grab your binocs

Yesterday after lunch, I put a blanket in my front yard and took pictures while I sat outside. The goldfinches are back in full force. The most I've seen on just the sock is 7.

Then, another bird flew up. I have had the female rose-breasted grosbeak at the feeders earlier this week, but this is the first male. He let me get about 5 feet away (2nd picture) before flying.

Even though I wasn't on supervision for the park, I went anyway because it was so nice outside. The kids had fun climbing the tree . . . until I made them get down. :(

I saw bluebirds at the park catching various bugs.

This is a warbling vireo, although I didn't hear it warble!
I also saw a palm warbler, and spent what felt like an eternity trying to point it out to a couple who had binoculars. This just goes to show that you shouldn't assume that because someone is "dressed for the part" that they know what they're doing. I knew I was in trouble when I asked them if they had seen anything interesting, and they said "there's a robin on the fence over there . . ."
I saw a yellow-rumped warbler, lots of chickadees, and blue jays.

Most of the kids just sat around the whole time we were there. I played catch with Ethan (8th grader) and he accused me with trying to break his hand. :)

This is Bethany. Her dad's the music teacher/work coordinator. She had fun bothering Tiffany Massey's dog, Allie.

Today we have our Spring Picnic, which is just class on class softball games starting at 11. Then, Academy Days starts around 3:30p and I'm helping with candy bar softball. By the end of today, I will be softballed out!

adventures in the north

I took my last homeleave opportunity to drive up to Ohio and see Ryan for a few days. The weather on the way up wasn't great - scattered rain, but every other day was beautiful and sunny. I only got the camera out to snap a couple of shots of downtown Cincinnati. I didn't stop on the way up until I got past Cincinnati.

You can tell by our self- portraits that we had fun seeing each other. It was nice to be able to stay a day longer than when I went to visit in November. We were cracking up by the time we got done taking this set of pictures with Ryan's new camera. I kept cutting myself out of the pictures.

On Thursday and Friday, I went to some of Ryan's classes. I got to play volleyball with his sophomores at what would have been around 7:00a CDT. Those who know me well and have had to be around me in the morning know this is no small feat. I was lucky to be out of bed!

This picture is of Ryan with his freshman class at the field. They're doing soccer and his first class doesn't have enough people for 2 teams, so he usually plays.

On Sabbath afternoon, we weren't very hungry for a long time because we ate a big breakfast so late. So, instead of the spaghetti we were going to have, we just ate chili and hot dogs, then headed to Kenyon College to go biking. We wanted to go on the trail last time I was there, but didn't go farther than the train (about 50 feet). So this time, I packed my bike in my trunk and brought it with me.

We biked from Gambier to Howard, so basically the middle part of the trail. It's a nice trail, but really straight, since it used to be railroad tracks.




I didin't want to leave my camera behind, so I rode with it. I found out that I can bike and take pictures at the same time (look mom, no teeth!). Actually mom, you would have liked it because there were lots of nice cows to moo at while we rode past. Randy would have howled at them ;).

The more interesting parts of the ride were where the trail was next to the river/creek. It was more interesting to look at and usually meant we were a little more shaded, whiche was cooler. We stopped at this bridge to take some pictures. There was some weird guy there talking to himself. He was there when we came back through too. Hmm.

You guessed it, a self- portrait!












You'll have to ask Ryan if he was riding or standing when he took this one.
















This time we took a "real" picture of ourselves with my timer. I have no idea where the road goes that was on top of this bridge. Maybe it's on the map?

Ryan sprinted the last part of the 4.5 miles back because he was so thirsty. We both wished we had a way to take water with us easily. I was kicking myself for forgetting my backpack in Portland. We survived though. This shot was an over-the-shoulder- while-riding special. I hope you appreciate the degree of difficulty. I didn't want to take the camera strap off my neck, just in case!

I apparently make faces while driving. =)

I brought Lindsay, a junior here at Highland, back with me on Sunday. She contributed to me missing the turn onto 71 back through Louisville, so we got to see Lexington on the way back instead. We had fun though, and she assured me she was in no hurry to get back. I just hope I have more energy tomorrow for my softball game!

Break was great, and the best part is that I get to see Ryan next Wednesday for his last home leave. It's almost nicer having different breaks, because then we get to see each other for both of them! Why didn't we think of this last semester?

J.P.'s birthday

Today was J.P.'s birthday. You can tell by the candles on her cake that she's not 29, even though Don says she is. Renee came home from SAU with Brian (her boyfriend) and the Carneys came over for lunch.

Nikie and Renee made a really good German chocolate cake-even though the icing didn't "stick" to the cake.

Don & J.P. are leaving with the seniors and some other sponsors for Belize at around 4:00a tomorrow. I hope they get to bed early tonight! They'll be back on the 26th, just in time for Academy Days.

We all had fun playing with Tian. Carneys adopted her from China. She'll be 2 on June 8. She loves having pictures taken of her. If she sees a camera, she yells "cheese!"

She also likes to throw Tyler's juggling balls and had fun sitting in the big window in their living room. There are usually turkeys roaming around in the back yard. We only saw one out there today, but as Nikie and I were driving away, I saw some across the street in another field.






Tian loves Don. She lays on the floor with her feet in the air and he grabs them and flips her upside down. Then she lays back down really fast and says "again!"

in case you were wondering

The answers to this survey have to be true, because Ryan verified them on the phone!

name: carrie

birthday: march 9

birthplace: laramie, wyoming

current location: my computer

eye color: blue

hair color: light brown

height: 5' 4"

right handed or left handed: right

your heritage: mutt?

the shoes you wore today: keen, then crocs

your weakness: being perfectionistic

your fears: heights, small spaces, getting my fingers shut in a car door

your perfect pizza: black olives & onions

goal you would like to achieve this year: survive until graduation

your most overused phrase on an instant messenger: 8-) (eye-rolling smiley)

first thoughts waking up: who has assembly today?

your best physical feature: dunno

your bedtime: around 11-11:30p

your most missed memory: summer camp

pepsi or coke: coke

mcdonalds or burger king: burger king

single or group dates: single

lipton ice tea or nestea: ???

chocolate or vanilla: swirl

cappuccino or coffee: neither

do you smoke: no

do you swear: no

do you sing: no

do you shower daily: yes!

have you been in love: yes

do you want to go to college: been there, done that, got 2 sweatshirts

do you want to get married: yes

do you believe in yourself: yes

do you get motion sickness: no

are you a health freak: not really

do you get along with your parents: yes

do you like thunderstorms: yes

do you play an instrument: yes, flute

ever been drunk: no

ever been called a tease: no

ever been beaten up: yes, by my little brother J

ever shoplifted: yes, i used to be a cleptomaniac, but i took something for it

how do you want to die: in my sleep, not like the screaming passengers in my car

what do you want to be when you grow up: older

what country would you most like to visit: new zealand, so i can visit tara

200th post!

I guess it's obvious that you're going to have to click on this picture to be able to see what it is. You can thank Stephanie for this one, although some of you have probably heard of this already. The people at Google are pretty clever!

i survived!

Well, Alumni Weekend is over!!! I'm so excited! This picture is what I looked like after it was over last night.

I don't even feel like telling the whole schedule of the weekend because it was just so tedious to go through it all. Let's just say I helped set up chairs, hang banners, get all of the signs up for various things, DEAL WITH ALUMNI, get golf tournament foursomes and sponsors, run sound, make & distribute programs, run registration, play with the band, take honor year pictures, tally ballots, collect dues & meal money, etc., etc. etc.

Yay! It's over!

senior wedding

Every year, J.P. has the seniors put on a wedding. In LifeSkills class, the kids pair up for their marriage projects. The guys have to propose to the girls and the couple with the best proposal (voted on by the class) gets to go out to eat with Don & J.P.

Then, the couples who want to do the wedding put their names in a hat and they draw a couple who gets "married." Toni and David won the draw. This is the "father" giving her away.

They got married in the Prayer Garden on the last day it was warm here. That night was when the storms came through.

Toni's dad and Don watch from the comfort of Don's golf cart.

If you look closely, you can see Ryan sitting behind the girl in the blue shirt in the front row on the left side.

Olivia missed her nap to be a flower girl, and she was pretty moody through the whole thing.

Shots afterward

The whole class

See, it really all is a joke

mini-break

I got to go to Collegedale for a little bit longer than normal by tacking on an errand day that involved picking up alumni weekend programs at College Press Monday. Ryan is on Spring break, which was my biggest reason for going down there. We had fun playing outside Sabbath afternoon in the front yard. If you want more pics, see Mary Jane's blog.

Obviously, Ryan and Ryan don't know what sport they're supposed to be playing. Ryan (K.) tees up his slapshot, while Ryan (H.) dresses to play soccer instead of hockey. Either way, something's wrong.







Ryan (mine) brought a car full of sports equipment to occupy himself while he's on break. You name it, he brought it. And if that wasn't enough, we hit up Ross for some more inexpensive tennis racquets for him to take back to school.



Lucky for Jaclyn, the rain had toned down the pollen count and we managed to be outside with all of the trees and flowers without being miserable. If you look closely at Jaclyn's sandal, you can see the pollen that survived the rain. This was just from walking through the grass.




Crestmont Drive is really pretty with all of the dogwoods and other flowers out right now.







I liked the view of the hostas by Heilmans' front deck. I like the way they spiral when they grow.