooms! Over 400 rooms! They got to see the throne, thte royal ballroom and the balcony. They also watched the changing of the guard and went to the museum of natural history, which was quite amazing! Mom and Dad were a little skeptical of the museum, but said it was fantastic! Tomorrow they are going on a bus tour of London and then over to Windsor Castle, then home. No homesickness yet from the world traveler!

Maddy in York Minster

Maddy's York part of her trip is now over and they are on the train speeding toward London where they will sightsee for a few days before heading home. Sounds like she had a great time in York and has plans for an english garden when she gets home. Don't think the flowers will like our 100+ degree weather though!

Castle Howard

Here is a picture of Maddy in front of Castle Howard. Today Peters grandson Daniel (same age as Maddy) is playing tour guide and will be showing them around York Minster, the wall, and the Shambles. The Ghost Walk might be tonight as well, although Maddy is a little skeptical about it. I think the time change is a little hard for her to get used to. When I talked to her yesterday is was almost 1am there. I guess the ghost walk would be better early in the trip rather than later!

Maddy at Airport

Maddy's Big Trip

Who would have thought that 7 years would go by so quickly? 7 years ago Maddy got a shirt with a castle on it from one of Mom and Dad's trips. She said she wanted to go and see a castle for herself. Mom said, when you're 10 I'll take you. In a blink she was 10, and never once in the 7 years did she let mom forget her promise. They left on Monday on a direct flight from Bush to London. Dad loosened his grip on his mileage lockbox and sprung for 1st class tickets. Thanks Dad. She'll never want to travel with us commoners again! They left on Monday afternoon, arrived in London at 7am and took a train to York where our good friends the Stanhopes will be playing tour guide. I talked to her yesterday when they got to their room and she spent 15 minutes telling me about dinner on the plane. I told her not to expect to eat like that at home! Today they were taking a steam train ride through the moors and then having lunch or dinner at Whidby Harbor. Not sure what is on the itinerary for tomorrow, but they have a huge list to choose from, not the least of which is seeing a few castles. There are several ruins to see as well as several that are still occupied. I'll post pics if they send any while they are gone.

The Almost Champions

Yeah Team! We were so close to winning the whole darn thing! We'll get them next year when the winners will be eligible to go to nationals! Learned a lot about the game of tennis that is played off the court. We all had a fabulous time in the Big D. The best part of the whole trip is that we never once the entire weekend thought about anything but the little yellow ball!