Odds and Ends

Busted. Completely busted. My bracket is toast. Curse you, Pitt!

Only three more days until Grandma Susan gets here. I'm practically counting down the minutes.

Yesterday I remembered why I positively have no patience for Tom Clancy novels. I'm the kind of person who reads so fast that I give any author 100 pages before I give up. I got 6 pages into "The Sum of All Fears" and realized that despite the fact that every sentence was jammed full of long and tediously detailed descriptions and jargon, absolutely nothing had happened. I had learned nothing substantive about the plot, the characters or anything else worth knowing. I was just bored. Sorry, Tom. I give up. (For the record, I did read the book once before; so it's not completely evil of me to give up so soon. I know what I'm missing.)

It's one of those glorious times when our local grocer, Publix, is selling a gallon of fresh orange juice for less than a gallon of milk. Since it's fortified with calcium and vitamin D, I can get my dailies from a delicious glass of sweetness. Yum!

For those of you who are watching this season of Dancing With the Stars, don't you think Steve Wozniak looks like an Ewok?

Three Words You Neve Thought You'd Hear Next To My Name

Disney On Ice.

Yes, we did. We took Stellan to Disney On Ice: Worlds of Fantasy. Kevin got free tickets through Florida Atlantic University, so we went. Our seats weren't great, but I'm pretty sure Stellan didn't care. He was amped before we even walked in. I think he just saw huge crowds of excited kids and figured it must be good. He ran around the hallway like a maniac and we had to drag him in to the show. Once it started, his applesauce was a little more entertaining than Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and their broken-down car, but once the Cars crew took the stage, he was rapt. (He hasn't seen the movie - or any Disney movies for that matter - but he does have some Cars books that he absolutely loves.) He recognized the characters and was jumping around in his seat.

He started getting bored during the Lion King (I can't blame him, the lions were tall skinny skaters in skin-tight faux fur unitards that featured permawedgies, which even I found distracting), and we wandered the halls some more. We gave up at intermission, which was fine for us. I think we missed a whole bunch of princesses dancing, which none of us were sad to skip.

So thanks, FAU, for the first family-friendly thing you've done for our family. It doesn't quite make up for no family housing, incredibly unreasonable family health insurance, balking at Stellan going on the campus tour because he's a (shudder) baby, paying Kevin a pittance and acting shocked because "there's no way a family could live on that," and admitting almost exclusively students who drink like Isla Vista freshmen do all the way through grad school; but at least you're trying.

This Is Why I Need a Sampler

Just imagine how much fun Stellan and I could have with a sampler in our kitchen!

Birthday Semantics

Last night Kevin and I were discussing birthdays and time zones. A friend of ours is due on September 26th, the day before my birthday. But if she delivered on our due date in California after 9 PM, it would technically be my birthday here in Florida. So does that mean we would have the same birthday?
And for that matter, if you move to a part of the world where the time difference is great enough to translate your birthday to the day before or after, when should you celebrate it? Is there some sort of official international council that decides such things?

Help My Toddler Stay Sane

Subtitled "Oh What Do You Do In the Summertime?"

We're in the middle of a huge rainstorm here, which will probably last through the end of the week. Since this is just a teaser of what's to come during the rainy summer season, I thought I'd ask for some advice from the Blogosphere. What are some fun indoor options Stellan and I haven't considered yet? (Please note: we're not afraid of playing outside in the rain, but we have to have something to do during the other 10 hours of daylight.)

Please save us from boredom/tantrums of frustration from lack of fresh air.

Go Jazz!

In case you didn't already know this, Kevin is a huge fan of the Utah Jazz. Unfortunately, without cable, his prospects of seeing the Jazz play have been significantly diminished. So when the Jazz came here to play the Miami Heat, we went. Stellan was a champ, he made it through the whole first half in a seat. We did a fair bit of wandering during the 3rd and 4th quarters, as well as the first and second overtimes. We left at the beginning of the third overtime, but since the Jazz lost in the end, it may have been better that way. In the end, it was even more fun that we thought it would be.

Virus-Free

Our computer got a virus last week, and I'm pleased to say that we're all recovered. That said, it means I'm way behind on my blogging. So I'm going to post things when they actually happened, not today. That means you should scroll down to posts that supposedly go up "before" this one. Keep checking back, it may take a couple of days to get it all up.

Camping In The Everglades!

We went on an awesome camping trip in the Everglades at the Flamingo Campground, which is on the coast of Florida Bay, at the southiest (stop judging, it's a word, I swear!) tip of Florida. I don't know why we didn't realize this earlier, but camping and Stellan were made for each other. Think about it - big open spaces, outside all day, lots of birds to chase, extra grown-up attention - what's not to like?
We went on a really great canoe trip (this time we saw crocs, not gators), saw the Kepler spacecraft launch, watched some idiot catch his face on fire while playing with lighter fluid and then saw the subsequent Medivac helicopter adventure, ate like kings (that was Kevin's doing, not mine) and learned why Burmese pythons are the most dangerous reptiles in the Everglades (not by personal experience, we went to a ranger talk). Please enjoy these photos and a short video clip.




Stellan and Camping: Made for Each Other from Krissie Cook on Vimeo.

Fauxhawk Part 2

We've tried this before, but I think it's possible Stellan looks even cuter with a fauxhawk now.

Canoe Adventure

In April, I'm going to be leading a gang of 15 year olds on a 3-day canoe trip down the Peace River. So I figured that it would be best if I checked it out before I tried to pretend I know what I'm talking about.
So I made some calls and got some company (Audrey, the girls camp director and Grand Inquisitor, and Valerie, who's my other adult leader for the trip), and we scouted it all out. However, we only had one day, so we had to charge it. We met at 4:30 AM, drove three and half hours, hopped on a bus with the canoes, got dropped off 12 miles from the finish line, and hit the river.
We had such an amazing time! It was absolutely gorgeous, and we got a good idea of what we're in for. And we did all 12 miles in less than 5 hours. We got home by dinner, tired and a bit sore, but refreshed after a day "off" floating down the river. Can't wait to do it again!

Stellan and Elsa Sitting In a Tree...

OK, so they were standing, and they were behind the blinds. But you get the idea, I'm sure.


They Grow Up So Fast! from Krissie Cook on Vimeo.

Office Synergy

With the recent "cold" weather here, Kevin was complaining about cold feet while he was making waffles this morning. I realized that my favorite TV show, The Office, had already offered the perfect solution.