My sister

She's the one I've known forever. The one I go to for honest advise and genuine support. The one who accepts my quirky little habbits and understands me in a way few others can. She's the one I can call at any hour- to laugh or cry or complain . . . The one whose voice has been there all along, sharing secrets and dreams and singing my song when I needed to hear it most. She's the one who can read my mind, hear my heart, and love me just the way I am. She's my lifelong friend . . . but so much more. She's my sister.

Thank you for the beautiful card Jayme. I feel the same about you. You are my hero!

sneaky

Everywhere I turn today these balloons are following closely behind, thanks to a sneaky little boy. He is so quiet, I don't even hear him; but I turn around and these happy little guys are bobbing under my nose. Isn't that fun? Noah is still celebrating my birthday.

Beach Party

This morning I awoke to the smells of coffee drifting up the stairs. Josh had been up much earlier and made coffee and pancakes, and had cleaned the kitchen and set the table! A bouquet of balloons was on the table and "Happy Birthday" was playing on the ipod. When Bronwen heard that daddy had made pancakes, she started giggling uncontrollably.

After church, we ran home, packed the van and headed to the only other place I wanted to be today . . . the beach! My favorite beach is Lion's Park in St. Joe Michigan, about an hour away. It would have been hard for the weather to have been any nicer. The breeze kept us cool and the water was warm. Beautiful boats of all kinds festooned the watery vision ahead of our sandy perch.

On the way home, all three little ones fell fast asleep with visions of seagulls and waves and sand dancing in their heads.

"Don't you get too sleepy Josh, you have to get us home!"

Yes, I had a very good birthday!

July 15th in History

Events in History Today

1795 - The 'Marseillaise' is adopted as the French national anthem

1799 - The discovery of the Rosetta Stone, which yielded a better understanding of the ancient egyptian language

1815 - Napoleon Bonaparte surrenders from aboard HMS Bellerophon.

1869 - Frenchman Hippolyte Mege-Mouriez patented a butter-like substance for use by the French navy. He named the substance "margarine" since he had used margaric acid, a fatty acid component. Margaric acid looked like pearly drops so its discoverer named it after the Greek word "margarite," meaning "pearl."

Learn how to make margarine:http://www.margarine.org/howmade.html

1870 - Georgia becomes the last confederate to be readmitted to the U.S.

1888 - Bandai volcano in Japan erupted for the first time in 1,000 years. Bandai is today a ski resort and vacation area:http://www.he.net/~flsoft/gallery/bandai.htm

1916 - In Seattle, WA, Pacific Aero Products was incorporated by William Boeing. The company was later renamed Boeing Co.

1922 - The duck-billed platypus was first exhibited in the US, at the Bronx Zoo in New York City. The Australian platypus is unusual because it is a warm blooded mammal that lays eggs. Other unique features are its gull-like webbed feet, beaver-like fur, and duck-like bill. The animal is named after the Greek word "platypous" meaning "flat foot."

1940 - Robert Wadlow died at the age of 22. At that time he was 8 feet, 11 -1/10 inches tall and weighed 439 pounds.

1941 - Florey & Heatley present freeze dried mold cultures . . . Penicillin.

1952 - First transatlantic helicopter flight begins.

1954 - First flight of the Boeing 707 the first American jet passenger airliner.

1968 - Commercial air travel began between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., when the first plane, a Soviet Aeroflot jet, landed at Kennedy International Airport in NY.

1975 - The U.S. and U.S.S.R. launch the Apollo-Soyuz Test project spacecraft.

1995 - First item sold on Amazon.com


2005 - Jack Nicklaus plays his last hole of competitive golf during The Open Championship at Hole 18 at St Andrews finishing with a birdie.


Birthdays
1606 Rembrandt, Dutch artist and etcher

1911 Edward Shackleton, English explorer

1913 Hammomd Innes, English novelist

1919 Iris Murdoch, English writer

1930 Jacques Derrida, French philosopher

1933 Guido Crepax, Italian graphic novelist

1951 - Jesse Ventura (is he still the Governor of Minnesota?)


1956 - Joe Satriani, hard rock guitarist


1968 - Eddie Griffin, actor commedian

1974 - Jeny Mester Martin, American wife and mother of 3 adorable children. amatuer musician, artist and writer.


1997 - Prince Lukas of Bulgaria

Family Reunion

What a beautiful day . . .too good for words! I cannot remember the last time so many of us were all together in one place. Almost everyone was there today. There were only seven members who could not be there and we missed them, but we were still able to have a great visit. Tony, Laurie, Lee and Allie came the farthest . . . all the way from the Marshall Islands. Aaron came from Atlanta. The day was so wonderful, but the time went by much too quickly. Here's a quick look at the family.

Zack and a little friend

The girls teach Bronwen how to blow bubbles.

The Palicki boys: Paul, Tony, Aaron and Jason

Paul, Laurie & Tony and Brittani

Paul and his little angel, Kaitlyn

Noah and his little charge

Paul, Andrea and their baby Kaitlyn plus nieces, Allie and Ashley

Noah, Bronwen and Monica

Granma and Annabelle

Laurie and Allie

Girl talk

Jim's car and all the boys

Guests of honor: Laurie and Tony
(Happy Anniversary and Happy Birthday Tony!)

cousins, the next generation: Bronwen, Chloe, Noah, Michaela and Madelyn

Bubby and Belle

Aaron and Brittani

Thanks for the pictures Britt, I snatched them from your album. I hope you don't mind, but I forgot my camera.

Andrea and little Kaitlyn

Aaron and Uncle Rich

Jeny and Christine

Happiness

Art Gallery

My favorite burgeoning artist is my Noah. He has been busy drawing all morning and decorating the walls with his beautiful works. The rooms in my home are a gallery of landscapes. Here is one of my favorites for your edification. He loves cardinals.

The Days are just packed

whith so much fun!

Animals
Today the kids and I enjoyed lunch at a local church for the Lion's club fish fry. We had just enough time for naps before we left for dinner and an evening at the zoo. It was a little too crowded there tonight for me, but the kids loved it and it's a treat seeing the zoo through their eyes. For Noah, the zoo is always fun even though he's seen everything many many times before. But for Bronwen, everything was new. Because she is so young, she cannot remember anything from last year.
The white tiger was sleeping close to the glass and Bronwen could not keep her eyes off of him. She had never been so close before. She was also in awe watching Mr. Peacock and his little hen of a wife strut their stuff in the bunnies' pen. It was pretty neat to see him showing off to the crowd. The birds got a little rough picking on the rabbits though and a zookeeper chased the peacocks away.

Backyard Blues
After we got home and got everyone under the age of 6 to bed, I went out with mom to a friend's backyard party. Josh was wonderful for staying home with the kids so I could go enjoy the music. Blues band, Junior and the Igniters played on a stage in the Fry's beautifully landscaped backyard. There were little tables with umbrellas set up among the flower beds and in the driveway. I haven't had such an experience since Jayme's wedding reception in mom and dad's gardens.

It was a great way to unwind from such a busy day.

An Atoll . . . And the fun continues all weekend! Tomorrow we have a cookout to welcome my cousin Tony and his wife Lori from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall islands where he's been living for the last two years. (Ha! try to diagram that sentence!!)

THE BEACH! And Sunday, after church, we're off to the beach in St. Joe MI to celebrate summer and my birthday.

You say tomato

I say tomahto. But I'm not calling the whole thing off yet. Look at this cute little guy, and we'll soon have lots more!

Bitten

I think I discovered the reason for Noah's fever. Tuesday afternoon he was bitten by something when he was running through the sprinkler at Mom and Dad's. It left a huge welt, but since he said it was just a mosquito I put cortisone on it and forgot about it. He's like me and really reacts to insect bites so I probably should have given him some Benadryl. Wednesday morning he awoke with a headache and fever.

Last night after his shower I noticed how awful the bite looked and decided it might have been a spider bite and is probably responsible for his illness. His temperature is normal this morning, but he's pretty lethargic from not eating much for two days.

This is Indiana's new license plate. There is no specialty charge, but you cannot get it by mailing your renewals. You have to make an effort and go to the license branch. So this morning Josh took our renewed stickers which we already received by mail, and went to the BMV an hour before they opened in order to get this plate for our cars. Isn't this a great plate? It's so neat seeing it everywhere we drive. Especially knowing the effort you have to make to get it.