Things to blow your mind (if you're 5)

So!  Part of Kaden's school work is to count coins.  He dumped out his piggy bank, and we're sorting 'quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies'.  And then... he finds a foreign coin!   We thought it said "20 Franc" but it turned out it was "20 centimes."  So, instead of being worth 20 dollars, it was worth 2.5 cents.  (Not that it can be used as official money anywhere.)  (Except Haiti, maybe.) (Come to think of it, that's probably how we got it.)

Anywho, while I was researching (okay, okay, googling)  all this out... Kaden sold the coin to his Nana, for 28 American cents.   What a deal.  For him, obviously.  But I'm sure you knew that.

****

Another day, Kaden was trying to play a computer game (pbskidsgo.com maybe?) and needed some help.  He kept asking Nana, and she kept saying she didn't know how to play.  He started to get upset.  She said, "Honey, look at me.  (pause while he looked up).  Listen carefully:  I don't know how to play that game.  We didn't have games on the computer or video games when I was a kid."   His hurt look quickly turned to astonishment.  "What?" he says, "Why not? Were you too poor?"

The conversation quickly derailed into all the things that hadn't been invented yet, when Nana was a kid (cell phones, microwaves, digital cameras)...  I think she blew his mind.  I was quite amused when I heard the retelling later... until I realized I'm old enough that most of the things she mentioned hadn't been invented when I was a kid either!!  yikes!

Vacation, part 2 and Post Vacation Blues

That almost Disney, almost free trip worked so well a few weeks ago that we thought we'd try it again! It didn't work nearly the same, though.  Not worse, just... different.

 

First of all, our hotel was near SeaWorld, not Downtown Disney.  Tough times, I know.  However, the grounds were BEAUTIFUL.  I'm not usually blown away by landscaping and atmosphere and such, but wow.  We stumbled across an outdoor chess set- conveniently located near a playground, so everyone was happy!

I found Virgil's Cream Soda in the same hotel deli that sold Starbucks bottled frap for $4.  Nah, we didn't get either.  I did, however, immediately think of the cute pup my brother once had, and so snapped this pic to send to him.  But I entered the wrong number, so someone else must've been puzzling over the odd txt msg!

 Kaden took to the pool like a toddler to water.  In fact, this time around there was less adventuring and more swimming, running and - wait for it- cable TV.  Perhaps we still needed down time?

I know I did, because this time it was my turn to work- and the conference blew my mind away. The first part was ministry and technology, the second part was educational tech.  Holy gigabytes, Batman!  There was rock music and giveaways (computers! yes, plural!) and inspiring speeches and more iPads than I've ever seen in one place! 

 It was nice to come "home" afterwards and walk the beautiful grounds at night with the family.  We'd pass fire pits, and little fake streams and ponds, and Kaden would run his energy out while I tried to summarize things with Jim.

And now, this week, we are back to work and the laundry and all those other things that make everyday life run.  I really want to figure out how to make sense of and use all the info and inspiration from the conference (which deserves its own post), but I've inherited extra hours at work to deal with "tech stuff."  Which I proposed, thinking more along the lines of electronic communication and social media.  But our website was hacked and went down, and now I'm in the midst of learning how to design a temp one.  Yes, learning how.   I haven't felt this dumb since I tried to help a relative with Medicare.

But, then again, working a bit late means a fantastic commute home.  There's not a lot of traffic on the bridge, and I get to see some gorgeous sunsets.  These pics are from the last two days.  So perhaps I shan't compain too much...

Lent

Yeah, you knew it was coming sooner or later, right? The whole Lent thing. Actually, this'll be a short post because I'm way tired, trying to cram all my computer use into one evening each week.

I'm trying to give up personal computing for Lent- not counting Sundays of course. It's a fairly interesting experiment. I decided to do it before I heard about Italian bishops asking folks to give up texting or other techie stuff... which is good or I probably wouldn't have chosen it. But that's another post.

Anyway, I chose "personal weekday computing" because it felt like I was wasting a LOT of time sitting at the screen. The clincher was the day Kade woke up from a nap on Nana's lap in the living room and see him look to the computer first to see if I'm around. Hmm. If a SEVEN MONTH OLD thinks I'm glued to the seat... yeah, it's time to re-evaluate.

Here's the thing though-- it's not as much useless stuff as I thought. Yes, there are the time sucking games and never-ending facebook posts... but there's also eggplant recipes, and how-to-sooth-infant-ear-pain, and checking in for flights, and googling directions to a new house, and... well, you get the idea. I'm actually encouraged that it wasn't as mindless as I thought.

So now the challenge is to figure out how to prioritize so I still get in the cleaning and walking and other good stuff. But that's for the Easter season. For now, I'm journaling in my head, trying to focus on relationships and God and not going crazy with the work schedule that juggles three programs in one weekend. Or spaces events so that I work every day, even if it's just 4 hours.

In babe news--- he'll turn "8 months" on St Patty's day, so we'll have some fun pics next time. He's also recovering fairly well from the ear infection, and has slept thru the night (mostly) the last two days. We had a rough day today, out of our house for 12 hours, though we did hang at Nana's and some friends' in the evening, so that was fairly relaxing. For us, anyway, I hope for him too!!

Finally, please pray for my friend Jess, whose Dad died recently, and her mom Carola. It kinda sucks to welcome a friend into the "had-dads-funeral" group... but sometimes the shared experience makes prayers easier. Thanks to all.