The First Day Of School '11

 The Freshman and The Junior

The Magic Of Disney

As the first day of school looms on Dane's horizon he is starting to realize that his free time is about to be significantly curtailed. He will be at school from 7:30-3:30, then at football until 6:30. He will no longer have the luxury of sleeping in, and he has had to banish all thoughts of video games. His life is about to completely change. One change that neither one of us is looking forward to is the loss of time we spend together. Dane and I are used to hanging out together every day. Aside from his school work, we do all kinds of other things that it's going to be hard to live without. We were reminiscing about all the good times we have had in the last couple of years and we agreed that the week we spent in Disneyland was pretty amazing and we were so glad that we did that together.  I could never recreate that experience, but I found he next best thing, The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco.  We spent the last day before school started with Walt and it was a perfect. 

Going Green

The newest addition to our house - solar power

We are now counting on the California Sun for power.  We wanted to put solar panels on the house from the beginning, but at the time it wasn't economically feasible.  Fast-forward 5 years and the solar industry has completely changed.  Now it's not only more economical, the panels are smaller and more efficient than they've ever been.  We are hoping the solar panels will give us a great-big reduction in our astronomical electric bill, so here's to lots of sunny days!

39

Happy Birthday to me!  I think that a birthday is just about the funnest thing ever. What is better than a day dedicated to you?  As far as getting older is concerned, I embrace it.  I am very fortunate to be surrounded by amazing women who are a bit more advanced in years than myself, and they have shown by example that you only get better with age.

Puppy Sitting

This has been at my house for the last week

Jaw-dropingly cute, aren't they? They are a month old and they do all kinds of adorable things and are completely entertaining at all times, even while sleeping.  Puppy sitting is a pretty sweet job. 

Camp? We Love Camp!

Since this is theater camp there is lots of music, dance, drama etc... that the campers work on all week then they showcase everything on the last day of camp.  I'm not going to lie, I broke down and shed some tears during the performances.  Seriously, I cried like a baby. Dagny took part in a readers theater and a dance number, both were excellent and I was impressed with her performances and that she branched out and tried new things, but those were not what brought me to tears. Dagny taught a workshop this year, which is something they usually only let staff do. Dagny went to the camp director with her idea and a syllabus, he gave her the green light and she put together a class. She choreographed a hula and then taught it.  That in itself is tear-worthy, but the thing that really got me is that Dane was one of her students.  When you send your kids out into the world you always hope that they will support each other and have each other's backs, but to see it actually happen is amazing.  Dane is not the best dancer, but he put in a lot of effort and he supported his sister, that counts for a lot.  I was so impressed with what Dagny taught those kids in only five, one- hour sessions, and it was obvious that she was a good teacher because their performance was pretty good.  After she introduced her class and the dance, she sat in the audience and just watched.  No coaching, no helping, just total confidence in her students and what she had taught them. Believe me, you would have cried too. 

Dane's trophy

introducing her class

 hula dancers

saying goodbye

the end