August 2009

• Tory and I headed to Roaring Camp & Big Trees with Orion and Gavin on the first. There was a special Thomas the Tank Engine ‘thing’ going on (Spend a day with Thomas) there. We collected stamps from all of the stations and Gavin was able to pick up a book of some sort at the end. He took photos with Thomas and with some weird Thomas-y sort of guy … of course I didn’t bring my camera, but Orion got them on this cell. Both Tory and Gavin got to paint and the best part was the time Gavin got to play with the Legos. They had bouncy houses which looked really cool, but you had to have paid to go on a train ride to use them, so that left us out. That night Tory stayed over at her friends house (Megan & Kaitlin) for the night.
  
• At the beginning of the month Tory began swim/water polo practice daily for two hours per day. It continued on through the beginning of school.
  
• Over the course of the month Tory spent quite a bit of time babysitting Gavin, which was probably good for both of them. Tory got more experience babysitting one on one and Gavin got more familiarity being watched by someone other than his parents. An excellent social encounter for both of them.
  
• The following weekend we were supposed to go camping with Grace & Brian, alas Brian was unable to find us a camp site, so the trip was cancelled. *bummer*
  
• We had our annual pirate picnic for our non-profit group (more details here: http://danceanddestruction.blogspot.com). During the festivities we were told by Erin (Gisch) that Jenn had delivered a healthy baby girl. Dane Isabella Wood joined the world.
  
• We had our third quarter Board of Directors meeting on the 16th. We were lucky enough to see Deb, Wil & Bruce, and speak with Donna (Brony) on the phone. Tory’s friend Laura stopped in too.
  
• Unfortunately Eric was laid off from the Presidio in Monterey on the 19th.
  
• August 20th…Lina’s birthday! Happy Birthday, Lina!
  
• Tory started her senior year of high school. She has some hard classes this year, and a few fun ones: British Literature; Math Analysis; Physiology; Government & Economics; French 4 Honors; Advanced Drama; Stagecraft ROP. She’s also joined the Water Polo team (for the fourth year). I anticipate she’ll also join the Swim and Diving team in the spring.
  
• Tory took her senior portraits on August 24th. Here’s a link to the proofs… https://shop.prestigeportraits.com If you don’t have an existing account, click the Create Account button. Once your account is created, add the images using the following information: Session ID: 55194310 Access Code: K939B
  
• I began some sewing projects this month…and am proud to say I actually finished a few of them, too…here are the finished products. The blue over dress is Tory’s pirate garb for the Pirates in the Library School event we’re going to in September. The dress itself wasn’t too hard…I did it all by myself…until the gathering in the skirt started giving me problems. I ran gathering stitches four times (and broke the string every time). Finally Eric took pity on me and did it for me. Then the sewing machine started giving me problems attaching the skirt to the bodice. Ugh! The yellow skirt was *very* easy, which was nice. The blue skirt was fairly easy as well. The green pirates dress was a bit trickier. I meant for the lining on that skirt to be the pants for underneath, but I totally screwed up when cutting…first time I’ve ever made that mistake. Eric took pity on me and bought me some new fabric. Then because I was gun-shy I made Tory’s blue dress first. That fabric was much cheaper, so I wasn’t as nervous about cutting it.
  
• On the 29th we had some folks over for a barbeque. It was a nice break from the stress of every day life. I didn’t get around to taking more than a few photos of the dogs.
  
• August 31st….Dad’s 70th Birthday! Happy Birthday, Dad!