Okay, I know Bethany and Benjamin are already back at school, and the homeschoolers are up and running, but Dmitry and his friends don't start until Monday the 27th.  Tonight was the school's open house, which was pretty much a waste of time, unkind though it might be of me to say.  Dmitry's got the same homeroom teacher he had last year - to his chagrin - so he'll be right back in the same area. 

He mostly went so he could see Ravinn, who was supposed to have been on the Galveston trip only her mother got fritzed out by the hurricane and at the last minute forbade her to go.  Of course, the hurricane avoided Texas entirely, instead concentrating on Mexico.  That's the way it goes!  Here's a photo I snagged with my cell phone camera of Ravinn, Dmitry, and Jason:

Darn cell phone camera has a nasty tendency to "smear" the photo unless both the subject(s) and I hold perfectly still for a few seconds.  It's quite disappointing, as the higher-pixel camera was one of the primary reasons for my choosing that particular model. 

Again, such is life, I suppose.  Dmitry had a super time on the trip, bringing me a beautiful coffee mug and a whale figurine, which might sound hokey but it's not....it's small and lovely.  He went fishing three times, catching eight fish (assuming a crab counts as a fish, but not counting the sea weed that would occasionally put up quite the fight) altogether.  He tried oysters at a restaurant and to say he was unimpressed is a serious understatement.  He hated 'em.  Loved the fish, etc. but not the oysters.  NASA was fun, though crowded and with a lot of stairs.  Apparently he thought of me while there, thinking "Mom would hate this!"

I guess it doesn't matter so much what he's thinking about me so long as he is. 

This blew me away! I'm doing well to link thumbs and make a birdie, but just see what this guy does with shadow puppetry:

Dmitry comes home later today, woo-hoo! I've missed him, as this is the longest we've been apart since his adoption. I guess I really should get all the stuff out of his room - and especially the stuff on his bed - that we dumped in it on Sunday after he left, preparing for the shower. ;^)

They're down at the bottom, right in front of the sign:

He's wearing white so is fairly easy to spot; Carolyn's right at the corner of the sign.  Pretty neat huh?

To put 'em in perspective, here's a sky shot, courtesy of Google Earth:

One can easily spot the sign in front of which they were standing.

I'm telling you, the internet is so cool!  

The Casa del Mar's webcam's been stuck since last Wednesday, but it's working a treat now, updating every six seconds or so.  I took a couple of photos, using both my cell phone (sent a picture to Dmitry, urging him to call me next time they walk to the beach so I can try to snap them on the webcam; he text'd back that they're shopping right now) and screen capture:

The above is via cell phone, and here's the screen captured:

It'd be neat if Dmitry and Carolyn would call me from the corner there across from the sign, wouldn't it?  They could have their photo taken in Galveston by someone in Fort Worth! 

This is Terry Fator, from Mesquite, Texas (on the east side of Dallas, and where Beth's father lives, AAMOF), who is a simply phenomenal ventriloquist:

He won, BTW. ;^)

He called in response to my two text messages, the last of which asked whether he'd been eaten by a shark or something.

No, no....he's safe, he assured me. 

They went to Houston and toured NASA today.  Very cool, he had a great time. 

Of course, would he have had such nifty time if Don and I had hauled him down there, instead of Carolyn and her parents?  I'm guessing not.  

And would be more so if I could get the dumb thing to write in text boxes other than WordPad, etc.  What I'm referring to is my new computer's ability to respond to speech commands.  It does a dandy job of opening links, going to programs, etc. all at my voice command, but so far I've been unable to get it to type Yahoo! mail messages, discussion board posts, or this blog entry.

Still, it's a nifty ability, and should take a little of the load off my wrist and fingers, which tend to ache sometimes from the mouse. 

Mom, did you know your new Vista computer could do that?  Just get a microphone and you'll be on your way.  It recommends a headset, which I don't have....I just have a desktop microphone. Still, it works.

Is this what they mean?

It's a look.  I guess.

Is it a coincidence that none of these dogs are German shepherds or pit bulls?

I think not.

Look what Dmitry emailed to me:

He's been night fishing, bought me a small present which he won't tell me what it is, and is in general having a super time.