Another Countdown

We are in the official countdown to cable and broadband for the computer. We have decided that almost six years without it that maybe it is time to get it again. I am looking forward to upgrading our internet service. So anyway, the cable company will be here on Tuesday to install us. Meghan is trying very hard to lay claim on the big TV in the living room - NOT GOING to happen!! Daddy says that one is his - so then she tried for the smaller 42" in our bedroom -still NOT GOING to happen. She claims her TV is too small. My response - be thankful it is color and 13". My TV at her age was black and white and 9". We were thinking of letting her have the 19" TV in our guest room but we might have to make her wait awhile now.

Wii challenges

For those of you keeping track, I have fallen behind in the bowling challenges; however, I am now in 2nd for the Big Brain challenge. The furrent standings are listed on the right side. Yes the are scores such as B minus minus. I guess that means .... better than C++ ... but not as good as B -. I don't know... seems kinda odd but I will won't strain too much trying to understand since I am ahead of that.

Time Moves On

Tomorrow afternoon my cousin's daughter will get married. Sadly, we are unable to afford to fly up for the wedding. I would like to have gone but between work and cost to fly, I could not be there. I feel almost as though I am letting my cousin down. She was there for my wedding and except for my parents she was the only family that I had at my side when Alan and I were married. I know that there will be plenty of family there and my presence will not be missed.

I spent a couple of summers with my cousin and her husband when I was in my pre-teen years. Unfortunately, I was too young when my cousin's daughter was at the same age I was then to recreate the same experience for her.

There are lot fewer years between my cousin's daughter and me than there are between my cousin and I. I remember when I found out that my cousin was having her daughter and how excited I was awaiting the news that she had arrived. I remember shopping and getting a huge box together to send to them. I was a little younger than my daughter is now. Being an only child, I looked forwarded to doing things with her as she got older. Unfortunately, those things never happened. The travel distance was too great. Add to that, I am horrible at writing letters. No, it is not really the writing letters part that I have a problem with it is remembering where the address book is and actually putting it in the mailbox. I guess bottom line while I was busy growing up so was she.

Despite the things that we did not get to do and the time that passed while we were both growing up, my cousin's daughter will always have a special place in my heart. So with that said, I offer these hopes for her:

1. I hope that the man she has chosen has proven himself worthy of the "little girl" that I hold dear in my heart and memories (yes she has grown up but I remember the little girl I spent a couple of summers with that thought Shamu was the best thing)

2. I hope that she finds the same contentment and security within her marriage as I have found in mine

3. I hope that he is at least half as terrific as my husband

Most of all I wish for her complete happiness. I really regret that I am not there to wish her in person all these things.

Walking

In order to supplement all the good that our dance class did for us, we have taken up walking along one of the local causways. ( we have at least 2 more months before that starts back up if it is offered again). We walked about 3 miles today with this. Alan and I had absolutely no problem making the walk; however, our queen of dance had problems making the trek. We will get her built up so that we can make the walk from there to the beach and back. While we were walking, it struck me how beautiful a place we live and how lucky we really are to live somewhere like this. I will have to remember to bring one of our digital cameras along with us on the walk. The cell phone does ok but its not as good as the a real camera. Of course while I am on the subject of the beauty of the area we live, beauty does have its short comings namely in the name of hurricanes.

The picture was taken on our way back (when I finally rememeber that my cell phone had a camera on it) . Our car is parked on the other side of the bridge that you see in the picture. Meghan was not a happy camper at this point but she did recover quickly and run part of the way back.

Bok Sanctuary Pictures

The other day when I was flipping through the pictures on here I realized never I had gotten around to leaving a picture of the Bok Sanctuary in Lake Wales Florida. This is a truly sad oversight on my part because it was a truly beautiful place.

The door to the carillon is a made of brass and each panel depicts part of the story of Genesis. Unfortunately, the gate were closed so that you could not get real close to the to see all the panels. I could have gotten a better picture with a larger telephoto, but mine just does not reach far enough. I guess that will be our next savings goal. Anyway this is a lovely place and is worth a visit if you are ever in the central Florida area.

Wii Big Brain

Well for those of you tracking the progress on on our Wii challenges in pur husehold -here is an update!! I still hold the record on bowling and am the person to beat in that category. I moved from third on Big Brain to second. I am right behind Alan. Maybe I can catch him tomorrow!!!

Meghan has some Pokeman game for the Wii that she plays as often as possible. I judt do not get the whole Pokeman thing. I hope this is something that she will outgrow soon. It drives me crazy since I do not understand the point or attraction.

Meghan's school solo

FINALLY - the long awaited video of Meghan's solo in her school concert.

This was only the third time that she played with the piano accompaniment. Due to the fires that we had the week before she and the music teacher missed rehearsing together as much as was planned. She is performing Angel of Music from Andrew Loyd Weber's Phantom of the Opera.

Wii Fever Continues

The Wii challenges continue to dominate our home. It is now the wii (ha ha) hours of the morning here and Alan is still playing. I got off work at 10 pm and have not been able to play yet. I remember hearing the competition is healthy - I guess whoever said that had yet to encounter a Wii or maybe did not have the competitve drive that the three of us have. The good news that I am still top dog at bowling but the purchase of Big Brain Academy has assisted in that I am sure. I hold a couple of top scores on Big Brain but fewer than a couple of days ago.

Must see if I can get the controller. MY TURN!!!!!

The Wii challenge

For those of you helping me keep track, I still reign supreme in bowling on Wii sports. The Wii fit challenge I do not fare as well. I have not yet mastered a good strategy for the tennis and I had not even tried the baseball yet. Guess what was on the fitness test. Bowling ( which I smoked my competitors), tennis (which I struggle with) and baseball which was not a favorite of mine in school and I had yet to do when the gauntlet was thrown down for the fitness test.

If we do not have enough competition happening in this house, we bought Big Brain Academy for the Wii. After the initial test I am third but on the two of the practice things I hold the record. Now Meghan had the Big Brain Academy for DS and my mom and Alan compete on that one. I do not like that one as well as Brain Age for DS. ( yes both 1 and 2)

Must go now to uphold my scores and create new ones to beat:) Wish me luck - I do so hate to lose:(

The National UDT-Seal Museum

Truly a tribute to the work this group has done. The website for this museum is http://www.navysealmuseum.com/

Jupiter Lighthouse

At least you can still take a picture of this enven if it is closed.

You can view the website for this location at http://www.lrhs.org/

Being Tourist In Our Own Backyard

What a great week this has been. Meghan's dance recital went well, Alan's parents made it here for the recital and have spent the week with us. This is the first time since we moved to Florida that I have managed to be off the during the time they were visiting, so we did "touristy" things.

Monday was the start of Alan' s time off. We attempted to go to Ft Pierce and visit the UDT - Navy Seal Museum. Alan is a huge history (military history in particular) buff. The Ft. Pierce area is recognized as the birthplace of the SEALS. Unfortunately for Alan we arrived only to find that it is closed on Mondays. We decided that we would continue down the coast to the see the Jupiter Lighthouse. Guess what? That is closed on Mondays as well. So we started out the week feeling a little like a scene from a National Lampoon movie. The day was not a total waste since we took a ride along A1A to get to these places. The views from A1A a magnificent; and its a good way to get in touch with all the beauty that is uniquely Florida.

Tuesday we tried again on the UDT- Navy Seal Museum and this time IT WAS OPEN!!! Alan has wanted to go to this museum since before we moved to Florida. He really enjoyed the museum. I found myself pleasantly surprised by the museum. It is right on the beach and while we were there they had a "summer camp" group of kids that it looked like they were going through a mini BUDS type training program. The were many neat displays in the museum and the grounds were covered with boats and sub type devices that were all a part of the UDT, Frogman, SEAL legacy. The greatest thing about this was to read the information on the displays and have it reinforced about how great American ingenuity is when it allowed to flourish and come up with solutions that are outside the box. I believe the reason the WWII generation is remembered for how great it was is because they allowed to simply analyze a need set forth to do what is necessary and without the overwhelming emphasis on being politically correct. The push to follow this dictate hampers our generations of Americans ability to set about solving the challenges put forth to it.

Wednesday the gentleman in the group humored my mother in law and me and took us to Bok Sanctuary in Lake Wales Florida. This was home to the first Carillon in Florida. It was built upon Iron Mountain which is the highest point on the Florida peninsula. They believe that this part of Florida was never underwater when the rest if the area was. This is called the ridge area of Florida which is believe to have been an island chain that existed before the peninsula emerged from water. The gardens were gorgeous. There were lots of places to sit and relax as you strolled through out the grounds. The carillon (Bok Tower) was beautiful. The bells rang out music every hour and then we were able to listen to half hour concert.

Meghan's new Wii was hooked up so we also spent time with Wii sports. I am enjoying the fact that currently I am out bowling everyone else in the family. It won't last long since I really stink at bowling. Alan usually is much better than I am but he has not quite beaten me.....Yet.

My in laws are leaving very EARLY in the morning to go home. We are attempting to go up the coast to see the shuttle land in the morning. We had a really great time being "tourist" in our own backyard.

There is lots around us to enjoy when we take the time to look. I believe we will take several days this summer to do short day trips. It was great to spend time with family without the need to go rushing off to other commitments.

As I have time, I will post pictures of the week as individual post.

Meghan

Meghan and I went to the mall yesterday to go to Limited Too to cash in her $5 coupon for her report card. She picked a new Webkinz. (like she really needs another) She picked the new Pink Googles. While we were at the mall we found out that the pet of the month for July is the Cheeky Monkey which she has but has not yet registered. So it will be registered next month.

While we were there she decided she was ready to get her ears pierced. Of course my mom was unimpressed because she does not like pierced ears. ( I was 19 before I had my ears pierced, because she would not allow it. It was my point of rebellion.) She is ready to begin shopping for earrings but as I have reminded her, 6 weeks is a long time.

Wow!! I haven't posted in a long time!!!

I cannot believe how unattentive I have been to the this. Since my disatrous attempt to put video of Meghan with her violin solo at her school concert. ( I still plan to post it ) Since that date, Meghan has finished school for the year. She made the A/B honor roll for this last grading period (she was devestated over her 1 B) but she made the A honor roll for the entire school year. She is done with school until they return in August. My how time flies, she will be in fourth grade this year.

The dress rehearsal for the dancde recital went very good. Meghan had picks done in all three dance costumes and her school concert dress and violin. The dance recital went well also. I will try to post some pics. I think maybe I can handle that possibly (ha ha). Meghan was apparently upset with one of the girls in the hip hop class during the performance. I understand that she was upset looking during the performance like she was going to cry or deck someone.

Alan's mom and dad are here with this week as we are on vacation for the first week that she is not in school. We have had a really good time although there are plenty of instances that will provide fodder for this especially Monday.