Tallahassee Trip

The whole family took our first trip to Tallahassee. We enjoyed visiting the Old Capitol Building, Mission San Luis, Florida State University, the Museum of History, and on our way home, we went to Wachula Springs, a very refreshing stop on a very hot day!

Happy Father's Day by Ardey

Happy Father's day! Ardeley painted this picture for her Bapa, and now I use it to say: "Thanks Dad, for all you have done to make you such a special dad."

Hope you enjoyed your day and got some fishing in.

Dalton created a coat of arms that shows what describes his personality. You can see the Pokemon ball, because Dalton likes to play the Gameboy Pokemon games. In the upper right corner, you see a cat, Dalton's favorite animal. The lower left corner signifies Karate, and the lower right portion of his coat of arms represents a Yu-Gi-Oh card. The most important things in a 10-year-old boy's life!

Our computer and study area is the most popular place in the house these days. Notice that the TV is on, Ardeley has headphones on (her music), and Dalton's Nintendo DS is on the counter! Henry got me the TV for my Birthday so I can watch from the kitchen or while I do the treadmill. Karina loves to go to Disney Channel, Nick.com, PollyPocket, etc. on the computer; Dalton looks up lyrics to songs, and he also likes to look for clues for his Nintendo games; and, Ardeley is a frequent ITunes user, has been playing the latest Nancy Drew computer game, and looks for Kingdom Hearts 2 clues. Henry even uses the computer. He is taking a math class and a reading comprehension class this summer and all class assignments are on the computer.

Memorial Day Picnic

Karina, Dalton, and Henry enjoyed themselves at the annual Memorial Day barbeque at the subdivision pool. We have been swimming every day that the weather permits. It has been a very dry summer; however, as I type this, there is a tropical depression in the Gulf and we got poured on this afternoon. It's all good!

Baking Beauties!

O.K. It's the first day of summer and my daughter and friend decided to bake cookies. Here is what they looked like by the middle of this endeavor! They are still at it and having fun (only one burned batch so far); now, if I can just get them to clean up when they are done . . . . . . :-(

Florida Aquarium

Dalton wanted to go to the aquarium on his special day with me. They had been studying the reef life in FL and he had a brochure from the aquarium that looked interesting to him. We had a great time and ended up getting a one year membership for the family. It is really nice because with the membership, you can bring any five people with the primary card holder. (Click on the title of this blog to visit the aquarium's website)

Middle School Graduate!

We are so proud of Ardeley who is "graduating" from middle school and moving on up to the "Class of 2010" at her high school. Ardeley received top honors at the 8th Grade Awards Ceremony last night. Her awards included the Presidential Award for Academic Achievement (certificate from the Whitehouse!), one of the "Top Ten" students on her academic team, the Keys, and, drum roll please . . . . . . . the 2006 "Pride in Writing School-Wide Top Writer" award, which is given to the student whose works were judged by a panel of teachers who were not given the authors' names until judging was complete. Wow, we are so proud and we were all so pleasantly surprised by that last award, one of the top honors awarded last night. Ardey is attending the 8th Grade Dance tonight, and is looking forward to a visit with her Grandma and Grandpa in Seattle this summer!

Well, Dalton and I had our long-awaited day together today! We started with breakfast at the Village Inn restaurant. Our next stop was the ceramics store, where you see Dalton painting his cat. He also painted a stingray, which is being fired and will be picked up this week. More to come about our special day soon with pictures, to boot! Good night!

Karina and I spent a fun morning together with her classmates. The kids from her "house" (Freedom Primary) sang 3 or 4 songs for the moms/dads/grandparents. Then, we all went back to their classrooms to have cookies and punch and to read books with our kids for the next 45 minutes. Here she is pictured with her first grade teacher, Ms. Hernandez!

Dalton is our master builder. Give him legos, K'nex, anything, he will build something. Here are a few "Bionicals" he created. . . .

Henry's mom and dad came to visit in November and stayed until the end of January. We had a great time with them. Here they are reading a Bible verse during our Sihite Family Christmas Program! Opung Ardeley (Grandpa of Ardey)wrote the program and we enjoyed the celebration on Christmas Eve. We told the Christmas Story, sang Christmas Carols in English and Indonesian, and toasted the family.