Spring Break, 2008

The children and I went on quite a few local adventures over spring break. We ran down to Monticello and toured Thomas Jefferson's house - incredibly interesting and warm - Charlottesville is about 5 degrees warmer than D.C. Then we went downtown a few days later and visited the butterfly exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. Andy had an awesome time exploring the Discovery Center - he's pictured here holding a squid.

A week in Mexico

Anita and I spent a week in Tulum Mexico in January. We stayed at Amansala, otherwise known as Bikini Bootcamp, and had a ball. We exercised each day for 5 hours and in between all the exercise we ate incredibly healthy food, visited local sites including Mayan ruins, and played on the beach. It was the best week of our lives!! We are planning on going back next year.

Addie's birthday in New York City

Addie and I spent March 15th in New York City for her 15th birthday. We took the train up early in the morning and then proceeded to take New York by storm. We visited the Toys R Us - complete with 3 story indoor ferris wheel, Hard Rock Cafe, took in the broadway play Wicked, visited Rockefeller Center and the American Girl store and ended up at a singing diner. The train ride how was spent napping - it was a 21 hour day from start to finish and we had a ball!

What I'm Reading - January 2008

Over the holiday I managed to run through a couple of books. The first was T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton. I wait with bated breath for her to put out a new book and she didn't let me down with this one. Her 20th book in this series, by my count, Kinsey Millhone, Private Investigator, learns first hand about identity theft. Fascinating and eye-opening.

The second book I read was Running with Scizzors by Augusten Burroughs. This was not a book I particularly wanted to read but felt as though I should as I've read his brother's work. This is a memoir of his childhood experience in a house with an alcoholic father and a mentally unstable mother. The parents divorce, the mother goes insane and the boy goes to live with his mother's psychiatrist who is later convicted of raping his mother. Not fun to read but an example of parents behaving badly that one can learn from.

Holiday Break

We thoroughly enjoyed our break in December. Maggie learned to ride her new bike and the children and I made our annual sojourn to Washington, D.C. to visit the sites. New to us this year was the World War II Memorial - a gorgeous mixture of fountains and pillars representing the fifty states as well as the two theaters of the war - the Pacific on the right and the Atlantic on the left. We had gorgeous weather and also visited Union Station, the U.S. Postal Service museum and the White House Christmas tree.

Marco Island, FL

I visited Marco Island, FL in early January to attend the CIC President's Institute. The weather was gorgeous, the speeches inspiring and the beach was filled with shells and wildlife. Perfect for a long walk to clear out my holiday head!

What I'm Reading - October 27

The Almost Moon is Alice Sebold's follow-up to the Lovely Bones. Lovely Bones was incredilby graphic and hard to take. Almost Moon is, conversely, easy to read and incredibly real. The protoganist begins the story by explaining how easy it was to kill her Mother and works backward. No offense, Mom, but after reading this I definitely side with the daughter!

Look Me In the Eye is the first novel by the brother of the man who wrote Running With Scizzors. Look Me In the Eye is a non-fiction account of his Asperger's situation and how his life has unfolded. Since the author is in his 50's he didn't discover he had Aspergers until his late 30's. He explains his incredible coping mechanisms and how he has managed to become a successful adult. Incredibly interesting and a must read for individuals with Autism spectrum people in their lives.h