Georgia Fair

We visited the Georgia Fair today with Ladybug. We walked through the house of mirrors (really confusing for Lucy), and the boys and I rode a roller coaster.

a bucket of lu

Tomorrow Lucy turns three! She's so excited and chatty about how she hopes to get a new bike and what friends are coming to her party. Tomorrow she is taking cupcakes for her friends in her little class. She is a funny, funny girl. I'll post more pictures later.

declaration of "friendipendence"

message from Braden:

All 3rd and 1st will not fight at reeses any longer or else! Anyone who disobeys will be arrested by M.D. on the playground. Especially Mason and Zoey they will be punished much more severely. Sined:

B.D., E.P.B, Simon D, Spence, John Y., Jared

civil forum on the presidency

PRESUMED PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEES MCCAIN AND OBAMA TO MAKE FIRST JOINT CAMPAIGN APPEARANCE ON AUGUST 16 AT SADDLEBACK CHURCH; Pastor Rick Warren to Host Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion and Question Candidates on Faith and the Common Good

LAKE FOREST, Calif., July 21 – Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama, respective presumed Republican and Democratic presidential nominees, will end the primary season by making their first joint appearance of the 2008 campaign at Saddleback Church on Saturday, Aug.16 at the Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion. Dr. Rick Warren, founding pastor of the 22,000-member Orange County, Calif. mega church and moderator for the event, made the announcement today upon confirmation by both campaigns.

The forum at Saddleback should be an interesting format for those of us who haven't been tracking the presidential election to get caught up and informed.

summertime blues

Summer is officially over. This weeks marks the kids' first full week back, which means homework, and early bedtimes. Simon is still using a removable cast (he left it at school yesterday). In just another week or so we find out if it's healed up completely.

I'm on the job hunt. Any takers? I'm putting in applications now around town and even some nearby. Maybe I could just get paid to blog.

pictured above: Braden and Simon with John Adams at the city pool. Simon had to stay clear of the pool to keep his cast dry. Did I ever tell the story of Simon at the beach this summer... the time he didn't keep it dry?

Disney-free

We are making a hard right turn, trying to shift from Disney to school. Thanks to our friends Rupert and Zach we spent three days at Hollywood Studios and Epcot for "free". Lorena and Mirella were with us for part of the time. We all loved it. It was a great grand finale to our summer. Now it's back to school. Today is Lucy's first day. Amy started yesterday.

actual items may differ from picture

A few points about the picture: if you zoomed in you'd be sure to see millions of gnats buzzing our eyes and ears, and if you framed forward just a second you'd see the sour faces the boys had on most of the time (Braden was actually sick, which tends to happen a lot on picture days). That's the great thing about taking hundreds of shots, you're bound to get a few that turn out. The kids cooperated a good deal though considering the heat. And thanks Lena for the pictures!

the cousins

First row (r-l): Simon Dowdy, Lucy Dowdy and John Adams Dowdy
Second row: Sam McRae, Braden Dowdy, Katherine Dowdy and Elizabeth Dowdy, and Lainey McRae
Third row: Riley Shiver, Jackson Shiver, Jack McRae and Ransom Shiver, and Kate McRae

school days

This past week I received notification that I was accepted into Florida State's School of Information. I applied to the master's program for the fall. A few days before I got word that I was also accepted as a transfer student (undergrad) as a creative writing major for the spring. So just to update everyone, my plan is to start in the fall with Information Studies and then go from there. I would like to do both if I could. I just don't know if there'll be opportunity for that.

internet drought

We are back from Brazil. Sorry about the lack of communication. We were without internet at our old apartment in Brazil, and just Sunday did I get the internet working here at our new house.