A Mini Vacation

We had a wonderful time in SanDiego. The weather was perfect and the places we visted were memorable.

We spent Tuesday at Sea World. The kids had never been. They enjoyed all the animals we got to see. The park has added two water rides. We survived the trip to Atlantis....although Chandler wasn't keen on the water drops. The second is a rapids ride. Harrison got 90% soaked - and loved it! The gals were quite happy to remain on dry land. The dolphin and Shamu shows haven't changed much. Some new tricks, but the same old sappy 'hug a whale - become one with them' stuff they have always had. We enjoyed the shows none the less. Harrison was thrilled to pet the 'rays' that were in a huge tank. That was his favorite. Another enjoyable part was the walrus that liked to play 'peek-a-boo' with the camera. A real ham!

Wednesday we spent at Balboa park's Air & Space Museum and The Science Center. All the docents for the Air museum were WWII vets. They had fun talking with the kids. The planes that were on display to show the history of aviation were really neat. There were many hands on areas too. The docents let Harrison try the flight simulator for free. He had a blast! Chandler enjoyed the 'pretty planes'.

The Science Center had many cool hands on exhibits. There was also an area devoted to 'Grossology', where you could find out why your nose runs, what skin blemishes look like when magnified to the size of a dinner plate, how you throw up, why you burp, among other topics not suitable for discussion at the dinner table.

Thursday's focus was Legoland. A fun place devoted to those little plastic building blocks. It was amazing to see what they have built out of all those little things. The rides were creative and fun for the kids ...and parents too. We ended the weekend with a visit to Grandma Marilee's house for dinner. Delicious food and a joy to see her again.

It is somewhat official - And an answer to prayer

Tom has been hired by Countrywide. He will be working in Westlake Village as a Sr. QC underwriter. We have come full circle. We only pray that this time the work environment is less stressful. We'll just wait and see. Since he doesn't start the position until April 30th we are taking a short vacation down to San Diego. We'll visit Sea World (the kids have never been), Legoland (Tom has never been), and possibly The San Diego Zoo (none of us have been).We are excited to get away for a short while.

What's New Here

We have survived the SAT testing! yipee. The kids seem to have done well and enjoyed coloring bubbles.
Tom is in the process of seeking further employment. The company he was working for ran out of money and closed its doors. Don't worry...we are doing just fine. The two weeks prior we were in the process of sending out his resume, etc. since we could see the proverbial axe about to drop. The foolish, emotionaly driven decisions being made and the dream world the CEO was living in was not going to keep the company afloat for long. There have been several interviews and now just have to wait on God's timing and the job He has instore for the next chapter in the Brown saga. We are looking at it as a 'forced' vacation time, which we are taking advantage of.
On to other news, we bought more chickens...yep, 4 months from now the fridge will be overflowing with eggs once more. I'll let you know when we will start to beg people to take them...that or sneak them into your bags when you come over. We have yet to name most of them. Our goal of naming them after literary characters has hit a wall for the moment. There are not many female characters that we all have a fancy for. Chandler did name the blonde one 'Lucy' from the Narnia books, another may be dubbed Mrs. Bennet if she turns out to be as nervous and flighty as the character from the book. The other 3, well please feel free to offer suggestions.

Since Tom has been home we have gotten several things done around the house that needed to be taken care of (a layoff blessing). He and Harrison worked at splitting logs. Several of Harrison's friends were over and they all had a go at it. Amusing to watch young boys try to use a sledge hammer that is almost as heavy as they are.
We have been helping the ISP take pictures for the yearbook. (Another fun reason to get a good camera) We had to collect pictures of the moms with their kids. The one of me and the kids didn't turn out, so we retook the shot at home. 50 shots later we had one where both kids were smiling and looking (for the most part) at the camera lense.

The kids have savored having Dad home for a time. They all went fishing , enjoy running around doing errands, going to fly kites, work on model airplanes, dig up more of the monsterous stump in the back yard, and other such fun 'Dad things'.