Lisa n Tom (n James n Joseph)

Lisa's sister, Debbie, writes: So two weeks ago Kellen and I went on a road trip, because he could get extra credit to go see an Anasazi site. I've never been to New Mexico, so I was all for gettin' out of town for the weekend. We saw some beautiful vistas and kind of went crazy after being trapped together in the car for 11 hours...but that was half the fun :) I discovered I really like southwestern food. We stopped at a little roadside cafe in Bloomingfield, NM and I was expecting to be subjected to greasy hamburgers like all the greasy spoons in UT, but they had Navajo tacos and good salads and semi-authentic Mexican food, which is less hot and greasy than regular Mexican food, but still has a lot of flavor. If anything, when I think about it, it's sort of my native food. I grew up eating taco bell, Qdoba, and mom's ground beef/cheddar cheese burritos. Kellen liked the ruins and we took lots of pictures. I caught some more bugs for my class. We camped out at ...

Lisa writes: For my birthday, Tom took me out to Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian churrascaria , which means Brazilian barbeque, which means guys dressed as gauchos come around offering you roasted meat on skewers every couple of minutes as you gobble down cheesy-rolls. Cheesy-rolls, pao de queijo -- same thing, just as many calories no matter how you say it. But worth all 2000 of them.

Wednesday we were back in the USA. Maine, at Portland Head Light, one of the prettiest sites for a lighthouse. This is called the "most photographed house in the state" of Maine, the Wedding Cake House, in Kennebunk. The home was built in 1825 by shipbuilder George W. Bourne (1801–1856). The guide told us his wife went to Europe and while she was gone George, using hand tools, crafted five buttresses with pinnacles and detailed his home. His wife on return was very pleased and said, " It looks like our Wedding Cake." The Bush home is on its own little peninsula. Our Cruise Lady, Diane, thought her worse nightmare was coming true when we got off the ship for our day tour and had no bus. "Never in 14 years....!" Then --- when the bus driver finally showed he announced the tour guide was in the hospital and they would try and get someone else. Well, John, our hero - aka Barney Fife - came to the rescue. He did ad-libbing in his Barney's voice as we headed...

Lisa's sister, Lori, writes: Looks like you're having fun in NY and Canada while you're "oot and aboot," as they say up North. The kids liked your pictures of the baby koalas. Benjamin always comes up with these expressions that make him seem older than three...he saw the pics and said, "Wow! Are you kidding me Mom? Are you kidding me?" His other favorite one recently is, "No problem Mom!" Of course these are funnier when you can also see his very expressive body language and eyebrows. Speaking of eyebrows, the poor guy had an accident yesterday. He was walking to the playground with his preschool class and they were all holding "the rope" like they are supposed to so they don't get lost. I guess the kids were messing around pulling it back and forth and Benjamin tripped over the curb, hitting his forehead on the fire hydrant. It gave him a big vertical gash over his left eyebrow. It probably could have used stitches but I d...

Lisa writes: Yesterday was my parents' 41st wedding anniversary. My mom just sent this picture and a note, "Our reception was the day after our wedding. September 13, 1969. Dear friend, Sharon attended our guest book. Sweet memory! (Thank you Sharon!) It was also Roy's dad's birthday. We had a wedding cake and birthday cake."

Lisa writes: We went to Six Flags today with Tom's company. As a token of reverence for the date, the swag that they passed out at the front gate had printed on it "9-11 We will never forget" instead of the usual company logo. I keep seeing that ... slogan? motto? tagline? And as well-meaning and sincere as I know people mean it to be, I wonder whether it's really a psychologically healthy suggestion. Never forget? Never forget what , exactly? The shock and confusion and horror of the morning? The disbelief turning into blinding anger as the hours went by and the news just kept playing the same awful footage over and over? I know we're meant to "never forget" those who died, all the victims and the heroes of the day. But are your emotions so selective? Mine aren't. I can't disentangle my feelings about the victims from my feelings about the perpetrators. There was a story in the news today about a sixth grade class lesson about 9-11. These kids w...

Lisa writes: Construction paper in black, white, and two shades of gray. X-acto knife. Spray glue. Time. Got the idea from here .

Lisa writes: Hail, fellow workers! Happy Labor Day!

Lisa writes: Lori claims these are pictures of Evelyn's new haircut. Nice try, Lori. So obviously Photoshopped! There is no way Evelyn is this big!

Lisa writes: The traditional 4th anniversary gift is fruit. I think what that says is, after four years of this, you've developed realistic expectations. And possibly scurvy.

Lisa's sister, Debbie, texts: Today was the first day of my bug class and they made everyone hold two giant roaches.