Day Six, still feverish.

Andrew is at 102 degrees again this morning. He will be staying home with Susy while Mali and I head up to Pacific Beach to see everyone. Poor guy.

No further improvement

Andrew is still sick! Unless he is better tomorrow he will be staying home with Susy, and Mali and I will be the only ones to make it to Pacific Beach.

If he's better tomorrow, we will probably wait until Monday morning to travel.

Still Feverish, but getting better.

Andrew's fever has dropped to 100 degrees! It was at 103 yesterday. This is with no medication, so hopefully he is on the mend. He still feels pretty crummy, but he seems perkier than yesterday's disturbing listlessness.

Mali just got back from swim team, and is going to the county fair with Nancy, Zoe, and Hannah. This is good, as she was prettttty bored yesterday.

Andrew is sick!

Andrew has a fever! He suddenly turned into a hot puddle of goo last night, and this morning doesn't seem any better. He did have a hard workout yesterday morning at swim practice, but he seemed fine all day. I came home from my soccer coaches meeting at 8:00 to find him burning up on the couch watching TV with Susy and Mali.

We have unhappily cancelled our trip up to Redmond today so we don't get Rylin or Dalton or their parents sick. Hopefully Andrew will be recovered by Sunday for the beach trip, and no one else will get it!

Vacation

Aaaahhhhh! Today FINALLY felt like a vacation day. This morning I found the loose wire on my sprinkler system that was causing me to spend wayyyy too much time manually watering my lawn. Then I delt with the ever-renewing mole holes in the backyard, mowed the lawn, fixed the backwards sprinkler head in the new garden, rearranged Mali's bedroom furniture, AND THEN took Mali to meet up with Andrew and his new pal Kyle at the pool, where I took a nice little nap in the sun.

Andrew spent last night at Kyle's house, then rode his bike down to A&W for lunch with Kyle's family before spending the hottest part of the day inside on the computer playing Runescape. They then went to the pool, and Mali and I joined them a little later.

A wonderful day. Hopefully tomorrow will be as productive and relaxing. Wednesday I am taking the kids to David and Susan's for a visit while Susy works like crazy so she can take next week off for the camping trip. We'll come home Friday so the kids can sleep before Saturday's swim meet, and I can prepare for another long drive on Sunday.

Weekend Update

I've been toooo busy to post. Sorry. Here's a quick update:

Friday night we took the kids to see Suzanne Vega and Mark Cohn at the Zoo. Marc Cohn was better than I expected - very bluesy. The music was great, but the kids weren't as thrilled to be there as we were. They did like "The Soldier and the Queen" song by Suzanne Vega, they sing that one at home sometimes. Otherwise the kids seemed kind of bored, though much better than at the Blues Festival a couple of weeks ago. It helped that we had a big picnic dinner, and Andrew brought his book. Mali got lost on the way back from the bathroom when she ran ahead of me and then stopped at a kiosk to shop. I returned to our blanket to accusations of losing my daughter. Smartly, she had the presence to troop to security and ask if they'd seen me (a guy in a yellow shirt), which was where I was headed.

Saturday morning was their first swim meet of the year. They did great, and are both determined to practice hard this week for the next one. I've found my calling: In the bullpen, calling out the kids for each heat.

Saturday night we had a BIG barbecue with all the neighbors. Pablo made his chimichurri, which was delicious as always with italian sausage and tomatoes on baguette. I made burgers for the kids. Gayle made an incredible dessert - a huge flan with all fresh picked fruit. Delicious and beautiful! Pablo also made his spinach dip, by special request from Mali. The girls (Mali, Zoe, Hannah, Kelsey) grabbed a bunch of the dip to eat in their playhouse hideout (no boys allowed!), and there was a lot of running and racing around by all the kids.

This morning Susy had to go to work, but wasn't in a big hurry to get there, so instead we all went to see the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie. We all loved it! I was pleasantly surprised, since the first one with Gene Wilder is one of my all time favorites. It was a marvelous new adaption of the book, with many different scenes and a nice updated feel to it.

In local news...

Matias discovered this on his way home from Alana's, so we all trooped up the street to check it out.

A little old lady was driving, and told Pablo "I just took my eyes off the road for a moment." She is fine, and could even open her door to get out.
You might note that the speed limit sign does say "AT ALL TIMES."

That's Pablo, Rocio (hidden), Matias, Mali, and Andrew, gawking.

Tennis Tuesday

Mornings are always busy here, with swim team from 9:00 to 10:00 every weekday:
Mali MWF,
Andrew M-F.
We all walked down together today (T), and Mali and I brought our tennis rackets and played on the courts near the pool. We took a short break and watched a foursome of older ladies play doubles. They played well. Mali quickly figured out their names.
Mali has gotten much better since we last tried the tennis courts a month ago. In the meantime we've been playing against the wall at the school, which seems more helpful as there is less chasing the ball around and more actual contact with the ball.
Meanwhile, Andrew swam over a kilometer - they really work them at the beginning of the week.

Disturbing news this evening: Andrew has lost two pounds! He thinks maybe he should eat more often, especially with all this swimming.

For dinner I made burritos. Yesterday's BLT's were a bigger hit. (Andrew had BLs) Very good on such a hot day - 90's yesterday. Cooler today, only 80's.

Andrew Wins!

Andrew won the 400m finals at Track City with a time of 1:03.27. It was Very Hot, and not so windy as Saturday.
We got home around 4:00, and life after track season now begins. Of course, swimming is in full swing now, and Cross Country starts in September. Mali's soccer starts August 3rd. We went to the school and Andrew practiced tennis while Mali and I kicked a soccer ball around.
Afterwards we scarfed a quick dinner and went to the pool. Andrew and I raced and he beat me by 5 meters in a 25 meter pool. I beat Mali maybe by 1 meter. I never was a swimmer, but Susy says Andrew beats her now too. I am surprised by how fast Mali has picked up speed in the water. The meet this Saturday should be fun to watch.

Track City Track Meet

We are in Eugene, Oregon, this weekend for the Track City track meet. Andrew already finished the 800m and got fourth place - a medal on a green ribbon to go with his other three 4th places from two years ago. He won his heat in the 400m semi's with the fastest time of the day and a PR: 1:02.65. The finals are tomorrow at 12:30.

It is hot and sunny here, but the track was very windy, which Andrew really noticed while running.

We had breakfast this morning at the MorningGlory Cafe. A hippy joint with a highly organic menu and an eccentric staff. I loved the food, Mali liked her French toast, but Andrew thinks there is something wrong with poppy seeds in pancakes, and Susy got a shell in her scrambled eggs. The service was ridiculously slow - over half an hour from order to food, but we kept ourselves entertained.

Soccer, Track, Blueberries, Physics

Coaches meeting tonight for Mali's soccer team. We will be practicing Wednesday and Friday nights starting in August. Same coaches as last year, and all but three of the girls return.

Andrew's track club party was also tonight. I had to leave it early, because of course the coaches meeting was at the same time. Before I left, we ate subway sandwiches, and I saw Andrew run off to the field to play football with some other tracksters.

I made it to the gym today! I went with Nancy and Alana while the kids had swim practice this morning. We're going to try for that everyday.

After we all got home I made the kids blueberry pancakes, using the blueberries Mali picked yesterday with Zoe, Hannah, and Nancy. Then this afternoon Andrew and I made blueberry sorbet. We just tried it, and it turned out good. It is about the easiest thing in the world to make. We put 4 cups of blueberries in the blender with 1 cup of low-fat buttermilk and 1/2 cup of sugar. Blend it together and put it in the freezer for a couple of hours. Yum.

Mali is sitting next to me, learning from a Mario Bro's wave action physics tutorial. You can check it out yourself at: Mario physics tutorial

Amazing. I found it from my very favorite, very active, blog:, BoingBoing

Home again!

It is wonderful to sleep in my own bed again, especially after sleeping on a sofa pull-out bed, complete with thin mattress and lumpy springs. We let trackstar have the good bed every night, though with his allergies he still never slept too well.

The lonnngggg trip home was uneventful. Susy kindly drove most of the way. We stopped nearly home to eat at Thai Flavor, which Andrew said he could eat at anytime. He loves chicken satee, provided the peanut sauce is on the side so he doesn't have to have any, regardless of how delicious it is. Mali wasn't too thrilled with it, or her Thai sweet and sour chicken, but afterwards we went to Cold Stone to make up for it.

It is 8:30 and Mali is still sleeping. I need to get her up and get her to swim team. Andrew is up before her, which is a rarity.

UPDATE - 10:15: Peeling Mali out of bed was difficult. She professed great love of bed and sleeping, and showed a profound lack of interest in swim practice. She is staying after now to play with her friends who are ALL there.

Grandpa's Birthday!

Mali couldn't wait, and gave Grandpa his birthday card on Thursday night. For his birthday yesterday, Andrew gave him a fun race to watch in the 400m, where he got third place and qualified for nationals with a new personal record of 1:03.
After the track meet, we all went to Cyrus O'Leary's in downtown Spokane for dinner to celebrate Grandpa's birthday and Andrew's race.
Mali is sitting here with me, saying "yawn, yawn. I need breakfast. Feed me. Feed me. Chirp, chirp, chirp."

Melodramatic, always.

3:00 A.M.

Mali says she hasn't been asleep yet. She discovered me awake at 3:00, as I often am, so we went exploring. Luckily, the work-out room is open and has a TV.
So many choices for late night TV: we clicked past Big, which Mali recognized without seeing Tom Hanks, then stopped to watch the end of a PowerPuff Girls episode: Mojo Jojo goes back in time to stop Professor Nutonium from ever becoming inspired to create the PowerPuff Girls, but when the girls follow him and save the young professor, they inspire him to do just that! Oh, that Mojo Jojo!
That was enough TV for us, so we checked out the arcade and played Nintendo Doubles Tennis and got destroyed by the computer on level one. Then I impressed Mali with my very fine Ms. Pac-Man skills. That was it for my quarter supply.

Then, Hallelujah!, we found the Business Center open with two computers. So she is playing games on Neopets and I am writing this. Now I go surfing.

Andrew gets third!

Andrew got third place in the Pentathlon today. He PR'ed in the shot put (22'6") and long jump (14'7"). Unfortunately, only the top two qualify for Nationals in the combined events, though the top three get medals. The single events starting tomorrow will take the top three finishers in each event.

It was very sunny and windy in Cheney today. We all got a little sunburned - or very sunburned in spots we missed with lotion.

After the meet we returned to the hotel which was swamped with track folks. The Dare to Dream track club is also here. Andrew met up with a group of BTC kids and was off playing with them. Mali and Susy stayed at the pool for awhile, while I napped. Then we went for a nice walk along the Spokane river, and stopped at the park to ride the Spider and on the Bumper Cars. Then we ate at O'Doherty's Grill, next to Cyrus O'Leary's, where we're going tomorrow for Grandpa's birthday.

Spokane

Today is Andrew's Pentathlon. He is still sleeping. In a moment I will wake him up, and we will all go down to the Oxford Suite's promised hot breakfast. So far, so good: the hotel's free high speed internet is working fine.

Yesterday was consumed with leaving the house and driving here. We made it to the (beautiful!) Clear Lake Recreational Area to have dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. Jackie and Jerry, my parent's (and my) neighbors from when they (me too, briefly) lived in Spokane, also met us there for dinner. The kids got a little swimming in too, which was a nice change from the 6 hour drive.
We also checked out the track at Eastern Washington U. It looked fine, but there will be no hiding from the sun. The weekend is predicted to be cooler, but today will be around 90.

4th of July

For the 4th of July we went out on the Columbia river on Paul's boat, ate, drank, and found a sandy beach and swam to it. Andrew and I did, anyway, Andrew at least three times. The other kids and Nancy did too, with life jackets on. The water was cold and the sand was hot. The current was strong too, at least enough to be interesting. Easy to get to the beach - it's hard to miss a nice long beach. Not quite so easy to catch the boat.

The engines overheated and one wouldn't start back up, so we limped back to the dock early and came home for fireworks and the rest of the barbecue. That actually worked out very well, as we missed the traffic snarl-ups, and we got to see the neighborhood fireworks in full swing. Every cul-de-sac had a party going on, and the biggest one I saw was right up the street with a crowd of ~60 of our neighbors watching a handful of folks lighting things off. Andrew and I discussed the ones we would buy for next year's celebration.

Portland Blues Festival

Yesterday, after some tennis with the kids and a trip to the pool, we headed downtown for the Portland Blues Festival. The kids weren't as excited by this as I'd hoped, but they managed to survive. At least it got them out of the house.

Sad news

Andrew's pet guinea pig Jumper died yesterday. He had quit eating and drinking the day before and just quietly passed away. We buried him in the backyard.

Summer comes at last!

This is it - my last day of work for the Summer! I feel like a schoolkid. The schoolkids have been nagging me to join them for a week now. This does not make working any easier, let me tell you. It was easier before the sun showed up.

Now the weather is wonderful, the pool, garden, and golf course call, and soon (Tomorrow!!!) the days will move slower and faster all at once.

Swim team this morning. Afterwards Mali may go see the new Herbie movie with her friend Lilly. Last night she went to Hailey's birthday party up the street. 13 girls doing dance routines on the lawn, followed by a squirtgun/watercup battle that left all but one girl - not Mali - drenched. And those are just the scenes I saw.

Andrew had track practice - he is working very hard. Tomorrow we may run up Weir.
He will run.
I will runWalkStopBreathJogWalkStopBreathBreathBreathWalk.

I added a link (under links, to the right) to BlueSplash on Xanga, which I am thinking to make into a listing of experienced media for the family. Kind of cool throwing the book covers on there, I thought. Check it out. I'll add more soon (Tomorrow!!!!)