Sunsets in Mariposa, CA

Science for Kids

Pour milk into a dish, about 1 inch deep.

Add drops of food color.

Drip dish soap into each area of food color.

Presto chango.















The science of it.

Happy Birthday!

Happy (belated) first birthday to Toby!

California is on fire

California had some interesting weather last Saturday. A lightning storm moved over much of the state. Today, there are still 1,088 fires burning in California. In our area, there are 12 fires. The closest is at 2,200 acres (the Oliver fire).

A couple nights ago, you could see it from the top of our road. Lilli wanted to do something to help the firefighters. So today we took cold water and home-made cookies out to the fire line. We have met firefighters from all over California, and also got to watch the big choppers filling up from a pond.




In the meantime, the smoke in the air is really bad. There's a visible haze, and it's difficult to see the hills just ten miles away. The sun is a brilliant red when it sets. The air quality is the worst it has ever been up here. But we count ourselves lucky - we are not among the 200 threatened homes, and we did not have to evacuate. Let's just hope that the thunderstorms predicted for the weekend don't materialize!

Congratulations !!

Ralph's 75th ~ June 29

Judi's 50th ~ June 20

Exciting News!

Well, I hope you all had fun at Aunt Judi's wedding because you're gonna be coming to another one soon! Justin and I got engaged! We don't know when the wedding will be, probably in a year or so, but just wanted to share the good news with everyone!

- Diane

How Low Can You Go???

hi everyone, sorry to be so scarce, it's been one hectic week after another with 1) wedding, 2) party, 3) roger getting mrsa virus, 4) packing, 5) resolving crises at my house prior to closing, 6) finalizing decisions related to renovating "roger's" house, 7) more packing, 8) end-of-year school stuff, 9) packing, 10) moving.

news at our house -- zack's lacrosse team made league championships, came in second, so he got a trophy after his very first season in his very first team sport ever. Sixth grade graduation was yesterday, all the sixth graders and all the first graders cried (savannah was a wreck!).

alex moved in with us about three weeks ago, he and zack are really bonding, i think zack is relieved to not be the oldest now.

savannah already missing first grade, last day of school is tomorrow -- yay!

btw - -our new address is 8812 southwick street, fairfax, va 22031, home phone (703)280-0790

sorry to miss everyone at stephanie and brian's graduation, we were in moving hell!

love, judi

Congratulations, Stephanie & Brian

We had a great time celebrating Stephanie & Brian's respective graduations, from High School & 8th grade. Friday night we enjoyed a family dinner at Maggiano's. If you've never been there, it's a treat. With a large group, for a fixed price, you get a family-style meal with the choice of 2 appetizers, 2 pastas, 2 entrees, and 2 desserts PLUS you get the leftovers (well-marked) to take home. The mushroom-stuffed ravioli was my favorite and the profiteroles a close second.

Saturday night we enjoyed a catered cookout with yet another great selection of food and on Sunday night, Stephanie's church honored ten graduates with another dinner.

In between eating, there was game playing, a trip to see the new Raider's movie and a little time for hanging out. Unusually for NJ, the temps hit the mid-90's over the weekend!