One of the things that I love about living in SoCal is that in late October you can swim outdoors. We are blessed with having a beautiful pool in our yard and a perfect house for parties. Tonight we had about 30 boys over and I was thrilled to see them having so much fun in and out of the water. We had a team bonding party here at the house for the boys JV and Varsity water polo team. There was a fine variety of food; lumpia, hot dogs, chicken wings, pasta, chips, soda ... all of the good stuff that makes a party fun. Of course, pool side music was provided by the OutCast wireless speaker!

We have been heavily involved in water polo since Alex was a freshman and he is having a stellar season his senior year. In fact, he is team captain and has just broken the school record for most goals scored in a season and there are still three more games to play! Maybe we are just a little bit proud! Also, this last past weekend he played in a invitational regional tournament and won Most Valuable Player. He was presented with the medal shown here. We are so happy for our son. It seems that teenagers get such a bad rap, but I can honestly say that the teenagers we know through sports and our church are a great bunch of kids.

Random thoughts of a typical weekend

Last night we had some old friends over for dinner. It was nice to spend time with them and catch up with the details of their lives. We shared a delicious meal, if I do say so myself and drank some very nice wine. All in all it was a pleasant evening and reminded me of how important friends are in our lives.

Sunday we headed off to church early. There are lots of people that we have not seen at church lately so I thought that they may go to a different service than we do. Sure enough we ran into some friends that we had not seen for a while. During the service I began thinking that I need to get more involved with our church again. There was a time that I was busy with church things three times a week . I miss that and although I am not sure that I want to be quite so involved, perhaps I need to be more involved than I am now. I am seriously considering hosting a couples bible study at our house, so I have decided to pray about this and see what direction God wants me to move on this.

After lunch I felt the need to hit the road, so I donned the bike gear and headed out for a good long ride. I felt jubilant when I was able to make it home without stopping except when I got caught at a light near the end. I can see that I am improving and I like that. This week I am going to begin lifting again. Not sure where I am going to fit this into the schedule, but it has been a while and I am ready to push myself and take this to the next level.

Today we received the official invitation to Christmas dinner with the Tait's. We will need to made some decisions fairly soon on this otherwise we may not get the best flights. I have never spent a Christmas at home and although we had intended to head south, I am now thinking that north may be the best option. In a perfect world we would go north for Christmas and south for New Year's....hmmm if only we were really, really rich!

This is a photo of David with some friends at Church today. He will be 14 on Tuesday. Where has the time gone? Notice the hair! About a month ago these three kids had long hair now they all have short hair. At least David has hair since the other dudes look like they got the prison cut.

Happy Birthday Paul!

It's not every day that someone you know has an 83rd birthday and it just so happens the this weekend our friend Paul did just that. It is so wonderful to have a friends of all ages as it makes life more interesting and gives one a different perspective on life.

I have known Paul for about 20 years. It was my husband who introduced us as they had a working relationship, but it turned out to be Paul and I who really ended up making a connection. Until recently we worked together, if you can call it that. For me it was more fun than work, but it was work just the same. Bottom line is that for four months of every year I run his company for him so that he can take off and do what he loves to do...travel to Mexico!

During our time I have had the good fortune of helping Paul out of some terrible medical situations. When he talks about this he says that twice I have saved his life and that might be true. Although what I did for Paul is not anything that I wouldn't have done for another friend. Isn't that what friends are for!

One of the things that I love about Paul is his great sense of humor and the fact that he laughs at my jokes makes me like him even more.

Happy Birthday my dear friend! I hope you are with us for many more.

Dear Dad!

Today is the anniversary of your last day with us on this earth. I remember well that you so desperately wanted to leave and that I felt happy for you when your time finally came. I miss you so much, but I know you are with me always.

The perfect thing about today was I was actually able to feel happiness. You know it is not in my nature to be sad. It took me a while to get here, but I know you would want me to be happy and I am.

One of the special things that happened today was it rained. It has not rained here for a long time and today it did. Of course it made me think of you. Please stay close to me Dad, I still need you!

Island Girls Forever!

The strange thing about being an Island Girl is that the island never really lets you go. It has some magical, mystical pull that draws you back. When I look at all of the people who have left, yes moved away, it is amazing to me how many return. Right now I feel the pull and I am being drawn back. The Island is callling me and I am resisting the urge.

Normally I like to get back at least once a year. I have my routine of what I like to do, who I like to see and of course what I like to eat. Yes, I feel that irristible desire to return and I am not sure why. Sometimes I wonder if I will end up calling it home again some day. It seems like my friends are all waiting for me. They look at me knowingly as if to say, ya your coming back and maybe one day that will happen.

In the meantime, I am excited as I will spend Saturday with one of the other Island Girls. We will be getting together to tell our stories and share our secrets. We have known each other since before I was 20 and never lost touch. I am sure we will laugh, cry and laugh some more, but it will all be good after all we are more that just friends we are Island Girls. Yes, Island Girls forever!

First Day of Fall

Today is the first day of fall. Throughout my life I have always enjoyed this time of year, but for the last few years; well two to be exact it has become a melancholy time for me. Although on the outside I like to maintain a "happy" facade inside I feel quite differently. It was only two years ago that we realized Dad would not see Christmas. It was in September that I brought the boys home to see their Grandfather for the last time. We all knew it was the last time, which made the trip bittersweet.

Dad was so excited to see the boys. He had a list of all of the things he wanted to do with them none of which he would fulfill. To this day I still have the list! Time was of the essence now, especially since he was on a time line. He still felt reasonably well so an outing was planned to Starbucks the morning after we arrived. We jumped out of the car and began walking toward the coffee shop and suddenly his legs collapsed and he had to steady himself on Alex and I. It took a moment, but he regained his strength and we continued the short distance to a chair. Once seated we all sat stunned by what had just happened. What did just happen? When we talked to the hospice nurse she said that the body begins to die in the limbs and usually the legs go first. We had just witnessed the first signs that he would not live forever nor even for long. It was a sad time; a time of many prayers, tears and difficult choices.

We each assumed our role. My mother was the caregiver, sister support and I the leader. I spent countless hours with my dad. In fact, I spent more time with him than anyone else. We planned the details of who should be called when the inevitable happened, what bills had to be paid and what documents had to signed, etc. I took him for his last car ride, hair cut and shopping at London Drugs. He had been there for all of my "firsts" and I was there for all of his "lasts". Every night I prayed until I fell asleep. Yes, it is possible to pray and weep at the same time.

I will be writing more about this over the next few weeks as we approach the anniversary of his passing.

Shaken not stirred please

I would not consider myself as a drinker, however every once in a while I do enjoy a good drink. If there is a drink that I would consider mine it is a Cosmo. I love the look; a deep pink liquid, almost red, very seductive. I love to hold the chilled martini glass in my hand, twirl the stem and then bring it to my lips and sip. Almost immediately I can feel the effect. It starts in my head and works through my entire body. I think it heightens my senses and makes me feel . . . well, let's just say, it makes me feel tingly all over. Mmmmm! I can never drink two; just one chilly Cosmo does it for me. Shaken not stirred please.

Life is like a great novel !

Today I did something that I never thought I would do. What it is doesn't matter for now, but I have always lived life a little differently than most. I feel that life has taken me to places I never would have believed possible if I wasn't able to take a chance and push myself out of my comfort zone. I don't think that I randomly take uncalculated risks, but rather I am not afraid to live life to the fullest. I have friends that are still living in the small town that I grew up in and that is OK, but I am so glad that I am not still there. If I had stayed surely I would have shriveled and died.

Actually, when I lived in that small town, I had a pretty decent life including a great job and a lot of stability, but I knew in my heart that I had to fly. And fly I did. I really wanted to take six months off and go somewhere and do something, but I didn't really know what. At first I thought that I might like to travel the world, but I discarded that idea because I couldn't find anyone to travel with who could get away for an extended period of time. I got the idea that I might like to work abroad, so I made a list of what I was looking for in a job and it was really quite simple. I wanted to be somewhere warm and have no stress. Immediately I was hired as a destination representative for a charter travel company in Venezuela! That is another story.

Before I left for my new life I had dinner with my friends and each of them told me how proud they were of me. In their own way, they told me how they wished they had the confidence to break free and do what I was doing. But I was the one who actually did it and I was on the way to a life of adventure. My friends still live in that small town and they have had wonderful full lives, but I am happy that I took the unbeaten path. I have a lot of living left to do, but I never could have imagined what a full and wonderful life this would be.

Today I took a chance and only time will tell where this will lead. In fact, life is like a great novel and I hope mine is a great read.

Today I feel very happy! Actually, I am usually a happy person, but today I feel even more happy. I think that part of the reason that I feel so good is that I really like my job. I had been away from work for the last few days at the trade show and going back today was almost as fun as seeing my family again. I guess the people at work are my family; my work family that is. People that may never have come together otherwise can form signifigant relationships in the work place; relationships that can last a lifetime !

Another reason that I am happy today is that I am now the proud owner of an iPod. My iPod is "pink"! I am not so fond of the color as I would have preferred black or silver, but I am happy with it just the same. I have been compiling a play list for a long time in hope that one day I would have an iPod, so tonight I began to load it with the music I love! I think that this will likely be a long process, but eventually I will have it loaded up with all of my tunes.

I am also aware that we are now in September and that has always signified a high energy time for me. The reason for this I believe is rooted in the many years of being in school and September is the month that school starts back. It is the month for a fresh start, a new beginning and that is always welcome. I wish I had signed up for some classes at the community college this semester. There is so much I want to learn and somehow time got away from me and I missed registration.

It is time to think ahead to Christmas, which seems so far away, but in reality is just around the corner. Maybe this year we will go south and celebrate there. I still need to spread my Dad's ashes in the surf of Mazatlan and finally set him free. He loved the beach so it is appropriate that part of him should live there forever. I think he always loved the sea. He was a fabulous sailor and spent a lot of his life living on an island. Mazatlan brought a particular joy to him and I know that he would be happy if we gathered there and let him go. It is time!

Yes, today I am very happy!

Working hard or hardly working?

For the last few days I worked at a trade show and I must admit that I really enjoy doing this. I like people, especially talking to people and there is a variety of them here at the show. The routine is that they approach the booth and we give them information about our product. At first, I did not really know that much and there was no training per se, but after listening to my co-workers I have managed to pick up quite a bit of information and feel quite confident! I want to be the best at what I am doing so I am really trying to get people excited and make them remember our product. With such a great product it is not hard to do.

The fun thing about being away from home was it was not all work! The first night Lisa and I went to see the movie "Mama Mia" and that was a fun and memorable event. It is definitely a "chick flick" so I am glad that I saw it with her . The next night we had a fabulous dinner with some of our reps from Florida! We not only enjoyed a great meal, but had a chance to tell a few "customer" stories and have have a few laughs. The story that I told was about a lady who called to tell me she had just received her new product and when she opened the box there was an overwhelming smell. When I asked her what the smell was she told me that it smelled like "electronics"...! (It was electronics). She wanted to know if that was normal, so I told her that I would open a box, walk around the office and take a poll to see if anyone else thought that it smelled like "electronics". We all had a good laugh over that one!

It was fun to spend so much time with my co-workers as we had a chance to get to know more about each other and form a strong team bond. I was the "newbie" among us and I am grateful that they were so helpful. On another note I will always remember the pb&j sandwiches; the comfort food that got us through the show.

Next year the show will be in Atlanta. It will be interesting to see what changes will happen in the company between now and then. Who will go to the show? What new products will we have?
I will surely raise my hand to go!

Dog Beach

How wonderful that we live in a place so sophisticated that not only do we have fabulous parks for our children, but also for our dogs. Yes, we have been to the dog park, which is a favorite place of our boy Baxter. It is a social time for our pet to get out and meet other dogs and we in turn get to talk to others who are as crazy about dogs as we are.

Monday was the day we finally decided it was time to step up to "Dog Beach". Dog beach conjures up visions of dogs frolicking in the surf and that is exactly what happens. We encountered dogs of every breed, shape, size and color. Some had Frisbees, others had balls, but all of them were joyfully enjoying their beach day. All of them that is except ours! Baxter did not like the water at all and when I tried to get him to come in with me he reacted like I was taking him to a watery grave. In fact, he extended his nails and attempted to climb my leg. Such a fun idea with such a sad ending...!

Signs that Summer is Over

This has been the best summer musically in my entire life! We were able to go to 8 concerts this year and I loved every one of them. If I had to pick a favorite I would say that Broadway Show Tunes is "it" for me. Each year they feature a selection of show tunes performed by the symphony and three guest singers; usually a man and two women. This year's the concert featured vocalist Capathia Jenkins, who performed "When You're Good To Mama" from Chicago and gave a spectacular performance of "And I am Telling You" from Dream Girls. This song brought the house to their feet and I honestly can not remember the last time that I was so moved by a performance. This was followed by "Don't Cry for me Argentina" from Evita (Rachel York) and then Doug LaBrecque who we have seen several times over the years finished off the evening with Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Music of the Night" from the Phantom. For me this was the best.

My second favorite show is the season finally (which was tonight). It is the 1812 Tchaikovsky Spectacular, which featured principal Cello Yao Zhao performing Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme. This show is the symphony at it's best if you like symphony and I do and Yao Zhao is a show on his own. We are so lucky to have such talent accessible to us here.

But with this last concert, it is a signal that the summer has once again come to an end. I am so grateful for the opportunity of attending the Pops. It would not be possible for us to attend the Pops if it were not for our dear friend Paul. He has been so kind and generous to us.

Daydream Believer

Front row almost center is where we sat. I was giddy with excitement as I had waited for over 40 years for this moment! Then he appeared on stage....Davy Jones! I was completely mesmerized by this man from my past and he did not disappoint. He was just as much the heart throb now as he was in 1966. It wasn't just the way he looked, but the whole package; his British accent, his movements and the twinkle in his eye. I know I was the best chair dancer there!

We listened to him sing and tell stories for almost two hours and then he mentioned that he would be available after the show to sign autographs. Could this get any better? So I patiently waited in line with the other star-struck women to have my moment with him. I told him it was my birthday and he gave me a hug! I think he whispered in my ear something about leaving with him on the last train to Parksville. I am a daydream believer and Mrs. Davy Jones at last.

My "Special" Moment!

Thoughts at 49.99

Wow, where did this come from?

I was just trotting merrily through life and here it is . . . the big birthday! Birthday's do not normally catch my attention, but I must say that this one really has made me pause and think about where I am at in life.

No matter which way you look at it I am most certain that my life is more than half over. Although I have always viewed life like a great novel joyfully moving to the next chapter however this time has been more difficult.

A few things have been weighing heavily on my mind like recent health issues and the letter from the health insurance company telling me that my premium will go up now that I am approaching a "significant" birthday.

Life is a series of choices and I have taken a different path on many occasions, but it has made for an exciting life. Some highlights are:
at age 11 traveled to Scotland alone and stayed with family for a year
at age 12 travelled on a train from Edmonton to Vancouver with my younger sister
at age 13 tried out for the swim club (a major trauma but that is another story)
at age 16 travelled to Edmonton with an girlfriend (hitch hiking some of the way)
at age 30 moving to Mexico to build a new life
at age 42 moving to the U.S. to build a new life

I have been to Europe and major international cities such as London, New York, Paris, Rome and Mexico City. I have been to the top of the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building!

I have skied, snorkeled, swam with dolphins and yes, I did the canopy ride!

I have seen the Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac (twice), Rod Stewart (twice), Elton John (twice) Yanni and the Gypsy Kings.

I have seen, Cats, Les Miserables, Phantom (twice), Chicago, Beauty and the Beast, Jesus Christ Super Star, Mama Mia, Miss Saigon, South Pacific, Lion King, Stomp and Lord of the Dance (twice).

I have owned a '71 Datsun 510, '89 Honda Accord, Nissan 300z, '90 Ford Thunderbird and a '2000 Ford Expedition.

I cannot play a musical instrument or sing. I have taken windsurfing lessons. I have worked in an operating room and as a waitress. I love to ride my bike. I have been on a road trip from San Diego to Canada and from San Diego to Mazatlan, Mexico.

Favorite food: Presidio Pastsa - Favorite drink: Cosmo

Accomplishments:
Competed in a speech contest at age 11 and won
Member of the Victoria Figure Skating Club and got all badges in one year!
I learned a second language
Was President of the PTO (twice)
Opened my own business
Competed in an on road bicycle race!
Skied Whistler at age 44 with my kids and kept up!

I have many wonderful friends; some I have known forever like Terry, Susan, Daphne, Rolie, Jennifer and some more recently like Julie, Lisa and Gloria.

I would be nothing without the love of my family; Mother, Father, Sister and Cliff. My happiest times are with my loving husband and two wonderful sons. P.S. I love my dog Baxter.

Facebook . . . here I come!

I have just discovered Facebook. Who knew that this is where all my old friends are hanging out? I have been trying to "socially network" in all the wrong places. Of course, I love it and see why kids get addicted to MYSPACE and FACEBOOK. Since signing up I too have been obsessively checking my account to see what messages may have been sent my way. When I am not doing that I am aimlessly searching up peoples names that randomly come to mind. Who knows who I will find and if they will want to be my friend.

When I was socially networking one of my friends told me to watch out for stalkers! Yikes, that's all I need some stalker wierdo checking me out . . . I have enough of that in real life without getting "cyber stalkers" after me. But what she actually was referring to was "old friend stalkers" who once they find you won't leave you alone! Hmmm, I wonder if she was giving me the heads up on what I might become! How horrible would it be to be ignored by my cyber friends because I have become too friendly and they just want to shake me off! I guess I will have to pace myself and set some ground rules. I may need to search up "social network etiquette" just to be sure that I do not cross the line. At any rate, I am excited about this new outlet and hope to find lots of cyber friends. Hopefully, this will make up for my lack of "real" friends.

I saw the light

I started my blog to chronicle my life, the good bad and the weird. So far everything on my blog has been on the "good" side, because life is basically good right now, however that is about to change with the following. I will say that if I heard this from someone else, I probably would take it with a grain of salt, but since this happened to me I wanted to blog about it and see what you think. I will classify that as weird . . .

I really did not want my Mother thinking that all you had to do was "meditate" and you could communicate with the dead, so I immediately discredited the recent news that my aunt had "heard" from my deceased dad. The story goes that she had been in deep meditation and that she heard my dad talking to her. As much as I would have loved that to be true, common sense would not allow me to buy into the idea and especially not my mother. After all, she was just putting her life back together after my father's passing and I did not want her to relapse, especially since we had focused on the wonderful years of living she had ahead. Taking up meditation so that she could communicate with dear ol' dad was not what we wanted for her.

With this in mind, you can imagine how surprised I was at the sequence of events that happened just a couple of days later. It was Friday night and my husband, 13 year old son and myself were watching TV. Our older son was out for the evening and I was anxious about him coming home on time, so I glanced at the clock and it happened to be 11:11. I have no idea where this came from, but our boys have a thing that if you glance at the clock and it is 11:11 you get to make a wish. I made my wish and finished it off with a comment to my dad that went something like, "I don't need wishes with you watching over us". I often speak to my dad in my head of course so there was nothing strange about that, however exactly seven minutes later the ceiling light above where we were sitting turned on by itself. Yes, turned on by itself! As we were looking around at each other in surprise and wondering how this happened, my son's phone began to ring. The ring tone was a laughing tone, so it made it sound like someone was laughing. So the light turned on by itself and the laughter broke the silence . . . ! WEIRD !

I do not know how this happened as there is no explanation of how a light turns on by itself or a phone rings (laughing) with no one on the other end. But somehow I think that my Dad might be closer than we think. Perhaps by turning on the light he was telling me to "see the light". Then he was laughing like hell as we sat there looking like scardy cats trying to figure it out.

Phantom of the Opera

As parents we are charged with educating our children in all aspects of life including cultural education. Although they had just seen "Chicago" on Broadway last month, yes in New York, we felt that the Phantom of the Opera is the finest production of our time, so they should see it with us.

The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the 1976 musical, which in turn was based on the book written by the French novelist Gaston Leroux. The musical focuses on a beautiful soprano, Christine Daae, who becomes the obsession of a mysterious, disfigured musical genius known as "The Phantom of the Opera", who terrorizes the Paris Opera House.

It is now the second-longest-running West End musical of all time, behind Les Miserables and the longest-running Broadway musical of all time, breaking the record held by Lloyd Webber's Cats on January 9, 2006. The musical won both the Olivier Award and Tony Award as the best musical in its debut years on the West End and Broadway.

We figured seeing this would give them an idea of what a "great" show looked like. So last night we headed off to see the Phantom and we were not disappointed. We sat mesmerized as the story unfolded. For me personally I enjoyed it even more this time (2nd time) as I already knew the plot and most of the songs.

We left the theater feeling very satisfied and as a parent, I felt we had educated them well in musical theater.

They came here with a dream!

It was like watching a movie only this was real life. When I looked out my office window I saw a young woman laying face down in the parking lot. She had been the driver of the van, but was now handcuffed with a border patrol officer standing nearby. One of the many officers was taking photographs in and around a white van, which had two border patrol vehicles parked behind it and several others nearby. By the look of it the van had ended up here after being followed or perhaps chased into our parking lot. The border patrol vehicles still had their emergency lights flashing.

Soon after the photographs were taken the agents began to escort people one by one from the van; fourteen in all! Two of them were children; a young girl and boy and also a teenage girl. They were with a young woman who may have been their mother. The rest of the detainees were young men. They all looked like they were from the central part of Mexico. Twigs and bits of plant material on their clothing indicated that they had likely spent at least one night sleeping outside. They all looked scared, but particularly the children who were sobbing as the young mother tried to console them. The woman and children were separated from the men and sat in the parking lot. A shawl was draped over the children's faces shielding them not only from the hot sun, but from the sight of their companions being patted down and searched. Some of them had blankets in their backpacks, so perhaps they had been prepared for the cold desert nights. Next they were put in the border patrol trucks; men in one and the woman and children in another. The driver of the white van was put in an unmarked SUV and soon after they all drove away.

Where had these people come from and where were they going? Even although they came here illegally, it was so sad to see where they ended up. Most certainly each of them had a story and that story ended in a dream shattered. Perhaps the young mother was supposed to meet up with the father of her children. Perhaps another had a sick family member on this side of the border and they just needed to get to them before it was too late. Maybe they had all travelled for days and were hungry and tired

I am sure that whatever the circumstance they all had paid a great price; monetarily, physically and emotionally. I can't help but think of those young children with tears in their eyes. Do they even know that they were victims of human trafficking; the "Coyotes"? What will become of these people as they are released into Tijuana with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.? How will they get home or will they? And what about the driver who looked like a young mother herself? How did she come to be here? Was it motivated by greed or does she have a habit? Maybe she was at the point of losing her home like so many people in this area and thought she could make a quick buck.

We will never know the answers to theses questions, but I know that they all came here with a dream to leave what they had behind and risk everything for a chance at a brighter future. As I sit on my ever so comfy sofa tonight I think of not just these people, but all of the people who everyday risk it all to come to America, "land of the free". Tonight I am especially grateful for the wonderful life I have.

Yes, it was like watching a movie, but a movie with a very sad ending!


People emerging from the van.


The driver . . . yes, it's a woman!


A young mother, two small children and a
teenage girl sit patiently on the pavement.


The Border Patrol loading the van with the detainees.

New York, New York

It had been a couple of years since we had had a family vacation and what a vacation this was. We flew almost 6 hours to get to the Big Apple. We arrived in the late afternoon and before we knew it the airport taxi was taking us through Times Square. It was sensory overload (in a good way) of people, sights and lights. We just passed through the bustling area and got a taste of it, but the excitement left us wanting more. It was July 4th, 2008 and there would be no fireworks for us due to the low cloud cover and rainfall, but that did not put a damper on our excitement.

For the next few days we were typical tourists, fortunately we hooked up with a Gray Line 72 hours "Hop on Hop Off" tour. It was a perfect way to see this spectacular city as we could spend as much time in any one area as we liked and when ready to move on another bus would come along and take us to the next place of interest. Some of the places we saw were:

The Empire State building
Ground Zero (WTC)
The Statue of Liberty
Ellis Island
Times Square
Herald Square
The Theater District
China Town
The Plaza Hotel
Radio City
Lots of Yellow Taxis
Wall Street
Juniors

Yes, we packed a lot into those few days including seeing the Broadway play "Chicago", taking a stroll through Central Park and walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. Speaking of bridges, our tour guide told us an easy way to remember the name of the three bridges. He said to think BMW: Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg.

On the Monday, we rented a small SUV and headed south out of town. Our destination was Washington, DC however we had a stop over in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to check out the Liberty Bell and Liberty Square, where Thomas Jefferson signed the Declaration of Independence.

Shortly after leaving Philly, we saw a road sign that read "Johns Hopkins" and with two lacrosse players in the car we decided that we could not pass up the opportunity to visit this famous lacrosse school, so we pulled in for the evening and headed to Johns Hopkins the next morning. Not only did we get to see a great school, but we also came upon the U.S. Lacrosse Association Head Quarters, which had an interesting lacrosse museum that we spent some time in.

Washington, DC was our next stop where we saw the White House, the Washington Monument, the Capital Building, the World War Two Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. The Lincoln Memorial was the most spectacular as we were able to stand on the exact spot as Martin Luther King did when he delivered his famous speech. Also from that exact spot you can see the fountain, War Memorial, Washington Memorial and the Capital Building. We drove completely around the Pentagon and managed to see the wall that was affected by 9-11 before heading out of town.

Dartmouth in Hanover, NH was our next destination, but we had a stop over in New Haven, Connecticut to tour Yale. The presentation at the historic university was so compelling that not only Alex, but all of us were ready to apply. We really were impressed with the organization and tradition offered here. Dartmouth was also impressive! Established in 1762, the town of Hanover is built around the college. We noticed that even a lot of the houses were painted in the school colors of white and green. Hanover reminded us a lot of Canada with its fresh air, greenery and we loved the quaintness of this small town.

Watching Alex play lacrosse was a big plus as the level of play at this Elite camp was above anything we had ever seen. We were impressed with how clean cut and tidy the boys were. There we no tats or piercings here. The fact that he got to stay in the college dorm was another plus as he got to have the college experience so to speak.

Boston was our next stop. Unfortunately, we did not make a connection with this city. Maybe by this stage of the trip we just had had enough, but things just did not click for us here. We drove around and saw the sights then unanimously decided to head back to NY.

Arriving back in NY we once again were drawn to Times Square. We really wanted to go to the Empire State Building as when we were in New York at the beginning of the trip, we had light rain and clouds, so we were unable to go to the top. The Empire State Building is once again the tallest building in NY after 9-11 destroyed the twin towers. Our timing was perfectthis time around as when we began the assent it was daylight, but the sunset while on the 86th floor, so we were able to see the spectacular sights of NY city at night. It was a sight to remember for the rest of our lives!

We had completed 10 days of exquisite family time and all too soon we were on our way home. We had made wonderful memories of a carefree time in our lives when we were blessed with health, happiness and a love of each other.

A Boy after my own heart

My baby boy was going to high school. It was his first day and I could hardly wait to find out how it went and when the after school phone call never came, I called our older son, a senior at the same school to find out what was up. Much to my horror, he told me that the school was under "lockdown". The phone calls between parents began and we tried to figure out what was going on inside the school. The kids had no information other than that they were not able to leave their classrooms. We found out that there were about 10 police cars surrounding the school, helicopters in the sky and the police were seen by students with their guns pulled moving around outside the classrooms. As it turns out, there was no danger and the students were able to leave the campus about 1-1/2 hours after school normally gets out. This hour and a half was very tense for me as I was at work and could only get information from my computer and other parents. I couldn't wait to get home to comfort my young son. I was worried about the trauma he might have suffered and approached the "lockdown" subject with caution. I asked him how he felt being kept in the classroom and if he was worried. He replied that he was worried. I was happy that he was able to open up and talk about the situation, so I probed and asked him what he was worried about. He replied that he was worried about when he would get to eat next! Yes, that's right, he was worried about his next meal. Yep, he's my son, a boy after my own heart!