Angelfish is the Bomb

This is just a shout out to Angelfish on her Golden Birthday. I wanted to share a favorite picture of Angelfish that captures her attitude on life and the feeling that she brings into our family.

Love you, Angelfish!!!

Ole'

My little Mexican Hat Dancers wish you all a very Happy Cinco de May-O My!

P.S. He brought me the dress and said, "I wan play Ole'"

God's Children

Sitting in traffic in Times Square for the first time in months I realized one of the reasons I love living in New York City: so many of God's children gather here. I see His hand in oceans, mountains, forests and flowers, but we are the crowning creation. Above are a few of our neighborhood favorites.

Insight

Torpedo busted the down volume button out of our T.V. and our remotes don't work, so the volume has been up around 60 since before our trip. We've decided that we're through stuffing pillows around the speakers of our T.V. and holding them in place with table chairs. (Do you have that picture in your mind?) Star made us a new T.V. and DVD player each with remotes. The experience led Angelfish to conclude, "It's more fun to be on TV than to watch TV"

I still think we get too many commercial breaks.

Base

We had a couple of days at home in NY before one last spurt of traveling.  Actually,the hum of our home in the city was calming.  Deciding to leave again (solo with the kids) was a difficult decision, but I had a new niece to meet and a car top carrier to return.  My Hero had a couple of business trips that he squished into one.  It's hard to say who had the most fun.

Us?  






Or My Hero?

Slam edition-Des Moines

After Las Vegas we routed through Denver to see family which is always a good time.  Denver marked the end of the vacation portion of our travels.  We had to get down to business, log miles and haul it home.  We hit Des Moines right on schedule, but then we hit a deer!  That was not on our schedule.  

We saw two deer dart into the two lane interstate.  I looked at the speedometer and noted that My Hero was able to slow 10 mph to 60 before we collided with one of the deer.  He didn't swerve, just came to a stop.  I remember saying, "You did a good job.  You did the right thing."  This was later verified by Geico and Iowans alike.  Swerving usually exacerbates the problem.  We were unscathed, but shaken.  The kids were especially scared and we wouldn't let them get out of the car.  There was glass everywhere, but we showed them the pictures that we took.  Four cars (including one Semi) pulled over behind us and they say the deer flew 40 feet in the air before landing beside the road.  The deer did not fare so well.  We used our magic phones to call our insurance company.  Meanwhile a police officer pulled over, walked up to my window and said, "Welcome to Iowa."  He got an accident report for us pronto.  

Then we used our magic phones to google for repair shops near Des Moines (at this point I'll stop being shy about it; I'm completely in love with my iPhone) and there weren't so many shops open after noon on a Saturday, but we found one only 30 miles backwards.  The engine was fine, so I put on some ski goggles to protect myself from flying shards of glass and held a map over the windshield hole with my feet.  My Hero took it nice and easy.  After we settled into the waiting room at the repair shop, I started to get the shakes and tears.  People started telling us stories of untimely death and destruction in similar scenarios.  The inside of our car looked as if it had been sprinkled with pixie-dust, there was so much glass, but no one had been cut.  Finally, the air bags did not deploy.  For short people like me, that can often cause the most damage so I thought that was a miracle, too.  It was basically a three hour delay in our journey and some hotel juggling to get us on track again.  I'm feeling tender about life.

 

We didn't see the deer as we passed the collision spot.  We have two theories.  1.  The deer was merely stunned and eventually scrambled to it's feet and continued on it's way as well.  2.  There is a list in Iowa for people who want to haul away fresh road kill as cheap, delicious wild game (this part is not theory), so we think somebody took the deer home for dinner.  Maybe someone from the list or maybe one of the four cars that pulled over to make sure we were okay.

Hug somebody

Glam edition-Vegas

Now for something completely different...  We went down to Vegas to see a Cirque show ("O" of course!) and visit the incomparable Skouson family.   The "O" show was a no go ;) but I had never been to Vegas so Erik indulged me with a walking tour of the strip.  Nothing compared with the Virgin River Gorge (no pictures because I was busy jaw dropping the entire ride), but my favorite parts of the pleasure town were all at the Bellagio:  Conservatory Garden, Baccarat glass, Cirque sculpture gallery and the fountain show.  I'll have to go back for that Cirque show and a cheap steak dinner...oh yeah, and the world's largest chocolate fountain (also at the Bellagio).