Clueless in the UK

Jason wow’d us with his hidden talents. The piano is playing the accompaniment so Jason can learn his part of a duet. But how did he manage to play the piece backwards!?!?!?

Well because the new star trek movie promises to be a blockbuster we decided to rush to the theater to beat the crowds of like-minded Brits who know a great movie when they see one! I was urgently urging everyone to get their butts in gear to beat the crowds an get a good spot in the long lines …

Jason’s school had their annual prose and poetry contest again. Jason one third place in his grade (we think he deserved second place ;-).

Many of the Americans in the audience had tears in their eyes …

Due to a camera misconfiguration the last section got cut off. It was the part about how many years ago George Mallory was asked why he climbed Everest and he replied “Because it is there.” Then JFK said, “Well space is there, and we’re going to climb it!”

Awesome speech. Well done by Jason who was one of the few who memorized the whole thing.

Sing it with me: Proud to be an American!

In all seriousness, putting a man on the moon is still one of the greatest accomplishments of man kind, and I really REALLY doubt such a project could be completed today without worrying about one or two of the 400 thousand people involved in the apollo project suing for millions after dropping a wrench on their foot.

Well after 2 1/2 years here we decided to give the old Alps a go. Heard about them my whole life, found them to be a little intimidating leading up to the trip, the usual pre-trip anxieties. For some reason with me, everything seems much worse and scary right before I do something than I ever actually feel when I am doing it. Is that normal?

Anyway, I have fond memories of some home movies from when I was 6 years old in England and my parents went off with one Mom’s sister and husband to do some camping in France while ditching us with the grandparents. Anyway, they went to Chamonix or perhaps whatever it’s called on the other side, and in the middle of the summer they went up to the top of Mont Blanc and got caught in a mid-July blizzard up there. There are scenes of my mother running across a bridge up in the mountains, not a bridge, a … what is it called … a platform … whatever … she was running across with her hands covering her head as it was snowing. Meanwhile it was sunny and warm down at the bottom.

In the picture below are all of us skiing (except me) and that’s Mont Blanc in the upper left hand corner. It’s more than 1000 meters (or was it feet) taller than the surrounding mountains, but it was impossible to tell from this side.

We did the catered chalet deal with two other families, something we’ve never done before. We planned (Sue, that is) the trip almost a year prior and had we known we were going to be about 50% poorer now than we were then, we probably wouldn’t have done it.

However, now that we have, there’s no going back!!!!!!!!!!

Here we are being waited on after a rough day on the slopes.

Here are the kids being fed food while we sit on our asses:

Here’s some more pictures of how we got into the condition that required being waited on:

Jason had had enough on that hill:

More Mont Blanc just to the right of center of this photo:

And here’s a view of Argentiere below, underneath the mist, while we’re at the top waiting for the cable car to take us down.

My impression of the skiing where we went was, There was some great opportunities to do some radical off-piste skiing if you’re really good, which I am not. If you’re a normal skier who prefers no-avalanche zones, largely groomed stuff, moguls OK but not necessarily preferred, then these places did not have a lot to offer. Didn’t stop me personally from having a great time, and I think same with everyone else. We knew one of the families who invited us and another family, and the three familes hit it off great from the outset. Awesome time.

Jason Needs Glasses

Well we started to get an inkling that Jason was having trouble seeing distances and then we basically confirmed it walking down the street one day, so off Sue went to the eye-doctor for our free-for-children, socialist country, this-could-never-happen-in-America eye appointment. He has a minor correction and seemed very sad about it, but he picked up his glasses today and seems quite happy with them. So that’s a good thing.

Wrote an Article About my Dad

My father had an article in the local paper where he lived for 40+ years. He was well known by his column and I probably mentioned all this in the last post. Anyway, I decided I wasn’t really happy with the kinds of articles I was seeing coming out of the paper since my dad stopped writing and I decided I could do a decent job myself. So I fired it off and the editor liked it, and they published it in yesterday’s paper.

It’s not much but I am still pleased to have had the opportunity:

http://www.wickedlocal.com/sudbury/news/lifestyle/columnists/x1992966271/Payne-Reflections-on-the-death-of-my-father

I’ve Never Been More Proud

OK, so back to the catered chalet experience for a moment: most of the meals were three course meals with hors d’oeuvres and wine for a couple of hours before dinner each night, but one night the staff gets the night off. So we went out to a nice restaurant that one night, the night before New Year’s Eve actually, a nice French restaurant. A young waitress took our orders of beers and other ice cold drinks and came back with them on the tray, and then proceeded to dump the entire thing on Madeline’s head and down her neck. Madeline screamed and the whole restaurant looked. Yelped is more like it. It was shocking and she was trying not to cry at first, with her cute little lip quivering a little, but she reacted well to our telling her that it was OK and not to worry. Anyway, three seconds after she was dumped on and was just starting to calm down a little bit she screamed again: “Quick! Save my iPod!”

Yes! Covered in cold beer and other alcoholic beverages after a hard day of skiing, but my daughter snaps out of it in time to rescue her beloved technology: her brand new iPod Touch that she bought with a chunk of her own money. I have never been so proud of my daughter, never felt that her priorities were so well-aligned with mine, I have taught her well: water and hi-tech toys do not mix and nothing is more precious than iPod-like devices.

That’s what being a parent is all about ;-)