Varsity

The girls' golf team had its informational meeting today and E found out she'll be playing varsity in the West Aurora meet Tuesday and the Evanston meet on Thursday. Coach said the varsity team will be flexible during the year, depending on who's playing well. It's a good start! Here's E with the Huskie golf sign we got for the front yard:

So bored

E was so bored this evening she decided to start working on her summer math packet. She's had it since school let out in June. With a little over a week before school starts it's a good time to get started. Maybe she can manage to be a little more bored next week and start annotating her summer reading book.

The pressure's off

Only 16 girls showed up for Day 1 of the golf team tryouts today, so the coach announced they're all on the team. There was room for 18 girls and last year he had to make cuts. He probably enjoys not having to do that. Tryouts, though, continue for the next two days. Today the girls were at the driving range showing off their driving, chipping and putting skills. Tomorrow and Friday they'll be playing nine holes each day to see who makes varsity and who will be on the junior varsity team, at least at the beginning of the season. The coach has been known to make changes throughout the season as he gets a better idea of how the girls play.

Settling in

August (the gray one) and Muffles are settling in nicely to their new home.

Bejeweled Queen

It's easy (perhaps too easy) to play on my iPod while I watch TV. Tonight, I got a new high school. I had to keep checking to make sure one of the kids wasn't playing a trick on me and switched it to infinity mode. My new high school beat my now second highest score (325,348) by more than 100,000 points! I am a bit embarrassed to say the game lasted an hour and a half! Yikes. The battery on the iPod died right after I took this photo. I have a feeling this high score is going to stay for a looong time.

Tale of two tomatoes

So here's the tomato, the only one so far, I've gotten from the two plants we planted this spring:

And here's the huge tomato the neighbor brought over for us today:

Maybe I should try some Miracle Gro.

Anniversary dinner

While the kids (and E's friend, A) got acquainted with the new kittens, Andy and I went downtown for our anniversary dinner at Frontera Grill. We had to wait 45 minutes just to get the buzzer to wait for our table, but once we had that our wait wasn't too long. Definitely worth the wait, though. Andy had a delicious "Oaxacan-Style Carne Asada: Red chile-marinated Creekstone Natural Black Angus rib steak. Black beans, sweet plantains with homemade crema, guacamole" and I had "Pork in Clemole Castellano: Grill-roasted Gunthorp pork loin, clemole castellano (ancho, pasilla, 3 nuts, avocado leaf). Sweet potato mash (roasted garlic, bacon, ancho chile), local wild greens (grilled white onions, chorizo), toasted pecans." Yummy! Perhaps the most exciting part of the night was seeing the chef, Rick Bayless, walk out of the kitchen to pour himself some soda. Course, he did that while Andy was in the bathroom. This may have been the third time we've eaten at Frontere Grill and it was my first Bayless sighting.

Here's the bar where we waited for a long time to get a table. It's a great place to people-watch.

Kittens

The kids have been wanting a cat for a long time. They took care of Allison's cat when we went on vacation for a week last year and we pet-sat for her cat for a week while she was at a convention. Yesterday, L cleaned the house (really) and left Andy a note, asking if we could get a cat. I had heard on TV that a local humane society was going to be at a nearby PetSmart with lots of animals for adoption. We stopped by "to look" with no guarantee of getting one. We filled out the no obligation application and the woman told us to go look in the trailer to see if we like any of the kittens. Of course, the kids fell in love with the kittens. Andy picked one up, started petting it and it purred. I figured then we'd be bringing that one home. I was surprised when Andy suggested getting two instead of one so they'd each have a playmate. Fortunately, the agency only charged us to adopt one. They are about 3 months old.

Here's August:

And here's Muffles (B named that one):

Barbie catastrophe

E got a bright idea last night to make a Barbie hang glide. She said she saw a Barbie and she felt the need to destroy it. (Nice, eh?) She spent at least an hour cutting styrofoam, decorating the board and taping in the Barbie. In the picture, she's working on hers. The one in the forefront is one L was going to try. E somehow convinced B and his friend, IR, and her friend, A, (along with L) to head to the sled hill at Barrie Park around 9 p.m. last night to see if the contraptions would glide. L's collasped in the front yard before they even crossed the street. She tossed it on the shelf in our front porch and went along with the others to the park. E said hers glided for a little while before nose-diving into the hill and sending Barbie flying farther down the hill. E and IR also strapped a parachute to another Barbie and it was a bit more successful. I don't think this was the future Grandma saw for the Barbies when she sent them home last weekend with L.

Imagine the surprise on the UPS driver's face when he delivered L's new backpack today and the naked Barbie was strapped into the glider sitting on the shelf in the front porch. No, I don't know why Barbie was naked. Better aerodynamics, perhaps?

Here's L with her new backpack. It was on sale from L.L. Bean for only $15 - and free shipping. What a deal! It's sturdy so hopefully it will last more than a year. She's already packed it with her school supplies. When we were walking to Walgreens today she saw her favorite custodian outside power-washing Irving's windows. He waved to her and she waved back. A few more feet down the sidewalk, she saw her principal, Mr. H., across the street, walking back to school after getting his lunch from Pete's (one of B's favorite places to dine). "Hi, Lindsey," he yelled. "Want to come to school today? It's open." Of course, she answered, "No!!"

Pink, of course

L had an orthodontist appointment today and chose pink as her latest color of rubber bands around her brackets. Last time she chose a bright green (not my favorite). At least the pink matches pretty much everything in her wardrobe. At this appointment, she also chose a "lifesaver" design for her retainer. They'll have her retainer made and she'll get it later this month. She's so excited to get her braces off, and to miss the morning of school for that appointment. The orthodontist told me she's missing two teeth on the bottom (I always thought it was just one), but he has a plan that we'll only have to use one fake tooth. Otherwise, it would require jaw surgery and we don't want anything to do with that. Not sure when that will happen, but it's down the road.