Speech

My daughter memorized a duet with a friend for speech club and performed unflinchingly in public several times. She won a first place ribbon at the state speech competition.

This after about 2 years of insisting she is SHY.

I have never believed my daughter to be shy.  Since she was old enough to sing, she has sung and since she was old enough to dance, she has danced, doing both in the aisles at supermarkets and onstage at ballet recitals, in restaurants and at the park.  Who knows what the future holds for this girl...but at least she is not deathly afraid of public speaking!  :-)

Speechless

Last night my son came into the kitchen after dinner with a pile of money in his hands.  He dumped the money on the table and began looking through a brochure.  After a minute or so he began asking questions like, "what animal should I send money in for?"  I wondered what this line of questioning might mean for me (in terms of work :-) and time)...but then realized it was a Heifer International pamphlet and my kid was looking to spend some of his allowance to buy an animal for a needy family. I'm speechless.

Zoo babies...

My "babies" have loved the zoo (every zoo we came near) for many years, but now that they are growing up those trips to the zoo seemed to be gone forever.  BUT, this summer our zoo had a litter of four baby Siberian Tigers, and this we could not resist!!!  Above, if you look closely, you can see two cubs and the mama taking very good care!  Hard to imagine Siberian tigers as gentle, but I guess we're all a little protective when it comes to our babies!

The clarinet, the clarinet...

 We actually could identify the tune of Jingle Bells the other day!  How exciting! 

There is still the occasional squeak, but what's life without some unexpected surprises.  After all the Christmas concert is still a few weeks away!

Just a couple of kids in love...

 We celebrated our 18th anniversary in Chicago, the birthplace of our romance.  We enjoyed the Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier and sailed the tall ship Windy as pictured below.

 The Chicago skyline was lovely at sunset, especially while sailing along on Lake Michigan!

My daughter broke into tears today because our plans for camping on Labor Day (Labour Day for our Canadian readers) were cancelled due to rain.  I wanted to burst into tears myself (mostly because I'd already done most of the preparatory work), but I pulled myself together and helped my 10-year-old pull herself together.  What a bummer!

Spent a lovely weekend with the love of my life in Chicago.  Visited the Art Institute (where we had our first date about 21 years ago) ate Chicago style pizza at Giordanos (best in the world!) and sailed on the tall ship Windy with the Chicago skyline outlined against the sunset.  Heavenly...  But, what made it all spectacular was my best friend and life partner, holding my hand...  even after 18 years of marriage!!! Sigh.