Tattoos and Blubber Galore...

After being away from the US for almost two years, it’s not surprising that some things have changed. There were two things that were especially obvious. The first was that Southerner’s waistlines have gotten even larger since we left. The other was that Californians are definitely keeping the tattoo parlors in business. From the shoulder to just above the elbow seems to be the new favorite place to cover up. Our buddy Mike’s new homage to the Stones is actually quite small compared to many of the tattoos we saw. We’re hoping the girls will follow his lead and wait until they’re over 50 to decide if they really want a tattoo.

Muscle Mamas...

It might not take muscle power to be an Expat Mum, but it does take strength--inner strength, that is. Strength to say good-bye to old friends and family, settle in a new country with an unfamiliar culture and language, and to say good-bye to new friends as they move onto their next assignment or return home. Stacie and I met at a Thanksgiving dinner at the Busch’s the week we both arrived in Holland. We became instant friends and day trip buddies. Sadly, we had to say farewell in July when Lon’s job moved back to the US. Lucky for me, they live just an hour from my dad; her family joined us there for a pool party and we were able to spend a night at her house. While I’m bummed she’s not here with me in Holland, I’m thrilled to know I’ll get to see her whenever I visit my dad.

Getting Techie in Silicon Valley...

I might not be tech savvy, but both my husband and my father clearly are. Unfortunately, Jimmy missed going to the Computer History Museum where Dad had arranged a private behind-the-scenes tour. He’d been interviewed by the museum as one of Intel’s earliest chip designers for a future exhibit. Although we couldn’t see his name in lights, we were able to see the progression of computers throughout history and a small section on memory, as shown in the above photo. The girls were especially impressed with the small robots. While we went into the 70,000 sq ft warehouse to see the 50,000+ artifacts and 50 million documents that there currently isn’t space to display, the girls stayed behind to play chess. Perhaps they might be future computer nerds.

Totally Cool Tour...

Although I didn’t feel guilty about being away on Veronica’s 10th b’day, I thought I should do something unique to celebrate her special day. I came up with the idea of touring Toyota’s first manufacturing plant in the US in nearby Fremont. NUMMI is a joint venture with GMC that opened in 1984 in an abandoned GMC factory. Ashlynn couldn’t go since visitors had to be 10, but my dad joined us. I had mentioned that we were celebrating Veronica’s b’day and the tour guide surprised her with a few pins and we all sang to her. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take photos, but it was totally awesome going on a tram through the 5.3 million square foot factory and watching a combination of people and robots making Toyota Corollas, Toyota Tacoma trucks and Pontiac Vibes. This factory stamps out the bodies for 1,000 vehicles out of 1 million pounds of steel each day, then adds motors, glass, seats, tires and various other parts made around the country and Japan, Canada and Mexico. Now Ashlynn’s looking forward to turning 10 so she can go, too.

Shakespeare’s Never Been Funnier...

It still brings a smile to my face to think about what an impressive job the four stars did in “The Twelfth Night.” It was a rather complicated play of mistaken identities with everyone playing at least two parts and poor Grandma playing four parts. Two moments in particular stay in my memory. On the left, you’ll see Ashlynn right before she discovers that she has both swords in her belt, which creates a fair bit of confusion off stage while searching for the missing sword. And on the right, you can guess what Grandpa is doing as he came on stage as Sir Toby Belch. All the hard work paid off--the acting was superb and the costumes were great. Can’t wait to see what they come up with in 2009!

The Secret Thing...

For close to a year, the girls have been plotting with their grandparents about “The Secret Thing.” During past visits, the girls have put on puppet shows for us. We just assumed that they were planning on another this summer, but perhaps on a bigger scale since they had the week without us to work on it. Turns out Grandma suggested they put on “Little Red Riding Hood” and had already found a wolf costume to rent for Grandpa. However, Ashlynn said she didn’t really want to put on a fairytale and Veronica suggested they do Shakespeare’s “The Twelfth Night.” She worked hard to adapt the famous play into a 20-minute production. Looks like that fancy education might be paying off after all.

One Hell of a Hike...

Living in a flat country, we don’t get to hike very often, so I was looking forward to hiking in the hills above Avalon. 88% of this island is owned by the Catalina Island Conservancy with the intent to keep it wild and we had to get a permit to hike. It had been awhile since I’d been in that kind of heat and desert climate as you can see by my red face, so I had to take it slow. The 1.7 miles to the summit was a series of switchbacks with some great views of the harbor. The above photo shows a couple of the fire roads which were put to good use when a 4,000 acre fire broke out in May and Avalon had to be evacuated.