Phone Fun

Fiona is currently at her dance classmate Isa's birthday party.  I received a call a few minutes ago, and Fiona was nearly hysterical with laughter when I answered.  She finally said, "Is that really you?" and when I answered in the affirmative, she explained that she thought it was a play phone when she dialed.  We had gone over my phone number just before the party, so it was fresh in her mind and I suppose she was practicing dialing!
 
Isa's grandparents live in a close neighborhood and are hosting the birthday party.  They have a nice in-ground pool and fish pond with an enormous screened-in structure above.  Isa's mother explained that the screen not only blocks bugs but that it blocks sun, and, even though she is pale, she never has to wear sunscreen out there.  The entire place is like a fun-world, really, as they have a pool table in a play room, and they've converted the apartment over the garage into a princess-land for the girls! 
 
Sometimes you can tell what people like when you simply see their home, and, in this case, it seems that Isa's grandparents prioritize fun and their grandchildren!

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Summer Camps and Television

Life is still mellow here for the summer. We're breaking up the relaxed days with summer camp just for this week. Alex is doing a 'sword camp' this week at our taekwondo school, and Fiona chose to go to Splish-Splash camp with her best friend Lillian. The week has flown by, and we'll be free to relax for the next 3 weeks before school and activities consume us again!

Since I've hurt my knee, I've been Nordictracking for my exercise. I watch TV series that I get from the library or buy on CD while exercising--as 1 episode is generally just over 40 minutes, which seems a nice amount of time generally. Anyhow, I've been through the first season of Alias recently, which was fantastic, and before that I finished the third season of Charmed. I like to stick with action-type films for exercising, as I tend to stop working out and just lean against the machine when I watch drama or suspense, to some degree. Anyhow, we're now on Desperate Housewives, season 1, which is not action, but which I'm so taken with that I've been exercising to it anyhow! I say "we" because Michael came and joined me last night to watch it for several hours--vegging on the couch! It's a fun show.
I'm actually waiting for season 2 of Alias to arrive at the library, though, honestly! It's really fun to watch some TV, as I actually don't tend to see it much when my knee is well--and we don't have cable.
The kids have recently discovered the joy of watching television shows on the internet--something I haven't ever done myself! I guess they've discovered a way to get around that lack of cable impediment to a normal modern childhood!

Happiness Dropout

The third Happiness class was today, and I'm afraid I might be a Happiness dropout! I gave up on that kind acts homework, as it seemed to be causing more stress than anything, and our new homework is to spend 20-30 minutes several times this week recording our goals for 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years. I was a bit perturbed at this, as my understanding is that goal-setting and focus has little to do with happiness. However, when I asked him if goal-setting was related to happiness in studies, he simply responded that my goal-setting would be related to happiness if happiness was my goal and focus! I thought that was a great answer, but I'm not on the bandwagon... We'll see, I suppose. I'm really pretty happy, and I think the instructor has some great information and the class is entertaining, but I think my discriminating mind works against his chipper presentation. It may not be the best fit for me! I did want to relay the new homework, though, as it could be useful to do.