Things that make you go, "Hmmmm"

Most mornings, driving to work, we listen to Paul Harvey's morning broadcast. Thursday, February 28th, he said this:

"We have been worrying about the wrong thing: a new scientific alert relating to global COOLING. There’s been a 12 month long DROP in temperatures. North America right now has the most snow cover in 50 years. All four of the worlds temperature-tracking outlets, including NASA, are updating data. Global temperatures have dropped precipitously, wiping out all of the world’s global warming for the last hundred years."

Meetin' the Gov!

We were honored to have the Governor visit our school, and my lab full of 4th graders--along with his wife, Nancy, and dog, Jasper--to promote their math/science web site for kids. The governor was kind enough to ask me first, before letting the dog get up on the desk so that the kids could take a better look. Jasper was very well-behaved (better behaved than some of the 4th graders) though I did notice I had some doggy drool on the desk when he left! Good times! If you're interested in the site, the address is: www.mathscience.mt.gov

How Cool

Our congratulations to cousin Amanda for being selected the county-wide winner of the "I like Charlie Russell because" essay contest. She beat out 800 other 5th graders, won some cool stuff, and got to be on tv and in the newspaper! Go AMANDA!!!

Yellowstone

Elk

Bison

Mitch and Cara. Can you see Kipler falls behind them?

Old Faithful

Sledding--sort of

We spent the weekend in West Yellowstone and snowmobiled into the park on Saturday. You have to have a guide to go into the park now, but that turned out to be fine because he took us to some spots we never would have gone to on our own. Lots of wildlife and beautiful scenery, and the kids got to drive the snowmobiles when we got back to West Yellowstone. Cara thought the bison looked like big rocks, and I was awed by eagles flying overhead! Life is good.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

Libby and Mom in Cabo San Lucas.

Sharmi, Libby, Mom, Shelley in Mazatlan.

Shelley singing Kareoke--and moving in on my man, Kevin!

We all had a little bling, and would trade it out nightly, to match our "fine dining" apparel. I think Miss Ariana ended up with all the bling after the cruise!

Arriving in Cabo San Lucas

Cooking School in Cabo

First you learn to make the perfect Margarita. Cheers!

Next you marinate some nasty fish, wrap it in a banan leaf, and fry it.
Sometime in there--hard to remember with the Margaritas you're drinking--you grind your own salsa in a lava bowl. And I mean "HAND GRIND." It looks nasty--due to the green tomatoes we used--but it tasted delicious!

Finally, because you're in Mexico, you make French Crepes for desert. Huh???? Yep. These pretty beauties were made my mom.

Shelley does get the "good sport" award because so much of what we did involved alcohol! You go girl!

Cabo San Lucas Sunset

Churches

Our Lady of Guadalupe CATHEDRAL in Mazatlan

Incredible interior.

Our Lady of Guadalupe CHURCH in Puerta Vallarta.

Cliff Diver in Mazatlan

This is not an organized sight-seeing activity. This is not his "job." After he gets done, his friends ask for donations!

Sand Art and Ocean View in Puerto Vallarta

Tequilla Factory in Puerto Vallarta

Tequilla is made from the Aguave plant. (My mom has some in her yard in Arizona.)

Before drinking, you say, "Salude!" This guy gets paid to give tours of the factory and drink 6 shots of tequilla per tour. He said he never drinks at home because he drinks all day at work!

There was a restaurant at the Tequilla factory. We thought we should have "authentic" Mexican food while in Mexico.

The chicken tacos looked and tasted very similar to what I would cook, which was a little disappointing!

ShipBoard Fun

Bathing beauties--never warm enough for swimsuits!

Shelley and I split a bingo pack and won a trip for two on a 7 night Caribbean cruise. WAHOO! We've got a year to take it!

Celebrating Libby's birthday. Cake anyone? We'd already had desert!

Sharmi's new boyfriend--he totally bought into this--Avil (Libby called him "Advil") from India! Oh yeah, and he's Catholic. Go figure!

Tornados in January???

The wind woke me up about 1:00 AM on Monday morning. A mini-tornado was hitting the Heights, but I thought it was just our regular wind storm! Here's a link to the KULR8 site, if you're interested in reading more!

http://www.kulr8.com/news/local/15532037.html