It has been a while....

...since I last posted. Funny how 'life gets in the way!' Last week, Kirk and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. Our DD surprised us with breakfast in bed the Sunday before...all her idea and we were thrilled to have her do such a nice thing for us! Our actual anniversary was one of those very busy days, but K and I managed to have breakfast out together...then he brought home Thai take out and a dozen red roses for me! Once again, we experienced 'gift karma' and were totally on the same wave length. I had ordered a Swaroveski crystal 'reef' statue' complete with coral branch and 5 crystal fish as his gift as it was our 'crystal' anniversary. He presented me with a Swarovski crystal bunny (we started this collection our first Xmas together) and the go ahead to shop at the Troll bead sale at a local store. The other part of his gift was a kayaking morning, which happend this past Monday, after we dropped Katy off at school. The day was much colder than my last experience, with a breeze between 15 - 20 mph. Our guide Dave knows just how to navigate around to avoid much of the wind...but it was much tougher going and much colder! Despite all this, Kirk loved his first experience kayaking...it was great to be sharing an experience just the two of us, and it was a very clear fall day. After our 3 hours on the water, we came home, regrouped, and headed to Newport for an overnight (see where Katy is below). It was fun to get away...and nice to discover that Newport is only about 50 minutes from here...mostly back roads...so we had a lovely ride down. Did some shopping and exploring before grabbing dinner at a local hot spot. On Tuesday, we took a tour of Chateau Sur la Mer, one of the first mansions built on the famous Ocean Drive. Took our time driving home...a nice way to end our anniversary celebration!

On a 'Katy note,' she is off at Nature's Classroom this entire week (thus, the reason we could do the Newport trip). The entire 5th grade heads down the Cape for this experience each year. She has been looking forward to it for a long time, especially after hearing about it from her friend Zach who is a grade ahead of her and went on the trip last year. One of the teachers has tried to blog...but she is so busy she has only made 2 entries this week. They really keep the kids hopping, with experiences in the field, beaches, night walks, etc. We got a note from Katy yesterday. Pretty matter of fact: we did this, we did that...and her closing line was, "I did Soccer Ball Digestion this afternoon and the only thing I learned is that a fart is made up of little pieces of poop." Yup...that's our daughter! It is strange not to have her energy in the house...but it has given me some time to relax while finishing preparations for my Croptoberfest coming up tomorrow night and Saturday. I am looking forward to picking Katy up tomorrow and hearing all the stories I'm sure she will bring home.

What I did with my morning...

I tried kayaking for the first time...inspired by my buddy Trish...who always has a great plan for fun things to do! I've been considering buying a canoe for several years now...but had been urged by folks like my brother Tom to choose a kayak. So this adventure was, in part, a test to see whether I even liked kayaking. A neighbor in Norton has begun a kayak tour business and Trish called to check it out. We took off this morning on a three hour tour with no prior experience of kayaking. I have to say that once I got over my initial fear of being so 'on top' of the water...and realizing I shouldn't make any fast moves...it was great! The day could not have been more spectacular...clear, blue sky, leaves just turning bright...water flat calm. The "Res" as our guide Dave calls it, is the Norton Reservoir, a body of water I pass several times a day taking Katy various places. It also happens to be directly across the street from the karate dojo. You can see the dojo behind us in the picture of me and Trish. The Res is currently is the home to at least 58 mute swans, cormorants, blue herons, osprey, canada geese, ducks....the list goes on. We saw so many swan families, an osprey dive to catch its lunch, herons taking off from the water into the sky. It was really great. Dave is a wealth of knowledge about the area and had lots of good info to share with us. So, maybe the kayak needs a little more investigation...Anyway, I felt grateful to have been out on a beautiful fall day, hanging with nature, gliding across the water for the morning.

Demo Team Performance

Katy is on the Tiger's Demo Team at her karate school. See her there in the back on the left??? The team performed at the black belt ceremony at her school this afternoon. They have been working on a new routine since late summer and this was the first time they had performed in public. Katy goes for an extra session on Monday's to be on the Demo Team, plus does an extended class after...so she is at the dojo from 5:30 - 7:30! She is in the back row towards the left in the following shots.

Katy Got Her Ears Pierced!!!

Katy earned getting her ears pierced because of her overall attitude and behavior improvements, BUT...she didn't know when it was going to happen. We were going shopping after school and I decided that today was as good a day as any...plus Claire's was deserted so no wait involved. You should have seen Katy's eyes when I asked her if she wanted to get ears done right there and then!!! She was nervous but did a great job! And...as I promised myself...I followed Katy and got a second hole in my left ear! We ended up with matching cz studs...so we will be the sparkle gals for the next 8 weeks!