Yay - the last one!

Evan did his Eagle Project on Saturday - repainting the map of the United States on the Noddin Elementary School black top - it is our neighborhood school. We were worried about weather. It was a very cloudy morning and as Greg and I left for the temple with the ward I wondered if he'd have to postpone. It rained on us on our way up to Oakland, but San Jose was dry when we left - just looked worrisome. When we got out of the temple it was beautiful but as we came closer to San Jose it was cloudy and dark. It was noon and Evan was scheduled to set up at that time, work was to begin at 1:00. He kept asking what he should do. We kept telling him he needed to decide. I did not have much faith that it wouldn't at least drizzle making the ground too wet to work on. It really did look like it was ready to rain on us. Greg looked at his handi dandy Iphone current weather update and the phone said - "No rain today." So Evan loaded up and off he went. Within 30 minutes or so it totally cleared up - not a cloud in the sky - not for the rest of the day and the temperature was even pleasant. Granted it is San Jose and it usually is pleasant this time of year but the paint needed to dry! You'll see why.

So - here we go - Evan's Eagle Project... and famous quotes from the day

Before picture

Evan, to every suggestion anyone made (in the tone of a whining little kid): "I'm in charge." He said it for laughs, and we did laugh.
Everyone: "What can I do..."
Evan: "Don't back sass me Claire."

Claire: "Is it time to paint Utah yet?"

Everyone: "Where are the doughnuts?" Evan: "I brought fruit - it's better for you."

Kathy to Claire: "Don't get paint on my cell phone."
Probably everyone: "Oops!"


Evan: "I like it. It looks kind of whimsical"



Evan: "It's finished!"


We are so proud of Evan for accomplishing this goal. Just as we were finishing he said "It's all done! I feel so good!" I said "It's been weighing on you your whole life!" and he agreed. He's so happy. He's a new man.

He and neighbor friend Brian sat out by the map with pizza in hand until it grew dark. He took the caution tape down Sunday night after dark. He said there were foot prints on Alaska. We find that funny because the caution tape "protected" only part of Alaska. I can just imagine some stubborn kid going "well the tape doesn't cover this spot..." stomp, stomp, stomp...

Lights Out!

We had a wet and windy storm on Tuesday. And Tuesday evening around 5:30 - "POP" - a line went down in the neighborhood and the lights went out for the rest of the night. So what did we do...

We had dinner by candle light. The gas stove made it easy to make dinner, I just had to light it by hand. It's really not so dark yet but whatever...
Greg left for meetings right after dinner.

Kids did homework. Claire was listening to her IPod music with the IHome. Evan was very bothered that she'd use all those batteries to do that. He talked her into using her headphones instead. It was so dark in her room, I kept suggesting we go to Jensen's but she was game to stick it out in the dark - Evan too. It was an adventure for them.



Evan played with gadgets - my goodness - all of the fancy flashlights we have and the solar/wind up radio that I love to use so much when I'm gardening but haven't been able to find for a couple months - all showed up in his room. It was like magic but a little frustrating as well. I said, "Evan, you have got to clean your room. You have all this stuff..." and he said "I know where it all is. I have a special drawer for special things." UGH! This light - it's on his forehead.
Same light - just with its "red" light on.


More homework but better lighting in the kitchen than in Claire's room. I quizzed her on Spanish.
Evan did Math.
Claire danced while being quizzed.
I was totally amazed at this fabulous radio. It is excellent as a solar radio but it really works as a "wind up" as well. It would go for an hour before we had to wind it again. I'm not exaggerating. I bet it went longer than an hour before we had to wind it again. I tried to get a picture of the name so you could see what it is but I don't think you can read it all that well. It says "freeplay Driven" on the handle. I highly recommend it.


Homework done - time to play. Egyptian War anyone?
How about a little PSP.
The master making hot chocolate for all of us.
Yum
And some shadow puppets! Evan has so many talents!

Guess Who?

OK - so it isn't hard to guess
I scanned this for an RS event we're having tomorrow night. One of those, "find a picture of yourself - we're going to play a game with the pictures" type deal. I think this is a cute one. This is written on the back.
"Eddie in his first jacket and Kathy just keeping him company. Oh - how they are growing.
10 Hiltingbury, Chandlersford England 1968"

Why Not?

In the spirit of Why Not?

Why would two teenage girls, on a Friday afternoon, dress up like nerds and play ping pong?




Why Not?


They actually were psyching up for an end of summer dance in Santa Cruz Saturday night. Several of their friends went dressed in similar costume. One addition - they all wore suspenders.

Claire reports it was a very fun dance.

9/9/09 9:09

Claire came home from the Youngmen Youngwomen activity and saw on the microwave that it was 9:09. So of course, we had to grab the camera. What were you doing at 9:09 on 9/9/09?


Claire was having a sip of chocolate milk.

First Day of School

Evan is a senior! ready to go back to bed. Claire is a sophomore ready to take on the world.

Half Dome Hike

A beautiful day for a hike in Yosemite. The hikers left San Jose at 3am, Mark at the wheel but he and Jeff spent the day fishing. I think, they started hiking around 6:30am

Evan and Andy


The adventurous hikers -
Eric, friend Kyle, Claudia, Joslyn, Andy, Evan

Vernal Falls

See the people? They're tiny, walking the path on the left

"Yikes!"

Half Dome - you can see the line of people going up and down the cables - it looks like a trail of ants

A zoom of the above picture

Some of what you can see while hiking up

The cables...



Evan and Andy ready to go up

Jos and Andy

"See - we're smiling. It's fun..."

Claudia with her big "I love a challenge!" smile

It helps to wear gloves - there is often a pile of them for anyone to use.

Hand over hand...

Evan acting too scared to move - but that really happens to people.

The top!

They made it!

Views of the valley.


Someone yelled "wave" so Eric snapped a picture too.

That's Eric out there.

"Stay away from the edge..."

"Evan! Stay Away..."

"Oh Man..."

Why do people do stuff like this?

We hear it is called "King's Chair" Yeah - for an unpopular king.(don't know him)

Waiting to go back down the cables.

Still waiting. What's that guy doing outside the cables?! (don't know him)

Down, down, down...

Evan strayed from the path and decided he'd slide part of the way down.

He should have stayed on the path.
The hikers got back to San Jose around 11pm. Sounds like they did the hike in 12 hours but that is including a couple hours wait at the cables...
Everyone still walks and talks so guess they all survived.
Who wants to go next time?
(Not Evan or Eric...at least not yet. It's probably a little like child birth...)