Both of the girls practice piano daily (imagine that!). While they are practicing, one can usually find Sally sitting just to their side watching out the front window. It’s as is she’s keeping watch. Frankly, I wish I could see her from the outside to see just how pretty she is sitting there with ears perked and eyes open wide.
The cold and snow often drive us away from Kansas at spring break – we’ve had enough. This year, we headed south to Puerto Vallarte, Mexico. This west coast city of 200,000 is full of hotels, resorts, and old architecture. It’s also the area where humpback whales head each winter (maybe they’re sick of the cold and snow too). We went there 3 years ago along with Linda’s parents and had a wonderful time doing tours of the city and whale watching out on a boat.
This year, we went with the plan to just relax. And that is just what we did. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort – Barcelo – about 30 minutes south of town near the Los Arcos beach and rock formations.
We mostly sat around the pool and ventured out to the beach for fun in the waves. Although the waves were so fun that, while smiling so big, a large wave blasted Emily and her retainer fell out into the ocean. What luck!
We had plenty to eat with buffet meals at breakfast, lunch at a poolside cafe each afternoon, and a different formal restaurant each evening. For dinner we had Italian, Spanish, and Mexican themed dinners – all wonderful. We had a gorgeous view of the sunset at dinner time.
What did we do through the day? Mostly a lot of this:
and of course, I had plenty of this:
Our last full day there was the day that the Kansas State Wildcats mens basketball team played in the NCAA tournament. Although televised on a channel that we could get in our room and in the bar downstairs, the channel cut away to the Mexico-Honduras soccer game during that time. The basketball game before ours and the one afterwards were shown, but ours was not. How frustrating. So, we did the next best thing – Linda found a radio broadcast over the internet that we were able to stream with our WiFi connection. This is how we tried to enjoy the game (that we ended up losing):
In all, we had a great time – and really preferred where we were over the 6 inches of snow that arrived as we got home to Kansas. Already looking forward to next spring break…
Today we have a new pope – Pope Francis I – formerly Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio from Buenes Aires, Argentina.
I had just emerged from a car wash when my phone went crazy with Twitter updates that white smoke was emerging from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. Just prior to entering the car wash, I had tweeted myself Anxiously awaiting white smoke.
I hurried home so I could sit in front of the TV to watch the live feed from the Vatican. Amazingly, it was an anxious-filled 45 minutes or so before the new pope emerged on the balcony.
It was wonderful to seen Facebook and Twitter jump alive with all of the news. It’s good to see that the Catholic Church is still alive and very relevant.
Viva Pope Francis!
This is a bit late, but I’ve been meaning to tell everyone about this one awesome morning. After receiving just over 13 inches of snow just 4 days before, the Kansas City area received an additional 12 or so inches of snow on Tuesday, February 24. This gave us a total of about 2 feet of snow. The snow was heavy and wet; it was causing limbs to come down everywhere.
Reluctantly, at about 9:00 am, I bundled up (along with my brother-in-law) and attacked the driveway with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. Within the next 30 minutes, neighbors of about 5 houses were also out doing the same. Linda was out there with us, too. Eventually, we congregated together and completed each others driveway as a team. By the end of our time together, we had 10 people wielding snow shovels. We went up and down our block cleaning driveways, front steps, and sidewalks. It was a wonderful feeling of community.
At some point, one of the neighbors announced Beer at Bill’s house when we’re done. There were chuckles all around, but I quieted the snickers when I replied that I had plenty for all and would welcome having such good friends over for drinks after such hard work.
After we finished the heavy work, each person returned to their home to shower. The following hour found all of my good neighbors in my living room in front of the fireplace and enjoying good craft beer. The following picture was taken by Linda, therefore she is not in it!
Anna had a consult orthodontist appointment a couple mornings ago – the morning of then big snow. It was determined that she did need braces. Since she was one of the only people to show up for the appointment, they offered to go ahead and put them on that day. So, we have braces.
And of course, she chose purple and pink as her colors.
The Kansas City area was hit with a pretty impressive snow storm yesterday. Our neighborhood received 13.5 inches of snow. Traveling was crippled as multiple cars were stranded throughout the side streets and highways. Fortunately, we didn’t have to get out that much – only for an orthodontist appointment early in the morning (more on that later).
It took 4 separate sessions of shoveling the snow to keep the driveway clear. The first was the worst as there was already about 6 or 7 inches on the ground. After completing about 3/4 of the driveway, the neighbor showed up with his snowblower. Then, we completed 4 other driveways in the neighborhood – all with the help of the neighbors. At one point we had 7 people out shoveling and snowblowing.
Finally, a snowplow came through late in the evening and cleared the street – covering the end of the driveway with a 2-foot wall of snow. Out one more time to clear the wall.
My hands are aching today from gripping the snow shovel for so long yesterday.
Kansas State won over West Virginia tonight 71-61, beating former head coach Bob Huggins. After being in a 3-way tie for 1st place in the Big 12, we have pulled away with this win to be solely in first…at least for now.
We will enjoy it while we can.
Picture courtesy K-State Sports
Sunday near Valentines day finds us once again in Lawrence at the Kansas University Lied Center for the Kansas City Music Teachers Association MultiPiano concert. Imagine a stage filed with 16 grand pianos and two players at each piano. Over 500 participants (over 2 concerts) make for a wonderful experience.
Linda and the girls have participated for quite a few years. I did it for a couple years, but the girls have surpassed my comfortable playing ability.
Great job to all three of the ladies.
The fence along the rear of our property has been sagging and loose for several years. Earlier this Fall, a good gust of wind pushed over a section. Since the, portions of the fence were held together with rope. It was time to replace it.
This week was the week to tear down the old and put up the new.
Additionally, we had the chain link fence that was up from replaced and a gate put on each side of the house.
Unfortunately, Emily’s Russian Tortoise, Mr. Bubbles, died suddenly yesterday.
I got a text from Emily while at work yesterday asking for the phone number of a good friend that raises turtles so she could call for advice. It seemed Mr. Bubbles wasn’t moving or responding. After several phone calls to vets and friends, it was determined that Mr. Bubbles had indeed expired. It was very unexpected as he was very lively the previous day. In fact, we often called his high-speed strolls through his cage turtle olympics and he was crushing it two days ago.
Mr. Bubbles came to our home only about a month ago. Emily had posted on Facebook to Santa that all she wanted for Christmas was a turtle. A neighborhood friend then responded that she could have his because his mother had told him it was time to find a new home for Mr. Bubbles. What a great win-win situation for both parties. We drove 3 blocks over and picked up Mr. Bubbles and his cage and belongings and he settled in quite nicely in Emily’s bedroom.
He was a very spry turtle and was fun to watch as he would move quickly along the floor of his cage or along the floor of Emily’s bedroom. Emily loved that turtle immensely. She fed it, watered it, misted it with water, cuddled it, and just loved it. It was very good to see her take on the responsibility and knock it out of the park. So, the sudden death hit us even harder knowing the great care it had received.
Services are pending…