Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade...in SF???

Here are the photos of our Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We are just practicing for the real thing....hopefully we'll be there for real next year. The balloon which Michael, Kaley and Ainsley piloted was a huge pink hippo. The other balloons there were the glasses from Chicken Little, Grover and Macys stars. Those photos and others from the day are still to come. It takes a while to sort through them. Stay tuned.

Passing the time

Kaley was waiting for Ainsley to finish her homework by sharpening every pencil she could find. Daddy dug out an electric pencil sharpener for her to try out.

Reading to my friend, Melody

Melody brought the girls personalized books yesterday. Kaley won't put hers down. Thank you, Melody.

Ants, update and progress...one week later

Go ants, Go. Good work little Harvesters!! Way to tunnel!!

Ants, Ants, Ants...not quite what you think...

This is the only way to "enjoy" ants....in gel. This gel was created by NASA and the ants have gone on a little space ride while "tunneling". The gel will withstand the impact of blastoff without collapsing. When we got "antworks", the gel was a solid wall. We ordered the ants separately. The "Harvester Ants" are from Nevada, where they grow them BIG!! We had a choice of ordering from either Utah or Nevada....of course, Nevada ants were near and dear to my heart, so they won out. The ants arrived in a plastic tube with holes poked in it. There was a wet paper towel which had been soaked in sugar water in the tube. You wouldn't think that getting the ants out of the tube would be a challenge...but it was. Quite funny!! We poked holes into the gel to get the ants started. By the next morning, the ants were already starting to tunnel. Ainsley pointed out that the ants were gathering the balls of gel with their pinchers and moving it to the top. Go ants, go.

Macy's Day Parade "staged" photo

Macys has a traveling exhibit of the Macy's Day parade to kick off the launch of our Nation Sensation campaign (Macys now across the Nation due to the buyout of May Company). We went into the city last weekend to see the balloons...and dress up like a silly family. Kaley decided that she did not want to take part, but she came around later in the day. More photos forthcoming.

Painting...playdate continued

It was a very creative afternoon with Anthony. After making our oceans, we then decided to pull out the paints, easel and paper. Melody joined in the fun. Melody took the non conventional approach to painting and used her hands. We all had some good laughs.

Making oceans with Anthony

Kaley has had fun in school both reconnecting with old friends as well as making new ones. Our old friend Anthony has a new hobby of collecting colored water. He carries with him all his colored water jars which he has created. Lina, Anthonys mommy, called the other day about a playdate. I thought it would be fun to create an ocean with Anthony. It's been a while since Ainsley and I made them and I knew Kaley would have fun with the project, too. We made our oceans with Mineral oil, vinegar and food coloring. The kids had fun...especially mixing food colors. We started out with a turquoise blue (Anthony), yellow (Kaley) and purple (Ainsley). After mixing all the colors....all ended up with a blackish blue, blackish yellow and blackish purple......yummmm....It was a fun project and Anthony left with a Kaleyainsley ocean.....colored water.

Fleet Week Photos

photos from Fleet week which, for whatever reason, won't post to my previous entry.

Fleet Week 2006, Wedding memories

Ah, 8 blissful years ago was the wedding of one Mr. Michael Brian Worthley to one Miss Tracy Ann Thompson. When we think back about our wedding, we each have our own memories about the day. We are filled with lots of emotion, thinking about friends and family who were present at the wedding, but are no longer present in our lives. Our "perfect" day was made complete when our ceremony was "buzzed" by the Blue Angels (Blue Nuns as I have called them since seeing them perform as a little girl). I was walked by the isle by my dad, but we had some company. As I was on my way down the isle, our ceremony was buzzed by the Blue Nuns.....talk about blessings from above. Each year, we take the girls to the city for Fleet week and usually, Mass at St. Dominics. This year, we took Bart in to watch the air show. Following the show, we walked through North Beach to show the girls some unique bildings in the City. Two of my favorites are the Transamerica building and the green building which is anchored by a turret. I had to take a photo of House of Nan King. Our favorite chinese place in North Beach. Not just a restaurant, but an experience. The chef serves you whatever he thinks you will like. You have to ask for silverware and napkins. Great food, just don't look behind the counter...a scarey sight. Don't know how this place keeps passing it's food inspections. We had fun spending our day together in the City by the Bay.

Where's Ainsley? Where's Kaley?

Saturday afternoon, Micahel built the girls a blanket fort. It was such a big hit that the girls decided they wanted to sleep in it Saturday night. Come time to get serious about sleep, Ainsley stuck to the idea of sleeping on the floor in her fort. Kaley, on the other hand, had different ideas. While Ainsley was trying out the fort, Kaley decided that she should try out Ainsley's bed. Sleep tight, my love bugs!

Girly girls

Kaley and Chloe had fun playing together Thursday. The two played really nicely together. After making lollipop spiders, we painted nails. It was fun watching the two of them parade aound with their wet nails and blowing (spitting) all over their fingers. What a couple of hamburgers!!!

I see a Libby Loo birthday party as a venue for these two in the next few years.

Surprise, we're here..

My parents spent last weekend in Gardnerville, NV for the Old Timers Golf Tourney. I spoke with dad Sunday as they returned back to Oregon. Dad told me they were close to Susanville and that I was to call John to tell him that they would be home in five hours - have dinner ready. I left John this message as they weren't home. About two hours later, there was knock on the front door and who did I see peering through the glass window...my parents. Working with Michael, they had planned to surprise me (tables were turned). They had made hotel reservations and planned on taking us out to dinner so as to not interfere with our Sunday night routine (getting ready for school the next day). It was such a treat to see them. The girls didn't know what to think,either..but Ainsley wasted no time with a new captive audience- new variety of people to whom she can practice her reading. Thanks mom and dad. They left the next morning after joining us Kaley and myself for some late breakfast.

Little Gardners

Way back in May, we planted a some carrots from seeds. The girls would check them every few weeks and behold, finally in July we started seeing some green tops which resembled carrots....and now, at the start of October, our little carrots have gotten as big as they are going to get- about 2" in length. Just the perfect size for snackin'

We pulled all the carrots and ended up with close to 100...all between 1"-2". The girls had just as much fun picking them as they did planting them. Ainlsey some carrots to school for show-n-tell. We also cleaned them up and sent a bag for sampling. It was cute watching as all the children came out of school chomping on carrots.

Clayton Oktoberfest

We joined the Skows (both Todd/Shellie and Eric/Sara), Erik and Roxie as Clayton hosted its' annual Oktoberfest. The beer was great, food was delicious (especially the German potato salad!) and the company for the evening was enjoyable. Erik told stories of his recent travels to Munich where he experienced a real Oktoberfest. Erik dressed the part, too. We had a really nice evening. The photos are from Erik's site.

Clayton Oktoberfest (click)