The best day ever?

As news of the school closing swept through the hallways at 2:30 today, one student remarked to me that this was the "Best Day Ever". Never mind the dozens of people who are sick with the Swine-flu, never mind the dozens that have died from it; to this student, closing the school for 10 days because of a possible pandemic constitutes the best day ever.

At least he has his priorities straight.

Jay and I are stuck at home. We are encouraged not to gather. We are ordered to continue teaching via the internet and telephone.

If anyone has any great ideas for filling the suddenly large amounts of down time in our days, I would love to hear them.

In happier reports, we ended up with a party at our house last night with these people.
There was lots of raucous laughter, smack talk, and yummy snacks. All of these things equal an extremely fun time.

Spirit Day!

Spirit Day was on Friday.
Spirit Day for Binimea means the kids get to wear shorts and their team's colors, and for the last period of the day, they get to run around in the park across from the school and compete.
Everyone, except the teachers:( , gets ice-cream, and one team ends the day as the victors.
Dodge-ball:
Obstacle Course:Team Cheers:Now, the day was around 90 degrees, so this was the sight around the water cooler:And finding the shade to enjoy some Bolis (fruity ice treats):

The Great California Adventure - Part 3

San Diego was our ultimate destination and on Monday we finally made it there.
Our host was a woman named Anne Rideout. She is a friend of the Taylors from the time they have spent in California.
Her house was on a bluff overlooking Mission Bay.
The first night there we had some spaghetti with her and then went and walked around Seaport Village in the Downtown area.
This is a view of the Seaport Village.
The next morning it was cold and rainy, and we figured it was a perfect day to go to the zoo.
We took a bus tour, watched all the shows, rode the Skyfari ride and saw as much as we could in the 7 hours we were there.
The Skyfari:
The polar bears:
The panda at feeding time:
Jay's favorite- the world's largest rodent (these things were bigger than our dog):I'll let you figure out these animals:
We finished off the day with some In-n-Out Burger and some shopping.
The next day was still chilly, but I was determined to spend some time by the water, so we rode our bikes to Pacific Beach. We rode the Belmont Park Coaster and explored little shops along the boardwalk.
After lunch we drove out to Coronado Island and went to the Hotel del Coronado.
Then we went to the movie Monsters vs. Aliens. According to reports, Jay was going to be able to see the 3-D that this movie was made of and although he could see some depth with the new True-D technology, it still wasn't quite 3-D in his eye.
(This is an old picture, but I think it captures Jay's feelings for 3-D movies).
Anne took us out to eat for our last night there, and the next morning we packed up and drove to El Paso.

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The Great California Adventure - Part 2

So we were on the road from Phoenix to Anaheim. No impromptu stops along the way this time, but we did have some incredible scenery.

My parents generously donated some of their Disney Vacation Club points for this part of the trip, so we got to stay at a beautiful hotel - Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel - right on the Disney property in Anaheim.

The Hotel:
The Room:
The Pool:
The View (this was Disney's California Adventure Theme Park):We decided to go grocery shopping before dinner and found ourselves in Mexico again!
Well not really, but we went to Market La Fiesta, and we felt right at home.

Dinner was to be a treat, going out to eat at Downtown Disney. We ended up eating at the Rainforest Cafe after walking around the stores and seeing the full selection of restaurants.
The next day I met Jay's family. . . a lot of Jay's family for Easter Dinner. We had dinner with 15 or so other people, painted eggs, and swapped a lot of family stories. After dinner, Jay's cousin Courtney took us around to show us Long Beach and Huntington Beach. We drove on a racetrack and ate at Fred's Tacos. (I don't have pictures to post for this because Jay was in charge of the digital camera. . . I had the film one).

The next day, we relaxed by the pool and walked around some of the other hotels before embarking on the third leg of our trip - San Diego.

Hanging at the pool:
Disneyland Hotel Waterfall:

The Great California Adventure - Part 1

Believe it or not, I made it 25 years without ever going further west than the Rocky Mountains.
Well, that has all changed. We just finished our last school break and we figured for this one, we would do a whirlwind tour of the American Southwest.
It all began last Friday, when we left at the crack of dawn to head north to the border. After a white-knuckled ride through the mountains (they don't believe in guard rails in Mexico), we stopped on the side of the road for lunch with our travel partners, the Meissners.

We crossed in a town called Agua Prieta, and it was a hair-raising experience as it appeared that everyone in the states of Chihuahua and Sonora decided to cross on Good Friday as well.

It took a little bribery, but soon we were accepted into the seemingly endless line for the crossing.
Once in Arizona, we wanted out of the car, so we stopped in Tombstone, Arizona for some good old-fashioned touristy fun.
We got to Grandpa Crabb's and Sue's house by evening, and after some drinks and some appetizers, Jay and I decided to climb the mountain behind their house, and we were rewarded with a beautiful view of Phoenix.
The next morning we helped the Crabb's load up (they were heading off on a RV adventure of their own), and then we were off to Anaheim, CA.

It's All Gone.

Every time my life is about to take a drastic change, I get the hankering to cut my hair.

This time, I had a major cut. I really like it, but it is going to take some getting used to. . . I have BANGS for the first time in my life. . . yikes!

Thank you Starr for a fabulous cut.