Second quarter report cards came out, holidays have passed, Battlestar Galactica returned, babysitting accomplished, a new President sworn in. True, I had nothing to do about that last one other than my vote back in November... huh, I guess I can take ~1/59,000,000 of a piece of credit for it, eh?
First, a few links I found interesting:
Traveling with Kids: sometimes I forget the wonderful opportunities available to traveling with kids, especially in the States.
Tips for Travel Savings: A short piece on some actually useful money-saving travel tips.
Let's Treasure the Old Along with the New: a beautifully written commentary by Winton Marsalis.
And I can't embed this, but a youtube video if you haven't seen it already: It's a New Day by will.i.am
OK, that's done, what've we been up to?
Oh right, report cards. Rebecca improved in just about everything, Jonathon improved a couple spots, Nicholas had a decent upward spring, Katherine is an entity all to herself. Let's just not discuss it, shall we?
Holidays passed. Pongal was last week, so work was off a couple days, the kids had Thursday off, then work was off again on Monday for MLK Day. Next Monday is off as well, Indian Republic Day. We like January in India. January and October are good months for lots of days off.
Battlestar Galactica started up for its final half season. The last cylon revealed. Lots of other info divulged. I was totally with them until the last 5 minutes then had to say... huh? I know they'll do it right, but I'll be sad to see the show end. It's even better than West Wing.
Babysitting went pretty well while the neighbors took a trip to Thailand. There were a few "miscommunications" and I was exhausted by the end, not just from lack of sleep (different house for sleeping at night, always expecting the baby to wake up, etc.) but also from carrying 16+ pounds most of the day, walking back and forth between the houses for naptimes, taking lots of strolls around the compound, etc. You know, baby stuff. I will say that putting her down for naps and nighttime sleep were the easiest parts of the day, and for that I was very grateful. Since she only slept for roughly 1 1/2 hours during the day, bedtime was easy at 8-8:15 and she was good for the night until anywhere between 7 and 9 the next morning. It was nice to have Ian home every day (but Friday), he was such a help and did most of the older kid tending for school snacks/lunches, bedtimes, clearing dinner, and everything in between. She was excited when her parents came back, and so was I, but we were happy to do it for them.
And the Inauguration. I didn't get to see any of the concerts except for what I've pulled from youtube, but we made a point to stay up last night after I returned from Bunco and watch the swearing in and speech live. It was worth it. It was worth it to see all those people and feel the expectation even over the air waves. Truly remarkable. Yes it was big, yes it was a show, yes it was also organized, and secure, and joyful. I was impressed and a touch envious of those who were able to participate in person. Now that President Obama has become a real entity, I'm looking for some t-shirts to commemorate the occasion for the kids. Off to internet shop!
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