Wrong Place, Wrong Time?

Uncle Brian has always been a source of interesting and fun information and opportunities. He loves being involved in the kids' lives and their education, and we love having him involved. We don't tell him that enough.

Several years ago, Uncle Brian asked us if we'd like to go with him to the airport to see George W. Bush. It was when he was campaigning to become the President of the United States. I remember little Carrie sitting up on Uncle Brian's shoulders, holding a poster. William was just an itty bitty.

Just last fall, Uncle Brian hired a pilot to take them up in a small airplane. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon when they flew over our house. William wasn't so sure that he wanted to go up that day, but after doing the pre-flight checks with the pilot, he soon changed his mind. What an experience!

The latest opportunity came last Friday. We got a phone call from Grandma telling us that Uncle Brian had just called. He was sitting on his motorcycle, along with about 200 other riders, in front of the State Capitol building waiting to go on a charity ride with the Governor. He told us where to go and about what time to be there.

They were to leave around 10:00 and should pass us between 10:45 and 11:00.

So, we packed up the car and headed down the road. We arrived in position around 10:35-10:40. Josh began practicing his flag waving right away.




After waiting for about 20 minutes or so, we decided to start writing a song...if we had been good homeschoolers, we would have had some schoolwork with us.




"Where'd They Go?"
(to the tune of "Let It Snow")



Oh,. we're sitting here by a ditch
Waiting for My Man Mitch
He's moving rather slow.
Where'd he go?
Where'd he go?
Where'd he go?

Oh, his motorcycle gang is tardy.
They're late for their charity party.
Oh, they're moving rather slow.
Where'd they go?
Where'd they go?
Where'd they go?

We've been waiting a long, long time
Just to see Mitch and Uncle Brian.
Could it be that we got here late--
Or did they procrastinate?







Now Matty is getting grumpy,
And Josh is getting jumpy.
But we're still here for the show.
Where'd they go?
Where'd they go?
Where'd they go?






By 11:30 we started questioning if we were at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Or maybe we were at the right place at the wrong time.

The wrong place at the right time?

We drove on to Grandma's house and found out that we were at the right place at the wrong time.

I guess when the Governor has a police escort(no stopping at stoplights--and I won't mention how fast they were driving), he and his posse can move pretty quickly.

We totally missed them.

Oh well, we still chalked it up as a pretty fun experience.

And bonus! Uncle Brian sent us a picture of himself with My Man Mitch!

We are all pretty big fans of the Governor--especially after watching the debate Tuesday evening.



Maybe next time Uncle Brian could get us an autograph?

Very Punny

A friend recently sent me this list via email.
It was just too funny not to pass along.

It got me to wondering if I, too, could be so on purpose punny.

Then I wondered if my kids could think of some good ones. That might be a good homeschool assignment.

Hmmm....
How about you?
Here are some to get you started...


Punster alert:

1. The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian .

3. She was only a whisky maker, but he loved her still.

4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.

5. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.

6. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

7. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

8. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

9. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

11. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

12. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

13. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'

14. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, 'No change yet.'

15. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.

16. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium, at large.

17. The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

18. A backward poet writes in-verse.

19. In democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.


Are you curious as to which one made me laugh the loudest? It had to be #12.

The one that took me the longest to understand? That was #9. I think it's pretty funny now that I get it.

The one that I identify with the most? Number 8. I talk like that quite a bit. You know..."key cars" instead of "car keys." Sounds familiar, huh Dad?

The one that I thought was least funny? Number 10.

And last but not least...the ickiest. Number 5! Ewwww!

Go ahead. Give it a try!
That's a challenge.
Can you be punny too?

Here's a good one. More Freudian Slip than Pun--but equally as funny.
Yesterday, Barack Obama was in Indianapolis.
He was praising Senator Evan Bayh.
Referring to Bayh's father, Senator Birch Bayh, Senator Obama said, "The ACORN doesn't fall far from the tree."

Ooops.

I saw it on The Bill O'Reilly show tonight, so I thought I would give it a shot and see if it was on youtube. You guessed it. It was.

Amazing.

Anyway, you can see it too if you look to the right at my sidebar.

Movin' Out and Movin' On

As promised, a post about a dear friend.
Maybe not what you were expecting...

Timing is everything.

Last week was not the time.

Thursday morning was not the time.

Friday, October 3, 2008 at 7:10 PM was the time.
No sooner, no later.

Friday morning I broke the news to Joshua that Jacky, his beloved pet cricket, was not doing so well. He had slowed down the past several days and was even trying to climb the walls of the plastic container which he had called home for almost a month. He wasn't eating much and wasn't chirping at me when I turned on the light in the kitchen every morning like he used to.

I told Joshua that it was time to let Jacky go outside to find his family and friends. It was time to let him jump again.

Hysterical crying.

William then asked Josh how he would feel if he didn't get to see us for a month. Wouldn't he want to go find us?

"Oh. O.K. Tonight."

And so be it.

Friday night, Joshua found us the perfect place to release Jacky. Somewhere where there was lots of green and a place that Jack the dog, couldn't reach.

"Right here."



The release...the honors go to William.



Aaaah! Green leaves to eat! How Jacky missed his greens. I guess he was getting a little tired of Goldfish crackers and apples. Oh, and the green fuzzy peaches that he got used to because I didn't always clean out his box like I should have.



Are you going to be O.K., Jacky? Will you miss me?



"Bye Jacky Cricket."
"Don't step on Jacky!"



How funny.
I miss Jacky already.
That place on the bookshelf where he used to live looks so empty now.
And it's so quiet in the morning.
And later...around 2:00 AM.



Having to say goodbye once again.

We're doing fine now. We hear lots of crickets outside now that we have been opening our windows. Everytime we hear the chirping someone says, "Listen! It's Jacky and his family!"

I swear I heard a very familiar chirping on the front porch yesterday afternoon...

Could it be?

Teaching an Old Dog...

If you've read Carrie's or William's latest blog posts, then you know that we are working from a new laptop computer.

We've never had a laptop before, so I am still getting used to it.

It's funny how it's just a computer--but it's so different from the desktop--may it rest in peace.

That's right. Paul's cousin, Kyle, warned us that it might not be able to keep up with us much longer, but we just kept working it. It crashed pretty hard on Sunday.

We're hoping to be able to pull all of our important things--like pictures and my homeschool things--off of it. We're even hoping that we might be able to use it for the basics and for "little boy" usage. Josh loves his "activities" on Starfall.

I guess time will tell.

The one thing that I did figure out yesterday was how to get the pictures from my camera to the laptop.

I can't seem to post on my blog without a picture or two, so here are some for today.

Here's a picture of two of my sweethearts.



Mr. Smiley...



Tomorrow's blog will deal with a more serious issue...the wherabouts of a dear friend.

Inspired

Thank you, Laurie.

You have inspired me to go back in time...exactly two years ago.

Memories...
It's hard to believe that two years have passed since these pictures were taken.

What sweet little round faces!






Have I mentioned how thankful I am for cameras?!

And for my babies.