This afternoon Alex, Beth and Hannah went to spend some time with my
sister, Jeanne, her eldest son, Jordan, and Jeanne's grandson, Cole.  I
decided to horn in for a few minutes so as to take a few pix.  ;^p

Jeanne has a couple of dogs, who were about as eager to make Hannah's acquaintance as were our cats, Boots and Zeus:

When I got there Cole was still napping, so Hannah was playing with his toys; tops with her was this hidey-house thing:

She liked it so much she insisted Mama try it, too:

(Yeah, the date's still wrong on the camera.)  At last Cole awoke and the two cousins got their first glimpse of each other:

They were very excited. 

I suppose it's barely possible they were weary of having flashes of
light going off in their faces, seeing as how both Jeanne and Beth were
taking pictures at the same time. 

Charles has left for Lubbock for a couple of days, intent upon visiting
some of his friends still at Tech; he's scheduled to return home by
12:30 or 1:00 on Sunday afternoon unless the Skylark gives him any
trouble, in which event he's promised faithfully to come back on
Saturday.

Nothing is to be permitted to mess up the family photo on Sunday afternoon! 

Fine.  If that's the way Xanga's gonna be, I'll just use links to the photos instead.  Last night the Ivys got together at Kirstin's house for pizza, wings and salad (the brownie trifle, though made, wound up being left home accidentally).  Uncle Charles is always a hit with the wee ones, and Hannah was no exception, being delighted to be "bootie bumped" down the stairs.  She wanted it over and over again:

Here's Alex and Hannah chatting with Jessica and Charles:

In the breakfast area were Beth, Kirstin holding Bryson, Don, and Jonathan giving his mother pointed looks, intended to demonstrate disapproval of her photographic activity.  Ha!  I changed your diapers, boy.  Don't try to intimidate me. 

Don and Jessica in the kitchen:

We didn't stay long, as the kiddos had school this morning; I loved this shot of Don soliciting a hug from Bethie:

It was a terrific evening!  Thanks, Kirstin and Matt, for letting us all descend upon y'all.  ;^)

Is anyone else having trouble with uploading pix to Xanga?  Once they've uploaded the "upload" area goes blank and if I attempt to "choose" photos, a little box pops up yattering about Windows Explorer and "Object Expected/STRING TO EVAL:LoadPhotoStripComplete()".

Started last night and happens no matter which browser I use (IE7 or Firefox) or which computer.  It's very annoying, that's for sure. 

I do such dumb things sometimes.  

The current Evidence of Innate Stupidity is how I've managed to lose a DVD checked out from the library and now overdue by NINE days. 

I recalled checking it out, once the librarian told me that's what was overdue (I couldn't think of a thing, not a thing, as all my library books aren't due back yet), but have absolutely no recollection of what happened to it after that.  None.  Don't recall putting it anywhere, much less ever watching it.

Have looked around, but even after getting ready for vacation and Alex and Beth and Charles' coming, I've never run across it.

It's vanished, that's all.  Vanished. 

[scowling]  Mercy Maud, what's it take to get some comments around here?

Y'all are a tough crowd. 

Lemme see.....hmmmm......well, how's this?  On September 3, just a few days after Alex arrives in Yokosuka, he and the 7th Fleet Band will play with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.  Is that cool or what? 

Speaking of Alex, he's set up a Xanga for himself, so he can blog about living and working in Japan.  It's down there in the Subscription links:  Alex_Z_Ivy, which was a jokey name for him back in high school.  So far it's plain, but I've sent him some URL's for tuba background, etc. Hopefully it'll perk up soon (that's by way of being a hint, Alexander  ).

The unusual heat wave's back has finally broken, as today's high is forecast to be 96° with a 40% chance of rain.  Yesterday there were actually a few drops seen around here, causing Alex, Beth, Dmitry, Taylor and I to rush outside to experience the strange weather for ourselves.  ;^)

So far Charles is holding to his avowed determination to wear his uniform wherever he goes.  We tend to think he's lost his mind, but whatever floats his boat (you should excuse the expression, Charles). 

This evening the Ivys will gather for pizza, wings and brownie trifle at Kirstin's home.  It'll be lovely having all my chicks together! 

Just been hanging out, for the most part.  The other night, Alex helped
Dmitry with his math homework (which was a real godsend, as Don wasn't here and
I hadn't a clue what to do):

 

This morning Kirstin and her boys dropped by for a brief visit; it was
Kirstin's first chance to see Charles since January.  Below is Uncle Alex
demonstrating his skill (using the term loosely) at rotating a basketball on his
head.  I suppose one never knows when such an ability might come in
handy.  ;^) )

 

Here he rotated it for about half a second on Benjamin's head:

 

It was a lot of fun, filled with jollity and jokes. 

 

 

I tried to take Alex, Beth and Hannah swimming up at Rivercrest, but unfortunately the pool was closed.  Drat.  So instead Hannah played a bit on that same
sprinkler-mat her cousins had last month:

 

This afternoon Matt sent me the following photos, taken on July 28th at the
Ranger game.  Turns out Bethie had won a drawing (her Daddy entered her name)
and darned if she didn't win a chance to be the MacDonalds' Junior Broadcaster
for an inning. 

How accurate 'Junior Broadcaster' is, considering she wasn't permitted to
actually say anything, I don't know, but that's the world of sports for
you....makes no sense whatsoever.  According to Matt: 

"In addition to tickets and parking to a game, we were
escorted up the press elevator at Ameriquest Field and brought into the KRLD
broadcast booth where we were introduced to Eric Nadel and his broadcast
partner, Victor Rojas.  Bethany was seated between the two broadcasters as they
broadcast the game.  We stayed in the booth for an inning, which sadly, was very
long because the KC Royals extended their lead for about 30 minutes.  Like I
said, she was not allowed to speak, nor did the broadcasters really have much to
say to us; broadcasting the game to their total, undivided attention.  Bethany
and I shook their hands; I got a couple of autographs; then we were escorted out
of the booth.  They were super nice and it was a great experience."

Eventually Matt should receive official photos and an
audio recording (presumably of them introducing Bethany) from KRLD but for now
here are the pictures he took (or had taken with his camera):

That's Matt and Bethany with...let me see now....Eric Nadel, and below is Bethany with the other guy, Viktor Rojas:

Surprising number of people at the game, considering the Rangers' unwavering tradition of folding like a bad hand of poker right when the season gets intense.  (Me?  Tweak my son's-in-law nose?  Perish the thought.  )

And here's one of both Bethany and Benjamin:

Pretty neat, all in all!  I'm looking forward to seeing the Official Photos of the event, and hearing Bethany's name mentioned in the audio. 

This evening Mom and Dad treated Don, Alex, Beth, Charles, Dmitry and me to the Mexican buffet at the club:

 

Charles, regrettably, has decided his mother's had sufficient opportunity to take his picture:

 

Mom, Beth and Hannah:

 

Earlier in the afternoon Jonathan came over to visit:

 

It was a good afternoon, with extreme silliness:

    

 

---

Dmitry mayn't be scholastically gifted, but he has a native cleverness that's amusing.  His English teacher told me this story from last week:

She'd been giving a lesson on abstract versus concrete nouns, explaining that the latter are those capable of being touched, held, put in a box, sold on eBay, etc.  To hammer home the definitions she started to toss out examples, calling upon the students to determine which type of noun it was....abstract or concrete.

"Democracy," she said, then pointed to Dmitry.

"Concrete" came his response, to her dismay.

"Concrete?" she asked.  "Dmitry, how can democracy be put in a box, for heaven's sake?"

To which he replied, "Easy.  Take a piece of paper, write 'democracy' on it, then put the paper in a box."

She said she was torn between hugging him and slapping him upside the head. 

The new sanctuary at Christ Chapel, that is.  Alex was in the orchestra, while Don, Beth, Charles, Dmitry and I sat up in the balcony; here's a picture of the orchestra/choir, and of the inside of the church:

 

 

I was quite pleased to see there are pews instead of theatre-type chairs.  Granted, the latter are more comfortable, but pews shriek "church".  The following two photos are of the areas outside the actual sanctuary:

 

 

Because of the increased size of the sanctuary the church dropped down to two morning services from three, but I'm not sure how we'll that's going to work, based upon the number of cars parking on the streets in front of the neighbors' houses instead of in the multiple parking lots.  Doubtless the church office will be receiving complaints tomorrow morning, and who shall blame them?  Cars choking the street is no fun, even on Sunday morning. 

Congratulations to Dan!  This evening was his graduation from homeschool'd high school!  

Don, Alex, Beth, Dmitry, Hannah and I were present - to a greater or lesser degree (meaning there were so many people only Don and I were actually inside the Dalworthington Gardens City Hall to hear the speeches and see Dan receive his diploma).

And I surely hope Kathy's photos turned out well, as I managed to put the wrong date on mine!  Can you believe I was such a dunderhead?  Was so anxious to not have the battery go down that I went ahead and recharged it, which always necessitates resetting the date.  Except for some idiotic reason I stopped at "18" instead of "19." 

So don't be perplexed by the date....it's wrong.  

While waiting for the ceremony to begin, I decided to take a quick photo of Don and the others in the back:



Alex adds a touch of elegance to every occasion, you can see.  He do be a stinker-binker.

Here is Laura's mother, Carolyn, with two of her grandsons, Lucas and Daniel:



Speaking of Lucas, he kindly decided to help his Papa with the ceremony:



We heard lovely speeches by various people who had mentored and helped Dan these past three years, and at last he himself took the podium, resplendent in his cap and gown:



He gave a terrific speech, which did double duty as his speech final. 



Here his mother, Laura, is helping him with his tassel as his father, Bill, prepares to present the diploma:



And finally the coveted, hard-won diploma is received!

 

Dan with Bill and Laura:

 

And him with those who took part in the ceremony:

 

It was a great graduation, honoring a great graduate!  Congratulations and God bless, Dan....we're all so proud.   

Yes, we are an American family.  Eleven o'clock at night and here we are....

I'm the old-fashioned one sitting at a desktop computer while taking the photo.

Beth, partially hidden by Charles, is doing her nightly Bible study.

Good on her.