Spartan and Car

Right after the last post I came down with a lovely little cold.  I even stayed home from work one day.  I felt pretty rotten for a few days.  And of course this was all right before the Spartan Race.

We drove over to Houston last Friday night, leaving at the same time as everyone else who was on spring break.  We did pretty good getting out of town and nearly to Katy before we hit traffic.  We got to our friends house around 7:30 and just chilled for a while.



Saturday morning was the Sprint Spartan Race for me and the 1 miles kids race for Sidney.  The weather was fabulous (not really).  It had rained all night and rained off and on (more on than off) all day.  The venue was just north of Houston in the Hempstead/Waller area.  We took off from the house at about 8:30 and arrived by 9:30.  We got parked and trekked to the bus.  Then we reached the mud.....



Just to get into the venue you had to go through mud, some ankle deep.  Sidney did her race first.  She did great and had a fun time.  Then it was my turn.  I was so very nervous, which is super silly.  I had myself all worked up.  It was a waste of my energy.  It was  a super short and flat course.  25 obstacles with nothing any harder than obstacles I had seen before.  There was a new obstacle called Olympus. It was really just a sloped wall that was tall enough you couldn't touch the ground with your feet.  You had to cross it using holes, grips and chains and using only your upper body.  It was pretty slippery but not too bad.  Otherwise there were traditional obstacles including the javelin, dunk wall, barbed wire, pulls, carry, bars, nets, walls and ropes.  I did manage to do the Herk Hoist for the first time by myself.  I did a happy jig.


It was amazingly muddy.  I never fell while running.  But I fell into some deep mud twice at the Atlas carry.  It was pretty funny.  A total mud bath, the whole thing.  You could make a mud pie out of what was in my clothes.



I finished the race in 1 hour and 15 minutes which was 13 if 172 in my age group, 122 of 1683 women, and 664 of 4622 overall.  It was a really great if not muddy course and I will definitely do it again even in the rain.

I finished and looked for Sidney and my friend for an hour in the raining cold without any of my stuff.... They had gone back to the car and I didn't know.  A very nice gentleman gave me a trash bag to wear to get warm and let me use his phone to track down Sidney.  An hour later I hauled my muddy self into my friends car and blasted the heat and seat heaters.



On my way out I watched all the people trying to get out of the VIP parking.  You could pay $25 to park at the venue versus park at the Waller Stadium (on pavement) and ride the bus for 15 minutes.  I think everyone, even the 4 wheel drives, who parked at the venue had to be pushed by racers or pulled by tractors out of the mud.  I might have giggled a little.


I disappeared into the shower when we got home to wash the ten pounds of mud off and my friend went to get Lupe Tortillas for dinner.  It was too cold and wet for Sidney to swim so she was a little sad but we watched a movie and had a quiet evening.


We went to church Sunday morning at our old Katy church.  There weren't many people there because of spring break.  But it was nice to visit.  After church we stopped at Whole Foods for grilled cheese before heading home.



Sidney had the week off from school but I still worked Monday through Thursday.  We went to the San Antonio Food Bank on Friday morning to work in the garden.  We worked in the orchard this time planting trees and then helping load trees onto a truck to take down to a new orchard south of town.  They were planting 200 citrus trees.  I think every tree we touched had thorns and I have the evidence all over my arms.


We headed in from the garden to wash up and use the restroom before we left and were met at the door by a couple of food bank employees.  They were looking for the owner of a blue Prius.  That would be me.  My car had been hit in the parking lot resulting in significant damage to the front.  The person who hit it was insured and left his information.  He was very apologetic.  The food bank people felt bad too.  I spent the next 30 minutes on the phone with his insurance.  The representative was very nice and helpful.  Then Sidney and I nursed the car over to the collision center and I got a rental.  It will be two weeks until I get it back.


After all that, we met Kirk and Mary Anne in Boerne at the courthouse to apply for a passport renewal for Sidney.  Sidney then went back to Mary Anne's and spent the night there with Kirk.  This was the first time she had stayed overnight with Kirk since the accident and it went very well.  He had a big bump earlier in the week and I wasn't sure she would be able to go.  But he never remembers the bumps and was home and doing fine.  Apparently she slept on the floor by his bed and he slept all night, which he never does.  I think it was really good for her and I will try to make it happen more often.  It is also very nice of Mary Anne to let her come over.


Today was church and homework and getting ready for a real 5 day week.  We don't have to go back to swimming until Tuesday so we will get a small break tomorrow.

Goodbye Julie

My step sister, Julie, went on hospice three weeks ago and went home two weeks ago.  Julie has been very sick for sometime, unable to eat.  She had a feeding tube for a while but that also stopped working.  She has been fighting the failure of her digestive system for several years and finally lost.  She was only 50 but I know she was ready to go home.  She was tired and worn down.  She leaves behind her mother, Betty, two sisters, Kate and Davetta, two daughters, Kandiss and Tifany, and a grandson Jakob.  We will miss her gentle nature and soft heart. There have been a great many tears in the last two weeks and yet we celebrate her peace and homecoming.  I was privileged to be your sister for 25 years. I love you. 

Oldest to youngest, Julie is the middle

Our lives do go on.  Some of what is below is before Julie died and some after.  We watched the Super Bowl with a friend. I have to admit I am very disappointed in the Falcons.  I didn't think the commercials weren't that great either.  I did make a minor mistake by telling Sidney that the commercials that had the kids and a Super Bowl number were the kids who had been conceived after a Super Bowl win.  Sidney promptly asked me what conceived meant....

All of Sidney's teeth have manically appeared.  She never complained or cried about her baby teeth or any adult teeth...until now.  She is getting her 12 year molars and they apparently hurt. She didn't cry but she was not a happy camper.  We got her some topical anesthetic which she accidentally got all over her mouth. That was funny.  

We have continued volunteering at the food bank.  This time we worked in the garden.  It is 35 plus acres where everything grown is distributed through the food bank.  I planted rows of corn (by hand) and Sidney pulled cabbage to prepare those rows for summer vegetables.  We planted the corn by hand because the rows are mulched with plastic mulch.  We were planting the third crop in the mulch and the last. The first crop, which was watermelon, was planted when the mulch was laid. To save money the next two crops, cabbage and corn, had to be planted by hand to reuse the mulch.  You have to plant in the existing holes in the mulch.  Sidney is demonstrating her independence. Hence the not working on the same thing I was. 

She also doesn't sit with me at church.  She has been sitting with other people but I think she is participating more.  It's funny also because she won't share a bulletin or hymnal with me but she will with others. Pre-teen is so much fun.

We had the last swim meet of the short course season. It was outside and 46 degrees with a great north wind.  It was mightily cold. 

I did career day at Sidney's school again. I had a lot more fun this time talking more about my career and all of our moves during my career as well as the careers of others.  I got a lot of questions and really enjoyed the dialogue. 

Work has been busy.  All of our big reports are due in the first three months. And I am down another team member.  One of the members of my team is moving to the engineering team. I am very sad to see him go but happy he is getting another opportunity. 

Christmas and New Year

Christmas was a quiet affair. We volunteered at the food bank on Christmas Eve. We enjoyed that and of course it was nice to give back.  We started Christmas morning at home with our gifts. As usual grandparents were very generous and I got Sidney a dash robot as her big gift.  The cat got her a drinking bird and stormy got her pajamas. The fish got her Newtons cradle (the thing with 5 balls that go back and forth). 

Example of re-use....

After breakfast we relaxed and made green bean casserole before going over to some friends for lunch. After that we went and visited with Kirk for a while. He is stilling doing fine. No changes one way or another. 

The day after Christmas we took care of business around the house and got ready to head to my parents in Colorado Springs?  We left on Tuesday and drove straight through. It isn't a hard drive but nearly 900 miles so I was pretty wiped out.  It was Stormy's first road trip and I think she was confused but she did good.  She liked my parents house.  She can run down one set of stairs to the basement and up another in a big circle.  She liked the yard and the fact that there were squirrels.  She was very proud that she chased one up a tree. 

Grandma made chili for dinner and although it was tasty, it was insanely hot.  After dinner we figured out the problem because she has made it before and it wasn't deadly.  She needed to add garlic and she has some in a jar in the fridge.  In the same bin and same shaped bottle, she also has horse radish.  Let's just say several tablespoons of horse radish goes a long ways....

Wednesday was just a hang around the house day.  I took Stormy for a walk and Sidney to the playground.  We also picked up some crab legs and brussel sprouts for dinner.  My dad steamed the crab and I roasted the sprouts. 

We met their church pastor on Thursday. We had never met Father Chris and enjoyed getting to know him and his wife a bit.  We also met Twix, their rescue dog from San Antonio. They had him for only two days when we visited. He was very sweet. 

Friday was our busiest day.  We picked up Andrew, my step sister, Kate's son and went to the wolf rescue. We have been there before. Sidney really likes it. We had the regular tour and the wolves were quite vocal this time. I do wonder what their future is as most of their wolves are getting old and they haven't gotten any new ones in a while. I guess that is good in some ways in that wolves aren't being injured, etc. The wolf debate is far from over however.  

After we got back from the wolves we walked Andrew home.  We got to see Kate's 18 chickens.  She has some funny looking birds.  She gets 6 to 10 eggs a day.  We carried home 6 in our pockets, kind of. One of the ones in Sidney's pocket didn't make it.... you can imagine.  We later got a dozen more to bring home.  Small ones, big ones and brown ones. Sidney was very happy. We even had breakfast for dinner that night.

We spent our last day also hanging around the house.  My other step sister Davetta came over.  It was nice to see her and that means we only didn't see Julie this trip.  I went out to pick up dog doo before we left and was lucky enough to find squirrel jerky.  There was a dead, dehydrated flat squirrel in the side yard.

Sunday was the long drive home.  Google maps lead me on a crazy backwoods route but it was shorter than the route up there and good roads so it worked.  That was New Year's Day.  Sidney got to go to school the next day but I had the day off. A rare treat that she had to work and I didn't. 

We have had two swim meets. Sidney did really well in the 100 free at one cutting a good amount of time off.  All the other events have been hit or miss.  We have also been back to the food bank.  This time we sorted frozen meat.  That was interesting. 

Sidney also had her piano festival. She is learning some lessons the hard way. She has not been practicing well and did not earn a superior ribbon this year. Hopefully she will learn from that.  

Work has been crazy.  I had hoped things would settle some but that seems to be a dream....

I went for a run in the park one morning in January when our temperatures were near freezing.  In several places I found ice sculptures like these.  They were not every where. Only where it seemed there could be wind and shade and at the base of only some plants. It had drizzled some the day and night before. I was fascinated by the shapes and forms. 

Finally Sidney loves science.  They are doing a lot of anatomy and physiology this year. They dissected frogs a few weeks ago.  She was terribly excited because she got to put her finger in its mouth.  

Thanksgiving and Pre-Christmas

Sidney's hand and foot print first Christmas

I forgot a few things in the last post.  Although I had pictures of Sidney from her Spartan race I forgot to mention it.  She ran the one mile kids race.  It isn't timed, just for fun.  Although she loved the race, her major complaint were the cactus.  I second that. There were cactus's everywhere.  We mostly only had them to run and walk on.  The kids had some crawling to do on some so that wasn't good.  Everyone survived though.   

Sidney and I left for Galveston on Friday November 18 for our Thanksgiving Disney cruise.  We had a minor diversion on the way with the interstate being closed for about 15 miles. As we were early on Friday it wasn't bad.  A good detour was organized and it didn't take us more than a few miles out of our way.  

We got to Galveston and I dropped Sidney off with the luggage before I parked.  It took about an hour to clear security and wait for our time to board.  While we were waiting I got the strangest question ever.  A man came out of the men's room and asked me if there were any toilet seat covers in the ladies room.  There weren't. Strange.

We got on board and found our friends in the main dining area. I think I promptly ate 15 decent size shrimp. I was hungry and they were good but then I was shrimped out.

We spent some time settling into our room before going to our muster drill.  No one who has ever worked offshore is ever late or delayed on a muster drill.  Then the kids and I explored the ship from front to back and top to bottom.  I guess I should say we were with a friend and his wife and her son.  They were in the room next door and this was their fourth Thanksgiving Disney cruise on the Wonder.  Her son is in the same grade as Sidney and they live in Houston.  They made our cruise very special starting with flowers in our room and door decorations and a fish extender.  A fish extender is something you hang from the fish shaped hook outside your door.  It's a place where a small group of people can put little surprises for you during the cruise. There are usually 10 cabins in a group.  It's pretty fun. 

Anyway after exploring and mustering we went up on deck to push off.  We were racing the weather.  There was a great thunderstorm coming from the west with stunning lightning.  We got off ahead of it but by dinner it caught up with us.  The seas were never really bad but I definitely noticed the sway the first day.  We also enjoyed the stacked offshore equipment on our way out and dolphins.  Dinner was at Tritons Place, one of three dining rooms for dinner on the ship.  Tritons was from the Little Mermaid.  We didn't do much after dinner.  Went back and enjoyed our room and getting settled.  

Galveston Departure

Saturday was a day at sea and started with a run on the 1/3 mile track.  It was lovely.  Then breakfast at Cabanas.  There are seven restaurants total on the ship.  Cabanas is the one that is open nearly all the time.  A typical but wonderful buffet.  To the delight of the kids, they had Krispy Kreme donuts every morning.  To my delight they had smoked salmon and bacon.  There are three dinner dining rooms, Tritons, Tiana's Place and Animators Palace.  Tiana's Place was from the Prince and the Frog.  Animator's Palace was the best.  It had the pencil sketches of animations all over the walls and these large frames that showed animations being drawn.  It was super cool.  There were also two restaurants outside, Pinocchio's Pizzeria and Pete's Boiler Bites.  Finally there was one adult only dining room call Palo.  

We went to a Frozen Meet and Greet in the morning and ate a nice lunch in Cabanas while watching the flying fish.  They were super cool.  They launch themselves out of the water and then glide or fly across the top for a good 50 yards.  You can even see their "wings" flapping.  I had never really seen such a thing before.  

We helped our friend deliver all of their fish extender stuff and also took some pixie dust around.  Pixie dust are other small things that you distribute randomly into other fish extenders that are not part of your group.  They are things like bubbles, crayons, stickers and things you can use around the room.  The adults took a mixology class in the afternoon.  It was fun but I couldn't tell you a thing we made.  They were all tasty but complicated and, well, had a lot of alcohol.  The kids ran around the ship looking for trouble.  They had a club for 11 to 14 year olds and a club for 3 to 12 year olds.  The club for 3-12 years olds was very large, taking up maybe half of a deck.  The kids hung out there the most because there was more to do and it was much larger than Edge, which was the tween club.  

The Disney Wonder

Dinner was formal attire and we ate in Animator's Palace.  It was wonderful.  We had a great seat because the character parade came down the aisle towards us and then turned into another aisle right at our table.  It was good fun.  After dinner we went to a show called the Golden Mickey's.  It was a tribute to various classic Disney Movies.   It was done as a musical and very cute.  

Every evening the beds get made for the kids, chocolates get left and a towel animal.  We love the towel animals.  One of them was a bear and he was so cute we kept him the whole trip.  Also, a copy of the Navigator would be left in your room which would have all the activities for the following day.  There was also an app we used that we could look at activities on, mark favorites, look at the ship map, look at the dinner menus and text each other among many other things.  It was very handy.  

On Sunday morning I walked on the track.  Sidney went to Lava Flow, a show about volcanoes for the kids and to the Marshmallow Olympics.  We had dolphins right out our window in the late morning.  Shortly after lunch we made our first port stop to Key West.  Key West was once the wealthiest per capita town in the US.  They are located on a major shipping route and before the advent of radar navigation there would be a ship wreck per week.  This meant that wrecking was a lucrative business.  Wrecking involved first rescuing any survivors and second recovering the cargo.  Some cargo was very expensive.  We went to a wrecking museum and it was super interesting.  We also went to the aquarium which was very small and pretty old but had a lot of hands on for the kids.  Sidney spent a lot of time with the horseshoe crabs.  There were also two turtles that were permanent residents.  One had only one functioning flipper and the other had three.  It was really a nice afternoon.  After walking about we got a snack at Sloppy Joes before pushing off again.  

Dinner was at Tiana's Place.  We had a good seat again, right by the stage.  The food was supposed to be Cajun but that was the only meal that was really a let down.  It was very bland.  We still had a nice time though.  After dinner was a magic show.  It was pretty good.  

Monday morning found us in Castaway Cay.  Four of the five of our group participated in the Castaway Cay 5K.  I ran the first 3/4 with my friend and then ran that all again with Sidney.  Immediately after that we did our para sailing.  It was so much fun.  It is very scary to start and end but amazing once you are up.  The views were fabulous and it is so quite and peaceful.  We did get a decent splash coming down as they seemed to enjoy putting you in the water briefly before bringing you back onto the boat.  

After that high, we ate some lunch and then hung out.  The kids swam and we snorkeled a bit.  The snorkeling wasn't fabulous but we still saw some good stuff and the water was clear.  We were worn out when we got back to the ship.  

Sidney and I Para sailing

It was pirate night so we all dressed in our finest pirate garb and went to Triton's for dinner.  It was lobster night. Yum.  There was a pirate party afterwords complete with Mr. Hook trying to ruin the party and Mickey zip lining in to save the party.  The finale was fireworks.  It was a lot of fun.  

We got settled into bed and the noise started.  I have not mentioned yet that I wasn't sleeping at night because of noise.  I was wearing earplugs and covering my head with a pillow.  Our friend fared slightly better but by the time we got into bed and it started again, we were both tired of it.  It was the noise of the galley and moving tables, chairs, carts etc.  It would go well after midnight.  

We went up to Guest Services and they actually moved us from deck 2 to deck 5.  It was 10 pm but I couldn't handle another sleepless night.  I got all of our things packed, which was no easy task.  Then I tried to wake up Sidney.  That turned out to be impossible.  I ended up carrying her tied up in her sheets with her animals from the old room to the new.  She opened her eyes for about 10 seconds but she wasn't actually home.  She seriously is getting too heavy to carry.  She doesn't remember the move at all.

So we get up to the new room and, remember who did the work to move us, and who slept through the whole thing.  Well the sleeper got a Magician Mickey Mouse pillow pet with a hat that lights up.  She also got two Mickey Mouse shaped rice crispy treats.  I got a bed.... but it was quieter.  And we had a veranda.  Which was fabulous.  

Tuesday was another walk morning since I ran the day before.  We also discovered how fun it is to blow bubbles on the veranda.  They float around normally and then hit a certain point where they just get sucked away.  Totally fun.  Tuesday was also Nassau.  But before that I had a lovely two hours with my friend's wife at a private spa and with a 75 minute massage.  It was so very relaxing.  

The friends weren't going to get off in Nassau but one did with her son.  We wanted to try to go to this bird sanctuary but we weren't prepared enough for the walk.  We gave up and went to Senior Frogs for a while to get Internet and then got back on the ship.  The Disney Dream was docked in Nassau also.  I have since learned that some old friends from Findlay were on the Dream  I was so bummed.  So close but so far away....

Departure when there are two Disney ships is quite fun.  There is a horn battle.  Our ship being the smallest in the Disney line can only play the first bit of "When You Wish Upon a Star".  The Dream can play that plus two more songs.  And so there are several back and forths between the two ships.  They can play more but we could get louder at least.  It was fun.  

Dinner was back at Animator's Palate.  This time we all had a place mat we could draw on and a marker.  We could each draw any sort of figure we wanted as long as it was in the lines.  While we were eating, they made all of the drawings into animations.  They played them during dessert.  It was super cool.  Sidney drew an orange cat which was in several animations.  It really was a lot of fun.   Tuesday's evening show was a vocal talent person with some singing.  It was OK.  

Wednesday was a day at sea.  I started with another run.  I really liked running on that track.  It was a little bigger than a regular track and there were people to watch or the sunrise or things on the horizon.  The kids and I went to two animation classes in the morning.  We did Stitch and Ray the Firefly.  After the animations the adults went to Palo for brunch.  The food and selection of items on the buffet and menu were amazing and fabulous.  I left so over stuffed but happy.  They had two tables devoted just to cheese and two two seafood!  Oh so good.

We did origami in the afternoon.  We made a hat and a fish.  We also saw Moana, the latest Disney movie.  It is a very good movie.  They show the newest Disney movie at a few minutes after midnight on the day it is released in the US.  They actually had permission to show it a bit earlier the previous night but it was still after ten so we didn't stay up.  We got it the first full day instead.  Apparently there is frequently a new Disney movie released on the Thanksgiving cruise.  That was fun.  Dinner was back at Tiana's Place.  The food was a little better this time.  A bit more Cajun.  After dinner we saw the Frozen Musical Spectacular.  It was very nicely done.  I also haven't mentioned that there are Disney movies in the theaters and on several channels all the time.  We saw parts and pieces of a lot of movies.  Sad to say, some I had not heard of before.  

Towel Turkey

Our final full day, Thanksgiving was upon us.  My friend's wife and I started at the spa for a while before watching the kids build gingerbread houses.  What a mess.  We couldn't carry them off the ship so they spent some time eating at least part of the house.  We went back to the spa where I took a nice nap before seeing the juggler in the afternoon and going to towel folding.  The juggler was very impressive.  Mostly because the ceiling was very low and he really got the kids into the show with some marshmallow throwing and other silly antics.  His last act was getting onto a very tall unicycle and juggling which was extremely near the ceiling.  He had to make sure he stayed between the lights.  He was super fun to see. 

Animator's Palate

Towel folding was fun.  The folding itself isn't that hard but understanding the directions was hard.  The kids had a lot of help from the staff.  Dinner was at Tritons Place.  There was a more traditional Thanksgiving option along with others.  It was also semi-formal night.  There was always at least eight main courses to choose from, four appetizers, four soups or salads, six or eight deserts and two breads.  The kids always had interesting and fun things also.  The most popular kids dessert (sometimes for the adults too) was the Mickey Bar.  It is a Mickey shaped ice-cream bar.  The last show was Disney Dreams.  It was fabulous like most of the other shows.  No one really wanted to go to bed.....

We were up early on Friday morning.  We ate one more more really great breakfast before disembarking.  Sidney and I carried off our luggage so we were off and in our car even with the 8 block walk within 30 minutes of when we could get off.  So we were on the road by a little after 8.  However, we had an hour long delay when I stopped to get a low tire indicator light checked out.  Glad I did as they pulled a nail out and were able to patch the tire.  

We stopped and got Stormy and started the mountain of laundry.  Reality was pretty tough but at least we had Saturday and Sunday to get re-engaged.  We got Christmas more or less set up.  I actually set up the big tree this year.  I haven't put it up since the accident.  One reason is that I need the 8 foot ladder to reach the top.  It was nice to get out some of the ornaments I hadn't seen in a while, but also bitter sweet.  I am really glad I set it up.  We have enjoyed it. 

Dog Towel

I also made chicken tetrazzini on Saturday night and invited several friends over.  We had 6 people around the table and enjoyed the great food and fellowship.  It was really nice to have a full table.  

Sidney took the SAT on December 3.  It is for the Duke Talent Identification Program.  It isn't for a score exactly but more to identify areas of strength to further develop and see what programs are available for that.  She was pretty wiped out when I picked her up so we went out to see Kirk for a while.  He is still doing well but is quite a ways away from us.  He still seems content but also still as confused as ever.  

Sidney also showed her engineering talents by rigging up a square fabric box on a makeshift pulley to take stuff up and down stairs.  It is set up on one of the balusters on the bridge to her room.  The cat thinks the string is great and there just for her.  Sidney also had a swim meet at the nearby pool.  She swam in the early afternoon both days which was nice as we got to sleep in a bit.  She is making some improvement in times.  Probably not quite as quickly as I would like......

The Captain

We continue to volunteer more regularly.  We have enjoyed going to work at the San Antonio Food Bank the most and are trying to do that at least once per month.  

We did have a sad experience last weekend.  I saw a Great Blue Heron in a neighbors yard and quickly saw that it had a broken wing.  I was able to get hold of wildlife rescue but they couldn't find a volunteer that late on Saturday.  We knew it was still in the neighborhood when the sun went down and could only hope it would stay until morning when we could get more help.  Somehow though the neighbors cornered it and caught it.  They put it in their garage which was a relief because it got super cold that night with a windchill in the teens.  We loaded it into Stormy's kennel on Sunday and took it to  the rescue center.  They immediately put it on pain killers and unfortunately had to euthanize it the next day after the vet saw it.  The wing was too badly broken and had been broken for some time.  Sidney and I were heart broken.  

This week was the first week of break.  I worked half days Monday through Wednesday and am off the rest of the year.  Sidney swam each night but earlier so we had a semi calm life.  I took the rest of Kirk's guns to consignment.  It was hard to do but while I was there someone got so excited about one of them for his grandson that I knew they could make people much happier in use that locked up in the house.  

Great Blue Heron

Last night we went with friends to see two shows at Fiesta Texas.  The first was a musical about various letters the mailman got to deliver.  It was a cute little show.  

The second show was amazing.  It was called the Majesty of Christmas.  It was about Christ's birth and it was beautifully done.  I was so happy that a theme park had such a show.  But it was also spectacular.  First Mary came in on a real donkey.  There was a service dog in the audience that barked once but fortunately donkey really didn't care.  Then there were human angels hanging from the ceiling.  Then there were sheep and goats being tended by the shepherds.  Finally two of the three wise men showed up.  We were all looking around for the third one.  Following a very short delay he arrived by coming down the aisle from the back of the theater on a camel, a real one. The camel went up on stage where he wasn't terribly sure about the angel flying around above him.  The whole thing was spectacular and so honoring of the true Christmas story. 

We will be headed to church tonight and to our friends tomorrow before visiting Kirk.  I made a pie today and will take the green bean casserole tomorrow.  I have some fun gifts that I hope Sidney will like.  

We are home Monday and then head to Colorado on Tuesday.  We are looking forward to a short visit with my folks.  Sidney goes back to school on January 2 and I go back to work on January 3.  We will get straight back onto the swing of things.  Ugh. 

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas where you make happy memories and spend time with your loved ones.  We also wish you the best New Year, 

Crazy and Shingles



The crazy is normal.  We are always on the run. 

Sidney has been invited to participate in the Duke TIP program based on her 6th grade STAAR test scores.  She had a nearly perfect score in reading.  STAAR is the Texas standardized test.  Because of this she will take the SAT on December 3.  The test is both to give her experience and to identify any opportunities to support her development on an accelerated or unique way.  Don't know what will happen after the test, maybe nothing, but anxious to find out. 

Sidney also did a Halloween recital where she played the piano and sang.  I was so proud I almost burst.  It's a lot more work to add singing to piano playing and it was truly lovely.  She has a beautiful voice.

The recital was at Alamo Music Center. They sell all sorts of instruments including a wide variety of pianos and keyboards.  She has long outgrown her Craig's list purchased keyboard so I was looking for a step up.  I've been thinking about it for a while.  I ended up buying a digital upright piano.  It's only just a bit smaller than an acoustic piano but has fully weighted keys with the same size keys and keyboard.  It does all sorts of things.  It records, has built in songs, multiple instruments, a metronome and 87 pages of other stuff.  She really likes it and I'm pleased. 

I completed the last race in my Spartan trifecta.  14 plus miles and 35 very difficult obstacles.  One of the hardest things I've done.  The distance and obstacles also not with life's challenges that limit training made it pretty darn hard.

Time was right at 5 hours.  I was 28 of 211 women in age group,  1671 of 5102 overall and 312 of 1617 women.   Hardest obstacle was the wade, swim, trudge through at least a 1/2 a mile if deep, muddy, fish filled water with unseen stumps and boulders.  I took off my shins and encountered far too many both live and dead fish.  It was awful.  Second worst was the sandbag carry.  Normally one of my favorites but this was on a serious hill well after the half way point. Up was super difficult and down was dangerous.  I came down with the sand bag on my lap like a crab.  It worked, I lived. 

Other obstacles were typical walls, hay walks, swamp crossing, rolling mud, a frame cargo net, log hop, tire flip, atlas carry, bucket carry, farmers carry, rope climb, monkey bars, balls and hoops you had to swing across, Spartan sled, herc hoist, inverted wall, multi carry, plate drag, javelin, dunk wall, slip fall, fire jump and at least 5 or 6 I have either forgotten or don't want to remember.  One that I don't remember the name of but I succeeded at and was proud of myself is the one where you have to pull yourself along the rope underneath with your legs locked over the rope. It's at an incline and you have to pull yourself up to the bell.  I needed a lift getting on. I couldn't reach it even jumping.  When I went to let go I did let my feet go first but then I shot up while trying to let go.  It was funny. 

The morning after the race Sidney made me breakfast in bed.  It was very sweet.  An English muffin, apple and cup of tea.  She loves to give me food gifts.

Sidney made dessert one night.  She is in an elective called FCS which we would have called Home Ec.  They learned how to make Apple Pan Betty.  She made it one night and insisted on washing the dishes by hand.  But she put the sink plug in upside down and we couldn't get it out.  We had to bail the water in the sink so I could finally pry it out.  Her desert was very good and the cleanup entertaining.  I also tried making ribs.  I can make a few improvements but I think they were very good for my first try. 

I came down with shingles right after the race.  I felt awful during the race and slid steadily down hill to misery.  A lot of pain and discomfort on the right front and back of my chest.  It wasn't fun and I was exhausted, overwhelmed, and discouraged.  Several people at church brought Sidney and I meals which really helped.  The thought of cooking or shopping was more than I could deal with.  I seem to be progressing towards getting better slowly but surely. 

I had stormy out for a walk one night while Sidney was swimming.  Stormy was pushing her luck and being generally naughty on the leash.  I was calling her a donkey for that reason.  Not sure why I chose that animal.  But we are walking along minding our business and all the sudden there is a donkey and several goats.  I had never seen them but they were in one of the couple of lots with animals around and had their heads through the fence getting grass. They startled us because it was dark.  I thought the timing was funny.  A little further on we met a skunk.  Fortunately he was busy rooting around for bugs and Stormy was distracted so I rushed us along before he decided he might not like us. 

There was one more animal that evening.  A little kitten. We decided randomly it was a she.  We heard her meow after we walked out of the pool doors.  We spent an hour that night crawling around the bushes trying to catch her to no avail. We went back the next night armed with canned cat food, fish flakes and the kennel.  I almost had her a couple of times but then she went into a hole we didn't think she could get out of.  We needed up calling animal control and they came with a few hours. She was out of the hole and they decided she was healthy and old enough to take care of herself even though she was little.  They wouldn't catch her for those reasons.  Sidney was quite upset. The kitten needed a forever home and it wasn't good for the kitten or the people that she was out there alone.  There were great big tears..... 

We had another swim meet this weekend.  Sidney swam 9 events in the two days. Most of them back to back. She ate a ton in between and after.  A few personal bests but mostly an average meet. 

We went shoe shopping after the swim meet on Saturday.  Sidney took my tennis shoes, rascal.  She also needed some decent shoes to wear with her dresses on the cruise over Thanksgiving.  I wouldn't let her wear tennis shoes.  We were trying on the same shoes and then fighting over who would get them.  Seriously. She has 4 inches to grow before she is as tall as I am.  

Sidney came down with some yuck during and after the swim meet.  She had a fever but tested negative for strep and flu.  She was miserable for several days but seems to be on the mend after sleeping 15 hours on Monday night. 

We head out for a Disney cruise to the Bahamas on Friday.  We'll be gone a week and are going with friends.  We are both looking forward to fun and down time.  We'll see how long it takes me to chill.....My friends think my idea of vacation is different.  I normally have to pack my own towel and toilet paper and sometimes food.  Any everything for any possible situation that might arise while away from civilization.  

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving.  Remember what is important and who you love.