Sneak Peek

Wayne, Chris and I spent the day in Redmond yesterday previewing Halo 3: ODST, an Xbox game that comes out September 22. Actually, most of the time was spent waiting, collecting cool swag, and seeing Major Nelson, the primary spokes person for Xbox LIVE. Chris also got the chance to talk with developers and staff from Bungie, the company that made the Halo franchise. CJ even saw a classmate from his DigiPen game programming class this summer.

Bargain Bone

The nice thing about puppies is they don't require expensive toys (laughs). This 50-cent bone from Target entertained her for ages!

Images from Band Camp at Fort Flagler

Got the opportunity to ride out to camp with my new friend Mary yesterday. What beautiful scenery, and the ferry ride--my first--was a trip.

Sam is loving camp, especially spinning by the water and making friends. I think it's been a little tougher for Chris to come out of his shell, but the kids are working on him and assure me there's been progress.

The parents have been wonderfully warm and welcoming. Camp proved to be even more fun than the uniform fitting day I did with them, mostly because I'm getting to know people better each time.

Happy (almost) 15th Birthday!

Since Sam will be at band camp over her 15th birthday and Wayne's birthday is the Sunday after they get home, we decided to celebrate this weekend.

Sam was thrilled when her dad came home Friday evening with a bouquet of flowers just for her and a fun rainbow cake. We took her to dinner at Azteca, one of her favorite Mexican restaurants out here, hit the mall to get a couple last minute items for band camp, then came home for cake.

Perhaps the funniest gift was a t-shirt that said, "I'm just one big freaking ray of sunshine, aren't I?" (or something like that). It was her dad's tribute to her occasional PMS moods (laughs).

Chris's New Colors

I spent my day up at Kamiak helping fit kids in band uniforms and tuxes. Met a lot of terrific band mom and kids throughout the day. You can't beat getting involved for making a difference as well as for making new friends.

While the kids were very polite and respectful, I have to say it was weird seeing Chris in a non-Houston uniform. He couldn't wait to get pictures of it on his Facebook page though.

Here's hoping Houston and Kamiak both have banner years!

The kids have some practices this week, then it's a drive and ferry ride to Fort Flagler where they'll spend a week at band camp.

Wow, no kids for a whole five days...whatever will we do?!?

What is THIS Thing?

I know it's a crappy picture, but I couldn't resist capturing it with my cell phone. We were at a local department store last night and saw a display of turntables and records. They had biggies like Michael Jackson's "Thriller", Beach Boys "Pet Sounds", the Eagles "Hotel California", and so on. The funniest part of all, however, was Sam's what-in-the-world-is-this reaction. It was worth getting caught in the store with a camera.