Wednesday, May 02, 2012
Heavy sleeper
Mason fell asleep with his sweats around his ankles, not yet in bed. Cindy woke him up...kind-of...and walked him to the bathroom. He was still nearly sound asleep. She had to assist him with his undies so he could use the toilet. When he was done she told him to redress. Instead he took off his undies, picked them up and threw them in the toilet!
New coach
Mason's soccer coach had to work tonight during the scheduled soccer practice. His wife was supposed to substitute for him, but Mason had another idea waiting in the car. Coincidentally Felix had just come from his own soccer practice. Felix ran them through several drills then took them all on in a scrimmage, letting them score the last goal for a win.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Choir
Kenzie loves choir! They performed at the high school with older students and an adult choir. She smiled the whole time and sang her heart out.
Here is their final song. Warning: long. :)
Here is their final song. Warning: long. :)
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Nice people
In the midst of our vacation craziness, including the emergency landing, Janel losing her wallet, Mason getting lost at the zoo...oh, and the one I haven't mentioned yet...Felix fainting on the plane before take-off (getting him and me kicked off the plane to spend an extra night in DC), we had several random acts of kindness.
When we had our emergency landing into Dulles instead of Reagan International, I had to scramble to get a rental car from the new location. Just rebooking at Alamo at the different airport for some reason cost $400 extra. So, standing at the ticket counter of Alamo, I called Budget who gave me a much better deal. Leaving the five others behind, Kenzie and I flagged down a cab driver to head to budget. Without explanation, he refused any money. I realized I was frantic and his calm, generous presence really changed my mood and probably the trajectory of the rest of the afternoon. He just genuinely was a nice guy.
Later in DC Grampy, Grammy, Cindy and Mason had an Ethiopian cab driver who was grateful to learn that our family has adopted two Ethiopian boys with David and Daniel, and he also refused money. He simply wanted to show his appreciation for our family helping his people.
And, on the last night when Felix was so sick that he couldn't fly, the paramedics that tended to him were so great. They stayed with us and, when we were ready, joked and made us feel very comfortable. They found out that we were the emergency landing that was diverted to Dulles just a week previous, they said, "oh, YOU were that plane! They never let us do emergency landings here. They're the varsity over there, we're just the JV here." I asked them if I could take their picture, assuring them that eventually Felix would want the picture (true, as it turns out). They were all super nice.
They turned us over to the Alaska Air agent who spent a full 45 minutes rebooking us and making sure that we had seat assignments the next morning. I had purchased a companion fare, so the system made it very difficult for her to rebook. But, she persisted, even after the entire terminal closed. She was smart enough to book one of us in the window and the other in the aisle, making it so that we had an empty seat between us.
Later when we settled into our hotel, Felix was feeling up for a walk (and a pizza) so we went to Crystal City and found a cool street with hip restaurants, most of which had outdoor seating. We found a little Italian restaurant and opted to wait for a table outside. We weren't in a hurry as we had nothing better to do. After we sat I ordered a glass of wine, then we ordered our food. It took a bit for the food to arrive, so they brought me a complementary glass of wine. After a bit the owner came out, apologized for the wait, and told us that our entire meal was free! Free food tastes great, and we both enjoyed it very much. Timing was also good...the end of a stressful day, made a little bit better by generous strangers.
The next morning the same Alaska Air agent was at the gate. She saw me arrive, jumped out from behind the counter and gave me a big hug. She later found Felix as he was boarding the plane and hugged him saying, "I'm your airline mom."
When we had our emergency landing into Dulles instead of Reagan International, I had to scramble to get a rental car from the new location. Just rebooking at Alamo at the different airport for some reason cost $400 extra. So, standing at the ticket counter of Alamo, I called Budget who gave me a much better deal. Leaving the five others behind, Kenzie and I flagged down a cab driver to head to budget. Without explanation, he refused any money. I realized I was frantic and his calm, generous presence really changed my mood and probably the trajectory of the rest of the afternoon. He just genuinely was a nice guy.
Later in DC Grampy, Grammy, Cindy and Mason had an Ethiopian cab driver who was grateful to learn that our family has adopted two Ethiopian boys with David and Daniel, and he also refused money. He simply wanted to show his appreciation for our family helping his people.
And, on the last night when Felix was so sick that he couldn't fly, the paramedics that tended to him were so great. They stayed with us and, when we were ready, joked and made us feel very comfortable. They found out that we were the emergency landing that was diverted to Dulles just a week previous, they said, "oh, YOU were that plane! They never let us do emergency landings here. They're the varsity over there, we're just the JV here." I asked them if I could take their picture, assuring them that eventually Felix would want the picture (true, as it turns out). They were all super nice. 
They turned us over to the Alaska Air agent who spent a full 45 minutes rebooking us and making sure that we had seat assignments the next morning. I had purchased a companion fare, so the system made it very difficult for her to rebook. But, she persisted, even after the entire terminal closed. She was smart enough to book one of us in the window and the other in the aisle, making it so that we had an empty seat between us.
Later when we settled into our hotel, Felix was feeling up for a walk (and a pizza) so we went to Crystal City and found a cool street with hip restaurants, most of which had outdoor seating. We found a little Italian restaurant and opted to wait for a table outside. We weren't in a hurry as we had nothing better to do. After we sat I ordered a glass of wine, then we ordered our food. It took a bit for the food to arrive, so they brought me a complementary glass of wine. After a bit the owner came out, apologized for the wait, and told us that our entire meal was free! Free food tastes great, and we both enjoyed it very much. Timing was also good...the end of a stressful day, made a little bit better by generous strangers.
The next morning the same Alaska Air agent was at the gate. She saw me arrive, jumped out from behind the counter and gave me a big hug. She later found Felix as he was boarding the plane and hugged him saying, "I'm your airline mom."
Friday, April 13, 2012
Little and big trouble
The Misters Social make friends everywhere they go. Nature wins out over Nurture in this one. 
Gettysburg address
Kenzie soaked up all the history around us today. At one point when we were in the Lincoln Memorial she disappeared. I found her video taping the etchings on the walls. 
International vacation
We have been having a lot of fun with accents and cultural jests. A heavy-handed German accent seems to be the universal go-to for anyone needing to crack a joke, but we have hints of Australian and Spanish interspersed...even South Carolina ghetto. Regardless it's awesome that our kids get to spend a week with three amazing teenagers visiting our nation's capital.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)