What...EVER!

I recently received a letter in the mail from the managers of our storage facility down here in Houma. Now, just imagine how I sound when I say Houma. This is how you should say it if you don't like it...in a low, husky, slow voice...kind of like a retarded person might say it. Sorry, maybe that's mean but...well, the people who know me will understand. Anyway, the storage people wrote a letter that said "due to the rise in gasoline prices they are raising their fees." Does this make sense? A little background on my storage facility. This facility consists of a a few metal buildings inside a big cage on the corner of Polk and 311 down here in Houma--did you say it right? It is not air conditioned, heated or lit up in any way. It is the most basic storage facility you will ever find which is why we chose it--because it is also the cheapest we could find. All we have in there is leftover "stuff", empty luggage that we have no place in the apartment to store, and a big box of kitty litter that we're told will soak up the up and coming sauna-like conditions of the glorious south. So hopefully all y'all out there in the big, wide world north of the bayou swamp that I live in are justified in getting a raise due to the gasoline price hike. After all you need to get to work done-cha? And I wonder what will happen when the gas prices go down--will we get another letter, will the raises be taken away???

YMCA ORCAS

Well I have been wondering where all the fit kids of Houma have been hiding; they have been anxiously awaiting the beginning of swim team practice. Yesterday was Julian's first night of practice. What a group of kids! They have some amazing, young swimmers on this team. The swim team is sponsored by the YMCA in Houma which is only about a mile up the road from us. Kids as young as 4 or 5 can be on the team. There are about 100 or more kids on the team and the practices are spread out over three hours. Julian has the middle practice at 6:45 for one hour EACH NIGHT! They encourage the kids to attend every practice but understand they may not be able to. Once school gets out there will be a morning practice that he can attend or an evening one. Then the meets will start. The first meet will be the weekend after school gets out. We are really excited about this team. Julian is already showing improvement after only one practice. He has a cute little coach named Caleb who is a great swimmer and is a hip, cool looking young guy. I think it helps to have someone that the kids can relate to and look up to as a coach. Julian will continue to improve his freestyle, will learn the other three strokes, and will learn flip-turns. I'm going to pay attention at that practice so I can learn that too! Send luck to Julian!

Field Day at Mulberry Elementary School

Last Friday I went to field day at Julian's school. They had a lot of tents set up with snacks and a shaved ice stand (which I had the pleasure of working in). They had a series of events for each of the different age groups k-6th grade. Some of the events include a water balloon toss, running relays, and other teamwork-type events. One of the most interesting events was the beach chair relay. There were two teams. Each team had to take turns running up to a designated point with a beach chair and a bag with a towel, sunglasses and magazine in it. Once the person reaches the designated spot they have to set up their chair, spread out the towel, sit in the chair, put on the sunglasses, take out the magazine and open it up. Then they have to put all the stuff into the bag, close up the chair and run back with all the stuff and tag the next person in line on their team. It was really fun to watch and made me miss the beach!!! If anyone is having a party this summer this is a good addition to the game lineup. Molly would love it!

Spelling Bee Results

Today was Julian's spelling Bee. He was so pumped and ready to go. We had been studying every day since he made it into the contest. They lined all the kids up on the stage, stated the rules, and got started. The first word given out was eerie. The same word Jacquelyn missed recently on a literary bee. Maybe she doesn't want that all over the internet--sorry Jackie--anyway, the kid got it wrong. Julian's word was rhythm which he knew. He went up and adjusted the microphone and said the word, spelled the word and then walked away. He failed to repeat the word after he spelled it, so he was out. He was so crushed. It is really too bad because there were only a couple of words that he would have possibly had trouble with. Oh well, there is always next year! He still got Chinese food and a candy bar. Who could ask for more?!

Spelling Bee

Julian made it into the Mulberry Elementary School Spelling Bee! He is one of three kids in his class who will participate in the Big B on April 22nd. It is very exciting! Julian has always been a pretty good speller and we will be studying the word list over the next couple of weeks. The list includes words like brilliant, lurk, international, extraordinary, government, and sought. If he makes it to the next level the words will get harder. Wish him luck!