San Diego - Here I Come!

I spent Memorial Day Weekend in San Diego for my cousin Bobby's graduation. We had such a great time! We jammed so much into a handful of days. We spent time in La Jolla (the cave was amazing!). We visit the USS Midway (even though I didn't really want to - it too was awesome). Balboa, the mountains, Cabrilllo lighthouse... we climbed up hills, down hills, up stairs and down stairs. Just ask my mom about the stairs. After Bobby's graduation we were treated to a party on top of a historic hotel in the Gas Lamp district downtown. The trip was great - really. I will show you some pictures of our escapades.

Tae Kwan Do Belt Test

Madeline is a second degree red belt and I am officially a green belt. Here are a couple of videos of Madeline's performance and one of me breaking my board.

Dear Mr. President...

"I hate kickball" Madeline told me. She sat down during a kickball game at PE and had to run the rest of class of the class. She could not understand how it works that she (as a child) just had to do whatever an adult (her teacher) told her to do. "Why don't children get any rights?" - "Children can't even vote, I mean it is a really important election year..." She went on and on and my explanation of maturity and responsibility was not helping enough. She got out of bed and wrote a letter to the President... all because she felt wronged by her PE coach during a kickball (did I mention how much she HATES kickball).

Here is her letter we are sending off later today (I will scan it in and include if I get time)


Dear Mr. President

I am eight years old and live in Clearwater, Florida. I am concerned about children's rights. Why do adults get to vote and children don't? We make make up a great part of the population you know. And there should be a holiday for children too. There is Grandparent's Day, Father's Day, and Mother's Day. But, no children's day. Please send a response as soon as possible. Once again, I am eight years old, I am a girl, I am in the third grade and I live in Clearwater, Florida. I think I am speaking for all children when I say we should get some rights too!

Sincerely,
Madeline ******

Take Your Child to Work Day

On Thursday, April 24th it was Take your Child to Work Day. Both the kids were super excited to come to work (oh what they dont know...). Anyway, Madeline went to work with me and Jackson went to work with Geoff. Madeline helped me with my lab on gases. She helped run the pressure chamber and she stood in front of the classes and introduced the stations. She was cute and impressed all of the big kids. Jackson had fun in the clean room with Geoff. The picture is of Jackson in the "bunny suit".

Just an Update

I have not posted in a bit because there is just too much going on. I thought I would fill you all in on a little of it. A couple of weeks ago Tiffany came for a very brief but action packed visit. We managed to pack in two evenings out on the town, a nap (well Tiffany did), and a day frolicking in the waves with the kids - all this in about 30 hours. It was impressive actually. The kids have been pretty busy too - On the heels of the racetrack, Jackson went to see Itzhak Perlman with grandma. Madeline and her bff Lauren had fun at their 3rd grade school concert. For school, Madeline wrote the cutest story about traveling to Neptune with Alan Shepard - I will post it when it is returned from school. For the family - I included a picture of Johnny and Amy to prove she exists!

Mom of the Year

So I created a monster. Well I think I can blame it on my father. During our Spring Break escapades we took a trip to the racetrack. I thought the kids would like to see the horses and might have fun picking out who they thought might win. See, my Aunt came into town and my dad took them for the day and invited me and the kids. It was a lovely day and the horses were beautiful! So anyway - Madeline had her head in a book the whole day. She would momentarily check out the horses and make her choice. She overall was not too interested (well I should say that Inkspell won out). Jackson on the other hand, took to it like a fish in water. He was scheming with my father about the best picks. He was reading the stats about the horses and the jockies and even the racing style of the horses. At one point he wanted to bet on 2 horses, My aunt said "Why do you want to pick 2, if only 1 can win?" Jackson responded "Well one can win and the other could place". For those of you who don't know horse racing lingo (this was my first time seeing a horse race) - to place means to come in second. So during the kid's spring break, Jackson bonded with grandpa - gambling - nice! Just give me the mom of the year award. The next time I will tell you about Madeline's new fascination with the game Risk...

Easter '08

Easter was filled with candy, bunnies and the sounds of music created by the Ford children. They preformed 2 separate concerts. Yes, I said two... with many scene and instrument changes. It was loud and terribly cute (at least the first one :)

The kids took turns on the violin (thank you Ximena), piano, recorder and tambourine. Here are a few pictures of the day!