Apps

I'm not one to seek out the newest or coolest apps for my iPhone, but a friend recently showed me a really cool app for stitching photos together to form panoramic pictures.  My first attempt at using the app was at a women's NBA basketball game:

While this picture captures the atmosphere in an arena, all the movement going on caused my friend's head to look a bit Picasso like.  After more practice stitching photos, however, I was able to capture this pretty awesome picture of the Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth:

Special thanks to Fred for showing me this cool app!  I'm lovin' it (that's a shout out to the McDonald's where I'm typing this)!

Moving - Part 1

Chris and I are in the process of moving.  The first step in our move was finding a new place to move to.  A few weeks ago, we made a last minute trip to the Valley, our future home, to look at housing options.  Because the trip was last minute, we had no choice but to take Doug with us.

We left our apartment early in the morning.  Doug was very excited when I asked him if he wanted to go for a ride as we were preparing to leave.  Doug was also very excited to be in the car with us as we traveled over 200 miles to our destination.  Doug was even more excited once we arrived in the Valley and stopped at a park to play ball.  Doug was not so happy, however, when we left him in the car as we began looking for our new home.  At first, Doug cried as we walked away from the car without him.  After a couple of stops, he realized what was going on and tried with all his might to sneak out of the car as we shut the doors.   I felt sorry for Doug, but we always made sure to crack the car windows, park in the shade, keep our stops as short as possible, and give Doug plenty of time between stops to recover from the increased anxiety he appeared to be experiencing.

Toward the end of our house hunting day, we stopped at a house and left Doug in the car.  I cracked my window and squeezed out my door while holding Doug at bay.  Chris and I entered the house with our real estate agent and began looking at the living space on the main floor.  After three or four minutes, we heard the front door open.  Chris, the real estate agent, and myself turned around at the same moment and were surprised to see the door opening by itself.  When we looked down, we saw Doug running toward us with his ears back, tongue out, and whole body wagging as if to say, "Hey guys, you forgot me in the car but aren't you proud of me for finding you."  Chris and I looked at our real estate agent in disbelief and then walked to the car.  The car doors were securely shut.  That's when we noticed the smear marks on the passenger side window likely caused by dog paws and a wet nose, and we realized that Doug squeezed his way through the crack in the passenger side window.  I imagine it looked something like this picture I took one time while I pumped gas, only with a much smaller crack in the window:

Silly Doug.  Next time we'll plan better and leave you at doggy day care.  

More Shenanigans

One of the seventh-grade pathfinders I work with broke his arm recently.  I asked him what happened the first time I saw his arm wrapped in bandages and a sling.  He glanced at me and looked down at his arm sheepishly.  Then, without a grin or any hesitation, he told me that he tried to arm wrestle Chuck Norris.  Clever Fletcher, very clever.  

Sabbath Shenanigans

Today was a great day for a picnic with the furry friend.

After the picnic, we ran into this constipated-looking Scally Wompus! 

Bad Dougie

Doug, my dog, is not allowed on the furniture.  Lately, however, he has realized that no one will punish him if he climbs on the couch after Chris and I leave for the day.  Unfortunately, he has not realized that   certain items lazily left on the couch are clear and convincing evidence of his secret behavior:

Bad Doug!  Go sit in time-out!

Surprise! It's a Meal!

I recently went to my first baby shower hosted at a Spanish church.  I'm accustomed to finger food and cake at a baby shower, so I was shocked when the hostess served everyone this:

Everyone else at the shower acted like a full meal was normal and expected at a baby shower, that is everyone except for myself and the only other blonde woman present.  For us, the meal was a delicious surprise.

Tiny Baby

Last month I saw giant elephants walking on the access road. This month, I found a tiny baby squirrel laying in the middle of a street in my neighborhood. I wonder what animal encounter next month will bring?  Please, no snakes.  

AutoMech

Chris and I went to a car museum.  There were lots of cars, and I took my time examining them until I realized that I was on one of four levels.  The museum had A LOT of cars, and one really cool pegasus.

Chris was particularly interested in the race car, probably because race car driver is his dream job, or maybe because he was examining the wall mounting system.

After looking at so many cars, I learned that old cars have cool details - lights that resemble lamps or eyes, curves galore, and tons of chrome.  I like old cars.

I also learned that the first electric cars were invented in the early 1900's and were considered vehicles for women and doctors.  They had feminine details like lace curtains and a flower vase.  I don't know why electric cars weren't popularized until the Prius, or why doctors drove feminine cars in the early 1900's.

While in the museum, I finally found a Ferrari that I would drive.  I never really like Ferraris before visiting the museum.  I think the problem was that I never saw multiple Ferraris lined up together. 

Chris found a model of his very first car.  Unfortunately, we didn't find the car he drove when I met him.  I guess a multicolored Chevy Cavalier without heating is not classic . . . yet.

Seaside

My cousin Seth called this a pigeon brothel.   I like it, so I must like pigeon brothels. 

Family Vacation

My dad's family reunited in the Seattle area last week.   My dad's family last gathered in July of 2000.

Twelve years later, our outward appearances had changed a lot!

One highlight of the reunion was a family beach walk on Marrowstone Island.  My uncle stuck his hands into the tide pools and pulled out all kinds of sea creatures.  We saw sea anemone, star fish, crabs, sea roaches, and lots of sand dollars.

While on the beach we met a very friendly little boy who told us that he had collected over 1,000 golf balls on the beach, that his dog saved him after a bicycle accident, and that he sells marshmallow roasters that he makes out of golf clubs and forks.  While shopping downtown later that day, I found this sign next to some handsomely crafted marshmallow roasters.  Maybe that little boy wasn't telling me tall tales after all.

Another highlight of the reunion was my great grandmother's memorial service, during which family members recalled funny and heartwarming stories about my great grandmother's 99 year life.  After the memorial service, my cousins and I played dodgeball in the church gym.  My dad even joined in the game, and I saw him run for the first time in years.  I think my great grandma would be happy that her family had so much fun at her memorial service.

On Saturday night, our final evening together, my cousins and I competed in a photo scavenger hunt.  When we returned from the scavenger hunt with nothing but our cameras, my grandpa told us that people didn't return from a scavenger hunt empty-handed in his day. We had to explain that our loot was digital.  After 45 minutes of heated judging by the "adults," my grandpa retreated to his office to tally the scores with his calculator.

When grandpa returned, everyone looked at him in anticipation.  With a captive audience, Grandpa paused and then said, "Now, I have just one more question..."  Grandpa!  He finally determined that my team lost the scavenger hunt by a mere 150 points.  

Overall, it was a very good family vacation.  My cousins are cool, and I hope that we don't wait another twelve years to reunite again.  

Back to the Basics

This weekend I learned how to start a fire with a magnifying glass.  It was a good weekend.

Cave Things

I went to Natural Bridge Caverns.  The cave formations at Natural Bridge Caverns were very similar to the formations I saw in Carlsbad Caverns a couple of years ago.  The theme in both caves? Wet, slimy, and lumpy.

For example, here is a cave formation in Natural Bridge Caverns:

And here is a cave formation in Carlsbad Caverns:

Natural Bridge Caverns:

Carlsbad Caverns:

The biggest difference between the two caves is the lighting, which of course was added by man.

Until a new cave can promise me something other than wet, slimy, and lumpy, I think I've seen my quota of cave things for one life.  

Urban Safari

Just another day waiting to enter the highway.  

I always yield to animals that can crush my car if provoked.  

Pathfinders

"In the end, it's not the years in your life that counts. It's the life in your years."

For one hour every wednesday, we met in a small room.  We learned about missionaries, worms, bible concordances, community outreach, snakes, pine cars, the books of the bible, plaster craft, soap carving, and much more.  

On the weekends, we camped.  Our last campout was a four day, three night trip with 3,000 other Pathfinders from all over Texas.  Here's what 3,000 campers look like:

Two of the teenage girls in our Pathfinder club rode in the car with Chris and I to and from the campout.  The highlight of the car ride consisted of a conversation that went as follows after one of the teenage girls made a comment about something obvious:

Teenage girl one: "biviously!"

Teenage girl two: "You always say biviously to me.  You don't even know what it means."

Teenage girl one: "I do too."

Me: "What does biviously mean?"

Teenage girl one: "It means...like...you know, when... I can google it...how do you spell biviously?"

Teenage girl two: "I think it starts with a b."

Teenage girl one: "No, I think it starts with an a. A-biviously."

Kim:  "Chris, these girls obviously do not know how to spell biviously."

With conversations like this, the car ride passed quickly.

After arriving at the campsite, we found our club camped out right next to the only shower facilities for 3,000 people.  At first, our kids were excited by the proximity to the showers.  When long, noisy lines of anxious campers formed the next morning at 3:45, the excitement was gone.  Tent walls are less than sound proof, which meant that we all woke up by 4:00 a.m. that morning.  Luckily, the rest of the weekend was so exhausting that few people had the energy necessary to stand in the shower line at 4:00 a.m.

The actual shower facilities were four truck trailers fitted with narrow shower stalls - 24 stalls to be exact.  Simple math reveals that 24 showers + 3,000 people = very short showers.  As I waited in line for my first shower, I was disturbed by the first rule on the list of rules outside each shower truck:  "Don't poop in the shower."  That rule existed only because someone pooped in the shower in the past.  I was so happy that I did not find anything brown when it was my turn to shower, but I did not like the empty bottle of poison ivy scrub on the shower shelf.  This was "biviously" left behind by some itchy, rash covered person who showered before me.  During that shower, I concentrated on not rubbing my bare skin on any of the shower walls.  

Our waking time during the campout was spent running between activities, preparing food, and convincing our kids that it was time to wake up/go to bed.  One night, I ate s'mores and played hide and seek in the dark.  One afternoon, we caught one of our boys in the girls tent.  Luckily, he was just helping the girls do their hair.  Seriously.  On Saturday, we emerged from our tents and three minute showers in dress pants and pressed shirts.  

By day four of our campout, I was exhausted.  I asked one of the kids if he was ready to go home. He was not, because he loves Pathfinders.  And despite my exhaustion after the campouts, weekly meetings, and everything in between, I love Pathfinders too because it means that these awesome kids comprised a large portion of the life in my year:

(Top: Taje, Matt, Anton, Brandon, Sayd; Bottom: Cameron, Tanya, Claudia, Rehanna)

Almost 100

My great grandmother passed away this month.  She was 99 years old and just weeks shy of her 100th birthday. 

My great grandmother told me that this is an awful picture of herself.  Later, she proved to me that she could still use an ab roller at 97 years old.  Any 90+ year old woman who can use an ab roller is beautiful to me.    

Thirty

Last month I was 29.  This month I'm 30.  

When you turn 30, special things happen.  Fresh flowers are the first thing you see when you wake up. 

Then, as you are leaving for work, you find extra sparkle casually waiting for you on your ring holder.

And after work, you are surprised with dinner on a boat with friends and family while floating the River Walk.

Turning 30 is superb, especially when you have a superb 30-something husband.  

DougArt

My friend and I went to a paint-your-pet painting class.  We did alright for a couple of attorneys.

One Year of Doug

Immediately after Chris and I adopted Doug, we took him to PetSmart.  For the first 30 minutes, he followed us around with a defeated look - head low, ears back, tail straight down.  Chris wondered if Doug would always be so boring. Then Doug saw a basket of tennis balls.

Doug's love for a ball is something you must observe to understand.  He will ignore all pain for a ball.  He will jump off a four foot porch for a ball.  He will try to crawl out a second floor window to retrieve a ball.  He will come to your house, disappear for three or four minutes, and then reappear with a ball in his mouth. He will play ball for six hours straight.  When a ball is out, Doug cannot relax.  Doug with a ball is the definition of obsessive compulsive behavior.  

Doug joined the Sias house one year ago.  In that time, I estimate that Chris and I have taken Doug to the park to play ball about twice a week.  I would estimate that each time he plays ball, he fetches and returns the ball at least 30 times.  That means that between Chris and I, we have thrown his ball over three thousand times during the past year, a very conservative estimate in my opinion.  

The life expectancy for a Jack Russell Terrier is 13 to 16 years, which means that Chris and I may very well play ball with Doug for another 11 to 14 years.  Over that time, we will likely throw Doug's ball 34,000 to 43,000 times.  I am happy to celebrate Doug's one year anniversary as a Sias, but thinking about the years to come makes my arm hurt.  

Fiesta!

I survived my second Fiesta, an annual eleven day celebration in San Antonio in honor of the Alamo.  Fiesta highlights this year include the half-taxi, half-cop vehicle parked outside NIOSA (Night in Old San Antonio).

Also a spectacle was the parking lot at my office one afternoon. The DJ under the stars and stripes tent started the party at two o'clock.  By the time I left work at five, the party included a limo.  

The King William Parade and King William Fair remains my favorite Fiesta event.  Last year at the King William Fair, Chris played a basketball shooting game and won a terribly tacky stuffed dog wearing Mexican flag shorts.

This year, Chris played the same game and won a shark wearing a red bandana.  

After the shark attacked Chris,

he traded it for two tacos.  

 Viva Fiesta!

Luminaria

Luminaria.  My favorite San Antonio event.