Kirst Afloat

First Day of School

At least for Claire and James...it was the second day of school for everyone else at IMS.  Claire couldn't wait to go...she got dressed all by herself quite early and was READY.  James did NOT want to go...he kept saying, "I hate school".  "What are there 180 days?  I just want two days and then it will be Christmas."  (James, have I mentioned before, is not always good with change.  He likes routine, a schedule.)

Here are a few photos (in front of the boat, going down the dock & in the car).  Sorry that they're not crisp but it was very hot & humid outside and I didn't have time to try and wipe the lenses to remove the condensation before getting the pictures.

After school, Claire was excited.  She likes being in the older elementary class and she says that "Mr. B is stricter but the class is more interesting and more fun."

James (who once we arrived at school was quite put out that the shuttle bus to his campus wasn't there yet---"When will it be here? When will it be here?") was also excited when he was dropped off by the shuttle (the one & only time this year---I'm stuck picking him up at 3 and then driving over to Claire's campus to get her).  He couldn't wait to show us the picture ("the colorful pattern") that he had made with glue and sequins.  I was quite pleased that the day went well.  However, James had a one-liner to end conversation.  With a smile, he said "Only 179 more days of school."  I did get the last word in when replying "Only 178---you missed the first day yesterday."

Sea Grass

One more photo from Longboat Key.  I love the way the light hits the stalks in this picture.

Sunset on Longboat Key

This is a reflection of the sunset on our building, The Beachcomber.  I did have to Photo Shop this image slightly as the original is too dark. 

The picture below is the actual sunset a few moments later.  It is untouched.

 

A Boy and his Dad

End of Summer

The summer is definitely winding down...we flew home from Florida yesterday.  It was pissing down rain so it wasn't a bummer to leave...we definitely did not get the best weather for Longboat Key this year.  Plus Tom had to spend part of the week in California.  Hopefully our FL visit next year will be better.  I really LOVE to spend sunset on the beach.  I love it as it gets dark, with the surf on my feet and the wind in my hair.  Maybe next time...

Tomorrow I will try to get most of our stuff packed.  It's always a drag trying to remember everything that needs to go back especially all of the little things.  Tom bought me a USB hard drive so I've been able to back up all of my photos easily to take back to HK.

We didn't get much sleep last night.  I fell asleep with the kids (in Claire's room) at around midnight.  Woke up at 2:30 and realized the men's basketball gold medal game was on.  Tom was also up so we watched it together.  What an exciting game...Spain really played their hearts out.  We were pleased that the US team redeemed themselves with a final win.

I framed some photos today...mainly the Portrait Simple ones of the kids from last month.  However, tonight, I made a collage (of sorts---it's more of a large frame with lots of openings in the matting) from my Brown years.  It came out pretty nice although I didn't have that many photos to choose from.  People definitely take more photos now, especially with digital cameras.  It's so much easier.  But I have some photos from freshman year (Andy Yang, Jay Chavez, & Neel Shah), sophomore year (Carolyn Pallof, JJ Haywood, the hockey team in Switzerland, Spring Break in Bermuda with JJ & Julie), junior year (Jeanette Perrolle, JJ, a party at Digit's house) & senior year (Julie Vargas, hockey trip to Montreal, Neel, Yanger, JJ).  I'm please with it and will hang it up in our odd-shaped master bathroom tomorrow.  (It's a long narrow room with a great view of the mountain behind us.  My desk is at one end of the room, next to an interestingly-shaped window.  Strange, I know...there's also no shower in there.  Only a very large, deep tub.  In our defense, we added onto our house one year with only email between us and our builder.)

My mom arrives back here on Tuesday and fly out early Wednesday morning.  Thus I want to have a lot of our stuff finished so that we can spend some time with my mom before we head out.

It's very nice to be blogging back at our desk top here.  My posts in Florida were all written on my iTouch which doesn't lend itself to long posts.

School begins on Thursday and we get back late that night.  My kids (and I) will have an early start on Friday when we head into Wan Chai to Claire's campus.  It will be strange to be at school without seeing G.  Her kids are starting at a new school.  (Wish my kids were changing schools this year as well...hopefully there will be space next year.)

The US Hunkered Down

and played their game and DOMINATED the second half. Well done!

Women's Basketball

Morning is my time to watch the Olympics as the kids sleep late. It's now half-time in the US-Russia game. The Russians have played really well and the American team looks sloppy. They came back, though, and I think they will pull off the win IF they keep their composure. The last basket of the first half was a tough one. Russia never should have had that ball.

There's also controversy about Becky Hammon playing for Russia. I can understand her decision as she wasn't going to make the US team
I am sure she would much rather play for the US but that opportunity wasn't happening so she had to make her own.

Go Team USA!

31 Points!

The US team was ON! 116-85

B-ball

I'm at our condo in Longboat Key watching the Olympic men's quarter final between the US and Australia. Wow! What a game thus far! Very exciting although I wish the US would stop trying for outside shots. The Aussies are doing a great job with the three pointers. I think the Americans will win, though as they are in better shape and seem overall to be more talented.

Can't wait to see the second half of the game!

Birthday Boy

Today will most likely be anti-climatic for James even though he officially turns 5.  He had his big party in Hong Kong in June.  From that day forth, he's been "4 and 4 quarters".  He knows that this is the same as 5 but it made sense to him.  On Sunday, we celebrated his "real" birthday since Tom was here (briefly...he's in Costa Rica now).  More presents arrived yesterday---lots of fun stuff from Grandma and three Wii games from Dad that just turned up in the mail.  There's still another Wii game to come from "Sister" Cathy.  (Interestingly enough, Claire has finally dropped the sister part of "Sister Cathy" but James still uses it.)

Of the presents that Tom bought (he did all of the birthday shopping for James this year), probably the favorites are a 4-lane Hot Wheels set (kind of retro---and it actually works!  Unusual for Hot Wheels products) and boxing gloves.  That boxing gloves were a hit surprised us both.  Claire really likes them.  Truly strange.  We're ordering a second set in blue for her so that the two of them can hit each other.  Perhaps Claire likes them because when they "box", they only hit each other's hands. No bodily contact.

I will post a couple of photos of James from Sunday.  Super Soakers and a sprinkler were also hits.  I had forgotten about them.

Need to go have a shower and hopefully after that Claire will actually wake up.  She groggily walked downstairs at about 9 but then promptly went back to sleep on the couch under her new Hannah Montana blanket.