Doo Gro

Gracie has a friend who is biracial. Drew finds her "black" hair fascinating and we find it fascinating that he is so intrigued by it.

He is forever asking questions:

1. Why do you oil your hair?

2. Why do you wear a "doo rag" (AKA: scarf)

3. How can you not wash your hair everyday?

4. Why do your bangs stick straight up?

Her mom always responds with...."because she is black!"

So last nite, I got this pic from her mom with the text "Tell Drew its oil nite at our house!"

We cracked up that the oil is called "doo gro"!

We are not sure but think that Drew wants to be a "black hair" hair dresser!

As Tina says to him....."Drew, stop being so white!"

Fishing

The boys went out fishing today. Got some good fish for fish tacos!

GIANT Flat Stanley

This is a giant Flat Stanley that Gracie made. It was sitting in spots all over the house and just getting in the way. So I hung him on the door to the garage.

Now, every time I see it, it freaks me out! I keep thinking its someone standing there!

Chip

Chip the Chihuahua was reunited with his boy this morning!

After we found him last nite, we drove around the neighborhood with a friend who had some ideas on where he might live. But nothing panned out.

Then she found a flier with a pic of a dog that looked just like te one we found. So we called the number and at 10 pm, a guy came and looked at the dog. I knew it wasnt his because the dog barked at him immediately.

So we settled him in for the nite in Ahi's crate. He barked at first but then settled down all nite.

This morning after I went to the gym, I called the animal shelter. My intent was to have them come out to pick him up. I was hoping he was microchipped. I waited on hold for 25 minutes and then finally hung up.

Before I could call back, I got a call from a friend who said her neighbor lost a dog that looked just like the one I found. The neighbor was a little boy!

So she took the little boy to my house. He walked in - called the dog "Chip" and "Chip" ran over and jumped in his arms!

Just like a Disney movie!

Found!

Gracie and I went for a walk tonite and saved this dog from getting hit by a car. Problem is....now we have him in our yard!

Girlie Cousins

Gracie (11) and Mimi (5) with matching braids.

Toes

Toes....inspired by Mari.

New type face for Dyslexia

A team from the University of Twente, in the Netherlands, has developed a new 'Dyslexie' typeface, designed to help dyslexic people read more easily.

It's based on the notion that of the 26 letters in the standard Latin-based alphabet, as used in English, many of the letters look similar - such as v/w, i/j and m/n - thus people with dyslexia often confuse these letters. So by creating a new typeface where the differences in these letters are emphasized, it was found that dyslexic people made fewer errors.

Video (no audio):
http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2011/06/30/dyslexie-a-typeface-for-dyslexics/

Project website (in English):
http://www.studiostudio.nl/en/project-dyslexie/

Giant Boy

Giant boy on crutches!

Hair cut

Got some of that long hair cut off - this is much better!

Farming in Suburbia

My continued attempt at gardening is going really well this summer. My tomato plans are lush and my pumpkin plant is growing and growing!

Broken Boy

While we were gone last week, Drew was home alone for summer school and football practice. Unfortunatley he had a little injury! He tore (a small tear) his achilles tendon. Luckily my trusty, all purpose girlfriend, Auntie Debbie, was on duty and stood in as his other mother. She took him to the doc and cared for him for a couple days! (Thanks Auntie Deb!). He will be on crutches for a couple weeks and then we will see what happens.

Family Portrait

The Manriqi Family on the lake - the best family portrait ever!

Goofy friends

This is a pic of Kayla and Drew from last weekend at the lake. They are so goofy together!

Murman

Murray learned to swim over the last couple weeks. He still is not a strong swimmer

but gives it a good try if we coax him out into the water. Even if he is not a strong swimmer, he is a handsome beast!

Kayak Time

Spent some time kayaking at the lake. Perfect place to fish for blue gill and take the doggies for a ride. There was also a lot of standing up on it and paddling like a paddle board.

Log Fun

One of the activities while at the lake is hunting down a log and dragging it back to our camp to play on. It is the same log every year. We have to go around the lake, find it, drag it out of a wood pile and pull it home with the pontoon boat. It takes a good hour, at least, but leads to hours of fun.

More Cherry Pics

Welcome to the cabin

My mom got this goofy bear at the same rummage sale where she got the find of the year (the tent cot). The bear is huge! We have had a great time chasing the dogs around the house with it, dressing it up and putting it in places to scare people.

Currently, we are looking for an Elvis costume for it.

Cherry Trip - 2011

We are back from our 4th of July week trip to Cherry and it was a great time. The weather was perfect and the water where we were was warm...enough! The water coming down the creek was roaring from the snow melt. Trout fishing was awesome! Food was great - ribs, fish, chili dogs, pasta, etc!

But the best part was the matching swimsuits for the men. Mr C earned the new nickname: Cookie. They were hilarious playing around with the giant faces on their swim trunks. And Mr C also got the most awesome Mr Potatohead boxers because of the giant stache that matched his giant stache!

Bug and Grace also got special packages from their buddy, Ry. They got "happy camper" undies and a "weenus" a device that "allows women to urinate standing up. It's hygenic, portable, discreet and reusable"! Ry's mom carries a "weenus" around in her car because she "doesn't do public restrooms". The girls were always fascinated by the device so she got them their own. Goofy!

Bug used the weenus and gave it a two thumbs up. Grace is still considering opening the package!