By tradition, all schools close down for a Thursday and Friday in November to give teachers a chance to catch up on their shopping. It's good for the local economy, it gives the kids a much needed break and it usually causes a nightmare for parents who need to find child care for those days. As veterans of this phenomenon, we knew we had to plan something.
Jane is int he choir and they decided to use this time to go to Vienna
and Budapest to explore other realms and their musical roots. Oddly they
scheduled the trip so as to miss as little school as possible -- a departure
from the past. Jane was going to room with Jill
and seemed happy
to have her tags on her bags
while Benjamin created this leaf concoction
for her to bring along. They did the brother and sister poses
with choking
and odd looks
before getting it right
the third time by which time I had recorded this boy
who Lucy wanted to see. Matt Traylor
was there as was Els'peth
and so the journey could begin.
After their departure, I waited a few days and then set the table for a luncheon
with distinguished colleagues
Steve Gubser (Physics), Kyle Vanderlick (Chemical Engineering),
Rachel Gabara (Comparative Literature), Eduardo Cadava (English),
Volker Schroeder (French and Italian), Danny Kahneman (Psychology and WWS)
and Sharad Malik (Electrical Engineering) reading left to right
and again
to see if the second picture was better.
This done, on Thursday, the first true teacher shopping day, Ben and I
took the car
to stop 37
in lot P6
and headed cross country. Once there we were served hummus
as Dan
and Ben
checked out the grapes
and Sylvia
tried to open her eyes
before suggesting that we check out the local playground.
Once there Ben went up the ramp
down the corkscrew
and finally settled for the swinging thing
where he made a trip across
before climbing up and through the spider web
on the way back to the apartment. After looking
from two directions
at the Albertson's pickets, we decided it was time to take photos
of the liquids as Ben installed the new bell int he collection
and we sat down to soup
bread and butter
kugel
and Grandma's famous meatballs
while I had an enchillada
and Ben's survey
led to conversation with Dan
before he completed it.
The next morning, as Ben enjoyed his breakfast
I took this artistic pear picture
and then we headed back to the swings
before realizing that a trip to Sears was necessary so that Diana
could sell us a battery
and we could be assured
that Dave
wouldn't have a work threatening accident while installing it.
Next we parked the car
at SeaWorld where Ben studied the schedule
and we headed first to the Pets Rule show
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where two sea lions
put on a show for us with a ball
balanced on their nose
and a dive into the water
a lap of the pool
climbing
and discussion
before trying to get into the ferret's house
and doing a final strut
before the show ended.
Next we went to the dolphin show where we sat in the Soak Zone
for the performance as the musician sang
and the barker tried to sell dolls
as the trainers assembled
and the dolphins
appeared and assumed odd postures
as they made their way
and assumed even better postures
while I kept missing shots
of their jumps until I got a good one
so that after a few extra pictures
we could say good bye
and head off to see the star fish
which raised Ben's appetite
for a ChipWich (aka cookies and cream on the left coast).
The final event was the Shamu show. There was a buildup
and people were ready in the soak zone
as the fog came
and the whale rider
set up this final picture
for me so that we could go home to dinner.
Ben
was ready as my quiche
pasta
and vegetables
came to life.
On Saturday, we drove out to Rancho Bernardo where Ben and Sylvia
were joined by Rob
and then Linda and Anne
arrived to receive the flowers
Janet had brought. So our table was Ben
Sylvia
Sylvia (vice Dan)
Larry
Janet
Linda
Anne
Irv
and Rob
with this banana (vice David)
finishing the group. Ben had the cheeseburger
Sylvia had the salad,
Larry's dish was too far away
Rob had the seafood salad
and I had the pasta
all brought by our friendly waiter
who also brought me this elegant chocolate sundae
and Larry the butterscotch version
that looked even better.
On the way home, we stopped at the grocery store
where there were no pickets and then Ben settled in to play his new game
as Dan
and I spoke. We then headed off to dinner where the noodles
were better in this light
and worse without a flash
but Dansyl seemed happy
and Ben and I
seemed even happier though I didn't do a good job of keeping my eyes opened
even as the dumplings
beef
tofu
and moo shu chicken
came. On Sunday, we took a final picture of the bell collection
before heading to the airport and getting another Cinnabon picture
before having this breakfast
on the plane.