Something I learned about roaches: but it doesn't change my opinion of them

Did you know that cockroaches groom themselves? Jack caught one in a jar early yesterday morning so as not to wake the kids or our neighbor upstairs (it was on the ceiling). As a result, we got to observe this roach up close behind glass. It was interesting how it would --I guess-- bathe itself... I had no idea that roaches even cared about their appearance. Yeah, anyway, it was weird. I had no idea. I still hate roaches. I always will. Nasty critters, even if they do try to clean themselves. (I did have the thought that he was so hungry maybe he was going to eat himself, I have read they will eat anything, including human flesh. Nope, I guess he wasn't that desperate because he is still alive...and he has been in that jar for over 24 hours with only a few seconds of added oxygen...Roaches are hard to kill!)

The Yellow Car

I have been reminiscing. I just found this picture and had to scan it to share with you all. This is The Yellow Car (A.K.A. Turbo Girl): the first car that I ever drove. (In the front here is my adorable nephew Coleman. This was a several years ago). She is no longer with us. She lived a long and productive life, transporting us around town, learning how to drive, getting us back and forth to college, impressing my guy friends when I would need a jump start after leaving my lights on, with her Turbo engine…

I still have my keys to The Yellow Car. One is still on my key ring, and the other (this particular key that you see) is in the hide-a-key magnet that used to be under the bumper (we won't talk about how many times I actually used that useful invention). It is a particularly good magnet for holding recipes on the vent hood when I am cooking. I can’t seem to get rid of these keys. The Yellow Car passed away when Jack and I were living in Vancouver. That was well, so many years ago. Mom and dad purchased the car when I was 12 years old. That was, well, so many years ago, I will let you guess at the math. I first drove The Yellow Car when I was 13. I will never forget that day. It was a Sunday and we were coming home from church. Dad pulled into our alley way and stopped the car so I could drive it up behind the garage. I remember exactly what I was wearing. My pink and white store bought dress that I had picked out for my 13^th birthday. It had shoulder pads (what didn’t have shoulder pads in the 80s), and the leaf design on it made me think of deer tracks. I had on black heels. How did that happen? A light pink dress and black heels? I digress (that one is for you, Dani).

I was recently reading about Learning and Memory… and it mentioned episodic memory (dang, well, I think it is episodic memory) when trying to recall where you last left your keys. The author wrote that unless you have an emotional attachment to your keys, you are not likely to use emotional memory to find them. I would argue that I do have an emotional attachment to my keys. Goodness, I still have the Yellow Car key and no Yellow Car. Plus I have a Snoopy key chain I bought in Sendai, Japan (or was it Fukushima City?) that I have been carrying around for the last ten years… anyway.

My car that I have now still has no name. I am close to picking one, but nothing seems to fit yet. Brady calls my car “mommy’s car.” But then, every PT Cruiser he sees is a “mommy’s car.” I will let you know if I ever come up with something. It seems a shame. We have had this car since 31 December 2004... anyway.

When my sister and I used to drive this car to school guess how much gas cost? You might want to hold onto your chair. We complained repeatedly about it. If we had only known what we know now, we could have stocked up! There was a time we could fill the tank for $10. Then it went up to $1.32 a gallon and well, we would have to break an extra $5 or, heaven forbid, a $20. I am *gasping* for breath. Jack told me the other day that now, when he fills the tank, he stops at *gasp* $50. whether or not it is full.

Soccer Camp

Brady had soccer camp this week in Wailua for three hours each morning. It was kinda long for him, but we made it through! It was mostly HOT and sunny, excluding today where is was very windy, and Wednesday when we all got rained on. I thought it looked like fun, and Hope really thought it looked like fun, but not sure what Brady truly thought about it.

Thanks again for navigating over here to view the pictures. Not sure what is going on with Freewebs.

Here is Brady on a water/snack break. Those kids wanted to eat at every break. They would have too, if given the time.

Hope really liked kicking the ball around that one of the moms brought for her to play with while the other kids were in soccer camp. Her son is also four and in the same U6 group that Braden was in. When Jack went with us yesterday, we found out that she sings in the same worship team "Heaven Sent" that Jack sings in. It is a small world and an even smaller island!
My number one favorite flowering tree in the whole world: Rainbow Shower Tree. This is my favorite color variety too! There were several of these trees at the park where the soccer camp met. Such loveliness. I love their scent too. Just very faint, but nice and sweet. mmm. When I have a house I want one of these trees! Hope. What a silly girl. She always gets a cheesy grin when it comes time to pose for a photo. She had found her pockets and was walking around with her hands in them.



Brady actually looks like he is listening to his coach here!

Hope was fit to be tied that there were so many soccer balls out on the field and she couldn't play with them!
Today was the last day of soccer camp. Each participant received a certificate for being there. This was Brady's coach. All the coaches were from the UK.
Silly Brady. This was his pose for the duration of group pictures! Nice.
Brady has also been in swim lessons. He has two more classes in this session. Yesterday's session was cut short: it was too cold and windy! He has lessons at the YMCA. The Y just opened up this month. The pool is bran spankin' new! and it is HUGE. It is an outdoor pool (thus the windy coldness of yesterday's lesson).

Thanks again for looking over here at the pictures. Hopefully things will get figured out at Freewebs...

Paper Mache with Friends: A better look at the pictures...

I hope that you will enjoy all the pictures. I thought you might be able to see them better like this rather than in the collage I had made while trying to find some format that would work with Freewebs. No matter what I tried, nothing worked. Grrr. Anyway, thanks for clicking on over here so that you can see these.

Paper Mache with Friends

I have been working all afternoon (ok, not literally, but it might as well be) on trying to upload this very photo to Freewebs with no luck. I thought I would give this a try. Looks like I just might be switching over sooner than I thought...

Thank you, Morgan for taking these pictures on your camera.

We had Morgan and Brandon over last week to cover balloons with paper mache. It was FUN and messy!

Hilary