First Day of School (Alternate Title:" Where Did the Time Go?")

Yesterday was the first day of school and everyone had a great day. There are two separate photos this year, because Ian's bus comes as 6:42am (yes, you read that correctly. Six. Forty. Two.) and the grade school bus arrives at 8:00am.

Just another example of Mimi's famous quote: the years fly by, but the days are loooooooong. Where does the time go?

Dara Torres & Sportsmanship

So last night I'm watching the Olympics and I got to see Dara Torres in her qualifying race. When she came out of the holding area, she went immediately to one of the judges and started talking. The judge nodded.

The commentators were going crazy, wondering what Dara had told the judge. "No one just walks over to one of the judges!" they kept saying.

Then Dara walked over to the other swimmers and started talking. Again, the commentators were buzzing. "No one ever talks before a race!"

Dara was using her hands, palms down and pressing them up and down as she spoke to the younger swimmers. This was more drama than the commentators could handle and they had NO idea what to say.

Turns out that the swimmer from Sweden had ripped her swimming suit right before she came out and was changing into a new one. Dara was telling the judge and the other swimmers that they were all going to wait for the Swede.

That sent the commentators into a full-blown tizzy, gushing about Dara's sportsmanship. What a display of sportsmanship! The true meaning of the Olympic games!

Well I think the commentators got it all wrong. It wasn't sportsmanship. Well, it might have been partially, but that's not the word for it. The word for it is MOTHERHOOD.

Dara Torres is a mother. By definition that means she takes care of people. Especially younger people. Especially a 16-year-old girl from Sweden who just ripped her suit. No other swimmer would have approached the judge or told the other swimmers they were all going to wait. But Mothers don't care. Mothers make things happen.

Mothers know that sometimes - to get something done - they must be bossy and pushy and bark orders. And when done correctly, people (even Olympic judges) listen.

So the little Swedish girl got to swim in the race and Dara Torres beat her anyway. But I'll bet Dara patted her on the back afterward and asked her about her suit.

Sean Meets a Stranger.....Unexpectedly

Sean accidentally met a stranger yesterday at the City Museum....thankfully the guy was a good sport. Here's the clip:

Fun at the City Museum

Yesterday we went to the City Museum, which is hard to describe. Ian says it is "a big pile of junk that you wouldn't normally get to climb on." I say it's an art place built for climbing. At any rate, it was very fun yesterday seeing Sean swing over the ball pit and having Ian, Gavin, Josie, Jack and Pete use him for ball target practice. Good times.

Making Friends

Jack and I chatted with a goat for a long time yesterday....we assume his name was Billy but we're not sure. And Ian took on an iguana for a staring contest and swears that the iguana blinked.

More Tiger Cubs

There are three girl and two boy cubs and they are adorable....on display in Big Cat Country every day until noon. We weren't sure we'd get to see them so we were thrilled.

Tiger Cubs at the Zoo

"This Place is a Zoo"

Our field trip today was to the zoo and it was wonderful. Not too crowded, not too hot. We ended out trip at the site of Ian's first public tantrum when he was about 13 months old: the zoo train. Ten years ago, I had to use all my weight to pull that boy off the train while he was screaming his head off, holding on to the hand rails. Where did the time go?

HI Grandma!

Word on the street is that Mary has been haunting the internet.......WELCOME TO THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY GRANDMA!

What the St Louis Symphony Will Be Doing September 19th & 20th; and hopefully we'll be there!

Thank you, Major Summers!

On the way to Dauphin Island, we stopped in Memphis to visit Thad and he gave us the royal treatment. We all took turns landing the C-5 in the simulator and then got to climb around a real C-5. It was very fun to see Thad saluted (giggling suppressed....when did we all become grownups?) and have my boys spend some time with such an old friend. Thanks, Thad! It was a blast!

The Bride with My Groom

Amazing that Marcia got married last night....how can she be old enough to get married?? Isn't she still my advisee at Notre Dame who comes to sit at my desk and talk about Spanish class? When did she turn into this gorgeous young woman?

A beautiful, wonderful, warm and touching wedding last night with a fun and lively reception featuring delicious food. And it was so great to see so many people I hadn't gotten to see in a really long time. Those Godefroids can sure throw a wedding!

Shout out to Cindy and Maria, who have been known to haunt Smith Dance Party! xxxoooo

Purina Farms

Thursday's Field Trip was to Purina Farms, which was fun for two reasons:

1) Normally, chickens don't want to sit on your lap.

2) We got to see the 2007 Frisbee Dog International Champion, Raccoon Jack. We could have watched him ALL day long.

Angela's Birthday!

Angela's birthday was so much fun.....The Alarm, The Fixx and the English Beat in concert. It was like a three hour aerobics class with beer. So much fun!! And kudos to hard-rocker Johnna for suffering through another concert of 80s music that didn't involve Poison, Ratt or Whitesnake. ;-)